Social Change, Patterns, Trends and Global Challenges Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes about social change, patterns, trends, and global challenges.

Technology

The tools, systems, and innovations developed by humans to interact with their environment and with one another.

Arab Spring

A wave of protests and uprisings that took place across the Middle East and North Africa from 2010 to 2012.

White’s Cultural Evolution Theory

Societies advance based on how efficiently they can harness energy through technology.

Social Environment

The values, beliefs, institutions, and social structures that surround individuals and communities.

Marx’s Conflict Theory

Argues that social change comes from tension between dominant and oppressed groups.

Demographics

Statistical characteristics of a population, such as age, gender, income, education level, and ethnicity.

Immigration

The process of individuals moving from one country to another with the intention of settling there permanently.

Refugee

Someone who is forced to flee their country due to war, violence, persecution, or natural disaster.

Media

The various channels of communication used to distribute information, entertainment, and opinions.

Bandura’s Observational Learning Theory

People learn behaviours by watching and imitating others, especially role models, through a process of modeling.

Deviance

Behaviours that go against the accepted norms or expectations of a society.

Merton’s Strain Theory

Suggests deviance occurs when there’s a gap between culturally approved goals and legitimate means to achieve them.

Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory

Explains why some people turn to deviant behaviour due to social pressure or learned associations.

Globalization

The growing connection between countries through trade, culture, politics, and technology.

New International Division of Labour Theory

Explains how richer countries move production to poorer nations to save money.

Climate change

Long-term changes in weather patterns caused mostly by human activity.

Climate migrants

People who are forced to move due to climate change.

Grassroots development project

Where local people lead the planning and get the training and tools they need. Organizations like IDRC focus on using local knowledge, affordable technology, and education to build stronger communities.

Participant observation

The researcher immerses himself or herself into the group under study.

Social change

Transformations in beliefs, social interactions, practices, organization, and structures of society.

Primary research

Obtained from field research that the social scientist performs using tools such as interviews, surveys, and participant observation.

Secondary research

Include items such as journal or newspaper articles that summarize what others have to say about a topic or issue.

Social epidemic

Ideas, products, and behaviors that spread rapidly through a population in the way that a virus spreads.

Tipping point

3 rules that outline agents for change in social epidemics.

Invention

A new product, idea or social pattern that affects the way large groups conduct their lives.

Diffusion

Spread of a cultural trait from one society to another through some form of social contact.

Acculturation

Mutual influence of different cultures in close contact.

Demise of an older system

New systems are usually the result of the end of an old system.

Cultural materialism

The way people choose to survive in a particular environment (their technology and economic strategy) determines how their beliefs and values develop.

Structural functionalism

Institutions that make up society function to meet the needs of its members.

Conflict theory

Most important characteristic of human beings is their ability to produce goods to meet their needs.

Social environment

Two types of social environment: Collectivist and Individualist

Collectivist

Stress conformity. Obligation to group is more important than individual freedom. Can make change difficult.

Individualist

Individual rights and freedoms stressed over group. More tolerant of variability and receptive to change.

Social stratification

Categories of people are ranked according to a hierarchy.

Class

People who have same level of wealth and income.

Status

A person’s rank in prestige or lifestyle. Derived from education, income, and occupation.

Power

Ability to exercise one’s will over others.

Trend

A general direction in which something is developing or changing over time (e.g., aging population

Demographics

Statistical data about the characteristics of a population (e.g., age, gender, income)

Population pyramid

A graphical representation that shows the age and sex distribution of a population

Economic Immigrant

A person who moves to another country to work or invest and boost the economy.

Family Class Immigrant

A person who is sponsored by a family member already living in the country.

Bandwagon effect

People adopt certain behaviors, beliefs, or trends because "everyone else is doing it."

Media

Plural of medium, refers to the communication channels through which we disseminate news, entertainment, education, and other data.

Observational modelling

People learn through observing other people’s behaviour and then modelling it.

Van life

Rejecting the way people are “told” to live in favor of minimalism, simplicity and adventure

Evolution of Social Media

The initial purpose of social media was to connect friends.

Deviance

Behavior that violates the norms or standards of conduct of a group or society

Strain Theory

Sociologist Robert Merton examined the relationship between deviance and society.

Strain Theory

Believe social norms pressure individuals to conform.

Conformists

Accept society’s cultural goals and the means to attain those goals.

Ritualists

Accept the means to attain society’s goals but not the cultural goals of society.

Innovators

Goals are in line with the rest of society but the means to achieve them differ.

Retreatists

Do not agree with society’s goals and prefer to live apart from mainstream society.

Rebels

Do not agree with society’s goals and openly reject them along with the means to achievement.

Control theory

Conformity to social norms depends on the presence of strong bonds between individuals and mainstream society.

Differential association theory

People learn the necessary techniques, motives, rationalizations, and attitudes of deviant behaviour from people with whom they associate.

Likely offenders

Factors such as age, gender, social class and race/ethnicity.

Cybercrime

Any crime where a cyber element has a substantial role in the commission of a criminal offense.

Swatting

The practice of prank calling attempts to trick emergency services into dispatching an emergency response team and mainly targeted towards influencers or celebrities.

Criminal Trends in Canada

Overall crime decreasing, possibly due to the aging population; cybercrimes rising due to shift to digital economy; hate crimes rising due to polarization; online radicalization in society.

Police

The police serve as the primary point of contact between the population and the criminal justice system.

Courts

After an arrest, a court determines a suspect’s guilt or innocence.

Correctional system

The correctional system is designed to punish, to deprive a person of things of value (including freedom) because of a criminal offence the person is deemed to have committed.

Desensitization

The process of becoming familiar with a stimulus, which reduces a person’s reaction to it.

Rehabilitation

Seeks to return offenders to the community as law abiding citizens.

Deterrence

Seeks to reduce criminal activity by instilling a fear of punishment.

Restorative justice

Helps to restore social relationships rather than simply punishing offenders.

Development

A long-term process focused on improving basic needs, education, economic opportunities, and infrastructure while respecting human rights and the environment

Developed country

A wealthy, technologically advanced nation where most people enjoy high incomes, long life expectancies, and access to education and services

Developing Country

A lower-income nation where many people have limited access to services, goods, and a generally lower standard of living

Human Development Index

A summary measure used by the United Nations to assess and compare the overall well-being and quality of life in different countries

Health

Health is measured by life expectancy at birth

Education

Education is measured by average years of schooling and expected years of schooling

Standard of Living

Standard of living is measured by Gross National Income per capita

Haiti Earthquake

An earthquake in 2010 measuring 7.3 on the richter scale rocked the impoverished nation.

Causes of Haiti's Poverty

The Duvaliers left Haiti economically decimated. A large number of educated professionals left the country during the Duvalier regimes, and the period that followed was so unstable, it was hard to lay down roots and build infrastructure.

Development Criteria

Development must be driven from within, not by outsiders

IDRC projects

They have a vision is for a more sustainable and inclusive world. Their mission is to be a leader in research for development, investing in high-quality research and innovation, sharing knowledge, and mobilizing alliances for more sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive societies.

Cycle of Poverty

A pattern where poverty is passed from one generation to the next, making it hard for people to escape it. It means that if someone is born into poverty, they are more likely to stay poor because of limited access to things like good education, healthcare, and job opportunities

Globalization

The process of nations becoming more connected and interdependent through economic, social, cultural, political, and technological links.

Export Processing Zone (EPZ)

Export Processing Zones are special zones where companies from other countries can set up factories.

New International Division of Labour Theory

The idea that companies break up their production process and send parts of it to different countries.

Effects of globalization

Globalization can result in less affordable products for fewer people.

Jobs and Globalization

More jobs does not always equal good jobs

Human costs of tantalum mining in the Congo.

Miners often dig by hand in narrow, unstable tunnels, child labour Low wages, Linked to funding armed groups and ongoing conflict in the region

Why workers work in tantalum mines in the Congo

People continue to mine under these conditions due to a lack of alternatives, poverty and desperation, economically dependence

Why tantalum mining is profitable.

High demand leads to cheap labor and Low regulation

Globalization and GreenHouse Gases

Globalization has caused an increased movement of goods and people by plane, boat, train and truck, increasing levels of greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change.

Globalization Index

The globalization index measures global social, political, and economic interactions for countries and territories.

Sweatshops

A factory where the working conditions are dangerous, unfair, and often exploitative.

Multinational corporation

A large company that operates and has business activities in two or more countries.

Child Labour

Work that is harmful to children’s physical or mental development, or interferes with their education.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

The UDHR is a milestone document, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, that outlines fundamental human rights that should be universally protected.

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

An international treaty adopted by the United Nations in 1989,

Climate change

Long-term alteration of weather patterns, caused by humans activities that lead to Global warming

Climate migrant

A person forced to leave their home due to changes in their environment (climate change)

Migration to Dhaka

Another 2,000 people move to the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka to escape rural poverty.

Climate Change and Dhaka

Climate change is accelerating the race to the city.