Sociology Key Concepts: Social Interaction, Structures, and Movements

What is Social Interaction?

What people do when they are in one another's presence.

What is a Social Structure?

The social structure people use to guide how they conduct themselves.

What is an Ascribed Status?

Social and biological characteristics that an individual has no control over, such as the status they are born into.

What is an Achieved Status?

A status attained through hard work, accomplishment, and merit.

What is a Master Status?

A status that cuts across all other statuses and is commonly used by society to identify a person.

Who was Ferdinand Tonnies?

A German sociologist who wanted to characterize the degree of social solidarity in a society when a "loss of community" occurs.

What is Gemeinschaft?

A traditional society where social relationships are based on personal bonds of friendship, kinship, and intergenerational stability.

What is Gesellschaft?

A large urban society where social bonds are based on impersonal and specialized relationships with little long-term commitment to the group.

What is a Role Set?

The expectations a person fulfills when holding a particular status or title.

What is Role Strain?

When a person is unsure of how to perform in a new role or job.

What is Role Conflict?

When a person must decide which status is more important in a given situation.

What is the difference between a Status and a Role?

A status is a title or position a person holds, while a role is the expectations the person fulfills while holding that status.

What is Social Exchange Theory?

psychological and sociological framework proposing that human relationships are formed, maintained, or terminated through a subconscious cost-benefit analysis.

What is a Group? a collection of two or more people who interact with one another regularly,

What is an Aggregate?

An assortment of people who are at the same location but for different reasons.

What is a Category?

A group of people with common characteristics.

What is an In-Group?

People who share a sense of identity and inclusion that typically excludes and devalues outsiders.

What is an Out-Group?

People who are viewed and treated negatively because they are seen as having different values, beliefs, or characteristics from the in-group.

What is a Primary Group?

A small, intimate group with emotional attachments between its members, usually family, close friends, or loved ones.

What is a Secondary Group?

A task-oriented group with little, if any, emotional involvement between its members.

What is a Reference Group?

A group in which we use others to evaluate our own behaviors.

What is Collective Behavior?

Spontaneous, unstructured, and temporary activity carried out by people who are responding to a common stimulus.

What is a Social Movement?

An organized effort to bring about some form of change.

What is a Precipitating Event?

a sudden, dramatic, or critical incident that acts as a "trigger" or "spark" to ignite collective behavior, social movements, or public protests

What is meant by Censorship?

The restriction of information that governments sometimes use to reduce the likelihood that the public will oppose its policies.

What is meant by Propaganda?

Distorted, one-sided, and selective information given to the public to influence public opinion in a desired direction.

What is meant by a Craze?

An activity carried out by a large number of people toward an object of desire, often involving obsessive behavior.

What is meant by a Fad?

A new or trivial activity usually embraced by a large number of young people and usually short-lived.

What is meant by Fashion?

Usually refers to clothing but can also include art, literature, music, and the spoken word.

What is the Goal of Social Movements?

To gain a sympathetic public that will support those who want to bring about change.

What are the seven types of Social Movements?

Alternative, Redemptive, Reformative, Reactionary, Transitional, Transformative, and Metaformative.

What is an Alternative Social Movement?

Focuses on changing people's attitudes or behaviors in a specific way.

What is a Redemptive Social Movement?

Attempts to dramatically change some people's lives.

What is a Reformative Social Movement?

Wants to change everyone regarding a particular topic or issue without replacing the existing social system.

What is a Reactionary Social Movement?

Tries to preserve the status quo by blocking change or undoing change that has already occurred.

What is a Transitional Social Movement?

Attempts to change specific social conditions across societies.

What is a Transformative Social Movement?

Wants to completely destroy the existing social order and replace it with a new one.

What is a Metaformative Social Movement?

Attempts to forever change the social order of the whole world.

What is Social Stratification?

The ranking of people within the social structure in terms of valued things, such as financial resources.

What are Open and Closed Systems?

Closed systems are based on ascribed statuses assigned at birth with little to no chance of upward mobility. Open systems are based on achieved statuses where ability and performance take precedence over family position and movement is possible.

What is a Slave System?

A system where people are bought, sold, and treated as property.

What is an Estate System?

A system in which powerful landowners control the economic destinies of their peasant farmers.

What is a Caste System?

A rigid system where ascribed statuses assigned at birth determine family social position and people are not allowed to change castes.

What is Structural Mobility?

Changes in society that cause large numbers of people to change their social class.

What is Prestige?

The social ranking of a person's occupational title, not how much money the person makes.

What is Status Consistency?

When a person's occupation and social status in society are roughly equal.

What is Status Inconsistency?

When a person's occupation and social status are unequal in relation to other categories.

What is a Crime?

Any intentional act or omission of an act that violates criminal, statutory, or case law for which the state is obligated to provide punishment.

What is Deviant Behavior?

Any action that a society considers unacceptable but is not necessarily illegal.

What is a White Collar Crime?

A crime committed by someone in a position of high responsibility, such as a lawyer or banker, who breaks the law in the course of their work.

What is a Blue Collar Crime?

A crime against an individual or their property, often involving the threat of physical or deadly force. It can range from theft to murder.

What is Strain Theory?

According to Robert Merton, if a person cannot attain something of value through legitimate means, they will seek alternative means to get it.

What is Labeling Theory?

According to Edwin Lemert, a person's outward appearance can influence how others view them. Some people internalize a negative label and act according to that label.

What is Control Theory?

According to Travis Hirschi, people who lack close attachments to parents, teachers, and other positive role models and lack the desire to live a law-abiding life may feel free to break the law.

What is Differential Association Theory?

According to Edwin Sutherland, crime is a learning process involving communication and interaction with people who choose a criminal lifestyle over conformity.

What are the 5 Modes of Adaptation?

Conformity, Innovation, Ritualism, Retreatism, and Rebellion.

What is Conformity?

Accepting society's goals and the legitimate means of achieving them.

What is Innovation?

Accepting society's goals but rejecting the culturally prescribed means of achieving them.

What is Ritualism?

Losing sight of society's goals while continuing to follow the prescribed means.

What is Retreatism?

Rejecting both society's cultural goals and the institutional means of achieving them.

What is Rebellion?

Wanting to bring about dramatic social change and replace existing goals or methods.

What was Emile Durkheim's position regarding crime in society?

Durkheim believed crime serves a vital function in maintaining and stabilizing society. Crime must be tolerated and expected in society.

What is Cultural Transmission Theory?

According to Clifford Shaw, the social environment a person is raised in can influence their potential to commit criminal acts in the future.

What are Moral Entrepreneurs?

People who feel it is their primary responsibility to tell the public what is right for them.

What is the Functionalist Perspective on Crime?

Crime serves a vital function in maintaining and stabilizing society. It can unite society, create jobs related to law enforcement, and help society redefine its values.

What is the Conflict Theory Perspective on Crime?

Crime and laws reflect inequalities in society, with powerful groups having more influence over what is considered criminal and how laws are enforced.

What is the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective on Crime?

Crime and deviance are influenced by social interactions and labels. When a person is labeled as deviant or criminal, they may internalize that label and begin acting according to it.

What is meant by the Poverty Line?

The official measure of poverty, calculated to include incomes that are three times a low-cost food budget.

What is meant by Status Symbols?

a perceived possession, action, uniform, or characteristic that signals a person's high wealth, power, social standing, or importance to others

What is the difference between Income and Wealth?

Income is money, goods, and resources gained over time through earning a living. Wealth is income that has been accumulated or invested, such as savings, stocks, bonds, and real estate.

What is true of the working class today?

The notes state that the majority of working-class Americans work in blue-collar occupations rather than white-collar occupations.

What is True about Poverty in the USA?

For 2025, the federal poverty guideline is $15,650 for an individual and $32,150 for a family of four.

What is the Feminization of Poverty?

A sociological concept describing the trend where women experience poverty at disproportionately higher rates than men. Female-headed families have become more common due to factors such as high divorce rates and births to single women.