Introduction to Sociology – Comprehensive Vocabulary Flashcards

252 vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts, theories, terms, and figures from the provided sociology study-guide notes.

Sociology

Systematic study of human society and social behavior.

Making the familiar strange

Practice of questioning and critically examining what seems natural or taken for granted.

Sociological imagination

C. Wright Mills’s idea of connecting personal troubles to public issues and social structure.

Social institution

Stable set of statuses, roles, and rules organized to fulfill fundamental societal needs.

Agency

Individual’s capacity to act independently and make free choices.

Structure

Enduring, patterned social arrangements that constrain or enable individual action.

Micro-sociology

Study of face-to-face interaction and small-scale social processes.

Macro-sociology

Study of large-scale social structures and broad societal patterns.

Auguste Comte

French thinker credited as the founder of sociology and advocate of positivism.

Positivism

View that social phenomena can be studied with the methods of natural science.

W.E.B. Du Bois

Pioneering African-American sociologist who developed the concept of double consciousness.

Double consciousness

Inner conflict of subordinated groups seeing themselves through dominant society’s eyes.

Max Weber

German sociologist who emphasized verstehen, rationalization, and bureaucracy.

Verstehen

Interpretive understanding of social action from the actor’s perspective.

Class conflict

Struggle between social classes over resources and power.

Theory

Systematic explanation of how and why specific facts are related.

Functionalism

Perspective viewing society as an interdependent system maintaining stability.

Conflict theory

Perspective emphasizing inequality, power struggle, and social change through conflict.

Feminist theory

Set of perspectives analyzing and challenging gender inequality.

Symbolic interactionism

Micro theory focusing on meanings created through social interaction.

Culture

Shared beliefs, values, behaviors, and material objects of a group.

Values

Cultural standards of what is good, desirable, or worthwhile.

Norms

Rules and expectations guiding members’ behavior.

Cultural scripts

Modes of behavior and understanding that are not universal or natural.

Subculture

Group within society with distinct values, norms, and lifestyle.

Counterculture

Subculture that actively opposes the dominant culture’s values.

Code switching

Shifting between languages or cultural repertoires in different contexts.

Culture shock

Disorientation experienced when encountering an unfamiliar culture.

Ethnocentrism

Judging other cultures by one’s own cultural standards.

Cultural relativism

Viewing and understanding a culture on its own terms.

Material culture

Physical objects and artifacts created by a society.

Nonmaterial culture

Intangible ideas, beliefs, values, and norms of a society.

Cultural lag

Delay between material culture change and nonmaterial cultural adjustment.

Socialization

Lifelong process of learning a society’s culture and developing a self.

Nature vs. nurture

Debate over biological inheritance versus social environment in shaping people.

Self

Person’s identity as perceived by that same person.

“Me”

Mead’s concept of the socialized self that reflects societal expectations.

“I”

Mead’s concept of the spontaneous, creative, and impulsive self.

George Herbert Mead

Sociologist who developed the theory of the social self.

Generalized other

Internalized sense of the total expectations of others in society.

Agent of socialization

Person or institution that shapes an individual’s social development.

Annette Lareau

Sociologist known for research on class differences in child-rearing.

Resocialization

Process of radically changing a person’s values and behaviors.

Adult socialization

Learning new roles and norms during adulthood.

Status

Recognized social position that an individual occupies.

Role

Behaviors expected of someone who holds a particular status.

Role strain

Tension among roles linked to a single status.

Status set

All statuses a person holds at a given time.

Ascribed status

Position received at birth or involuntarily later in life.

Achieved status

Position earned through personal effort or choice.

Master status

Status that has exceptional importance for social identity.

Charles H. Cooley

Sociologist who proposed the looking-glass self.

Erving Goffman

Sociologist who developed dramaturgical analysis of social interaction.

Dramaturgy

Viewing social life as a theatrical performance.

Deviance

Violation of social norms or expectations.

Social control

Mechanisms that encourage conformity to norms.

Formal deviance

Violation of codified laws; crime.

Informal deviance

Minor norm violations not codified into law.

Formal sanctions

Official penalties or rewards administered by authority.

Informal sanctions

Unofficial reactions such as praise or gossip.

Strain theory

Merton’s idea that deviance arises from mismatch between goals and means.

Broken windows theory

Idea that visible disorder encourages further deviance.

Relativity of deviance

Behavior is deviant only in given time and place.

Labeling theory

Deviance results from the labels others attach to behavior.

Recidivism

Tendency of a convicted offender to reoffend.

Deterrence theory

View that punishment discourages criminal acts.

Stigma

Discredited attribute that spoils social identity.

Drug war

Policies criminalizing drug use and distribution to curb consumption.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Philosopher who linked private property to social inequality.

Karl Marx

Theorist who emphasized class struggle and economic determinism.

Equality of opportunity

Everyone has same chances to achieve wealth, power, prestige.

Equality of outcome

Everyone should end up with roughly same resources regardless of input.

Life chances

Opportunities to improve quality of life and achieve goals.

Free-rider problem

People benefit from resources without contributing to them.

Social equality

Condition where wealth, prestige, and power differences are absent.

Estate system

Stratification based on political/legal rights in feudal societies.

Caste system

Hereditary stratification preventing social mobility.

Class system

Economic-based hierarchy allowing some social mobility.

Elite-mass dichotomy

Power held by a small, self-interested elite over the masses.

Proletariat

Marx’s term for workers who sell their labor.

Bourgeoisie

Capitalist class owning the means of production.

Prestige

Social honor accorded to a status or individual.

Power

Ability to achieve one’s will despite resistance.

Meritocracy

System where reward and status are based on ability and effort.

Income

Money received from wages or investments over time.

Wealth

Total assets minus debts; net worth.

Socioeconomic status (SES)

Composite measure of class based on income, education, and occupation.

Social mobility

Movement of individuals or groups between social positions.

Social capital

Resources accessed through social networks and relationships.

Cultural capital

Non-economic assets like knowledge, style, or credentials.

Social reproduction

Transmission of social inequality across generations.

Race

Socially constructed category based on perceived physical differences.

Ethnicity

Shared cultural heritage, language, or nationality.

Minority group

Group singled out for unequal treatment and discrimination.

Racism

Beliefs and practices that create or maintain racial hierarchy.

Color-blind racism

Ideology ignoring race to justify existing racial inequality.

Prejudice

Prejudgment or biased attitude toward a group.

Discrimination

Unequal treatment of people based on group membership.

Eugenics

Discredited movement to improve population genetics via selective breeding.

Nativism

Policy or attitude favoring native-born over immigrants.