Intro Sociology CLEP Flashcards
A status that individuals secure on the basis of choice and competition
achieved status
Type of suicide that occurs where ties to the group or community are considered more important than the individual identity
altruistic suicide
When one’s actions are geared to helping them join or connect with a particular social status
Affiliation motivated
Societies that cultivate large amounts of crops with the plow and other relatively advanced tools and equipment
Agricultural societies
Suicide that results from social isolation and individualism
egoistic suicide
Suicide that occurs as a result of “too much” social regulation
Fatalistic suicide
Suicide that occurs as a result of “too little” social regulation
Anomic suicide
A social condition in which people find it difficult to guide their behavior by norms they experience as weak, unclear, or conflicting.
Anomie
Social position a person receives at birth or involuntarily later in life
Ascribed status
A social position that a person holds
Status
All the statuses a person holds at a given time
Status set
The study of the evolution, development, and functioning of human society
Sociology
The transformation of culture and social institutions over time
Social change
A group’s formal and informal means of enforcing its norms
Social control
A division of society by rank or class
Social hierarchy
A change in position within the social hierarchy
Social mobility
A widely shared demand for change in some aspect of the social or political order
Social movement
A system by which a society ranks categories of peopel in a hierarchy
Social stratification
The process by which people, especially children, learn socially desirable behavior by means of verbal messages; the systematic use of rewards and punishments, and other teaching methods
Socialization
The people, institutions, and organizations that exist to help ensure that socialization occurs
Socialization agents
An extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization
Society
Self-ism or “i”ism views self as reality and all other indiviudals as essnetially unreal
Egoism
A political system in which the government tolerates little or no opposition to its rules but permits nongovernmental centers of influence and allows debate on issues of public policy
Authoritarianism
A system of exchange in which goods or services are traded directly for other goods or services without the use of money
Barter system
The ratio of live births in an area to the population of that area
Birth rate
Those individuals who control the means of production. Upper class
Bourgeoisie
A social structure made up of a hierarchy of statuses and roles that is prescribed by explicit rules and procedures and based on a division of function and authority
Bureaucracy
A social structure in which classes are determined by herdity
Caste system
Power that is legitimated by the extraordinary superhuman or supernatural attributes people attribrute to a leader
Charismatic authority
A religious organization that considers itself uniquely legitimate and enjoys a positive relationshp with the dominant society.
Church
Piaget’s theory that children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world; children experiences expand as their brain develops; they move through 4 stages: Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational.
Cognitive development theory
Voluntary, often spontaneous activity that is engaged in by a large number of people and typically violates dominant-group norms and values
Collective behavior
Concrete operational stage of Cognitive development theory
Begins around age 7-11. Children begin thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.
A sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups.
Conflict perspective
An approach to crowd behavior that emphasizes the part played in crowd settings by rapidly communicated and uncritically accepted feelings, attitudes, and actions.
Contagion theory
The group that afford a neutral standards against which the changes in an experimental group can be measured.
Control Group
An approach to crowd behavior stating that a crowd consists of a highly unrepresentative body of people who assemble because they share the same predispositions.
Convergence theory
A subculture deliberately and consciously opposed to certain central beliefs or attitudes of the dominant culture.
Counterculture
A religious movement that represents a new and independent religious tradition.
Cult
The social heritage of a people; those learned patterns for thinking, feeling, and acting that are transmitted from one generation to the next, including the embodiment of these patterns in material items.
Culture
A value-free or neutral approach that views the behavior of a people from the perspective of their own culture.
Culture relativism
The ratio of deaths in an area to the population of that area
Death rate
A government in which the rulers are elected by the people through fair, free, competitive, and periodic elections. Public decision making is delegated to the representatives elected by the people.
Democratic government
Behavior that a considerable number of people in a society view as reprehensible and beyond the limits of tolerance.
Deviance
A general theory of crime that states that deviants come to learn the motivations and the technical knowledge of criminal activity through exposure to deviants and deviant behavior.
Differential Association theory
Division of work into a number of separate tasks to be performed by different workers
Division of labor
A two-member group
Dyad
Social rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behavior in given situations
Norms
Broad ideas regarding what is desirable, correct, and good that most members of a society share.
Values
An approach to crowd behavior stating that crowd members evolve new standards for behavior in a crowd setting and then enforce the expectations in the manner of norms.
Emergent-norm theory
Involve situations where there are conflicts between one or more values and uncertainty about the correct course of action
Ethical problems
A shared cultural heritage
Ethnicity
The tendency to judge the behavior of other groups by the standards of one’s own culture.
Ethnocentrism
The requirement that marriage occur outside a group
Exomgamy
Leaders who achieve group harmony by making others feel good
Expressive leaders
A family arrangement in which kin-individuals related by common ancestry-provide the core relationship; spouses are functionally marginal and peripheral.
Extended family
A nuclear family that consists of oneself and one’s father, mother, and siblings
Family of Orientation
A nuclear family that consists of oneself and one’s spouse and children
Family of procreation
The average number of children a woman of childbearing years would have in her lifetime, if she had children at the current rate for her country
fertility rate
Norms people do not deem to be of great importance and to which they exact less stringent conformity
Folkways
A group formed deliberately for the achievement of specific objectives
Formal organization
An approach to group problem solving that assumes that to achieve a group goal, group members should perform certain communication functions.
Functional approach
A school of psychology that focuses on how mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
Functionalism
A type of society in which life is intimate; a community in which everyone knows everyone else and peopel share a sense of togetherness
Gemeinschaft
A crime control policy that depends on the fear of criminal penalties, convincing the potential law violator that the pains associated with crime outweighs its benefits.
General deterrence
A community, often urban, that is large and impersonal, with little commitment to the group or consensus on values.
Gesellschaft
The degree to which group members accept and follow group norms
Group conformity
The degree to which we alter our behavior, attitudes and points of view to fit into our perceived expectation of what is appropriate
Conformity
The mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives (Myers Psychology 8e p. 740)
Groupthink
Phenomenon in which participants’ knowledge that they’re being studied can affect their behavior
Hawthorne effect
Society in which people plant seeds and crops rather than merely subsist on available foods
horticultural societies
Societies that use simple technology for hunting animals and gathering vegetation
Hunting societies
One’s sense of self
Identity
A society that depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services.
Industrial society
Interpersonal networks and ties that arise in a formal organization but that are not defines or prescribed by it.
Informal Organizations
An exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
In-group
An organization founded and united for a specific purpose
Institution
Racist attitutes that are held by the vast majority of people living in a society where stereotypes and discrimination are the norm
Institutionalized Racism
Leaders who achieve their group’s goal by getting others to focus on task performance
Instrumental Leaders
A comparison of the social status of parents and their children at some point in their respective careers
Intergenerational mobility
The principle that states that bureaucracies invariably lead to the concentration of power in the hands of a few individuals who use their offices to advance their own fortunes and self-interests.
Iron Law of Oligarchy
undisputed credibilty
legitimacy
An image of yourself based on what you belive others think of you
Looking glass self
A key or core status that carries primary weight in a person’s interactions and relatinoships with others
Master status
The concrete, tangible objects of a culture
Material culture
Not tangible and is abstract. For example religion, beliefs and values.
Immaterial culture
A strip city formed when the rural interstices between metropolitan centers fill with urban development
Megalopolis
According to Comte, each branch of our knowledge passes through the different theoretical conditions
The law of three stages
First stage in the development of a science where scientists look toward the supernatural realm of ideas for an explanation of what they observed. Sub-stages:
A) Fetishism
B) Polytheism
C) Monotheism
Theological stage
Sub-stage of Theological stage Man accepts the existence of the spirit or soul. Does not admit priesthood
Fetishism
Sub-stage of Theological stage Man begins to believe in magic and allied activities. Believes in several gods and created the class of priests to get the goodwill and the blessings of these gods.
Polytheism
Sub-stage of Theological stage Man believes that there is only one central power which guides and controls all the activities of the world. The superhman pwoer of only one god.
Monotheism
Second stage in the development of a science where scientists begin to look to the real world for an explanation of what they have observed
Metaphysical stage
Final stage in the development of a science where scientists search for general ideas or laws
Positive stage
The application of the scientific approach to the social world
Positivism
Norms to which people attach a good deal of importance and exact strict conformity
Mores
Family unit consisting of parents and children
Nuclear family
Condition in which cities grow more rapidly than the jobs and housing they can sustain
Overurbanization
The observation that “work expands to fill the time available for its completion”
Parkinson’s law
Societies whose subsistence derives from the rearing of domesticated animals.
Pastoral societies
A system of social organization in which men have disproportionate share of power.
Patriarchy
A social group whose members have interests, social position, and age in common
Peer group
A principle of organizational life according to which every employee within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence.
Peter principle
Analysis of politics that sees power as spread among many competing interest groups
Pluralist Model
The system of having more than one spouse at a time
polygamy
The marriage of one husband and two or more wives.
Polygyny
The belief in many gods with equal or relatively similar power
Polytheism
The increase in a country’s population in a given year, expressed as a percentage of the population figure at the start of the year
Population growth rate
A society in which the economic emphasis is on providing services and information
Postindustrial society
An analysis of politics that sees power as concentrated among the rich
Power Elite Model
Two or more people who enjoy a direct, intimate, cohesive relationship with one another. Mother and child relationship.
Primary group
A large and impersonal social group whose members pursue a specific goal or activity
Secondary group
Economic activities that generate or extract raw materials from the natural environment, Ex: mining, fishing, gorwing crops, drilling oil, etc
Primary sector of the economy
The process by which children learn the cultural norms of the society into which they are born. Primary socialization occurs largely in the family.
Primary socialization
Socialization outside the family after childhood namely within school
Secondary socialization
Working class; those who labor for the bourgeouisie
proletariat
A set of techniques for exploring underlying motives and a method of treating various mental disorders
Psychoanalysis
The pirvate ownership of resources and the market distribution of products
Pure capitalism
Research methods that use flexible methods of data collection, seek holistic understanding, present findings in words rather than numbers, and attempt to account for the influence of the research setting and process on the findings.
Qualitative methods of research.
Research methods, based on the tenets of modern science, that use quantifiable measures of concepts, standardize the collection of data, attend only to preselected variables, and use statistical methods to look for patterns and associations.
Quantitative methods of research
A population that differs from other populations in the incidence of various hereditary traits
Race
Power made legitimate by law
Rational-legal authority
Tendency of the ego to postpone gratification until it can find an appropriate outlet
Reality principle
Group whose norms and values are used to guide behavior; group with whom you identify
Reference group
Sample carefully chosen so that the characteristics of the participants correspond closely to the characteristics of the larger population
Representative sample
A process by which a person’s roles and identities are stripped away and new ones are created
Resocialization
The situation that occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by the same person
Role conflict
Stress caused by incompatible demands from the roles of a single status
Role strain
Those aspects of social reality that are set apart and forbidden
Sacred
The analysis of data that have been collected by other resarches
Secondary analysis
Economic activities that transform raw materials into manufactured goods
Secondary sector of the economy
A religious organization that stands apart from the dominant society but is rooted in established religious traditions
Sect
First level of cognitive development in which baby and young child begin interaction with the environment by reflex response, from birth to 2 yeras of age
Socio-cultural evolution
The ability to see our private experiences and personal difficulties as entwined with the structural arrangements of our society and the historical times in which we live.
Sociological imagination
Mark of shame, disgrace, or inferiority
Stigma
A sampling procedure in which researchers divide a population into relevant categories and draw a random sample from each of the categories
Stratified sampling
A group whose members participate in the main culture of a society while simultaneously sharing a number of unique values, norms, traditions, and lifestyles.
Subculture
The part of the personality in Freud’s theory that is responsible for making moral choices
-sense of morality
-unconscious conscious
Superego
A method for gathering data on people’s beliefs, values, attitues, perceptions, motivations, and feelings. The data can be derived from interviews or questionnaires.
Survey
Approach that focuses on the interactions among people based on mutually understood symbols
Symbolic interactionism
Socially forbidden acts
taboos
Economic activities related to delivering services, including the creation and distribution of information
-transportation, communication, utility services
Tertiary sector of the economy
Writted by Emile Durkheim
1. Religion as a major source of solidarity
2. Emphasizes social importance of religion
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life
C. Wright Mills’ book that states the ordinary citizen is powerless and is manipulated by the power of the leaders of the military, corporate, and political elements of society.
The Power Elite
The belief that working hard would please God
The Protestant Ethic
Written by Max Weber. In it, he argues that the religious confidence and self-disciplined activism of the Calvinists produced an ethic that stimulated and reinforced the spirit of emergent capitalism.
The Spirit of Capitalism
A place of work and residence where a great number of similarly situated people, cut off from the wider community for a considerable time, together lead an enclosed, formally administered round of life.
Total institution
A system of rule in which the government recongnizes no formal limits on its power and seeks to absorb or eliminate other social institutions that might challenge it
Totalitarian government
Power that is legitimated by the sanctity of age-old customs.
Traditional authority
A three-member group
Triad
A technique in which researchers observe the activities of people without intruding or participing in the activities.
Unobtrusive observation
A thoery of positive urbanization. -Associated with industrialization and development (positive); rate of urbanization not correlated with economic development
Urbanization theories
An approach to the study of social life developed by Max Weber in which sociologists mentally attempt to place themselves in teh shoes of other people and identify what they think and how they feel. translates roughly as “understanding”
Verstehen
Movement of indiviudals from one social status to another of higher or lower rank
Vertical mobility
1798-1857
French philosopher remembered as the founder of positivism. Saw human history as 3 stages: theological, metaphysical, and scientific. Founded “sociology.” Influence Realpolitik
Auguste Comte
1818-1883
German journalist and philosopher, founder of the Marxist branch of socialism. He is known for two books: The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (Vols. I-III, 1867-1894)
Karl Marx
1896-1980
Swiss psychologist remembered for his studie of cognitive development in children
Jean Piaget
1883-1950
(criminology) Developed the differential association theory which talks about learning an excess of definition for deviance may make you more likely to e deviant.
-White collar theory
-Differential association theory
Edwin Sutherland
1876-1936
Originated the idea ofe the iron law of oligarchy
Robert Michels
1864-1920
A sociologist who emphasized the phenomenon of bureaucracy in explaining political developments
Max Weber
1858-1919
Believed in functionalism and the scientific method; saw society as a set of independent parts that maintain a system but each separate part has a function
Emile Durkheim
1856-1939
Austrian physician whose work focused on the unconscious causes of behavior and personality formation, founded psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
1841-1931
French social scientist who noticed the collective mind set that emerges when people become part of a crowd
Gustave LeBon
1902-1994
Created the psychosocial theory which looks at the development of personality throughout the lifespan
Erik Erikson
1902-2002
(The Lonely Crowd) “outer directed” Americans conforming to peer pressure on moral and social issues, rather than independtly thinking on morals.
David Riesman
1910-2003
Expanded our understanding of the concept of social function by pointing out that any social structure probably has many functions. He distinguished between manifest functions and latent functions.
Robert Merton
1916-1962
Described the importance of the sociological imagination when viewing the world, especially for people with power.
-“The Power Elite” 1956
C. Wright Mills
Developed the technique of sociometry
J. L. Moreno
Noted that different cultures may differ in their ideas about the true self by placing emphasis on either two main approaches: impulse and institution
Ralph Turner
(psychoanalysis) primitive insticnts and energies underlying all psychic activity - The part of the mind in which innate instinctive impulses and primary processes are manifest.
id
The system of social ties that acts as a cement connecting people to one another and to the wider society
Solidarity
A system of social ties based on uniform thinking and behavior
Mechanical solidarity
Social interdependency based on a high degree of specialization
Organic solidarity
Unintended positive consequences
latent functions
Intended positive consequences
Manifest functions
Unintended consequences that harm society
Latent dysfunctions
Intended consequences that harm society
Manifest dysfunctions
Gerhard Lenski’s term for the changes that occur as a society gains new technology. From simple to complex.
Socio-cultural evolution
