SAC 1

Question 0

Define Sociological Imagination

Answer 0

A term coined by Mills to describe the sociological approach to analysing issues. We see the world through a sociological imagination, or think sociologically, when we make a link between personal troubles and public issues. Using Willis’ sociological imagination analysis framework of historical, structural, cultural and critical factors to apply and explore a situation in an unbiased manner. We use our sociological imagination when looking at the issue of the stolen generation.

Question 1

Define Nobel Savage

Answer 1

Refers to an idealised concept of uncivilised man who symbolises the innate goodness of one not exposed to the corrupting influences of civilisation.

Question 2

Define Terra Nullius

Answer 2

A Latin expression and law deriving from Roman meaning “land belonging to no one”. Under international laws ‘terra Nullius’ could be taken by a colonising power who could use it productively. This is seen when the Britsh first colonised Australia in 1788 by the first fleet without seeing consent of the Aboriginal peoples.

Question 3

Define Dispossession

Answer 3

The process through which a colonial power lays claim to ownership of a territory. This effectively involves dismissing Indigenous peoples’ rights to ownership of their traditional lands.

Question 4

Define Culture

Answer 4

Refers to the entire way of life of a group or society; included the learned ideas, values, knowledge, rules and customs shared by members of a collective.

Question 5

Define Material Culture (ARSp)

Answer 5

Refers to all the physical objects, artefacts, resources and spaces of a society which are passed onto subsequent generations.

Question 6

Define Non-material Culture (KVBLSSn)

Answer 6

Refers to non-physical creations and ideas of a society, such as knowledge, values, beliefs, languages, symbols and social norms, which are transmitted across generations.

Question 7

Define Values

Answer 7

Values are abstract ideas about what a society believes to be good, right, desirable and beautiful.

Question 8

Define Dreaming

Answer 8

The foundation beliefs of an Aboriginal cosmology. The dreaming is a period beyond living memory when ancestral beings created spiritual, physical and moral world and it refers to the laws and ceremonies which continue to sustain contemporary existence.

Question 9

Define Symbols

Answer 9

Human beings transform elements of the world around them into symbols. A symbol is anything that acquires a particular meaning recognised by the people sharing a culture. A world, sound, graffiti, a sculpture, a gesture or flag are all examples of symbols.

Question 10

Define Language

Answer 10

Refers to a socially constructed set of symbols, used as the main method of communication within a culture.

Question 11

Define Norms

Answer 11

Social norms are the shared rules which exist in every culture and act as a guide for a wide range of behaviour. Norms specify what is considered to be appropriate behaviour in each social situation. Three categories of social norms are folkways, mores and laws.

Question 12

Define Folkways

Answer 12

Refers to the everyday activities within a culture which have become established and are socially sanctioned.

Question 13

Define Mores

Answer 13

Refers to social norms that are viewed as central and significant to the functioning of society.

Question 14

Define Laws

Answer 14

Refers to norms established and enforced by the political authority within a culture.

Question 15

Define Institution

Answer 15

A term used to describe an established and structured pattern of behaviour, or a relationship that is accepted as an important feature of society.

Question 16

Define Ethnocentrism

Answer 16

The practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture.

Question 17

Define Cultural Relativism

Answer 17

The practice of judging a culture by its own standards.

Question 18

Define Representation

Answer 18

Refers to the creation in any medium of aspects of social ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other intangible concepts.

Question 19

Define Stolen Generations

Answer 19

Refers to Australian Indigenous peoples who were removed from their family as children and adopted into non-Indigenous families. Also refers to those forcibly removed who, as a result, have been denied culture and language, community connections and link with traditional lands.

Question 20

Define Great Chain of Being

Answer 20

Refers to a hierarchical order ranking all living beings. Europeans were placed highest of the human races and Indigenous Australians lowest, closest to the animals.

Question 21

Define Natural Selection

Answer 21

Refers to the process proposed by Charles Darwin used to explain the evolution of the natural world which had been applied by Herbert Spencer to human societies in the context of the “survival of the fittest”.

Question 22

Define Colonisation

Answer 22

When a nation takes and maintains power over a territory that is outside its boundaries, based on a belief of superiority over those being colonised.