Core Themes Key Words

Question 1

Consensus Theories

Answer 1

Perspectives who assume that society is primarily harmonious, and social order is maintained through widespread agreement

Question 2

Conflict Theories

Answer 2

Perspectives in sociology that emphasise the social, political, or material inequality of a social group

Question 3

Macro

Answer 3

Large scale structures and society as a whole

Question 4

Micro

Answer 4

Small groups or individuals rather than society as a whole

Question 5

Value Consensus

Answer 5

General agreement around the main values and norms of any society

Question 6

Social solidarity

Answer 6

Integration of people into society through shared values, a common culture, shared understanding and social ties that bind them together

Question 7

Collective Conscience

Answer 7

Set of shared beliefs, ideas and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society

Question 8

Organic Analogy

Answer 8

Concept that society works in the same way as the human body, interdependently

Question 9

Functional Prerequisites

Answer 9

Basic needs that must be met if society is to survive

Question 10

Social Institutions

Answer 10

Various organised social arrangements that are found in society (the family, education)

Question 11

Social control

Answer 11

Various methods used to persuade or force individuals to conform to dominant norms and values

Question 12

Sanctions

Answer 12

The rewards and punishments given in response to conformity or deviance towards societies norms and values

Question 13

Capitalism

Answer 13

Economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state

Question 14

Bourgeoise

Answer 14

The upper class which consists of those who are the main owners of societies wealth

Question 15

Proletariat

Answer 15

The working class which consists of those who work in manual jobs such as factories and labour

Question 16

False Class Consciousness

Answer 16

Failure of the members of the working class to realise they are being exploited

Question 17

Exploitation

Answer 17

The action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work

Question 18

Dominant Ideology

Answer 18

Set of ideas and values that represent the dominant group in society

Question 19

Repressive State Apparatus

Answer 19

Institutions within society that suppress and control the working class through physical force

Question 20

Ideological State Apparatus

Answer 20

Institutions within society that suppress and control the working class through manipulating and conditioning the way they think

Question 21

Patriarchy

Answer 21

Refers to male dominance with men having power and authority

Question 22

Norms

Answer 22

Social rules which define the correct and acceptable behaviour in society to which people are expected to conform

Question 23

Values

Answer 23

General beliefs about what is right and wrong and the important standards which are worth maintaining in a social group or society

Question 24

Primary Socialisation

Answer 24

Occurs when a child learns the attitudes, values and actions appropriate to individuals as member of a particular culture. Usually completed within the society

Question 25

Secondary socialisation

Answer 25

Process of learning what is the appropriate behaviour as a member of a smaller group within the larger society. Usually completed through education

Question 26

Marxist feminism

Answer 26

Type of feminism that focuses on challenging capitalism as a route to freeing women from oppression and inequality

Question 27

Radical feminism

Answer 27

Form of feminism theory that believes gender inequality is the result of male domination in all aspects of social and economic life

Question 28

Liberal feminism

Answer 28

Seeks equal opportunity for both sexes within the existing society

Question 29

New right

Answer 29

Conservative political movements in industrialised democracies that have risen since the 1960s and stress ‘traditional values’, of them with a racist undertone

Question 30

Postmodernism

Answer 30

Belief that society is no longer governed by history or progress and that it is changing rapidly and constantly, marked by chaos, uncertainty and risk