Countermovement Examples

Racism is belief that humans are subdivided into distinct groups that are different in their social behavior and innate capacities and that can be ranked as superior or inferior (p.250). Racism can be expressed at the personal level through individuals attitudes and behavior, at the cultural level in language and collective ideologies, and at the macrostructural level in the everyday workings of social institutions (p. 231). This is all racism that is discovered in all societies. Personal racism is the expression of racist attitudes or behaviors by individual people. Such as, stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, colorism, and even racial transparency. A stereotype is an overgeneralized belief that a certain trait behavior, or attitude characterizes
all members of some identifiable group (p. 250). Prejudice is a rigidly held, unfavorable attitudes, beliefs, and feelings about members of a different group based on a social characteristic such as race, ethnicity, or gender (p. 250). Discrimination is an unfair treatment of people based on some social characteristic, such as race, ethnicity, or sex. Colorism is a skin color prejudice within an ethnoracial group, most notably between light-skinned and dark-skinned Blacks. Racial transparency is a tendency for the race of a society’s majority to be so obvious, normative, and unremarkable that it becomes, for all intents and purposes, invisible (p. 250). It’s noted as “having no color” (p.235). Certainly, derogatory racial slurs reflect underlying racism. But racism in language is often less obvious. Consider the use of panethnic labels-general terms applied to diverse subgroups that are assumed to have something in common (p. 236). As well as institutional racism is included which consists of established laws, customs, and practices that systematically reflect and produce racial inequalities in society, whether or not the individuals maintaining these practices have racist intentions (p. 238).

2. How do social forces in America determine male and female behavior? How does this ideology lead to gender stratification? How do American social institutions reinforce this stratification? Social forces determine male and female behavior like sexism. Sexism refers to a system of beliefs that assert the inferiority of one sex and that justify discrimination based on gender-that is, on feminine or masculine roles and behaviors (p. 253). Personal sexism is most apparent during the course of everyday interaction in the form of communication patterns and gestures. It can particularly dangerous when expressed in the form of sexual harassment and sexual violence. Gender stratification is perpetuated by a dominant cultural ideology that devalues women on the basis of alleged biological differences between men and women. This ideology overlooks the equally important role of social forces in determining male and female behavior. Institutional sexism exists in the media, in the law, in the family, in the educational system, and in the economy. Women have entered the paid labor force in unprecedented numbers, but they still tend to occupy jobs that are typically considered “female” and still earn significantly less than men. Not only are social institutions sexist in that women are systematically segregated, exploited, and excluded; they are also gendered (p. 276).

3. What do sociologists mean by birth cohort? Are they distinctive generations shaping and also influenced by social events? Elaborate.
Birth cohorts are sets of people who were born during the same time period and who face similar societal circumstances brought about by their position in the age structure of the population (p. 279). Birth cohorts affect people’s everyday lives in two fundamental ways which includes cohort effects and period effects. Cohort effects is a phenomenon in which member of a birth cohort tend to experience a particular life course event or rite of passage-puberty, marriage, childbearing, graduation, entry into the workforce, death-at roughly the same time. Meanwhile, period effects is a phenomenon in which a historical event or major social trend contributes to the unique shape and outlook of a birth cohort (p. 296). Cohort and period effects combine to give each birth cohort its distinctive properties, such as ethnic composition, average life expectancies, and age-specific birthrates. These two effects also influence your worldview and self-concept. Think how different your goals and ambitions would be had you experienced childhood during a time of relative affluence (such as the late 1990s) as opposed to a period of severe economic uncertainty (say, the late 2000s). Rights and privileges taken for granted by one cohort are likely to be considered unattainable dreams by a different one (p. 280).

4. Distinguish between reform, social, and revolutionary movements. Can you identify any recent or current social movements in America?
Depending on the nature of their goals, social movements can be categorized as reform movements, countermovements, or revolutionary movements.
A reform movement attempts to change limited aspects of a society but does not seek to alter or replace major social institutions. An example would be the U.S. civil rights movement which was in the 1960s (p. 306). Countermovements are designed to prevent or reverse the changes sought or accomplished by an earlier movement. A countermovement is most likely to emerge when the reform movement against which it is reacting becomes large and effective in pursuing its goals and therefore comes to be seen as a threat to personal and social interests (p. 307). An example of this would be the emergence in the 1980s-1990s of a conservative social countermovements also known as the religious right, evangelicals, and even Christian right. Revolutionary movements attempt to overthrow the entire system itself, whether it is the government or the existing social structure, in order to replace it with another. The American Revolution of 1776 and the French Revolution of 1789 is an example of this (p. 308). A recent social movement in America would be the gay rights movement. The people leaning towards the liberal side of the political spectrum argue that gay people should have the right to do what they want and that they should be able to get married, have families, and do any other things that their hearts desire. The people on the conservative
side however, tend to be more of the old fashioned type, and disagree with gay marriage, arguing that it should not be allowed or that if it is allowed, that they do not have to accept it. These disagreements have led to the gay rights movement where homosexuals and their supporters have stood up to argue against the people that disagree with their lifestyle by using protests, marches, strikes, and finding ways to get their ideas out to the public through celebrities, news, and social media.

5. Taking heart of what we have discussed and read this semester, present a broad summary of how people (we) are shaped by society using various social institutions (e.g., family, education, religion) as points of reference. In thinking about your answer consider someone asking you what sociology is about, how would you answer?
As people, everyone is shaped by society like by our ethnicity, religion, families, peers, and even by the community we are involved in or live in.
There are many factors that come into play like our family and peers help influence us to be who we are. Then there is our religion that which sets certain boundaries and rules to follow. Circumstances affect you, what class you are and where exactly you grew up at. Like in Africa and other countries many of them do not have clean water which this affects their lifestyle completely. Come to find out, everything in our lives affects us and our lifestyles are based on the things that are in our lives even if we don’t realize it or not. Personally, I have came to the conclusion that sociology is how society affects a person. This includes everything I already listed with family, ethnicity, peers, class, education, and government. Everyone is affected by these but not all in the same way as others. Sociology is the study of a person in their life; it’s by seeing how all of these things have impacted them, and still seeing the current impacts; and even trying to predict future ones. Sociology is the systematic study of human societies; it’s not quite a study but an observation. A compiling of much data, and while there is so much we have discovered, there is still so much we do not yet know. It is a study of causes and effects, actions and reactions; in some ways it is even
unpredictable.