Second Set of Vocabulary Terms Flashcards
Iron Law of Oligarchy
The idea that power in an organization tends to become concentrated in the hands of a small group of leaders.
Absolute Poverty
The condition of having too little income to buy the necessities– food, shelter, clothing, health care
Achieved Status
A social position (status) obtained through an individual’s own talents and efforts.
Ascribed Status
A social position (status) such as sex, race, and social class that a person acquires based on their birth or life situations
Back Region
The settings in which people act in more relaxed, spontaneous ways rather than paying attention to how they are being perceived by others.
Bureaucracy
A large-scale formal organization with centralized authority, a hierarchical chain of command, explicit rules and procedures, and an emphasis on formal positions rather than on persons.
Caste System
A closed system of social stratification in which prestige and social relationships are based on hereditary position at birth
Class
Position in a social hierarchy based on prestige and/or property ownership.
Conformity
Going along with the norms or behaviors of a group
Conjugal Family
A form of family organization centered around the husband-wife relationship rather than around blood relationships
Contagion Theory
Le Bon’s theory that the anonymity people feel in a crowd makes them susceptible to the suggestions of fanatical leaders, and that emotions can sweep through such a crowd like a virus
Cultural Capital
Symbolic wealth socially defined as worthy of being sought and possessed. Often marked by style of dress, speech, “elite” taste and manners.
Defining the Situation
The socially created perspective that people apply to a situation
Deviance
Behaviors or characteristics that violate important social norms.
Dominant Status
One social position that overshadows the other social positions an individual occupies (also called master status)
Dramaturgical Analysis
An approach to social situations developed by Erving Goffman in which they are examined as though they were theatrical productions.
Dyad
A group composed of two people
Egalitarian Family
A family in which husband and wife share equally in family decision making.
Emergent Norm Theory
A theory of collective behavior suggesting that people move to form a shared definition of the situation in relatively normless situations.
Emotion Work
An individual’s effort to change an emotion or feeling to one that seems to be more appropriate to a given situation.
Face-work
A term used by Goffman to refer to the actions taken by individuals to make their behavior appear consistent with the image they want to present.
Formal Sanction
A social reward or punishment that is administered in an organized, systematic way, such as receiving a diploma or getting a fine
Generalized Other
A general idea of the expectations, attitudes, and values of a group or community.
Groupthink
The tendency of individuals to follow the ideas or actions of a group.
Habitus
An internalized set of preferences and dispositions that are learned through experience; often linked to an individual’s socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.
Human-capital perspective
The view that the earnings of different workers vary because of differences in their education or employability.
Impression Management
A term used by Goffman to describe the efforts of individuals to influence how others perceive them.
Informal Sanction
A social reward or punishment that is given informally through social interaction, such as an approving smile or a disapproving frown.
Institutionalized
Social practices that have become established, patterned, and predictable and that are supported by custom, tradition, and/or law.
Institutions
The patterned and enduring roles, statuses, and norms that have formed around successful strategies for meeting basic social needs
Instrumental Leader
A group leader whose role is to keep the group’s attention directed to the task at hand.
Intergenerational Mobility
A vertical change of social status from one generation to the next.
Internalization
Taking social norms, roles, and values into one’s own mind.
Intragenerational Mobility
A vertical change of social status experienced by an individual within his or her own lifetime.
“I” Portion of the Self
In George Herbert Mead’s view, the spontaneous or impulsive portion of the self
Labeling Theory
A theory of deviance that focuses on the process by which some people are labeled deviant by other people (and thus take on deviant identities) rather than on the nature of the behavior itself.
Looking-glass Self
The sense of self an individual derives from the way others view and treat him or her
McDonaldization
A process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of society.
“Me” Portion of the Self
In George Herbert Mead’s view, the portion of the self that brings the influence of others into the individual’s consciousness.
Modeling
Copying the behavior of admired people.
Monopoly
The exclusive control of a particular industry, market, service, or commodity by a single organization.
Mores
Strongly held social norms, a violation of which causes a sense of moral outrage
Negative Sanctions
Actions intended to deter or punish unwanted social behaviors.
Nuclear Family
A family form consisting of a married couple and their children.
Oligopoly
The control of a particular industry, market, service, or commodity by a few large organizations.
Organizational Ritualism
A form of behavior in organizations, particularly in bureaucracies, in which people follow the rules and regulations so closely that they forget the purpose of those rules and regulations
Patriarchal Family
A form of family organization in which the father is the formal head of the family.
Positive Sanctions
Rewards for socially desired behavior.
Power
The capacity of an individual group to control or influence the behavior of others, even in the face of opposition
Prestige
A social recognition, respect, and deference accorded individuals or groups based on their social status.
Primary Deviance
Deviant behavior that is invisible to others, short- lived, or unimportant, and therefore does not contribute to the public labeling of an individual as being deviant
Primary Group
A social group characterized by frequent face-to-face interaction, the commitment and emotional ties members feel for one another, and relative permanence.
Principle of Cumulative Advantage
A process whereby the positive features of some institutions help to generate further benefits for them (also called the Matthew Effect)
Reference Group
A social group whose standards and opinions are used by an individual to help define or evaluate beliefs, values, and behaviors.
Relative Poverty
The condition of having much less income than the average person in society, even if one can afford the necessities of life.
Resocialization
The process of socializing people away from a group or activity in which they are involved
Role Conflict
A situation in which two or more social roles make incompatible demands on a person.
Role Exit
The process of leaving a role that is central to one’s identity and building an identity in a new role while also taking into account one’s prior role.
Role
To functionalists, the culturally prescribed and socially patterned behaviors associated with particular social positions. For interactionists, the effort to mesh the demands of a social position with one’s own identity.
Secondary Deviance
Behavior discovered by others and publicly labeled by them as deviant. Also refers to ongoing deviant behavior.
Secondary Group
A social group bound together for the accomplishment of common tasks, with few emotional ties among members.
Self-fulfilling Prophecy
A belief or prediction about a person or situation that influences that person or situation in such a way that the belief or prediction comes true.
Social Capital
Power a person yields based on whom they know and their connections.
Social Learning Theory
A form of learning theory suggesting that people learn through observation and imitation, even though they are not rewarded or punished for certain behaviors.
Social Network
A set of interdependent relations or links between individuals.
Social Reproduction
The carryover of a set of practices from one generation to the next (not necessarily within a family).
Social Stratification
The fairly permanent ranking of positions in a society in terms of unequal power, prestige, or privilege.
Socialization
The process of preparing newcomers to become members of an existing social group by helping them to learn the attitudes and behaviors that are considered appropriate.
Socioeconomic Status (SES)
An index of social status that considers a person’s occupation, education, and income as measures of social status.
Status Group
People who share a social identity based on similar values and life-styles.
Status Inconsistency
May occur when an individual occupies two or more unequal statuses in a society
Stigmatization
The process of spoiling a person’s identity by labeling him or her in a negative way.
Subjective Social Class
A person’s own perception of his or her class position.
Total Institution
A place where people spend 24 hours of every day for an extended part of their lives, cut off from the rest of society and tightly controlled by the people in charge.
Vertical Integration
A form of business organization that attempts to control the business environment by assuming control of one or more of its resources or business outlets.
Vertical Mobility
Movement of an individual or a group upward or downward, from one social status to another.
Wealth
The total value (minus debts) of what is owned.. (also called material capital)
White-collar Crime
Crimes committed by “respectable” individuals, often while they practice their occupations—for example, embezzling money or stealing computer time
