Sociology: The Core Michael Hughes 4

Front 1

bureaucracy

Back 1

A social structure made up of a hierarchy of statuses and roles that is prescribed by explicit rules and procedures and based on a division of function and authority.

Front 2

coercive organization

Back 2

A formal organization that people become members of against their will.

Front 3

dyad

Back 3

A two-member group.

Front 4

ethnomethodology

Back 4

Procedures—the rules and activities—that people employ in making social life and society intelligible to themselves and others.

Front 5

expressive leader

Back 5

A leader who focuses on overcoming interpersonal problems in a group, defusing tension, and promoting solidarity.

Front 6

expressive ties

Back 6

Social links formed when we emotionally invest ourselves in and commit ourselves to other people.

Front 7

formal organization

Back 7

A group formed deliberately for the achievement of specific objectives.

Front 8

group

Back 8

Two or more people who share a feeling of unity and who are bound together in relatively stable patterns of social interaction.

Front 9

groupthink

Back 9

A decision-making process found in highly cohesive groups in which the members become so preoccupied with maintaining group consensus that their critical faculties are impaired.

Front 10

informal organization

Back 10

Inter-personal networks and ties that arise in a formal organization but that are not defined or prescribed by it.

Front 11

in-group

Back 11

A group with which we identify and to which we belong.

Front 12

instrumental leader

Back 12

A leader who focuses on appraising the problem at hand and organizing people's activity to deal with it.

Front 13

instrumental ties

Back 13

Social links formed when we cooperate with other people to achieve some goal.

Front 14

iron law of oligarchy

Back 14

The principle stating that bureaucracies invariably lead to the concentration of power in the hands of a few individuals who use their offices to advance their own fortunes and self-interests.

Front 15

mortification

Back 15

A procedure in which rituals employed by coercive organizations render individuals vulnerable to institutional control, discipline, and resocialization.

Front 16

negotiated order

Back 16

The fluid, ongoing understanding and agreements people reach as they go about their daily activities.

Front 17

out-group

Back 17

A group with which we do not identify and to which we do not belong.

Front 18

Parkinson's law

Back 18

The principle that states that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Front 19

primary group

Back 19

Two or more people who enjoy a direct, intimate, cohesive relationship with one another.

Front 20

reference group

Back 20

A social unit we use for appraising and shaping our attitudes, feelings, and actions.

Front 21

relationship

Back 21

An association that lasts long enough for two people to become linked together by a relatively stable set of expectations.

Front 22

relative deprivation

Back 22

Discontent associated with the gap between what we have and what we believe we should have.

Front 23

resocialization

Back 23

A process by which a person's old roles and identities are stripped away and new ones are created.

Front 24

secondary group

Back 24

Two or more people who are involved in an impersonal relationship and have come together for a specific, practical purpose.

Front 25

social dilemma

Back 25

A situation in which members of a group are faced with a conflict between maximizing their personal interests and maximizing the collective welfare.

Front 26

social loafing

Back 26

The process in which individuals work less hard when working in groups than they do when working individually.

Front 27

total institutions

Back 27

Places of residence where individuals are isolated from the rest of society.

Front 28

trained incapacity

Back 28

The term Thorstein Veblen applied to the tendency within bureaucracies for members to rely on established rules and regulations and to apply them in an unimaginative and mechanical fashion.

Front 29

triad

Back 29

A three-member group.

Front 30

utilitarian organization

Back 30

A formal organization set up to achieve practical ends.

Front 31

voluntary organization

Back 31

A formal organization that people enter and leave freely.