sociology key terms

Sociological imagination (C. Wright Mills)

the ability to connect personal experiences with wider social structures and social issues.

Stratification

the unequal division of educational resources and opportunities based on social factors like class, race or gender.

Cultural capital (Pierre Bourdieu)

embodied in how we speak and reflected in what we value.

Meritocracy

the belief that success results from ability and effort, rather than birth or social background.

Theorising (bell hooks)

begins when we ask why the social world is the way it is and imagine how it could change. It is used to explore alternative possibilities and envision different social realities.

Hegemony (Antonio Gramsci)

how the ruling class controls the working class without coercion or force. It is maintained in society through voluntary consent.

Neoliberalism

an ideology that promotes market-based reforms, deregulation and privatisation.

Knowledge economy

an economic system that emphasises the use of information and intellectual capabilities over physical inputs and natural resources.

Positionality

how a person is positioned in social and power relationships through factors such as gender, race, class and ethnicity.

Reflexivity (Cunliffe)

questioning what we and others take for granted, what is said or left unsaid, and the effects of these assumptions. In short, it is assumptions and biases.

Othering

the social process of viewing or treating a person or group as different, alien or inferior to a dominant “in” group.

Essentialism

treating a culture as fixed, timeless and having one true nature. This can freeze cultural stereotypes.

Colour-blind racism

the denial or minimisation of racism by asserting that one does not see race or treat individuals differently based on race.

Institutional racism

unfair policies and discriminatory practices embedded within an institution, such as a school.

Systemic racism

racial inequality resulting from historical events.

Monolingual habitus

the unquestioned assumption that English is the normal or default language in a school or system.

Heterogeneous

a society, group or social system that consists of individuals with dissimilar or diverse backgrounds.

French (2016)

highlights monolingual and monocultural bias. Multilingual resources are difficult to use in systems that assume English is the norm.

Translanguaging

the practice of bilingual or multilingual people using all of their native and second languages together as a single toolkit to communicate, learn and think.

Functionalism

sees society as a complex system of interconnected parts, each performing a function that keeps the whole thing working. It promotes stability, and gender roles contribute to social order.

Biological essentialism

the belief that gender differences are fixed, natural and caused by biology.

Epstein’s six types of involvement

parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making and collaborating with the community.

Parenting

help families establish supportive home environments and child-rearing conditions that match children’s developmental stages.

Communicating

build effective, regular, two-way communication between the school and home about programmes and student progress.

Volunteering

recruit and organise family help and support within school buildings, classrooms and school-sponsored events.

learning at home

engage families in guiding and participating in academic activities, homework and goal-setting with their children at home.

decision making

include families as active partners in school governance, PTAs/PTOs, advisory councils and advocacy networks.

collaborating with the community

describes it as connecting families and schools with community resources/services to strengthen learning.