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Absolute poverty
A standard of poverty based on a minimum level of subsistence below which families should not be expected to exist.
Achieved status
A social position attained by a person largely through his or her own efforts.
Activity theory
An interactionist theory of aging that argues that elderly people who remain active will be best-adjusted.
Adoption
In a legal sense, a process that allows for the transfer of the legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood to a new legal parent or parents.
Affirmative action
Positive efforts to recruit minority group members or women for jobs, promotions, and educational opportunities.
Ageism
A term coined by Robert N. Butler to refer to prejudice and discrimination against the elderly.
Agrarian society
The most technologically advanced form of preindustrial society. Members are primarily engaged in the production of food but increase their crop yield through such innovations as the plow.
Alienation
The condition of being estranged or disassociated from the surrounding society.
Amalgamation
The process by which a majority group and a minority group combine through intermarriage to form a new group.
Anomie
Durkheim's term for the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective.
Anomie theory of deviance
A theory developed by Robert Merton that explains deviance as an adaptation either of socially prescribed goals or of the norms governing their attainment, or both.
Anticipatory socialization
Processes of socialization in which a person "rehearses" for future positions, occupations, and social relationships.
Anti-Semitism
Anti-Jewish prejudice.
Apartheid
The former policy of the South African government designed to maintain the separation of Blacks and other non-Whites from the dominant Whites.
Argot
Specialized language used by members of a group or subculture.
Ascribed status
A social position "assigned" to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics.
Assimilation
The process by which a person forsakes his or her own cultural tradition to become part of a different culture.
Authority
Power that has been institutionalized and is recognized by the people over whom it is exercised.
Bilateral descent
A kinship system in which both sides of a person's family are regarded as equally important.
Bilingualism
The use of two or more languages in particular settings, such as workplaces or educational facilities, treating each language as equally legitimate.
Birthrate
The number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year. Also known as the crude birthrate.
Black power
A political philosophy promoted by many younger Blacks in the 1960s that supported the creation of Black-controlled political and economic institutions.
Bourgeoisie
Karl Marx's term for the capitalist class, comprising the owners of the means of production.
Bureaucracy
A component of formal organization in which rules and hierarchical ranking are used to achieve efficiency.
Bureaucratization
The process by which a group, organization, or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic.
Capitalism
An economic system in which the means of production are largely in private hands and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profits.
Castes
Hereditary systems of rank, usually religiously dictated, that tend to be fixed and immobile.
Causal logic
The relationship between a condition or variable and a particular consequence, with one event leading to the other.
Census
An enumeration, or counting, of a population.
Charismatic authority
Max Weber's term for power made legitimate by a leader's exceptional personal or emotional appeal to his or her followers.
Class
A term used by Max Weber to refer to a group of people who have a similar level of wealth and income.
Class consciousness
In Karl Marx's view, a subjective awareness held by members of a class regarding their common vested interests and need for collective political action to bring about social change.
Classical theory
An approach to the study of formal organizations that views workers as being motivated almost entirely by economic rewards.
Class system
A social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence mobility.
Closed system
A social system in which there is little or no possibility of individual mobility.
Coalition
A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal.
Code of ethics
The standards of acceptable behavior developed by and for members of a profession.
Cognitive theory of development
Jean Piaget's theory explaining how children's thought progresses through four stages.
Cohabitation
The practice of living together as a male-female couple without marrying.
Colonialism
The maintenance of political, social, economic, and cultural dominance over a people by a foreign power for an extended period of time.
Community
A spatial or political unit of social organization that gives people a sense of belonging, based either on shared residence in a particular place or on a common identity.
Concentric-zone theory
A theory of urban growth that sees growth in terms of a series of rings radiating from the central business district.
Conflict perspective
A sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups.
Conformity
Going along with one's peers, individuals of a person's own status, who have no special right to direct that person's behavior.
Contact hypothesis
An interactionist perspective that states that interracial contact between people of equal status in cooperative circumstances will reduce prejudice.
Content analysis
The systematic coding and objective recording of data, guided by some rationale.
Control group
Subjects in an experiment who are not introduced to the independent variable by the researcher.
Control theory
A view of conformity and deviance that suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society's norms.
Control variable
A factor held constant to test the relative impact of an independent variable.
Correlation
A relationship between two variables whereby a change in one coincides with a change in the other.
Correspondence principle
A term used by Bowles and Gintis to refer to the tendency of schools to promote the values expected of individuals in each social class and to prepare students for the types of jobs typically held by members of their class.
Counterculture
A subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture.
Creationism
A literal interpretation of the Bible regarding the creation of man and the universe used to argue that evolution should not be presented as established scientific fact.
Credentialism
An increase in the lowest level of education required to enter a field.
Crime
A violation of criminal law for which formal penalties are applied by some governmental authority.
Cult
Due to the stereotyping, this term has been abandoned by sociologists in favor of new religious movements.
Cultural relativism
The viewing of people's behavior from the perspective of their own culture.
Cultural transmission
A school of criminology that argues that criminal behavior is learned through social interactions.
Cultural universals
General practices found in every culture.
Culture
The totality of learned, socially transmitted behavior.
Culture lag
Ogburn's term for a period of maladjustment during which the nonmaterial culture is still adapting to new material conditions.
Culture shock
The feeling of surprise and disorientation that is experienced when people witness cultural practices different from their own.
Curanderismo
Latino folk medicine using holistic health care and healing.
Death rate
The number of deaths per 1,000 population in a given year. Also known as the crude death rate.
Defended neighborhood
A neighborbood that residents identify through defined community borders and through a perception that adjacent areas are geographically separate and socially different.
Degradation ceremony
An aspect of the socialization process within total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals.
Deindustrialization
The systematic, widespread withdrawal of investment in basic aspects of productivity such as factories and plants.
Demographic transition
A term used to describe the change from high birthrates and death rates to relatively low birthrates and death rates.
Demography
The scientific study of population.
Denomination
A large, organized religion not officially linked with the state or government.
Dependency theory
An approach that contends that industrialized nations continue to exploit developing countries for their own gain.
Dependent variable
The variable in a causal relationship that is subject to the influence of another variable.
Deviance
Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society.
Differential association
A theory of deviance proposed by Edwin Sutherland that holds that violation of rules results from exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts.
Diffusion
The process by which a cultural item is spread from group to group or society to society.
Discovery
The process of making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality.
Discrimination
The process of denying opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or other arbitrary reasons.
Disengagement theory
A functionalist theory of aging introduced by Cumming and Henry that contends that society and the aging individual mutually sever many of their relationships.
Domestic partnership
Two unrelated adults who have chosen to share one another's lives in a relationship of mutual caring, who reside together, and who agree to be jointly responsible for their dependents, basic living expenses, and other common necessities.
Dominant ideology
A set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests.
Downsizing
Reductions taken in a company's workforce as part of deindustrialization.
Dramaturgical approach
A view of social interaction, popularized by Erving Goffman, under which people are examined as if they were theatrical performers.
Dyad
A two-member group.
Dysfunction
An element or a process of society that may disrupt a social system or lead to a decrease in stability.
Ecclesia
A religious organization that claims to include most or all of the members of a society and is recognized as the national or official religion.
E-commerce
Numerous ways that people with access to the Internet can do business from their computers.
Economic system
The social institution through which goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed.
Education
A formal process of learning in which some people consciously teach while others adopt the social role of learner.
Egalitarian family
An authority pattern in which the adult members of the family are regarded as equals.
Elite model
A view of society as ruled by a small group of individuals who share a common set of political and economic interests.
Endogamy
The restriction of mate selection to people within the same group.
Environmental justice
A legal strategy based on claims that racial minorities are subjected disproportionately to environmental hazards.
Equilibrium model
Talcott Parsons's functionalist view of society as tending toward a state of stability or balance.
Established sect
A religious group that is the outgrowth of a sect, yet remains isolated from society.
Esteem
The reputation that a particular individual has earned within an occupation.
Ethnic group
A group that is set apart from others because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns.
Ethnocentrism
The tendency to assume that one's culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others.
Ethnography
The study of an entire social setting through extended systematic observation.
Evolutionary theory
A theory of social change that holds that society is moving in a definite direction.
Exogamy
The requirement that people select mates outside certain groups.
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