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Sociology,
Chapter 1 Glossary Capitalists:
The members of an industrialized society who own and control the
means of production (the land, factories, machinery, and so
forth). Conflict perspective: A theoretical perspective that focuses on interests that
divide people within society, leading to domination and exploitation
within human relationships. Dysfunctional:
A term referring to the negative or obsolete consequences of
particular social patterns that disrupt social systems. Functionalist
perspective: A theoretical perspective that emphasizes how each part of a
society or social institution contributes to the whole. Ideal type:
A pure model of a particular social pattern or process that is
uses as a basis for comparing social arrangements in the real world. Interactionist
perspective: A theoretical perspective that focuses on how people interact
in everyday situations and how they make sense of their social
relationships. Latent functions:
The unintended and often overlooked consequences of particular
social patterns. Manifest functions:
The intended and recognized consequences of particular social
patterns. Proletariat:
The members of an industrialized society who have no control over
the means of production — primarily the workers. Social dynamics:
The way in which various social patterns arise and the way in
which they change. Social facts: Properties of social life that cannot be explained by reference to the activities, sensibilities, or characteristics of individual persons; instead, they emerge in the course of human interaction. Social statics:
The way in which the various components of society are structured
and interrelated, and the functions they serve. Sociological
imagination: A way of looking at our personal experiences in the context
of what is going on in the world around us. Sociology:
The systematic study of human societies and of human behavior in
social settings. Symbolic interaction: The communication between individuals that occurs by means of
symbols --- such as words, gestures, facial expressions, and sounds. System:
A complex independent parts, each tending to fulfill various
requirements that contribute to the maintenance of the whole. Theory:
A systematic explanation of how two or more phenomena are
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Chapter 2 Glossary Altruism:
A norm of scientific community identified by Merton that
discourages a scientist from using scientific findings for personal
interests. Anomie:
A condition within society in which people’s integration within
the social fabric is weakened and their commitment to societal norms
lessened. Content analysis:
A research method that provides a way to systematically organize
and summarize both the manifest and latent content of communication. Control group:
In an experiment, the subjects who are not exposed to the
independent variable, giving the experimenter a basis for comparison
with subjects who are exposed to it. Counternorm:
A shared standard of desirable behavior that runs counter to an
identifiable norm. Dependent variable:
A quality or factor that is affected by one or more independent
variables. Experiment:
A research method that exposes subjects to a specially designed
situation. By
systematically recording subjects’ reactions, the researcher can
assess the effects of several different variables. Experimental group:
In an experiment, the subjects exposed to the independent
variable and observed for changes in behavior. Field experiment:
An experiment carried out in a real-life setting. Field Observation:
A research method in which researchers deliberately involve
themselves in the activity, group, or community they are studying in
order to get an insider’s view. Hawthorne effect:
The impact that an experiment has because researchers give the
subjects special attention. Historical materials:
Data pertaining to acts, ideas, and events that shaped human
behavior in the past. Hypothesis:
A proposition about how two or more factors or variables affect
or are related to one another. Impartiality: A norm of the scientific community that calls for judging a scientist’s claims according to impersonal criteria. Independent variable:
A quality or factor that affects one or more dependent variables. Laboratory
experiment: Experiment
carried out in the artificial setting of a laboratory, where control
over variables is possible. Mean: The average; obtained by adding all figures in a series of data and dividing them by the number of items. Median:
The number that falls in the middle of a sequence of figures. Mode:
The figure that occurs most often in a series of data. Norm:
A rule that specifies appropriate and inappropriate behavior; a
guideline people follow in their relations with others. Operational
definitions: Measurable
indicators for variables in a hypothesis. Organized skepticism: A norm of the scientific community that calls for the objective analysis of all aspects of nature and society and suspension of judgment until all facts are in. Random sample:
A sample drawn in such a way that every member of the population
being studied has an equal chance of being selected. Reliability:
The degree to which a study yields the same results when repeated
by the original or other researchers. Sample:
A limited number of people selected from the population being
selected. Scientific method:
A way of investigating the world that relies on the careful
collection of facts and logical explanations of them. Secondary analysis:
Reanalysis of previously collected data. Semistructured
interview: A discussion
with a subject in which the interviewer predetermines the areas and
issues to be covered but lets the respondent answer in terms most
meaningful to him or her. Sharing:
An ideal norm of the scientific community identified by Merton
that calls for making scientific findings available to other
researchers. Structured interview:
A discussion with a subject in which carefully phrased standard
questions are asked in a fixed order. Survey:
A method of research using questionnaires or interviews, or both,
to learn how people think, feel, or act.
Good surveys use random samples and pretested questions to ensure
high reliability and validity. Theory:
A statement that describes the relationships between major
concepts or variables. Unstructured
interview: A discussion
with a subject in which neither questions nor answers are predetermined. Validity:
The degree to which a scientific study measures what it attempts
to measure. Variable: Any factor that is capable of change.
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Sociology Glossary
Words; Chapter 3 Assimilation:
The acceptance of cultural patterns of the larger society by
members of a subculture. Counterculture:
A subculture characterized by norms, values, and attitudes that
clash with or are opposed to those of the dominant culture. Cultural
assimilation: The process in which newcomers take on many of the lifeways
of the host society without necessarily relinquishing their
self-identification as a part of a distinct ethnic group. Cultural integration: The degree to which the parts of a culture – its norms,
values, beliefs, symbols, and their practices – form a consistent and
interrelated whole. Cultural relativity:
The notion that the elements of a culture should be viewed on
their own terms rather than in terms of some assumed universal standard
that holds across cultures. Cultural universals:
The behavior patterns and institutions found in every known
culture. Culture:
All of the customs, beliefs, values, knowledge, and skills that
guide a people’s behavior along shared paths. Enculturation:
A process by which an initially novel behavior pattern becomes
embedded in the lifeways of a social community. Ethnocentrism:
The tendency to see the behaviors, beliefs, values, and norms of
one’s own group as the only right way of living, and to judge others
by those standards. Folkways:
Everyday habits and conventions. Language:
A system of verbal and, in many cases, written symbols, with
standardized meanings. Laws:
Rules that are enacted by a political body and enforced by the
power of state. Linguistic
relativity hypothesis: The
thesis that people adopt the view of the world that is fashioned by
their language. Marital assimilation: The intermarriage of subcultural group members with the
members of the larger society. Mores:
Norms people consider vital to their well-being and to their most
cherished values. Natural selection:
Darwin’s hypothesis of how evolution operates: nature favors those best equipped to survive and to reproduce
their characteristics by genetic transmission. Norms:
Shared rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behavior;
the guidelines people follow in their relations with one another. Sanctions:
Socially imposed rewards and punishments that compel people to
obey norms. Sociobiology:
A theoretical perspective that holds that social groups adapt to
their environment primarily by the evolution of genetically determined
traits. Sociocultural
selection: The process by which adaptive social traits are acquired and
evolve through social learning principles. Structural
assimilation: Entrance of members of a subculture into cliques, clubs, and
institutions of the larger society through contact with new primary
groups. Subculture:
A group whose perspective and life style are significantly
different from those of the cultural mainstream, and who identify
themselves as different; members share norms, attitudes, and values. Symbol:
An object, gesture, sound, color or design that represents
something other than itself. Values: General ideas about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable.
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Sociology,
Chapter 4 Glossary Achieved status:
A social position that a person attains through personal
effort. Ascribed status:
A social position assigned to a person at birth or at different
stages in the life cycle. Definition of the
situation: The meaning
people attribute to a social setting;
a stage of examination and deliberation in which we size up a
situation so as to devise our course of action. Dramaturgy: A sociological perspective that views social interaction as resembling a theatricalperformance in which people “stage” their behavior in such a way as to elicit the responses they desire from people. Ethnomethodology:
A sociological perspective that studies procedures people use to
make sense of their everyday lives. Face-work:
Those actions that individuals take to achieve or maintain a
positive image of themselves in their dealing with other people. Impression
management: The manipulation of social impressions. Institution:
A widely accepted, relatively stable cluster of roles, statuses,
and groups that develop to satisfy the basic needs of society. Latent function:
An unintentional and often unnoticed function of an institution
or social pattern. Master status:
One status of a person that largely determines his or her social
identity. Microsociology:
That level of sociological analysis concerned with small-scale
structures of human interaction. Norm of reciprocity:
The expectation that we should give and return equivalently in
our relations with one another. Opportunity
structure: The organization of opportunities available in different
parts of society, such as the quality of local schools, the availability
of different types of jobs and the wealth of the area. Regions:
Places that are separated to some degree by barriers blocking
visibility. Role:
Expected behaviors, obligations, and privileges attached to a
particular status. Role conflict:
A situation where fulfillment of one role automatically results
in the violation of another. Role set:
The complex of roles that accrues to a single status. Role strain:
The difficulties individuals experience in meeting the
requirements of a role. Social exchange:
A sociological perspective that portrays interaction as a more or
less straightforward and rationally calculated series of mutually
beneficial transactions. Social group:
Two or more people who share a common sense of belonging and who
interact on the basis of shared goals and expectations regarding one
another’s behavior. Social interaction:
The process by which people mutually and reciprocally influence
one another’s attitudes, feelings and actions. Social structure:
The organization of social positions and the distribution of
people in them. Society:
A comprehensive grouping of people who share the same territory
and participate in a common culture. Status:
A position in the social structure that determines where a person
fits in the community.
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Sociology,
Chapter 5 Agent of
socialization: Any person or institution that shapes a person’s values and
behavior. Cognitive
development: The process of learning to talk, to think, and to
reason. Concrete:
The term Jean Piaget applies to the reasoning of children between
eight and twelve years of age; in this stage children’s thinking is
bound by immediate physical reality and they have difficulty dealing
with remote, future, or hypothetical matters. Conservation:
The principle that the quantity or amount of something stays the
same despite changes in shape or position. Desocialization:
The process of shedding one’s self-image and values. Ego:
Freud’s term for the part of the self that finds socially
acceptable ways of satisfying biological cravings. Formal operations:
Piaget’s term for the stage when children can think in terms of
abstract concepts, theories, and general principles. Generalized other:
A child’s generalized impression of what other people expect
from him or her. Id:
Freud’s term for the reservoir of innate sexual and aggressive
urges, as well as for all bodily pleasure. Identity:
A sense of continuity about oneself, derived from one’s past,
present and future, form what one feels about oneself, and from the
image reflected in the social looking glass. Internalization:
The process by which individuals come to incorporate the
standards, attitudes, and beliefs of parents and teachers within their
own personalities. Looking-glass self:
Colley’s term to explain how others influence the way we see
ourselves. We gain an image
of ourselves by imagining what other people think about our appearance
or behavior. Motor intelligence:
Piaget’s term for children’s physical understanding of
themselves and their world. Object permanence:
A child’s realization that objects exist even when they are not
in sight. Resocialization:
Following desocialization, the process of incorporating a new
self-image and Self:
The notion that each of us has that we possess a unique and
distinct identity—that we are set apart from other things and people. Significant others:
People who are emotionally important in one’s life. Significant symbols:
According to Mead, conventionalized gestures acquire in infancy
that arouse desired responses in those responsible for child care. Socialization:
The process by which we acquire those modes of thinking, feeling,
and acting that are necessary to participate effectively in the larger
community. Superego:
Freud’s term for the conscience, the part of personality that
internalizes the society’s views of right and wrong.
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Sociology, Chapter 6
Glossary Chromosome:
The material in a cell that carries the determiners of hereditary
characteristics. Gender:
Socially agreed upon traits of men and women. Gender identity:
One’s psychological identification as man or woman. Hermaphrodites:
Individuals born with reproductive structures that have both male
and female properties. Hormones:
Chemical substances that stimulate or inhibit vital physiological
processes. Machismo:
Compulsive masculinity, evidenced in posturing, boasting, and an
exploitative attitude toward men and women. Sex role
stratification: The ranking of one sex as superior or inferior to
another.
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Sociology, Chapter 7
Glossary Aggregate:
Individuals who happen to be in the same place at the same
time. Balance theory:
The theory that people in small groups tend to make their
beliefs, feelings, and behaviors compatible with their interpersonal
relations. Charisma:
A special quality that causes others to accept a person’s
authority. Consciousness of
kind: The tendency of people to recognize others like themselves
and to feel oneness with them. Dyad:
A two-person group. Group dynamics:
Recurrent patterns of interaction that occur within groups. Group-polarization
effects: The tendency of groups to make more extreme decisions than
those toward which their individual members were initially
leaning. Groupthink:
The tendency for members of small cohesive groups to be so intent
on maintaining group unanimity that they overlook or dismiss as
unimportant the major problems with the choices they make. In-group:
A social unit in which individuals feel at home and with which
they identify. Out-group:
A social unit to which individuals do not belong and with which
they do not identify. Primary group:
A group characterized by continuous face-to-face interaction,
permanence, ties of affection, and multifaceted and long-lasting
relationships. Reference Group:
A group or social category that an individual refers to in
evaluating himself or herself, but does not necessarily belong to. Secondary Group:
A group characterized by limited face-to-face interaction, modest
or weak personal identify with the group, weak ties of affection, and
limited and not very enduring relationships. Social group:
A set of individuals who identify and interact with one another
in a structured way based on shared values and goals. Socioemotional
leadership: Leadership with the function of maintaining good morale and
relations in a group. Task leadership:
Leadership with the function of directing a group toward its
goals. Triad: A three person group.
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Sociology, Chapter 7
Glossary Aggregate:
Individuals who happen to be in the same place at the same
time. Balance theory:
The theory that people in small groups tend to make their
beliefs, feelings, and behaviors compatible with their interpersonal
relations. Charisma:
A special quality that causes others to accept a person’s
authority. Consciousness of
kind: The tendency of people to recognize others like themselves
and to feel oneness with them. Dyad:
A two-person group. Group dynamics:
Recurrent patterns of interaction that occur within groups. Group-polarization
effects: The tendency of groups to make more extreme decisions than
those toward which their individual members were initially
leaning. Groupthink:
The tendency for members of small cohesive groups to be so intent
on maintaining group unanimity that they overlook or dismiss as
unimportant the major problems with the choices they make. In-group:
A social unit in which individuals feel at home and with which
they identify. Out-group:
A social unit to which individuals do not belong and with which
they do not identify. Primary group:
A group characterized by continuous face-to-face interaction,
permanence, ties of affection, and multifaceted and long-lasting
relationships. Reference Group:
A group or social category that an individual refers to in
evaluating himself or herself, but does not necessarily belong to. Secondary Group:
A group characterized by limited face-to-face interaction, modest
or weak personal identify with the group, weak ties of affection, and
limited and not very enduring relationships. Social group:
A set of individuals who identify and interact with one another
in a structured way based on shared values and goals. Socioemotional
leadership: Leadership with the function of maintaining good morale and
relations in a group. Task leadership:
Leadership with the function of directing a group toward its
goals. Triad: A three person group.
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Sociology, Chapter 9
Glossary Anomie:
A condition within society in which individuals find that he
prevailing social norms are ill-defined, weak, or conflicting. Conformity:
Seeking culturally approved goals by culturally approved means
(Merton). Crime:
Any act that is illegal. Deviance:
Behavior that the members of a social group define as violating
their norms. Deviant career:
The adoption of a deviant life style and identity within a
supporting subculture that provides techniques for breaking rules and
rationalizations for nonconformity. Differential
association: The process by which individuals are socialized into the
group with which they spend the most time and have the most intense
relationships. Formal social
controls: Official pressure to conform to social norms and values
specifically enforced by organizations such as police departments,
courts, and prisons. Index crime:
Those crimes that the federal bureau of investigation annually
cites in its uniform crime report. Informal social
controls: Unofficial pressures to conform, including disapproval,
ridicule, and the threat of ostracism. Innovation:
Pursuing culturally approved goals by deviant means (Merton). Internalization:
The process by which cultural standards become part of a person’s
personality structure. Labeling:
The assigning of a deviant status to a person, which then
dominates his or her social identity. Organized crime:
Organizations that are structured in a bureaucratic fashion to
provide illegal goods and services that are in high demand. Plea bargaining:
In a criminal trial, a defendant’s agreeing to plead guilty to
a lesser charge rather than to risk conviction and a more sever penalty. Primary deviance:
The initial violation of a social norm, about which no inferences
are made regarding motives or the character of the person who committed
the act. Rebellion:
Creating new goals and new means for pursuing them
(Merton). Sanctions:
Rewards for conforming to a social norm or penalties for
violating it. Secondary deviance:
A pattern by which people come to define themselves as deviants
and undertake life patterns as a reaction to their being labeled as
deviants by others. Social control:
Those mechanisms by which social norms are upheld and by which
their actual or potential violation is restrained. Victimless Crime:
Crimes that lack victims, except perhaps the people who commit
them. White-collar crime:
Crime committed by corporations or by individuals of high status
in the course of their occupations.
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Sociology, Chapter 10
Glossary Bourgeoisie:
The term Marx used to denote the owners of the means of
production. Caste System:
A system of social inequality in which status is determined at
birth, and people are locked into their parents’ social
position. Class:
A term Weber used to refer to people who occupy the same rung on
the economic ladder. Equality of
Opportunity: The members of society achieve different standards of living
based on their different talents and contributions. Equality of results:
The members of a society enjoy the same standard of living. Horizontal Mobility:
A change in a person’s position that does not alter the person’s Life chances:
The opportunities to realize health, long life, and happiness in
a social system. Open class system:
A class system in which there are few obstacles to social
mobility; positions are awarded on the basis of merit, and rank is tied
to individual achievement. Power:
The capacity to get others to act in accordance with one’s
wishes even when they prefer not to do so. Power elite:
Mill’s term for a concentrated group occupying the command
posts of society and determining its direction. Prestige:
Status resulting from the possession of attributes that are
regards as admirable, and perhaps enviable, by people in a specific
social setting. Progressive tax:
A tax rate that increases as a person’s income increases; the
opposite of a regressive tax. Proletariat:
Marx’s term for the class whose members sell their skills to
the owners of the means of production. Regressive tax:
A tax rate that increases as a person’s income increases; the
opposite of a progressive tax. Social Mobility:
The movement of people from one social position to another. Stratification: The division of a society into layers of people who have unequal amounts of any given scarce reward or resource. Transfer payments:
Cash welfare benefits that are designed to raise the income of
the poor, the unemployed, the aged, and the blind. Vertical Mobility: Upward or downward changes in a person’s status.
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Sociology,
Chapter 11 Glossary Authority:
Power to which people willingly submit; power exercised in a way
people consider right and legitimate. Capitalist Market
Economy: An economic system based on the principles of private
ownership of the means of production, the use of productive assets to
maximize profits, and free competition among business firms. Charismatic
authority: A type of authority (identified by Weber) that derives from
public recognitions of exceptional personal qualities. Coercion:
Power that rests on the threat or use of force. Conglomerate:
A company consisting of a number of subsidiaries in a variety of
industries. Corporation:
An organization created by law that has an ongoing existence,
powers, and liabilities distinct from those of its owners and
employees. Democratic state:
A state in which authority derives form the law, rooted in the
consent of the people. Elite theory:
The view that society is dominated by the relatively small number
of people who occupy top positions in organizational hierarchies. Elites:
Influential, expert, or powerful groups. Ideology:
A set of ideas that explains and justifies a social order. Interest group:
An organization created to influence political decisions that
directly concern its members. Interlocking
directorates: Networks of people serving on the boards of directors of two
or more corporations. Iron law of
oligarchy: The view of Robert Michels that large organizations
inevitably produce a concentrations of power in the hands of the few,
who use their positions to advance their own fortunes and
self-interests. Legal-rational
authority: A type of authority (identified by Weber) that derives from a
system of explicit rules defining the legitimate uses of power.
It is vested in positions, not in specific individuals. Multinational corporation: A giant, usually diversified, corporation with operations and subsidiaries in many countries. Oligarchy:
Rule by a small group of powerful leaders. Oligopoly:
An industry dominated by only a few very large firms. Pluralism:
The view that the political power structure is composed of a
variety of competing elites and interest groups. Political party:
A collectivity designed for gaining and holding legitimate
government power. Power:
The ability to mobilize collective resources, to accomplish
things, to overcome opposition, and to dominate others—to get people
to act in accordance with one’s wishes
even when they prefer not to do you. Power elite: A coalition of military leaders, government officials, and
business executives united by common interests and social affinity.
In C. Wright Mills’s view, this coalition rules America. Protest movement:
The mobilization of a previously unorganized constituency to
challenge established practices or policy. Socialist command
economy: An economic system based on the principles of collective
ownership of the means of production and the centralization of economic
decision making in the hands of the state. State:
According to Weber, the one organization in a society that has
the authority to employ physical force. Totalitarian state:
A state in which the centralized government does not recognize or
tolerate parties of differing opinion. Traditional authority: A type of authority (identified by Weber) that stems from sacred traditions of loyalty to monarchs, chiefs, and priests.
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Sociology, Chapter 12 Affirmative action:
A process in which special consideration and preferential
treatment are given to members of minority groups to offset the effects
of past discrimination. Assimilation:
The incorporation of a minority into the culture and social life
of the majority such that the minority eventually disappears as a
separate, identifiable
unit. Colonialism:
The economic takeover by another, more powerful one, and the
subsequent political and social domination of the native
population. De facto segregation: Segregation by social custom. De jure segregation:
Segregation by law. Discrimination:
The act of disqualifying or mistreating people on ascriptive
grounds rationally irrelevant to the situation. Ethnic Group:
A category of people who perceive themselves and are perceived by
others as possessing shard cultural traits. Frustration-aggression
hypothesis: The theory
that people are goal-directed creatures who become angry and hostile
when their desires are frustrated and displace their rage upon a
scapegoat. Institutional
discrimination: A
structuring of policies and programs so as to systematically deny
opportunities and equal rights to members of particular groups. Integration:
Ceasing to make distinctions between minority and majority groups
in society and assessing individuals according to personal attributes,
not race or ethnic background. Internal colonialism: The economic, political, and social domination of one region
of a country (the periphery) by another, more industrialized region (the
core). Jim Crow laws:
The legal and social barriers constructed in the South in the
late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to prevent blacks from
voting, using public facilities, and mixing with whites.
(Jim Crow was the name of a minstrel character who performed in
blackface). Minority group:
People who are singled out for unequal treatment in the society
in which they live, and who consider themselves to be victims of
collective discrimination. Pluralism:
The coexistence of different racial or ethnic groups, each of
which retains its own cultural identity and social structural networks. Prejudice:
A categorical like or dislike of a group of people based on real
or imagined social characteristics, usually associated with their race,
religion, ethnic group, sexual orientation, or perhaps occupation. Race:
Biologically, a population that through generations of inbreeding
has developed more or less distinctive physical characteristics that are
transmitted genetically. Sociologically,
a group of people whom others believe are genetically distinct and whom
they treat accordingly. Racism:
The belief that some human races are inherently inferior to
others. Scapegoat:
A substitute target on which angry and frustrated individuals
displace their hostility. Segregation: Laws and/or customs that restrict or prohibit contact between groups. Segregation may be ethnic or racial, or based on sex or age.
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Chapter
13 Glossary Bilateral descent:
The reckoning of descent through both the father’s and mother’s
families. Endogamy:
A rule that requires a person to marry someone from within his or
her own group – tribe, nationality, religion, race, community, or
other social grouping. Equalitarian
authority: A pattern in which power within the family is vested equally
in males and females. Exogamy:
A rule that requires a person to marry someone from outside his
or her own group. Extended family:
A household consisting of married couples from different
generations, their children, and other relatives;
the core family consists of blood relatives, with spouses being
functionally marginal and peripheral. Family:
A group of people who are united by ties of marriage, ancestry,
or adoption and recognized by community members as constituting a single
household and having the responsibility for rearing children. Family of
orientation: A nuclear family consisting of oneself and one’s father,
mother, and siblings. Family of
procreation: A nuclear family consisting of oneself and one’s spouse and
children. Group Marriage:
Marriage consisting of two or more husbands and two or more
wives. Kibbutzim:
Collective settlements in Israel where individuals work for, and
children are raised by, the community as a whole. Marriage:
A socially recognized union between two or more individuals that
typically involves sexual and economic rights and duties. Matriarchy:
A pattern in which power within the family is vested in females. Matrilineal descent:
The reckoning of descent through the mother’s family only. Matrilocal residence: An arrangement in which the married couple upon marriage sets
up housekeeping with or near the wife’s family. Monogamy:
Marriage consisting of one husband and one wife. Neolocal residence:
An arrangement in which the married couple upon marriage sets up
a new residence. Nuclear family:
A household consisting of spouses and their offspring; blood
relatives are functionally marginal and peripheral. Patriarchy:
A pattern in which power within the family is vested in the
males. Patrilineal descent:
The reckoning of descent through the father’s family only. Patrilocal residence: An arrangement in which the married couple upon marriage sets
up housekeeping with or near the husband’s family. Polyandry:
Marriage consisting of one wife and two or more husbands. Polygyny:
Marriage consisting of one husband and two or more wives. Two-career marriage:
A marriage in which both partners pursue careers outside the
home.
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Sociology, Chapter 14 Correspondence
principle: The position advanced by conflict theorists which holds
that the social relationships that govern personal interaction in the
work place are mirrored in the social relations fostered by the
school. Education:
The formal, systematic transmission of a culture’s skills,
knowledge, and values from one generation to the next. Hidden curriculum:
A set of unwritten rules of behavior taught in a school that
children must master to succeed there and to be prepared for the world
outside. Indoctrination:
The process through which students are taught the values,
customs, and traditions of their society. Self-fulfilling
prophecy: An initially false definition of a situation which evokes a
behavior that makes the original definition come true. Tracking: Grouping children according to their scores on aptitude and achievement tests. |
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Sociology, Chapter 15 Audience cults:
Religious groups with practically no formal organization;
cult doctrine is delivered through the media. Church:
A large, conservative, universalist religious institution, which
makes few demands on its members and accommodates itself to the culture
of a society. Civil religion:
Bellah’s term for a collection of religious beliefs, symbols,
and rituals that exists outside the church and that pervades and helps
legitimate a community. Client Cults:
Religious movements in which those who offer services are
organized but the clients are not. Cult:
A religious group with no prior ties to an established religious
body in society (Stark and Bainbridge). Cult movements:
Religious cults that are intense and tightly organized. Invisible (private) religion: A set of individual themes and experiences that may substitute for the beliefs of organized religion. Moral
community: A group of
people who share common beliefs and practices. Profane:
Human experiences that are ordinary, mundane. (Durkheim(. Protestant ethic:
A phrase, originally used by Weber, that has come to mean
dedication to hard work and the pursuit of profit. Religion:
A set of beliefs and practices that pertain to sacred things
among a community of believers. Ritual:
A specific practice that is the visible and symbolic expression
of religion. Sacred:
Human experiences that transcend everyday existence (Durkheim). Sect:
A small, exclusive, uncompromising fellowship that makes heavy
demands on its members and sets them apart from the larger society (Troeltsch);
a religious group formed by breaking away from an established religious
body (Stark and Bainbridge). Secularization:
The process by which sectors of society and culture are removed
from religious domination. Totem: A sacred object, plant, or animal that is worshipped as the mystical ancestor of society.
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Sociology, Chapter 16 Census:
A periodic counting of the population, in which facts on age,
sex, occupation, and so forth, are also recorded.
In the United States the census is taken every tenth year and
provides a wealth of statistical data for both demographers and social
planners. Cohort:
Those people born in the same year. Crude birth rate:
The number of births per 1000 people in a given year. Crude death rate:
The number of deaths per 1000 people in a given year. Demographic
transition: A three-stage process in which a population shifts from a
high birth rate and a high death rate to a low birth rate and a low
death rate. Demography:
The statistical study of changes in population and the effects of
these changes on society. Emigration:
The movement of people out of an area. Fecundity:
The biological potential for reproduction. Fertility rate:
The number of births per 1000 women between the ages of fifteen
and forty-four. Immigration:
The movement of people into an area. Infant mortality
rate: The number of deaths to infants in their first year of life
per 1000 live births in a given year. Internal migration:
The movement of people from one place to another within the same
country. International
Migration: The movement of people from one country to another. Life expectancy:
The average number of years of life remaining to a person of a
given age. Life span: The maximum number of years of human life. |
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Sociology, Chapter 17 City:
A relatively large, dense, and permanent settlement of socially
diverse people who do not directly produce their own food. Concentric zone
model: A model of urban structure proposed by Burgess; according to
it, cities develop with a business district at the core, surround by an
area of transition characterized by residential instability and high
crime rates, beyond which are the various residential zones. Employing suburbs:
Communities that are centers of manufacturing or industrial
operations and of employment for their own residents and also for those
from other communities. Gemeinschaft:
Tonnies’s term for small traditional communities characterized
by common values, norms, and ancestry; shared roles, positions, and
functions; a close-knit network of friends and relatives, and
geographical and social stability. Gesellschaft:
Tonnie’s term for societies characterized by diverse values,
norms, and ancestry; complementary roles, positions, and functions; a
loosely linked network of friends; and geographical and social mobility. Invasion cycle:
A process of change in urban land use in which new users drive
out earlier users. Megalopolis:
A developing urban form in which separate cities grow together,
forming an interdependent entity. Megastructure:
A type of futuristic urban architecture in which acres of living,
working, and recreational space are supported high above the earth’s
surface. Multiple nuclei
model: A model of urban structure proposed by Harris and Ullman;
according to it, land uses, costs, and interests cause a city to develop
a series of nuclei, each with specialized activities. New town:
A comprehensively planned settlement, usually near a larger
metropolis, built to absorb urban growth in a systematic fashion. Residential suburbs:
Communities that consist of homeowners and breadwinners who
commute to their jobs in cities or other communities. Sector model:
A model of urban structure proposed by Hoyt; according to it,
cities are composed of sectors around a central business district,
distributed along major transportation routes radiating outward from the
center. Social area analysis: The use of indexes of residents’ social, family, and ethnic
statuses to examine changes taking place in urban space and in society
as a whole. Succession:
The climax stage in the process of invasion, when the new
inhabitants completely occupy an area. Urban ecology:
The configurations and relationships that occur among people,
their activities, and the land they occupy. Urban sprawl:
The unplanned growth that has accompanied the emergence of
megalopolises. Urbanization:
The increase in the percentage of a population that lives in
urban settlements and the consequent extension of influence of urban
ways over the populace. Zoning: A procedure by which land parcels are designated by law for specific purposes and the size of lots and the structures on them are regulated. |
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Sociology, Chapter
18 Acting Crowd:
Blumer’s term for an excited, volatile group of people who are
focused on a controversial event that provokes their indignation, anger,
and desire to act. Alterative movement:
A social movement that aims at partial change in individuals Casual crowd:
Blumer’s label for a spontaneous gathering whose members give
temporary attention to the object that attracted them and then go their
separate ways. Circular reaction:
Blumer’s term for a phenomenon of crowd behavior in which
people react immediately and directly to an action, thereby encouraging
the original actors to continue their behavior. Collective behavior:
Relatively routine actions that engage large, often anonymous,
groups of people. Conventional crowd:
Blumer’s term for people who gather for a specific purpose and
behave according to established norms. Crowd:
A temporary collection of people, gathered around some person or
event, who are conscious of and influenced by one another. Emergent norm theory: The principle that crowds develop norms in order to define an
ambiguous situation. Expressive crowd:
Blumer’s label for a crowd that gives members license to
express feelings and behave in ways they would not consider acceptable
in other settings. Leveling:
The reduction of a complex story to a few simple details, as with
rumors. Mob:
A crowd whose members are emotionally aroused and are engaged in,
or are ready to engage in, violent action. Redemptive movement:
A social movement that aims at total change in individuals. Reformative movement: A social movement that aims at partial change in the social
structure. Relative deprivation: The gap between people’s expectations and their actual
conditions. Rumor:
An unverified story that circulates from person to person and is
accepted as fact, although its sources may be vague or unknown. Social movement:
An organized effort to bring about or resist large-scale social
change through noninstitutionalized means. Social revolution:
A rapid and basic transformation of the state and of the class
structures. Structural
conduciveness: The principle that preconditions for collective behavior are
built into a society’s social structure. Transformative movement: A social movement that aims at total change in the social structure.
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Sociology,
Chapter 19 Artificial
Intelligence: Machines that can think and reason in somewhat the same
fashion as humans do and that can understand and utilize information
that is conveyed by use of symbols. Conflict perspective: The view that all societies are fraught with conflict and
are, therefore, inherently unstable. Culture lag:
Ogburn’s term for the discontinuity that occurs when one part
of the culture changes more rapidly than the other. Cyclical perspective: The vies that every society has a natural life span:
It grows and develops then eventually decays; it is followed by a
new social form. Diffusion:
The spread of cultural traits from one society to another. Equilibrium
perspective: The view that regardless of what changes might upset the
balance of society, subsequent changes will restore the society to its
original condition. Ergonomics:
A field concerned with designing environments based on the ways
people think and move so that users of products can employ them safely,
efficiently, and comfortably. Evolutionary
perspective: The vies that societies evolve from simple, traditional
structures into increasingly complex and differentiated forms. High technology:
The application of electronics to industry, communications,
medicine and other spheres of life. Idealist view of
change: The belief that social change is prompted largely by new
ideas and outlooks. Materialist view of
change: The belief that social change is prompted largely by
innovations in technology and other aspects of material culture. Modernization:
Change toward the type of society found in urbanized and
industrialized nations; it has profound social, political, and
psychological implications. Multilinear
evolution: The notion that societies pass through different stages of
development and follow different routes of growth. Postindustrial society: an advanced society marked by new forms of technology. Social change:
Basic alterations in the behavior patterns, culture, and
structure of society that occur over time. Telecommuting:
Working at home using a computer terminal linked to an office. Underdevelopment:
The condition of a nation, marked by poverty, that is dependent
on a small number of primary exports, that lacks a variety of
industries, and that relies on other nations for vital goods and
services. Unilinear evolution:
The notion that all societies pass through a single lien of
successive stages until they ultimately reach the same end. World-system theory:
A view of modernization as an international phenomenon, holding
that the development of a particular nation is largely determined by its
role or funtion in the world economy.
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