SOC Key Terms

Agents of Socialization

Various individuals, groups, and organizations that influence the socialization process

Anticipatory Socialization

Process through which people acquire the values and orientations found in statuses they will like enter in the future

Collectivist Culture

Culture in which personal accomplishments are less important in the formation of identity than group membership

Eugenics

Control of mating to ensure that '“defective” genes of troublesome individuals will not be passed on to future generations

Game stage

Stage in which the development of self during which a child acquires the ability to take the role of a group or community (the generalized other) and conform their behavior to broad social expectations

Generalized other

Perspective of the larger society and its constituent values and attitudes

Identity

Essential aspect of who we are, consisting of our sense of self, gender, race, ethnicity, and religion

Individualist culture

Culture in which personal accomplishments are a more important component of one’s self-concept than group membership

Looking glass self

Sense of who we are that is defined by incorporating the reflected appraisals of others

Play stage

Stage in the development of self during which a child develops the ability to take a role, but only from the perspective of one person at a time

Reflexive behavior

Behavior in which the person initiating an action is the same as the person toward whom the action is directed

Resocialization

Process of learning new values, norms, and expectations when an adult leaves an old role and enters a new one

Role taking

Ability to see oneself from the perspective of others and to use that perspective in formulating one’s own behavior

Self

Unique set of traits, behaviors, and attitudes that distinguishes one person from the next; the active source and passive object of behavior

Total Insitutution

Place where individuals are cut off from the wider society for an appreciable period and where together they lead an enclosed, formally administered life

Tracking

Grouping of students into different curricular programs, or tracks, based on an assessment of their academic abilities

Altruistic Suicide

Suicide that occurs where ties to the group or community are considered more important than individual identity

Anomic Suicide

Suicide that occurs when the structure of society is weakened or disrupted and people feel hopeless or disillusioned

Comparative Method

Research technique that compares existing official statistics and historical records across groups to test a theory about some social phenomenon

Egoistic Suicide

Suicide that occurs in settings where the individual is emphasized over group or community connections

Fatalistic Suicide

Suicide that occurs when people see no possible way to improve their oppressive circumstances

Individualistic Explanation

Tendency to attribute people’s achievements and failures to their personal qualities

Macrolevel

Way of examining human life that focuses on the broad social forces and structural features of society that exist above the level of individual people

Microlevel

Way of examining human life that focuses on the immediate, everyday experiences of individuals

Sociological imagination

Ability to see the impact of social forces on our private lives

Sociology

The systematic study of human societies

Achieved status

Social position acquired through our own efforts or accomplishments or taken on voluntarilty

Ascribed status

Social position acquired at birth or taken on involuntarily later in life

Coalition

Subgroup of a triad, formed when two members unite against the third member

Conflict perspective (not important for exam)

Theoretical perspective that views the structure of society as a source of inequality that always benefits some groups at the expense of other groups

Culture

Language, values, beliefs, rules, behaviors, and artifacts that characterize a society

Dyad

Group consisting of two people

Feminist perspective

Theoretical perspective that focuses on gender as the most important source of conflict and inequality in social life

Globalization

Process through which people’s lives all around the world become economically, politically, environmentally, and culturally interconnected

Group

et of people who interact more or less regularly and are conscious of their identity as a unit

In-groups

The groups to which we belong and toward which we feel a sense of loyalty

Latent function

Unintended, unrecognized consequences of activities that help some part of the social system

Manifest functions

Intended, obvious consequences of activities designed to help some part of the social system

Norm

Culturally defined standard or rule of conduct

Organization

Large, complex network of positions created for a specific purpose and characterized by a hierarchical division of labor

Out-groups

The groups to which we don’t belong and toward which we feel a certain amount of antagonism

Primary group

Collection of individuals who are together for a relatively long period, whose members have direct contact with and feel emotional attachment to one another

Role

Set of expectations, rights, obligations, behaviors, duties, associated with a particular status

Role conflict

Frustration people feel when the demands of one role they are expected to fulfill clash with the demands of another role

Role strain

Situations in which people lack the necessary resources to fulfill the demands of a particular role

Secondary group

Relatively impersonal collections of individuals that is established to perform a specific task

Social institution

Stable set of roles, statuses, groups, and organizations, such as the institution of education, family, politics, religion, health, care, or the economy, the provides a foundation for behavior in some major area of social life

Society

A population of people living in the same geographic area who share a culture and a common identity and whose members are subject to the same political authority

Status

Any named social position that people can occupy

Structural-functionalist perspective (not important for exam)

Theoretical perspective that posits that social institutions are structured to maintain stability and order in society

Symbol

Something used to represent or stand for something else

Symbolic interactionism (not important for exam)

Theoretical perspective that explains society and social structure through an examination of the microlevel, personal, day-to-day exchange of people as individuals, pairs, or groups

Triad

Group of 3 people

Value

Standard of judgement by which people decide on desirable goals and outcomes

Cultural relativism

Principle that people’s beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of their own culture

Ethnocentrism

Tendency to judge other cultures using one’s own as a standard

Folkways

Informal norms that are mildly punished when violated

Heteronormative culture

Culture in which heterosexuality is accepted as the normal, taken for granted mode of sexual expression

Institutionalized norm

Pattern of behavior within existing social institutions that is widely accepted in a society

Intersex

Category of individuals in whom sexual differentiation is either incomplete or ambiguous (also known as people with disorders of sex development)

Material culture

Artifacts of a society that represent adaptations to the social and physical environment

Mores

Highly codified, formal, systematized norms that bring severe punishment when violated

Nonmaterial culture

Knowledge, beliefs, customs, values, morals, and symbols that are shared by members of society and that distinguish the society from others

Sanction

Social response that punishes or otherwise discourages violations of a social norm

Sexual dichotomy

Belief that two biological sex categories, male and female, are permanent, universal, exhaustive, and mutually exclusive

Sick role

Set of norms governing how one is suppose to behave and what one is entitled to when sick

Subculture

Values, behaviors, and artifacts of a group that distinguish its members from the larger culture

Account

Statement designed to explain unanticipated, embarrassing, or unacceptable behavior after the behavior has occurred

Aligning action

Action taken to restore an identity that has been damaged

Back stage

Area of social interaction away from the view of an audience, where people can rehearse and rehash their behavior

Cooling out

Gently persuading someone who has lost face to accept a less desirable but still reasonable alternative identity

Disclaimer

Assertion designed to forestall any complaints or negative reactions to a behavior or statement that is about to occur

Dramaturgy

Study of social interaction as theater, in which people (“actors”) project images (“play roles)” in front of others (“audience”)

Embarrassment

Spontaneous feeling experienced when the identity someone is presenting is suddenly and unexpectedly discredited in front of others

Front stage

Area of social interaction where people perform and work to maintain appropriate impressions

Impression formation

The process by which we define others based on observable cues such as age, ascribed status characteristics such as race and gender, individual attributes such as physical appearance, and verbal and nonverbal expressions

Impression management

Act of presenting a favorable public image of oneself so that others will form positive judgements

Performance team

Set of individuals who cooperate in staging a performance that leads an audience to form an impression of one or all team members

Stigma

Deeply discrediting characteristics that is viewed as an obstacle to competent or morally trustworthy behavior

Absolute poverty

Inability to afford the minimal requirements for sustaining a reasonably healthy existence

Authority

Possession of some status or quality that compels others to obey one’s directives or commands

Caste system

Stratification system based on heredity, with little movement allowed across strata

Colonization

Process of expanding economic markets by invading and establishing control over a weaker country and its people

Competitive individualism

Cultural belief that those who succeed in society are those who work hardest and have the best abilities and that those who suffer don’t work hard enough or lack the necessary traits or abilities

Contradictory class locations

Individuals, such as middle managers and supervisors, whose positions place them between two major classes, making it difficult to identify with one side or the other

Culture of poverty thesis

Belief that poor people, resigned to their position in society, develop a unique value structure to deal with their lack of success

Estate system (fuedal system)

Stratification system in which high status groups own land and have power based on noble birth

False consciousness

Situation in which people in the lower classes come to accept a belief system that harms them; the primary means by which powerful classes in society prevent protest and revolution

Means of production

Land, commercial enterprises, factories, and wealth that form the economic basis of class societies

Middle class

In a society stratified by social class, a group of people who have an intermediate level of wealth, income, and prestige, such as managers, supervisors, and executives, small business owners, and professionals

Near poor

Individuals or families whose earning are between 100% and 125% of the povery line

Poor

In a society stratified by social class, a group of people who work for minimum wage or are chronically unemployed

Poverty line

Amount of yearly income a family requires to meet its basic needs, according to the federal government

Power

Ability to affect decisions in ways that benefit a person or protect their interests

Prestige

Respect and honor given to some people on society

Relative poverty

Individuals’ economic position compared with the living standards of the majority in the society.

Slavery

Economic form of inequality in which some people are legally the property of others

Social class

Movement of people or groups from one class to another

Social mobility

Movment of people or groups from one class to another

Socioeconomic status

Prestige, honor, repsect, and lifestyle associated with different positions or groups in society