Terminology of Sociology

Glossary

Absolute poverty	A standard of poverty based on a minimum level of subsistence below which families should not be expected to exist. (See 198)
Achieved status	A social position attained by a person largely through his or her own efforts. (See 110, 190)
Activity theory	An interactionist theory of aging that argues that elderly people who remain active will be best-adjusted. (See 276)
Adoption	In a legal sense, a process that allows for the transfer of the legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood to a new legal parent or parents. (See 303)
Affirmative action	Positive efforts to recruit minority group members or women for jobs, promotions, and educational opportunities. (See 233, 371)
Ageism	A term coined by Robert N. Butler to refer to prejudice and discrimination against the elderly. (See 279)
Agrarian society	The most technologically advanced form of preindustrial society. Members are primarily engaged in the production of food but increase their crop yield through such innovations as the plow. (See 121)
Alienation	The condition of being estranged or disassociated from the surrounding society. (See 141)
Amalgamation	The process by which a majority group and a minority group combine through intermarriage to form a new group. (See 236)
Anomie	Durkheim's term for the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective. (See 10, 168)
Anomie theory of deviance	A theory developed by Robert Merton that explains deviance as an adaptation either of socially prescribed goals or of the norms governing their attainment, or both. (See 169)
Anticipatory socialization	Processes of socialization in which a person "rehearses" for future positions, occupations, and social relationships. (See 89)
Anti-Semitism	Anti-Jewish prejudice. (See 247)
Apartheid	The former policy of the South African government designed to maintain the separation of Blacks and other non-Whites from the dominant Whites. (See 237)
Argot	Specialized language used by members of a group or subculture. (See 67)
Ascribed status	A social position "assigned" to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics. (See 109, 190)
Assimilation	The process by which a person forsakes his or her own cultural tradition to become part of a different culture. (See 237)
Authority	Power that has been institutionalized and is recognized by the people over whom it is exercised. (See 356)
Bilateral descent	A kinship system in which both sides of a person's family are regarded as equally important. (See 294)
Bilingualism	The use of two or more languages in particular settings, such as workplaces or educational facilities, treating each language as equally legitimate. (See 70)
Birthrate	The number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year. Also known as the crude birthrate. (See 384)
Black power	A political philosophy promoted by many younger Blacks in the 1960s that supported the creation of Black-controlled political and economic institutions. (See 240)
Bourgeoisie	Karl Marx's term for the capitalist class, comprising the owners of the means of production. (See 193)
Bureaucracy	A component of formal organization in which rules and hierarchical ranking are used to achieve efficiency. (See 140)
Bureaucratization	The process by which a group, organization, or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic. (See 143)
Capitalism	An economic system in which the means of production are largely in private hands and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profits. (See 193, 354)
Castes	Hereditary systems of rank, usually religiously dictated, that tend to be fixed and immobile. (See 191)
Causal logic	The relationship between a condition or variable and a particular consequence, with one event leading to the other. (See 31)
Census	An enumeration, or counting, of a population. (See 384)
Charismatic authority	Max Weber's term for power made legitimate by a leader's exceptional personal or emotional appeal to his or her followers. (See 357)
Class	A term used by Max Weber to refer to a group of people who have a similar level of wealth and income. (See 193)
Class consciousness	In Karl Marx's view, a subjective awareness held by members of a class regarding their common vested interests and need for collective political action to bring about social change. (See 193)
Classical theory	An approach to the study of formal organizations that views workers as being motivated almost entirely by economic rewards. (See 146)
Class system	A social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence mobility. (See 191)
Closed system	A social system in which there is little or no possibility of individual mobility. (See 205)
Coalition	A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal. (See 139)
Code of ethics	The standards of acceptable behavior developed by and for members of a profession. (See 39)
Cognitive theory of development	Jean Piaget's theory explaining how children's thought progresses through four stages. (See 88)
Cohabitation	The practice of living together as a male-female couple without marrying. (See 308)
Colonialism	The maintenance of political, social, economic, and cultural dominance over a people by a foreign power for an extended period of time. (See 207)
Communism	As an ideal type, an economic system under which all property is communally owned and no social distinctions are made on the basis of people's ability to produce. (See 355)
Community	A spatial or political unit of social organization that gives people a sense of belonging, based either on shared residence in a particular place or on a common identity. (See 415)
Concentric-zone theory	A theory of urban growth that sees growth in terms of a series of rings radiating from the central business district. (See 418)
Conflict perspective	A sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups. (See 14)
Conformity	Going along with one's peers, individuals of a person's own status, who have no special right to direct that person's behavior. (See 160)
Contact hypothesis	An interactionist perspective that states that interracial contact between people of equal status in cooperative circumstances will reduce prejudice. (See 235)
Content analysis	The systematic coding and objective recording of data, guided by some rationale. (See 38)
Control group	Subjects in an experiment who are not introduced to the independent variable by the researcher. (See 37)
Control theory	A view of conformity and deviance that suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society's norms. (See 165)
Control variable	A factor held constant to test the relative impact of an independent variable. (See 34)
Correlation	A relationship between two variables whereby a change in one coincides with a change in the other. (See 32)
Correspondence principle	A term used by Bowles and Gintis to refer to the tendency of schools to promote the values expected of individuals in each social class and to prepare students for the types of jobs typically held by members of their class. (See 337)
Counterculture	A subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture. (See 68)
Creationism	A literal interpretation of the Bible regarding the creation of man and the universe used to argue that evolution should not be presented as established scientific fact. (See 344)
Crime	A violation of criminal law for which formal penalties are applied by some governmental authority. (See 174)
Cult	Due to the stereotyping, this term has been abandoned by sociologists in favor of new religious movements. (See 331)
Cultural relativism	The viewing of people's behavior from the perspective of their own culture. (See 69)
Cultural transmission	A school of criminology that argues that criminal behavior is learned through social interactions. (See 171)
Cultural universals	General practices found in every culture. (See 56, 321)
Culture	The totality of learned, socially transmitted behavior. (See 55)
Culture lag	Ogburn's term for a period of maladjustment during which the nonmaterial culture is still adapting to new material conditions. (See 58, 455)
Culture shock	The feeling of surprise and disorientation that is experienced when people witness cultural practices different from their own. (See 68)
Death rate	The number of deaths per 1,000 population in a given year. Also known as the crude death rate. (See 384)
Defended neighborhood	A neighborhood that residents identify through defined community borders and through a perception that adjacent areas are geographically separate and socially different. (See 424)
Degradation ceremony	An aspect of the socialization process within total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals. (See 90)
Deindustrialization	The systematic, widespread withdrawal of investment in basic aspects of productivity such as factories and plants. (See 367)
Demographic transition	A term used to describe the change from high birthrates and death rates to relatively low birthrates and death rates. (See 385)
Demography	The scientific study of population. (See 381)
Denomination	A large, organized religion not officially linked with the state or government. (See 328)
Dependency theory	An approach that contends that industrialized nations continue to exploit developing countries for their own gain. (See 209)
Dependent variable	The variable in a causal relationship that is subject to the influence of another variable. (See 31)
Deviance	Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. (See 165)
Differential association	A theory of deviance proposed by Edwin Sutherland that holds that violation of rules results from exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts. (See 171)
Diffusion	The process by which a cultural item is spread from group to group or society to society. (See 57)
Discovery	The process of making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. (See 57)
Disengagement theory	A functionalist theory of aging introduced by Cumming and Henry that contends that society and the aging individual mutually sever many of their relationships. (See 275)
Domestic partnership	Two unrelated adults who have chosen to share one another's lives in a relationship of mutual caring, who reside together, and who agree to be jointly responsible for their dependents, basic living expenses, and other common necessities. (See 309)
Dominant ideology	A set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests. (See 65, 195)
Downsizing	Reductions taken in a company's workforce as part of deindustrialization. (See 368)
Dramaturgical approach	A view of social interaction, popularized by Erving Goffman, under which people are examined as if they were theatrical performers. (See 16, 86)
Dyad	A two-member group. (See 138)
Dysfunction	An element or a process of society that may disrupt a social system or lead to a decrease in stability. (See 14, 141)
Ecclesia	A religious organization that claims to include most or all of the members of a society and is recognized as the national or official religion. (See 328)
E-commerce	Numerous ways that people with access to the Internet can do business from their computers. (See 369)
Economic system	The social institution through which goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed. (See 353)
Education	A formal process of learning in which some people consciously teach while others adopt the social role of learner. (See 321)
Egalitarian family	An authority pattern in which the adult members of the family are regarded as equals. (See 295)
Elite model	A view of society as ruled by a small group of individuals who share a common set of political and economic interests. (See 363)
Endogamy	The restriction of mate selection to people within the same group. (See 298)
Environmental justice	A legal strategy based on claims that racial minorities are subjected disproportionately to environmental hazards. (See 435)