Essentials of Sociology. George Ritzer

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СКАЧАТЬ can have adverse social and economic consequences for women. One study demonstrated that women who breastfed for more than six months suffered greater economic losses than those who did so for less time or not at all (Rippeyoug and Noonan 2012). Though some women who do not breastfeed can feel that they have failed to live up to cultural standards of being a “good mom,” others have developed resistance strategies to maintain a positive maternal identity, such as recognizing that the use of formula is not always an individual choice (Holcomb 2017).

      Ideology

      An ideology is a set of shared beliefs that explains the social world and guides people’s actions. There are many ideologies in any society, and some of them become dominant. For example, in the United States, meritocracy is a dominant ideology involving the widely shared belief that all people have an equal chance of succeeding economically based on their hard work and skills. Many people act on the basis of that belief and, among other things, seek the education and training they think they need to succeed.

      However, even with dedication and adequate education and training, not everyone succeeds. Among many other things, some people are luckier than others (Frank 2016). Even though they don’t deserve it, some people succeed because of a lucky break; others who deserve to succeed don’t because they are unlucky. This reflects the key fact that not all ideologies are true. For one thing, they may come from, and be true for, some groups of people (such as those in the upper classes) and not for others (those in the lower classes; Mannheim [1931] 1936). For another, they may be outright distortions used by one group to hide reality from another group (Marx [1857–1858] 1964). In this sense, it could be argued that meritocracy is an ideology created by the upper classes to hide the fact that those in the lower classes have little or no chance of succeeding. This fact is hidden from them to prevent them from becoming dissatisfied and rebellious. If the lower classes accept the ideology of meritocracy, they may be more likely to blame themselves for failing rather than the upper classes or the American economic system as a whole.

      Subcultures

      Within any culture there are subcultures, or groups of people who accept much of the dominant culture but are set apart from it by one or more culturally significant characteristics. In the United States, major subcultures include the LGBTQ community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people), Hispanics, Hasidic Jews, hip-hop fans, and youth. Muslims are becoming an increasingly important subculture in the United States (especially in cities such as Detroit). They already constitute a major subculture in many European countries, most notably France and Great Britain.

      Subcultures arise in the realm of consumption as well. For example, “brand communities” develop around particular brand name products (Todd and Soule 2018). Harley-Davidson motorcycle riders are one such subculture (called HOGs, for Harley Owners Group), with distinctive clothing, events, and norms. Brand communities have formed around a number of Apple products, such as the Macintosh computer (the “Mac”) and the iPad. The members of these communities share a number of cultural elements, including norms. In the case of the Mac, for example, some community members positively sanction “jailbreaking,” a method for hacking into Apple’s software to get around its restrictions and limitations.

      Any society includes many subcultures, such as hackers or those devoted to fishing, that develop around particular styles of life and share special vocabularies. A great deal of attention has been devoted to “deviant” subcultures, such as those of punks, goths, and the like (Barmaki 2016). In Great Britain, “football hooligans,” those who often engage in violence at or in regard to soccer matches, constitute a deviant subculture largely specific to that society (Ayres and Treadwell 2012; Dunning, Murphy, and Williams 1988). However, there are also many “straight” subcultures, such as those who play online games (e.g., Fortnite) or “straight” fans of clean eating (e.g., the Whole30 program [https://whole30.com] or the Paleo diet; Wood 2006).

      Another example of a subculture is the world of skateboarders. The majority of skateboarders accept most of the larger society’s culture, norms, values, and language, but they also differ in some ways. Many are more willing than most members of society to take physical risks, for example, by participating in the sport known as parkour, which involves using the body to overcome urban obstacles such as walls and ledges (Kidder 2012; Thorpe and Ahmad 2015). Skateboarders in general, as well as those who practice parkour, see such obstacles as enhancing the thrill of their activity.

      Skateboarding has developed a subculture with its own norms, values, language, and environments. Do you belong to any similar subcultures?

      Peet Simard/Corbis Documentary/Getty Images

      Countercultures

      Countercultures are groups that not only differ from the dominant culture but also adhere to norms and values that may be incompatible with those of the dominant culture. They may, in fact, consciously and overtly act in opposition to the dominant culture. The term counterculture was introduced by Theodore Roszak ([1968] 1995) in the late 1960s in reference to hippies, antiwar activists, and radical students.

      Computer hackers are a contemporary example of a counterculture. Many hackers simply seek to show their technical mastery of computers through relatively benign actions, such as writing free computer software, but a minority are devoted to subverting authority and disrupting the internet, and some are involved in stealing personal identification data (identity theft) and money (Alleyne 2018). They may write malicious code in order to interrupt or even shut down the normal operations of computers. In one famous case in 1988, Robert Tappan Morris unleashed what was thought to be the first worm that slowed down thousands of computers, making many of them unusable. Since then, many attempted and successful break-ins have threatened government and corporate computer systems (e.g., the Equifax break-in of 2017); the hackers’ goal has been to steal secret or personal information (like consumer credit data in the case of Equifax). A rash of break-ins into corporate computers was aimed at stealing credit card numbers and account information. For example, the account information of 56 million Home Depot customers was compromised; information on 40 million Target accounts had been hacked the year before (Perlroth 2014). Hackers also exposed the names of 30 million people who had accounts with Ashley Madison. This was particularly troublesome to the account holders because those who participated on the Ashley Madison website were interested in having adulterous affairs. The site’s slogan was “Life is short; have an affair” (McPhate 2016). Personal accounts have also been hacked and locked until the account holders paid ransom demanded by the hackers (Simone 2015). Hacking became a huge public issue in late 2016 when the Russians were caught hacking the accounts of Hillary Clinton and her supporters during the U.S. presidential campaign. Many believe that the Russians’ goal was to help Donald Trump win the election (Lipton, Sanger, and Shane 2016). While there is clear evidence that the Russians did hack Clinton’s e-mail account, as well as those of others associated with her campaign, and intervene in the 2016 election in other ways, preliminary analysis of the 2019 Mueller Report did not find sufficient evidence to clear Trump of the charge of colluding with the Russians in this effort. However, we can expect more revelations about this in the years to come as at least some of the report becomes public.

      In the realm of consumption, an important contemporary counterculture is formed by those associated with or sympathetic to the “voluntary simplicity” movement (Elgin 2010; Pelikán, Galcanova, and Kala, 2017). Sociologist Juliet Schor (1993, 1998) has critiqued the dominant American culture’s emphasis on what she calls “work and spend.” That is, we are willing to work long hours so that we can spend a great deal on consumption and live an ever-more elaborate lifestyle. СКАЧАТЬ