Sociology Chp. 1

Question 1

Customs

Answer 1

established and accepted cultural practices and behaviors.

Question 2

Culture

Answer 2

the way of life of a particular group of people, taught and learnt through socialization.

Question 3

Social Control

Answer 3

ways in which members of society are made to conform to norms and values.

Question 4

Sanctions

Answer 4

ways of rewarding or punishing acceptable or unacceptable behavior; usually used in the sense of punishments (negative sanctions).

Question 5

Agencies of Socialization/Social Control

Answer 5

The social institutions and groups, such as family and the media, which influence behavior by providing guidance, examples and sanctions.

Question 6

Family

Answer 6

a social institution comprising a group of people linked by kinship ties.

Question 7

Determinism

Answer 7

the claim that human behavior is shaped by forces beyond the immediate control of Individuals, such as social structures or ‘society’.

Question 8

Social Class

Answer 8

The division of society into socio-economic groups, with different levels of power and wealth.

Question 9

Focus of Production

Answer 9

The ways in which capital can be transformed through technology and people’s labor into goods for sale.

Question 10

Liberal Feminism

Answer 10

a feminist approach which seeks to bring about equal opportunities for men and women without changing the system.

Question 11

Structuration

Answer 11

theory, developed by Giddens, which argues that structure and action are equally significant in terms of our ability to understand the relationship between the individual and society.

Question 12

Surveillance

Answer 12

when people or places are watched over carefully; a way of controlling behavior.

Question 13

Under-socialization

Answer 13

when the process of socialization is incomplete or inadequate.

Question 14

Marginalization

Answer 14

the pushing of an individual or group to the edge of a group or society, denying them an active voice and identity

Question 15

Cultural Deprivation

Answer 15

not having the values and attitudes which are likely to bring success in society.

Question 16

Resistance

Answer 16

the ways in which people combat and contest the dominant power in a society. Used for a wide variety of activities.

Question 17

Social Identity

Answer 17

collective or group identities applied to important roles. Cultures classify, group and give meaning to broad identities, such as male or female, that define how ‘men’ and ‘women’ are generally expected to behave.

Question 18

Age Cohort

Answer 18

The group of people who move together from one age to the next.

Question 19

Socialization

Answer 19

the process through which people learn the various forms of behavior that go with membership of a particular culture. Young children, for example, must learn the roles, norms and values they will need to become full members of their society; these are things children do not acquire ‘naturally’.

Question 20

Social Construction

Answer 20

the idea that our perception of what is real is created through a variety of historical and cultural processes, rather than something that is fixed and naturally occurring. Different societies, for example, construct male and female identities differently.

Question 21

Roles

Answer 21

expected patterns of behavior expected with each position that we hold, such as being a friend, student or teacher.

Question 22

Values

Answer 22

beliefs or ideas that are important to the people who hold them. A value always expresses a belief about how something should be.

Question 23

Norms

Answer 23

socially acceptable ways of behaving in different roles.

Question 24

Anomie

Answer 24

a situation in which people are unable to predict the behavior of others because the system of norms and values is not being followed.

Question 25

Marxism

Answer 25

political, sociological and economic school of thought based on the work of Karl Marx.

Question 26

Peers

Answer 26

people of similar status, and usually age, with whom a person has frequent contact.

Question 27

Subcultures

Answer 27

a culture within a larger culture. Subcultures take many forms, such as religious groups, fans of a particular singer or actor, school gangs and so on. Subcultures usually develop their own norms and values, although these do not necessarily conflict with those of the wider culture within which they exist.

Question 28

Consensus

Answer 28

general agreement across a society on a set of values; seen by functionalists as essential for society to be stable.

Question 29

Consumerism

Answer 29

repeated experience of wealthy lifestyles and desirable consumer goods that suggests that ‘happiness’ is something that can bought.

Question 30

Patriarchy

Answer 30

male-dominated unit or society.

Question 31

Structuralist

Answer 31

a form of sociology, such as functionalism and Marxism, that focuses on analyzing society in terms of its institutional relationships and their effect on individual beliefs and behaviors.

Question 32

Interactionist

Answer 32

an approach focused on the behavior of individuals that refers to three related perspectives (phenomenology, ethnomethodology and symbolic interactionism, based on the concept of social action.

Question 33

Agency

Answer 33

when people have some control over their lives and can make choices and decisions, rather than their behaviour being determined by forces beyond their control.

Question 34

Deviance

Answer 34

behavior that breaks the norms or values of a group.

Question 35

Relations of Production

Answer 35

The relationships between the people involved in production, such as between the owners and the workers.

Question 36

Ideology

Answer 36

a set of ideas and ideals which explains how society works or should work

Question 37

Capitalism

Answer 37

an economic system based on the private ownership of property and the pursuit of profit.

Question 38

Marxist Feminism

Answer 38

a feminist approach which combines feminism with Marxism to argue that women are exploited by both capitalism and patriarchy.

Question 39

Radical Feminism

Answer 39

a feminist approach which focuses on patriarchy as the cause of women’s oppression.

Question 40

Microsociology

Answer 40

a type of sociology focused on the study of individuals and small groups.

Question 41

Over-socialized conception of man

Answer 41

criticism of the claim that human beings are simply the product of their socialization and that behavior can be understood as merely a response to external influence.

Question 42

Conformity

Answer 42

behaving in a socially acceptable way.

Question 43

Force

Answer 43

also referred to as coercion - using intimidation and threats to persuade someone to do something they do not want to do.

Question 44

Power

Answer 44

the ability to make others do what you want, even against their will.

Question 45

Non-conformity

Answer 45

when a person acts in ways that go against the norms and values of society.

Question 46

Neo-Marxism

Answer 46

any developments from original Marxism, adapting it to meet changing circumstances.