CHYS 1F90 Key Terms

Agency

The ability to make choices and take action.

Reproductive justice

The right to have or not have children and raise them in safe environments.

Social actors

Individuals or groups who play a role in society.

Social norms

Unwritten rules about how people should behave.

Childhood

A social and developmental stage with different meanings across cultures.

Settler colonialism

A system where settlers take land and dominate Indigenous people.

Cultural imaginary

Shared ideas and images that shape how a society sees the world.

Nation-building

Creating a shared identity for a country.

Body politic

Society seen as a collective 'body' shaped by politics.

Biopolitics

How governments control people’s bodies and health.

Ableism

Discrimination against disabled people.

Bodymind

The idea that body and mind are interconnected.

Bodymind difference

The diversity of how bodies and minds function.

Inspiration porn

Using disabled people’s struggles as feel-good stories for non-disabled audiences.

Social model

Disability is caused by societal barriers.

Medical model

Disability is a problem to be fixed.

Human rights model

Disability is about rights and inclusion.

Eugenics

Controlling who reproduces to create a 'better' population.

Supercrip

Disabled people seen as 'inspirational' for doing everyday things.

Asexual

Assuming disabled people lack sexuality.

Eternal child

Treating disabled people as forever childlike.

Code switching

Changing how you speak or act depending on the social setting.

Capital

Valuable resources, like money, knowledge, or social connections.

Intersectionality

How different identities (race, gender, disability) interact.

Power

The ability to influence or control others.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 U.S. Supreme Court case ending racial school segregation.

Pedagogies of social class

How teaching styles reflect class differences.

Concerted cultivation

Parents actively shaping children's development, common in middle-class families.

Racial achievement gap

Differences in academic performance based on race.

Systemic racism

Racism built into society’s structures.

Scientific racism

False 'scientific' claims used to justify racism.

LGBTQ+

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and others.

Gender

Social and cultural meanings attached to being male, female, or beyond.

Gender binary

The idea that only two genders exist.

Moral panic

Widespread fear that something is threatening society’s values.

Childhood innocence

The belief that children are pure and need protection.

Children as innocent

Seeing kids as naturally good and vulnerable.

Cultural politics of childhood

How childhood is shaped by cultural and political debates.

Worlding

Imagining and shaping global connections and futures.

Youth

A social stage between childhood and adulthood.

Global North

Wealthier, industrialized countries.

Belonging

Feeling accepted in a community.

Codes

Social rules that guide behavior.

Hegemony

When a dominant group’s ideas become the norm.

Subculture

A group with distinct values and practices within a larger culture.

Deviance

Behavior that goes against social norms.

Formal social control

Laws and rules enforced by authorities.

Informal social control

Social pressures to conform (e.g., peer pressure).

Counterculture

A group that actively rejects mainstream values.

Sociocultural

How society and culture shape individuals and groups.

Dominant discourse

The mainstream way of thinking or talking about a topic.

Normative

What is considered 'normal' or expected in society.

Structural

How systems and institutions shape society.

Critical disability studies

Examining disability as a social and political issue, not just a medical one.

Neurodiversity

The idea that brain differences (e.g., autism, ADHD) are natural and valuable.

Futurism

Imagining possible futures, often focusing on progress or innovation.