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The study of human behavior in society (p. 4).

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sociology

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The ability to see the connection between our individual identities and the social contexts (family, friends, and institutions) in which we find ourselves - sees our lives as contextual lives (p. 4).

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sociological imagination

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A model of social change that saw each succeeding society as developing through evolution and the "survival of the fittest". "States that each succeeding society is seen as an improvement of the one before it." (p. 19)

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social Darwinism

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A theoretical approach that streses the competition for scarce resources and unequal distribution of those resources based on social status, such as class, race, gender, etc. "A theory that suggests the dynamics of society, both of social order and social resistance are the result of conflict among different groups." (p. 23)

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conflict theory

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A set of processes leading to the development of patterns of economic, cultural, and social relationships that transcend geographical boundaries; a widening, deepening, and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary life. (p. 24)

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globalization

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The doctrine that several different cultures (rather than one national culture) can coexist peacefully and equitably in a single country. (p. 24)

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multiculturalism

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The homogenizing spread of consumerism around the globe. (p. 27)

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McDonaldization

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Analysis of the large-scale patterns or social structures of society, such as economies or political systems. (p. 24)

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macrolevel analysis

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Analysis of small-scale social patterns, such as individual interactions or small group dynamics. (p. 24)

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microlevel analysis

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Both the material basis for social life and the sets of values and ideals that we understand to define morality, good and evil, appropriate and inappropriate. (p. 36)

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culture

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The things people make and the things they use to make them - the tools they use, the physical environment they inhabit (forests, beaches, mountains, fertile farmlands, or harsh desert). Can include homes, neighborhoods, cities, schools, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, offices, factories and plants, tools, means of production, goods and products, stores, and so forth. (p. 36)

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material culture

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Sociological perspective that examines how individuals and groups interact, focusing on the creation of personal identity through interaction with others. Of particular interest is the relationship between individual action and group pressures. (p. 21)

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symbolic interactionism

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Sociological theory that stressed the interconnectedness of social institutions forming stable and orderly social systems. (p. 22)

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functionalism (or structual functionalism)

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Often just called "culture," the ideas and beliefs that people develop about their lives and their world. Can include beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and institutions. (p. 36)

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nonmaterial culture

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Describes the vast differences between the cultures of the world as well as the differences in belief and behavior that exist within cultures. (p. 36)

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cultural diversity

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A feeling of disorientation when the cultural markers that we rely on to help us know where we are and how to act have suddenly changed. (p. 36)

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culture shock

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The use of one's own culture as the reference point by which to evaluate other cultures; it often depends on or leads to the belief that one's own culture is superior to others. (p. 37)

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ethnocentrism

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A position that all cultures are equally valid in the experience of their own members. (p. 38)

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cultural relativism

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Group within a society that creates its own norms and values distinct from the mainstream and usually its own separate social institutions as well. (p. 39)

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subculture

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Subculture that identifies itself through its difference and opposition to the dominant culture. (p. 39)

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counterculture

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Short-lived, highly popular, and widespread behavior, style, or mode of thought. (p. 52)

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fad

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A behavior, style, or idea that is more permanent and often begins as a fad. (p. 53)

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fashion

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Anything - an idea, a marking, a thing - that carries additional meanings beyond itself to others who share in the culture. Come to mean what they do only in a culture; they would have no meaning to someone outside. (p. 40)

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symbol

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An organized set of symbols by which we are able to think and communicate with others; the chief vehicle by which human beings create a sense of self. (p. 41)

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language

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Enactment by which members of a culture engage in a routine behavior to express their sense of belonging to the culture. (p. 43)

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ritual

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One of the rules a culture develops that defines how people should act and the consequences of failure to act in the specified ways. (p. 44)

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norm

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If norms tell us how to behave to behave, these tell us why. They constitue what a society thinks about itself and so are among the most basic lessons that a culture can transmit to its young. (p. 45)

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values

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An organized collection of individuals and institutions, bounded by space in a coherent territory, subject to the same political authority, and organized through a shared set of cultural expectations and values. (p. 62)

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society

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A complex framework composed of both patterned social interactions and institutions that together organize social life and provide the context for individual action. (p. 63)

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social structure

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The dynamic process by which two (dyad) or three (triad) or more individuals relate to one another. (p. 63)

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social interaction

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Cooley's term for the process of how identity is formed through social interaction. We imagine how we appear to others and thus develop our sense of self based on the others' reactions, imagined or otherwise. (p. 64)

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looking-glass self

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Erving Goffman's term for our attempts to control how others perceive us by changing our behavior to correspond to an ideal of what they will find most appealing. (p. 64)

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impression management

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Erving Goffman's conception of social life as being like a stage play wherein we all work hard to convincingly play ourselves as "characters," such as grandchild, buddy, student, employee, or other roles. (p. 65)

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dramaturgy

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The particular emphasis or interpretation each of us gives a social role. (p. 68)

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role performance

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One's socially-defined position in a group; it is often characterized by certain expectations and rights. (p. 68)

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status

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Status that is assigned to a person and over which he or she has no control. Many are based on genetics or physiology; examples include our parents or our gender.(p. 68)

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ascribed status

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Status or social position based on one's accomplishments or activities. Examples include being a college graduate, being married, or having a certain occupation.(p. 69)

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achieved status

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An ascribed or achieved status presumed so important that it overshadows all of the others, dominating our lives and controlling our position in society. Examples include race, religion, disability or serious illness, etc.(p. 70)

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master status

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The experience of difficulty in performing a role. (p. 70)

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role strain

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What happens when we try to play different roles with extremely different or contradictory rules at the same time. (p. 70)

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role conflict

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A group of two people, the smallest configuration defined by sociologists as a group. (p. 71)

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dyad

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One such as friends and family, which comes together for expressive reasons, providing emotional support, love, companionship, and security. (p. 73)

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primary group

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Co-workers, club members, or another group that comes together for instrumental reasons, such as wanting to meet common goals. These groups make less of an emotional claim on one's identity than do primary groups. (p. 74)

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secondary group

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The social tendency to be keenly aware of the subtle differences among the individual members of your group (while believing that all members of out-groups are exactly the same). (p. 74)

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in-group heterogeneity

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The social tendency to believe that all members of an out-group are exactly the same (while being keenly aware of the subtle differences among the individual members of one's own group). (p. 74)

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out-group homogeneity

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Irving Janis's term for the social process in which members of a group attempt to conform their opinions to what they believe to be the consensus of the group, even if, as individuals, they may consider that opinion wrong or unwise. (p. 77)

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groupthink

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A generalization about a group that is oversimplified, selective, exaggerated, and usually pejorative, which fails to acknowledge the individual differences in a group. (p. 78)

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stereotype

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A voluntary organization wherein members serve because they believe in the goals of the organization. Examples include political parties or the Red Cross. (p. 81)

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normative organization

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An organization in which membership is not voluntary, with elaborate formal rules and sanctions. Examples include prisons and reform schools. (p. 81)

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coercive organization

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An institution that that completely circumscribes your everyday life, cutting you off from life before you entered and seeking to regulate every part of your behavior. Sometimes identified with coercive organizations. (p. 82)

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total organization

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An organization, like the college we attend or the company we work for, whose members belong for a specific, instrumental purpose or tangible material reward. (p. 82)

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utilitarian organization

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A formal organization characterized by a division of labor, a hierarchy of authority, formal rules governing behavior, a logic of rationality, and an impersonality of criteria. (p. 84)

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bureaucracy

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Robert Merton's term to describe those people who become more committed to following the correct procedures than they are to getting the job done. (p. 85)

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bureaucratic personality

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An aggregate of individuals who happen to be together but experience themselves as essentially independent. (p. 71)

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crowd

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The complex of individual perceptions, motivations, ideas, and emotions that give each of us a point of view. (p. 94)

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subjectivity

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Systematically collected and systematically organized bits of information. (p. 95)

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data

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Reasoning that logically proceeds from one demonstrable fact to the next. It often moves from the general to the specific. (p. 96)

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deductive reasoning

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Research in which one reasons to a conclusion about all or many members of a class based on examination of only a few members of that class. Loosely, it is reasoning from the specific to the general. (p. 96)

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inductive reasoning

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Numerical means to drawing sociological conclusions using powerful statistical tools to help understand patterns in which the behaviors, attitudes, or traits under study can be translated into numerical values. Examples include large-scale surveys and public opinion polls.(p. 96)

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quantitative methods of collecting data

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Inductive and inferential means to drawing sociological understanding, usually about less tangible aspects of social life, such as the actual felt experience of social interaction. Examples include ethnographies, interviews, focus groups, and historical research. (p. 97)

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qualititative methods of collecting data

question

In an experimental study, the agent of change, the ingredient that is added to set things in motion. (p. 98)

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independent variable

question

the variable whose change depends on the introduction of the independent variable. (p. 98)

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dependent variable

question

A testing process that is performed under controlled conditions to examine the validity of a hypothesis. (p. 100)

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experiment

question

In an experiment, the group that will have the change introduced to see what happens. (p. 100)

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experimental group

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In an experiment, the comparison group that will not experience the manipulation of the independent variable. Enables sociologists to compare the outcomes of the experiment to determine if the changes in the independent variable had any effects on the dependent variable. (p. 100)

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control group

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Experiment with the dependent variable is administering shocks that slowly increase in voltage to the independent variable who is an actor. The actor pretends to react badly and begs the dependent variable to stop but someone is telling the dependent variable to keep doing it.

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Milgram's study of obedience

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A type of field method in which the researcher inserts him- or herself into the daily world of the people he or she is trying to study to understand the events from the point of view of the actors themselves. (p. 102)

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ethnography

question

The degree to which a correct prediction of a research outcome can be made. (p. 110)

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predictability

question

The term used when one variable causes another to change. (p. 110)

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causality

question

A testable prediction for an event or phenomenon that assumes a relationship between two or more variables. (p. 112)

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hypothesis

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The term for the fact of some relationship between two phenomena. Does not necessarily mean that one causes the other. (p. 116)

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correlation

question

The process by which we become aware of ourselves as part of a group, learn to communicate with others, and learn how to behave as expected. (p. 127)

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socialization

question

Three stages in childhood - imitation, role play (in the play stage), and ultimately internalizing the generalized other (game stage). (p. 131)

answer

Mead's Model of Socialization

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Sigmund Freud's label for that part of the human personality that is pure impulse, without worrying about social rules, consequences, morality, or other people's reactions. (p. 131)

answer

id

question

Freud's term for the internalized norms, values, and "rules" of our social group that are learned from family, friends, and social institutions. (p. 131)

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superego

question

Freud's term for the balancing force between the id and the superego; it channels impulses into socially acceptable forms. (p. 131)

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ego

question

The process of learning and adopting the beliefs, values, and behaviors of groups that one anticipates joining in the future. (p. 134)

answer

anticipatory socialization

question

Learning a new set of beliefs, behaviors, and values that depart from those held in the past. (p. 135)

answer

resocialization

question

States that the reasoning ability of children develops in four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. (p. 132)

answer

Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development

question

Still in the sensory phase; children can understand only what they see, hear, or touch. Birth - 2 years. (p. 132)

answer

sensorimotor stage

question

Capable of understanding and articulating speech and symbols, but can't understand common concepts like weight. 2-7 years. (p. 132)

answer

preoperational stage

question

Causal relationships are understood, and they understand common concepts, but they can't reach conclusions through general principles. 7-12 years. (p. 132)

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concrete operational stage

question

Capable of abstract thought and reasoning. 12 years and up. (p. 132)

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formal operational stage

question

sense of morality develops from the concrete to the abstract - from real-life situations to applying abstract principles. ("Your wife is sick" dilemma.) (p. 133)

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Kohlberg's view of moral development

question

the people, groups, or institutions that teach people how to be functioning members of their society. Consist of family, education, religion, peers, mass media, and the workplace. (p. 135)

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agents of socialization

question

A culture's most basic values, which are passed on to children beginning in earliest infancy. (p. 135)

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primary socialization

question

Occurring throughout the life span, it is the adjustments we make to adapt to new situations. (p. 135)

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secondary socialization

question

Process by which males and females are taught the appropriate behaviors, attitudes, and traits for their biological sex. It begins at birth and continues throughout their lives. Examples include language used, such as "cry like a girl", toys (boys get trucks, girls get dolls), or clothing (boys wear pants and the color blue, girls wear dresses and the color pink). (p. 145)

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gender socialization

question

Breaking or refusing to follow a social rule. The rule can be societywide or specific to a particular group or situation. (p. 152)

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deviance

question

A deviant act that lawmakers consider bad enough to warrant formal laws and sanctions. (p. 162)

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crime

question

One of the relatively weak and informal norms that are the result of patterns of action. Many of the behaviors we call "manners" are folkways. (p. 153)

answer

folkways

question

These are informally enforced norms based on strong moral values, which are viewed as essential to the proper functioning of a group. (p. 153)

answer

mores

question

The strongest form of norms, a taboo is a prohibition viewed as essential to the well-being of humanity (p. 153)

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taboo

question

An attribute that changes you "from a whole and usual person to a tainted and discounted one," as sociologist Irving Goffman (1963) defined it. It discredits a person's claim to be normal. (p. 153)

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stigma

question

Drug users, cults, polygamists

answer

deviant subcultures

question

over-conformity to stereotypes about your group. Exaggerating the differences between the stigmatized and the dominant group.

answer

minstrelization

question

Minimizing the differences between the stigmatized groups. Normification involves exaggerating similarities and downplaying differences. (p. 154)

answer

normification

question

Maximizing the differences with the dominant group, but insisting that the stigmatized group is superior.

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militant chauvinism

question

Robert K. Merton's concept that excessive deviance is a by-product of inequality within societies that promote certain norms and versions of social reality yet provide unequal means of meeting or attaining them. Individuals respond to this strain either by conforming or by changing the goals or means of obtaining goals accepted by society. (p. 162)

answer

strain theory

question

Philip Zombardo's proposition that minor acts of deviance can spiral into severe crime and social decay. Atmosphere and context are keys to whether deviance occurs or spirals. (p. 163)

answer

broken windows theory

question

Cloward and Ohlin's 1960 theory of crime, which holds that those who have many opportunities - and good ones at that - will be more likely to commit crimes than those with few good opportunities. (p. 164)

answer

opportunity theory

question

Theoretical approach that stresses the competition for scarce resources and unequal distribution of those resources based on social status (such as class, race, gender). (p. 164)

answer

conflict theory

question

The growing array of crimes committed via the Internet and World Wide Web, such as Internet fraud and identity theft. (p. 166)

answer

cybercrime

question

Illegal actions committed in accordance with the operative goals of an organization, such as antitrust violations, false advertising, or price fixing. (p. 165)

answer

organizational crime

question

The use of one's professional position to illegally secure something of value for oneself or the corporation. (p. 165)

answer

occupational crime

question

Examples include drug trafficking which spans countries across the globe, piracy (such as Somali pirates), and kidnapping. (pp. 179-180)

answer

globalization of crime

question

taken from the geological term for layers of rock; the ranking of people into defined layers. The phenomenon exists in all societies and is based on things like wealth, race, and gender. (p. 186)

answer

stratification

question

The movement from one class to another; it can occur in two forms: intergenerational - that is, your parents are working class, but you become lower, or your parents are middle class, but you become upper-class; and intragenerational - that is, you move from working to lower, or from middle to upper, within your lifetime. (p. 188)

answer

social mobility

question

Social system in which the greater the functional importance of the job, the more rewards it brings in salary, perks, power, and prestige. (p. 186)

answer

meritocracy

question

A fixed and permanent stratification system to which one is assigned at birth. (p. 187)

answer

caste system

question

A fixed and permanent social structure based on mutual obligation, in which peasants worked the estates belonging to a small group of feudal lords, who fed and protected them. A peasant's only avenue to social advancement was to enter a convent or monastery. (p. 187)

answer

feudalism

question

A group of people sharing the same social position in society; it is based on income, power, and prestige. (p. 187)

answer

class

question

System of stratification in which people are ranked according to their economic position. (p. 188)

answer

class system

question

A person's abilities to have access to material goods (food and shelter) and social resources (health care, education) that together control the quality of life. (p. 191)

answer

life chances

question

The amount of honor, respect or deference accorded to social roles or statuses. (p 190)

answer

prestige

question

One's socially defined position in a group; it is often characterized by certain expectations and rights. (p. 190)

answer

status

question

The degree of status accorded to an occupation. (p. 190)

answer

occupational prestige

question

The ability to extract compliance despite resistance or the ability to get others to do what you want them to do, regardless of their own desires. (p. 190)

answer

power

question

Your social connections, your taste in art, your ascribed and attained statuses, and more. Because there are so many components, sociologists today tend to prefer the concept of socioeconomic status to that of social class, to emphasize that people are ranked through the intermingling of many factors, economic, social, political, cultural, and community. (p. 191)

answer

socioeconomic status

question

About 4 percent of the U.S. population, this group has no income, no connection to the job market, little education, inadequate nutrition, and substandard housing or none at all. They have no possibility of social mobility and little chance of achieving the quality of life that most people would consider minimally acceptable. (p. 194)

answer

underclass

question

A global problem that afflicts half the world's population, the term for people who are so poor they do not have the ability to sustain their lives and lack the most basic necessities like food and shelter. (p. 198)

answer

absolute poverty

question

A measure of the extent to which a household's financial resources fall below an average income threshold for that economy. (p. 198)

answer

relative poverty

question

Estimated minimum income required to pay for food, shelter, and clothing. Anyone falling below this income is categorized as poor. (p. 198)

answer

poverty line

question

A worldwide phenomenon that also afflicts U.S. women, this term describes women's overrepresentation among the world's poor and tendency to be in worse economic straits than men in any given nation or population. (p. 201)

answer

feminization of poverty

question

Oscar Lewis's theory that poverty is not a result of individual inadequacies but larger social and cultural factors. Poor children are socialized into believing that they have nothing to strive for, that there is no point in working to improve their conditions. As adults, they are resigned to a life of poverty, and they socialize their children the same way. Therefore poverty is transmitted from one generation to another. (p. 202)

answer

culture of poverty

question

Systematic differences in wealth and power among countries, often involving exploitation of the less powerful by the more powerful countries. (p. 208)

answer

global inequality

question

W.W. Rostow's theory focusing on the conditions necessary for a low-income country to develop economically. Arguing that a nation's poverty is largely due to the cultural failings of its people, Rostow believed poor countries could develop economically only if they gave up their "backward" way of life and adopt modern Western economic institutions, technologies, and cultural values that emphasize savings and productive investment. (p. 210)

answer

Modernization theory

question

Theory of poverty that focuses on the unequal relationship between wealthy countries and poor countries, arguing that poverty is caused by policies and practices by the rich that block economic growth of poor countries and exploit workers. (p. 211)

answer

Dependency theory

question

Immanual Wallerstein's theory that the interconnectedness of the world system began in the 1500s, when Europeans began their economic and political domination of the rest of the world. Because capitalism depends on generating the maximum profits for the minimum of expenditures, the world system continues benefitting rich countries (which acquire the profits) and harm the rest of the world (by minimizing local expenditures and therefore perpetuating poverty). (p. 212)

answer

World System theory

question

Worldwide network of labor and production processes, consisting of all pivotal production activities that form a tightly interlocked "chain" from raw materials to finished product to retail outlet to consumer. The most profitable activities in the commodity chain (engineering, design, advertising) are likely to be done in core countries, while the least profitable activities (mining or growing the raw materials, factory production) are likely to be done in peripheral countries. (p. 213)

answer

Global commodity chain

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