Exam 2 Flashcards
Social stratification
The division of society into groups arranged in a social hierarchy.
Social inequality
The unequal distribution of wealth, power, or prestige among members of a society.
Slavery
The most extreme form of social stratification, based on the ownership of people.
Caste system
A form of social stratification in which status is determined by one’s family history and background and cannot be changed.
Apartheid
The system of segregation of racial and ethnic groups that was legal in South Africa between 1948 and 1991.
Social class
A system of stratification based on access to such resources as wealth, property, power, and prestige.
Socioeconomic status (SES)
A measure of an individual’s place within a social class system; often used interchangeably with “class.”
Upper class
An elite and largely self-sustaining group who possess most of the country’s wealth.
Upper-middle class
Social class consisting of mostly highly educated professionals and managers who have considerable financial stability.
Middle class
Social class composed primarily of white collar workers with a broad range of education and incomes.
White collar
A description characterizing lower-level professional and management workers and some highly skilled laborers in technical jobs.
Working class or lower-middle class
Social class consisting of mostly blue collar or service industry workers who are less likely to have a college degree.
Blue collar
A description characterizing skilled and semiskilled workers who perform manual labor or work in service or clerical jobs.
Working poor
Poorly educated manual and service workers who may work full-time but remain near or below the poverty line.
Underclass
The poorest group, comprising the homeless and chronically unemployed who may depend on public or private assistance.
Status inconsistency
A situation in which an individual holds differing and contradictory levels of status in terms of wealth, power, prestige, or other elements of socioeconomic status.
Feudal system
A system of social stratification based on a hereditary nobility who were responsible of and served by a lower stratum of forced laborers called serfs.
Wealth
A measure of net worth that includes income, property, and other assets.
Prestige
The social honor people are given because of their membership in well-regarded social groups.
Social reproduction
The tendency of social classes to remain relatively stable as class status is passed down from one generation to the next.
Cultural capital
The tastes, habits, expectations, skills, knowledge, and other cultural assets that help us gain advantages in society.
Everyday class consciousness
Awareness of one’s own social status and that of others.
Social mobility
The movement of individuals or groups within the hierarchical system of social classes.
Closed system
A social system with very little opportunity to move from one class to another.
Open system
A social system with ample opportunities to move from one class to another.
Intergenerational mobility
Movement between social classes that occurs from one generation to the next.
Intragenerational mobility
Movement between social classes that occurs during the course of an individual’s lifetime.
Horizontal social mobility
The movement of individuals or groups within a particular social class, most often a result of changing occupations.
Vertical social mobility
The movement between different class statuses, often called either upward mobility or downward mobility.
Structural mobility
Changes in the social status of large numbers of people as a result of structural changes in society.
Relative deprivation
A relative measure of poverty based on the standard of living in a particular society.
Absolute deprivation
An objective measure of poverty, defined by the inability to meet minimal standards for food, shelter, clothing, or health care.
Federal poverty line
Federal index that defines “official” poverty in the United States based on household income; updated annually.
Just-world hypothesis
Argument that people have a deep need to see the world as orderly, predictable, and fair, which creates a tendency to view victims of social injustice as deserving of their fates.
Residential segregation
The geographical separation of the poor from the rest of an area’s population.
Disenfranchisement
The removal of the rights of citizenship through economic, political, or legal means.
Meritocracy
A system in which rewards are distributed based on merit.
Simplicity movement
A loosely knit movement that opposes consumerism and encourages people to work less, earn less, and spend less, in accordance with nonmaterialistic values.
Race
A social defined category based on real or perceived biological differences between groups of people.
Ethnicity
A socially defined category based on a common language, religion, nationality, history, or some other cultural factor.
Symbolic ethnicity
An ethnic identity that is relevant only in specific occasions and does not significantly affect everyday life.
Situational ethnicity
An ethnic identity that can be either displayed or concealed depending on its usefulness in a given situation.
Minority group
A social group that is systematically denied the same access to power and resources available to power and resources available to society’s dominant groups though its members are not necessarily fewer in number than the dominant groups.
Racism
A set of beliefs about the claimed superiority of one racial or ethnic group; used to justify inequality and often rooted in the assumption that differences among groups are genetic.
Prejudice
An idea about the characteristics of a group that is applied to all members of that group and is unlikely to change regardless of the evidence against it.
Discrimination
Unequal treatment of individuals based on their membership in a social group; usually motivated by prejudice.
Implicit bias
Attitudes or stereotypes that are embedded at an unconscious level and may influence our perceptions, decisions, and actions.
Individual discrimination
Discrimination carried out by one person against another.
Institutional discrimination
Discrimination carried out systematically by institutions (political, economic, educational, and others) that affects all members of a groups who come into contact with it.
White nationalism
The belief that the nation should be built around a white identity that is reflected in religion, politics, economics, and culture.
Privilege
Unearned advantage accorded to members of dominant social groups (males, whites, heterosexuals, the physically able, etc.)
Color-blind racism
An ideology that removes race as an explanation for any form of unequal treatment.
Race consciousness
An ideology that acknowledges race as a powerful social construct that shapes our individual and social experiences.
Microaggressions
Everyday uses of subtle verbal and nonverbal communications that convey denigrating or dismissive messages to members of certain social groups.
Reverse racism
The claim by whites that they suffer discrimination based upon their race, and therefore, experience social disadvantages.
Antiracist allies
Whites and others working toward the goal of ending racial injustice.
Critical race theory
The study of the relationships among race, racism, and power.
Passing
Presenting yourself as a member today a different group than the stigmatized group to which you belong.
Double-consciousness
W.E.B DuBois’s term for the divided identity experienced by blacks in the United States.
Embodied identity
Those elements of identity that are generated through others’ perceptions of our physical traits.
Genocide
The deliberate and systematic extermination of a racial, ethnic, national, or cultural group.
Population transfer
The forcible removal of a group of people from the territory they have occupied.
Internal colonialism
The economic and political subjugation of the minority group by the dominant group within a nation.
Segregation
The physical and legal separation of groups by race or ethnicity.
Assimilation
A pattern of relations between ethnic or racial groups in which the minority group is absorbed into the mainstream or dominant group, making society more homogeneous.
Racial assimilation
The process by which racial minority groups are absorbed into the dominant group through intermarriage.
Cultural assimilation
The process by which racial or ethnic groups are absorbed into the dominant group by adopting the dominant group’s culture.
Pluralism
A cultural pattern of intergroup relations that encourages racial and ethnic variation and acceptance within a society.
Sex
An individual’s membership in one of two categories — male or female — based on biological factors.
Primary sex characteristics
Biological factors, such as chromosomes, hormones, and reproductive organs, that distinguish males from females.
Secondary sex characteristics
Physical differences between males and females, including facial and body hair, musculature, and bone structure, that are unrelated to reproduction.
Intersex
Used to describe a person whose chromosomes or sex characteristics are neither exclusively male nor exclusively female.
Gender
The physical, behavioral, and personality traits that a group considers normal for its male and female members.
Essentialists
Those who believe gender roles have a genetic or biological origin and therefore cannot be charged.
Gender binary
A system of classification with only two distinct and opposite gender categories.
Constructionists
Those who believe that notions of gender are socially determined, such that a binary system is just one possibility among many.
Gender identity
An individual’s self-definition or sense of gender.
Cisgender
Term used when gender identity and/or expression aligns with the sex assigned at birth.
Transgender
Term used when gender identity and/or expression is different from the sex assigned at birth.
Gender expression
An individual’s behavioral manifestations of gender.
Gender nonconforming
Term used when gender identity and/or expression differs from societal expectations about gender roles.
Sexuality
The character or quality of being sexual.
Sexual orientation or identity
The inclination to fell sexual desire toward people of a particular gender.
Queer theory
Social theory about gender and sexual identity; emphasizes the importance of difference and rejects ideas of innate identities or restrictive categories.
Gender role socialization
The lifelong process of learning to be masculine or feminine, primarily through agents of socialization.
Heteronormativity
The belief that heterosexuality is and should be the norm.
Social learning
The process of learning behaviors and meanings through social interaction.
Privilege
Unearned advantage accorded to members of dominant social groups (males, whites, the physically able, heterosexuals, etc.).
Sexism
The belief that one sex, usually male, is superior to the other.
Misogyny
An ingrained prejudice against women; dislike, contempt, or hatred of women.
Prejudice
An idea about the characteristics of a group that is applied to all members of that group and is unlikely to change regardless of the evidence against it.
Discrimination
Unequal treatment of individuals based on their membership in a social group; usually motivated by prejudice.
Homophobia
Fear of or discrimination toward gay, lesbian, and bisexual people.
Transphobia
Fear of or discrimination toward gender transgender or other gender-nonconforming people.
Heterosexism
Belief in the superiority of heterosexuality and heterosexuals.
Cisgenderism
Belief in the superiority of cisgender persons and identities.
Hegemonic masculinity
A masculine ideal that promotes characteristics such as independence, aggression, and toughness, and rejects and alternate qualities in men.
Toxic masculinity
A masculine ideal that espouses extreme and harmful attitudes and behaviors and may lead to various negative effects for women and men.
Instrumental role
The position of the family member who provides material support, often an authority figure.
Expressive role
The position of the family member who provides emotional support and nurturing.
Second shift
The unpaid housework and child care often expected of women after they complete their day’s paid labor.
Feminization of poverty
The economic trend showing that women are more likely than men to live in poverty, caused in part by the gendered gap in wages, the higher proportion of single mothers compared to single fathers, and the increasing costs of child care.
Feminism
Belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes; also the social movements organized around that belief.
First wave
The earliest period of feminist activism, from the mid-nineteenth century until American women won the right to vote in 1920.
Suffrage movement
The movement organized around gaining voting rights for women
Second wave
The period of feminist activism during the 1960s and 1970s, often associated with the issues of women’s equal access to employment and education.
Third wave
The most recent period of feminist activism, focusing on issues of diversity, globalization, and the variety of identities women can possess.
Men’s liberation
A movement that originated in the 1970s to discuss the challenges of masculinity.
Men’s rights movement
An offshoot of male liberation whose members believe that feminism promotes discrimination against men.
Pro-feminist men’s movement
An offshoot of male liberation whose members support feminism and believe that sexism harms both men and women.
Patriarchy
A system of advantage that benefits men.
Patriarchal social structure
How gender inequality is organized in social relationships and distributions of resources.
Cis-heteropatriarchy
A system of advantage that benefits cis-straight men.
Institutional racism
How the policies and practices of social institutions are racially discriminatory.
Disabilities
A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life action.
Ableism
A system of assigning value to people’s bodies and minds based on socially constructed ideas of normality, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness.
Five categories of oppression
Exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence.
Intersectionality
How categories of inequality (race, class, gender, etc.) interact with one another and form a larger system of inequality.
