Unit 1

Question 1

Achieved Status

Answer 1

A social position that a person attains largely through his or her own efforts.

Question 2

Ascribed Status

Answer 2

A social position assigned to a person by society without regard for the persons unique talents or characteristics.

Question 3

Consumption

Answer 3

The process by which individuals and groups acquire, use, and dispose of goods and services. It also involves the study of how consumption patterns are influenced by social, cultural, and economic factors.

Question 4

Culture Lag

Answer 4

A period of maladjustment when the non material culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions.

Question 5

Culture

Answer 5

The totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior.

Question 6

Cultural Relativism

Answer 6

The viewing of people’s behavior from the perspective of their own culture.

Question 7

Cultural Universals

Answer 7

A common practice or belief found in every culture.

Question 8

Dominant Ideology

Answer 8

A set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests.

Question 9

Dysfunction

Answer 9

An element or process of a society that may disrupt the social system or reduce its stability.

Question 10

Ethnocentrism

Answer 10

The tendency to assume that one’s own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others.

Question 11

Formal Norm

Answer 11

A norm that has been written down and that specifies strict punishments for violators.

Question 12

Gender Role

Answer 12

Expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females.

Question 13

Gatekeeping

Answer 13

The process by which a relatively small number of people in the media industry control what materials eventually reaches the audience.

Question 14

Hypothesis

Answer 14

A speculative statement about the relationship between two or more variables.

Question 15

Informal Norm

Answer 15

A norm that is generally understood but not precisely recorded.

Question 16

Latent Function

Answer 16

An unconscious or unintended function that may reflect hidden purposes.

Question 17

Macrosociology

Answer 17

Sociological investigation that concentrates on a large scale phenomena or entire civilizations.

Question 18

Mode

Answer 18

The single most common value in a series of scores.

Question 19

Median

Answer 19

The midpoint or number that divides a series if values into two groups of equal numbers of values.

Question 20

Microsociology

Answer 20

Sociological investigation that stresses the study of small groups, often through experimental means.

Question 21

Manifest Function

Answer 21

An open, stated, and conscious function.

Question 22

Mass Media

Answer 22

Print and electronic means of communication that carry messages to widespread audiences.

Question 23

Master Status

Answer 23

A status that dominates others and thereby determines a persons general position in society.

Question 24

Mean

Answer 24

A number calculated by adding a series of values and then dividing by the number of values.

Question 25

More

Answer 25

Norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society.

Question 26

Narcotizing Effect

Answer 26

The phenomenon in which the media provide such massive amounts of coverage that the audience becomes numb and fails to act on information, regardless of how compelling the issue.

Question 27

Out Group

Answer 27

A group or category to which people feel they do not belong.

Question 28

Primary Groups

Answer 28

A small group characterized by intimate, face to face association and cooperation.

Question 29

Reference Groups

Answer 29

Any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their behavior.

Question 30

Resocialization

Answer 30

The process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one’s life.

Question 31

Role Conflict

Answer 31

The situation that occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by the same person.

Question 32

Role Strain

Answer 32

The difficulty that arises when the same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations.

Question 33

Sanction

Answer 33

A penalty or reward for conduct concerning a social norm.

Question 34

Secondary Groups

Answer 34

A formal, impersonal group in which there is little social intimacy or mutual understanding.

Question 35

Social Capital

Answer 35

The collective benefit of social networks, which are built on reciprocal trust.

Question 36

Social Network

Answer 36

A series of social relationships that links a person directly to others, and through them indirectly to still more people.

Question 37

Socialization

Answer 37

The lifelong process in which people learn attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture.

Question 38

Sociological Imagination

Answer 38

An awareness of the relationships between an individual and the wider society, both today and in the past.

Question 39

Stereotyping

Answer 39

An unreliable generalization about all members of a group that does not recognize individual differences within the group.

Question 40

Symbol

Answer 40

A gesture, object, or word that forms the basis of human communication.

Question 41

Feminist Perspective

Answer 41

A sociological approach that views inequity in gender as central to all behavior and organization.

Question 42

Interactionist Perspective

Answer 42

A sociological approach that generalizes about every forms of social interaction in order to explain society as a whole.

Question 43

Functionalist Perspective

Answer 43

A sociological approach that emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structures to maintain its stability.

Question 44

Conflict Perspective

Answer 44

A sociological approach that assumes coal behavior is best understood in terms of tension between groups over power or the allocation of resources, including housing, money, access to services, and political representation.