SOCIOLOGY CH. 13

Question 1

a period of time that can be spent relaxing, engaging in recreation, or otherwise indulging in freely chosen activities

Answer 1

leisure

Question 2

any satisfying, amusing, and stimulating activity that is experienced as refreshing and renewing for body, mind, and spirit

Answer 2

recreation

Question 3

the utilization of goods and services, either for personal use or in manufacturing

Answer 3

consumption

Question 4

the process by which it becomes possible to buy and sell a particular good or service

Answer 4

commodification

Question 5

the process by which a single corporation acquires ownership of a variety of otherwise unrelated businesses

Answer 5

conglomeration

Question 6

a mutually beneficial interaction between parts of an organization that allows it to create something greater than the sum of its individual outputs

Answer 6

synergy

Question 7

the legal combination of two companies, usually in order to maximize efficiency and profits by eliminating redundant infrastructure and personnel

Answer 7

merger

Question 8

the process by which the number of companies producing and distributing a particular commodity decreases, often through mergers and conglomeration

Answer 8

concentration

Question 9

a situation in which there is only one individual or organization, without competitors, providing a particular good or service

Answer 9

monopoly

Question 10

laws designed to maintain competition in the marketplace by prohibiting monopolies, price fixing, or other forms of collusion among businesses

Answer 10

antitrust legislation

Question 11

reduction or removal of government controls from an industry to allow for a free and efficient marketplace

Answer 11

deregulation

Question 12

forms of cultural expression usually associated with the masses, consumer goods, and commercial products

Answer 12

popular culture

Question 13

those forms of cultural expression usually associated with the elite or dominant classes

Answer 13

high culture

Question 14

groups of people who share similar artistic, literary, media, recreational, and intellectual interests

Answer 14

taste publics

Question 15

areas of culture that share similar aesthetics and standards of taste

Answer 15

taste cultures

Question 16

a theory that explains the effects of media as if their contents simply entered directly into the consumer, who is powerless to resist their influence

Answer 16

Hypodermic Needle Theory (Magic Bullet Theory)

Question 17

a term used to characterize audience members as active participants in “reading” or constructing the meaning of the media they consume

Answer 17

active audiences

Question 18

approaches to understanding media effects that focus on how the media fulfill individuals’ psychological or social needs

Answer 18

uses and gratifications paradigm

Question 19

theory that suggests that audiences seek messages in the media that reinforce their existing attitudes and beliefs and are thus not influenced by challenging or contradictory information

Answer 19

reinforcement theory

Question 20

theory that the media can set the public agenda by selecting certain news stories and excluding others, thus influencing what audiences think about

Answer 20

agenda-setting theory

Question 21

theory on media effects that suggests audiences get information through opinion leaders who influence their attitudes and beliefs, rather than through direct, firsthand sources

Answer 21

two-step flow model

Question 22

the ideas and frameworks that audience members bring to bear on a particular media text to understand its meaning

Answer 22

interpretive strategies

Question 23

a theory on media that combines models that privilege the media producer and models that view the audience as the primary source of meaning; this theory recognizes that media texts are created to deliver specific messages and that individuals actively interpret them

Answer 23

encoding/decoding model

Question 24

Henry Jenkins’s term for the ways that audience members manipulate an original cultural product to create a new one; a common way for fans to exert some control over the media they consume

Answer 24

textual poaching

Question 25

a group of people dedicated to the consumption and interpretation of a particular cultural product and who create a collective, social meaning for the product

Answer 25

interpretive community

Question 26

having many possible meanings or interpretations

Answer 26

polysemy

Question 27

an individual who serves as an example for others to strive toward and emulate

Answer 27

role model

Question 28

a political and moral philosophy focused on strengthening civil society and communal bonds

Answer 28

communitarianism

Question 29

groups of people drawn together by shared interests, especially those relating to hobbies, sports, and media

Answer 29

lifestyle enclaves

Question 30

any informal public place where people come together regularly for conversation and camaraderie when not at work or at home

Answer 30

third place

Question 31

those organizations, institutions, and interactions outside government, family, and work that promote social bonds and the smooth functioning of society

Answer 31

civil society

Question 32

foreign travel with the goal of minimizing the environmental consequences of tourism as well as its possible negative effects on local cultures and economies, typically involving people from highly industrialized nations traveling to less developed countries

Answer 32

ecotourism

Question 33

a system of knowledge, beliefs, behaviors, and customs shared by members of an interacting group to which members can refer and employ as the basis of further interaction.

Answer 33

idioculture