SOC 101 - Final Exam (Pre-Midterm Content: Ch 1, 3, 4, 5, 6)

Absolute monarchs 

The king and queen of the monarchy rules in their own right or power without any limitations. 

Agents of socialization  

People or groups that affect our self-concept, attitudes, or other orientations toward life 

E.g. Family 

Anomie 

Durkheim’s term for a condition of society in which people become detached or cut loose from the norms that usually guide their behaviour. 

E.g. When a lottery winner wins big, suddenly acquiring so much wealth alters the balance in their life and can cause anxiety and deviant behaviours. 

Anticipatory socialization  

Learning part of a future role because one anticipates it 

E.g. Medical students prepare to be a doctor by pretending to have competence and confidence, working long hours, etc. 

Applied sociology 

The use of sociology to solve problems – from the microlevel of family relationships to the macro-level of crime and pollution. 

E.g. Careers in a correctional facility, conducting training seminars on abuse for police officers, independent consultant. 

Authority 

Power that people accept as rightly exercised over them; also called legitimate power. 

Beliefs  

An idea that a culture agrees upon, not necessarily a fact, are shared definitions of reality, and they change from society to society, and time to time. 

E.g. English speakers and Spanish speakers perceive colours differently. 

Biological determinism 

The belief that the way we act reflects built-in biological traits such as the need to reproduce, the need to survive, and so on. The way you should act is strongly restricted by society.  

E.g. A 6’7 tall teenage boy will constantly get comments about how should join the basketball team. 

Bourgeoisie  

Karl Marx’s term for capitalists, those who own the means to produce wealth 

Bretton Woods 

An agreement between 44 nations reached in 1944 that created the United Nations, the Security Council, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank/International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (WB/IBRD), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade/World Trade Organization (GATT/WTO). 

Capitalism 

An economic system characterized by the private ownership of the means of production, the pursuit of profit, and market competition; the investment of capital with the goal of producing profits. 

Mercantile (merchant) capitalism 

Partnership with absolute monarchs to sell them products from their country at a high price in order to make a large profit. 

Industrial capitalism 

Characterized by its use of heavy machinery and more pronounced division of labour. Spread to the rest of the industrialized world, because otherwise, those countries would be bankrupt. 

Monopoly capitalism 

Other countries get involved by being customers and by being suppliers of raw materials. 

Interregnum  

Keynes believed that we could fix the failing economy if during depressions, the government would use our tax money to distribute money to people. 

Global capitalism 

The current state of capitalism. The integration of all economic activity into a global marketplace.  

Capitalist world economy 

The conflicts of capitalism; bourgeois versus proletarian and core versus periphery. 

Caste system

A form of social stratification in which one’s status is determined by birth and is lifelong. 

Centre/core 

Countries that are wealthy, militarily strong, and hold significant social and colonial power. 

Periphery 

Countries that are poor, have exploitable resources, and do not possess great social stability or government. 

Semi-periphery 

Countries whose economies stagnated as a result of their dependence on trade with the core nations. 

Clan system 

A form of social stratification in which individuals receive their social standing through belonging to an extended network of relatives. 

Class in itself 

A social group whose members share the same relationship to the means of production. 

Class for itself 

Members of social group (previously class in itself) gain class consciousness and class solidarity meaning they become fully aware of the situation that they are being exploited by the bourgeoisie and realize that they can overthrow the ruling class if they work together. 

Classes 

Economic groups as in Marx's use of the term. 

Status 

Refers to the distribution of social honour or prestige deriving not just from wealth but also from lifestyle 

E.g. Old rich and new rich, blue collar and white collar 

Party 

The organizational means to exercise power. 

E.g. The ability to make laws 

Class conflict 

Marx’s term for the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. 

Class consciousness 

Marx’s term for awareness of a common identity based on one’s positions in the means of production. 

False consciousness 

Karl Marx’s term to refer to workers identifying with the interests of capitalists. 

Class structure 

Used to define groups of people based on income and educational levels. 

Clique 

A cluster of people within a larger group who choose to interact with one another; an internal faction.  

Colonization 

A process of establishing control over specific territories or peoples for the purpose of cultivation, possibly involving settling, the establishment of colonialism, coloniality, and colonies. 

Capitalist 

Synonymous with “bourgeoisie”, those who own the means of production 

Class conflict 

Marx’s term for the struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

Conflict theory  

A theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of groups competing for scarce resources. 

E.g. One group controls the means of production and exploits those that do not.

Contradictory class location 

Erik Wright’s term for a position in the class structure that generates contradictory interests. 

E.g. Small employers are between the capitalist class and the petty bourgeoisie (self-employed producers who employ no wage-laborers) because they are both self-employed producers but also exploit labour power. 

Charles Horton Cooley  

American sociologist that studied the emergence of human identity and coined the term “looking-glass self” which consists of imagining how we appear to others, interpreting their reactions, and based on the reactions of others, developing ideas about ourselves. 

Counterculture 

A group whose values, beliefs, and related behaviours place its members in opposition to the broader culture. 

E.g. A motorcycle gang that stresses freedom and speed but also add the values of hating women and selling drugs and prostitution.

Cultural capital  

A set of habits and dispositions that give middle- and upper-class children an advantage over children from the working class.

Cultural diffusion 

The spread of cultural characteristics from one group to another  

E.g. Mainly from the West to other parts of the world but also seen in architectural designs, food (bagels, falafel) 

Cultural lag  

William Ogburn’s term for human behaviour lagging behind technological innovations 

E.g. We continue to visit doctors’ offices despite us having the technology to simply find a diagnosis online 

Cultural levelling  

The process by which cultures become similar to one another, and especially by which Western industrial culture is imported and diffused into developing nations

Cultural relativism  

Understanding a people from the framework of its own culture.

Cultural universal 

A value, norm, or other cultural trait that is found in every group. 

E.g. Living in groups and living in some kind of family  

Culture  

The language, beliefs, values, norms, behaviours, and even material objects passed from one generation to the next.

Culture of poverty 

The assumption that the values and behaviours of the poor make them fundamentally different from other people, that these factors are largely responsible for their poverty, and that parents perpetuate poverty across generations by passing these characteristics on to their children. 

Keynesian economics 

Demand drives supply and that healthy economies spend or invest more than they save. To create jobs and boost consumer buying power during a recession, Keynes held that governments should increase spending, even if it means going into debt. 

Kingsley Davis & Wilber Moore 

Created a theory that argues that social inequality and stratification are inevitable in every society, as they perform a beneficial function for society. 

Degradation ceremony  

A term coined by Harold Garfinkel to describe an attempt to remake the self by stripping away an individual’s self-identity and stamping a new one in its place; a ritual designed to strip an individual of his or her identity as a group member 

E.g. Newly recruited soldiers being given buzzcuts and stripped from everything that made them a civilian (clothes, etc.) 

Dependency theory 

A sociological theory that stresses how the least industrialized nations became dependent on the most industrialized nations. 

Debt crisis 

A situation in which a government (nation, state/province, county, or city etc.) loses the ability of paying back its governmental debt. 

Divine right of kings 

The idea that the king’s authority comes directly from God. 

Emile Durkheim   

Studied how the most personal of individual behaviours is shaped by social forces and showed how social integration is a key factor in deterring suicide 

Endogamy 

The practice of marrying within one’s own group. 

Ethnocentrism  

The use of one’s own culture as a yardstick for judging the ways of other individuals or societies, generally leading to a negative evaluation of their values, norms and behaviours.  

Export processing zones 

Tax-free “factory cities” where young Asian women are often lured by the promise of good jobs manufacturing products for export. 

Feminist theories  

All three types of feminist theories – Marxist, liberal, and radical – hold that women are oppressed by gender roles that are products of social, historical, and cultural factors 

Folkways 

Norms that are not strictly enforced 

Front stage 

When a person encompasses the behaviour, a player performs in front of an audience (usually society, or some subset of society). A person performs when they know they are being watched. 

Back stage 

How a person acts when they are free of expectations and norms. They let their guard down and behave in a way that reflects their true self. 

Functional analysis/structural functionalism  

A theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of various parts, each with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium; also known as functionalism and structural functionalism 

E.g. Tuition is increased to recruit better quality staff (manifest function) and as a result, there is an influx of new students and so the university’s programs and campus are expanded (latent positive function) 

Game stage  

Ages 6-13, characterizes by the ability to recognize patterns in behaviours of others, implies knowledge of the generalized other and take part in reflexive role-taking 

Gender socialization; gender roles  

The behaviours and attitudes considered appropriate because one is a female or male 

Generalized other  

The norms, values, attitudes, and expectations of “people in general”; a child’s ability to take the role of the generalized other is a significant step in the development of self 

Globalization 

The extensive movement of capital and ideas between nations due to the expansion of capitalism. 

Habitus 

Embracing a set of skills and way of looking at the world that reflects (rather than questions or challenges) hierarchical social structures. 

Human agency 

The ability to individually or collectively resist social pressures and provide for social change.

Ideology

Beliefs about the way things ought to be that justify social arrangements. 

Immigration 

The movement of individuals away from their country of origin to a new country. 

Migration 

The physical movement by people from one place to another. 

Imperialism 

When countries take over other countries so they can expand their markets and gain access to cheap raw materials. 

Erving Goffman  

Studied the total institution and showed how it can tear down individuals and mold them into something else entirely. 

In-group

Groups toward which one feels loyalty 

Out-group

Groups toward which one feels antagonism 

Income

Money received, especially on a regular basis, for work or through investments. 

Wealth 

Property and income. 

Indentured service 

A fuzzy area between contract and slavery; people whose passage to another country was paid for in exchange for labour; they paid back their transportation costs by serving their master for a specified period of time. 

International Monetary Fund 

Gives bridging loans to big cities/countries and has been criticized for increasing poverty and suffering among ordinary citizens while shielding multinational corporations and their backers in wealthy countries. 

Intersectionality 

The interrelationships among various inequalities. 

Language  

A system of symbols that can be combined in an infinite number of ways and can represent not only objects but also abstract thought 

Looking-glass self  

A term coined by Charles Horton Cooley to refer to the process by which our self develops through internalizing others’ reactions to us 

Macrosociology

Analysis of social life focusing on broad features of social structure, such as social class and the relationships of groups to one another; an approach usually used by functionalist and conflict theorists.  

Microsociology 

Analysis of social life focusing on social interaction; an approach usually used by symbolic interactionists.  

Functions

The beneficial consequences of people’s actions that maintain equilibrium 

Manifest functions

The intended consequences of people’s actions designed to help some part of a social system  

Latent functions

The unintended consequences of people’s actions that help keep a social system in equilibrium  

Dysfunctions 

Consequences that undermine equilibrium  

Maquiladoras 

A low-cost factory in Mexico that is owned by a foreign corporation. These plants assemble products and export them back to the United States and other countries. Has controversy surrounding low wages, terrible working conditions, low job security, and high exposure to toxic chemicals. 

Karl Marx  

Presented capitalism as a new type of class-based oppression through conflict theory, focuses on the relationship between the bourgeoisie and proletariat, characterized by class conflict which can only end if the working class work together and start a revolution to create a classless society 

Mass media 

Forms of communication, such as radio, newspapers, and television, directed to mass audiences. 

Material culture 

The material objects that distinguish a group of people, such as their art, buildings, weapons, utensils, machines, hairstyles, clothing, jewelry 

George Herbert Mead  

A symbolic interactionist that focuses on primary socialization which consists of the preparatory stage (before age 3, learning a language), the play stage (ages 3-6, imitating those around us but not having an understanding of it), and the game stage (ages 6-13, able to play and understand multiple roles) 

Means of production 

The tools, factories, land, and investment capital used to produce wealth. 

Meritocracy 

A form of social stratification in which all positions are awarded on the basis of merit (an individual’s talent and achievements rather than social status). 

Robert Merton 

Further developed functional analysis and used the term “functions” to describe beneficial consequences of people’s actions that help keep a group in equilibrium. 

Middle range theories 

Explanations of human behaviour that go beyond a particular observation or research but avoid sweeping generalizations that attempt to account for everything. 

C. Wright Mills 

Criticized for insisting that power – the ability to carry out your will in spite of resistance – was concentrated in the hands of few. Coined the term power elite and sociological imagination. 

Modernization theory 

The belief that underdeveloped countries (global south) are too attached to traditional practices, customs, and rituals and lacked the values to overcome poverty.  

Mores  

Norms that are strictly enforced because they are thought to be essential to core values.