SOC 134 - Exam 2

Vocabulary flashcards detailing key sociological concepts, historical legislation, protest events, housing discrimination practices, and educational disparities from course notes.

Civil Rights Movement (Morris Retrospective)

A mass movement that succeeded because ordinary Black people were mobilized into sustained collective action, transforming American society, shaping global nonviolent activism, and transforming social movement theory.

Standing Rock Protests (2016)

A historic Indigenous rights movement protesting treaty violations that united Native nations; compared to the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation, it was larger and committed largely to nonviolence.

Baby Bonds

Progressively allocated trust funds based on income designed to accumulate over time, intended to help lower-income individuals afford education, start a business, or secure stable housing.

Concentration of Poverty in Schools (Boschma and Brownstein)

The demographic phenomenon where the high density of poverty within a school environment, rather than individual poverty alone, produces severe negative effects on student opportunities and outcomes.

Black-White Achievement Gap Etiology (Taylor)

The structural composition of racial learning disparities, characterized as being $\frac{1}{3}$ driven by economic differences and $\frac{2}{3}$ driven by cultural gaps, requiring structural solutions rather than simple school-based reforms.

Cold War Politics (Social Movements)

International geopolitical pressure during the Cold War that highlighted American hypocrisy regarding democracy, embarrassing federal leaders and pressing them to pursue civil rights reforms.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)

A year-long nonviolent civil rights protest against segregated public transit that successfully led to the desegregation of Montgomery's bus system.

Sit-Ins (1960)

Nonviolent direct actions where student activists occupied segregated lunch counters in retail stores and refused to leave until served.

Freedom Rides (1961)

Integrated journeys on interstate buses through the American South organized to test federal desegregation rulings, during which riders faced severe physical assaults.

Birmingham Campaign (1963)

Civil rights demonstrations in which protesting schoolchildren were violently attacked by municipal police, generating broadcast images that sparked nationwide unrest.

March on Washington (1963)

A massive political demonstration for jobs and freedom where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech.

Selma to Montgomery March (1965)

A major protest march organized to demonstrate support for voting rights for African Americans in the South.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal legislation that dismantled Jim Crow by prohibiting employment discrimination and banning racial discrimination in public accommodations.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Federal legislation that eliminated longstanding statutory barriers designed to prevent Black citizens from voting in southern states.

Fair Housing Act of 1968

Federal legislation prohibiting racial discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing, which has proven difficult to enforce in practice.

Black Power Movement

A political movement emphasizing Black pride, self-defense rather than nonviolence, and racial separation rather than integration.

Deindustrialization

The systemic economic decline of manufacturing jobs, which disproportionately affected Black workers and contributed to rising unemployment and concentrated urban poverty.

Human Capital

The set of individual skills, knowledge, educational credentials, and work experience that contribute to economic productivity and earning power.

Social Capital

The productive value derived from interpersonal relationships, social connections, and professional networks that facilitate economic mobility.

Split Labor Market

An economic structure where workers of different racial groups are paid unequal wages for performing the exact same job.

Audit Experiments

Experimental field studies using matched candidate profiles differing only by racial markers to measure hiring discrimination via disparate callback rates.

Meritocracy

The belief that socioeconomic success is exclusively determined by hard work, individual talent, and effort, which obscures structural barriers to wealth creation.

Social Distance Theory

The theory positing that limited interaction between distinct racial groups increases prejudice, bias, and reliance on racial stereotypes.

Redlining

A discriminatory practice wherein banks and financial institutions labeled minority neighborhoods as financially hazardous and systematically refused to issue loans there.

Blockbusting

A predatory real estate practice where agents introduced Black homeowners into white neighborhoods to trigger panic selling below market value, then resold the properties to Black buyers at inflated prices.

Restrictive Covenants

Legally binding stipulations embedded in property deeds that explicitly prohibited the future sale or occupancy of homes to Black individuals.

Racial Steering

A discriminatory practice where real estate agents guide home seekers toward or away from specific neighborhoods based solely on race.

Subprime Mortgages

High-interest loans with escalating rates disproportionately targeted at minority borrowers, placing them at an elevated risk of loan default.

Urban Renewal

Municipal redevelopment initiatives that cleared neighborhoods for economic development, frequently running through minority areas, destroying thriving Black communities, and escalating housing instability.

Race-Neutral Zoning Laws

Facially color-blind land-use regulations that yield racially unequal outcomes by escalating housing costs and excluding low-income and minority residents.

Index of Dissimilarity

A statistical demographic metric measuring community segregation, where a score of $0$ represents complete racial integration.

White Flight

The demographic trend of white urban residents relocating to suburban communities to escape racial minorities, driven by prejudice and fears of declining home values and rising crime.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

A unanimous Supreme Court ruling finding de jure school segregation unconstitutional because it inflicted irreversible psychological damage upon Black children.

De Jure Segregation

Racial separation and discrimination that is mandated, established, and maintained by explicit legal statutes.

De Facto Segregation

Racial separation that exists 'in fact' as an unequal outcome of social and economic conditions rather than by legal enforcement.

Academic Tracking

An institutional practice where educators place minority students into lower or average educational tracks as a result of prejudice and lower expectations.

Code-Switching

The intentional or subconscious alteration of behavior, speech, or language choices depending on an individual's immediate social environment.

Oppositional Culture

The intentional adjustment of personal language or conduct away from mainstream cultural norms in order to avoid accusations of 'acting white.'

Stereotype Threat

A psychological state in which an individual fears confirming a negative cultural stereotype about their group, leading to anxiety that impairs cognitive performance.