Term 3 Flashcards
Socialization
The process by which people learn to function in social life and become aware of themselves as they interact with others
Role
The behaviour expected of a person occupying a particular position in society
Self
Consist of your ideas and attitudes about who you are as an independent being
The “I”
According to Mead, is the subjective and impulsive aspect of the “self” that is present from birth
The “Me”
According to mead, is the objective component of the self that emerges as people communicate symbolically and learn to take the role of the other
Significant others
People who play important roles in the early socialization experiences of children
Generalized other
According to Mead, is a person’s image of cultural standards and how they apply to him or her.
How cultural standards are used by others to assess oneself (how one is viewed by “the other”)
Life course
Refers to the distinct phases of life through which people pass.
These stages vary from one society and historical period to another
Rites of passage
Cultural ceremonies that mark the transition from one stage of life to another
Ex) wedding, baptism, graduation
Age cohort
A category of people born in the same range of years
Age roles
Norms and expectations about the behaviour of people in different age cohorts
Generation
An age cohort that shares unique formative experiences during the first few decades of life, which helped to shape a collective identity and set of values.
Social environment
A persons social environment is composed of real or imagined others to whom the person is connected
Adaptation
The process of changing our actions to maximize the degree to which an environment satisfies our needs and interests
Primary socialization
The process of acquiring the basic skills needed to function in society during childhood.
(usually takes place in a family setting)
Gender roles
The set of behaviours associated with widely shared expectations about how males and females are supposed to act.
Secondary socialization
Socialization outside of the family after childhood.
(Such as school)
Hidden curriculum
Involves teaching obedience to authority and conformity to cultural norms
Thomas theorem
“Situations we define as real become real in their consequences.”
Ex) a child believes there is a monster under his bed therefore the perceived reality of it keeps him up at night.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
An expectation that helps bring about what it predicts
Peer group
Comprised of people who are about the same age and have similar status.
A peer group acts as an agent of socialization.
Status
Refers to recognized social position and individual can occupy
Organizations
Collectivities characterized by social structure that encourages patterns in individual action
Ex) classrooms
Norms
Generally accepted ways of doing things
Ascribed status
A social position imposed on a person at birth. It is related to a characteristic that is impossible or extremely difficult to change
Achieved status
Social position that a person acquires through his or hers efforts and choices
Master status
A social position that a person considers central to their social identity
Role playing
Involves conforming to existing performance expectations
Role making
The creative process by which individuals generate role expectations and performances
Social interaction
The process by which role performers act in relation to each others
Emotion management
Involves people obeying “feeling rules” and responding appropriately to the situation in which they find themselves
(Essentially people responding to situations by how they feel they should act)
Emotion labour
Emotion management that many people do as part of their job and for which they are paid.
Ex) nurse, flight attendant
Essentially setting aside one’s own emotions and dealing with the emotions of others.
Power
The capacity to carry out one’s will despite resistance
Domination
Emotive interaction in which nearly all power is concentrated in the hands of people of high status.
Fear is the dominant emotion and systems of interaction based on domination
Cooperation
A basis for social interaction in which power is more or less equally distributed between people of different status. The dominant emotion in cooperative interaction is trust
Competition
Emotive interaction in which power is unequally distributed but the degree of any qualities less than in systems of domination.
Envy is an important emotion in competitive interactions
Dramaturgical analysis
Social interaction viewed as a sort of play, in which people present themselves so that they appear in the best possible light
Role distancing
Involves giving the impression that we are just “going through the motions” but actually lack serious commitment to a role
Ethnomethodology
The study of how people make sense of what others do and say by adhering to pre-existing norms
Breaching experiments
Illustrate the importance of every day, ritualistic interactions by disrupting interaction patterns
Status cues
Visual indicators of a persons social position
Stereotypes
Rigid views of how members of various groups act, regardless of whether individual group members really behave that way
Political economy
Focusses on the way wealth influences power and power influences wealth
Governments
Set policies – laws and regulations – that affect the creation and distribution of wealth and society
Authority
Legitimate power, that is, Power that is justified in the minds of most citizens
Traditional authority
The norm in feudal societies, involves rulers inheriting authority through family or clan ties.
The right of a family or clan to monopolize leadership is because it was believed to derive from the will of a god
Legal-rational authority
Is typical of modern societies. It drives from respect for the law. Laws specify how a person can achieve office. People generally believe laws are rational. If someone achieves office by following laws, people respect his or her authority
Charismatic authority
Is based on a belief in the claims of extraordinary individuals that they are inspired by a god or some higher principal
Political revolution
The overthrow of political institutions by an opposition movement and its replacement by new institutions
State
Consist of the institutions responsible for formulating and carrying out a country’s laws and public policies 
Civil society
The private sphere of social life
Authoritarian states
Sharply restrict citizen control of the state
Totalitarian state
Citizens lack almost any control of the state
Democracy
Citizens exercise a relatively high degree of control over the state. They do so mainly but choosing representatives and regular, competitive elections.
Liberal democracies
Enjoy the highest level of citizen control over the state. Not only do they hold regular, competitive elections; they also protect the rights of minorities, ensure that each of the main branches of government can restrain the power of the other branches, protect freedom of the press and other media, and so on.
Markets
Social relations that regulate the exchange of goods and services
Populists
Tend to be anti-immigration, pro capitalist, and authoritarian
Prejudice
An attitude that judges a person on his or hers real or imagined characteristics
Discrimination
Unfair treatment of people because of their group membership
Race
A social construct used to distinguish people in terms of one or more physical markers, usually with profound effects on their life
Scapegoat
A disadvantage person or category of people whom others blame for their own problems
Ethnic group
Comprises people whose perceived cultural markers are deemed socially significant
Racialization
Refers to the process by which race becomes socially constructed, based upon things like language and ethnicity.
Often becomes one’s master status
Symbolic ethnicity
Nostalgic allegiance to the culture of the immigrant generation, or that of the old country, that is not usually incorporated into everyday behaviour
Racism
The belief that a visible characteristic of a group, such a skin color, indicates group inferiority and justifies discrimination
Micro-aggressions
Minor forms of racial or ethnic discrimination that occur in the course of daily interaction and are often not noticed by people committing them
Institutional racism
Occurs in organizational policies and practises systematically discriminate against people of some racial group
Critical race theory
Holds that racial and ethnical prejudice and discrimination are embedded in institutionalized ideologies and practices, not necessarily in the conscious actions of individuals.
Internal colonialism
Involves one race or ethnic groups subjugated another in the same country. It prevents assimilation by segregating the subordinate group in terms of jobs, housing, and social contracts.
Expulsion
The forcible removal of a population from a territory claimed by another population.
Genocide
The international extermination of an entire population defined as a race or a people.
Conquest
The forcible capture of land and the economic and political domination of its inhabitants.
Slavery
The ownership and control of people
Split labour market
where low-wage workers of one race in a high-wage workers of another race compete for the same jobs, high-wage workers are likely to resent the presence of low-wage competitors and conflict is bound to result.
Transnational communities
Communities whose boundaries extend between or among countries
Pluralism
The retention of racial and ethnic culture combined with equal access to basic social resources
Network
A set of social individuals that are linked by communicative acts
Ex) friendships, employment relationships 
Institutions
Made up of multiple organizations that are formally networked
Ex) criminal justice system is made up of Police, Prosecutors, Courts, Prisons… etc.
Institutionalization
The process by which networks which are at first informal become formally organized and formally recognized
Deviance
Behaviour that goes against established social norms
Criminal law
Describes a set of behaviour society recognizes as (1) deviant and (2) formally sanctionable
Crime
Deviant behaviour that violates the law
Social diversions
Minor acts of deviance that are recognized, but largely tolerated, by society
(No formal sanction) 
Social deviations
More serious acts of deviance that most people agree are socially harmful
(Institutional sanction)
Conflict crimes
Deviant acts that are criminalized, but about which there is controversy with regard to ultimate moral status.
(State sanction) 
Consensus crimes
Deviant acts that are criminalized and that are universally accepted as morally unacceptable
(State sanction) 
internal social control
Achieved via socialization; shapes peoples attitudes such that they come to regard deviant behaviours undesirable. Conformity to social expectations 
External social control
Regulates behaviour by imposing punishments and offering rewards.
