Chapter 8 Sociology

Front 1

Absolute poverty

Back 1

A situation in which people lack the resources to satisfy the basic needs no person should be without. pg 182

Front 2

relative poverty

Back 2

A situation measured not by some objective standard but rather by comparing against that of others who are more advantaged in some way

Front 3

extreme wealth

Back 3

the most excessive form of wealth, in which a very small proportion of people in the world have money, material possessions, and other assets ( minus liabilities) in such abundance that a small fraction of it (if spent appropriately) could provide adequate food, safe water, sanitation, and basic health care for the 1 billion poorest people on the planet.

Front 4

social stratification

Back 4

the systematic process of ranking people on a scale of social worth such that the ranking affects life chances in unequal ways.

Front 5

life chances

Back 5

The probability that an individual's life will follow a certain path and will turn out a certain way.

Front 6

social inequality

Back 6

a situation in which these valued resources and desired outcomes (that is a college education, long life) are distributed in such a way that people have unequal amounts and or access to them. pg 183

Front 7

achieved statuses

Back 7

Attained through some combination of personal choice, effort, and ability.

Front 8

social prestige

Back 8

A level of respect or admiration for a status apart from any person who happens to occupy it.

Front 9

esteem

Back 9

the reputation that someone occupying an ascribed or achieved status has earned from people who know and observe the person.

Front 10

caste system

Back 10

any form of stratification in which people are categorized and ranked by characteristics over which they have no control and that they usually cannot change.

Front 11

class system

Back 11

A system of social stratification in which people are categorized and ranked by characteristics such as merit talent, ability, or past performance

Front 12

social mobility

Back 12

Movement from one social class to another

Front 13

modernization

Back 13

A process of economic social, and cultural transformation in which a country "evolves" from preindustrial or underdeveloped status to a modern society in the image of the most developed countries. pg 194

Front 14

colonialism

Back 14

A form of domination in which a foreign power uses superior military force to impose its political, economic, social, and cultural institutions on an indigenous population so it can control their resources, labor and markets. pg 196

Front 15

decoloization

Back 15

A process of undoing colonialism such that the colonized country achieves independence from the so called mother country.

Front 16

neocoloialism

Back 16

A new form of colonialism where more powerful foreign governments and foreign owned businesses continue to exploit the resources and labor of the post colonial peoples.

Front 17

Brain Drain

Back 17

The emigration from a country of the most educated and most talented people.

Front 18

class

Back 18

a person's overall economic and social status in a system of social stratification. pg 202

Front 19

finance aristocracy

Back 19

Bankers and stock holders seemingly detached from the world of "work".

Front 20

negatively privileged property class

Back 20

Weber's category for people completely lacking in skills, property, or employment or who depend on seasonal or sporadic employment, they constitute the very bottom of the class system.

Front 21

positively privileged property class

Back 21

Weber's category for the people at the very top of the class system.

Front 22

status group

Back 22

Weber's term for an amorphous group of people held together both by virtue of a lifestyle that has come to be expected of "all those who wish to belong to the circle"

Front 23

political parties

Back 23

According to Weber, "organizations oriented toward the planned acquisition of social power, and toward influencing social action no matter what its content may be."

Front 24

income

Back 24

the money a person earns, usually on an annual basis through salary or wages

Front 25

Wealth

Back 25

The combined value of a person's income and other material assets such as stocks, real estate, and savings minus debt. pg 204

Front 26

Urban underclass

Back 26

The group of families and individuals in inner cities who live "outside the mainstream of the American occupational system and consequently represent the very bottom of the economic hierarchy".