Sociology Exam 2- Chapters 4-6

Social interaction

is the process by which people act toward or respond to other people and is the foundation for all relationships and groups in society.

Social structure

is the complex framework of societal institutions and the social practices that make up a society and that organize and establish limits on people's behavior.

Status

is a socially defined position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations, rights, and duties.

Status set

comprises all the statuses that a person occupies at a given time.

Ascribed status

is a social position conferred at birth or received involuntarily later in life, based on attributes over which the individual has little or no control.

Achieved status

is a social position that a person assumes voluntarily as a result of personal choice, merit, or direct effort.

Master status

is the most important status a person occupies.

Status symbols

are material signs that inform others of a person's specific status.

Role

is a set of behavioral expectations associated with a given status.

Role conflict

occurs when incompatible role demands are placed on a person by two or more statuses held at the same time.

Role strain

occurs when incompatible demands are built into a single status that a person occupies.

Role exit

occurs when people disengage from social roles that have been central to their self-identity.

Social institution

is a set of organized beliefs and rules that establish how a society will attempt to meet its basic social needs.

Examples of social institution

Family, Education, Government. Religion, Economy

Formal organization

is a highly structured group formed for the purpose of completing certain tasks or achieving specific goals.

Hunting and gathering societies

use simple technology for hunting animals and gathering vegetation.

Pastoral societies

are based on technology that supports the domestication of large animals to provide food.

Horticultural societies

are based on technology that supports the cultivation of plants to provide food.

Agrarian societies

use technology of large-scale farming, including animal-drawn or energy-powered equipment, to produce their food supply.

Industrial societies

are based on technology that mechanizes production.

Postindustrial societies

are ones in which technology supports a service economy.

Division of labor

refers to how the various tasks of a society are divided up and performed. (Organic Model - Interdependence)

Mechanical solidartiy

refers to the social cohesion of preindustrial societies, in which people feel united by shared values and common social bonds.

Organic solidarity

refers to the social cohesion found in industrial societies, in which people perform very specialized tasks and feel united by their mutual dependence.

Social construction of reality

is the process by which our perception of reality is largely shaped by the subjective meaning that we give an experience.

Self-fulfilling prophecy

is a false belief or prediction that produces behavior that makes the originally false belief come true.

Ethnomethodology

is the study of the commonsense knowledge that people use to understand the situations in which they find themselves.

Dramaturgical analysis

is the study of social interaction that compares everyday life to a theatrical presentation.

Social script

is a playbook that the actors use to guide their performance to achieve goals or fulfill the role they are playing.

Impression management (presentation of self)

refers to people's efforts to present themselves to others in ways that are most favorable to their own image.

Face-saving behavior

refers to the strategies people use to rescue their performance when they experience a loss of face

Nonverbal communication

is the transfer of information between persons without the use of words.

Social group

is a collective of two or more people who interact frequently with one another, share a sense of belonging, and have a feeling of interdependence.

Aggregate

is a collection of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time.

Category

is a number of people who share a similar characteristic.

Primary groups

are small, less specialized groups in which members engage in face-to-face, emotion-based interactions over an extended period of time.

Secondary groups

are larger, more specialized groups in which the members engage in more impersonal, goal-oriented relationships for a limited period of time.

Ingroup

is a group to which a person belongs and with which the person feels a sense of identity.

Outgroup

is a group to which a person does not belong and toward which the person may feel a sense of competitiveness or hostility.

Reference groups

are groups that strongly influence a person's behavior and social attitudes, regardless of whether that individual is an actual member.

network

is a web of social relationship that links one person with other people and, through them, with other people they know.

small group

is a group that is collectively small enough for all members to be acquainted with one another and to interact simultaneously.

Dyad

two members

Triad

three members

Leadership

refers to the ability to influence what goes on in a group or social system.

Instrumental leadership

is goal or task oriented.

Expressive leadership

provides emotional support for members.

Authoritarian leaders

make all major group decisions and assign tasks to members.

Democratic leaders

encourage group discussion and decision making through consensus building.

Laissez-faire leaders

are only minimally involved in decision making and encourage group members to make their own decisions.

Conformity

is the process of maintaining or changing behavior to comply with the norms established by a society, subculture, or other group.

Groupthink

is the process by which members of a cohesive group arrive at a decision that many individual members privately belief is unwise. Ignoring or squelching dissent - Can lead to poor decisions

normative organization

is one we voluntarily join to pursue a common interest or gain personal satisfaction or prestige from being a member. Ex: Sorority

coercive organization

s an association people are forced to join. Ex: Total Institutions, School

utilitarian organization

is one we voluntary join to be provided with a material reward.

Ex: Job

A bureaucracy

is an organizational model characterized by a hierarchy of authority, a clear division of labor, explicit rules and procedures, and impersonality in personnel matters.

Rationality

is the process by which traditional methods of social organization, characterized by informality and spontaneity, are gradually replaced by efficiently administered formal rules and procedures.

ideal type

of bureaucracy is an abstract model that describes the recurring characteristics of some phenomenon.

informal side of a bureaucracy

is composed of those aspects of participants' day-to-day activities and interactions that ignore, bypass, or do not correspond with the official rules and procedures of the bureaucracy.

Goal displacement:

rules become an end in themselves rather than a means to an end, and organizational survival becomes more important than achievement of goals.

Bureaucratic personality

workers who are more concerned with following correct procedures then with getting the job done correctly.

iron law of oligarchy

is the tendency to become a bureaucracy ruled by the few.

Humanizing bureaucracy

is a movement to establish an organizational environment that develops rather than impedes human resources.

Deviance

is any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs.

Social control

refers to the systematic practices that social groups develop in order to encourage conformity to norms, rules, and laws and to discourage deviance.

Criminology

is the systematic study of crime and the criminal justice system, including the police, courts, and prisons.

Merton’s strain theory

argues that people feel strain when they are exposed to cultural goals that they are unable to obtain because they do not have access to culturally approved means of achieving those goals.

Illegitimate opportunity structures

are circumstances that provide an opportunity for people to acquire through illegitimate activities what they cannot achieve through legitimate channels.

Differential justice

differences in way social control is exercised over different groups

Differential association theory

states that people have a greater tendency to deviate from societal norms when they frequently associate with individuals who are more favorable toward deviance than conformity.

rational choice theory of deviance

states that deviant behavior occurs when a person weighs the costs and benefits of nonconventional or criminal behavior and determines that the benefits will outweigh the risks involved in such actions.

Control theory

holds that the probability of deviant behavior increases when a person's ties to society are weakened or broken.

Labeling theory

states that deviance is a socially constructed process in which social control agencies designate certain people as deviants and they, in turn, come to accept the label placed upon them and begin to act accordingly.

Primary deviance

refers to the initial act of rule breaking.

Secondary deviance

occurs when a person who has been labeled a deviant accepts that new identity and continues the deviant behavior.

Tertiary deviance

occurs when a person who has been labeled a deviant seeks to normalize the behavior by relabeling it as nondeviant.

crime

is a behavior that violates criminal law and is punishable with fines, jail terms, and/or other negative sanctions.

Juvenile delinquency

refers to a violation of law or the commission of a status offense by young people.

Victimless crimes

are those that involve a willing exchange of illegal goods or services among adults.

Organized crime

is a business operation that supplies illegal goods and services for profit.

Occupational (white collar) crimes

are illegal activities committed by people in the course of their employment or financial affairs.

Corporate crimes

are illegal acts committed by corporate employees on behalf of the corporation and with its support.

Political crimes

refers to illegal or unethical acts involving the usurpation of power by government officials or acts against the government by outsiders seeking to make a political statement, undermine the government, or overthrow it.

Internet crimes

consist of FBI-related scams, identity theft, non-delivery of merchandise.

Terrorism

is the calculated, unlawful use of physical force or threats of violence against persons or property in order to intimidate or coerce a government, organization, or individual for the purpose of gaining some political, religious, economic, or social objective.

criminal justice system

refers to the local, state, and federal agencies that enforce laws, adjudicate crimes, and treat and rehabilitate criminals.

Primary Groups

Our family, close friends, and school- or work-related peer groups are examples of

stigma

The sociological term for any physical or social attribute or sign that devalues a person's social identity and disqualifies that person from full social acceptance is __________.

Social institution

Which of the following terms refers to a set of organized beliefs and rules that establishes how a society will attempt to meet its basic social needs?

Achieved status

Which of the following terms refers to a social position a person assumes voluntarily as a result of personal choice, merit, or direct effort?

A horticultural society

In the context of the five types of societies based on various levels of subsistence technology, which of the following societies is based on technology that supports the cultivation of plants to provide food?

conflict

Recent research indicates that women athletes have their own ways of dealing with the "female/athlete paradox." This paradox is an example of role __________.

Mechanical solidarity

Which of the following terms refers to the social cohesion of preindustrial societies, in which there is minimal division of labor and people feel united by shared values and common social bonds?

self-fulfilling prophecy

Mikayla is told repeatedly that she is not a very good student. Eventually, she comes to believe it, puts in little effort in class, and receives a poor grade. This scenario illustrates the concept of__________.

Role exit

Which of the following occurs when people disengage from social roles that have been central to their self-identity?

dramaturgical analysis

The perspective developed by Erving Goffman that compares everyday life to a theatrical presentation is called __________.

expressive leadership

Which of the following types of leadership provides emotional support for members and is most appropriate when the group is dealing with emotional issues?

ideal type

In his study of bureaucracies, Weber relied on an abstract model that describes the recurring characteristics of some phenomenon (such as bureaucracy). This model is called a(n) __________.

Conflict theorists

Who among the following is likely to suggest that groups involve a series of power relationships whereby the needs of individual members may not be equally served?

a consciousness of kind

Many clubs have "Members Only" signs to indicate that the organization does not welcome outsiders within club walls. Members of such clubs develop an awareness that they share important commonalities with other members. This awareness is called __________.