Social Science SMILE Module 2025 Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the SMILE 2025 Social Science module, including European history, sociological concepts, global geography, and economic systems.

Renaissance

A period of transformation from Medieval feudalism to the modern age, characterized by social, economic, and political changes in Europe starting in the 14th century.

Humanism

A Renaissance philosophy that prioritized the uniqueness, emotions, capabilities, and literary expressions of human beings, moving away from Christian theology.

Scholasticism

A philosophy deeply rooted in Christian theology that was the dominant intellectual system of the Middle Ages before the rise of Humanism.

Black Death

The mid-14th-century outbreak of the Bubonic plague that claimed thousands of lives, resulting in severe labor shortages and the decline of medieval feudalism.

Martin Luther

A priest who sparked the Protestant Reformation in 1517 by pasting his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral.

First Estate

The layer of 18th-century French society consisting of the Clergy, who owned vast lands and were exempted from taxes while collecting the tithe from peasants.

Second Estate

The French social class consisting of Nobles who held high positions, lived luxuriously, and largely escaped the Vingtième tax.

Third Estate

The majority of the French population who lived in poverty, paid heavy taxes to the king, church, and nobles, and were forced to perform unpaid services.

Tennis Court Oath

A pivotal event where members of the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly and vowed to create a constitution for France.

Reign of Terror

A period during the French Revolution led by the Jacobins where thousands of nobles, priests, and royal supporters were labeled traitors and executed via guillotine.

Sociological Imagination

A concept introduced by Charles Wright Mills in 1959 describing the skill to identify and analyze how individual problems are related to broader social structures.

Social Analysis

The process of examining how social relationships, institutions, structures, and problems affect individuals and society to facilitate improvement.

Mercantilism

An economic system where a nation's wealth was determined by its accumulation of gold and silver (bullion), prioritizing exports over imports.

Merchant Capitalism

An economic system where merchants acted as intermediaries, distributing raw materials to rural artisans and selling the finished products for profit.

Industrial Revolution

A period between 1780 and 1850 involving a shift to large-scale, machine-based production in factories, originating in England's textile industry.

Imperialism

The process by which a nation establishes and maintains political, economic, and social control over territories beyond its borders.

Fascism

A totalitarian political system in Italy led by Benito Mussolini, characterized by extreme nationalism and the elimination of political opponents.

Nazism

A totalitarian ideology in Germany led by Adolf Hitler that implemented policies to eliminate communists, socialists, and Jews through forces like the Gestapo.

Neocolonialism

A form of indirect exploitation where capitalist nations gain wealth from newly independent countries through financial aid and loans.

Public Opinion

The general opinion of the people concerning issues that affect them, serving as an essential criterion for democracy and accountability.

Civil Society

Voluntary organizations, groups, and individuals working for social welfare without government control or profit motives.

Media Literacy

The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and communicate messages received through various forms of media.

Digital Literacy

The ability to efficiently find and evaluate information from the digital world using digital equipment and technology.

Weather

Atmospheric conditions such as temperature, pressure, wind, humidity, and precipitation recorded for a shorter period of time.

Climate

The average weather condition experienced for a longer period (usually 35 years) over a larger geographical area.

Insolation

The amount of sun's rays reaching the earth's surface in the form of short waves.

Terrestrial Radiation

The re-radiation of energy from the earth’s surface in the form of long waves, which primarily heats the atmosphere.

Normal Lapse Rate

The phenomenon where temperature decreases with altitude at a rate of approximately $6.5\,^{\circ}\text{C}$ per $1\,km$.

Coriolis Force

A force caused by the rotation of the earth that influences the direction of winds.

Absolute Humidity

The actual amount of water vapor present per unit volume of air.

Relative Humidity

The ratio between the absolute humidity and the total water-holding capacity of the atmosphere at a given temperature.

Permafrost

Permanently frozen ground found in Tundra and Polar regions that limits farming and construction.

Consumption

The process of buying and using goods and services to fulfill one's needs.

Utility

The want-satisfying power of a commodity, theoretically measured in units called "Utils."

Total Utility

The total amount of satisfaction a person receives from continuously consuming several units of the same commodity.

Marginal Utility

The change in total utility when an additional unit of a commodity is consumed.

Velocity of Circulation

The number of times a unit of money is exchanged in a given period of time.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

The central bank of India, established on 1 April 1935, responsible for printing currency and regulating the country's monetary policy.

Repo Rate

The rate of interest charged by the Reserve Bank of India on the loans taken by commercial banks.

Reverse Repo Rate

The rate of interest given by the Reserve Bank of India on the deposits made by commercial banks.

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR)

The amount of money that commercial banks must keep as reserves with the Reserve Bank of India from their total deposits.

Core Banking

A system enabling an account holder to carry out transactions from any branch of their bank rather than just the home branch.

Microfinance

Financial services provided to low-income individuals and families who lack access to conventional banking services, such as the Kudumbasree project in Kerala.