• State- consists of institutions that formulate and carry out a country's laws and public policies
• In peforming these functions, the state regulates citizens in civil society- the private sphere of social life

• Autocracy- absolute power resides in the hands of a single person or party
• Authoritarian states- sharply restrict citizen control of the state (and thus restrict citizen power).
• Democracy- citizens exercise a high degree of control over the state by choosing representatves in regular, competitive elections (power is more shared-one person=one vote).

• Citizens choose representatives in elections and enjoy the freedoms and constitutional protections that make political participation and competition meaningful
• 46% of countries were democratic in 2004, up from 29% in 1973

• corporate influence
• exclusion of entire populations
• inequality of representation
• uninformed manipulated public

• Different classes, religious groups, ethnic and racial communities compete for state control, but none dominate consistently
• Most often, politics involves negotiation between competing groups
• Because no one group is always able to control the political agenda, democracy is guaranteed.

• Elites are small groups that command a society's most influential institutions, including corporations, the executive branch of government, and the military
• The people who control these institutions make decisions that affect society without regard for elections or public opinion

• Existed since the beginning of human life
• For culture's to survive humans create not only tools, but also institutional and cultural arrangements that envelop such tools:
• norms governing who should perform given types of work
• customs
• laws that define what can be exchanged
• Work arrangements through cultures are more than "natural"
• Work arrangements are very variable

• Thought all activities should prepare one for politics; work=mental and physical degradation
• Better suited for slaves than citizens
• One exception was farming

• Work viewed as noble (God worked to create universe, then rested) and form of compensation/redemption for one's sins
• Warnings against not working were common
• Work=bring one closer to God

• Replaced hand tools with power-driven machines
• Sharp divisions of labor
• Simpler tasks
• Wage system

• The institution that organizes the production, distribution, and exchange of goods and services.

• Includes Farming, fishing, logging, mining and other industries in which raw materials are grown or extracted.

• Raw materials are turned into finished goods; manufacturing takes place. 

• Services are bought and sold

• U.S. economy moves from manufacturing to service
• Started 1970's
• Gave rise to two service oriented jobs
• Highly skilled information/knowledge based occupations
• Less skilled "support role" occupations

• Markets- social relations that regulate the exchange of goods and services
• Prices of goods and services are established by how plentiful they are (supply) and how much they are wanted (demand)
• Markets not just products, but also labor

• Free market- labor supply and demand regulate wage levels and other benefits
• Supply high & demand low = wages low
• Demand high & supply low = wages high

• Wage levels and benefits established not just by supply and demand.
• Also by power of workers and professionals
• Power driven by bargaining power of workers- individually and collectively
• Many countries "nationalize" this through a "labor party"
• U.S. does not

• Highest = Sweden 82%
• Lowest = United States 13%

• Mostly highly skilled or well educated white males
• Employed in large corporations that enjoy high levels of capital investment
• Employment relatively secure, earnings high, benefits generous
• Primary manufacturing and service jobs are more likely to be unionized

• Contains mostly women and racial minorities
• Employees tend to be unskilled and lack higher education
• Employment insecure, earnings low, benefits limited
• Secondary manufacturing and service jobs less likely to be unionized

• Private ownership of property
• Individuals and corporations own means of producing goods and services
• Free to buy and sell property
• Competition in the pursuit of profit
• Producers compete to offer goods and services at lowest price
• Markets for goods, services and labor are unregulated (no government intervention)

• Public ownership of property
• Government planning
• 5 year state plans establish production quotas, prices, and other aspects of economic activity

• Public ownership of certain basic industries (i.e. water and energy, education and health care)
• Most property privately owned
• Competition in creating profit is the main motive for business activity (like capitalist societies)
• Government intervention in market

• The term "socialism" and the fear associated with it has been used to argue against change in the healthcare system
• Education, military, criminal justice system, roads, parks, and other social institutions are socialized

Durkheim's Theory of Religion

(collective conscience, profane, sacred, totems, rituals)

• When people live together, they share common attitudes and values that operate as a unifying force within society (Collective conscience)
• When we experience the collective conscience directly, we can distinguish the profane (godless) everyday world from the sacred (religious or transcendent world)
• Totems- certain designated objects symbolizing the sacred, i.e. cross, buddah, etc
• Rituals- Public practices to connect us with the sacred, i.e. praying
• Function of rituals and religion as a whole is to reinforce social solidarity

• Commercials have evolved into a ritual

1. Overemphasizes religion's role in maintaining social cohesion, when religion often incites social conflict (especially in religiously heterogeneous areas)
2. Ignores the fact that when religion increases social cohesion, it often reinforces social inequality
3. Religion has also been essential to many social movements of equality

• Weber's term for the transformation of the unique gift of divine enlightenment into a permanent feature of everyday life
• Involves turning religious inspiration (the otherworldly) into a stable social institution with defined roles (interpreters of the divine message, teachers, offering ushers, etc)

• Some have argued that religious institutions, actions, and consciousness are on the decline
• Critics:
• There has been a religious recovery in the U.S. over the past 30 years
• Survey evidence shows religion in the U.S. is resilient
• Belief in life after death has been slowly increasing since the 1970s
• Significant growth in beliefs

• Suggests that worldly institutions break off from the instituion of religion over tme
• Result = religion governs an ever smaller part of most people's lives and becomes largely a matter of personal choice

Theories:

• Worldly institutions break off from the institution of religion over time
• As religion becomes unregulated, more unique "religious products" become available, and are "marketed" more vigorously
• More vigorous marketing = higher participation
• *Used to explain growth of religion in U.S.

• Outlier because of seperation of chruch and state couple with capitalism
• U.S. socially constructs need for religion

• Tech and leisure. Way we enjoy leisure alone.
• The development of technology has led us to be more partially antisocial
• More connected = less contact

• Initially snowboarding was invented to rebel skiing. Others joined along with it not solely because they like it but rather because it was a way to rebel against their parents. 
• Media however modernized and marketed it

• How we've put activities we do into socially constructed categories
• Overprogrammed kids- what was stickball is now little league

• In 1983 there were 50 media conglomerates
• In 2003 there were 5 which control well over 90% of all media outlets
• How we are being entertained is driven by the decisions of a relatively small group of very wealthy (primarily) white men
• Average leisure & media for US=28hrs/week

• Population studies
• Changes in size and/or age structure of population
• The role of birth cohorts
• Patterns of migration and urbanization

Demographic Transition Theory

(Crude Death Rate, Crude Birth Rate)

• Explains how changes in fertility and mortality affect population growth from preindustrial to postindustrial times
• Crude death rate= annual # deaths/1,000 people in population
• Crude birth rate= annual # live births/1,000 women in population

• Process in which people + institutions across the planet are becoming increasingly aware of and dependent on one another

Big Issues in Globalization:

Transnational Corporations (5)

Big Issues in Globalization:

Global Commodity Chains

• A worldwide network of labor and production processes whose end result is a finished commodity.

• Low labor costs
• Fewer industrial and environmental regulations
• Cooperative political structures

• Supplies jobs to poor countries
• Provides cheaper goods
• Expand markets

• New jobs are low quality and weak
• Old livelihood may disappear
• Environmental degradation
• Resources for transportation
• Can corrupt governments
• Generally increases inequality
• Loss of jobs in wealthier nation

Big Issues in Globalization:

Cultural Homogenization

• Different nations and cultural groups become more and more similar
• Some countries encourage visitors, others are more cautious

• The cultural domination of one country by another

Theories of Global Inequality:

Modernization theory

• Global inequality results from dysfunctional characteristics of poor societies

Theories of Global Inequality:

Dependency Theory

• Economic underdevelopment is the result of exploitative relations between rich and poor countries

• Pile environmental dangers on the disadvantaged
• Especially racial minorities
• Those living in less developed nations

Collective Action

(Nonroutine + routine collective action)

• Collective Action- when people act in unison to bring about or resist social, political, and economic change
• Nonroutine collective action- takes place when usual conventions cease to guide social action and people bypass established structures.
• Routine collective actions- follow established patterns of behavior in existing social structures

• Enduring collective attempts to change part or all of the social order by means of rioting, peititoning, striking, demonstrating, and establishing lobbies, unions, and political parties

• The number of union members in a given location and time as a percentage of nonfarm workers
• It measures the organizational power of unions

• going through society and life taking thought as to why and how certain things and people perform as they do, and how we as a society and/or individual view them.

• Ability to see things without any preconceptions as if you were seeing it for the first time

• allows us to understand the larger historical picture and it's meaning in our own lifes
• connection of personal experience and social structure (look at current world situation and how our lifes compare to it; why and how certain things happen)

• Where we are and who we are around affect how we perceive everything in the world

• experiment- controls the conditions; artificial. Create your own situation so you in the end in control of the outcome.
• Survey- a lot of info quickly; snapshot of people at a time and place. 
• Ethnography- Rather than viewing it from the outside, you become apart of the inside. Risks the possibility of becoming adapt to culture, but gain respect and trust.