social facts

Examples of social facts in the following topics:

• Defining Boundaries

  • Social groups are defined by boundaries.
  • Cultural sociologists define symbolic boundaries as "conceptual distinctions made by social actors…that separate people into groups and generate feelings of similarity and group membership. " In-groups, or social groups to which an individual feels he or she belongs as a member, and out-groups, or groups with which an individual does not identify, would be impossible without symbolic boundaries.
  • Where group boundaries are considered impermeable, and where status relations are considered reasonably stable, individuals are predicted to engage in social creativity behaviors.
  • Symbolic boundaries are a "necessary but insufficient" condition for social change.
  • He saw the symbolic boundary between the sacred and the profane as the most profound of all social facts, and the one from which lesser symbolic boundaries were derived.

• Social Epidemiology and Health

  • Social epidemiology studies the social distribution and social determinants of health.
  • Overall, Durkheim treated suicide as a social fact, explaining variations in its rate on a macro level, considering society-scale phenomena such as a lack of connections between people (group attachment) and a lack of regulations of behavior, rather than the feelings and motivations of individuals.
  • The book pioneered modern social research and served to distinguish social science from psychology and political philosophy.
  • Social epidemiology may focus on individual-level measures, or on emergent social properties that have no correlation at the individual level.
  • Social epidemiology overlaps with fields in the social sciences, such as medical anthropology, medical sociology, and medical geography.

• Social Classes

  • Social class is often hard to define; in fact, many people dispute the existence of social classes in the United States.
  • Social class can have a profound effect on consumer spending habits.
  • Perhaps the most obvious effect is the level of disposable income of each social class.
  • Marketers must be very aware of the social class of their target market.
  • A marketer should understand the dynamic of the social class as well.

• Stages in Social Movements

  • Blumer, Mauss, and Tilly, have described different stages social movements often pass through.
  • In fact, one of the difficulties in studying social movements is that movement success is often ill-defined because movement goals can change.

• The Value of Social Support in Managing Stress

  • Social support is the perception or reality that one is cared for, has assistance from others, and is a member of a supportive social network.
  • Social support is so important that social isolation can lead to depression, anxiety, and other negative emotions.
  • In fact, feelings of social isolation are one of the primary triggers of suicidality.
  • The term "social coping" refers to a person seeking social support while under stress.
  • Social support can be categorized in several different ways.

• The Stages of Social Movements

  • For Tilly, social movements are a major vehicle for ordinary people's participation in public politics.
  • He specifically distinguishes social movements from political parties and advocacy groups.
  • Social movements are not eternal.
  • In fact, one of the difficulties in studying social movements is that movement success is often ill-defined because the goals of a movement can change.
  • Discuss the process and purpose of social movements, defined by Blumer, Mauss and Tilly

• Social Exclusion

  • Social exclusion is a concept used in many parts of the world to characterize forms of social disadvantage.
  • It is quite difficult to measure social exclusion quantitatively, as social exclusion is relative, sensitive, and variable.
  • The causes of social exclusion vary from country to country, but there are general causes that social scientists have identified.
  • Growing crime rates may reflect the fact that an increasing number of people do not feel valued or included in the societies in which they live.
  • Punk social groups are often considered marginal and are excluded from certain mainstream social spaces.

• Mead

  • For Mead, the self arises out of the social act of communication, which is the basis for socialization.
  • For example, to believe my cheating spouse is faithful may help me feel better now, but it is certainly not useful from a more long-term perspective because it doesn't accord with the facts (and is therefore not true).
  • For example, to believe my cheating spouse is faithful may help me feel better now, but it is certainly not useful from a more long-term perspective because it doesn't align with the facts (and is therefore not true).
  • Mead's concept of the social act is relevant, not only to his theory of mind, but also to all facets of his social philosophy.
  • Discuss Mead's theory of social psychology in terms of two concepts - pragmatism and social behaviorism

• Computer Mediated Social Communication

  • What are the social implications of CMC?
  • Does communicating through text make CMC low in "social presence" without necessary social contextual cues like eye contact?
  • Social presence theory contends that CMC is incomplete compared to face-to-face communication in social context cues like facial expressions, posture, dress, social status indicators, and vocal cues (Sproull & Kiesler, 1991).
  • Kraut et al. (1998) found that over a one or two-year period, first-time internet users noticeably decreased their traditional social networks and social support.
  • Katz and Aspden (1997) found that when the internet was placed in the home it did not result in people "dropping out of real life" and in fact, it augmented involvement in traditional family based activities.

• Class Structure in the U.S.

  • American society is stratified into social classes based on wealth, income, educational attainment, occupation, and social networks.
  • Most social scientists in the U.S. agree that society is stratified into social classes.
  • In spite of debate, most social scientists do agree that in the U.S. people are hierarchically ranked in a social class structure.
  • This critique is somewhat mitigated by the fact that income is often closely aligned with other indicators of status; for example, those with high incomes likely have substantial education, high status occupations, and powerful social networks.
  • Thus social classes form social groups so large that they feature considerable internal diversity and any statement regarding a given social class' culture should be seen as a broad generalization.