Soc Exam 2: Chapters 6-9

Deviance

Any behavior that is outside social boundaries for what counts as normal and acceptable.

Crime

Deviant behavior that is defined and regulated by law.

Zone of permitted variation

A social space around a boundary where rules can be contested.

Social control theory

A theory that people who have strong social bonds and attachments in their community are less likely to engage in deviant behavior.

Moral panic

When an event, situation, individual, or group comes to be defined as a threat to social values.

Deviant subculture

A group of people who set themselves apart as being different from the larger mainstream culture of the society.

Primary deviance

A deviant act or behavior that does not result in the person adopting an identity as a deviant person.

Secondary deviance

A deviant act or behavior that occurs when a person has taken on the role of the deviant person.

Labeling theory

A theory that people become deviant when they are labeled as deviant people.

Stigma

A spoiled identity.

Laws

Attempts by governments to establish formal systems of rules about how people are allowed to behave, as well as a system of punishments for when they break those rules.

Criminal justice system

All the government agencies that are charged with finding and punishing people who break the law.

Civil law

Law that deals with disputes between individuals and organizations. Most legal cases are civil cases.

Violent crime

Defined by the Uniform Crime Reporting Program as homicide, aggravated assault, rape, and robbery.

Property crime

Defined by the Uniform Crime Reporting Program as burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny, and arson.

Hate crime

Acts of violence and intimidation against people because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, gender, or disability.

Crime rate

Calculated in the United States as the number of criminal offenses committed per 100,000 people in the population.

White-collar crime

Financially motivated nonviolent crime, usually committed by business professionals in the course of doing their jobs.

Cybercrime

Crime conducted using computer networks.

Identity theft

When criminals use stolen personal and financial information to assume a person’s identity in order to obtain credit and other financial advantages in that person’s name.

Police

A group of people authorized to enforce the law, prevent crime, pursue and bring to justice people who break the law, and maintain social order.

Broken windows theory

A theory of policing stating that ignoring small crimes and minor violations creates a spiral of increasing deviance and more serious criminality.

Racial profiling

The police practice of targeting an individual because of their race or ethnicity.

Surveillance

Monitoring other people’s activities, often by using video cameras and other media technologies.

Punishment

A social response to deviance that controls both deviant behavior and the offender, and that aims to protect the social group and its social standard.

Rehabilitation

An approach to punishment that seeks to improve offenders and restore them to society.

Criminal recidivism

The likelihood that a person will engage in future criminal behavior.

Parole

A process through which prisoners who appear to have reformed themselves can earn an early release from their prison sentence.

Incarceration

A form of punishment in which the offender is confined in prison.

Plea bargaining

A process in which a defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge that has been negotiated by the by the prosecuting and defense attorneys.

Prison industrial complex

A profit-making system that uses prison labor and prisons to support a wide array of economic activities.

Inequality

The unequal distribution of social goods such as money, power, and status.

Categorical inequality

The inequality between social categories or social groups.

Relative deprivation

a form of inequality between groups where people believe that they are being treated unequally in comparison to another group they view as similar to themselves.

davis-moore theory of inequality

the theory that some level of inequality is necessary to motivate people to do the most difficult and important jobs in a society.

marginal productivity theory

the theory that inequality is a way of rewarding people who make a greater contribution to society, by encouraging them to work hard and use their talents.

Stratification

a central sociological idea that describes structured patterns of inequality between different groups of people.

Degree of inequality

the level of concentration of a specific asset within the larger population.

Ridigity

the degree to which movement is possible in a stratification system.

ascriptiveness

the degree to which characteristics at birth like race, gender, ethnicity, parent’s background, or nationality determine life outcomes in a stratification system.

crystallization

the degree to which one dimension of inequality in a stratification system is connected to other dimension of inequality.

catse systems

an extremely unequal stratification system in which people are born into a particular social group and have virtually no opportunity to change their social position.

status group

a group held together by a common lifestyle and shared characteristics of social honor.

elites

an elite is formed through high status behavior and the formation of institutions to create a community of privilege and control.

party system

a stratification system where power and privilege come from the effective leadership of important organizations.

meritocracy

stratification systems where high position is held by those who perform the best on examinations and other formal tests of ability.

conspicuous consumption

a way to display privilege, wealth, and social status to others.

consumerism

a widespread ideology grounded in conspicuous consumption that encourages buying and consuming goods, including buying more than individuals need.

socioeconomic status

a general term referring to sociological measures of social position that include income, educational attainment, and occupational prestige.

wealth

the stock of valuable assets including physical and intellectual property, securities, art, jewelry, and other valuable goods.

income

the flow of earnings over a delimited time period including rents, salaries, and income transfers like pensions or dividends.

net worth

wealth and income minus any debts owed.

upper-middle class

a social class group at the top of the middle-class system with good job security and high-paying salaries of over $100,000 per year.

middle class

a social class group below the upper-middle class composed of families with an annual income of between $60,000 and $90,000.

lower-middle class

a social class group below the middle class composed of families with a household income of between $15,000 and $60,000 per year.

working poor

people and families in poverty despite having at least one person who works for a wage.

underclass

a social group described by William Julius Wilson that experiences long-term unemployment and social isolation, and often lives in impoverished urban neighborhoods.

colonialism

a global stratification system in which powerful nations used their military strength to take political control over other territories and exploit them economically.

world systems theory

a way to think about global stratification that emphasizes the relative positions of countries in the world economy as crucial determinants of inequality.

vertical social mobility

social mobility up or down in the socioeconomic stratification system.

social mobility

a change in a person’s social status or a movement to a different place in the stratification system.

horizontal mobility

social movement in people’s life that occurs without changing their overall position in the socioeconomic stratification system.

intergenerational mobility

the change in social status between different generations in the same family, or the change in the position of children relative to their parents.

relative mobility

the understanding of change in social position compared to other groups.

absolute mobility

change in social position, regardless of what is happening with other people.

cultural capital

education, cultural knowledge, and cultural consumption that signals privilege to others; the knowledge and consumption of culturally valued things.

structural mobility

changes in social position in the stratification system that occur because of structural changes in the economy and wider society.

contentious politics

the use of social conflict and other disruptive techniques to make a political point in an effort to change government policy.

race

a system for classifying people into groups on the basis of shared physical traits, which people in society treat as socially important and understand to be biologically transmitted.

ethnicity

a system for classifying people into groups on the basis of shared cultural heritage and a common identity.

racial determinism

a dominant social theory in the 19th century that argued that the world was divided into biologically distinct races, and that these fundamental differences in ability between the different racial groups.

symbolic ethnicity

the way dominant groups feel an attachment to specific ethnic traditions without being active members of the ethnic group.

discrimination

negative and unequal treatment directed at a particular group.

segregation

a social practice in which neighborhoods, schools, and other social organizations are separated by race and ethnicity.

residential segregation

a social practice in which neighborhoods are separated on the basis of group differences.

redlining

a practice where banks would not give mortgages to people who lived in minority-dominated neighborhoods.

racial steering

a practice in which realtors would encourage people to look for homes in specific neighborhoods depending on their race, as a way to ensure that the “desirable” neighborhoods were reserved for whites.

blockbusting

a practice where real estate agents would go to a neighborhood where racial minorities were beginning to move in, convince white residents that their property values were going to decrease, and encourage them to sell their houses below market value. relators then sold these homes to minority buyers at inflated prices.

colorblind racism

a form of racism based on the refusal to discuss or notice race.

genocide

the systematic killing of people on the basis of their race, ethnicity, or religion.

ethnic cleansing

the forcible removal of an entire group of people from a society because of their race, ethnicity, or religion.

assimilation

when minority groups fully embrace the culture of the dominant group and lose their distinctive racial and/or ethnic characteristics.

ethnic enclaves

geographical areas defined by high levels of ethnic concentration and cultural activities and ethnically identified economic activities.

cultural pluralism

an alternative to the idea of assimilation that imagines a society where people maintain their unique cultural identities while also accepting the core values of the larger society.

multiculturalism

a culturally pluralist society that officially recognizes the existence of different cultural groups and identities, and that develops policies promoting cultural diversity.

sex

the status of male or female, which is assigned at birth and is associated with physical attributes such as chromosomes and anatomical differences.

primary sexual characteristics

the organs required for physical reproduction.

secondary sex characteristics

physical features that emerge at puberty like body hair and breasts.

gender

the socially constructed roles for women and men that define expected behaviors for individuals of each sex.

gender script

a set of social norms that direct people to act in accordance with widely understood gender expectations.

gender cue

part of a social script that tells other people what gendered behavior to expect in the future and how to orient their own behavior in the present.

gender performance

actions and behaviors that conform to widespread gendered understandings of social roles and social identities.

gender socialization

the social interactions and experiences through which individuals learn how to occupy the gender roles considered appropriate to their sex status.

intersex

the medical term for people born with primary sex characteristics that are not easily classified into the dichotomous male/female categories. more recently the term “disorders of sex development” (DSD) has been recommended by persons with intersex conditions.

gender stereotypes

widespread cultural understandings about the different and contrasting qualities associated with women and men.

masculine

the set of personal, social, and cultural qualities associated with males and men.

feminine

the set of personal, social, and cultural qualities associated with females and women.

patriarchy

a social system rooted in male power, where men and qualities associated with men are considered to be superior to women and to qualities associated with women.

division of labor

a central principle for organizing the productive work in society that sorts different people into different work roles to ensure the production and reproduction of human life.

seperate spheres

the idea that there are and should be separate social domains for women and men.