prep for quiz 3

Mechanical solidarity: the type of social bonds present in premodern, agrarian societies, in which shared traditions and beliefs created a sense of social cohesion

Organic solidarity: the type of social bonds present in modern societies, based on difference, interdependence, and individual rights

Anomie: “normlessness”; term used to describe the alienation and loss of purpose that result from weaker social bonds and an increased pace of change

Solidarity: the degree of integration or unity within a particular society; the extent to which individuals feel connected to other members of their group

Communism: a system of government that eliminates private poverty; it is the most extreme form of socialism, because all citizens work for the government and there are no class distinctions

Conflict: a paradigm that sees social conflict as the basis of society and social change and that emphasizes a materialist view of society, a critical view of the status quo, and a dynamic model of historical change

Social inequality: the unequal distribution of wealth, power, or prestige among members of a society

Proletariat: workers; those who have no means of production of their own and so are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live

Bourgeoise: owners; the class of modern capitalists who own the means of production and employ wage laborers

Alienation: the sense of dissatisfaction the modern worker feels as a result of producing goods that are owned and controlled by someone else

Rationalization: the application of economic logic to human activity; the use of formal rules and regulations in order to maximize efficiency without consideration of subjective or individual concerns

Bureaucracies: secondary groups designed to perform tasks efficiently, characterized by specialization, technical competence, hierarchy, written rules, impersonality, and formal written communication

Iron cage/disenchantment: Max Weber’s pessimistic description of modern life, in which we are caught in bureaucratic structures that control our lives through rigid rules and rationalization

Structure: a social institution that is relatively stable over time and that meets the needs of a society by performing functions necessary to maintain social order and stability

Dysfunction: a disturbance to or undesirable consequence of some aspect of the social system

Manifest functions: the obvious, intended functions of a social structure for the social system

Latent functions: the less obvious, perhaps unintended functions of a social structure

Ideology: a system of beliefs, attitudes, and values that directs a society and reproduces the status quo of the bourgeoisie

False consciousness: a denial of the truth on the part of the oppressed when they fail to recognize that the interests of the ruling class are embedded in the dominant ideology

Class consciousness: the recognition of social inequality on the part of the oppressed, leading to revolutionary action

Dialectical model: Karl Marx’s model of historical change, whereby two extreme positions come into conflict and create some new outcome

Thesis: the existing social arrangements in a dialectical model

Antithesis: the opposition to the existing arrangements in a dialectical model

Synthesis: the new social system created out of the conflict between thesis and antithesis in a dialectical model

Pragmatism: a perspective that assumes organisms (including humans) make practical adaptations to their environments; humans do this through cognition, interpretation, and interaction

Dramaturgy: an approach pioneered by Erving Goffman in which social life is analysed in terms of its similarities to theatrical performance

Ethnomethodology: the study of “folk methods” and background knowledge that sustain a shared sense of reality in everyday interactions

Feminist: developed alongside the twentieth-century women’s rights movement. By applying assumptions about gender inequality to various social institutions—the family, education, the economy, or the media—feminist theory allows for a new way of understanding those institutions and the changing role of gender in contemporary society

Postmodern theory: a theory that encompasses a wide range of areas—from art and architecture, to music and film, to communications and technology—addresses these and other questions

Emile durkheim: mechanical solidarity, organic solidarity, anomie, solidarity

Karl marx: communism, conflict, social inequality, proletariat, bourgeoise, alienation

Max weber: rationalization, bureaucracies, iron cage

Structural functionalism or functionalist theory: structure, dysfunction, manifest functions, latent functions

Social conflict theory: ideology, false consciousness, class consciousness, dialectical model, thesis, antithesis, synthesis

Symbolic interactionism: pragmatism, dramaturgy, ethnomethodology

Modern theory: feminist, postmodern theory