Introduction to Sociology Final Exam Review

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts from the Introduction to Sociology final exam review, based on Chapters 1-18.

Sociology

The scientific study of social behavior and human groups.

Auguste Comte

The French thinker who named the discipline of sociology.

Harriet Martineau

Sociologist who translated Auguste Comte's works into English and emphasized economic, legal, and population impacts on social problems.

Formulating the hypothesis

The next step in the scientific method after reviewing the literature.

Communication

Gestures, facial expressions, and other visual images fall within this category.

Bilingualism

The use of two or more languages.

Preparatory stage

The stage in George Herbert Mead’s stages of the self when children merely imitate the people around them.

Preoperational stage

According to Jean Piaget, the stage where a child begins to use words and symbols to distinguish objects and ideas.

Total institution

Examples include prisons, military, and mental hospitals.

Gesellschaft

An ideal community characteristic of modern urban life.

Gemeinschaft

A small community in which people have similar backgrounds and life experiences.

Primary group

A small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation.

Formal social control

The techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society.

Hate crime

Crime motivated by characteristics such as race, religion, or sexual orientation.

Absolute poverty

A minimum level of subsistence that no family should be expected to live below.

Millennium Development Goals

Eight goals including poverty, education, and global partnership.

Multinational corporation

Commercial organizations headquartered in one country but doing business globally; e.g., Coca-Cola.

Hispanic and Latino Americans

The population group representing the largest minority in the United States.

Homophobia

Fear of and prejudice against homosexuality.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Sociologist who noted stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance in dying.

Bilateral descent

The most typical pattern of descent in the United States.

Christianity

The largest faith in the world.

Islam

The second largest faith in the world.

Brain drain

Immigration of skilled workers desperately needed in their home countries.

Electric Communications Privacy Act

Requires authorization from both the U.S. attorney general and a federal judge before surveillance of telephone calls.