Sociology - Concept Definitions

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Sick Role

Back 1

A set of shared understandings about the appropriate behaviour for the sick individual, including such things as trying to get better and taking medical advice. Being in the sick role exempts people from many customary social obligations and expectations.

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Labelling Theory

Back 2

Argues that social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance and by applying those rules to particular people and labelling them as outsiders.

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Glocalisation

Back 3

Stems from the Japanese word dochakuka, referring to global localisation, but has also come to mean localised globalisation - that is, the local finetuning of global processes, ideas or institutions. The phrase 'think global, act local' is an example of what the term is trying to capture.

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Modernity

Back 4

In sociology this term is used to describe the features that characterise modern, Western social formations. These include an economic system based on capitalism, democracy and the rationalisation of all aspects of social life.

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Organic Solidarity

Back 5

Durkheim's term for the morality and collective conscience in societies with an advanced division of labour.