SOCIOLOGY DEFINITIONS EVERYTHING

Social imagination

Social imagination

The application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions. Someone using the sociological imagination "thinks himself away" from the familiar routines of daily life. 

Social structure

The underlying regularities or patterns in how people behave in their relationships with one another.

soccial construcion

 An idea or practice that a group of people agree exists. It is maintained over time by people taking its existence for granted.  

Socialization

The social processes through which children develop an awareness of social norms and values and achieve a distinct sense of self. Although socialization processes are particularly significant in infancy and childhood, they continue to some degree throughout life. No individuals are immune from the reactions of others around them, which influence and modify their behavior at all phases of the life course. 

Organic solidarity

According to Durkheim, the social cohesion that results from the various parts of a society functioning as an integrated whole.  

Social constraint

The conditioning influence on our behavior of the groups and societies of which we are members. Social constraint was regarded by Durkheim as one of the distinctive properties of social facts.  

Division of labour

The specialization of work tasks by means of which different occupations are combined within a production system. All societies have at least some rudimentary form of it, especially between the tasks allocated to men and those performed by women. With the development of industrialism, it bacame vastly more complex than in any prior type of production system.  

Anomie

The concept first brought into wide usage in sociology by Durkheim to refer to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior.  

Materialist conception of history

The view developed by Marx according to which material, or economic, factors have a prime role in determining historical change. 

Capitalism

 An economic system based on the private ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested in order to produce profit.  

Burocracy

A type of organization marked by a clear hierarchy of authority and the existence of written rules of procedure and staffed by full-time, salaried officials.  

Rationalism

 A concept used by Weber to refer to the process by which modes of precise calculation and organization, involving abstract rules and procedures, increasingly come to dominate the social world.  

Symbolic interactions

A theoretical approach in sociology developed by George Herbert Mead that emphasizes the role of symbols and language as core elements of all human interaction.  

Symbol

One item used to stand for or represent another—as in the case of a flag, which symbolizes a nation.  

Functionalism

A theoretical perspective based on the notion that social events can best be explained in terms of the functions they perform—that is, the contributions they make to the continuity of a society.  

Manifest functions

 The functions of a type of social activity that are known to and intended by the individuals involved in the activity.  

Latent functions

 Functional consequences that are not intended or recognized by the members of a social system in which they occur.  

Conflict theory

A sociological perspective that emphasizes the role of political and economic power and oppression as contributing to the existing social order.

Marxism

A body of thought deriving its main elements from the ideas of Karl Marx.  

Power

 The ability of individuals or the members of a group to achieve aims or further the interests they hold. Power is a pervasive element in all human relationships. Many conflicts in society are struggles over power, because how much power an individual or group is able to achieve governs how far they are able to put their wishes into practice.  

ideology

Shared ideas or beliefs that serve to justify the interests of dominant groups. They are found in all societies in which there are systematic and ingrained inequalities among groups. The concept of ideology connects closely with that of power, since ideological systems serve to legitimize the power that groups hold.  

Feminist theory

A sociological perspective that emphasizes the centrality of gender in analyzing the social world and particularly the uniqueness of the experience of women. There are many strands of feminist theory, but they all share the desire to explain gender inequality in society and to work to overcome it.  

feminism

Advocacy of the rights of women to be equal with men in all spheres of life. Feminism dates from the late eighteenth century in Europe, and feminist movements exist in most countries today.  

Rational choice approach

 More broadly, the theory that an individual’s behavior is purposive. Within the field of criminology, rational choice analysis argues that deviant behavior is a rational response to a specific social situation.  

Postmodernism

The belief that society is no longer governed by history or progress. Postmodern society is highly pluralistic and diverse, with no “grand narrative” guiding its development.  

Microsociology

The study of human behavior in the context of face-to-face interaction.  

Macrosociology

The study of large-scale groups, organizations, or social systems.  

quantitative methodes

Approaches to sociological research that draw on objective and statistical data and often focus on documenting trends, comparing subgroups, or exploring correlations.  

qualitative methodes

Approaches to sociological research that often rely on personal and/or collective interviews, accounts, or observations of a person or situation.  

hypotheses

Ideas or educated guesses about a given state of affairs, put forward as bases for empirical testing.

research methodes

The diverse methods of investigation used to gather empirical (factual) material. Different research methods exist in sociology, but the most commonly used are fieldwork (or participant observation) and survey methods. For many purposes, it is useful to combine two or more methods within a single research project.  

ethnography

The firsthand study of people using observation, in-depth interviewing, or both. Also called fieldwork.  

participation Observation

A method of research widely used in sociology and anthropology in which the researcher takes part in the activities of the group or community being studied. 

surveys

A method of sociological research in which questionnaires are administered to the population being studied.

population

The people who are the focus of social research.  

pilot study

A trial run in survey research.  

sampel

A small proportion of a larger population.  

Represntative sample

A sample from a larger population that is statistically typical of that population.  

sampling

Studying a proportion of individuals or cases from a larger population as representative of that population as a whole.  

random sampling

Sampling method in which a sample is chosen so that every member of the population has the same probability of being included.  

Measure of central tendency

The ways of calculating averages.  

correlation coefficints

The measure of the degree of correlation between variables.  

mean

A statistical measure of central tendency, or average, based on dividing a total by the number of individual cases.

mode

The number that appears most often in a given set of data. This can sometimes be a helpful way of portraying central tendency.  

median

The number that falls halfway in a range of numbers a way of calculating central tendency that is sometimes more useful than calculating a mean.

standard deviation

A way of calculating the spread of a group of numbers.  

degree dispersal

The range or distribution of a set of figures.  

experiment

 A research method by which variables can be analyzed in a controlled and systematic way, either in an artificial situation constructed by the researcher or in a naturally occurring setting.

comperative reseach

Research that compares one set of findings on one society with the same type of findings on other societies.  

empirical investigation

 Factual inquiries carried out in any area of sociological study.  

Hybridity

The fact that cultures are neither wholly isolated nor entirely distinct, but instead constantly borrow from one another. 

Social change

 Alteration in basic structures of a social group or society. Social change is an ever-present phenomenon in social life but has become especially intense in the modern era. The origins of modern sociology can be traced to attempts to understand the dramatic changes shattering the traditional world and promoting new forms of social order

IGOs

 International organizations established by treaties between governments for purposes of conducting business between the nations making up their membership.  

INGOs

 International organizations established by agreements between the individuals or private organizations making up their membership.  

Transactional corporations

Business corporations located in two or more countries.  

External risks

 Dangers that spring from the natural world and are unrelated to the actions of humans. Examples of external risk include droughts, earthquakes, famines, and storms.  

Manufatered risks

Dangers that are created by the impact of human knowledge and technology on the natural world. Examples of manufactured risk include global warming and genetically modified foods. 

Postindustrial society

A notion advocated by those who believe that processes of social change are taking us beyond the industrialized order. This society is based on the production of information rather than on material goods. According to them, we are currently experiencing a series of social changes as profound as those that initiated the industrial era some 200 years ago.  

Postmodern society

A technologically sophisticated society that is preoccupied with consumer goods and media images.  

Deglobalization

the reduction of global interdependence by making economies as local as possible.  

Work

 The activity by which people produce from the natural world and so ensure their survival. It should not be thought of exclusively as paid employment. In traditional cultures, there was only a rudimentary monetary system, and few people worked for money. In modern societies, there remain types of work that do not involve direct payment (e.g., housework).  

occupation

Any form of paid employment in which an individual regularly works.  

Ecomomy

The system of production and exchange that provides for the material needs of individuals living in a given society. Economic institutions are of key importance in all social orders. What goes on in the economy usually influences other areas of social life. Modern economies differ substantially from traditional ones because the majority of the population is no longer engaged in agricultural production.

Technology

The application of knowledge of the material world to production; the creation of material instruments (such as machines) used in human interaction with nature.

Houswork

 Unpaid work carried out in the home, “usually by women;” domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping. Also called domestic labor.  

Economic interdependece

The fact that in the division of labor, individuals depend on others to produce many or most of the goods they need to sustain their lives. 

Corporations

Business firms or companies.  

Family capitalism

Capitalistic enterprise owned and administered by entrepreneurial families.  

Enterprenuer

The owner/founder of a business firm.  

Managerial capitalism

Capitalistic enterprises administered by managerial executives rather than by owners.  

Welfare capitalism

The practice by which large corporations protect their employees from the vicissitudes of the market.  

Institutional capitalism

Capitalistic enterprise organized on the basis of institutional shareholding.  

Global capitalsim

The current transnational phase of capitalism, characterized by global markets, production, finances; a transnational capitalist class whose business concerns are global rather than national; and transnational systems of governance (such as the World Trade Organization) that promote global business interests.  

Fordism

 The system of production pioneered by Henry Ford, in which the assembly line was introduced.  

Taylorism

A set of ideas, also referred to as “scientific management,” developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, involving simple, coordinated operations in industry.  

Low trust system

Organizational or work settings in which people are allowed little responsibility for, or control over, the work task.  

High trust system

Organizational or work settings in which individuals are permitted a great deal of autonomy and control over the work task.  

Alienation

 The sense that our own abilities as human beings are taken over by others. The term was originally used by Karl Marx to refer to the projection of human powers onto gods. Subsequently he used the term to refer to the loss of workers’ control over the nature and products of their labor.  

Post fordism

The period characterized by the transition from mass industrial production, using Fordist methods, to more flexible forms of production favoring innovation and aimed at meeting market demands for customized products.  

Flexible production

Process in which computers design customized products for a mass market.

Outsourcing

 A business practice that sends production of materials to factories around the world. The components of one final product often originate from many different countries and then are sent elsewhere to be put together and sold. Factories from different count  

Informal economy

Economic transactions carried on outside the sphere of orthodox paid employment.  

Monopoly

 The domination by a single firm in a given industry.  

Oligopoly

The domination by a small number of firms in a given industry. transnational (or multinational) 

Corporations

Business corporations located in two or more countries. 

International division of labour

The specialization in producing goods for the world market that divides regions into zones of industrial or agricultural production or high- or low-skilled labor.  

Strike

A temporary stoppage of work by a group of employees in order to express a grievance or enforce a demand.  

Unemployment rate

The proportion of the population sixteen and older that is actively seeking work but is unable to find employment.  

Uninon density

A statistic that represents the number of union members as a percentage of the number of people who could potentially be union members.  

Automation

 Production processes monitored and controlled by machines with only minimal supervision from people. 

Knowledge economy

 A society no longer based primarily on the production of material goods but instead on the production of knowledge. Its emergence has been linked to the development of a broad base of consumers who are technologically literate and have made new advances in the computing, entertainment, and telecommunications part of their lives.  

Portofolio workers

Workers who possess a diversity of skills or qualifications and are therefore able to move easily from job to job.

Social startification

The existence of structured inequalities between groups in society in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards. While all societies involve some forms of stratification, only with the development of state-based systems did wide differences in wealth and power arise. The most distinctive form of stratification in modern societies is class divisions.

Intersectionality

 A sociological perspective that holds that our multiple group memberships affect our lives in ways that are distinct from single group memberships. For example, the experience of a black female may be distinct from that of a white female or a black male

Stuctured inequalities

Social inequalities that result from patterns in the social structure.

Slavery

A form of social stratification in which some people are owned by others as their property.

Caste

A social system in which one’s social status is held for life.

Class system

A system of social hierarchy that allows individuals to move among classes. The four chief bases of class are ownership of wealth, occupation, income, and education.

Class

 Although it is one of the most frequently used concepts in sociology, there is no clear agreement about how the notion should be defined. Most sociologists use the term to refer to socioeconomic variations among groups of individuals that create variations in their material prosperity and power.

Life chances

A term introduced by Max Weber to signify a person’s opportunities for achieving economic prosperity