Sociology Key Terms: Norms, Deviance, Social Stratification & Gender Roles

Norms

The established rules of behavior or standards of conduct within a society or group.

Deviance

violation of a group's norms which may or may not be formalized into law

Crime

violation of formal, codified law

Absolute deprivation

A condition of extreme material disadvantage where individuals lack minimum necessities essential for sustaining life.

Informal Sanction

less organized/more spontaneous usually by peers/social groups

Formal Sanctions

applied by groups/agencies with stricter rules and hierarchies

Positive Sanction

Rewards

Negative Sanction

forms of punishment

Differential association

Criminal behavior is learned through social interaction like intimate personal groups.

Target hardening

A security strategy that involves making a building, asset, or person more difficult for attackers to target and penetrate, deterring criminal activity.

Symbolic Interactionism

how behaviors become defined as deviant through social processes

Conflict Theory

deviance result of social inequality and power struggles

Structural Functionalism

deviance is necessary and normal part of society and contributes to social order/stability

Secondary Deviation

deviant identity that results from society's reaction and labeling of the individual causing them to internalize the label and commit more deviant acts

Primary Deviation

initial act of deviance that is usually minor and doesn't lead to deviant identity

Relative Deprivation

the subjective feeling of being deprived or disadvantaged when comparing one's own material possessions/social status/circumstances to those of a relevant reference group/general standards of society

Stratification

The unequal access to resources and opportunities.

Intragenerational Mobility

someone's social mobility occurs within lifetime

Intergenerational Mobility

moving from different social status than parents

Horizontal Mobility

employment changes but end up in similar social status

Vertical Mobility

moving up or down social hierarchy

Socioeconomic status

Defines individual's social and economic position in society based on income, education, and occupation.

Bourgeoisie

The capitalist class who own most of society's wealth and means of production.

Proletariat

Working class that doesn't own any means of production.

Contradictory class location

Used to categorize individuals or positions that do not fit neatly into traditional class structure of bourgeoisie or proletariat.

Class

Hierarchical grouping of individuals within society based on shared socioeconomic status.

Wealth

total stock of assets owned by individual at single point in time

Income

flow of money received by individual over period of time

Life chances

The opportunities and probabilities each individual has to achieve.

Gender

the social role that we enact and are socialized into based on our sex

Sex

The biological categorization of people based on physiology

Intersectionality

How different social categories like race, gender, class, sexual orientation, and disability overlap and interact to create unique experiences of discrimination and privilege.

Gender role socialization

The process by which individuals learn and internalize the behaviors, attitudes, and expectations associated with their assigned gender in a given society.

Biological essentialism

The belief that human traits, behaviors, and social roles are primarily determined by an innate biological makeup such as genetics.

Post-modern feminism

pushes back against idea that we can have any universal category of 'woman'

Transnational feminism

how patriarchy and gender oppression reproduced globally under capitalism

Black feminism

aim to make experiences and needs of black women central to movement

Socialist/Marxist feminism

analyze gender inequality in relation to capitalism

Radical feminism

root theories of gender inequality in patriarchy

Liberal feminism

targets aims that can be made within existing social systems/structures but still fight for greater equality between genders

Glass ceiling

Invisible barrier that prevents women and minorities from reaching the highest level of leadership.

Glass escalator

Describes how men in female dominated professions often rapidly promoted to higher positions.

Ethnicity

group of people who share a common culture

Race

social category made by dominant groups based on appearance

Pluralism

The coexistence of diverse groups with different beliefs, ethnicities, or interests within a single society where power is distributed among them.

Prejudice

A preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience/negative attitude, belief, or feeling toward a person or group;

Discrimination

unequal/unfair action/behavior based in prejudice.

Migration

The movement of people from one place to another.

Diaspora

A scattered group of people who have left their original homeland but maintain a collective identity and cultural ties to it.

Stereotyping

A generalized, oversimplified, and often inaccurate belief about the characteristics of all members of a particular social group.

Affirmative action

Proactive policies and programs designed to address historical discrimination against marginalized groups.

Scapegoating

The act of unfairly blaming an individual or group for societal problems such as economic hardship/social unrest to deflect attention from true causes.

Assimilation

The process where members of an immigrant group of minority culture take on the characteristics of a dominant or host society leading to greater resemblance between the groups.

Ethnic cleansing

The systematic and deliberate removal of an ethnic, racial, or religious group from a particular area in order to make the area ethnically 'pure'.

Segregation

The physical or social separation of different groups within a society, often based on characteristics like race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.

Scientific racism

Scientific study to improve genetic quality of human population (eugenics).

Genocide

The deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

Representative (Indirect) Democracy

the people elect representatives

Direct Democracy

form of participatory democracy that allows citizens to vote directly on laws and policies (ballots)

Participatory Democracy

all members of a group or community make decisions collectively

Power

The ability of individuals or members of a group to achieve aims or further their interest against resistance.

Authority

A government's legitimate use of power.

Power elite

A small group of individuals who hold concentrated power in modern societies, representing a challenge to democracy.

Military-industrial complex

The close and mutually beneficial relationship between nation's military, defense contractors, and government, which influences public policy and can lead to a perpetuation of a state of high military spending and potential conflict.

Populism

The belief that politics should reflect the needs and interests of ordinary people rather than just elites.

Nation-state

A political entity where the territory of a state and the population of a nation are ideally congruent.

Emile Durkheim

Believed deviance is normal and necessary in every society; argued that it actually plays an important role in keeping society healthy and balanced.

Pierre Bourdieu

Argued that inequality continues across generations because people inherit habits, tastes, skills, and connections that help them stay in their social classes.

Karl Marx

Claimed society divided into classes based on relationship to means of production (bourgeoisie and proletariat) which creates class inequality as the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat.

Max Weber

Argued that social stratification is based on property (class), power, and prestige (class).