Contrast ideal culture and real culture and provide examples of each. What will be an ideal ...

Answer to q. 1

Sociologists stress that a gap always exists between ideal culture and real culture in a society. Ideal culture refers to the values and standards of behavior that people in a society profess to hold. Real culture refers to the values and standards of behavior that people actually follow. For example, we may claim to be law-abiding (ideal cultural value) but smoke marijuana (real cultural behavior), or we may think of ourselves as good citizens (ideal cultural value) but we may regularly drive over the speed limit (real cultural behavior). Most of us are not completely honest about how well we adhere to societal values. The degree of discrepancy between ideal culture and real culture is relevant to sociologists investigating social change.

Large discrepancies provide a foothold for demonstrating hypocrisy (pretending to be what one is not or to feel what one does not feel). These discrepancies are often a source of social problems; if the discrepancy is perceived, leaders of social movements may use it to point out people's contradictory behavior. For example, preserving our natural environment may be a core value, but our behavior (such as littering highways and lakes) contributes to its degradation.

Answer to q. 2

FALSE

Answer to q. 3

d

Answer to q. 4

Value contradictions are values that conflict with one another or are

mutually exclusive (achieving one makes it difficult, if not impossible, to

achieve another). Core values of morality and humanitarianism may

conflict with values of individual achievement and success. For example,

in the 1990s, humanitarian values reflected in welfare and other

government aid programs came into conflict with values emphasizing

hard work and personal achievement. Many people are more ambivalent

about helping the poor or homeless than about helping victims of natural

disasters such as floods, hurricanes, or earthquakes in this or other

countries. For example, in the aftermath of the earthquake in Kobe,

Japan, in 1995, some people in the United States viewed economic aid

to Japan more favorably than welfare benefits for unwed mothers in the

U.S. under the age of eighteen.

Answer to q. 5

According to political sociologist Michels, all organizations encounter the iron law of

oligarchythe tendency to become a bureaucracy ruled by the few. His central idea

was that those who control bureaucracies not only wield power but also have an

interest in retaining their power. Power may be concentrated in the hands of a few

people because rank-and-file members must inevitably delegate a certain amount of

decision-making authority to their leaders. Leaders then have access to information

that other members do not have. They also have clout, which they may use to

protect their own interests, sometimes at the expense of the interests of others.

Oligarchy may also result when individuals have certain outstanding qualities that make

it possible for them to manage, if not control, others. The members choose to look to

their leaders for direction the leaders are strongly motivated to maintain their power

and privileges.

Answer to q. 6

c

Answer to q. 7

Scholars have suggested several ways in which language and gender are intertwined. For example, the English language ignores women by using the masculine form to refer to human beings in general (e.g., the word man is used generically in words like chairman and mankind.). A language-based predisposition to think about women in sexual terms reinforces the notion that women are sexual objects. Women are often described by terms such as fox, broad, bitch, babe, or doll, which ascribe childlike or even pet-like characteristics to them. By contrast, men have performance pressures placed on them by being defined in terms of their sexual prowess, e.g., dude, stud, and hunk.

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