CLEP - Sociology 3-4

Question 1

Primary socialization

Answer 1

The initial socialization that a child receives thru which he/she becomes a member of society.

Question 2

Secondary socialization

Answer 2

The subsequent experience of socialization into new sectors of society by an already socialized person.

Question 3

Family

Answer 3

Generally considered the most basic social institution; a union that is sanctioned by the state & often by a religious institution such as a church

Question 4

Peer groups

Answer 4

A primary group whose members are roughly equal in status & they provide continuity in lifestyles

Question 5

Resocialization

Answer 5

The process of discarding behavioral practices & adopting new ones as part of a transition in life.

Question 6

Total institution

Answer 6

A place of residence to where persons are confined for a period of time & cut off from the rest of society.

Question 7

“Looking-glass-self”

Answer 7

Term coined by Charles Horton Cooley to refer to the process of self-formation

Question 8

Role-distance

Answer 8

Term coined by Erving Goffman to describe the gap that exists between who we are & who we portray ourselves to be.

Question 9

Cognitive development

Answer 9

Theory proposed by Jean Piaget describing the changes that occur over time in the ways children think, understand, & evaluate a situation

Question 10

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 10

Piaget’s stage of development in which infants are unable to differentiate themselves from their environment; they are unaware that their actions produce results, & they lack the understanding that objects exist separate from the direct & immediate experience of touching, looking, sucking, & listening

Question 11

Preoperational stage

Answer 11

Piaget’s stage of development in which children begin to use language & other symbols; they begin to attach meaning to the world & are able to differentiate fantasy from reality

Question 12

Concrete operational stage

Answer 12

Piaget’s stage of development in which children make great strides in their use of logic to understand the world & how it operates; they begin to think in logical terms & make the connection between cause & effect & are capable of attaching meaning or significance to a particular event

Question 13

Formal operational stage

Answer 13

Piaget’s stage of development in which the child develops the capacity for thinking in highly abstract terms of metaphors & hypotheses

Question 14

Culture

Answer 14

A blueprint according to which the members of a society or a group go about their daily lives

Question 15

Material culture

Answer 15

The things that people attach meaning to & use, including cars, clothing, books, & burial sites

Question 16

Nonmaterial culture

Answer 16

The abstract terms that human beings create for the purposes of defining, describing, explaining, clarifying, ordering, organizing, &; communicating what they do & how they live, including languages, ideas, belief systems, rules, customs, & political systems

Question 17

Symbol

Answer 17

A representation of something to which a certain meaning or value is attached by the person or persons who use it

Question 18

Norms

Answer 18

The rules or expectations that govern or to which people orient their behavior; binding rules whose violations results in some form of punishment

Question 19

Values

Answer 19

Represent not only the things that give meaning & about which human beings feel certain, but also the ideas that make such things so important that humans are willing to fight, work, or give up something of their own in exchange (or as payment) for them; express the ideas or central beliefs common to the members of a group describing what they consider good, right, & desirable & against which the norms of a particular group or subgroup may be judged

Question 20

Folkways

Answer 20

The usual customs & conventions of everyday life

Question 21

Mores

Answer 21

Norms of such moral & ethical significance to the members of a society or community that their violation is regarded as a serious matter worthy of strong criticism, anger, punishment, or institutionalization

Question 22

Cultural universals

Answer 22

The basic elements essential to individual & collective survival that are found to exist in all cultures

Question 23

Cultural variability

Answer 23

The variety of things human beings have devised to meet their needs

Question 24

Ethnocentrism

Answer 24

The attitude that one’s own cultural or ethnic values are the only good & true values; the tendency to judge other cultures by one’s own standards

Question 25

Cultural relativism

Answer 25

Social scientists’ efforts to be objective in their observations either by not imposing their own meaning on the events being observed or by focusing solely on the reason why the element exists

Question 26

Subcultures

Answer 26

Represent unique cultures & cultural organizations unto themselves, not wholly separate from the larger culture

Question 27

Countercultures

Answer 27

Values, beliefs, & ways of life not conforming to the norm

Question 28

Socialization

Answer 28

Process thru which we learn or are trained to be members of society, to take part in new social situations, or to participate in social groupings.