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Sociology > Key Terms > Flashcards

Key Terms Flashcards

1
Q

Ageing Population

A

An increased average age in a population due to declining fertility rates and rising life expectancy.

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2
Q

Arranged Marriage

A

Mutual discussion about a proposed match by the parents.

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3
Q

Beanpole Family

A

A multi-generational extended family.

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4
Q

Birth Rate

A

The number of births per 1000 over a year.

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5
Q

Cereal Packet Family

A

A functionalist concept which argues that the idealised version of the family is the nuclear family of mother, father and two children.

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6
Q

Classic Extended Family

A

When three or more generations live together in one household.

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7
Q

Commune

A

A group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities.

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8
Q

Confluent Love

A

Argues that individuals are now looking to create meaningful relationships that are based on love and respect.

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9
Q

Conjugal Role

A

The separation of a couple’s household roles, depending on their gender.

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10
Q

Death Rate

A

The number of deaths per 1000 over a year.

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11
Q

Demography

A

The study of populations.

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12
Q

Dependency Culture

A

A way of life characterised by dependency on state benefits.

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13
Q

Dependency Ratio

A

The relationship between working and non-working parts of the population.

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14
Q

Dependent Population

A

Those of school age and those over the age of retirement.

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15
Q

Division of Labour

A

The range of tasks within a system.

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16
Q

Divorce Rate

A

The number of divorces per 1000 over a year.

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17
Q

Domestic Division of Labour

A

The way that domestic work is divided out between partners.

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18
Q

Domestic Labour

A

The different roles and responsibilities that need to be completed within the household.

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19
Q

Emigration

A

The act of leaving a country to settle permanently in another.

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20
Q

Expressive Role

A

A functionalist perspective of the female’s role in the family - to provide personality stabilisation, emotional support and child rearing.

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21
Q

Extended Family

A

A family that extends beyond the nuclear family.

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22
Q

Family

A

A group of people related by blood or marriage.

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23
Q

Familial Ideology

A

The promotion of the heterosexual, nuclear family as the ideal family, in which the father is head of the household and the mother focuses on nurturing and caretaking.

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24
Q

Fertility Rate

A

The number of births per 1000 women aged 15-44 over a year.

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25
Q

Globalisation

A

The process of all parts of the world becoming interconnected, so that national boundaries become less important.

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26
Q

Household

A

A house and its occupants regarded as a unit.

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27
Q

Ideological State Apparatus

A

Denotes the institutions which were formally outside state control but which served to transmit the values of the state in order to maintain order in society.

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28
Q

Immigration

A

The action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country.

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29
Q

Individualisation

A 
When group identities such as class and gender matter less.
Individuals tend to have less loyalty to their social groups and more freedom to choose different lifestyles.
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30
Q

Infant Mortality Rate

A

The number of children that die per 1000 live births, over a year.

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31
Q

Instrumental Role

A

A functionalist understanding of the male’s role in the family - to discipline and provide economic support for the family.

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32
Q

Integrated Conjugal Role

A

Where the husband and wife carry out many activities together and with a minimum of task differentiation and separation of interests.

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33
Q

Kinship

A

Refers to how individuals are related to each other.

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34
Q

Life Course

A

The way in which lives evolve and change as people experience personal events or rites of passage.

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35
Q

Life Expectancy

A

The age in which men and women are expected to live.

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36
Q

Marriage Rate

A

The number of marriages per 1000 people over the age of 16 per given year.

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37
Q

Migration

A

The movement of people from one place to another.

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38
Q

Modified Extended Family

A

Family members who don’t live in the same household but keep close ties with each other.

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39
Q

Monogamy

A

Having one husband or wife at a time.

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40
Q

Natural Population Change

A

The difference between the number of live births and deaths each year.

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41
Q

Net Migration

A

The difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants throughout the year.

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42
Q

Nuclear Family

A

A family group that consists of two parents and their children.

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43
Q

Patriarchy

A

A system or society in which men hold the power, and women are largely excluded from it. Women’s interests are subordinated to the interests of men.

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44
Q

Polyandry

A

When a culture allows a woman to take more than one husband.

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45
Q

Polygamy

A

Marriage to more than one partner at the same time. There are two types.

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46
Q

Polygyny

A

When a religion or culture allows a man to take more than one wife.

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47
Q

Primary Socialisation

A

The process by which parents and significant family members teach their children how to behave in a way that society accepts and expects.

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48
Q

Privatisation

A

The transfer of something from public to private ownership and control. The opposite of nationalisation.

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49
Q

Privatised Nuclear Family

A

A nuclear family that is separated from any extended family and is self-reliant.

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50
Q

Pure Relationship

A

When individuals decide to carry on maintaining their relationship because it meets their emotional and sexual needs.

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51
Q

Reconstituted Family

A

When two families join together after one or both partners have divorced their previous partners (step family).

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52
Q

Scapegoat

A

The tendency to blame someone else for one’s own problems

53
Q

Secondary Socialisation

A

The process of learning the appropriate behaviour from factors outside the home.

54
Q

Secularisation

A

The process of society becoming less religious.

55
Q

Segregated Conjugal Role

A

When the husband and wife have a clear differentiation of tasks and a considerable number of separate interests and activities.

56
Q

Serial Monogamy

A

Marrying more than once in your lifetime because of divorce and/or death.

57
Q

Sexual Division of Labour

A

The delegation of different tasks between males and females.

58
Q

Social Consruction

A

An idea that has been created and accepted by the people in a society.

59
Q

Stereotype

A

A widely held but oversimplified image/idea of a particular type of person/thing.

60
Q

Structural Differentiation

A

The idea that the family has lost some of its functions due to the creation of specialised institutions being created.

61
Q

Symmetrical Family

A

When the roles and responsibility are symmetrical.

62
Q

Total Fertility Rate

A

The total number of children born/likely to be born to a woman in her lifetime.

63
Q

Underclass

A

The lowest position in a class hierarchy which consists of the poor and unemployed.

64
Q

Undocumented Workers

A

Foreign-born workers who lack the legal documentation required to work in the country in which they live.

65
Q

Agency

A

The capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices.

66
Q

Capitalism

A

An economic and political system in which the means of production are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

67
Q

Collective Conscience

A

A set of shared beliefs, attitudes, values and knowledge shared by all members of a group or society.

68
Q

Cultural Capital

A

The possession of cultural characteristics valued by the ruling class that can give you advantages in life. This may include educational qualifications, but may also include your vocabulary, your knowledge of the arts, etc.

69
Q

Cultural Deprivation

A

Being deprived of the cultural attributes necessary for educational success. Cultural attributes may include basic literacy, attitudes and values.

70
Q

Compensatory Education

A

Additional educational provision for disadvantaged children to give them a helping hand to compete on equal terms.

71
Q

Deterministic

A

The belief that individuals don’t have any choice about how they behave. Human behaviour is determined by social structures and circumstances.

72
Q

Ethnicity

A

Groups within a population regarded by themselves (or others) as culturally distinctive and different. Members of an ethnic group usually see themselves as having a common origin, and they may share some practices or beliefs.

73
Q

Ethnocentric

A

Believing that the history, customs and traditions of your own race or nationality are superior to those of other races.

74
Q

Hidden Curriculum

A

The unwritten rules, values and behaviours that students are expected to conform to and learn while in school e.g. punctuality or respect for authority.

75
Q

Ideology

A

A set of beliefs that promotes the interests of one group at the expense of others.

76
Q

Institutional Racism

A

The failure of an organisation or institution to provide en effect service for people because of their colour or ethnicity. The organisation’s processes, attitudes or behaviours will discriminate - often unconsciously - through prejudice and racial stereotyping.

77
Q

Labelling

A

When labels or names are attached to people, ascribing certain characteristics to those individuals. Labels are often simplified and draw upon stereotypes.

78
Q

Legitimation

A

The process of justifying or gaining support for an idea or policy. It often involves justifying injustice or inequality, perhaps by portraying it as natural.

79
Q

Marketisation

A

Organising state-run services more like private companies, competing for ‘customers’.

80
Q

Material Deprivation

A

Refers to a lack of money or resources, preventing members of society from purchasing goods and services that other members of a society can afford.

81
Q

Meritocracy

A

A society or system in which success or failure is seen as the result of ability and hard work.

82
Q

Relativism

A

The idea that knowledge or truth can never be absolute and universal.

83
Q

Role Allocation

A

The process of deciding who does what role within a society.

84
Q

Self-concept

A

The sort of person you think you are.

85
Q

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

A

When something happens because people expect it to happen.

86
Q

Socialisation

A

The process by which individuals learn the behaviour and culture accepted by their society in order to fit in.

87
Q

Social Mobility

A

The ability to move upwards (or downwards) between the groups of a social hierarchy.

88
Q

Self-refuting Prophecy

A

The process through which you refute people’s negative labels and are determined to prove them wrong.

89
Q

Tripartite System

A

A form of secondary education, introduced by the 1944 Education Act. It involved all pupils taking an IQ test at the age of 11. Pupils were then separated into these different types of schools: grammars, technical schools or secondary moderns –> this was gradually replaced by the comprehensive system (1960s+).

90
Q

Peer Group

A

A group of friends and fellow pupils.

91
Q

Individualisation

A

A process in which group identities such as class and gender matter less. Individuals tend to have less loyalty to their social groups and have more freedom to choose different lifestyles.

92
Q

Hegemonic Masculinity

A

The dominant ideas of what it means to be masculine in a particular culture.

93
Q

Moral Panic

A

Public anxiety often generated by mass media reports. It involves an exaggerated and often irrational fear about a phenomenon that is portrayed as new or growing (even if it’s neither).

94
Q

Subcultures

A

Groups within wider social groups who share a unique set of lifestyles, attitudes and values. These may include music taste, fashion taste, choice of leisure activities or attitudes towards groups in authority.

95
Q

Monopoly

A

When there is only one provider of a good or service that consumers can choose from, we say that provider has a monopoly.

96
Q

Social Democracy

A

A political, social and economic philosophy that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a capitalist-oriented economy.

97
Q

Genderquake

A

A dramatic change in attitudes towards work and careers amongst women.

98
Q

Maternal Deprivation

A
  • Bowlby
  • There is a psychological bond between a mother and a newborn
  • If this is broken by the mother returning to work then the child feels deprived of maternal love
  • They may experience psychological problems later in life as a result
  • Feminists argue that there is no convincing scientific evidence for this claim
99
Q

Reproductive Rights

A

The rights that women have over their bodies, including the right to contraception and abortion.

100
Q

Means of Production

A

The raw materials, facilities, machinery and tools needed to produce goods and services.

101
Q

Proletariat

A

Working class; those without the means of production.

102
Q

Bourgeoisie

A

Ruling class; those who own the means of production.

103
Q

Relations of Production

A

The relationships between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.

104
Q

Communism

A

Communal ownership; everyone owns the means of production. Perfect equality.

105
Q

Development

A

The process by which societies change over time.

106
Q

Growth

A

The monetary value of a country’s produce increases over time, relative to other countries.

107
Q

GNI (Gross National Income)

A

The total value of all goods and services produced each year.
Worked out by dividing the total value of goods by the number of people in a population (per capita).

108
Q

Human Development Index (HDI)

A

A measure of development.

A composite measure that combines GNI per capita, Education, and Health.

109
Q

Human Development Report

A

Looks at more humanistic measures that could be used to measure development.
Focuses on equality and reducing poverty.

110
Q

First World Country

A

Industrialised, capitalist countries.

111
Q

Second World Countries

A

Industrialised, communist countries.

112
Q

Third World Countries

A

“Everyone else”.

All other countries, non-industrialised, poor.

113
Q

Majority/Minority

A

Majority –> Third world.

Minority –> Developed.

114
Q

MEDC

A

More Economically Developed Country

115
Q

LEDC

A

Less Economically Developed Country

116
Q

LLEDC

A

Least Economically Developed Country

117
Q

The Bottom Billion

A

The poorest 1.2 billion out of 7.8 billion.

118
Q

Extreme Poverty

A

Earning less than $1.25 per day

119
Q

The Marshal Plan

A

The USA offered loans to European countries devastated by WWII.
Made European countries dependent on the USA.
Ensured a captive market for US goods and services - most EU manufacturing was destroyed so the European countries bought US goods using US loans
They then had to pay back the loans, effectively ‘paying twice’.

120
Q

The Rostow Model

A

The ‘staircase model’ describes how capitalism helps countries develop.
Subtitled an ‘anti-communist’ manifesto.
Intended to draw European countries towards the capitalist side, away from the communist side.
The traditional society (local agriculture), Pre-conditions for take-off (infrastructure built), Take-off (efficiency for manufacturing), Drive to maturity (technological development), High mass consumption (American mega-corps arrive).

121
Q

Neo-modernisation Theory

A

Huntington affirms the importance of culture as the primary variable for development and suggests that Western culture is better in comparison to developing societies.

122
Q

Underdevelopment

A

It is in the interests of rich capitalist countries to keep some other countries poor.
They deliberately prevent and discourage the development of some nations.
Poor countries have low-value currency and cheap labour costs.

123
Q

CC, PC, CP, PP

A

Centre Centre –> the richest countries (e.g. USA).
Periphery Centre –> trading nations with less global power but they are still rich (e.g. Canada).
Centre Periphery –> still developing countries (e.g. Egypt).
Periphery Periphery –> less developed countries with little wealth (e.g. Sierra Leone).

124
Q

Stages of Dependency and Underdevelopment

A

Mercantile Capitalism –> Free and roughly equal trading
Colonialism –> Colonies exploited
Neo-colonialism –> Colonies influenced by Western ideas and demanded the right to rule themselves.

125
Q

Structuralism

A

The world can only be understood on the basis of structural relationships. The world is made up of relationships rather than things.

126
Q

People-Centered Development

A 
A socialist theory looking at happiness and health as indicators of successful development. Interested in:
Sustainability
Participation
Justice
Basic needs
127
Q

Post-Development

A

A 1980s postmodernist theory that says earlier development theories were outdated because:

  • We’re now living in a post-structuralist society and neoliberalism removed past structures.
  • Development theories were too ethnocentric.
128
Q

Neoliberalism

A

A market-driven approach to development which aims to maximise the role of the private business.

Sociology (28 decks)

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