Socy Final

Front 1

assimilation:

Back 1

A process that occurs when a minority racial, ethnic or cultural group becomes virtually indistinguishable, culturally, from the dominant group in a society.

Front 2

cultural pluralism:

Back 2

A diversity of cultural traditions and outlooks.

Front 3

ethnicity:

Back 3

A collectively-defined meaning about characteristics that determine people's membership in communities that are united by culture, and usually also by kinship -- communities that are important to who we are as individuals, and to which we owe deep and enduring allegiance.

Front 4

ethnic group:

Back 4

A collectivity (group) that gives people identity (and thus meaning), and a sense of belonging, through our identification with it.

Front 5

instrumentalism:

Back 5

A view of ethnicity, which sees it as less fundamental to "the way we are" than the that which characterizes the primordialist position. Here, ethnicity is seen as a more superficial basis for identity, although nevertheless meaningful -- one that can often be used by leaders who want to rally support for some cause.

Front 6

multiculturalism:

Back 6

A movement that is oriented toward highlighting ethnic diversity and emphasizing its benefits for individuals and society.

Front 7

primordialism:

Back 7

The view that sentiments and ties which arise from ethnic identity are so deep-seated that they seem somehow "natural," rather than having come about because of social interaction.

Front 8

race:

Back 8

A concept that focuses particularly on the genetically inherited component of ethnicity. Most sociologists and biologists dispute the idea that race is a useful concept.

Front 9

status:

Back 9

A position that we occupy in the social system.

Front 10

stereotypes:

Back 10

Oversimplified and often inaccurate ideas about entire categories of people -- ideas that are often applied to individuals that are believed to fit into those categories.

Front 11

Churches:

Back 11

Established, traditional religious organizations that tend to support the prevailing features of their society.

Front 12

cults:

Back 12

Religious organizations that set themselves more decisively apart from the prevailing order than do sects. They are often either short-lived or transform themselves into sects.

Front 13

denominations:

Back 13

Religious organizations in in the middle of the Church-sect continuum.

Front 14

religious practices / religion:

Back 14

Institutions and behaviors that relate individuals to ideas about ultimate meaning and the sacred. Religion proposes a separate level of understanding from that which is knowable through the limitations of human reason.

Front 15

sects:

Back 15

Religious organizations that are more detached from the prevailing political system, and sometimes are in conflict with it.

Front 16

secular government:

Back 16

One whose overarching principles are not derived from a particular religious tradition.

Front 17

secularization:

Back 17

A process through which the awe-inspiring potential of religious belief and practice recede from prominence in various dimensions of life.

Front 18

theocracy:

Back 18

A political system in which the government is self-consciously ruled through an agreed-to conception of divine guidance.

Front 19

adversarial system:

Back 19

A system that limits the state's power in legal proceedings by attempting to create a "level playing" field in which the prosecution and the defense will have an equal opportunity to present their positions to an impartial jury.

Front 20

appellate courts:

Back 20

Courts that decide questions of law. Appellate courts inquire into the appropriateness of procedures and evidence that are used in specific trials.

Front 21

crime:

Back 21

An offense against the state.

Front 22

crime control model:

Back 22

This approach is especially concerned with apprehending and punishing those who have committed crimes.

Front 23

doctrine of natural law:

Back 23

The idea that that some principles are so universally valid that they can be applied to all societies and to all social strata.

Front 24

deviance, deviant:

Back 24

When people violate social norms to which others attach a significant degree of importance, their behavior is often viewed as being deviant.

Front 25

due process model:

Back 25

This approach aims to protect innocent people from the potentially coercive power of the government, even if it means that some guilty people go free because of procedural safeguards that restrict the government's authority.

Front 26

inquisitorial system:

Back 26

A system in which the emphasis is more directed toward fact-finding and less than toward balancing the interests of the state and the defendant, as compared with an adversarial system.

Front 27

the legal order:

Back 27

A system of rules in which adherence to the law takes precedence over obedience to those who hold power.

Front 28

social control theory of deviance:

Back 28

Suggests that conformity to group norms results from strong social bonds which tie individuals to groups and promote conformity.

Front 29

social solidarity:

Back 29

Factors that create and sustain bonds between individuals and social groups.

Front 30

tort:

Back 30

An offense against another person.

Front 31

trial courts:

Back 31

Courts that decide questions of fact. Defendants are judged guilty or not guilty in trial courts.

Front 32

white-collar crime:

Back 32

"Crimes committed by persons of high social position in the course of their occupations" (Sutherland and Cressey, 1978).

Front 33

charter schools:

Back 33

Schools that, while public, are administered more autonomously than most publicly supported schools. Instead of being run by local school officials, they are under the control of teachers, parents, and local groups that want to operate them according to different principles from those that characterize most other schools.

Front 34

outcome-based education:

Back 34

An approach that emphasized standardized measurement procedures as a way of improving the quality of schooling.

Front 35

"traditional" and "progressive" teaching approaches:

Back 35

"Traditional" approaches emphasize communicating particular kinds of knowledge and acquiring skills that are agreed upon by educators as being important.

Front 36

voucher programs:

Back 36

Approaches that offer another alternative aimed at encouraging competition among educational organization, with the aim of improving quality in the process. With vouchers, parents can send their children to private schools, if they would like, and pay most or all of the tuition cost with vouchers that allow tax dollars to support children's education -- at the type of school parents would like for their children to attend.

Front 37

agenda-setting power of the media:

Back 37

The media's role in focusing our thinking on particular subjects -- subjects that are highlighted in the media.

Front 38

framing:

Back 38

The process of characterizing events and situations in a particular way through media presentation.

Front 39

typographic mind; visual culture:

Back 39

To Postman, a "typographic mind" has been shaped by reading the printed word -- activity that he sees as promoting the "coherent, orderly arrangement of facts and ideas." A visual culture focuses more on images, at the expense of words.