Chapter 5 Terms

Question 1

achieved status

Answer 1

a social position that a person attains largely through his or her own efforts

Question 2

agrarian society

Answer 2

the most technologically advanced form of preindustrial society - members engage primarily in the production of food, but increase their crop yields through technological innovations such as the plow

Question 3

ascribed status

Answer 3

a social position assigned to a person by society without regard for the person’s unique talents or characteristics

Question 4

Gemeinschaft

Answer 4

a close knit community, often found in rural areas, in which strong personal bonds unite members

Question 5

Gesellschaft

Answer 5

a community, often urban, that is large and impersonal, with little commitment to the group or consensus on values

Question 6

group

Answer 6

any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis

Question 7

horticultural society

Answer 7

a preindustrial society in which people plant seeds and crops rather than merely subsist on available foods

Question 8

hunting-and-gathering society

Answer 8

a preindustrial society in which people rely on whatever foods and fibers are readily available in order to survive

Question 9

industrial society

Answer 9

a society that depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services

Question 10

master status

Answer 10

a status that dominates others and thereby determines a person’s general position in society

Question 11

mechanical solidarity

Answer 11

a collective consciousness that emphasizes group solidarity, characteristics of societies with minimal division of labor

Question 12

organic solidarity

Answer 12

a collective consciousness that rests on mutual interdependence, characteristics of societies with a complex division of labor

Question 13

postindustrial society

Answer 13

a society whose economic system is engaged primarily in the processing and control of information

Question 14

postmodern society

Answer 14

a technologically sophisticated society that is preoccupied with consumer goods and media images

Question 15

role conflict

Answer 15

a situation that occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by the same person

Question 16

role exit

Answer 16

the process of disengagement from a role that is central to one’s self-identity in order to establish a new role and identity

Question 17

role strain

Answer 17

the difficulty that arises when the same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations

Question 18

social institution

Answer 18

an organized pattern of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs

Question 19

social interaction

Answer 19

the ways in which people respond to one another

Question 20

social network

Answer 20

a series of social relationships that links a person directly to others, and through them indirectly to still more people

Question 21

social role

Answer 21

a set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status

Question 22

social structure

Answer 22

the way in which a society is organized into predictable relationships

Question 23

sociocultural evolution

Answer 23

long-term trends in societies resulting from the interplay of continuity, innovation, and selection

Question 24

status

Answer 24

a term used by sociologists to refer to any of the full range of socially defined positions within a large group or society

Question 25

technology

Answer 25

cultural information about the ways in which the material resources of the environment may be used to satisfy human needs and desires