Sociology: Race, Stratification, and Gender

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the sociological principles of race and ethnicity, social stratification and mobility, and sex and gender.

Social Stratification

The system or process by which society ranks categories of people in a hierarchal fashion, from top to bottom, based on race, ethnicity, social class, and gender.

Race

A socially constructed category composed of people who share biological traits.

Ethnicity

A socially constructed category of people who share a cultural heritage.

Minority Groups

Categories of people distinguished by physical or cultural traits who are socially disadvantaged; they must have a distinctive identity and share a degree of subordination in society.

Master Status

A primary social status—often filled by minority status—that overshadows a person's individual accomplishments.

Prejudice

A rigid and irrational generalization about an entire category of people; literally 'prejudgments' or to prejudge.

Stereotypes

Exaggerated descriptions applied to entire categories of people.

Racism

The belief that one racial category is innately (in-born) superior or inferior to another.

Scientific Racism

Pseudo-scientific historical frameworks—such as Spencer's Survival of the Fittest, Social Darwinism, and Eugenics—that provided justification for overt racism during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Miscegenation Laws

Laws forbidding inter-racial or inter-ethnic marriage, which persisted until overturned in 1967 by Loving v. Virginia.

Color-Blind Racism

An unconscious bias rooted in the opinion that racial differences are merely an illusion and that race is no longer relevant in society.

Scapegoat Theory

A theory stating that prejudice springs from frustration, causing individuals to blame other groups (typically minorities) for their own shortcomings.

Authoritarian Personality Theory

T. W. Adorno's theory proposing that extreme prejudice is a personality trait rooted in childhood socialization by authoritarian, inflexible parents.

Cultural Theory of Prejudice

The view that prejudice is an embedded product of culture, meaning all individuals possess some degree of prejudice because they live in a 'culture of prejudice.'

Conflict Theory of Prejudice

The perspective that the power-elite fuel and use prejudice as a tool of oppression to keep the masses divided and distracted from their true economic plight.

Race-Consciousness Theory

Shelby Steele's theory that minority groups keep issues of race in the forefront to extract concessions from the majority, particularly on college campuses where claims of victimization pair with white guilt.

Discrimination

The unequal treatment of various categories of people through specific actions.

Active Bigot

In Robert Merton's typology, an individual who is both prejudiced and actively discriminates.

Timid Bigot

In Robert Merton's typology, an individual who holds prejudiced beliefs but does not discriminate due to social pressures or laws.

Fair-Weather Liberal

In Robert Merton's typology, an individual who is not prejudiced but discriminates when it is socially or financially expedient.

All-Weather Liberal

In Robert Merton's typology, an individual who is completely free from both prejudice and discriminatory behavior.

Institutional Discrimination

Inequality and bias that are built into the operation of society's social institutions, such as workplaces, schools, and criminal justice systems.

Pluralism

A state in which racial and ethnic minorities remain distinct while enjoying equal social parity.

Assimilation

The process by which minorities gradually adopt the cultural behaviors, language, and values of the dominant culture.

Segregation

The physical and social separation of categories of people, either de jure ('by law') or de facto ('in fact').

The Urban Plantation

Robert Staples's concept arguing that modern inner cities replicate slave quarters, locking one-fifth of Black Americans into hypersegregation and economic exploitation under white authority.

Genocide

The systematic annihilation of one category of people by another.

Caste System

A closed system of social stratification based entirely on ascription or ascribed status at birth.

Class System

A social stratification system based on individual achievement and open mobility.

Estate System

A feudal stratification system where noble landholders lease property to peasants who work and live on the land.

Davis-Moore Thesis

A functionalist perspective arguing that social stratification benefits society by unequally distributing resources to motivate people to work harder, longer, and better.

Meritocracy

A system of stratification where social position and advancement are based solely on personal merit and effort.

Malthusian Poverty Trap

The proposition that reducing inequality causes the population of the lower classes to expand, thereby inadvertently perpetuating greater poverty.

Free Rider Problem

The dilemma where equal outcomes cannot be guaranteed because some individuals will rely on responsible peers to do the bulk of the work.

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

A composite sociological measure combining income, educational attainment, and occupational prestige.

Wealth

The total economic value of all money and assets owned by an individual or family minus any outstanding debts.

Upper-Upper Class

The top $1\%$ of society ('Blue Bloods' or 'Old Money') whose membership is determined strictly by ascription and inherited wealth passed down across at least three generations.

Lower-Upper Class

The $3\%$ to $4\%$ of the population ('Nouveau Riche' or 'Working Rich') who have earned their wealth through personal success rather than long family lineage.

Conspicuous Consumption

Thorstein Veblen's concept describing the lavish expenditure on goods, houses, clothing, and vehicles primarily to publicly display economic status.

Intragenerational Social Mobility

A change in social position or class that occurs within an individual's own lifetime.

Intergenerational Social Mobility

Upward or downward social mobility of children in relation to the social position of their parents.

Relative Poverty

Deprivation of some individuals in relation to those who have more resources, common in modern industrialized societies.

Absolute Poverty

A severe, life-threatening deprivation of basic resources such as food, water, and shelter.

Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM)

A poverty metric that factors in the financial impact of modern government assistance programs and contemporary cost-of-living expenses like housing.

Feminization of Poverty

The trend in which women, particularly single female heads of household, represent an increasingly disproportionate share of the poor.

Fundamental Attribution Error (Poverty)

The tendency to overestimate the power of individual initiative ('bootstraps') while underestimating the systemic social forces creating poverty.

Food Deserts

Urban or rural areas where residents lack access to affordable, fresh, and nutritious foods due to an absence of grocery stores.

Sex

The culturally designated biological distinctions between males and females based on chromosomal makeup and reproductive organs.

Gender

The culturally defined personal traits, social roles, and behavioral scripts that a society attaches to biological categories of male and female.

Primary Sex Characteristics

Biological structures, including the genitals and reproductive organs, used to distinguish males from females.

Secondary Sex Characteristics

Bodily traits other than genitals—such as vocal pitch, body hair, and breast development—that develop during puberty.

Intersex

Individuals born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that does not fit the typical biological definitions of male or female.

Sexual Orientation

An individual's enduring preference in terms of sexual and romantic partners.

Heteronormativity

The social worldview and institutional expectation that promotes heterosexuality as the default, preferred, and normal sexual orientation.

Cisgender

An identity descriptor for individuals whose gender identity conforms to the cultural expectations of their biological sex assigned at birth.

Transgender

Individuals whose gender identity, expression, or behavior departs from conventional norms associated with their biological sex.

Transphobia

Prejudice, discrimination, and hostility directed toward transgender individuals.

Patriarchy

A form of social organization in which males dominate females in positions of authority, wealth, and influence.

Matriarchy

A form of social organization in which females dominate males, which is extremely rare outside of specific tribal settings.

Sexism

The belief that one sex is innately or biologically superior or inferior to the other.

Hegemonic Masculinity

The culturally dominant ideal of manhood that legitimizes male power and pressures men to exhibit aggression, emotional stoicism, and competitiveness.

The Beauty Myth

Naomi Wolf's concept that society conditions women to evaluate their worth via unattainable physical beauty standards in order to preserve male dominance.

Gender Stratification

The unequal societal distribution of wealth, power, and privilege between men and women.

Pink-Collar Jobs

Low-wage administrative and service jobs—such as receptionists, secretaries, childcare providers, and dental hygienists—historically and predominantly staffed by women.

Comparable Worth

The principle that individuals should receive equal compensation based on the inherent social and economic value of their work rather than traditional gender stereotypes.

Glass Escalator

The accelerated promotion and career advancement of men who enter predominantly female professions.

Second Shift

The unpaid domestic housework and child care responsibilities that working women routinely perform after returning home from paid jobs.

Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment

An explicit form of sexual harassment in which employment, promotion, or academic advancement is directly conditioned on the granting of sexual favors.

Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment

Subtle, pervasive, or offensive workplace conduct, comments, or behaviors that create an intimidating, hostile, or abusive working setting.

Sex Role Theory

Talcott Parsons's functionalist concept that gender roles provide complementary instrumental and expressive functions necessary for maintaining social stability.