Sociology Examination Study Guide: Groups, Deviance, and Social Movements

A comprehensive vocabulary review of core sociological concepts from the Examination #2 Study Guide, covering social groups, deviance, organizational behavior, collective action, and social change.

Primary Group

A social group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association, exemplified by family and close friends.

Role Strain

Conflict or tension experienced among the demands of a single role, such as a student having three examinations scheduled on the same day during finals week.

Theft

Identified as the most common crime around the world.

Formal Deviance

Behavior that violates formal written laws.

Informal Deviance

Behavior that breaks customary, unwritten social practices or norms.

Bureaucracy

A formal organization designed to accomplish goals and tasks through the coordination of large numbers of people.

Rumor

An unverified piece of information spread informally from person to person, such as the claim that "police officers cannot ticket you for driving five miles over the speed limit."

Secondary Group

A formal, impersonal group in which members have little social intimacy or mutual understanding, such as a college sociology class.

Social Control

The techniques and strategies that regulate people's behavior in society.

Resource Mobilization Theory

A social movement theory asserting that a movement will succeed if it can develop an organization and leadership to advance its cause.

Collective Behavior

The spontaneous and unstructured behavior of a large number of people.

Labeling Theory

A perspective stating that whether an individual is considered deviant or criminal depends on how others react and define that deviance.

Cultural Goals

Under Merton's strain theory, the economic aspirations and success targets (such as the "American Dream") that society teaches people to strive toward.

Public

A collection of people, not necessarily in direct contact with one another, who share an interest in a particular issue.

Social Conflict Perspective

A sociological framework that offers theories explaining how the law is differentially applied across various groups in a modern society.

Rebel (Merton's Strain Theory)

An individual who rejects institutionalized goals and means and seeks to replace them with an alternate system, such as participating in a paramilitary group to oppose and replace the federal government.

Corporate Crimes

Illegal acts committed by executives to benefit themselves and their companies.

Panic

A sudden, overpowering flight or reaction of a crowd, such as students rushing and pushing at a door upon hearing an active shooter announcement.

Iron Law of Oligarchy

The principle according to which a small group of people inevitably dominates a bureaucracy.

Categories

Aggregates of people who share a common status or characteristic, such as gender (women/men), sexual orientation (LGBTQ+ people), ethnicity (Chinese), citizenship status (immigrants), or student status.

Milgram's Research

A classic psychological experiment demonstrating the willingness of individuals to obey authority figures even when asked to perform harmful actions.

Dyad

A two-member group, identified by Georg Simmel as the most unstable group size because it dissolves if either person leaves.

Structural Conduciveness

A stage within the value-added theory referring to the specific social conditions that permit collective behavior and social change to emerge.

Mob

A highly emotional and disorderly crowd that uses force or violence against a specific target.

Reference Group

A social group that serves as a point of reference or role standard, such as the nursing profession for an aspiring student working in clinical healthcare.

Social Movements

Large, organized collective efforts aimed at bringing about or resisting fundamental changes in society, exemplified by the abolition of slavery, the suffrage movement, and the Arab Spring.

Groupthink

A deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment that occurs as a result of in-group pressures to conform.