SOCI1503-Exam QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS A+ GRADED. Buy Quality Materials!
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SOCI1503-Exam QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS A+ GRADED. Buy Quality Materials!
What are the positive and negative associations of shopping?
+: bonding with friends and family, fun; -: time consuming, expensive, social pressure.
What is the central shopping paradox?
Idea developed by Christine Will...
What are the positive and negative associations of shopping?
+: bonding with friends and family, fun; -: time consuming, expensive, social pressure.
What is the central shopping paradox?
Idea developed by Christine Williams. Shopping can be both a pleasurable distraction
and a laborious chore, a means to express individuality and to forge bonds with others,
an activity at once discretionary and mandatory, highly personal and inherently social.
What is consumption?
It can include acquiring and consuming goods through many non-market means. Also
common to pre-modern and capitalist societies.
What is shopping?
Refers to a specific way of acquiring goods through the marketplace, unlike
consumption. It is a sub-category of consumption.
What was shopping like in pre-modern cultures?
Involved trading and bartering goods in the marketplace.
What was shopping like with the rise of capitalism?
Virtually all of life's essentials are bought through the marketplace. Some of the earliest
modern shopping spaces to attract scholarly attention were the 1800s Paris arcades.
What are the 1800s Paris arcades?
Multiple buildings, decorated with iron columns, glass roof, shoppers could travel
between shops in a seamless way. Early form of a shopping mall, signifies emergence
of modern consumer society.
Who were the clear targets for shopping?
Women. "Making a home" required them to purchase goods in the marketplace. Early
department stores were a safe and socially sanctioned public place for women.
What idea did social anxieties emerge around in terms of shopping?
The idea of shopping addicts abandoning their children (in supervised play areas) and
their husband to satisfy their want for new goods.
Did people develop brand loyalties?
Yes, and department stores became less significant (culturally and financially). Ex:
sears closing.
What are big box stores?
Freestanding spaces that specialize in selling large quantities of a specific category of
merchandise at low prices. They work to monopolize specific types of goods at the
expense of local retail stores and department stores. Modern big box stores were
,institutionalized by Charles Lazarus, the Toys R Us founder. Ex: Home Depot, Bed,
Bath, & Beyond).
What was shopping like in the U.S. and Europe from the 1870s on?
Mail order catalogues were used. Now, online shopping is very prevalent.
What is gentrification?
The process where a poor urban area is changed by wealthier people moving in,
improving housing, and attracting new businesses, typically displacing current
inhabitants in the process. Exemplified by the regenerative branding (or what some call
"mall-ification" or "Disney-fication") of Times Square.
What is the result of gentrification?
These processed frequently establish a link between shopping spaces, leisure, and
tourism. This influx of business can boost the local economy, but it may come at a
significant social cost. As a result, long-standing residents are often pushed out of newly
gentrified spaces that cater to the taste preferences and budgets of middle and upper
income inhabitants. An increase in prices and rents makes it difficult for lower-income
residents to stay in the neighbourhood.
What was shopping like from the 1930s onward?
Dominant economic policy of Keynesianism suggested that shopping and spending,
instead of saving, was a help to the economy since it brings money in to help avoid
recession.
What was shopping like in the 1960s?
Many industrialized economies began to outsource factory work, giving new weight to
the idea of consumption as a catalyst for domestic and global economic growth.
What is the utility maximization model of social behaviour?
It emphasizes the rational exchange of money for well-priced items in the shopping
process. Social scientists refer to this as a rational choice model of human behaviour. It
assumes people are rational and behaving purposefully to achieve a desired result.
Often has great predictive power.
Why are we sometimes drawn towards high priced brands, and other times not?
Sometimes we value getting a good deal. Other times we are drawn towards higher
priced brands and specialty stores because the goods have an allure. This is partially
because consumption is linked to our identity.
Why do some people not want to be a part of the group that pride themselves on
getting good deals and saving money (the "cheapskates")?
This group is often stigmatized in a culture that admired luxury, opulence, and celebrity
lifestyles.
What is structure-agency tension?
Debates around consumer agency.
What is the consumer dupe?
Structure is greater than agency. Consumer culture is seen as a manipulative force that
encourages reckless spending. Emphasizes the downsides of overspending and other
macro perspectives (environmental effects of consumer culture; exploitation of workers
in global commodity chains.
What is the consumer hero?
Sees consumption as a form of expression and meaning, while depicting consumers as
free agents. They select and transform the goods they purchase. It relates to the
, consumer sovereignty thesis. Depicts consumer culture as a pleasurable form of choice
and as a marker of political freedom. Emphasizes creative ways that consumer
culturiste can be manipulated, transformed, and used in unexpected ways (ex:
vandalizing a billboard to critique the company's message).
What is the consumer sovereignty thesis?
It suggests that consumer demand drives the social good because consumers are
autonomous and send messages to companies to produce things they want to buy. It
often relies on the rational choice of human behaviour.
What is social order?
The degree of stability, order, and cohesion in society (as opposed to chaos, welfare,
and conflict).
What is a Durkheim and functionalist approach to social order?
The way in which stability and cohesion in society are maintained. Believe social order
is maintained by (1) interdependence of groups and institutions who perform different
social functions and (2) shared social values.
What is a Weberian or Marxist approach to social order?
They are most likely to emphasize the creation of social order through power,
domination, and hegemony.
What are Durkheimian approaches?
They tend to focus on the importance of shared values and norms that integrate society
and allow it to gel as a whole. For Durkheim and those they followed in his wake, the
question of shared values was critical to understanding the creation and breakdown of
social order in the modern world. Sometimes these approaches are described as a part
of functionalism because they emphasize how various elements of society (like family,
law, and religious values) are necessary for the functioning and stability of society as a
whole.
What is social solidarity?
A form of social/group cohesion. Having a sense of "we-ness" or connection with others.
A society with strong social solidarity has cohesive norms regulating action, a strong
sense of shared values, intense and frequent interactions between group members, a
sense of "unity," and minimal conflict. It is maintained through what Durkheim called
collective conscience.
What did Durkheim believe about social solidarity?
He believed that societies with strong social solidarity were likely to have lower suicide
rates. He believed sociologists needed to study on social facts instead of on individual
impulses. He believed members are connected by (1) shared values, (2) norms
regulating actions, and (3) frequent and intense social interactions.
What is mechanical solidarity?
Social solidarity of pre-industrial societies. A strong common culture based in religion.
Undeveloped division of labour generates similar life experiences. Instead of individual
identity, people use family/clan/village identity. Everything is organized and there is
order.
What is organic solidarity?
Social solidarity of industrial societies. Specialized division of labour generates different
experiences, values, and norms. Interdependence among individuals, groups, and
organizations.
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