Interactionist perspective – Various Perspectives

Interactionist perspective – Various Perspectives

 Beliefs, defined  Three kinds of beliefs  Attitude, defined ◦  The link between beliefs, attitudes, and value

 Three definitions ◦ Sociological  ◦ Synonymous with “attitude” ◦ Similar to an attitude, but more basic 

 Values serving individual interests vs. values serving collective interests ◦  Terminal vs. Instrumental Values  Openness to change vs. conservation

 Value hierarchy ◦  Overt, or hidden  Value congruence and conflict  What values are not! ◦ ◦

 Physical  Ameliorative  Moral  These are not mutually exclusive!

 Social problems as value conflict  Another view of social problems as a process: ◦ ◦ ◦  Social problems emerge from a mix of objective conditions and subjective definitions

 “personal” problems vs. “social problems”  The Sociological Imagination  Biological and Psychological influences  “Objective reality”  “Subjective reality” ◦ The Social Construction of Society

 The role of “meaning”  The role of “language”  The role of “social learning”  How social “things” are socially constructed ◦ gender, race, status, money, college degree ◦ ◦

 “…all human knowledge is socially constructed through our language, which means that all social problems are socially constructed.” (Best 2008:16)

Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me... They must be Gods!

Hey, these people I live with feed me, love me, provide me with a nice warm, dry house, pet me, and take good care of me... I must be God!

 Who defines something as a social problem? ◦ ◦  What do they (try to) do about it?  How does it “spread?”  How does it impact those affected?

 Transformation process ◦  Legitimization process ◦

 Conflict stage ◦  Outside the system, or change the system? ◦

 Making arguments  Issues and Conclusions  Reasons and Evidence  Stated and Unstated Assumptions  Fallacies of logic

 Karl Marx’s view: ◦  Max Weber’s view: ◦  Our working definition: ◦ “At its most basic, class is one way societies sort themselves out” (pg. 8)

 The four most commonly used criteria to measure class: ◦  Other ways we measure class?

 Social Mobility ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦  Quote, page 14  Causes of the drop in mobility ◦ ◦

 Rising inequality and class differences has led to negative changes in: ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦

 As a way to talk about social class  As a way to talk about the economic distribution in America  As a way to discriminate

Ask the GINI !