Social 30-1 Vocabulary Flashcards
Assumption
A thing that is accepted as true or as certain to happen, without proof.
Beliefs and Values
Important aspects of identity that influence behaviour and choices. It guides people in their interactions with others and their worldview.
Collective Identity
The identity that you share with other people as a member of a larger social group, such as lingustic, cultural, faither, or ethnic group.
Collectivism
A current of thinking that values of goals of a group and the common good over the goals of an individual.
(Adherence to) Collective Norms
Faithful observanece of the norms or standards imposed on members of a group. These norms can relate to conduct, values, and appearance.
Common Good
The good of a community; something that benefits the public health, safety, and/or well-being of society as a whole.
Communism
A system of society with property vested in the community and each member working for the common benefit according to their capacity and receiving according to their needs.
Conservative
- Averse to change or innovation and holding traditional values.
- Favoring free enterprise, private ownership, and socially traditional ideas.
Aboriginal Healing Fund
An Indigenous-manged, Ottawa-based, non-profit organization with the mission to help Indigenous people build healing processes that addresses the legacy of abuses such as the residential school system.
American Bill of Rights
The first 10 amendments to the US Constitution. It is based primarily on John Locke’s concept of “natural rights” for all individuals, including life, liberty, and the protection of property.
Anti-Terrorism Act
A set of laws was passed in December 2001 in response to 9/11. It gave the Canadian government special powers, such as surveillance and detention, to deal with people carrying out activities thought to be associated with terrorism.
Anti-War Movement
Organized campaigns against war. These movements can be pacifist in general and aimed at ending or restricting the military policy options, or they can be movements opposing specific military campaigns.
Apartheid
A strict, legislated system of racial segregation and discrimination against black and other “coloured” South Africans set in place by the National Party of South Africa from 1948 to 1994.
Autarky
Self-sufficiency or independence from other countries. For example, the German government worked to achieve autarky in the country’s economy.
Authoritarianism
A form of government with authority vested in an elite group that may or may not rule in the interests of the people. Authoritarian political systems take many forms, including oligarchies, military dictatorships, ideological one-party states, and monarchies.
Autonomy
A state of individual freedom from outside authority.
Bank Run
A situation in which too many depositors try to withdraw their savings from a financial institution, endangering it with bankruptcy.
Boycott
A refusal to do busniness with or associate with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest.
Brinksmanship
International behaviour or foreign policy that takes a country to the brink of war; pushes one’s demands to the point of threatening military action. It usually refers to the Cuba Missile Crisis between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (CCRF)
A document entrenched in the Constituitional Act (1982) that lists the rights and freedoms guaranteed to Canadians.
Capital
The money or other assets with which an entrepreneur starts in business; any tool or mechanism used in the creation of wealth.
Laissez-Faire Capitalism
An economic system based on free markets, fair competition, wise consumers, and profit-motivated producers. Little to no government intervention is favoured.
Censorship
The act of restricting freedoms of expression or freedom of access to ideas or works, usually by governments and usually to protect the preceived common good. It can be related to speech, writings, religious pracitices, art, or military matters.
Chartism
A working-class movement in Britiain that focused on political and social reform from 1838 to 1848.
Citizen Advocacy
A movement to strengthen citizen action and motivation to participate in community and civic affairs; often focuses on bringing the marginalized back into the community.
Citizenship
Membership by birth or naturalization in a society, community, or country that enables definable rights or participation and protection, and certain responsibilities and duties to the society, community, or country.
Citizenship
Membership by birth or naturalization in a society, community, or country that enables definable rights or participation and protection, and certain responsibilities and duties to the society, community, or country.
Civil Disobedience
The refusal to obey a law because it is considered to be unjust; is a form of non-violent political protest.
Civility
Thoughtfulness about how our actions may affect others based on the recognition that human beings live together.
Civil Rights Movements
Popular movements, notably in the United States in the 1950s and the 1960s, that work to extend rights to marginalized members in society. Often these struggles aim not only for legal and civic rights, but also for respect, dignity, economic aid, and social equality for all.
Classical Conservatism
An ideology that says that government should represent the legacy of the past as well as the well-being of the present. Ideas of the ideology include: society should be in a hierarchical structure, leaders should be chosen by a limited electorate, leaders should be humanitarian, and the stability of society is all-important.
Class System
A division of society into different classes of people.
Climate Change
The change in global weather patterns.
Cold War
The political, economic, and social struggle between the Soviet Union (and its allies) and the United States (and its allies) that was conducted using propaganda, economic measures, and espionage rather than military means.
Collective Interest
The set of interests that members of a group have in common. The principle of collective interest states that while individual members may have individual interests, these interests are often better addressed by making them a common set of interests that the group can address together.
Collective Responsibility
Holding a whole group or collective responsible for the actions of individuals (or individual groups) within the group or collective.
Collectivization
An economic policy where all land is taken away from private owners and combined in large, collectively worked farms.
Command Economy
An economic system based on public (state) ownership of property in whcih government plannters decide which goods to produce, how to produce them, and how they should be distributed. Also known as a planned economy; usually found in communist states.
Competition
The act of an instance of competing or contending with others. It is seen as an incentive for individuals and groups to work harder and more efficiently.
Conscientious Objection
The refusal to preform military service on religious or moral grounds.
Consensus Decison-Making
A process whereby a groups of individuals share ideas, solutions, and concerns to find a resolution of a problem that all members of a group can accept.
Consumerism
Consumer spending; a preoccupation with consumer goods and their acqusition and display of things in order to denote status.
Containment
The American Cold War foreign policy of containing the spread of communism by establishing strategic allies around the world throough trade and military alliances.
Cooperation
Working together to the same end; a principle emphasized by collectivist ideologies.
Deficit
An excess of liabilities or expenditures over income or assests in a given period. Deficit spending by a government is spending that is financed by borrowing and may occur in order the “kick-start” a stagnant economy.
Democracy
A form of government which power is ultimately invested in the people.
Détente
A period of the Cold War during which the major powers tried to lessen the tensions between them through diplomacy, arms talks and reductions, and cultural exchanges.
Deterrence
The Cold War foreign policy of both major powers aiming to deter the strategic advances of the other through arms development and arms build-up. Deterrence depends on each combatant creating the perception that each is willing to resort to military confrontation.
Deterrence
The Cold War foreign policy of both major powers aiming to deter the strategic advances of the other through arms development and arms build-up. Deterrence depends on each combatant creating the perception that each is willing to resort to military confrontation.
Dictatorship of the Proletariat
The theoretical organization of a communist society in the early stage of communism. The centralized government of the state, which would be elected by the workers, would control all aspects of life.
Direct Democracy
A form of government in which the people participate in deciding issues directly. It operates on the belief that every citizen’s voice is important and necessary for the orderly and efficient operation of society.
Dissent
The politcal act of disagreeing; the right to disagree.
Dissuasion
The French word for deterrence.
Draft
Conscription of compulsory military service.
Draft Dodger
Someone who avoids conscription by fleeing to another country.
Drought
A severe lack of precipitation in a certain area.
Dust Bowl
The regions in the Canadian Prairies and the Great Plains of the United States that were devastated by the drought and dust storms in the 1930s.
Economic Equality
A principle common to collectivist ideologies which can have different meanings depending on the person or ideology. Governments may try to foster economic equality though tax policies and by ensuring all people earn equal wages for work of similar value.
Economic Freedom
The freedom to buy and sell your labour, idea, or product to whomever you wish.
Egalitarianism
A political principle that holds that all people should be treated as equals and allowed equal civil, social, economic rights under the law.
Election Fraud
Changing the true results of an election by various means: voter intimidation, multiple voting, destruction of ballots, and/or changing of electoral boundaries to change the composition of a riding.
Emancipation
Freeing from restraint, especially legal, political, or social.
Emergencies Act
A set of laws that permits the Canadian government to invoke special measures to deal with emergencies. Emergencies can include those that affect public welfare and order, Canadian security, war, or other armed conflict. The legislation is designed to protect Canadians’ fundamental rights and freedoms in times of crisis. It replaced the War Measures Act in 1988.
Enclosure
The act of enclosing. Land that had been held in common becomes the private property of an individual.
Enemy Aliens
Non-citizens who come from a enemy country.
Enfranchisement
Granting people the rights of citizens, especially the right to vote.
Enlightenment
An intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries when classical liberalism spread through Europe and changed some people’s beliefs about religion, human beings, reason, and nature. Also called the Age of Reason.
Environmental Change
The changes in the natural world around us.
Environmentalism
A political and ethical ideology that focuses on protecting the natural environment and lessening the harmful effects that human activities have on the ecosystem.
Espionage
The practice of spying or using spies, especially to obtain secret information.
Expansionism
A country’s foreign policy of acquiring additional territory through the violation of another country’s sovereignty for reasons of defence, resources, markets, national pride, or perceived racial superiority.
Extremism
A term used by others to describe the beliefs and actions of those preceived to be outside of the accepted norms or political or social behaviour. It is a response adopted by those for whom ordinary politcal means of redressing preceived wrongs are deemed ineffective.
Facism
An extreme, right-wing, anti-democratic nationalist movement which led to totalitarian forms of governments in Germany and Italy from the 1920s to the 1940s.
Feminism
The belief in the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. The term also stands for the movement that advocates for these equalities.
Foreign Policy
The course of action taken by a country in its relations with other countries.
Free Market
A market that operates with limited government intervention. In a free-market economy, questions regarding production and marketing of goods and servinces are decided through the free interaction of producers and consumers.
Global Citizenship
Being a citizen of the world; a feeling of responsibility, beyond a country’s borders, towards humanity.
Global Warming
An increase in the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere and a indicator of climate change.
The Great Depression
An economic crisis that began in 1929 with the stock market crash and continued thoughout the 1930s. During this period, banks failed, factories closed, unemployment was high, and international trade declined.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Gases from both natural and (primarily) human-made sources that are released into the earth’s atmosphere and changes the way the atmosphere absorbs and emits radiation, which in turn affects the temperature of the earth.
Hot War
A traditional war whcih includes troops in direct conflict, as opposed to a cold war.
Humanist
Someone who believes in the supremacy of reason of individuals over faith and who has developed an interpretation of history and beliefs about human nature, the structure of society, and the purpose of life, based on reason and not religion.
Humanitarianism
Trying to improve the lives of other and to reduce their suffering through various means, including social reform and aid.
Human Rights
Also known as “natural rights,” the rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled. These rights are enshrined in Bills and Declarations of Rights in many countries including Canada and the United States.
Ideology
A set of principles or ideas that explains your world and your place within it, which is based on certain assumptions about human nature and society and provides an interpretation of the past, and explanation for the present, and a vision for the future.
Illiberal
Ideologies opposed to the values, beliefs, and principles of liberalism. Usually refers to undemocratic actions but may be found in democratic countries during times of crisis.
Income Disparity
Difference in earnings between the rich and the poor.
Indian Act
An act of Parliament first passed in 1867, since amended many times, dealing with the governance of reserves and the rights and benefits of registered individuals. Included under the act are those First Nations peoples (and their descendants) who signed treates or were otherwise registered in the act.
Individualism
A current of thinking that values the freedom and worth of the individual, sometimes over the security and harmony of the group.
Individual Rights and Freedoms
A key principle of individualism and an inportant feature of liberal democracies; examples include freedoms of religion, association, and the right to liberty, life, and the security of a person.
Industrialization
The stage of economic development during which the application of technology results in mass production and mass consumption within a country. This is accompanied by urbanization and changes in national living standards.
Inflation
An increase in the general price level of products, the cost of labour, and interest rates.
Internment Camp
Detention facilities used to confine political prisoners and people of specific nationality or minority groups.
Iron Curtain
A phrase coined by Winston Churchill in 1947 that refers to the barrier between Europe between self-governing, pro-democratic, pro-capitalist countries of the West and countries in pro-Soviet Eastern Europe under communist Soviet control.
Jus Sanguinis
The right by blood; one of the two key legal princples of citizenship.
Jus Soli
The right of the soil; one of the two key legal princples of citizenship.
“Just War”
An idea that a country is right to go to war for certain reasons, indlucing self-defence, defence of another country that is under attack, protection of innocent people, and punishment for serious crimes.
Kyoto Protocol/Kyoto Accord
An agreement reached at an international convention at which world leaders met to discuss climate change and create a plan for reducing greenhouse emissions.
Kyoto Targets
The reduced levels of greenhosue gas emissions for each country set by the Kyoto Protocol.
Labour Movement
The effort by organized labour to improve conditions for workers. Collective interest is the basis for the organized labour movement, which began during, and as a result of, the Industrial Revolution.
Labour Standards
Government-enforced rules and standards aimed a safe, clean working environments, and the protection of workers’ rights to free association, collective bargaining, and freedom of discrimination.
Labour Unions
Associations of workers engaged to provide a united function who speak with management about their concerns. Their purpose is to provide a united voice that speaks for the rights of its members.
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
A situation that would result from an unwinnable nuclear war. MAD ideally deters each side from entering into direct conflict.
Pandemic
Outbreaks of disease on a global scale.
New Deal
Economic policies put in place by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. The polices gave government a more significant role in the regulation of the economy and in providing social “safety net” programs.
Philantropy
A cornern for, and an effort to improve, that state of humankind though donations of money, time, or talents.
No-Fly List
A list of people whom the Canadian government has identified as potentially posing an immediate threat to aviation security. People on the list are barred from flying on domestic flights in Canada.
Monopoly
Teh exclusive ownership or control of trade in a particular good or service.
Political Dissidents
People who disagree with the policies and actions of their government.
Laissez-Faire
Non-interference or non-intervention. Laissez-fiare economics theory supports free markets and an individual’s right to own private property.
Naturalization
The process of applying for citizenship and becoming a citizen.
