Chapter 5 Flashcards
(31 cards)
The social patterns through which a society is organized; can be horizontal or vertical.
social structure
The ways in which a society or group ranks people in a hierarchy.
social inequality
The position that someone occupies in society.
status
All the positions an individual occupies.
status set
The status that someone is born with and has no control over.
ascribed status
A status achieved at some point after birth, sometimes through one’s own efforts and sometimes because of good or bad luck.
achieved status
A status that is so important that it overrides other statuses a person may hold.
master status
An object that signifies a particular status that a person holds.
status symbol
The behavior expected of someone with a certain status.
role
The totality of relationships that link us to other people and groups and through them to still other people and groups.
social network
Two or more people who regularly interact on the basis of mutual expectations and who share a common identity.
social group
A large group that follows explicit rules and procedures to achieve specific goals and tasks.
formal organization
Patterns of beliefs and behavior that help a society meet its basic needs.
social institution
A group of people who live with a defined territory and who share a culture.
society
A human community, particularly a small society with a strong sense of community and strong group ties.
Gemeinschaft
A large society characterized by weak and impersonal social ties.
Gesellschaft
Societies of a few dozen members whose food is obtained from hunting animals and gathering plants and vegetation.
hunting-and-gathering societies
Societies that use hoes and other simple tools to raise small amounts of crops.
horticultural societies
Societies that raise livestock as their primary source of food.
pastoral societies.
Societies that cultivate large amounts of crops with plows and other relative advanced tools and equipment.
agricultural societies
Large industries that rely on machines and factories as their primary modes of economic production.
industrial societies
Societies in which information technology and service jobs have replaced machines and manufacturing jobs as the primary dimension of the economy.
postindustrial societies
The ways in which people act with other people and react to how other people are acting.
social interaction
Our understanding of the roles expected of people in a given encounter.
background assumptions
