South 고등학교 3학년 Society and Culture
Chapters: 5
1. Researching social and cultural phenomena
Features of social phenomena · Research methods · Research process · Research ethics
- Sociological Research Methods – Sociologists study society by doing research, step by step: choose a topic, write an aim or hypothesis, run a small pilot study, choose a sample, collect data, analyse it and draw conclusions. A sample is a small group picked from the whole population; it should be representative so the results can be generalised. Quantitative data are numbers (from questionnaires, structured interviews, official statistics); qualitative data are words and meanings (from unstructured interviews, observation, documents). Primary data are collected by the researcher; secondary data already exist. Good research is reliable (repeatable), valid (a true picture) and representative. Researchers choose methods based on practical issues (time, cost, access), ethical issues (consent, confidentiality, harm, deception) and theory: positivists prefer scientific, numerical methods, while interpretivists prefer methods that capture people's meanings.
- Research Ethics: Doing Research the Right Way – Research ethics are the rules that keep research fair and safe. Five big rules: do no harm, get informed consent, protect privacy, be honest with data, and give credit to every source. Good research needs both a good method and good behaviour.
2. Individual and social structure
Views of individual and society · Status and roles · Groups and organisations · Deviance
- Introducing Society and Sociology – Society is the web of groups and relations we live in. Every person is an individual, yet always part of groups like family, class and village. There is not one society but many, and inside each one people have unequal shares of money, power and respect. Sociology, the scientific study of society, was born in 19th-century Europe when reason, revolution and factories changed life fast. It studies almost every part of social life and works closely with economics, political science, history, psychology and anthropology.
- Deviance and Social Control – Deviance is behaviour that breaks the norms a group expects. Social norms come from custom; legal norms are laws, and breaking them is crime or delinquency. Deviance is relative: it changes between groups and over time. Societies keep order through informal and formal social control, using positive and negative sanctions. Theories explain deviance through strain, learning in groups, weak social bonds and labelling, which can lead to stigma and a deviant career. Official crime figures miss a large 'dark figure' of unreported crime.
3. Culture and everyday life
Understanding culture · Subcultures · Mass culture and media · Cultural change
- World Cultures: How Cultures Express, Change and Belong – Culture is a group's shared way of life. Like an iceberg, a small part is visible (food, dress, music, festivals) and a big part is hidden (values and beliefs). Cultural expressions such as art, festivals and rituals do jobs for people: identity, joy, memory and belief, and many cultures use similar forms. Big events like trade, migration and colonisation change cultures; some languages and customs are lost and later revived. Countries use policies such as assimilation, integration or multiculturalism, and newcomers often meet systemic barriers. Social action follows a cycle: find a need, plan and gain support, act, evaluate. All of it is studied with careful research.
- Cultural Diversity – Cultural diversity means many groups with different ways of life live together. Ethnocentrism judges others by your own culture; cultural relativism first understands a custom in its own setting. Prejudice and stereotypes block respect. Societies have a mainstream culture, subcultures and countercultures. Universal human rights set the limit: differences deserve respect, harm to people does not.
- Popular Culture: What Millions Enjoy, and Why It Matters – Popular culture is the music, films, TV, games, fashion, sport, memes and celebrities enjoyed by large numbers of ordinary people. Mass media spread it to millions at once, especially since 1950. Some thinkers see it as a "culture industry" that sells standard products to a passive public; others see audiences as active, choosing and remixing. Subcultures create their own styles, which can later join the mainstream and spread worldwide.
- Cultural Change: How Cultures Spread, Mix and Grow – Culture is the way a group lives: food, dress, language, beliefs and tools. It never stands still. Cultural change happens when habits spread from one group to another (diffusion), when groups in long contact blend their habits (acculturation), and when people invent new ideas inside their own group.
4. Stratification and inequality
Functionalism and conflict theory · Social mobility · Forms of inequality · Social welfare
- Income Inequality – Income inequality means income is shared unevenly between people. Economists rank people from poorest to richest, split them into five groups of 20% (quintiles) and compare their shares. The Lorenz curve plots the cumulative share of income against the cumulative share of people; the further it bends from the straight line of equality, the more unequal the society. The Gini coefficient = A ÷ (A + B) turns this into one number between 0 (perfect equality) and 1 (one person has everything). Wealth (what you own) is usually more unequal than income (what you earn). Causes include differences in skills, education, inherited wealth, discrimination and technology. Governments reduce inequality with progressive taxes, benefits, minimum wages and public services such as free schooling and health care.
- Social Mobility – Social mobility means moving from one social layer to another. It can be between parent and child (intergenerational) or within one life (intragenerational). The result can be upward, downward, or staying in the same layer (reproduction). Sociologists measure it with mobility tables. Some movement happens because the job structure changes (structural mobility); the rest tells us how fair chances are (social fluidity). School, family money, culture, contacts and the economy all help explain who moves.
- The Welfare State and Social Security – A welfare state is a state that protects people against the big risks of life: illness, job loss, old age, disability and poverty. It does this with a safety net made of three parts. Social insurance is paid from contributions taken from wages. Social assistance is paid from taxes to people in need. Public services such as schools and hospitals are open to everyone. Countries mix these parts in different ways: liberal (low tax, small help), conservative (help linked to your job) and social-democratic (high tax, help for all). Today welfare states face ageing populations, rising costs, global competition and many informal workers.
5. Social change today
Theories of change · Globalisation and informatisation · Low birth rate, ageing, multiculturalism · Global problems
- Social Change and Social Order in Villages and Cities – Social change means a big, lasting change in how society is organised. It can be slow (evolutionary) or sudden (revolutionary), and it can change structures, ideas or values. It is caused by the environment, technology and the economy, politics and culture. Social order is the other side: the way society keeps itself steady through shared values, domination, authority and law. Order is always challenged by contest, crime and violence. Villages, towns and cities differ in size, density and work, and each changes in its own way.
- Globalisation and Global Governance – Globalisation is the growth of flows of goods, capital, information and labour that tie places together. Technology, transport and trade deals drive it. The flows are unequal: rich economies hold more power, poorer ones have weaker market access. TNCs spread production of one product across many places. Agencies like the UN, WTO, IMF and World Bank try to govern these flows, and treaties protect global commons such as Antarctica. Globalisation brings growth and cheaper goods but also inequality, conflict and environmental harm.
- Population Ageing – Population ageing means older people form a growing share of a population. It has two drivers: fewer births (total fertility rate below about 2.1) and longer lives. Fewer workers per older person strains pensions, health care and the labour supply, while schools need fewer places. Societies respond with support for families, later and flexible retirement, pension and care reforms, technology, lifelong learning and sometimes immigration.
- Global Citizenship – A global citizen belongs to local, national and world communities at the same time. The world is interconnected, and problems such as poverty, hunger, conflict and climate change are shared. Global citizens know their rights and duties, care about people far away, reduce their ecological footprint, and act locally while thinking globally.