Lesson Twelve: Popular Culture

Popular culture refers to the aesthetic products created and sold by profit-seeking firms operating in the global entertainment market. Hello Kitty is a pop culture icon, she is famous, cute and extremely popular because everybody loves her.

Cultural capital comes from cultural tastes that have value and can be converted into wealth, and ultimately help reproduce the class structure of our society. This collection of diamond necklaces could be converted into wealth and the owner is most likely upper class.

Taste is someone's preference for a certain type of fashion, music or other types of culture. This photo is a few of my records that identify my taste in music.

Emotional energy is the benefit that group members attain from taking part in social gatherings. This picture of a concert I attended portrays emotional energy.

Conspicuous consumption displays one's wealth through extravegent consumption of goods and services. This large house could be considered wasteful or lacking in obvious utility because of the size.

Lesson Eleven: Life at Home

Family is a social group whose members are bound by biological, legal or emotions ties. My mother, sister and I (minus dad)  make up a family.

A nuclear family is a heterosexual couple, a mom and a dad, with one or more children living in a household. My family is a nuclear family.

Endogamy refers to the marriage of two people within a social group. Graham and Sally are the same race therefore it is considered endogamy.

Exogamy refers to marriage of individuals from a different social group. Sally and Sid are not the same race and are from different ethnic backgrounds.

Monogamy is the practice of being in a relationship with only one person at a time. This photo of Sage and Jacob portrays a monagamous couple in love.

Lesson Ten: Gender and Sexuality

Sex consists of two biologically distinct categories, being male and female. This photo of Sage and Michael represents the two sexes, male and female.

Gender refers to the physical, behavioral and personailty traits that a group considers normal or average for its male or female members. This photo shows me and my old co-workers being extremely feminine; all of us wearing dresses and posing, all things considered feminine behavior.

 Gender role socialization is a lifelong process of learning to be like your gender, masculine or feminine. This mother is teaching her daughter how to be feminine by dressing her up in pink and putting bows in her hair.

 The media generates highly stereotypical gender roles. The television broadcasts programs for men and women specifically and also acts as an agent of socializtion.

Feminism is the belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. This photo is of Haley, she is an incredibly strong young woman who is also a feminist.



Lesson Nine: Race and Ethnicity

Race is a socially defined category. It is based on real or percieved biolgical differences between different groups of people. This photo shows three young black males. Biologically the pigment of their skin is a different color therefore they are classified as a certain race.

A minority group consists of a social group that is systematically denied the same resources available to other social groups in society. Unfortunately some Hispanic Americans will not have the same oppurtunities as other dominant social groups because of the way they are percieved by other groups, giving them an unfair disadvantage and staggered start.

Racism is a set of beliefs about the superiority or unsuperiority of one racial or ethnic group. This jewelery box could be considered racist because it is portraying all asians to wear kimonos and eating sushi. Therefore making it seem as if asians only wear kimonos and only eat sushi.

Discrimination is the unequal treatment of certain individuals because of the social or ethnic group that they belong to. Here are two seperate and unequal water fountains, the taller and more clean fountain is for whites and the small, dirty fountain is for people of "color".

The invisible knapsack is a metaphor for people who are born with unearned resources that they carry around with them. Since Sally was born into a middle class family she has an invisible knapsack where ever she goes.

Lesson Eight: Social Class

Upper class makes up 1% of the U.S population. They are the wealthiest people in the class system and they possess most of the wealth in the country. This photo shows Kate in all her glory as an upper class citizen, dripping in diamons and designer clothing.

The middle class is made up of 30% of the U.S population and are considered "white collar" workers. This is my house in a nice, suburban, middle class neighborhood.

The lower class makes up 20% of the U.S population and consists of poor people who generally have a lower literacy compared to other social classes. This photo shows Kate; a poor, lower class citizen, begging for change.

Although slavery is seriously frowned upon, it still exists in our world today. It is the most extreme type of social stratification based on ownership over people. Sally has been enslaved by Kate (an upper class citizen) to do all of her house work and what ever else Kate asks of her. Here she is seen acting as Kate's "tea table"

The working class makes up 30% of the U.S population and are made up of service idustry workers. Here is a real estate company filled with workers who perform their jobs in cubicles.

Lesson Seven: Deviance and Conformity

Deviance is a behavior, trait, belief or action that goes against social norms to provoke a negative reaction. In this photo a boy is smoking pot which violates the law.

Deviance avowal is a process in which an individual identifies as being deviant and creates their own labeling process. These boys identified with each other by being deviant and smoking pot.

Erving Goffman created the idea of stigma, which is a physical or social attribute that devalues a person's identity. This photo shows the tattoo on my forearm and the lavender dye in my hair. The tattoo on my arm can devalue my identity by making it difficult for me to get certain jobs. 



Violent crime is objective or the means to an end. It can include; murder, rape assault and robbery. This picture shows Kate breaking into a jewel safe to steal diamonds.

Incapacitation is a type of punishment that protects society from criminals by locking them up or executing them. After committing a violent crime I was incarcerated to protect the local civilians from my violent ways.



Lesson Six: Life in Groups

A group is a collection of individuals who share something in comon and interact with each other. This photo is a group of four individuals who are relating and interacting with eachother, I am not sure what they share in common. The fact that they are all three students perhaps?

An aggregate is a collection of people who inhabit a physical location but do not have lasting social relations. This aggregate is a group of people sitting at a stop light together, although they are in the same location they will most likely not call eachother the following day.

Secondary groups are generally organized around an activity. This secondary group is a local track team, they are all practicing to accomplish a certain goal but they do not necessarily identify with one another.

A dyad is the smallest form of a social group. It contains only two members and is unstable because if one person leaves the group, the group all together no longer exists. These two boys form a dyad, if one left the other it would no longer be a group, it would be an individual.

A triad is a social group made up of three individuals. A triad is slightly more stable than a dyad because any conflict between two members can be mediated by the third member. This triad is more stable than a dyad because if the couple to the left get into a fight the individual to the right can mediate.