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Absolute Poverty – the level of poverty at which an individual is struggling to meet basic needs, such as adequate nutrition and shelter

Achieved Status — a status you achieve at some point after birth that is understood as a position you have more control over

Adult Literacy Rate – the percentage of people aged 15 and above who can read and write a simple sentence

Affirmative Action – the policies and practices offering equal opportunity to some racial-ethnic minorities and women in employment and education intended to help compensate for historical discrimination

Agender – People who do not identify with a gender at all

Agents of Socialization – arenas in which we interact and in which the socialization process happens (e.g., schools, neighborhood, families, etc.)

Aggregate — a collection of people who are in the same place at the same time but who otherwise do not necessarily interact or have a common identity

Agricultural Society — relies on plow and wheel technologies to increase food production

Androgynous – a person that combines aspects of both femininity and masculinity characteristics of the society in which it is found

Annexation — involves a legal process that transfers territory, typically in the form of a treaty, between groups

Anomie – or normlessness, which results from situations, such as periods of rapid social change, when social norms are weak and unclear or social ties are weak

Antisocial Behavior – behavior that is not conducive to societal expectations, especially those that are aggressive or disruptive

Artifacts – material objects that constitute a society’s material culture

Ascribed Status — the status that someone is born with and has little control over

Assimilation – a pattern of intergroup relations in which the boundary lines between groups is diminished and groups become increasingly similar to one another

Authoritarianism — political systems in which an individual or a group of individuals holds power, restricts or prohibits popular participation in governance, and represses dissent

Authoritarian Personality Theory – A social-psychological theory of prejudice in which it is thought that individuals with authoritarian-type personalities are more prone to prejudice

Authority – is power that is approved by a society and considered legitimate

Automation – workers being replaced by technology

Bureaucracy – formal organizations with certain organizational features designed to achieve goals in the most efficient way possible

Biological Racism – A form of racism based on the belief that a minority group is biologically inferior to a dominant group

BIPOC – Acronym for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color

Bisexuality – preference for sexual relationships with both individuals of the opposite sex and of one’s own sex

Blaming the System – the social structure of society is held responsible for creating many social problems

Blaming the Victim – when harm is inflicted by one person to another person, the harmed person is held responsible for the harm done to them

Bourgeoisie – ruling class, owns the means of production

Bureaucracy – formal organizations with certain organizational features designed to achieve goals in the most efficient way possible

Capitalism – an economic system in which there is private ownership of the means of production, the pursuit of profit, competition for profit, and the lack of government intervention in the market (which determines prices)

Caste System of Stratification – a system of social stratification where people are born into unequal groups based on their parents’ status and remain in these groups throughout their lives

Category – a collection of individuals who have at least one attribute in common but otherwise do not necessarily interact

Causal Logic – relationship where an independent variable affects a dependent variable.

Charismatic Authority – power based on an individual’s extraordinary personal qualities

Child Abuse – physical, psychological, or sexual mistreatment of a child, which can include harming a child through neglect

Child Mortality Rate – the number of children who die before age 5 per 1,000 live births

Church – large, bureaucratically organized religious organization that is closely integrated into the larger society

Civil War – armed conflict between factions within the same nation

Class Consciousness – the awareness of one’s shared place in society within a class structure where one perceives common life chances

Classless Society – a society where stratification is non-existent

Class System of Stratification – a system of social stratification associated with industrial and post-industrial societies in which individuals can move up or down in rank

Closed System of Stratification – a system of social stratification where individuals have no opportunity to change position

Coercion – power that is not considered to be legitimately exercised, and involves the use of force or threats

Coercive organizations – involuntarily detain people because they are found to have violated the law or are judged mentally ill

Cohabitation – a couple that lives in a romantic relationship

Common Sense – our taken for granted assumptions that we learn through our experiences or our cultural socialization

Comparable Worth – that men and women should be compensated the same for work that has equivalent skill level and responsibilities

Conflict Theory – a theoretical perspective that looks at the struggle between groups (often based on race, class, gender, etc.) for scarce resources such as wealth, power and prestige.

Conflict Theory on Education – education promotes social inequality through the use of tracking, standardized testing and the hidden curriculum

Conflict Theory on Religion – Religion reinforces and promotes social inequality by convincing lower status groups to accept the status quo

Conflict Theory on Stratification – the theory that states stratification is neither necessary nor inevitable and that it results from the lack of opportunity and/or from discrimination associated with the exploitation of the masses by the elite

Conformists – individuals who accept both the goals of society and the means to achieve those goals

Conquest – a form of contact that occurs when conflict arises between formerly separated groups, resulting in one group conquering and coming to dominate the other

Contact Theory – A sociological theory on prejudice that argues prejudice arises in societies where institutional segregation and social inequality are paired

Convenience Sample – a nonrandom sample that is available quickly and inexpensive to use

Conventional Crime – a form of crime in which acts of violence or property offences are committed

Corporate Crime – crimes which are committed by major corporations

Correlation – when two variables change and the same time but the relationship is not causal

Counterculture – a group whose values, beliefs and norms directly oppose those of the larger culture and even reject it

Credential Society – a society in which eligibility for work is dependent upon the attainment of a degree or diploma

Crime – A form of deviance where an individual violates a law

Crude Birth Rate – The number of live births for every 1,000 people in a population in a given year

Crude Death Rate – The number of deaths for every 1,000 people in a population in a given year

Cult – a small religious organization that is at great odds with the norms and values of the larger society

Cultural Diffusion — the process of ideas, norms and values moving across cultural borders

Cultural Diversity – differences in material and nonmaterial culture between societies or even subcultures

Cultural Lag — when people’s behavior does not reflect the regular usage of the latest technologies

Cultural Leveling — when cultures that were previously distinct become less so due to the cultural diffusion

Cultural Racism – A form of racism based on the belief the position of a racial-ethnic minority group within the system of stratification is due to their cultural traits

Cultural Relativism — the belief that we should not judge any culture as superior or inferior to another culture

Culture – the symbols, language, norms, beliefs, values and material objects that are part of a society

Culture of Poverty Theory – a theory in which it is claimed the poor have beliefs and values that differ from the non-poor, and it is these beliefs and values that contribute to their poverty

Debunking Motif – looking beyond the on-the-surface understandings of social reality and recognize the value of alternative sociological understandings

De Facto Segregation – segregation not mandated by law, rather it is driven by demographic patterns

Degradation Ceremony – a ceremony, ritual or encounter in which a total institution’s resident is humiliated, often in front of the institution’s other residents or officials

De Jure Segregation – segregation mandated by law (e.g., the South prior to 1954)

Democracy — political system in which citizens govern themselves

Democratic Socialism Some nations combine elements of both capitalism and socialism and are called social democracies, while their combination of capitalism and socialism is called democratic socialism

Demographic Transition Theory – A theory on population growth that demonstrates trends in birth and death rates over time, showing a correlation between population growth and form of society, and which predicts that with industrialization, population growth naturally slows and eventually declines

Demography – the study of the changes in the size and composition of population

Denomination – large, bureaucratic religious organization that is closely integrated into the larger society but is not a formal part of the state

Dependency Theory – a theory which explains global stratification as rooted in colonization and exploitation of the resources and people of colonized countries to the benefit of colonizing countries, resulting in the dependency of low-income nations on high-income nations

Dependent Variable – the variable that is affected by the independent variable

Deviance – behavior that violates social norms and arouses negative social reactions

Deviant Subcultures – subcultural groups that promote deviant behavior, which arise as a result of poverty and other community conditions

Differential Association Theory – deviance is learned by interacting with friends and family members who are deviant in their actions or who perceive deviance as acceptable

Differential Justice Theory – People with power use the legal system to secure their position at the top of society and to keep the powerless at the bottom. The poor and minorities are more likely, because of their lower status, to be arrested, convicted and imprisoned

Differential Opportunity Theory – Different social classes have distinct patterns of crime due to differential access to institutionalized means

Diffusion of Responsibility – a behavior pattern where people are less likely to act if they think others will

Direct democracies — people make their own decisions about the policies and distribution of resources that affect them directly

Discoveries – when something completely new is observed or found.

Discrimination — the arbitrary denial of rights, privileges, and opportunities to members of a minority group

Division of Labor – a specialization of work that was a consequence of industrialization

Domestic Migration – migration that occurs within a country’s borders

Domestic Violence – violence between spouses and others with intimate relationships

Dominant Ideology — the norms and values of the dominant group within a society

Dramaturgical Approach — the idea that we can understand social interaction as if it were a theatrical performance

Durkheim’s Theory on Deviance – deviance is functional for society because it clarifies norms, increases conformity, strengthens social bonds and can lead to positive social change

Dyad — a two-person group

Ecclesia – large, bureaucratic religious organization that is a formal part of the state and has most or all of a state’s citizens as its members

Economic Inequality – the gap between the richest and poorest segments of society

Economy — social institution that organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of a society’s goods and services

Education – a social institution through which a society teaches its members the skills, knowledge, norms, and values they need to learn to become good, productive members of their society

Egalitarian Families – families in which fathers and mothers share authority equally

Emigration– the number of people moving out of a region for every 1,000 people in the region

Endogamy — marriage which occurs within one’s own social category or social group

Episodic Poverty – occurs when individuals and families move into and out of poverty within a given year or two, often more than once

Equilibrium Theory – a theory on societal transformation that states that when there are changes within one social institution, other social institutions will adapt through changes until order is restored.

Estate System of Stratification – a system of social stratification characterized by control of land by a small elite group and peasants work the land to the benefit of the landowners

Ethnic competition theory – a sociological theory of prejudice which holds that ethnic prejudice and conflict increase when two or more ethnic groups find themselves competing for jobs, housing, and other goals

Ethnic Group — a group with a set of shared social, cultural, and historical experiences; with relatively distinctive beliefs, values, and behaviors; and with some sense of identity of belonging to the group

Ethnicity — the shared social, cultural, and historical experiences, stemming from common national or regional backgrounds, that make groups different from one another

Ethnocentrism — the tendency to judge another culture by the standards of our own and to believe that our own culture is indeed superior to another culture

Exogamy — marriage which occurs across social categories or social groups.

Experiments – are the primary form of research in the natural and physical sciences, but in the social sciences they are for the most part found in psychology

Expulsion – A pattern of intergroup relations in which members of a dominant group expel members of a minority group from society

Extended Families — consist of parents, their children, and other relatives

False Class Consciousness – occurs when workers have adopted the ideology of the elite and are not aware of their true position in society

Family — a group of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage, adoption, or a mutual commitment and who care for one another

Femininity – refers to the cultural expectations we have of girls and women

Feminism – refers to the belief that women and men should have equal opportunities in economic, political, and social life

Feminist Theory – theoretical perspective that analyzes the inequalities and power dynamics between men and women with the intention of improving women’s lives

Feminist Theory on Deviance – inequality against women, antiquated views about relations between the sexes and gender socialization result in violence against women and gender differences in crime rates

Feminization of Poverty – a phenomenon whereby women experience poverty at higher rates in comparison to men

Fertility – the number of live births

Folkway – standards of behavior that regulate daily activity but that are considered less important than mores

Foraging Society – acquires food mainly by foraging

Formal Education – often referred to as schooling, and as this term implies, it occurs in schools under teachers, principals and other specially trained professionals

Formal Norm – laws and mores are standards of behavior considered the most important in any society

Formal Organizations – large secondary groups that follow explicit rules and procedures to achieve specific goals and tasks

Formal Social Control – the means used to control behavior that violates formal norms

Functional Definition of Family — a group of two or more people who are mutually committed to one another and who care for one another

Functionalism – theoretical perspective that views society as a system of interconnected parts that function together to contribute to the stability of the whole society

Functionalist Theory on Education – education serves functions for society, including socialization, social integration, social placement and social and cultural innovation

Functionalist Theory on Religion – religion serves functions for society, including giving meaning and purpose to life, reinforcing social unity and stability, serving as an agent of social control, promoting physical and psychological well-being and motivating people to work for social change

Functionalist Theory on Stratification – the theory that states stratification is necessary and inevitable in order to induce people with special knowledge and abilities to enter into the most vital occupations

Gender – gender is a social concept and refers to the social and cultural differences a society assigns to feminine and masculine characteristics based on biological sex

Gender Binary – is when there are only two recognized genders in society

Gender Identity – is the belief about yourself as male or female

Gender Roles – refers to a society’s expectations of people’s behavior and attitudes based on whether they identify as females or males

Gender Spectrum – not limited to two gender possibilities

General Fertility Rate – the number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44

Generalizations – general statements regarding trends among various dimensions of social life

Generalized other – society’s expectations as a whole

Genocide – a pattern of intergroup relations in which members of a dominant group kills members of a minority group en masse

Gestures — movements of the hands, arms, or other parts of the body that are meant to convey certain ideas or emotions

Gini Coefficient – a measure used by the World Bank to determine the degree os economic inequality that exists in a nation

Glass Ceiling – women may be promoted in a job only to find they reach an invisible barrier beyond which they cannot get promoted, or they may not get promoted in the first place

Glass Escalator – men rise through the ranks easily without many hoops to jump through

Global Assembly Lines — products assembled over the course of several international transactions

Global Commodity Chains — internationally integrated economic links that connect workers and corporations for the purpose of manufacturing and marketing

Globalization — the process of integrating governments, cultures, and financial markets through international trade into a single world market

Global Stratification — the unequal distribution of wealth, power, prestige, resources, and influence among the world’s nations

Government — the group of persons who direct the political affairs of a state, but it can also mean the type of rule by which a state is run — a political system

Group — consists of two or more people who regularly interact on the basis of mutual expectations and who share a common identity

Groupthink: A behavior pattern when people go along with the desires and views of a group against their better judgments

Group Threat Theory – A sociological theory on prejudice that finds prejudice arises from competition over jobs and other resources and from disagreement over various political issues. When groups vie with each other over these matters, they often become hostile toward each other

Hidden Curriculum – what conflict theorists call part of the schooling process that gets children accept, without questioning the dominant cultural values of the society in which the schools are found

High-Income Nation – post-industrial nations with high levels of economic, political and cultural power at the global level and high use of the world’s natural resources. Typically found in Western Europe, North America and East Asia

Heterosexuality – preference for sexual relationships with individuals of the opposite sex

Homogamy – when people who are similar in social characteristics get married

Homosexuality – preference for sexual relationships with individuals of one’s own sex

Horticultural Society — uses hand tools to grow a few specific crops in one location until the soil nutrients are depleted

Household — people who live together in a dwelling unit, whether or not they are related by blood, marriage, or adoption

Human Development Index — A composite measure of a nation’s income, health and education

Hypersegregation – the high degree of residential segregation experienced by African Americans

Hypothesis – a speculative statement of the relationship between two variables concerning the units of analysis the researcher is studying

Identity Crisis – a period of uncertainty about one’s identity, which can happen during transitional periods of socialization

Ideology – A systematic body of ideas and beliefs

Immigration – the movement of people into a new region or nation

Incest Taboo – very strict social norm that prohibits sex between certain relatives

Independent Variable – the variable that affects the dependent variable

Individual Discrimination – discrimination that individuals practice in their daily lives against other individuals or small groups

Industrial Society — uses machines and factories as the primary mode of production

Informal Education – may occur almost anywhere, but for young children it has traditionally occurred primarily in the home, with their parents as their instructors

Informal Norms — folkways and customs are standards of behavior that are considered less important but still influence how we behave

Informal Social Control –the means used to control behavior that violates informal norms

In-Group — groups that we feel loyal to and take pride in belonging to

Innovators — individuals who accept the goals of society but use deviant means to achieve those goals

Institutional Discrimination – discrimination that pervades the practices of whole institutions, such as housing, medical care, law enforcement, employment, and education

Insurgent Terrorism – violence committed by private citizens against their own government or against businesses and institutions

Intergroup Relations – patterns of relationships between different groups of people

International Migration – migration that occurs across national borders

International War – armed conflict between nations

Interracial and Interethnic Marriage (Intermarriage) – a marriage between people of different races

Intergenerational Mobility – social mobility from one generation to the next within the same family

Intimate Partner Violence – violence committed by a current or former spouse or intimate partner

Intragenerational Mobility – social mobility of an individual within their own lifetime

Intraracial or Intraethnic Marriage – a marriage between people of the same race or ethnicity

Inventions – when something new is created from things that already exist

Involuntary (Forced) immigration – Groups forced to move from one society to a new society

Iron Law of Oligarchy — the theory that large organizations inevitably develop an oligarchy, or the undemocratic rule of many people by just a few people

Labeling Theory – deviance results from being labeled a deviant and treated as such

Laissez-Faire Capitalism – a capitalist economic system in which there is absolutely no government intervention (laissez-faire “means leave is alone” or “hands off” in French)

Language – A set of symbols used for communication and which makes society possible

Legitimate Authority (or simply authority) — is power that is approved by a society

Liberal Feminism – believes that the equality of women can be achieved within our existing society by passing laws and reforming social, economic, and political institutions

Life Chances – term coined by sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) to describe patterns of intergenerational mobility and status consistency. Weber suggested that the social class we are born into largely determines the social class we end up in by either providing opportunities or barriers to success.

Life Choices – an important decision which one makes about their life according to their interests, opinions, and actions

Life Course – what are commonly referred to as stages of life (e.g., childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age)

Life Expectancy – the average number of years that a nation’s citizens can be expected to live

Looking-Glass Self – a process of socialization described by Cooley through which we imagine how we appear to others and then imagine how they think of us

Lower Class – the social group with the lowest socioeconomic status in society who are marginalized and deprived

Low-Income Nation – least industrialized nations which primarily subsist on agricultural production, characterized by high levels of poverty and economic and political marginalization

Macrosociology – focuses on the big picture, which usually means such things as social institutions, and social, political and economic change

Male Privilege – the advantage that males automatically have in a patriarchal society, whether or not they realize they have these advantages

Malnutrition – a dietary deficiency where an individual lacks adequate nutrition

Malthusian Theory – A theory by Thomas Malthus on population growth that promotes the idea that population growth increases exponentially and increase in food production occurs arithmetically, resulting in a growing gap between the size of the population and the ability to produce enough food to feed this population. The consequences predicted to result from this gap are mass starvation and conflict over increasingly scarce resources

Marriage – a group’s approved mating arrangements

Masculinity – refers to the expectations we have of boys and men

Master Status –a status that is so important that it overrides other statuses you may hold

Material Culture: — all of society’s physical objects

Maternal Mortality – the number of women who die during childbirth for every 100,000 live births

Matriarchal Families – families in which mothers are the family’s major authority figure

Matrilineal – families in which children are thought to be related only to their mother’s relatives, and wealth is passed down only to daughters

McDonaldization – the trend of maximizing productivity and profit by making processes, products, and services identical in certain kinds of utilitarian organizations, such as fast-food franchises

Mechanical Solidarity — when a society has little division of labor and a strong emphasis on group commitment leaving little room for deviance from group norms and beliefs

Microsociology – is the study of social interaction, action, and the construction of meaning in small groups

Middle Class – the social group positioned between the upper and working classes who typically work in white-collar occupations and who have a moderate standard of living

Middle-Income Nation – industrial nations with a mid-level of economic development found typically in Latin American and the Caribbean, Northern and Southern Africa, Eastern Europe and parts of Asia

Migration – the movement of people into and out of specific regions

Minority (Subordinate) Group – any group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment and who regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination

Modernization Theory — a theory which explains global stratification resulting from the degree to which a country has adopted “modern” cultural values and practices, along with new technologies

Monarchy — political system in which power resides in a single family that rules from one generation to the next generation

Monogamy — a marriage in which only two spouses exist

Monopolies – the total (or almost) control of the supply or trade of a good or service

Monotheism – religious belief in only one god

Mores – standards of behavior considered the most important in any society, typically encoded in law or moral standards

Mortality – the number of deaths

Multicultural Feminism – emphasizes that women of color are oppressed not only because of their gender but also because of their race and class

Multidimensional Poverty Index – A composite measure accounting for social well-being used to the United Nations Development Programme to measure poverty

Multilinear Evolution – a theory on societal transformation that recognizes that while societies share similar social and cultural features, no environment and no evolutionary path will be the same.

Natural Growth Rate – the difference between the crude birth rate and the crude death rate

Net Migration Rate – The rate of immigration minus the rate of emigration

Non-Binary Gender – is when a person does not identify with either gender

Nonmaterial Culture — symbols, values, and beliefs, verbal and nonverbal communication

Nonrandom Sample – members of the population do not have the same chance of being included in the study

Nonverbal Communication — ways of communicating that do not involve talking

Normative organizations – (also called voluntary organizations or voluntary associations) allow people to pursue their moral goals and commitments through voluntary joining and showing membership support

Norms – standards and expectations for behavior

Nuclear Family — a married couple and their young children living by themselves under one roof

Oligarchy (Iron Law of) – the theory that large organizations inevitably develop an oligarchy, or the undemocratic rule of many people by just a few people

Open System of Stratification – a system of social stratification where individuals may change position

Organic Solidarity – when a society relies on a large, complex and hierarchical division of labor, where cultural diversity and individualism are common

Out-Group – groups that we are not in and that we would describe as “they”

Outsourcing – a practice where jobs are contracted to an outside source, often in another country

Participant Observation – the researcher is part of the group they are studying

Pastoral Society — herds a specific species of domesticated animal for the purpose of milk and meat as food sources

Patriarchal Families – families in which fathers are the major authority figure in the family

Patriarchy – male dominated society

Patrilineal — families in which children are thought to be related only to their father’s relatives, and wealth is passed down only to sons

Peer Pressure – strong influence by peers in a group to affect the behavior of a member

Peer Review – a critique of the literature review, the hypothesis testing, the sampling and data collection, the analysis and conclusions of a study

Personal Troubles – refer to a problem affecting individuals that the affected individual, as well as other members of society, typically blame on the individual’s own failings

Pluralism – a pattern of intergroup relations in which the division between groups are maintained, sometimes in equal and sometimes in unequal ways

Pluralist Theory – functionalist theory that views political power in the United States and other democracies as dispersed among several “veto groups” that compete in the political process for resources and influence

Polarization – a practice where the differences between low-end and high-end jobs become greater and the number of people in the middle levels decreases

Political Action Committees (PACs) — organizations formed by special-interest groups to raise and spend money on behalf of political campaigns and various political issues

Political Ideology – a set of views, usually centered on social and economic issues, that guides your political thinking

Political Party — an organization that supports particular political positions and tries to elect candidates to office to represent those positions

Politics — the distribution and exercise of power within a society

Polity –– the political institution through which power is distributed and exercised

Polyandry – one woman who is married to more than one man at the same time

Polygamy — the marriage of one person to two or more people at a time

Polygyny — one man who is married to more than one woman at the same time

Polytheism – religious belief in two or more gods

Population – for research sampling purposes, this is the broad group of people who are the focus of the research

Population Pyramid – a graphic representation of the age and sex structure of a given society

Pornography – the portrayal of written or visual sexual material used to cause sexual excitement

Postindustrial Society — relies on service jobs and information technology

Poverty Line – A measure of official poverty calculated using data on food expenses and which is adjusted for family size

Power — the ability to have one’s will carried out despite the resistance of others

Power Elite – (Conflict theory – proposed by Mills) concentrated societal power is composed of government, big business, and the military, which together constitute a ruling class that controls society and works for its own interests, not for the interests of the citizenry

Prejudice – a set of negative attitudes, beliefs, and judgments about groups, and about individual members of those groups

Prestige – the respect of regard given to an individual

Primary Group — usually small and is characterized by extensive interaction and strong emotional ties that endure over time

Primary Sector (of the economy) — part of the economy that takes and uses raw materials directly from the natural environment

Primary Sex Characteristics – the genetically determined sex characteristics one is born with

Profane Beliefs – beliefs about things that are associated with daily life, and have no religious connotation

Proletariat – working class, does not own the means of production and instead is oppressed and exploited by the bourgeoisie

Pronatalism Policies – Policies aimed at encouraging women to have more children

Propinquity — social and spatial nearness; the variable that mostly drives homogamy

Public Issues – when the source lies in the social structure and culture of a society that refers to social problems affecting many individuals

Qualitative Research – non-numerical data that is analyzed for what people say and do

Quantitative Research – survey data that is collected numerically

Quota Sample – nonrandom sample where the researcher tries to ensure that the makeup of the sample resembles one or more characteristics of the population as closely as possible

Race – a category of people who share certain physical characteristics, such as skin color, facial features and stature

Racial Caste System – a form of caste system in which an individual’s race determines their position in the stratification system

Racism – the belief that certain racial or ethnic groups are biologically or culturally inferior to one’s own

Radical Feminism – believes that patriarchy lies at the root of women’s oppression and that women are oppressed even in non-capitalist societies

Random Sample – a sample that gives everyone in the population an equal chance of being in the study

Rape – being forced to have sex

Rational-Legal Authority – power based written rules (e.g., laws)

Rebellious – individuals who reject both the goals of society and the means to achieve those goals, and who work actively to bring about a new society with a new value system.

Redlining – the practice of rejecting the mortgage applications of racial-ethnic minorities who wish to live in certain neighborhoods primarily inhabited by members of the same group

Reference Group — a group that sets a standard for guiding our own behavior and attitudes

Reform Social Movement – a type of social movement that seeks limited, though still significant changes in some aspect of a nation’s political, economic or social systems

Relativity of Deviance – whether a behavior is considered deviant depends on the circumstance in which the behavior occurs and not on the behavior itself.

Reliability – the ability to repeat a research study and get the same results

Religion – a set of beliefs and practices regarding sacred things that help a society understand the meaning and purpose of life

Religiosity — the significance of religion in a person’s life or how often people practice rituals associated with religion

Religious Affiliation – a term that can mean actual membership in a church or synagogue, or just a stated identification with a particular religion whether or not someone actually belongs to a local house of worship

Religious Conservatism – a doctrine combining religious and political beliefs which emphasizes traditional beliefs and practices

Religious Preference – another term for religious affiliation

Replacement Level Fertility – The level of fertility at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next

Representative Democracies — people elect officials to represent them in legislative votes on matters affecting the population

Resocialization – a process in which people learn new values, norms, etc. (e.g., military, going off to college, etc.)

Restrictive Covenants – agreements among property owners that stipulated they would not sell or rent their properties of African Americans

Retreatists – individuals who reject both the goals of society and the means to achieve those goals, and who withdraw from society.

Rites of Passage — events that mark an individual’s transition from one status to another

Ritualists — individuals who reject the goals of society but continue to conform to the norms of society, regardless.

Role Conflict — tension between two or more roles associated with two or more statuses

Role exit— letting go of certain roles associated with a status that is about to change

Role strain— tension between roles associated with the same status

Role of the Other – when children pretend to be other people in their play and in so doing learn what these other people expect of them

Roles — behaviors expected of someone of a certain status

Role Strain — occurs when the expectations of one status cause the individual to strain in an effort to meet all the expectations

Routinization of Charisma — the transformation of charismatic authority into tradition authority or rational legal authority

Ruling Class – is composed of the richest 0.5% to 1% of the population, who control more than half the nation’s wealth, sit on the boards of directors just mentioned, and are members of the same social clubs and other voluntary organizations

Sacred Beliefs – beliefs about things that are supernatural and awe-inspiring

Sample – a subset of the population of people in whom the researcher is interested

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis — suggests that people cannot easily understand concepts and objects unless their language contains words for these items

Scapegoat Theory – A social-psychological theory of prejudice in which it is thought that people who are frustrated by their life circumstances will blame their troubles on low status groups

School Vouchers – when the government gives parents certificates based on public funding that they can use as tuition at private or parochial (religious) schools

Scientific Method – a systematic research process intended to minimize researcher bias and produce the most accurate conclusions possible

Secondary Data Analysis – analysis of existing data

Secondary Group — larger, more impersonal and often exist for a relatively short time to achieve a specific purpose

Secondary sector (of the economy) — transforms raw materials into finished products and is essentially the manufacturing industry

Secondary Sex Characteristics – sex differences that develop later in life during puberty

Sect – relatively small religious organization that has splintered off from another religion, that is not closely integrated into the larger society and that often conflicts with at least some of its norms and values

Secularization – the weakening importance of religion in a society, as it plays less of a role in people’s lives, as they are less guided in their daily behavior by religious beliefs

Segregation – a pattern of intergroup relations in which the dominant group structures society in such a way as to limit contact between themselves and a minority group

Serial Monogamy — to move from one intimate relationship to another

Sex – is the biological concept that describes people we consider females and males

Sexism – refers to a belief in traditional gender role stereotypes and in the inherent inequality between men and women

Sexual Harassment – as defined by federal guidelines and legal rulings and statutes, consists of unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or physical conduct of a sexual nature used as a condition of employment or promotion or that interferes with an individual’s job performance and creates an intimidating or hostile environment

Sexual Orientation – refers to a person’s preference for sexual relationships with individuals of the other sex (heterosexuality), one’s own sex (homosexuality), or both sexes (bisexuality)

Slave System of Stratification – A system of social stratification characterized by the ownership of people

Social and Cultural Innovation – important scientific discoveries and great works of art, poetry, and prose

Social Change — occurs when norms and values of a culture and society change over time

Social Construction – When something has no objective reality but rather is what people decide it to be

Social Construction of Reality — how individuals who interact help construct the reality of the situation in which they interact

Social Control – the ways in which a society tries to prevent and sanction behavior that violates norms.

Social Control Theory – deviance results from weak bonds to convention social institutions, such as families and schools.

Social Disorganization – weakened social bonds and social institutions that make it difficult to socialize children properly and to monitor suspicious behavior.

Social Ecology Theory on Deviance – community characteristics, such as high rates of poverty, dilapidation, population density and population turnover, result in higher rates of deviance.

Social Environment – interaction between humans in an immediate physical setting

Social Inequality – society or a group ranks people in a hierarchy, with some more “equal” than others

Social Institution — the patterns of beliefs and behaviors that help a society meet its basic needs

Social Integration – teaching student a common set of beliefs and values

Social Interaction — the way in which people act with other people and react to how other people are acting

Socialism — an economic system in which the means of production are publicly owned, it is not motivated by profit, and the government (or a central planning committee) sets prices

Socialist Feminism – blames capitalism for women’s inequality and says that true gender equality can result only if fundamental changes in social institutions, and even a socialist revolution, are achieved

Socialization – the process by which we learn our culture

Social Learning Theory – a sociology theory of prejudice in which it is argued that prejudice is the result of socialization from parents, peers, and news media and other various aspects of their culture

Social Location – your association in gender, race, social class, religion, and so forth in society

Social Mobility – the movement of an individual or group up or down in position within a stratification system

Social Movement – an organized effort by a large number of people to bring about or impede social, political, economic or cultural change

Social Network — the totality of relationships that link us to other people and groups and through them to still other people and other groups

Social Placement – the placement students by teachers and other school officials either as bright and motivated or as less bright and even educationally challenged

Social Status — the position that someone occupies in society

Social Stratification – a system of ranking in which groups of people have differential access to wealth, power and prestige

Social Structure — the social patterns through which a society is organized

Society – a group of people who live within a defined territory and who share a culture

Sociobiology – a field of study in sociology in which scholars say that several important human behaviors and emotions, such as competition, aggression, and altruism, stem from our biological makeup

Socioeconomic Status – the social standing of an individual or family in relation to others based on measures such as education, income and/or occupation

Sociological Imagination – the ability to see societal patterns that influence individual and group life

Sociological Perspective – the view that our social backgrounds influence our attitudes, behavior, life choices and life chances

Sociology – the scientific study of social behavior and social institutions

Spurious Relationships – a relationship between an independent variable and dependent variable when a third variable accounts for the relationship

State — political unit within which power and authority reside

State Terrorism — violence by a government that is meant to frighten and or repress its own citizens

Status Set — all the positions an individual occupies

Status Symbols — objects that signify a particular status

Stereotypes – simplified, mistaken generalizations about people because of their race and/or ethnicity, which are not tested against reality and which are learned second-hand

Strain Theory of Deviance – deviance results for the gap between the goals of a society and the ability of individuals to achieves those goals.

Structural Mobility – social mobility of a group of people up or down the social class ladder in response to changes within society

Subculture — a group that shares the central values, beliefs and norms of the larger culture but still retains certain values, beliefs and norms that make it distinct from the larger culture

Survey – collection of data from questionnaires

Symbolic Interactionism – is a micro approach that focuses on the interaction of individuals and on how they interpret their interaction according to the meaning things have for them

Symbolic Interaction Theory on Education – social interaction in schools affects the development of gender roles and teachers’ expectations of students’ intellectual abilities affect how much pupils learn

Symbolic Interaction Theory on Religion – beliefs and practices are sacred only when people regard them as such, and once thy are regarded as such, beliefs and practices take on special significance and give meaning to people’s lives

Symbolic Interaction Theory on Stratification – the theory that states stratification affect’s people’s beliefs, lifestyles, daily interactions and conceptions of themselves

Symbols — things that stand for something else and that often evoke various reactions and emotions

Terrorism — use of unexpected violence to intimidate or coerce people in the pursuit of political or social objectives

Tertiary Sector (of the economy) — part of the economy that provides services rather than products

Total Fertility Rate – the number of children an average woman is expected to have in her lifetime

Total Institutions — institutions that have total control over the lives of the people who live in them (e.g., prison, boot camps, etc.)

Totalitarianism — political systems that include all the features of authoritarianism but are even more repressive as they try to regulate and control all aspects of citizens’ lives and fortunes

Traditional Authority — power that is rooted in traditional

Traditional Definition of Family — a group of two or more people who are related by blood, marriage or adoption

Transnational Terrorism – violence committed by the citizens of one nation against targets in another nation

Triad — a three-person group

Twice-Poverty – family incomes below double the poverty line

Unconscious (Implicit) Bias – biases individuals exhibit that are beyond their awareness and based on learned stereotypes that are unintentionally held

Unilinear Evolution Theory – a theory on societal transformation that theorizes that societies evolve in the same manner as organisms, moving from an unorganized animalistic state to organized civilizations.

Unit of Analysis – refers to the type of entity a researcher is studying

Upper Class – the social group with the highest socioeconomic status in society who monopolize the majority of societal resources

Urbanization – The rise and growth of cities

Utilitarian organizations – (also called remunerative organizations) provide an income or some other personal benefit

Validity – the study actually measures what the researcher intends to measure

Values – judgments of what is good or bad, desirable or undesirable

Variable – any feature or factor subject to change, a trait that may differ among the units of analysis that a researcher is studying.

Vertical Mobility – the up or down change in position of an individual or group within a system of social stratification

Victimless Crime – illegal behavior in which people engages and in which there are no unwilling victims.

Vigilante Terrorism — violence committed by private citizens against other private citizens

Voluntary Immigration – Individuals or group voluntarily move from one society to a new society

Voter Apathy — a lack of faith that voting makes any difference and that government can be helpful (often called political alienation)

War — when two or more factions engage in armed conflict

Wealth – the total value of an individual or family, including income, stocks and bonds, real estate, and other assets

White-Collar Crime – a form of crime committed as part of one’s occupation.

Working Class – the social group positioned between the middle and lower classes who typically work blue-collar occupations and who are economically vulnerable

Xenophobia — an illogical fear and even hatred of foreigners and foreign goods

Zero Population Growth – A neo-Malthusian theory that espoused the idea that population growth will outstrip food resources as well as non-renewable resources, prompting the call for reduction in fertility