AICE Sociology Review

AICE sociology vocabulary

agents of socialization

name that describes the social institutions, including families and schools, that help to shape individuals' basic political beliefs and values

anonymity/confidentiality

The ethical obligation to keep research participants' identities secret, and information about them should be disguised or masked to prevent identification of sources

Breaching Experiments (Garfinkel)

Experiments that violate the established social order to assess how people construct social reality

Chester (1985)

This sociologist claims family diversity is exaggerated, and argues that most people in more industrialized societies will find themselves living in a nuclear family at some stage in their lives.

Conflict Theory

a theoretical framework in which society is viewed as composed of groups that are competing for scarce resources

conspicuous consumption

Buying and using products because of the "statement" they make about social position

content analysis

a systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a communication, such as a written work, speech, or film

Cooley

Developed the looking glass self

cultural capital

the knowledge, habits, and tastes learned from parents and family that individuals can use to gain access to scarce and valuable resources in society

Dark side of family life

Feminist scholars phrase for things like domestic violence, child abuse, and incest

deception

misleading participants about the true purpose of a study or the events that will actually transpire

Deviance

Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society

dramaturgical approach

Approach where individuals create images of themselves in the same way that actors perform a role in front of an audience

Dual burden

When someone does both paid work and a significant amount of the domestic labour, such as housework at home. According to radical feminists, it is mainly women who suffer this.

Durkheim

Authored one of the first studies of suicide

Ecological valid

Data is said to have this when it is more likely to reflect naturally occurring responses, or responses you would see in the real world

Emile Durkheim (believed in functionalism)

Believed in functionalism and the scientific method; saw society as a set of independent parts that maintain a system but each separate part has a function

Engels, Friedrich

(1820-1895) German socialist and co-author of The Communist Manifesto.

Ethnography

the method by which researchers attempt to understand a group or culture by observing it from the inside, without imposing any preconceived notions they might have

Ethnomethodology (Garfinkel)

the study of how people use background assumptions to make sense out of life

experimental design

A design in which researchers manipulate an independent variable and measure a dependent variable to determine a cause-and-effect relationship

experimenter bias

a phenomenon that occurs when a researcher's expectations or preferences about the outcome of a study influence the results obtained

Expressive role (Parsons)

Family member who provides emotional support and nurturing associated with females.

Falsifiability

if we claim something is scientifically true, we must be able to specify what evidence it would take to prove it wrong

field experiment

An experiment that takes place in a natural setting where the researcher manipulates the IV and records the effect on the DV.

Auguste Comte

French mathematician and philosopher; coined the term sociology

gender roles

Expectations about what is appropriate behavior for each sex.

George Herbert Mead; Harold Blumer

The two figures most associated with symbolic interactionism

Globalization

An ongoing process which involves the increasing interconnectedness and inter-dependency of the world's nations and their people into a single global economic, political and cultural system

Glocalization

the practice of conducting business according to both local and global considerations.

grounded theory

an inductive method of generating theory from data by creating categories in which to place data and then looking for relationships among categories

Hawthorne effect

A change in a subject's behavior caused simply by the awareness of being studied

hegemony

High Modernity

The later stages of modern societies identified by Beck, associated with manufactured risks to the ecology of the planet and high levels of individualisation

ideological power

The power to set principles and ideas that benefit the dominant group

informed consent

giving potential participants enough information about a study to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate

Instrumental role (Parsons)

the position of the family member who provides the family's material support and is often an authority figure

Isolated nuclear family

another name for nuclear family which is relatively self sufficient and has few contacts with extended kin (Parsons)

labeling theory

theory that society creates deviance by identifying particular members as deviant

laboratory experiment

research investigation in which investigators create a situation with exact conditions in order to control some variables and manipulate others

late capitalism

A form of capitalism emerging in the second half of the twentieth century, characterized by finance capital, globalization, and technological innovation

Late Modernity

A term used by Giddens to describe the later stages of modern society, which he claims is characterized by globalization and reflexivity

law

A body of enforceable rules governing relationships among individuals and between individuals and their society.

Liberal Feminism

Form of feminist theory that believes that gender inequality is produced by unequal access to civil rights and certain social resources, such as education and employment, based on sex. This movement tends to seek solutions through changes in legislation that ensure that the rights of individuals are protected.

Marxist Feminism

A feminist approach which combines feminism with Marxism to argue that women are exploited by both capitalism and patriarchy

Max Weber

German sociologist that, amongst many other foundational ideas, took issue with Marx's focus on economic class as the main driver of inequality in society.

Modernity

A period in history or a type of society that is characterized by the use of advanced technology, believe in science, innovation and economic progress

Murdock (1949)

• Argue that the family is universal in a nuclear family with a heterosexual couple and dependent children.

• There is a clear division of labor between husband and wife - the husband is the breadwinner who earns for the family and the wife is the housewife who does domestic labor and childcare.

• He argue that there are 4 essential functions that the family performs.

Negative Sanctions

a punishment or the threat of punishment used to enforce conformity through deterring deviance

nuclear family

a couple and their dependent children, regarded as a basic social unit.

Operationalization

the process of assigning a precise method for measuring a term being examined for use in a particular study

Oversocialized

(as described by D. Wrong) a misleading conception of humans as passive recipients of socialization.

Parsons (functionalist)

Sociologist associated with the idea of instrumental and expressive roles

Patriarchy

Male dominance of society and the social institutions that comprise it

Positivism

Term used to describe the application of the scientific approach to the social world

Post-Modernity

social relations characterized by a questioning of the notion of progress and history, the replacement of narrative with pastiche, and multiple, perhaps even conflicting, identities resulting from disjointed affiliations

primary data

information that is collected for the first time; used for solving the particular problem under investigation

privacy

The right to be left alone when you want to be, to have control over your own personal possessions, and not to be observed without your consent

Qualitative

Descriptive data from observations is considered ______ data

qualitative and secondary

Anne Frank's diary can be considered these two types of data:

Qualitative Research Methods

research in which the emphasis is placed on observing, describing, and interpreting people's behavior

Quantitative Research

research that collects and reports data primarily in numerical form

Radical Feminism

The belief that women's inequality underlies all other forms of inequality, including economic inequality.

Realism

This view of science, while accepting that there are basic differences between the social and natural worlds, maintains that a social science is possible. It argues that events in both the social and natural worlds are produced by underlying structures and mechanisms. Fortunately, from this view, we can uncover and explain these structures and mechanisms.

Reflexivity

The state of being able to examine one's own feelings, reactions, and motives for acting and being able to adjust one's behavior or identity accordingly (Giddens)

Relativism

the doctrine that knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not absolute.

Reliability

Ability of a test to yield very similar scores for the same individual over repeated testings

Reliability

Qualitative research tends to lack ____.

Reliability and Validity

The names for two techniques for evaluating the relationship between measured and conceptual variables

Replication

repeating the essence of a research study, usually with different participants in different situations, to see whether the basic finding extends to other participants and circumstances

Reproductive Rights

the right to reproductive health care and the right to reproductive self-determination

Resistance

Individual or group opposition to social control

response rate

The percentage of the sample that participates in the research.

response rate bias

Threat to the representativeness of a sample that occurs when some participants selected to respond to a survey systematically fail to complete the survey (e.g., due to failure to complete a lengthy questionnaire or to comply with a request to participate in a phone survey).

rite of passage

a category of ritual that enacts a change of status from one life stage to another, either for an individual or a group

Sample

a subset of the population

Self, and social identity

According to Mclaughlin, these two components make up a person's identity

Semiology

the study of cultural meanings embedded in media forms, often used to explore and interpret 'hidden meanings' embedded within texts

snowball sample

a sample in which respondents are asked to identify additional members of a population

social class

a group of people in a society who are considered nearly equal in status or community esteem, who regularly socialize among themselves both formally and informally, and who share behavioral norms

social closure

a process by which advantaged groups preserve opportunities for themselves while restricting them for others

Social Controls

Formal or informal institutions that help to maintain law and order in a place

social desirability bias

the tendency for people to say what they believe to be a socially appropriate or acceptable response

social exchange theory

the theory that our social behavior is an exchange process, the aim of which is to maximize benefits and minimize costs

social facts

Durkheim's term for a group's patterns of behavior

Social Identity

the "we" aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to "Who am I?" that comes from our group memberships

social mores

strict norms that control moral and ethical behavior in a culture

Social structure

The system of social institutions and patterned relations between large social groups

Socialization

The processes through which people learn about the norms, rules and laws of society

Stabilization of adult personalities

Parsons role of the family, this is to maintain psychological health of adults allowing them to relax. Also known as the warm bath theory.

Structuration

theory, developed by Giddens, which argues that structure and action are equally significant in terms of our ability to understand the relationship between the individual and society

Subculture

the values and related behaviors of a group that distinguish its members from the larger culture; a world within a world

Superstructure (Marx)

the institutions controlled by the bourgeoisie that perpetuate the system of exploitation

Symbolic Interactionism

a micro-level theory in which shared meanings, orientations, and assumptions form the basic motivations behind people's actions

Power

The ability to direct or influence the behavior of others, despite resistance

Opportunity

The number of desirable options available to an individual or group in a particular society

Social Change

The transition from one form of social arrangement, or type of society, to another

Culture

The way of life of a particular group or society

Thomas Kuhn

Defined normal science, established paradigms, wrote The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Traditional society

A type of society based on an agricultural economy where behavior is regulated by largely unchanging customs and beliefs