Chapter 6 Key Term

Question 1

networks

Answer 1

Sets of informal and formal social tines that link people to each other.

Question 2

social group

Answer 2

A collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the basis of shared expectations concerning behavior and who shares a sense of common identity.

Question 3

social aggregate

Answer 3

A simple collection of people who happen to be together in a particular place but do not significantly interact or identify with one another.

Question 4

social category

Answer 4

People who share a common characteristic (such as gender or occupation) but do not necessarily interact or identify with one another.

Question 5

primary groups

Answer 5

Groups that are characterized by intense emotional ties, face-to-face interaction, intimacy, and a strong, enduring sense of commitment.

Question 6

secondary groups

Answer 6

Groups characterized by large size and by impersonal, fleeting relationships.

Question 7

organization

Answer 7

A large group of individuals with a definite set of authority relations. Many types of organizations exist in industrialized societies influencing most aspects of our lives. While not all organizations are bureaucratic, there are close links between the development of organizations and bureaucratic tendencies.

Question 8

formal organization

Answer 8

A group that is rationally designed to achieve its objectives, often by means of explicit rules, regulations, and procedures.

Question 9

In-groups

Answer 9

Groups toward which one feels particular loyalty and respect–the groups to which “we” belong.

Question 10

out-groups

Answer 10

Groups toward which one feels antagonism and contempt–“those people.”

Question 11

reference group

Answer 11

A group that provides a standard for judging one’s attitudes or behaviors.

Question 12

dyad

Answer 12

A group consisting of two persons.

Question 13

triad

Answer 13

A group consisting of three persons

Question 14

bureaucracy

Answer 14

A type of organization marked by a clear hierarchy of authority and the existence of written rules of procedure and staffed by full-time, salaried officials.

Question 15

ideal type

Answer 15

A “pure type,” constructed by emphasizing certain traits of a social item that do not necessarily exist in reality. An example is Max Weber’s ideal type of bureaucratic organization.

Question 16

formal relations

Answer 16

Relations that exist in groups and organizations, as laid down by the norms, or rules, of the official system of authority.

Question 17

informal relations

Answer 17

Relations that exist in groups and organizations developed on the basis of personal connections; ways of doing things that depart from formally recognized modes of procedure.

Question 18

surveillance

Answer 18

The supervising of the activities of some individuals or groups by others in order to ensure compliant behavior.

Question 19

timetables

Answer 19

The means by which organize regularize activities across time and space.

Question 20

iron law of oligarchy

Answer 20

A term coined by Weber’s student Robert Michels meaning that large organizations tend toward centralization of power, making democracy difficult.

Question 21

oligarchy

Answer 21

Rule by a small minority within an organization or society.

Question 22

information and communication technology

Answer 22

Forms of technology based on information processing and requiring microelectronic circuitry.