Sociology and Socialization Practice Flashcards

Vocabulary practice flashcards generated from the sociology lecture sources covering socialization, sociological perspectives, research methods, and Indigenous land-based culture concepts.

Epigenetics

The biological field demonstrating that human development is not strictly predetermined by DNA, as gene expression is actively modified by behavioral and social sources.

Victor, the Savage of Aveyron

A historical case of extreme isolation in which a child survived in the wild but never mastered speech or developed emotional bonds beyond immediate caregivers.

Socialization

The dual process by which individuals learn to function in social life and simultaneously become aware of themselves as they enter and disengage from roles.

Looking-Glass Self

Charles Horton Cooley's concept that identity forms through a recursive loop: we imagine how we appear to others, judge how they view us, and develop a self-concept based on those imagined judgments.

The I and The Me

George Herbert Mead's division of the self into the subjective, impulsive component present from birth ("The I") and the objective component developed through symbolic communication and role-taking ("The Me").

Generalized Other

The advanced stage of role-taking in which an individual develops a sense of general cultural standards and learns to apply them to the self.

Hidden Curriculum

A latent function of the school system that teaches obedience to authority and strict conformity to cultural norms alongside standard academic learning.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

An expectation or assigned role that helps bring about what it predicts because situations defined as real become real in their consequences.

Resocialization

The rapid and sometimes deliberate alteration of a person's values, roles, and self-conception caused by powerful socializing agents, often within total institutions.

Total Institutions

Settings that execute intense resocialization, such as the residential school system (1870s to 1996) which subjected approximately 150,000 Indigenous children to cultural erasure.

Anticipatory Socialization

The process of willingly taking on and rehearsing the norms and behaviors of social roles to which an adult aspires.

Sociological Imagination

C. Wright Mills's concept describing the quality of mind required to understand the connection between personal troubles and overarching social structures.

Social Solidarity

A structural property defined by Émile Durkheim as the combination of shared values/beliefs and the intensity of social interaction, which governs suicide rates.

Altruistic Suicide

A form of suicide occurring when social integration is overwhelmingly high, leading an individual to sacrifice themselves for the collective group.

Microstructures, Macrostructures, and Global Structures

The three levels of social relations: face-to-face intimate interactions (micro), structural patterns above intimacy such as class or patriarchy (macro), and international interdependences (global).

Functionalism

A macro-level sociological lens examining how different parts of society operate together to maintain stability, focusing on manifest and latent functions.

Conflict Theory

A macro-level sociological lens analyzing how social inequality drives struggle between privileged groups seeking advantage and subordinate groups seeking equity.

Symbolic Interactionism

A micro-level sociological perspective asserting that society is constructed upward from the daily meanings individuals attach to interpersonal communication.

Overgeneralization

A cognitive trap in research defined as drawing broad conclusions or stereotypes from limited or singular evidence.

Selective Observation

A cognitive trap driven by confirmation bias, where a researcher notices only information confirming pre-existing beliefs and overlooks contradictory evidence.

Inductive Research

A research pathway that begins with an open question and empirical data collection to identify patterns and build new theories.

Deductive Research

A research pathway that originates with a theoretical hypothesis and gathers empirical evidence to test and confirm or refute it.

Positivism vs. Interpretivism

Two main paradigms: Positivism treats sociology as an objective science measuring quantitative social facts; Interpretivism focuses on subjective understanding (Verstehen) and qualitative meaning.

Spurious Relationship

A statistical correlation between two variables that lack a direct causal link, caused either by coincidence or an unseen confounding/lurking variable.

The Ethical Compass

A research framework outlining four main ethical principles: voluntary participation (informed consent), harm minimization, right to privacy (anonymity and confidentiality), and authenticity.

Culture

The system of shared symbols and definitions that people create to solve practical problems and adapt to their environments.

Kithi Kao Asy

A Cree land-based phrase meaning "This land is sacred," representing an experiential approach to learning rooted in emotion, spirit, and body on the land.

Spirit Markers

The Cree perspective on syllabics, viewing them not as abstract letters but as multidimensional, vibrating elements carrying layers of intelligence.

Wahkohtowin

A Cree kinship framework derived from movement on land and reciprocity, extending social connection beyond humans to sky, water, animals, and all living entities.

Human Cultural Survival Kit

The three foundational human tools for survival: Abstraction (creating concepts/beliefs), Cooperation (establishing norms/values), and Production (creating tools/material culture).

Biological Determinism

An evolutionary view claiming that human behaviors and gender roles are strictly fixed by genetic constraints rather than shaped by cultural forces.