sociology vocab

sociological imagination

the application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions. someone using the sociological imagination "thinks himself away" from the familiar routines of daily life.

social structure

the underlying regularities or patterns in how people behave in their relationships with one another.

social construction

an idea or practice that a group of people agree exists. it is maintained over time by people taking its existence for granted.

socialization

the social processes through which children develop an awareness of social norms and values and achieve a distinct sense of self.

social facts

according to emile durkheim, the aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals. durkheim believed that social facts could be studied scientifically.

organic solidarity

according to durkheim, the social cohesion that results from the various parts of a society functioning as an integrated whole.

social constraint

the conditioning influence on our behavior of the groups and societies of which we are members. social constraint was regarded by durkheim as one of the distinctive properties of social facts.

division of labor

the specialization of work tasks by means of which different occupations are combined within a production system. all societies have at least some rudimentary form of division of labor, especially between the tasks allocated to men and those performed by women.

with the development of industrialism, the division of labor became vastly more complex than in any prior type of production system.

anomie

the concept first brought into wide usage in sociology by durkheim to refer to a situation in which social norms lose their hold over individual behavior.

materialist conception of history

the view developed by marx according to which material, or economic, factors have a prime role in determining historical change.

capitalism

an economic system based on the private ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested in order to produce profit.

bureaucracy

a type of organization marked by a clear hierarchy of authority and the existence of written rules of procedure and staffed by full-time, salaried officials.

rationalization

a concept used by Weber to refer to the process by which modes of precise calculation and organization, involving abstract rules and procedures, increasingly come to dominate the social world.

symbolic interactionism

a theoretical approach in sociology developed by george herbert mead that emphasizes the role of symbols and language as core elements of all human interaction.

symbol

one item used to stand for or represent another, as in the case of a flag symbolizing a nation.

quantitative methods

approaches to sociological research that draw on objective and statistical data and often focus on documenting trends, comparing subgroups, or exploring correlations.

qualitative methods

approaches to sociological research that often rely on personal and/or collective interviews, accounts, or observations of a person or situation.

hypotheses

ideas or educated guesses about a given state of affairs, put forward as bases for empirical testing.

research methods

the diverse methods of investigation used to gather empirical (factual) material. different research methods exist in sociology, but the most commonly used are fieldwork (or participant observation) and survey methods. for many purposes, it is useful to combine two or more methods within a single research project.

ethnography

the firsthand study of people using observation, in-depth interviewing, or both; also called fieldwork.

participant observation

a method of research widely used in sociology and anthropology in which the researcher takes part in the activities of the group or community being studied.

survey

a method of research widely used in sociology and anthropology in which the researcher takes part in the activities of the group or community being studied.

population

the people who are the focus of social research.

pilot study

a trial run in survey research.

sample

a small proportion of a larger population.

representative sample

a sample from a larger population that is statistically typical of that population.

sampling

studying a proportion of individuals or cases from a larger population as representative of that population as a whole.

random sampling

sampling method in which a sample is chosen so that every member of the population has the same probability of being included.

measures of central tendency

the ways of calculating averages.

correlation coefficients

the measure of the degree of correlation between variables.

mean

a statistical measure of central tendency, or average, based on dividing a total by the number of individual cases.

mode

the number that appears most often in a given set of data. This can sometimes be a helpful way of portraying central tendency.

median

the number that falls halfway in a range of numbers; a way of calculating central tendency that is sometimes more useful than calculating a mean.

standard deviation

a way of calculating the spread of a group of numbers.

degree of dispersal

the range or distribution of a set of figures.

experiment

a research method by which variables can be analyzed in a controlled and systematic way, either in an artificial situation constructed by the researcher or in a naturally occurring setting.

comparative research

research that compares one set of findings on one society with the same type of findings on other societies.

sex

the biological and anatomical differences distinguishing females and males.

gender

social expectations about behavior regarded as appropriate for the members of each sex. it refers not to the physical attributes distinguishing men and women but to socially formed traits of masculinity and femininity.

gender role socialization

the learning of gender roles through social factors such as schooling, the media, and family.

social construction of gender

the learning of gender roles through socialization and interaction with others.

hegemonic masculinity

social norms dictating that men should be strong, self-reliant, and unemotional.

biological essentialism

the view that differences between men and women are natural and inevitable consequences of the intrinsic biological natures of men and women.

cisgender

individuals whose gender identity matches his or her biological sex. statistically, this is the most common gender. it would include persons who are born female who identify as female and persons born male who identify as male.

transgender

a person who identifies as or expresses a gender identity that differs from their sex at birth.

intersex

an individual possessing both male and female genitalia. although statistically rare, this subpopulation is of great interest to gender scholars.

epidemiology

the study of the distribution and incidence of disease and illness within a population.

health literacy

one's capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.

heterosexism

the greater status, prestige, and benefits afforded to heterosexual people.

homophobia

an irrational fear of or disdain for gays and lesbians.

socialization of nature

a process by which phenomena that used to be considered "natural," or given in nature, become social, in that they depend on our personal decisions.

procreative technology

techniques for influencing the human reproductive process.

social stratification

social stratification



the existence of structured inequalities between groups in society in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards. while all societies involve some forms of stratification, only with the development of state-based systems did wide differences in wealth and power arise. the most distinctive form of stratification in modern societies is class divisions.

intersectionality

a sociological perspective that holds that our multiple group memberships affect our lives in ways that are distinct from single group memberships. for example, the experience of a Black female may be distinct from that of a White female or a Black male.

structured inequalities

social inequalities that result from patterns in the social structure.

slavery

a form of social stratification in which some people are owned by others as their property.

caste

a social system in which one's social status is held for life.

class systems

a system of social hierarchy that allows individuals to move among classes. The four chief bases of class are ownership of wealth, occupation, income, and education.

class

although it is one of the most frequently used concepts in sociology, there is no clear agreement about how the notion should be defined. most sociologists use the term to refer to socioeconomic variations among groups of individuals that create variations in their material prosperity and power

life chances

a term introduced by Max Weber to signify a person's opportunities for achieving economic prosperity.

income

money received from paid wages and salaries or earned from investments.

wealth

money and material possessions held by an individual or group

upper class

a social class broadly composed of the more affluent members of society, especially those who have inherited wealth, own businesses, or hold large numbers of stocks (shares).

middle class

a social class composed broadly of those working in white-collar and lower managerial occupations.

working class

a social class broadly composed of people working in blue-collar, or manual, occupations.

lower class

A social class comprising those who work part-time or not at all and whose household income is typically lower than $31,000 a year.

social mobility

movement of individuals or groups between different social positions

intergenerational mobility

movement up or down a social stratification hierarchy from one generation to another.

intragenerational mobility

movement up or down a social stratification hierarchy within the course of a personal career.

structural mobility

mobility resulting from changes in the number and kinds of jobs available in a society.

exchange mobility

the exchange of positions on the socioeconomic scale such that talented people move up the economic hierarchy while the less talented move down.

cultural capital

noneconomic or cultural resources that parents pass down to their children, such as language or knowledge. these resources contribute to the process of social reproduction, according to Bourdieu.

absolute poverty

not meeting the minimal requirements necessary to sustain a healthy existence.

relative poverty

poverty defined according to the living standards of the majority in any given society.

poverty line

an official government measure to define those living in poverty in the United States.

working poor

people who work but whose earnings are not enough to lift them above the poverty line.

feminization of poverty

an increase in the proportion of the poor who are female.

homeless

people who have no place to sleep and either stay in free shelters or sleep in public places not meant for habitation.

minority group

a group of people in a given society who, because of their distinct physical or cultural characteristics, find themselves in situations of inequality compared with the dominant group within that society.

race

a socially constructed category rooted in the belief that there are fundamental differences among humans, associated with phenotype and ancestry.

ethnicity

cultural values and norms that distinguish the members of a given group from others. An ethnic group is one whose members share a

distinct awareness of a common

cultural identity, separating them from other groups. In virtually all societies, ethnic differences are associated with variations in power and material wealth. where ethnic differences are also racial, such divisions are sometimes especially pronounced.

racism

the attribution of characteristics of superiority or inferiority to a population sharing certain physically inherited characteristics. racism is one specific form of prejudice, focusing on physical variations among people. racist attitudes became entrenched during the period of western colonial expansion, but seem also to rest on mechanisms

or prejudice and discrimination found in human societies todav.

prejudice

the holding of preconceived ideas about an individual or group, ideas that are resistant to change even in the face of new information. prejudice may be either positive or negative

stereotyping

thinking in terms of fixed and inflexible categories

scapegoats

individuals or groups blamed for wrongs that were not of their doing.

discrimination

behavior that denies to the members of a particular group resources or rewards that can be obtained by others. discrimination must be distinguished from prejudice: individuals who are prejudiced against others may not engage in discriminatory practices against them; conversely, people may act in a discriminatory fashion toward a group even though they are not prejudiced against that group

white privilege

the unacknowledged and unearned assets that benefit whites in their everyday lives

institutional racism

the idea that racism occurs through the respected and established institutions of society rather than through hateful actions of some bad people

racial microaggressions

small slights, indignities, or acts of disrespect that are hurtful to people of color even though they are often perpetrated by well-meaning whites.

alfred kinsey

-gave questionnaires to his Zoology students in 1947

-added interviews

-got up to n=18,000

-challenged the psychiatric model of homosexuality

-argued that sexuality is a continuum

-The — Scale

karl marx

-originally an economist

-focused on capitalism

-proletariat: People who sell their labor for wages, according to him

max weber

-looked at class distinctions by 

-People’s skills and credentials

-Status

-Power

culture

The values, norms, and material goods characteristic of a given group. Like the concept of society, the notion of culture is widely used in sociology and the other social sciences (particularly anthropology). Culture is one of the most distinctive properties of human social association.

society

A group of people who live in a particular territory, are subject to a common system of political authority, and are aware of having a distinct identity from other groups.

Some societies, such as hunting and gathering societies, are small, numbering no more than a few dozen people. Others are large, numbering millions. Modern Chinese society, for instance, has a population of more than a billion people.

cultural universals

Values or modes of behavior shared by all human cultures.

marriage

A socially approved sexual relationship between two individuals. Marriage historically has involved two persons of opposite sexes, but in the past decade, marriage between same-sex partners was ruled legal in the United States in 2015, and in a growing number of nations throughout the world. Marriage normally forms the basis of a family of procreation--that is, it is expected that the married couple will produce and bring up children

nonmaterial culture

Cultural ideas that are not themselves physical objects.

material culture

The physical objects that a society creates that influence the ways in which people live.

values

Ideas held by individuals or groups about what is desirable, proper, good, and bad. What individuals value is strongly influenced by the specific culture in which they happen to live.

norms

Rules of conduct that specify appropriate behavior in a given range of social situations. A norm either prescribes a given type of behavior or forbids it. All human groups follow definite norms, which are always backed by sanctions of one kind or another, varying from informal disapproval to physical punishment.