Sociology Exam 2

Sociology Exam 2

1. Alcohol and Other Drugs

2. Age and Social Inequality

3. Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Social Inequality

4. Race and Ethnic Relations

5. Prostitution, Porn, and Sex Trade

   • Cross-Cultural View
     • B/c of a variety of interpretations of what is sexual around the world, there is no "natural" or "instinctive" sex.
     • We learn sexual norms of our society through socialization.
     • No Natural/Instinctive Sex
     • Learn sexual norms through socialization
   • Changes in Sexual Behavior in U.S.
     • Traditionally, sex outside of marriage was condemned.
     • Today, sex before marriage has become acceptable among younger generations b/c of birth control methods.
     • Sex between homosexuals is becoming more and more accepted.
     • We are changing sexist & stereotypical views on women's sexuality. 
     • Women's sexual behavior is becoming closer to men's. "Double standard" is being eliminated.
     • Why Changes? 1.Birth Control 2) Feminist Movement 3) Technology: Example-Cars allow teens to escape adult surveillance. 4)Secularization
     • Homosexual Sex
     • Sex Before Marriage
     • Women's Sexuality
     • Reason for Change
       • Secularization
         • The process through which the influence of religion is removed from many institutions in society and dispersed into private and personal realms.
       • Birth Control
       • Technology
         • Cars allow youth to escape adult surviellance.
       • Feminist Movement
   • Prostitution
     • Sexual activity in exchange for money or goods, in which  the primary motivation for the prostitute is neither sexual nor affectional.
     • Types
       • Streetwalkers
         • They solicit clients by walking the streets, and engage in sexual behavior with customers in client's car/cheap hotel rooms.
       • Call Girls/ Escorts
         • Use technology to gain business.
       • Male Prostitutes
         • Examples: Street Hustler Bar Hustler Escorts
     • Who?
       • Young, poor, women (usually)  Male prostitutes come from 2 subcultures: 1) peer-delinquent subculture 2) gay subculture
     • Social Problem or Crime?
       • Major Controversy. 1/4 adults believes it should be legal in their state. Victimless Crime. Illegal prostitution causes problems such as spreading of aids/disease, drugs, etc
     • Illegal?
       • In most places in USA, except Nevada.
     • 100,000-500,000 in USA
   • Porn
     • Sexually "explicit" writings, still or motion pictures and similar products designed to be sexually arousing. 
     • Connection to Rape
       • No clear connection between those who watch porn and those who are more likely to rape.
     • Miller Test
       • Material must meet 3 conditions to be considered legally obscene: 1) The avg. person applying community standards considers the material as a whole to appeal to prurient interests. 2) Material depicts sexual conduct, specifically defined by state/federal law, in a patently offensive way. 3) Work lacks serious artistic, literary, political, or scientific value.
     • Censorship
   • Perspectives on Sexual Deviance
     • Functionalist
       • Deviant behaviors exist because they perform important functions in society. Society functions better when people's desires are fulfilled, it reduces tension/conflict.
       • Sex trade establishes boundaries of acceptable morality for society (by labeling prostitution or porn as immoral and stigmatizing for those who practice them).
     • Conflict
       • Sex trade is closely related to issues of social inequality and exercise of power.
       • Gender inequality and patriarchy means that men dominate women.
       • Those who control if it's legal or illegal dominate society.
     • Interactionist
       • Sexual dev. has to do w/ varying definitions of reality and w/ impact of labeling and stigmatization on self-concept and self-worth.
       • A culture that defines women as subordinate, makes it more likely that they enter sex trade.  Once in the trade, they become stigmatized.
       • Global Sex Industry: Prostitutes from poorer regions go to richer countries, also tourists travel internationally  to use prostitutes (sex tourism).
   • Future Prospects
     • 4 Models of How Gov't Can Approach Prostitution
       • 1) Laissez-Faire Model Prostitution illegal, but no enforcement
       • 2) Regulation Model Prostitution legal but only in licensed settings
       • 3) Zoning Model Prostitution permitted in certain areas
       • 4) Control Model Prostitution illegal and enforced
       • Swedish Example
         • decriminalize prostitution, punish clients for exploiting women.  Prostitutes= victim, spend money on helping them out of prostitution ONLY SUCCESSFUL APPROACH
     • Pro-Legalizing
       • Men & Educated People are more pro legalizing.
       • Would provide protection to women, but wouldn't entirely stop crime related to it, or health hazards.

6. Crime and Delinquency

7. Environmental Problems

   • Bio Background
     • Ecology
       • The branch of biology that studies the relationship between living organisms and their environment.
     • Environment
       • The conditions and circumstances surrounding and affecting a particular group of living creatures.
     • Photosynthesis
       • The process by which plants capture light and heat energy from sun and turn it into food.
     • Ecosystem
       • A complex, interrelated network of life forms and nonlife forms that interact w/ one another to produce am exchange of materials between the living & nonliving parts.
     • Ecological Perspective
       • Humans are NOT more important than other organisms, such as fish/plants/bacteria
     • Judeo-Christian
       • Considers humans to be a category of their own, above other creatures. According to this view, man was made in the image of God, and is master of Earth and its creatures.
   • Social Sources of Env. Probs
     • Population Growth
       • Can lead to changes in the environment
       • W/ our given set of technologies used to provide food, the Earth has a carrying capacity, that can't be exceeded w/o putting stress on the environmental resources.
       • We are destroying resources faster than they can be replaced, causing irreversible damage.
       • Carrying Capacity
         • An upper-size limit that is imposed on a population by its environmental resources and that cannot be permanently exceeded
     • Affluence
       • Growing affluence= -consuming more resources -increasing pollution of the air/water -filling more landfills w/ waste
       • People want to have the best possible life for themselves, & expectations regarding what that entails keeps rising.
     • Technology
       • New products, while life-improving, are inherently polluting. Some technologies used today are less harmful than earlier technologies, but they still affect our environment.
     • Economic Growth
       • Measured by the total goods/services produced, which increases each year.
       • Economic growth provides increasing levels of affluence, brings higher profits
       • The World Bank & International Monetary Fund encourage economic growth through their actions.
       • While doing business, companies ignore part of the cost of doing business, such as environmental damage through accidents or normal operation, and depleting of resources.
       • In business, short term gains outweigh considerations for the long term protection of the environment.
       • Some argue that economic growth can lead to better science, that will at some point help us reduce environmental damage.
     • Cultural Values
       • Mastery: Man is master of his environment Progress: Idea that people's living standard must keep rising (new idea)Individualism: Belief that I am allowed to harm my own health, pollute my land, etc.
       • Together these ideas make it possible to pursue economic growth in ways that are detrimental to our environment.
     • I =P x A x T
   • Perspectives
     • Functionalist
       • People's beliefs & values & resulting social behavior form a system. 
       • A highly technological social organization has many beliefs, but also many dysfunctions.
       • Environmental problems lead to social problems when they hinder the smooth functioning of the whole system.
       • Perceived social problems can lead to changing ways in which we treat the environment.
     • Conflict
       • Limited resources are a given fact of life. Problems can arise when their distribution (which is inherently unfair), becomes contested.
       • Decisions are not made to preserve a balanced ecosystem, but are the result of competition, each side looking out for themselves.
       • There are always groups that benefit-at least short term- by exploiting the environment, polluting, using up resources. These are considered to be part of the doing business.
       • When groups w/ some power feel that their interests are not served by current environmental policies and practices, they seek to make changes.
     • Interactionist
       • Environmental problems are not simply objective conditions, they must be identified by a group of people as a problem that needs to be addressed.
       • As people's perceptions change, environmental problems emerge.
   • Social Construction of Env. Probs
     • End of 19th, beginning of 20th century: US cities were heavily polluted by factories, but that was accepted back then. Early environmentalists focused on conservation.
     • 1960s: Environmentalists were influenced by popular books such as... -Population Bomb (according to which the end of the world was near b/c of overpopulation)  -Silent Spring (according to which the end of the world was near b/c people destroy nature, and thus the whole world. ....New groups began to engage in lobbying, demonstrations, and disruptive actions.
     • 1969: National Environmental Policy Act
     • 1970s: Clean Air Act Water pollution control act Environmental protection agency
   • Extent of Problems
     • Water Supply & Pollution
       • Hydrologic Cycle: process by which nature purifies water. Raw sewage, pesticide, nitrate and phosphate fertilizers, plus waste from factories interfere w/ cycle.
       • Results include: -Acid Rain (mostly from burning fossible fuels, which introduce sulfuric & nitric acids into the atmosphere) - Eutrophication: Depletion of oxygen in water by the algae in rivers and oceans. Algae (size of new jersey in gulf) kills fish and all other life forms. b/c of overabundance of plants/life
     • Solid & Toxic Wastes
       • Average person throws away 4-5 pounds of waste every day. Waste Consists of: -Household waste: 3 tons/ per year/ per family -Industrial Waste -Mining Waste
       • Toxic Wastes:residues of the production of plastic, pesticides, nuclear energy etc. -The disposal of toxic waste is not fully regulated -30,000 sites need to be cleaned up, but the enormous cost of this has not been made available.
     • Radioactive Wastes
       • -Remain deadly for thousands of years or more. -Not in my backyard syndrome -Hard to transport -temporary storage we use for lack of permanent storage
     • Land Degradation
       • Desertification:what happens when intensification of food production (continuous cropping/ overgrazing) leads to spread of desert areas, thus reducing the  quantity of arable land.  100 million acres of land turned in to desert in past 50 years.
       • Deforestation -imbalence between demand & supply
       • in 1882: 10% of Earth's land was desert. In 1990, 35% of Earth's land was desert.
     • Declining Biodiversity
       • Creates 2 Problems: 1) We are losing species that might be of some use to humans (pharmaceuticals) 2) Threatens ability of the ecosystem to support human life.
       • Annihilation of many species of animals (27,000 species per year)
     • Air Pollution, Global Warming
       • Alarming accumulation in atmosphere of ozone= depleting and of greenhouse gases.
       • Greenhouse gases lead to global warming, which leads to changing weather patterns, changing climate, and increasing water levels.
     • Pestisides
       • World Health Organization: Estimates 3 million of severe pesticide poisoning per year.
     • Energy Resources
       • Industrialized nations use an inordinate share of the world's energy. US is largest consumer per person. Our main energy sources are finite, and extremely polluting.
       • Nuclear Energy: Problem when it comes to safely dispose waste for hundreds of years, until it becomes harmless.
   • Solutions
     • -Collective action by environmental groups -Moderating economic growth -Gov't Regulation -Environmental partnerships -Reduce, reuse, recycle -New approaches to energy -International cooperation -New values

8. Violence, War, and Terrorism

   • Violence
     • Behavior intended to bring pain and injury to people and/or destruction to property
   • Collective Violence
     • Violence by groups of people to promote/resist social policies or practices.
   • Extent of Violence
     • Civil Disorders
       • Strife/conflict that is threatening to the public order and that involves the gov't in some fashion, either as a party to the conflict or as a guardian of the public interest.
       • Some are disorganized and have short-term goals. Examples: Race Riots Labor Conflicts
       • Others are more organized and threaten basic changes in the foundations of the social order. Examples: Civil War Revolution
       • Most civil disorders often arisen from racial conflict. (Examples on Notes.) Communal Riots: Whites attacked blacks in the racially contested areas.
       • Since WW2, most race riots have been commodity riots: the focus of hostility is the property, merchandise, or equipment rather than people of another racial group.
       • Labor strife was a source of civil disorder also.  -Workers had no collective bargaining rights and strike was illegal. Police were regularly used against workers.
     • Political Violence
       • Aims to change the gov't, the political system, or the economic system.
       • -Insurrection: Organized action by some group to rebel against existing government, or to bring in new political forms and leadership
       • US Examples: 1) War of Independance 2) Civil War
     • War
       • Justified by: -threatened attack or invasion of US -repel aggression -protect freedom
       • 20% of Federal Budget is dedicated to military expenses
       • American= less than 3% of world but... Spends 22-47% of all the money spent on military expenses in the world
     • The Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction
     • Terrorism
   • Explanations
     • Biological
     • Social Sources
     • Theoretical Perspectives
     • Media/Internet
   • Consequnces of War/Terrorism
     • Death, Injury, Social Dislocation
     • Crime
     • Political Turmoil
     • Economic Problems
     • Nuclear Devastation