Sociology - Ch.5

Front 1

Achieved status

Back 1

A social position that is within our power to change.

Front 2

Agrarian society

Back 2

The most technologically advanced form of preindustrial society. Members are engaged primarily in the production of food, but they increase their crop yields through technological innovations such as the plow.

Front 3

Alienation

Back 3

Loss of control over our creative human capacity to produce, separation from the products we make, and isolation from our fellow producers.

Front 4

Ascribed status

Back 4

A social position assigned to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics.

Front 5

Avatar

Back 5

A person's online representation as a character, whether in the form of a 2-D or 3-D image or simply through text.

Front 6

Bureaucracy

Back 6

A component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency.

Front 7

Bureaucratization

Back 7

The process by which a group, organization, or social movement increasingly relies on technical-rational decision making in the pursuit of efficiency.

Front 8

Classical theory

Back 8

An approach to the study of formal organizations that views workers as being motivated almost entirely by economic rewards.

Front 9

Coalition

Back 9

A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal.

Front 10

Gemeinschaft

Back 10

A close-knit community, often found in rural areas, in which strong personal bonds unite members.

Front 11

Gesellschaft

Back 11

A community, often urban, that is large and impersonal, with little commitment to the group or consensus on values.

Front 12

Goal displacement

Back 12

Overzealous conformity to official regulations of a bureaucracy.

Front 13

Group

Back 13

Any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis.

Front 14

Horticultural society

Back 14

A preindustrial society in which people plant seeds and crops rather than merely subsist on available foods.

Front 15

Human relations approach

Back 15

An approach to the study of formal organizations that emphasizes the role of people, communication, and participation in a bureaucracy and tends to focus on the informal structure of the organization.

Front 16

Hunting-and-gathering society

Back 16

A preindustrial society in which people rely on whatever foods and fibers are readily available in order to survive.

Front 17

Ideal type

Back 17

A construct or model for evaluating specific cases.

Front 18

Industrial society

Back 18

A society that depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services.

Front 19

In-group

Back 19

Any group or category to which people feel they belong.

Front 20

Iron law of oligarchy

Back 20

A principle of organizational life under which even a democratic organization will eventually develop into a bureaucracy ruled by a few individuals.

Front 21

Master status

Back 21

A status that dominates others and thereby determines a person's general position in society.

Front 22

Mc Donaldization

Back 22

The process by which the principles of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control shape organization and decision making in the United States and around the world.

Front 23

Mechanical solidarity

Back 23

Social cohesion based on shared experiences, knowledge, and skills in which things function more or less the way they always have, with minimal change.

Front 24

Organic solidarity

Back 24

A collective consciousness that rests on mutual interdependence, characteristic of societies with a complex division of labor.

Front 25

Out-group

Back 25

A group or category to which people feel they do not belong.

Front 26

Peter principle

Back 26

A principle of organizational life according to which every employee within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence.

Front 27

Postindustrial society

Back 27

A society whose economic system is engaged primarily in the processing and control of information.

Front 28

Postmodern society

Back 28

A technologically sophisticated, pluralistic, interconnected, globalized society.

Front 29

Primary group

Back 29

A small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation.

Front 30

Reference group

Back 30

Any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior.

Front 31

Role conflict

Back 31

The situation that occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by the same person.

Front 32

Role exit

Back 32

The process of disengagement from a role that is central to one's self-identity in order to establish a new role and identity.

Front 33

Role strain

Back 33

The difficulty that arises when the same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations.

Front 34

Scientific management approach

Back 34

Another name for the classical theory of formal organizations.

Front 35

Secondary group

Back 35

A formal, impersonal group in which there is little social intimacy or mutual understanding.

Front 36

Social institution

Back 36

An organized pattern of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs.

Front 37

Social interaction

Back 37

The ways in which people respond to one another.

Front 38

Social network

Back 38

A series of social relationships that links individuals directly to others, and through them indirectly to still more people.

Front 39

Social role

Back 39

A set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status.

Front 40

Social structure

Back 40

The way in which a society is organized into predictable relationships.

Front 41

Status

Back 41

A term used by sociologists to refer to any of the full range of socially defined positions within a large group or society.

Front 42

Trained incapacity

Back 42

The tendency of workers in a bureaucracy to become so specialized that they develop blind spots and fail to notice potential problems.