Midterm Identification

Question 1

anomie

Answer 1

The absence of social norms.

Question 2

Role conflict

Answer 2

The conflict that can result from the competing demands of two or more roles.

Question 3

Dramaturgy

Answer 3

Goffman’s theory that life is like a never-ending play in which people are actors.

Question 4

Thomas theorem

Answer 4

The theory espousing sociologist W. I. Thomas’s idea that “if a person perceives a situation as real, it is real in its consequences.”

Question 5

Social construction

Answer 5

A theory suggesting that the way in which we present ourselves is shaped by our life experiences, as well as by our interactions with others.

Question 6

functionalism

Answer 6

focus is on stability and solidarity

Question 7

symbolic interactionism

Answer 7

A sociological framework that views society as a product of the everyday social interactions of individuals; use of symbols to interact.

Question 8

deviance

Answer 8

The violation of a norm.

Question 9

primary groups

Answer 9

Include family, neighborhood, and play groups, and are characterized by intimate associations, face-to-face associations, and cooperation.

Question 10

the looking glass self

Answer 10

Charles Horton Cooley’s theory of socialization, which posits that we form our self-images on the basis of what we perceive to be others’ views of us.

Question 11

social solidarity

Answer 11

is unity which produces or is based on unities of interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies. It refers to the ties in a society that bind people together as one.

Question 12

organic solidarity

Answer 12

comes from the interdependence that arises from specialization of work and the complementarities between people—a development which occurs in “modern” and “industrial” societies.

Question 13

mechanical solidarity

Answer 13

cohesion and integration comes from the homogeneity of individuals—people feel connected through similar work, educational and religious training, and lifestyle; normally operates as “traditional” ties.

Question 14

urban

Answer 14

the majority of a population that lives within commuting distance of a major city; promotes unconventionality

Question 15

urban ecology

Answer 15

Urban ecology is a recent field of study compared to ecology as a whole; study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in the context of an urban environment.

Question 16

in-group

Answer 16

A group to which one belongs and to which one feels loyalty.

Question 17

out-group

Answer 17

A group to which one does not belong and to which one does not feel loyalty.

Question 18

subculture

Answer 18

is a set of modal beliefs, values, norms, and customs associated with a relatively distinct set of interpersonal networks and institutions existing within a larger social system and culture.

Question 19

reference groups

Answer 19

The group to whom we compare ourselves for purposes of self-evaluation.

Question 20

conflict theory

Answer 20

Karl Marx’s theory that groups compete over a scare resource, ie. power, money, and prestige.

Question 21

ascribed status

Answer 21

A trait or characteristic people possess as a result of the circumstances of birth.

Question 22

achieved status

Answer 22

A status that we either earn or choose and that is not subject to where or to whom we were born.

Question 23

segregation

Answer 23

the action or state of setting someone or something apart from other people or things or being set apart; was once enforced.

Question 24

optional ethnicity

Answer 24

Mary Waters discusses the ways in which White Americans are able to pick and choose among their various ancestries, deciding which (if any) ones to actively claim and in what context.

Question 25

race

Answer 25

a group of people thought to share certain distinctive physical characteristics, such as facial structure or skin color biologically inherited.

Question 26

master status

Answer 26

A status we possess that overrides all other statuses and becomes the one by which we are known to others.

Question 27

oppositional identity

Answer 27

Racial differences are social differences in power and prestige. Ie. popularity of white increases as grades increase, popularity of blacks and hispanics decreases as grades increase.

Question 28

white privilege

Answer 28

Institiutionally, people are treated unequally, not because of individual choices, but because of patterns that exist in society, ie ones that benefit white people.

Question 29

sex

Answer 29

Based on socially agreed upon biological criteria for classifying a person as male/female.

Question 30

gender

Answer 30

How people manage their behavior in light of norms about what’s appropriate for a sex category

Question 31

sex category

Answer 31

Based on socially required displays of identification, which may not align with sex.

Question 32

gender roles

Answer 32

A set of behaviors, attitudes, and personality characteristics expected and encouraged of a person based on his or her sex.

Question 33

gender display

Answer 33

is not optional or trivial, but is something we put on/take off like a costume. Entire life is a gender performance

Question 34

doing gender

Answer 34

gender is a psychologically ingrained social construct that actively surfaces in everyday human interaction; individuals are judged in terms of their failure or success to meet gendered societal expectations.

Question 35

gender identity

Answer 35

a person’s inner sense of being male or female, usually developed during early childhood as a result of parental rearing practices and societal influences and strengthened during puberty by hormonal changes.

Question 36

social networks

Answer 36

A series of social ties that can be important sources of information, contacts, and assistance for its members.

Question 37

networked individualism

Answer 37

Partial membership in multiple networks and less reliance on permanent memberships in settled groups.

Question 38

six degrees of separation

Answer 38

the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps.

Question 39

Milgram’s small world experiment

Answer 39

took 5-7 links until package made it to target person.

-People you want to use to bridge distant associations are the ones with whom you have weak links.

Question 40

the strength of weak ties

Answer 40

Bridge clusters; Individuals with more weak ties have greater opportunities for mobility; Adoption of innovation; Mobilizing for change in response to environmental jolts.

Question 41

bridging ties

Answer 41

Information carrying connections between people.

Question 42

homophily

Answer 42

the tendency of individuals to associate and bond with similar others.

Question 43

status homophily

Answer 43

individuals with similar social status characteristics that are more likely to associate with each other than by chance, such as ascribed characteristics like race, ethnicity, sex, age, and acquired characteristics like religion, education and etc.

Question 44

value homophily

Answer 44

tends to associate with others who think in similar ways, regardless of differences in status (sex, age, education, ethnicity, etc…).

Question 45

baseline homophily

Answer 45

population distribution makes it less likely to statistically bump into each other of a different race.

Question 46

inbreeding homophily

Answer 46

social overlap, selecting into groups, and some social setting form.

Question 47

triple revolution

Answer 47

1) social network revolution has provided the opportunities and stresses for people to reach beyond the world of tight groups.
2) Internet revolution has given people communications power and information-gathering capacities far greater than in the past.
3) Mobile revolution has allowed ICTs to become body appendages allowing people to access friends and information at will, wherever they go.