Geography, Culture, and Social Sciences

Human Geography, Geography, Cultural Geography, and Religion & Art

Canal

a man-made waterway made to allow boats to pass through or to transport water for irrigation purposes

Classical Conditioning

Positive stimulus is paired with a neutral stimulus and repeated. Then the positive stimulus is removed and the neutral stimulus has the same effect.

The Self

Someone’s self-perception of themselves. It’s influenced by the person’s attributes, the society they live in, and what they think of any difference between the two.

Mixed Economy

a market economy with varying levels of government intervention

Ethnicity

a social distinction; a cultural group who often share a common language, traditions, values or beliefs, or other cultural traits

Social Mobility

The ease with which an individual is able to move between (up or down) social classes

Panama Canal

A man-made waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.

Social Solidarity

When a society is brought together by common values, work, kinship, and/or education

Fertile Crescent

A crescent-shaped area from the Mediterranean Sea on the West to the Persian Gulf on the East and that contained extremely fertile soil. Some of the first agricultural communities were settled there and it is sometimes referred to as "The Cradle of Civilization."

Sociological Institutions

Groups of people who have come together for a common purpose and have common norms which guide behavior and meet basic needs in the group/institution.

Less Developed Countries (LDCs) / Developing Countries

countries that have not undergone industrialization; often lower income and face structural obstacles to development

Mercantilism

The economic idea that a country needs to amass wealth through more exporting than importing and measures wealth by the amount of gold that a nation possesses.

Positive Sanctions In Socialization

The approval of some activities in a society.

Equal Employment Opportunity Act

Prohibits discrimination in jobs and education for any kind of discrimination including: race, religion, sex including sexual orientation, gender, maternity status, or disability.

Environmental Determinism

theory that the physical environment directly shapes human behavior, culture, and societal development; opposite of environmental possibilism

Socioeconomic Class

People who have the same or similar status based on their wealth, education, and/or family background.

Telephone

Invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. Allowed instantaneous voice communication over a long distance for the first time

Status

The position that a person has in a group or setting.

Example.

Dominant Culture

The culture of the strongest cultural group in a society

Operant Conditioning

This theory uses positive and negative stimulus to get a particular outcome.

Negative Sanctions In Socialization

The disapproval of some activities in a society.

Socialization

The process of learning the norms and customs of a group or culture.

Irrigation

The process of moving water from rivers, streams, and aquifers onto drier areas

B. F. Skinner

theorist known for development of operant conditioning and the principle of reinforcement

Jean Piaget

theorist known for his theory of cognitive development

Sociology

a primarily social distinction; a way to categorize people who have common physical traits such as body type, skin and hair color, and facial feature characteristics

Values

A person's or group's standards of behavior based on what the person or group feels is important.

Location

The particular position of a place, described as absolute or relative terms. One of the 5 themes of geography.

George Herbert Mead

theorist known as the founder of symbolic interactionism

Behavioral Psychology

Within psychology, the study of why people act the way they do (what motivates them) and how those behaviors might be influenced

Nationality

the state or nation to which a person belongs; often where a person or their parents were born; often where the individual holds citizenship

Norms

Rules or expectations that help regulate behavior of individuals in a society.

Quantitative Data

data which is measured and usually expressed numerically

Structures

The way a group is organized in regard to governing rules and standards in a society; usually developed by those living in the group or community.

Market Economy

An economic system where decisions about production, consumption and investment are guided by the price of goods and services, which are determined by the laws of supply and demand.

Karl Marx

theorist known for writing The Communist Manifesto and advocating for the overthrow of capitalist governments in favor of a classless society

Primary Groups

A group of people who have frequent close interactions and intimacy with others in the group.

Group (in sociology)

Two or more people who have common norms and have interactions over a period of time.

Abraham Maslow

theorist known for developing Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Albert Bandura

theorist known for theories of observational learning and the social learning theory

Traditional Economy

An economy where goods are produced mainly for consumption by one's own family and traded or bartered in only the most basic ways

Achievement Gaps

continually observed differences between groups in the United States, often in terms of economic and educational attainment

Social Conflict

The belief that disagreements will occur in societies where there are differing beliefs and values

Social Stratification

The ranking of people in a society into various levels, often based on wealth or power. It is basically social status

Sigmund Freud

theorist known for founding the field of psychoanalysis

Max Weber

theorist known for arguing against historical materialism and advocating for a cultural view of the genesis of modern society

Secondary Groups

A group of people who have little close interaction or intimacy

Ivan Pavlov

theorist known for developing the foundational ideas of classical conditioning

Second Shift

the expectation that women perform their job functions and then come home to a "second shift" of work inside the home

Airplane

Invited in 1903 by the Wright Brothers. Sped up travel over long distances.

Social Control

The methods that are used in a society to encourage compliance of rules, regulations, and behaviors.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

A trade agreement that created a free trade zone between the US, Canada, and Mexico

Specialization of Labor / Division of Labor

A tendency for groups to focus and work on (specialize) wherever they can make the best product at the highest revenue (comparative advantage) and use trade to acquire other products

Matrix of Domination

paradigm showing how race, gender, and social class interact and relate to an individual's social standing

Cognitive Psychology

Within psychology, the study of the mental processes underlying mental activity. It focuses on such processes as memory, reasoning, problem solving, and language development

Role

The expected characteristics or behaviors of a person or group as related to others

Qualitative Data

data which is described rather than measured

Environmental Possibilism

theory that, while the environment sets constraints or limitations, human agency, culture, and technology allow societies to adapt and modify their surroundings; opposes environmental determinism

Poverty

When a person, family, or group is extremely poor and has minimal money to meet the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. Absolute poverty is extreme deprivation of basic needs and sometimes ends in death

Erie Canal

A man-made navigable water route from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean (via New York City's Hudson River)

Transcontinental Railroad

Built between 1863 and 1869 and connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

Inequality (in economics)

Disparity in income and opportunities such as between the rich and poor, and between different ethnicities. Stems from meaning "not the same."

Sociology

the study of human society and the relationships or interactions between groups and institutions

Command Economy

government controls the economy, determining what should be produced and how much should be produced. This type of economy is most closely associated with communism.

Networks

Social ties from one group or individual to another, usually for information or benefiting others in the groups

Suez Canal

A man made navigable water route from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea

Social Psychology

Within psychology, the study of how people think about themselves and other people, and how they interact with one another at an individual and societal level

Psychology

the field concerned with the study of the mind and its interactions with behavior, emotion, and cognitive processes

Assembly Line

Refined by Henry Ford in 1909 to improve the process of mass production.

More Developed Countries (MDCs) / Developed Countries

countries that have completed the transition to market economies and then mixed economies

Biological Psychology

Within psychology, the study of the interaction between the mind and the body. It focuses on the biological underpinnings of mental processes by studying the brain (the physical organ of thought and cognition) and its relationship with the associated organic systems

Discrimination

Unfair treatment towards cultures or individuals who are not in the dominant culture

Human Development Index (HDI)

evaluates human development comprehensively by measuring aspects of health, education, and standard of living for a given group; used by policymakers and sociologists

Sociological Structures

The organization and relationships in social institutions that guide individuals in the way they behave and interact with each other

Charles Cooley

theorist known for the development of the idea of the "looking-glass self"

Relative Location

describes a place's location relative to another place. Relative locations can be helpful but require knowledge of the base location in order to understand the direction.

Absolute Location

the location of a given point that does not require another frame of reference. Absolute locations include coordinates or addresses while relative locations describe a point's location in relation to another point.

Hierarchy

system of organizing people into different ranks or levels of importance