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173 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Agency
The freedom individuals have to choose and to act.
Agency
The freedom individuals have to choose and to act.
Anomie
Durkheim's term for the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective.
Applied sociology
The use of the discipline of sociology with the specific intent of yielding practical applications for human behavior and organizations.
Clinical sociology
The use of the discipline of sociology with the specific intent of altering social relationships or restructuring social institutions.
Conflict perspective
A sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups.
Dramaturgical approach
A view of social interaction popularized by Erving Goffman in which people are seen as theatrical performers.
Functionalist perspective
A sociological approach that emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability.
Globalization
The worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas.
Interactionist perspective
A sociological approach that generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction in order to explain society as a whole.
Macrosociology
Sociological investigation that concentrates on large-scale phenomena or entire civilizations.
Microsociology
Sociological investigation that stresses the study of small groups, often through experimental means.
Natural science
The study of the physical features of nature and the ways in which they interact and change.
Private troubles
Obstacles that individuals face as individuals rather than as a consequence of their social position.
Public issues
Obstacles that individuals in similar positions face; also referred to by sociologists as "social problems."
Science
The body of knowledge obtained by methods based upon systematic observation.
Social inequality
A condition in which members of society have differing amounts of wealth, prestige, and power.
Social science
The study of the social features of humans and the ways in which they interact and change.
Sociological imagination
An awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society, both today and in the past.
Sociology
The systematic study of social behavior and human groups.
Theory
In sociology a set of statements that seeks to explain problems, actions, or behavior.
Causal logic
The relationship between a condition or variable and a particular consequence, with one event leading to the other.
Code of ethics
The standards of acceptable behavior developed by and for members of a profession.
Content analysis
The systematic coding and objective recording of data, guided by some rationale.
Control group
The subjects in an experiment who are not introduced to the independent variable by the researcher.
Control variable
A factor that is held constant to test the relative impact of an independent variable.
Correlation
A relationship between two variables in which a change in one coincides with a change in the other.
Dependent variable
The variable in a causal relationship that is subject to the influence of another variable.
Ethnography
The study of an entire social setting through extended systematic observation.
Experiment
An artificially created situation that allows a researcher to manipulate variables.
Experimental group
The subjects in an experiment who are exposed to an independent variable introduced by a researcher.
Hawthorne effect
The unintended influence that observers of experiments can have on their subjects.
Hypothesis
A testable statement about the relationship between two or more variables.
Independent variable
The variable in a causal relationship that causes or influences a change in a second variable.
Interview
A face-to-face or telephone questioning of a respondent to obtain desired information.
Mean
A number calculated by adding a series of values and then dividing by the number of values.
Median
The midpoint or number that divides a series of values into two groups of equal numbers of values.
Mode
The single most common value in a series of scores.
Observation
A research technique in which an investigator collects information through direct participation and/or closely watching a group or community.
Operational definition
Transformation of an abstract concept into indicators that are observable and measurable.
Qualitative research
Research that relies on what is seen in field or naturalistic settings more than on statistical data.
Quantitative research
Research that collects and reports data primarily in numerical form.
Questionnaire
A printed or written form used to obtain information from a respondent.
Random sample
A sample for which every member of an entire population has the same chance of being selected.
Reliability
The extent to which a measure produces consistent results.
Research design
A detailed plan or method for obtaining data scientifically.
Sample
A selection from a larger population that is statistically representative of that population.
Scientific method
A systematic, organized series of steps that ensures maximum objectivity and consistency in researching a problem.
Secondary analysis
A variety of research techniques that make use of previously collected and publicly accessible information and data.
Survey
A study, generally in the form of an interview or questionnaire, that provides researchers with information about how people think and act.
Validity
The degree to which a measure or scale truly reflects the phenomenon under study.
Value neutrality
Max Weber's term for objectivity of sociologists in the interpretation of data.
Variable
A measurable trait or characteristic that is subject to change under different conditions
Argot
Specialized language used by members of a group or subculture.
Counterculture
A subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture.
Cultural relativism
The viewing of people’s behavior from the perspective of their own culture.
Cultural universal
A common practice or belief shared by all societies.
Culture
The totality of our shared language, knowledge, material objects, and behavior.
Culture lag
A period of adjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions.
Culture shock
The feelings of disorientation, uncertainty, and even fear that people experience when they encounter unfamiliar cultural practices.
Diffusion
The process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society.
Discovery
The process of making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality.
Dominant ideology
A set of cultural beliefs and practices that legitimates existing powerful social, economic, and political interests.
Ethnocentrism
The tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others.
Folkways
Norms governing everyday social behavior, whose violation raise comparatively little concern.
Formal norm
A norm that generally has been written down and that specifies strict punishments for violators.
Informal norm
A norm that is generally understood but not precisely recorded.
Innovation
The process of introducing a new idea or object into a culture through discovery or invention.
Invention
The combination of existing cultural items into a form that did not exist before.
Language
A system of shared symbols; it includes speech, written characters, numerals, symbols, and nonverbal gestures and expressions.
Laws
Formal norms enforced by the state.
Material culture
The physical or technological aspects of our daily lives.
Mores
Norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society.
Nonmaterial culture
Ways of using material objects, as well as customs, ideas, expressions, beliefs, knowledge, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication.
Nonverbal communication
The use of gestures, facial expressions, and other visual images to communicate.
Norm
An established standard of behavior maintained by a society.
Sanction
A penalty or reward for conduct concerning a social norm.
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
The idea that the language a person uses shapes his or her perception of reality and therefore his or her thoughts and actions.
Society
The structure of relationships within which culture is created and shared through regularized patterns of social interaction.
Sociobiology
The systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior.
Subculture
A segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of mores, folkways, and values that differs from the pattern of the larger society.
Technology
Cultural information about how to use the material resources of the environment to satisfy human needs and desires.
Value
A collective conception of what is considered good, desirable, and proper—or bad, undesirable, and improper—in a culture.
Anticipatory socialization
Processes of socialization in which a person "rehearses" for future positions, occupations, and social relationships.
Cognitive theory of development
The theory that children's thought progresses through four stages of development.
Degradation ceremony
An aspect of the socialization process within some total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals.
Dramaturgical approach
A view of social interaction in which people are seen as theatrical performers.
Face-work
The efforts people make to maintain a proper image and avoid public embarrassment.
Gender role
Expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females.
Generalized other
The attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behavior.
I
The acting self that exists in relation to the Me.
Impression management
The altering of the presentation of the self in order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences.
Life course approach
A research orientation in which sociologists and other social scientists look closely at the social factors that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death.
Looking-glass self
A concept that emphasizes the self as the product of our social interactions.
Me
The socialized self that plans actions and judges performances based on the standards we have learned from others.
Midlife crisis
A stressful period of self-evaluation that begins at about age 40.
Resocialization
The process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one's life.
Rite of passage
A ritual marking the symbolic transition from one social position to another.
Role taking
The process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint.
Sandwich generation
The generation of adults who simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their parents and their children.
Self
A distinct identity that sets us apart from others.
Significant other
An individual who is most important in the development of the self, such as a parent, friend, or teacher.
Socialization
The lifelong process through which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture.
Symbol
A gesture, object, or word that forms the basis of human communication.
Total institution
An institution that regulates all aspects of a person's life under a single authority, such as a prison, the military, a mental hospital, or a convent.
Achieved status
A social position that is within our power to change.
Agrarian society
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.
Alienation
Loss of control over our creative human capacity to produce, separation from the products we make, and isolation from our fellow producers.
Ascribed status
A social position assigned to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics.
Avatar
A person's online representation as a character, whether in the form of a 2-D or
-D image or simply through text.
Bureaucracy
A component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency.
Bureaucratization
The process by which a group, organization, or social movement increasingly relies on technical-rational decision making in the pursuit of efficiency.
Classical theory
An approach to the study of formal organizations that views workers as being motivated almost entirely by economic rewards.
Coalition
A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal.
Gemeinschaft
A close-knit community, often found in rural areas, in which strong personal bonds unite members.
Gesellschaft
A community, often urban, that is large and impersonal, with little commitment to the group or consensus on values.
Goal displacement
Overzealous conformity to official regulations of a bureaucracy.
Group
Any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis.
Horticultural society
A preindustrial society in which people plant seeds and crops rather than merely subsist on available foods.
Human relations approach
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.
Hunting-and-gathering society
A preindustrial society in which people rely on whatever foods and fibers are readily available in order to survive.
Ideal type
A construct or model for evaluating specific cases.
Industrial society
A society that depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services.
In-group
Any group or category to which people feel they belong.
Iron law of oligarchy
A principle of organizational life under which even a democratic organization will eventually develop into a bureaucracy ruled by a few individuals.
Master status
A status that dominates others and thereby determines a person's general position in society.
Mc Donaldization
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.
Mechanical solidarity
Social cohesion based on shared experiences, knowledge, and skills in which things function more or less the way they always have, with minimal change.
Organic solidarity
A collective consciousness that rests on mutual interdependence, characteristic of societies with a complex division of labor.
Out-group
A group or category to which people feel they do not belong.
Peter principle
A principle of organizational life according to which every employee within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence.
Postindustrial society
A society whose economic system is engaged primarily in the processing and control of information.
Postmodern society
A technologically sophisticated, pluralistic, interconnected, globalized society.
Primary group
A small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation.
Reference group
Any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior.
Role conflict
The situation that occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by the same person.
Role exit
The process of disengagement from a role that is central to one's self-identity in order to establish a new role and identity.
Role strain
The difficulty that arises when the same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations.
Scientific management approach
Another name for the classical theory of formal organizations.
Secondary group
A formal, impersonal group in which there is little social intimacy or mutual understanding.
Social institution
An organized pattern of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs.
Social interaction
The ways in which people respond to one another.
Social network
A series of social relationships that links individuals directly to others, and through them indirectly to still more people.
Social role
A set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status.
Social structure
The way in which a society is organized into predictable relationships.
Status
A term used by sociologists to refer to any of the full range of socially defined positions within a large group or society.
Trained incapacity
The tendency of workers in a bureaucracy to become so specialized that they develop blind spots and fail to notice potential problems.
Anomie
Durkheim's term for the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective.
Anomie theory of deviance
Merton's theory of deviance as an adaptation of socially prescribed goals or of the means governing their attainment, or both.
Conformity
The act of going along with peers—individuals of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior.
Control theory
A view of conformity and deviance that suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society's norms.
Crime
A violation of criminal law for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties.
Cultural transmission
A school of criminology that argues that criminal behavior is learned through social interactions.
Deviance
Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society.
Differential association
A theory of deviance that holds that violation of rules results from exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts.
Differential justice
Differences in the way social control is exercised over different groups.
Formal social control
Social control that is carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, and employers.
Index crimes
The eight types of crime reported annually by the FBI in the Uniform Crime Reports: murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
Informal social control
Social control that is carried out casually by ordinary people through such means as laughter, smiles, and ridicule.
Labeling theory
An approach to deviance that attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants while others engaged in the same behavior are not.
Law
Governmental social control.
Obedience
Compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure.
Organized crime
The work of a group that regulates relations among criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities, including prostitution, gambling, and the smuggling and sale of illegal drugs.
Sanction
A penalty or reward for conduct concerning a social norm.
Social control
The techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society.
Social disorganization theory
The theory that attributes increases in crime and deviance to the absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions, such as the family, school, church, and local government.
Societal-reaction approach
Another name for labeling theory.
Stigma
A label used to devalue members of certain social groups.
Transnational crime
Crime that occurs across multiple national borders.
Victimization survey
A questionnaire or interview given to a sample of the population to determine whether people have been victims of crime.
Victimless crime
A term used by sociologists to describe the willing exchange among adults of widely desired, but illegal, goods and services.
White-collar crime
Illegal acts committed by affluent, "respectable" individuals in the course of business activities.