sociology ch 5

Question 1

achieved status

Answer 1

a social position a person assumes voluntarily as a result of personal choice, merit or direct effort

Question 2

ascribed status

Answer 2

a social position conferred on a person at birth or received involuntarily later in life

Question 3

dramaturgical analysis

Answer 3

the study of social interaction that compares every day life to a theatrical presentation

Question 4

ethnomethodology

Answer 4

the study of the common sense knowledge that people use to understand the situations in which they find themselves

Question 5

formal organization

Answer 5

a highly structured group formed for the purpose of completing certain tasks or achieving certain goals

Question 6

gemeinschaft (guh-mine-shoft)

Answer 6

a traditional society in which social relationships are based on personal bonds of friendship and kinship and on intergenerational stability

Question 7

gesellchaft (guh-zell-shoft)

Answer 7

a large urban society in which social bonds are based on impersonal and specialized relationships with little long term commitment to the group or consensus on values

Question 8

impression management

Answer 8

a term for peoples efforts to present themselves to others in way that are most favourable to their own interest or image

Question 9

master status

Answer 9

a term used to describe the most important status a person occupies

Question 10

mechanical solidarity

Answer 10

the social cohesion that exists in pre-industrial societies, in which there is minimal division of labour and people fell united by shared values and common social bonds

Question 11

nonverbal communication

Answer 11

the transfer of information between persons without the use of speech

Question 12

organic solidarity

Answer 12

the social cohesion that exists in industrial societies, in which people perform specialized tasks and feel united by their mutual dependence

Question 13

personal space

Answer 13

the immediate area surrounding a person that the person claims as private

Question 14

primary group

Answer 14

a small, less specialized group in which members engage in face to face, emotion based interactions over an extended time

Question 15

role

Answer 15

a set of behavioural expectations associated with a given status

Question 16

role conflict

Answer 16

a situation in which incompatible role demands are placed on a person by two or more statuses held at the same time

Question 17

role exit

Answer 17

a situation in which people disengage from social roles that have been central to their self identity

Question 18

role expectation

Answer 18

a group’s or society’s definition of the way a specific role ought to be played

Question 19

role performance

Answer 19

how a person plays a role

Question 20

role strain

Answer 20

the strain experience by a person when incompatible demands are built into a single status that the person occupies

Question 21

secondary group

Answer 21

a larger, more specialized group in which the members engage in more impersonal, goal oriented relationships for a limited time

Question 22

self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 22

a situation in which a false belief or prediction produces behaviour that makes the originally false belief come true

Question 23

social construction of reality

Answer 23

the process by which our perception of reality is shaped largely by the subjective meaning that we give to an experience

Question 24

social group

Answer 24

a group that consists of two or more people who interact frequently and share a common identity and a feeling of interdependence

Question 25

social institution

Answer 25

a set of organized beliefs and rules that establish how a society will attempt to meet its basic social needs

Question 26

social interaction

Answer 26

the process by which people act toward or respond to other people

Question 27

social marginality

Answer 27

the state of being part insider and part outsider in the social structure

Question 28

social network

Answer 28

a series of social relationships that link an individual to others

Question 29

social structure

Answer 29

the stable pattern of social relationships that exist within a particular group or society

Question 30

status

Answer 30

a socially defined position in a group or society characterized by certain expectations, rights and duties

Question 31

status set

Answer 31

a term used to describe all the statuses that a person occupies at a given time

Question 32

status symbol

Answer 32

a material sign that informs others of a persons specific status

Question 33

stigma

Answer 33

any physical or social attribute or sign that so devalues a persons social identity that it disqualifies that person from full social acceptance