Chapter 4 Sociology Terms

Question 1

Macrosociology

Answer 1

analysis of social life that focuses on broad features of society, such as social class and the relationships of groups to one another, usually used by functionalists and conflict theorists

Question 2

Micsosociology

Answer 2

analysis of social life that focuses on social interaction, typically used by symbolic interactionists

Question 3

Social Interaction

Answer 3

one person’s actions influencing someone else; usually refers to what people do when they are in one another’s presence, but also includes communications at a distance

Question 4

Social Structure

Answer 4

the framework of society that surrounds us; consists of the way that people and groups are related to one another; this framework gives direction to and sets limits on our behavior

Question 5

Social Class

Answer 5

according to Weber, a large group of people who rank close to one another in property, power, and prestige; according to Marx, one of two groups: capitalists who on the means of production or workers who sell their labor

Question 6

Status

Answer 6

the position that someone occupies in a social group (also called social status)

Question 7

Status Set

Answer 7

all the statuses or positions that an individual occupies

Question 8

Ascribed Status

Answer 8

a position an individual either inherits at birth or receives involuntary later in life

Question 9

Achieved Status

Answer 9

positions that are earned, accomplished, or involve at least some effort or activity on the individual’s part

Question 10

Status Symbols

Answer 10

indicators of a status; items that display prestige

Question 11

Master Status

Answer 11

a status that cuts across the other statuses that an individual occupies

Question 12

Status Inconsistency

Answer 12

ranking high on some dimensions of social status and low on others; also called status discrepancy

Question 13

Role

Answer 13

the behaviors, obligations, and privileges attached to a status

Question 14

Group

Answer 14

people who interact with one another and who believe that what they have in common is significant; also called a social group

Question 15

Social Institution

Answer 15

the organized, usual, or standard ways by which society meets its basic needs

Question 16

Social Integration

Answer 16

the degree to which members of a group or a society are united by shared values and other social bonds; also known as social cohesion

Question 17

Mechanical Solidarity

Answer 17

Durkheim’s term for the unity that people feel as a result of performing the same or similar tasks

Question 18

Division of Labor

Answer 18

The splitting of a group’s or a society’s tasks into specialities

Question 19

Organic Solidarity

Answer 19

Durkheim’s term for the interdependence that results from the division of labor; as part of the same unit, we all depend on others to fulfill their jobs

Question 20

Gemeinschaft

Answer 20

A type of society in which life is intimate; a community in which everyone knows everyone else and people share a sense of togetherness

Question 21

Gesellschaft

Answer 21

a type of society that is dominated by impersonal relationships, individual accomplishments, and self-interest

Question 22

Impression Management

Answer 22

people’s efforts to control the impressions that others receive of them

Question 23

Front Stages

Answer 23

places where people give performances

Question 24

Back Stages

Answer 24

places where people rest from their performances, discuss their presentations, and plan future performances

Question 25

Role Performance

Answer 25

the ways in which someone performs a role; showering a particular “style” or “personality”

Question 26

Role Conflict

Answer 26

conflict that someone feels between roles because the expectations attaches to one role are at odds with those attached to another role

Question 27

Face-saving Behavior

Answer 27

techniques used to salvage a performance (interaction) that is going sour

Question 28

Ethnomethodology

Answer 28

the study of how people use background assumptions to make sense out of life

Question 29

Background Assumption

Answer 29

a deeply embedded, common understand of how the world operates and how people ought to act

Question 30

Thomas Theorem

Answer 30

William I and Dorothy S. Thomas’ classic formulation of the definition of the situation: “If people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”

Question 31

Social Construction of Reality

Answer 31

the use of background assumptions and life experiences to define what is real

Question 32

Stereotypes

Answer 32

a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing; positive or negative; overgeneralized: applies to all members of a group