SOC 2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Soulmate, Participant Observation, Syphilis
Lecture 3: 1/16/18
Social Construction: View that reality is a product of negotiated and shared understandings
between people and groups that get institutionalized and embedded in everyday life
3 Assumptions of of Social Construction:
• Knowledge is a human product; things we know are socially and culturally produced
• Learning is a social process that we learn through others advice and criticism
• Reality is constructed through application of knowledge learned through socialization
o Ex. Saliva Vs Spit
- Saliva (inside mouth): normal, Spit (leaves body): disgusting
o Ex. Privacy in bathrooms
o Ex. Social Construct of races
▪ Evidence of social construction of race
▪ Constructs of what black is in different countries
▪ Census changes every year
o “One Drop Rule” formalized in 1911 in Arkansas
▪ Cannot live together or marry → Felony
▪ negro= any blood
Social Construction of Children
• Economically worthless emotionally priceless
• Children produce little economic gain
• Drain on resources
Changes in history shapes social constructs → sociological imagination
• industrialization→ working, no love marriages, producing→ adult male breadwinners
replace family unit
• Family→ center of emotion: happiness, love= marriage, soulmate, kids, raise well=
women work hard
• Law: forbid child labor, school, parenting practices, beat sin out of child= good parent
• Science & Research: kids Vs Adults, thought processes of kids Vs that of adults
• Economy: toys, ads, marketing
Self Fulfilling Prophecy: cultural belief that becomes true because people act as though it is
already true
• Holding of expectations
Lecture 4: 1/18/18
Epistemology: science of knowing
• Diff. sources of knowledge
5 Sources of knowledge
1. Experience and Common Sense
a. Seeing and believing
b. Selective Observation: pay attention to your beliefs
c. Inaccurate observations; bad memory
d. Overgeneralize based on small observations
2. Experts and Authorities
. Parents, teachers, etc.; experience in an area
a. Not perfect, fallible, limitations
3. Traditions: beliefs and values passed down generation to generation
. Groups socialized with
a. Not based on observable reality
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Social construction: view that reality is a product of negotiated and shared understandings between people and groups that get institutionalized and embedded in everyday life. Saliva (inside mouth): normal, spit (leaves body): disgusting: ex. Social construct of races: evidence of social construction of race, constructs of what black is in different countries, census changes every year. One drop rule formalized in 1911 in arkansas: cannot live together or marry felony, negro= any blood. Social construction of children: economically worthless emotionally priceless, children produce little economic gain, drain on resources. Self fulfilling prophecy: cultural belief that becomes true because people act as though it is already true: holding of expectations. Epistemology: science of knowing: diff. sources of knowledge. 5 sources of knowledge: experience and common sense, seeing and believing, selective observation: pay attention to your beliefs, overgeneralize based on small observations. Inaccurate observations; bad memory: experts and authorities. Not perfect, fallible, limitations: traditions: beliefs and values passed down generation to generation.
