Sociology 3 Test Ch. 9-11

Front 1

bureaucracy

Back 1

large hierarchical organization governed by formal rules and regulations and having clearly specified work tasks.

Front 2

de-skilling

Back 2

Subdivision of low-level jobs into small, highly specified tasks requiring less skilled workers

Front 3

division of labor

Back 3

specialization of different people or groups in different tasks, characteristic of most bureaucracies

Front 4

free-rider problem

Back 4

tendency for people to refrain from contributing to common good when a resource is available without requiring any personal cost or contribution

Front 5

hierarchy of authority

Back 5

ranking of people or tasks in a bureaucracy from those at the top, where there is a great deal of power and authority to those at the bottom, where there is very little power and authority

Front 6

McDonaldization

Back 6

The process by which the characterisitcs and principles of the fast food restaurant come to dominate other areas of social life

Front 7

multinational corporation

Back 7

company that has manufacturing, production, and marketing divisions in multiple countries

Front 8

social dilemma

Back 8

potential for a society's long term ruin because of individual's tendency to pursue their own short-term interests

Front 9

social structure

Back 9

Social institutions, organizaions, groups, statuses and roles, values, and norms that add order and predictability to our private lives.

Front 10

tragedy of the commons

Back 10

situations in which people acting individually and in their own self interest use up commonly available (but limited) resources, creating disaster for the entire community.

Front 11

absolute poverty

Back 11

Inability to afford the minimal requirements for sustaining a reasonably healthy existence

Front 12

authority

Back 12

possesion of some status or quality that compels others to obey one's directives or commands.

Front 13

caste system

Back 13

stratification system based on heredity with little movement allowed across strata

Front 14

colonization

Back 14

process of expanding economic markets by invading and establishing control over a weaker country and its people

Front 15

competitive individualism

Back 15

cultural belief that those who succeed in society are those who work the hardest and have the best abilites and that those who suffer dont work hard enough or lack necessary traits or abilities.

Front 16

culture of poverty-thesis

Back 16

belief that poor people, resigned to their position in society, develop a unique value structure to deal with their lack of success.

Front 17

estate system (feudal system)

Back 17

stratification system in which high-status groups own lan and have power based on birth.

Front 18

false conciousness

Back 18

situation in which people in the lower classes come to accept a belief system that harms them; the primary means by which powerful classes in society prevent protest and revolution

Front 19

lower class (underclass)

Back 19

in a society stratified by social class, a group of people who work for minimum wage or are chronically unemployed; the "poor"

Front 20

means of production

Back 20

land, commercial enterprises, factories, and wealth that form the economic basis of class societies

Front 21

middle class

Back 21

In a society statified by social class, a group of people who have an intermediate level of wealth, income, and prestige, such as managers, supervisors, executives and small business owners

Front 22

near-poor

Back 22

Individuals or families who earnings are between 100% and 125% of the poverty line

Front 23

poverty line

Back 23

Amount of yearly income a family requires to meet its basic needs, according to the federal govt.

Front 24

poverty rate

Back 24

percentage of people whose income falls below the poverty line

Front 25

slavery

Back 25

economic form of inequality in which some people are the legal property of others

Front 26

social class

Back 26

group of people who share a similar economic position in society based on their wealth and income

Front 27

social mobility

Back 27

movement of people or gorups from one class to another

Front 28

socioeconomic status

Back 28

prestige, honor, respect and lifestyle associated with different positions or groups in society

Front 29

stratification

Back 29

ranking system for groups of people that perpetuates unequal awards and life chances in society

Front 30

upper class

Back 30

in a society stratified by social class, a group of people who have high income and prestige and who own vast amounts of property and other forms of wealth, such as owners of large corporations, top financiers, rich celebrities, and politicians, amd members of prestigious families

Front 31

working class

Back 31

in a society stratified by class, a group of people who have a low level of wealth, income, and prestige, such as industrial and factory workers, clerks and farm and manual laborers.

Front 32

affirmative action

Back 32

program designed to seek out members of minority groups for positions from which they had previously been excluded

Front 33

discrimination

Back 33

unfair treatment of some social characteristic, such as class, race, ethnicity or sex.

Front 34

ethnicity

Back 34

the sense of community that derives from the cultural heritage shared by a category of people with common ancestry

Front 35

institutional racism

Back 35

laws, customs, and practices that systematically reflect and produce racial and ethnic inequalities in society, whether or not the individuals maintaining these laws, customs, and practices have racial intentions

Front 36

personal racism

Back 36

individual expression of racist attitudes or behaviors

Front 37

prejudice

Back 37

rigidly held, unfavorable attitudes, beliefs and feelings about members of a different group, based on social characteristic such as race, ethnicity or sex

Front 38

race

Back 38

category of people labeled and treadted as similar because of some common biological traits, such as skin color, texture of hair and shape of eyes

Front 39

racial transparency

Back 39

tendency for the race of a society's majority to be so obvious, normative and unremarkable that it becomes, for all intents and purposes, invisible

Front 40

racism

Back 40

belief that humans are subdivided into distinct groups that are different in their social behavior and innate capacities and that can be ranked as superior or inferior

Front 41

stereotype

Back 41

overgeneralized belief that a certain trait or behavior or attitude characterizes all members of some identifiable group

Front 42

symbolic racism

Back 42

form of racism expressed subtly and indirectly through feelings of discomfort, uneasiness and fear, which motivate avoidance rather than blatant discriminization.