Sociology - Appunti Lezioni

GLOBAL CULTURE

A culture common to the world as a whole.

The Globalization of Values: values that are shared throughout the world

The global flow of all sorts of things―information, ideas, products, and people―produces realities

in most parts of the world that are more similar than ever before in history.

World Values Survey

The globalization of values has been the subject of the World Values Survey.

Findings: wide-ranging global shift from success to valuing more quality of life issues such as

lifestyle (free time to enjoy the activities and company that one prefers) and self-expression (the

opportunity to express one’s artistic talents)

FINDINGS

Other emerging global values are egalitarianism, especially as it relates to men and women, and

liberalization of sexuality

Do these changes signify the emergence of truly global values?

We can accept the idea that globalization has brought with its greater acceptance of some values in a

larger part of the world, but that is an exceptionally long way from saying that we have a global

value system.

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM

The imposition of one dominant culture on other cultures

Cultural Imperialism tends to destroy local cultures.

Americanization: the importation by other countries of a variety of cultural elements―products,

images, technologies, practices, norms, values, and behaviours―that are closely associated with the

United States.

AMERICANIZATION

The powerful process of Americanization I often countered by anti-Americanism.

Cultural hybrids combine elements of both local cultures and Americans cultures

American culture is a consumer culture, one relates in which the core ideas and material objects

relate to consumption and in which consumption is a primary source of meaning in life.

CONSUMER CULTURE

Consumer culture is rather unique in the history of the world, in the past, culture has generally

focused on some other aspect of social life such as religion, welfare, citizenship, or work.

Work culture: The Industrial Revolution until approximately 1970

1970: developed societies, especially the United States, were beginning to derive more meaning

from consumption

A POSTCONSUMER CULTURE

The Great Recession technically from late 2007 to mid-2009 in the USA

Because of the recession some authors have started to think about the possibility of a postconsumer

culture.

Many consumers have lost their ability and desire to consume.

Consumers, even those who are well off, are described as “more socially conscious and

embarrassed by flashy shows of wealth. Many people are saving money. These changes mean a

change in the larger value system LECTURE 29.01.2019

Deviance and Crimes

Deviance: is an action, that members of a society consider a violation of a group of norms for which

the violator is likely to be punished. An act that goes against the values of a group. But norms and

values differ from one group to another. When talking about deviance we are referring to a society,

which is why sociologist believe that there is no extrinsic bad (or intrinsic?). power has an influence

on the definition of an act of defiance, based on collective consciousness. Stealing: violation of the

right of private propriety. Abort, divorce, homosexuality, (all considered illegal before and legal

now). Theories of deviance: two sets of theories, some underline more the biological factor other

the sociological one. Main theories of deviance:

 Explanatory theories: the behaviour is caused by a wide variety of factors such as the biological

make up. It is a positivistic study for they consider deviant behaviours as objectively real and

therefore can be studied empirically. Explanation in nature. The Italian physician Cesare

Lombardo. Explain the deviance biologically. Some characteristics “ape-like” showed that one

person was more tendent to become deviant, some traits underline the deviant tendencies.

However, recent studies claimed that the genetics is also influenced by the social environment in

which someone lives in.

 Constructivists theories: want to understand the process by which people define and classify

some behaviours. Social problem not related to the environment anymore. A focus on those who

are in power and the actions they take to create deviance in the first place

 Structural/functional theories: Emile Durkheim: no society without deviance which exists in

society in all time we have to consider it as normal. They must have positive functions for the

larger society and its structures. The social impact of deviance which according to him

reinforces the positive and right attitudes and beliefs and acceptance of the dominant values. It

allows societies to define and clarify their collective beliefs, norms, and values. Deviance has a

positive effect. The norms that prohibit deviance would grow weak without the need to be

exercised on a regular basis in response to deviant acts.

 Strain theory. Merton Robert is the funder, elaborated in the 60s. a complete different social

awareness, the idea of society full of inequalities. A discrepancy between what is valued in a

society, and the structural means available to people to achieve that which is valued.

Wealth: achieved through challenging work, but if we value it then everyone should have access to

the means that give you the opportunity to gain that wealth. Education is a value but not everyone

can access to the best education services.

There is deviance because of the strain of the values that are dominant in a given society and the

structure of a given possibility. Model of diverse types of deviance. There are five types of

adaptations (relationship between means and ends)

a. Conformist: people who accept cultural goals (values as making money) and the traditional

means for achieving that goal. Not deviant, strain people.

b. Innovators: those who accept the goals that a society defines as good, but they reject the

conventional means of achievement. They are deviant for they choose nonconventional routes to

success. i.e. Casamonica. Belief in wealth but no acceptance of the work idea, became

criminals, criminal subculture.

c. Ritualists: people who understand that with what they are doing they will never become able to

achieve cultural goals (they will never become successful), nevertheless they continue to engage

in their conventional behaviour associated with such success (to stay in their job position.

Comfort in their life style). Neglecting the cultural goal.

d. Retreatants: reject goals and the traditional routes to their attainment. Completely given up on

reaching success within the system. No care for the engagement of the goals, no care for what

society says, people just want to stay out of the society: homeless men.

e. Rebels: similar to retreatants in that they reject both traditional means and goals. However, they

substitute non-traditional goals and means to those goals and means accepted by society. i.e. San

Francesco, hippies. They were trying to create a counter project, which was considered deviant

by the dominant culture.

Travis Hirschi: main author of the current. Social Control Theory (1969), it focuses on the reasons

why people do not commit deviant acts. People do not commit social act because of social control.

The social factors that control the tendencies of…: social bonds, altruism is a perfect mean to

contrast deviant acts. Bonds make people become less likely to become deviant, it teaches people to

become altruistic. It focuses on the inequalities that exists in society and the impact that it has on

individuals, inequality causes at least some of the less-powerful individuals in society to engage in

deviant and criminal acts bc they have fewer possibilities in succeeding in life.

Conflict theories: funded on inequality and the impact they have on the individual. Major focus on

the discrepancies among people on the economic and social level which causes the less powerful

ones will become deviant. The majority of the deviant people come from the lower classes. The

strain theory is close to the conflict theory. Everything is explained based on inequality.

Corporate or White-collar crimes: those who commit crimes, because of the nature of their high-

level position in various social structures makes it possible and easy for them to do so: corruption.

Further, conflict theorists argue, those in power in society create the laws and the rules that define

certain things as deviant, or illegal, while others are defined as normal. Those who are in an

elevated position cannot be processed.

Deviance and the Elite. Those who rank high in such hierarchies as business, gov, and the military

have a much greater ability to commit deviant acts (i.e. sexual harassment) to have them seen as

being legitimate, and to get away with them. 

Deviant career: originally presented as a legal The case of Bernie Madoff, a former chair of the

NASDAQ stock exchange, in the 90s, he turned to deviant and illegal methods to enhance his

wealth and power. Ponzi system, not in Italy but exported in the US. You give the money and invest

one something promising a 50% gain. The Ponzi scheme: instead of investing people’s money in the

stock market as promised, he used some of it to pay return to other investors, leading them to

believe the firm was remarkably successful. Meanwhile he used the fund as a personal piggy-bank

taking $65 billion form investors over the years. The problem sorted out with the escalation of the

crisis when people wanted to have their money back, of the kids one of them killed themselves and

the other one died of poverty? investors lost all of their money, founding themselves without

anything. The deviance in this behaviour is due to the refusal of the traditional means of achieving

the goal set up by a system.

Rational choice theory: claims that people do not commit or commit because they are rational a

think in terms or good and bad. Convenience of the deviant act. These people are not equal,

powerless people, they are just rational, like Madoff.

Labelling theory: no concern on the reasons of the deviant crimes but the focus is on the label.

Label a person as deviant is extremely dangerous and has many negative consequences. Label as a

negative symbol, you destroy their social/career life. Labelled people are treated as criminals. Police

officers and judges, if they caught you stealing once you are being told not to do it you will not do it

again, instead if you are labelled and put to jail is more likely to commit a crime again. Process of

definition of a person as a criminal, more likely to name with the status and show with it for the rest

of their lives. They look at the process of labelling and denounce the prejudices of the police men

and judges.

Primary deviance: in the ordinary acts, involve random early acts of deviance that are

considered to be strange and out of the ordinary.

Secondary deviance: persistence of the deviance process, an act that becomes more common

and eventually cause people to organise their lives and personal identities around deviant status.

It is the process by which