Sociology Final Exam Review

Income

steady sources of money including wages, salary, interest payments, social assistance, pensions, and alimony

Wealth

money sitting in the bank and ownership of economic assets, minus debts

caste

people stayed in the same layer of society they were born into

feudal systems

rich and powerful individuals born into nobility reigned over a peasant class

social mobility

opportunity to move up or down in the economic hierarchy

median

the middle value among a set of numbers arranged from lowest to highest

mean

the sum of all values divided by the number of values

mode

the value among a range of values that occurs most often

means of production

resources that can be used to create wealth such as land, labor, and capital

glass ceiling

an invisible barrier that restricts upward mobility

glass floor

an invisible barrier that restricts downward mobility

glass escalator

structural advantages that males possess in female-dominated occupations that tend to enhance their careers

residential segregation

the sorting of different types of people into separate neighborhoods

hypersegregation

residential segregation so extreme that many people’s daily lives involve little or no contact with people of other races.

resource deserts

places that lack beneficial or critical amenities

racism

a term that refers to a society’s production of unjust outcomes for some racial or ethnic groups

sexism

the production of unjust outcomes for people perceived to be biologically female

androcentrism

the production of unjust outcomes for people who perform femininity

alienation

the feeling of dissatisfaction and disconnection from the fruits of one’s labor

welfare capitalism

a capitalist economic system with some socialist policy aimed at distributing the profits of capitalism more evenly across the population

precariat class

a new class of workers who live economically precarious lives

wage gaps

differences between the hourly earnings of different social identity groups

school-to-prison pipeline

a practice of disciplining and punishing children and youth in school that routes them out of education and into the criminal justice system

adultification

treating black kids as if they were adults

cross-institutional advantage and disadvantage

a phenomenon in which people are positively or negatively served across multiple institutions

cumulative advantage and disadvantage

advantage or disadvantage that builds over the life course

intergenerational advantage and disadvantage

advantage and disadvantage that is passed from parents to children

patriarch/property marriage

a model of marriage where women and children are owned by men

breadwinner/homemaker marriage

a model of marriage that involves wage-earning spouse supporting a stay-at-home spouse and children

partnership unions

a relationship model based on love and companionship between equals

family wage

an income, paid to a man, that is large enough to support a non-working wife and children

hegemonic masculinity

the form of masculinity that constitutes the most widely admired and rewarded kind of person in any given culture

second shift

the unpaid work of housekeeping and childcare that faces family members once they return home from their paid jobs

ideology of intensive motherhood

the idea that children require concentrated maternal investment

domestic outsourcing

paying non-family members to do family-related tasks

power elite

a relatively small group of interconnected people who occupy top positions in important social institutions

positions of power

roles that grant them control over the lives of other people

pluralist theory of power

the idea that US politics is characterized by competing groups that work together to achieve their goals. multiple people are fighting for power.

elite theory of power

the idea that a small group of networked individuals controls the most powerful positions in our social institutions.

social capital

the number of people we know and the resources they can offer us

cultural capital

symbolic resources that communicate one’s social status

economic capital

money

objectified cultural capital

refers to the symbolic significance of things, or objects, we own.

institutional cultural capital

refers to symbolic significance of endorsements from recognized organizations

social closure

a process by which advantaged groups preserve opportunities for themselves while restricting them for others.

ethnography

a research method that involves careful observation of naturally occurring social interaction, often as a participant

hegemonic ideologies

shared ideas about how human life should be organized that are used to manufacture our consent to existing social conditions

collectivism

the idea that people are interdependent actors with responsibilities primarily to the group

collective action

the coordinated activities of members of groups with shared goals

Sociologist Frances Fox Piven writes,

“Social life is cooperative life, and in principle, all people who make contributions to these systems of cooperation have potential power over others who depend on them.”

social movement

persistent, organized collective action meant to promote or oppose social change

critical event

a sudden and dramatic occurrence that motivates non-activists to become politically active.

framing wars

battles over whether a social fact is a social problem and what kind of problem is it.

interdependent power

the power of noncooperation. It is rooted in the fundamentally social nature of human life. Everyday life relies on everyone keeping everything rather ordinary.

insurgent consciousness

a recognition of a shared grievance that can be addressed through collective action

interest convergence

the alignment of the interests of activists and elites. Economic inequality itself also shapes the options of activists.

global imagined community

a socially constructed in-group based on a shared planet. Ex: countries joined together

Oliver C. Cox

the first person to articulate the global nature of capitalism was a sociologist named _____. Ultimately, in a book titled The Foundations of Capitalism (1959), ___ concluded that racism in the United States could only be understood if we acknowledged its origins in a world economic system.

colonialism

a practice in which countries claim control over territories, the people in them, and their natural resources, then exploit them for economic gain.

cultural hybridization

the production of ideas, objects, practices, and bodies influenced by two or more cultures.

transnational organizations

organizations that operate in more than one country

transnational governmental organizations

include the United Nations (193 members) and the European Union (27 members).

transnational nongovernmental organizations

include associations with charitable goals, ones dedicated to social justice, professional organizations, and interest organizations

Trans-National social movements

social movements across nations

global commodity chains

a transnational economic process that involves extracting natural resources, transforming them into goods, and marketing and distributing them to consumers

globalization

the social processes that are expanding and intensifying connections across nation-states. It helps explain why the spread of the coronavirus so aggressively outpaces that of the Black Death.

global cities

urban areas that act as key hubs in the world economy. What happens in these areas often has global implications. This suggests that the world is no longer a nation-state system.

nation-state system

a world society consisting of only sovereign, self-contained territories.

world system

a global market organized by a capitalist economy. ____ no longer have economies of their own but are part of one world economy. This means that there aren’t just rich people and poor people, but rich countries and poor countries.

world systems theory

Wallerstein argued that we should describe countries according to their relationship to the world economy.

peripheral countries

in the world economy—including those in many previously colonized regions—are the home of the world’s working poor. They contribute mostly natural resources and physical labor to the world economy.

Core countries

home to most of the world’s economy capital. They control most of the transnational governmental organizations and are host to the richest transnational corporations. They also have the most powerful militaries.

Semi-peripheral countries

middle income countries that exploit the periphery when they can, struggle to avoid falling into it, and try to compete with richer countries.