Social Forces: Social Environment and Social Work

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering societal forces, sociological theories, capital types, cultural concepts, spiritual dimensions, technology, and environmental principles.

Social Environment

 these are the social structures, relationships, and networks that impact a person's life, including family dynamics, friendships, social support, community involvement, values, norms, and structures of a given community or society.

Social Imagination

A concept by Charles Wright Mills that enables a person to understand the larger scene in terms of its meaning for their inner life, allowing individuals to see how their private lives are shaped by historical and structural factors beyond their control.

Personal Troubles (Biography)

Private problems experienced within the character of the individual and the range of their immediate relation to others, where individuals make choices regarding friends, family, work, and school within their control.

Social or Public Issues (History)

Problems that lie beyond one's personal control and the range of one's inner life, pertaining to broader matters of organization and process rooted in society rather than in the individual.

Conflict Theory

A theory associated with Karl Marx that views social behavior from the perspective of conflict and tension among two or more groups perpetually fighting and competing for resources and power.

Max Weber's View on Conflict

The perspective arguing that conflict among groups can lead to structural change and a more equal distribution of resources.

Georg Simmel's View on Group Violence

The principle stating that as the level of emotional involvement and solidarity increase among group members, the level of violence also increases.

Functions of Conflict

Conflict serves to centralize power, establish clear boundaries between groups, and encourage coalition building and discussion between groups if it is not too intense or violent.

Economic Aspect

Includes aspects such as income, wealth, employment, trade, production, and resource distribution that shape the well-being of people and the growth of economies.

Human Capital

Refers to the skills, knowledge, experience, and abilities that individuals possess, which contribute to their economic value and ability to participate in the workforce.

Social Capital

Refers to the networks, relationships, and social ties that individuals or groups build and maintain within their communities or society, involving trust, norms, and reciprocity.

Financial Capital

Refers to the money, assets, and financial resources that individuals, organizations, or governments have at their disposal to invest in economic activities, start businesses, or accumulate wealth.

Political Aspect

Looks at the influence of political systems, political structures, power, policies, and legislation on individuals and communities.

Structure (Community Level)

Refers to the arrangement and mutual relationship of constituent parts to the whole, including formal and informal organizations, associations, and neighborhood horizontal and vertical relationships.

Process (Community Level)

Defined as a continuous series of actions, events, or changes that are directed toward some end and/or performed in a specific manner.

Culture

The result of all human endeavors, including norms, values, customs, symbols, thoughts, traditions, politics, religions, languages, philosophies, and material objects.

Cultural Aspect

The impact of cultural beliefs, values, traditions, and practices on individuals and communities, including factors such as language, religion, and cultural identity.

Internal Components of Culture

Elements that are not readily observable, such as ideas, interpretations, perceptions, and the meanings that people attach to external components.

External Components of Culture

Things that can be observed or quantified, such as behaviors, products, artifacts, and other tangible objects.

Social Class

A category for a group of people who share similar economic stratification.

Ethnicity

How people associate themselves with a group through the use of aspects such as norms, values, traditions, and customs.

Ideology

One's dominant ideas about what is correct and how things should be.

Ethnic Identity

How people form their identity in relation to their ethnicity.

World View

The way in which people perceive their world that gives them a frame of reference, personal philosophy, how things are, and the way things should be.

Ethnocentrism

The belief that one culture is superior to others and that culture serves as the norms by which others should be judged.

Cultural Relativism

The idea that different cultures should be treated equally and cannot be ranked based on which is better or superior.

Multiculturalism

Refers to the idea that all cultures should be recognized, respected, and treated equally.

Cultural Pluralism

Refers to the recognition and accommodation of a variety of cultures that have different values and norms.

Spirituality

Refers to a human being's subjective relationship (cognitive, emotional, and intuitive) to what is unknowable about existence and how a person integrates that relationship into a perspective about the universe, world, others, self, moral values, and sense of meaning.

Spiritual Aspect

Considers the role of spirituality, faith, and religious beliefs in people's lives and how these factors provide support, meaning, and guidance.

Religion

Defined as belief in institutional doctrines or a divine being with superhuman powers and the worship and rituals that accompany those beliefs, as well as the experience of reflecting upon and aligning with the divine.

Religiosity

Refers to the social institutions that help organize systems of beliefs and practices usually associated with the natural that include a community of believers and provide rules and norms of behavior.

Faith

A devotion or commitment to or belief or trust in a divine entity, without having actual proof that this entity exists.

Technological Aspect

Refers to how technological advancements, innovations, and digital tools influence individuals, businesses, industries, and society.

Environmental Aspect

Examines the influence of the physical environment, including housing, neighbourhood conditions, and access to green spaces, on people's well-being and quality of life.

Environmental Space

Refers to the amount of natural resources, land, energy, and ecological capacity available for human use without exceeding the planet's limits.

Environment

Surroundings, milieu, atmosphere, condition, climate, circumstances, setting, ambience, scene, décor, situation, position, locality, attitude, place, site, bearings, neighbourhood.

First Principle of Environmental Space

Entails a commitment to living within the earth's resources.

Second Principle of Environmental Space

Involves a global equality of access to the resources of the earth by all people.

Third Principle of Environmental Space

Maintains that production and consumption should enhance the quality of life within national and cultural diversity.