Week 14 - November 26, 2007

Chapter 15 - Population, Urbanization, and Environment. Demography is the study of human population. Fertility is the incidence of childbearing in a country’s population. Demographers measure fertility using the crude birth rate or the number of live births in a given year for every thousand people in a population. Mortality is the incidence of death in a society’s population. Demographers measure mortality using the crude death rate or the number of deaths in a given year for every thousand people in a population. The infant mortality rate is the number of deaths among infants under one year of age for every thousand live births in a given year. Life expectancy is the average lifespan of a society’s population. Migration is the movement of people into and out of a specified territory. It may be voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary migration may be explained by “push” or “pull” factors. Movement into a territory is termed immigration and is measured by the in-migration rate. Movement out of a territory is termed emigration and is measured by the out-migration rate. The net-migration rate is the difference between the in-migration rate and the out-migration rate.

Demographic transition theory is a thesis linking population patterns to a society’s level of technological development. There are four stages involved with this development:
1. Stage 1, preindustrial; high birth rates, high death rates
2. Stage 2, onset of industrialization; high birth rates, lower death rates
3. Stage 3, industrial economy; declining birth rates, low death rates
4. Stage 4, postindustrial economy; low birth rates, steady death rates
1. Critical EvaluationThis approach suggests that technology holds the key to population control. It is compatible to modernization theory but not to dependency.

Extra Credit - Up to 5 points

Define the concepts of ecology, the natural environment, the ecosystems, and the environmental deficit and explain the general approach to urban analysis favored by urban ecologists.

Week 13 - November 19, 2007 - Examination Review and Examination III

Week 12 - November 1, 2007

Chapter 13 - Family and Religion. The family section of the chapter focuses on the family as a social institution, found in all societies, that unites individuals into cooperative groups that oversee the bearing and raising of children. Family ties are also called kinship, a social bond based on blood, marriage, or adoption. In the United States, most people regard a family unit as a social group of two or more people, related by blood, marriage, or adoption, who usually live together. Families form around marriage, a legally sanctioned relationship, usually involving economic cooperation, as well as sexual activity and childbearing, that people expect to be enduring. In preindustrial societies people take a broad view of family ties, recognizing the extended family, a family unit that includes parents and children as well as other kin. With industrialization, increasing social mobility and geographic migration give rise to the nuclear family, a family unit composed of one or two parents and their children.

Sociologist Emile Durkheim pointed out that, as human beings, we define most objects, events, and experiences as profane, that which is an ordinary element of everyday life. At the same time, we define some things as sacred, that which people set apart as extraordinary, inspiring a sense of awe and reverence. Religion is a social institution involving beliefs and practices based upon a conception of the sacred. The sacred is embodied in ritual, or formal ceremonial behavior. Religion is a matter of faith, belief anchored in conviction rather than scientific evidence. Sociology can investigate the social consequences of religious activity but can never assess the validity of any religious doctrine, precisely because religion is based on faith.

Week 11 - November 05, 2007

Chapter 12 - Economics and Politics focuses on these two entities are both major social institutions, or organized spheres of social life or societal subsystem, designated to meet human needs. The economy is the social institution that organizes a society’s production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The agricultural, industrial, and information revolutions all led to led to a dramatic expansion of the economy. The Information Revolution has caused tremendous changes in the economy. Our society must face the challenge of providing millions of men and women with the language and computer skills needed in the new economy. The global economy will continue to expand. Analysts around the world are rethinking conventional economic models.

Politics is the social institution that distributes power, sets a society’s agenda, and makes decisions. Power is the ability to achieve desired ends despite resistance from others. To a large degree, the exercise of power is the business of government, a formal organization that directs the political life of a society. Social organization depends on creating agreement about goals and how to attain them. This brings us to the concept of authority, power that people perceive as legitimate rather than coercive. Traditional authority is power legitimized by respect for long-established cultural patterns. Its importance declines as societies industrialize. Rational-legal authority is power legitimized by legally enacted rules and regulations. Charismatic authority is power legitimized through extraordinary personal abilities that inspire devotion and obedience. Because it is inherently unstable, charismatic authority must undergo a process of routinization of charisma in which it is transformed into a combination of traditional and rational-legal authority.

Extra Credit - Up to 5 Points

Explain what the text means by “terrorism as a new kind of war.”

Week 10 - October 29, 2007

Chapter 11 - Race and Ethnicity are terms people frequently confused. A race is a socially constructed category composed of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important. Race is a significant concept because most people regard it as very important. Ethnicity is a shared cultural heritage. Ethnicity involves even more variability and mixture than race because most people identify with more than one ethnic background. A minority is a category of people, distinguished by physical or cultural traits, who are socially disadvantaged. They have two important characteristics: a distinct identity and subordination. Not all members of a minority category are disadvantaged.

Prejudice is a rigid and irrational generalization about an entire category of people. Prejudices are prejudgments and they can be positive or negative. Prejudice often takes the form of stereotypes, which are exaggerated descriptions applied to every person in some category. A powerful and destructive form of prejudice, racism refers to the belief that one racial category is innately superior or inferior to another. Closely related to prejudice is discrimination, treating various categories of people unequally. While prejudice refers to attitudes, discrimination is a matter of actions. Like prejudice, it may be positive or negative. According to Robert Merton, prejudice and discrimination may combine in four different ways: active bigotry, timid bigotry, fair-weather liberalism, and all-weather liberalism.