Sociology Exam 3

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Caste

Back 1

a system of stratification (characterized by low social mobility) in which one's place in the stratification system is determined by birth

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Class

Back 2

the social structural hierarchical position groups hold relative to the economic, social, political, and cultural resources of society

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Class Consciousness

Back 3

the awareness that a class structure exists and the feeling of shared identification with others in one's class with whom one perceives common life chances

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Culture of Poverty

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the argument that poverty is a way of life and, like other cultures, is passed on from generation to generation

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Educational Attainment

Back 5

the total years of formal education

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Estate System

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a system of stratification in which the ownership of property and the exercise of power is monopolized by an elite or noble class which has total control over societal resources

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False Consciousness

Back 7

the thought resulting from subordinate classes internalizing the view of the dominant class

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Feminization of Poverty

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the process whereby a growing proportion of the poor are women and children

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Idealogoy

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a belief system that tries to explain and justify the status quo

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Income

Back 10

the amount of money brought into a household from various sources during a given year

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Life Chances

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the opportunities that people have in common by virtue of belonging to a particular class

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Median Income

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the midpoint of all household incomes

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Meritocracy

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a system in which one's status is based on merit or accomplishments

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Occupational Prestige

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the subjective evaluation people give to jobs as better or worse than others

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Poverty Line

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the figure established by the government to indicate the amount of money needed to support the basic needs of a household

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Prestige

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the value with which different groups of people are judged

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Social Differentiation

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the process by which different statuses in any group, organization, or society develop

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Social Mobility

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a person's movement over time from one class to another

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Social Stratification

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a relatively fixed hierarchical arrangement in society by which groups have different access to resources, power, and percieved social worth; a system of structured social inequality

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Socieconomic Status

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a measure of class standing, typically indicated by income, occupational prestige, and educational attainment

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Status

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an established position in a social structure that carries with it a degree of prestige

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Status Attainment

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the process by which people end up in a given position in the stratification system

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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

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federal program by which grants are given to states to fund welfare

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Urban Underclass

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a grouping of people, largely minority and poor, who live at the absolute bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in urban areas

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Wealth

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the monetary value of what someone actually owns, calculates by addin all financial assets and subtracting debts; also called net worth

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Affirmative Action

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programs in education and job hiring that recruit minorities over a wide range without using rigid quotas, but that may consider race as a factor

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Anti-Semitism

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the belief or behavior that defines Jewish people as inferior and that targets them for stereotyping, mistreatment, and acts of hatred

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Assimilation

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process by which a minority becomes socially, economically, and culturally absorbed within the dominant society

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Authoritarian Personality

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a personality characterized by a tendency to rigidly categorize people and to submit to authority, rigidly conform, and be intolerant of ambiguity

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Aversive Racism

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subtle, nonovert, and nonobvious racism

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Color-blind racism

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ignoring legitimate racial, ethnic, and cultural differences between groups, thus denying the reality of such differences

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Contact Theory

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the theory that prejudice will be reduced through social interaction witht hose of different race or ethnicity but of equal status

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Cultural Pluralism

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pattern whereby groups maintain their distinctive culture and history

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Discrimination

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overt negative and unequal treatment of the members of some social group or stratum solely because of their membership in that group or station

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Dominant Group

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the group that assigns a racial or ethnic group to subordinate status in society

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Ethnic Group

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a social category of people who share a common culture, such as a common language or dialect

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Ethnocentrism

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the belief that one's in-group is superior to all out-groups

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Hypersegregation

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a pattern of extreme racial, ethnic, and/or social class residential segregation, such that nearly all individuals in an area are one of such group

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Insitutional Racism

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racism involving notions of racial or ethnic inferiority that have become ingrained into society's institutions

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Laissez-Faire Racism

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maintaining the status quo of racial groups by persistent stereotyping and blaming of minorities themselves for achievement and socioeconomic gaps between groups

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Minority Group

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any distinct group in society that shares common group characteristics and is forced to occupy

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Old-fashioned Racism

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overt and obvious expressions of racism, such as physical assaults, lynchings, and other such acts against a minority

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Out-group Homogeneity Effect

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the tendency for an in-group member to perceive members of any out-group as similar or identical to each other

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Prejudice

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the negative evaluation of a social group, and individuals within that group, based upon conceptions about that social group that are held despite facts that contradict it

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Race

Back 45

a social category, or social construction, that we treat as distinct on the basis certain characteristics, some biological, that have been assigned social importance in the society

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Racial Formation

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process by which groups come to be defined as a "race" through social institutions such as the law and the schools

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Racial Profiling

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the use of race alone as the criterion for deciding whether to stop and detain someone on suspicion of their having committed a crime

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Racialization

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a process whereby some social category, such as a social class or nationality, is assigned what are percieved to be race characteristics

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Racism

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the perception and treatment of a racial or ethnic group, or member of that group, and intellectually, socially, and culturally inferior to one's own group

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Residential Segregation

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the spatial separation of racial and ethnic grpups in different residential areas

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Salience Principle

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categorizing people on the basis of what initially appears prominent about them

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Scapegoat Theory

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argument that dominant group aggression is directed toward a minority as a substitute for frustration with some other problem

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Segregation

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the spatial and social separation of racial and ethnic groups

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Stereotype

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an oversimplified set of beliefs about the members of a social group or social stratum that is used to categorize individuals of that group

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Stereotype Interchangeability

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the principle that negative stereotypes are often interchangeable from one racial group to another

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Biological Determinism

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explanations that attribute complex social phenomena to physical characteristics

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Comparable Worth

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the principle of paying women and men equivalent wages for jobs involving similar levels of skill

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Dual Labor Market Theory

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the idea that women and men have different earnings because they tend to work in different segments of the labor market

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Feminism

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a way of thinking and acting that advocates a more just society for women

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Feminist Theory

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analyses of women and men in society intended to improve women's lives

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Gender

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socially learned expectations and behaviors associated with members or each sex

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Gender Apartheid

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the extreme segregation and exclusion of women from public life

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Gender Identity

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one's definition of self as a woman or man

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Gender Segregation

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the distribution of men and women in different jobs in the labor force

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Gender Stratification

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the hierarchichal distribution of social and economic resources according to gender

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Gendered Institution

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the toal pattern of gender relations that structure social institutions, including the stereotypical expectations, interpersonal relationships and the different placement of men and women that are found in institutions

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Hermaphroditism

Back 67

a condition produced when irregularities in chromosome formation or fetal differntiation produces persons with biologically mixed sex characteristics

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Homophobia

Back 68

the fear and hatred of homosexuality

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Human Capital Theory

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a theory that explains differences in wages as a result of differences in the individual characteristics of the workers

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Labor Force Participation

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the percentage of those in a given category who are employed

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Liberal Feminism

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a feminist theoretical perspective asserting that the origin of women's inequality is in traditions of the past that pose barriers to women's advacement

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Matriarchy

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a society or group in which women have power over men

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Multiracial Feminism

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form of feminist theory noting the exclusion of women of color from other forms of theory and centering its analysis in the experiences of all women

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Occupational Segregation

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a pattern in which different groups of workers are seperated into different occupations

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Patriarchy

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a society or group where men have power over women

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Radical Feminism

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feminist theoretical perspective that interprets patriarchy as the primary cause of women's oppression

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Sex

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used to refer to biological identity as male or female

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Socialist Feminism

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a feminist theoretical perspective that interpets the origins of women's oppression as lying in the system of capitalism