SOC101 SHORT NOTES Glossary

Question: What Is Culture?

Answer: Culture refers to the beliefs, values, behavior and material objects that,
together, form a People’s way of life. Culture has two basic components: nonmaterial culture,
or the intangible creations of human society, and material culture, the tangible products of
human society.
Question: What is the difference between society and culture?
Answer: Culture includes all the symbolic and material productions of people, groups,
organizations, and institutions in society. Society refers to people who interact in a defined
territory and share culture.

Question: How social ranking can be explained?

Answer: Social ranking is an important feature found to one degree or another in all
societies. The degree to which societies rank individuals however varies and results in
varying amounts of inequality to be found in the world.
Question: What is sociology?
Answer: The truth is, there can be several definitions of what sociology is. The rather clinical
definition, according to Webster's dictionary, is "the study of the development and structure of
society and social relationships."" Textbooks usually describe sociology as "the scientific study
of human society and social behavior" or something very similar to that. These are the formal
definitions of sociology.
Question: How do sociologists do their research?
Answer: Sociologists do research in basically one of two ways: qualitatively and
quantitatively. Doing research qualitatively means one would get data by observing
human interaction (and sometimes participating in those events yourself), doing
interviews, or studying documents or other sources of data first-hand. Quantitative work
involves using statistical procedures and mathematical programs to come up with various
numerical measures of the issue one is trying to analyze.
Question: What is social work?
Answer: Social work is the profession of helping individuals, families, groups or
communities to enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and creating
societal conditions favorable to that goal.
Question: What are the functions of families?
Answer: Families reduce competition for spouses. They also regulate the division of
labor on the basis of gender. Families also meet the material, educational and emotional needs
of children.
Question: What subjects or issues do sociologists deal with?
Answer: Human society itself is so complex and multidimensional; sociologists
themselves deal with a wide variety of specific subjects and issues. A short list would
include such issues as popular culture, the uses of language, social institutions,
bureaucracies, social deviance and crimes, human sexuality, class differences, racial and

ethnic differences, gender differences, marriages and families, education, religion,

economics and capitalism, types of political governments, social movements, population
changes, and technology. Again, this is only a partial list of subject’s sociologists study.
Question: What is status quo?
Answer: The existing conditions or circumstances. There are always those who are
interested in maintaining the status quo since they are doing well due to it and others who
oppose the status quo since it tends to exploit them or puts them in a disadvantaged
position.
Question: Why is sociology important?
Answer: It's important because what we're dealing with here is the nature of human society
and the social environment that we're all a part of. Sociology frequently deals with some of the
most critical and controversial issues concerning us today. No matter how we may feel about
these issues or even about each other, we can probably all agree that society is constantly
changing and that the need to understand each other is more crucial now than ever. In this
sense, that is where sociology and sociologists can
hopefully contribute some useful knowledge and wisdom.
Question: How is sociology different from anthropology?
Answer: Both sociology and anthropology study societies and cultures. Traditionally,
anthropology was more likely to study hunting and gathering, herding, fishing, and other
non-industrial societies, while sociology tended to focus more on industrial and postindustrial
societies. There is also a whole division of anthropology called physical
anthropology which examines teeth, bones, and other archeological evidence. Today,
anthropologists may study aspects of contemporary culture in all types of societies. They
are more likely than sociologists to use qualitative methods of research and less likely to
use quantitative methods. Some sociologists use both qualitative and quantitative data.
Not all sociologists pay a lot of attention to culture, but most social anthropologists could
never ignore culture.
Question: What is the function of kinship?
Answer: Vertical Function: Kinship systems provide social continuity by binding
together a number of generations Horizontal Function: Kinships provide social solidarity and
continuity within the same generation as well.

Question: How many residence patterns are there?

Answer: The most common types of residence patterns evidenced around the world are:
Patrilocal: the couple can live with or near the relatives of the husband’s father (most
prevalent) Matrilocal: the couple can live with or near the relatives of the wife’s father
Avunculocal: the couple can live with or near the husband’s mother’s brother Ambilocal or
bilocal: the couple can live with or near the relatives of either the wife or the husband Neolocal:
Where economic circumstances permit, the couple can also establish a
completely new residence of their own.
Question: What is Gender stratification?
Answer: Gender stratification contrasts the status assigned by different cultures on the basis
of gender. It is important to release that status is itself a multidimensional notion involving
issues of economic, social and political empowerment. Stratification on the basis of gender is a
common phenomenon.
Question: What is theory?
Answer: A theory suggests a relationship between different phenomenons. Theories
allow us to reduce the complexity of reality into an abstract set of principles, which serve as
models to compare and contrasts different types of realities.
Question: Name and explain important types of societies?
Answer: Stratified societies, which are associated with the rise of civilization, range
from open class societies, which permit high social mobility, to more rigid caste societies, which
allow for little or no social mobility Class societies are associated with achieved
status, the positions that the individual can choose or at least have some control over.
Caste societies, on the other hand, are based on ascribed statuses into which one is born
and cannot change.
Question: What are the prominent theories of stratification?
Answer: The Functionalists: Functionalists adopt a conservative position and maintain
that social inequality exists because it is necessary for the functioning of society.
Functionalists emphasize the integrative nature of stratification, which results in stability
and social order. Conflict Theorists: Conflict theorists assume that the natural tendency of
all societies is toward change and conflict. Conflict theorists believe that stratification
exists because the upper classes strive to maintain their superior position at the expense of
the lower classes.
Question: How cultural change occurs?
Answer: The two principal ways that cultures change are internally through the
processes of invention and innovation and externally through the process of diffusion. It is
generally recognized that the majority of cultural features (things, ideas, and behavior
patterns) found in any society got there by diffusion rather than invention.
ABSOLUTE POVERTY : Poverty as defined in terms of the minimal requirements
necessary to afford minimal standards of food, clothing, health care and shelter.
BUREAUCRACY : A formal organization marked by a clear hierarchy of authority, the
existence of written rules of procedure, staffed by full-time salaried officials, and striving for the
efficient attainment of organizational goals.
CAPITALISM : An economic system based on the private ownership of the means of
production and distribution in which the goal is to produce profit.
ACHIEVED STATUS : A position attained through personal ability and effort.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION : Government programs intended to assure minorities and
women of equal hiring or admission opportunities.
AGE STRUCTURE : The relative proportions of different age categories in a
population.
AIR POLLUTION : Refers to the contamination of the atmosphere by noxious

substances
ARRANGED MARRIAGE : Marriage based on the family ties rather than the couple's
personal preferences.
ASCRIBED STATUS : A social position that is given at birth (such as race or sex).
CAPITALISTS : Those who own companies, or stocks and shares, using these to
generate economic returns or profits.
CARRYING CAPACITY : The number of a species that a particular ecosystem can
support without suffering irreversible deterioration
CRUDE DEATH-RATE : A statistical measure representing the number of deaths per
thousand population that occur annually in a given population.
CULTURAL LAG : A dysfunction in the sociocultural system caused by change
occurring in one part of the system and the failure of another part of that system to adjust to
the change. An example would be married women engaged in outside employment and the
continuance of the domestic division of labor.
CULTURAL SUPERSTRUCTURE : Sociocultural materialism term used to refer to
the shared symbolic universe within sociocultural systems. It includes such components
as the art, music, dance, rituals, sports, hobbies and the accumulated knowledge base of
the system
CULTURAL TRANSMISSION : The socialization process whereby the norms and

values of the group are internalized by individuals.

CULTURE : The values, norms and material goods shared by a given group. Your
instructor prefers to restrict the term to refer to symbolic aspects (values and norms).
CULTURE OF POVERTY : The view that the poor have a different value system that
contribute to their poverty.
ECONOMY : The organization of production and distribution of goods and services within
a sociocultural system.
EDUCATION : The transmission of knowledge to members of society. The knowledge
passed on is in the form of technical and cultural knowledge, technical and social skills, as well
as the norms and values of the society.
EDUCATION SYSTEM : The system of formalized transmission of knowledge and
values operating within a given society.
EGALITARIAN FAMILY : Family arrangement in which power is shared more-orless
equally by both the wife and the husband.
EMIGRATION : The movement of people out of their native land to other countries.
ENDOGAMY : A system in which an individual may only marry within the same social
category or group.

ENVIRONMENT : The physical, biological and chemical restraints to which action is

subject.
ETHNOCENTRISM : The tendency to judge other cultures by the standards one's own
culture.
FECUNDITY : The number of children which is biologically possible for a woman to
produce.
HIGHER EDUCATION : Usually refers to education beyond high school level, often in
colleges or universities.
IDEOLOGY : Shared ideas or beliefs which serve to justify and support the interests of a
particular group or organizations.
IMMIGRATION : The settlement of people into a country in which they were not born.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE : Knowledge of a local community possessed by individuals who
spend long periods of their lives in them.
MALTHUSIANISM : Thomas Malthus' theory of population dynamics, according to which
population increase inevitably comes up against the 'natural limits' of food supply. Population
grows geometrically (1, 2, 4, 8, 16,. . .) while food supply grows
arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, . . .). The debate rages on, there are neo-malthusians and
antimalthusians among us today!
MARRIAGE : A socially approved sexual and economic relationship between two or more
individuals.

MATRILINEAL DESCENT : The tracing of kinship through only the female line
MINORITY GROUP (OR ETHNIC MINORITY) : A group of people who are
defined on the basis of their ethnicity or race. Because of their distinct physical or
cultural characteristics, they are singled out for unequal treatment within a society.
PROFESSIONS : Occupations requiring extensive educational qualifications, with high social
prestige, subject to codes of conduct lay down by central bodies (or professional
associations).
SELF (or SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS) : The individual's awareness of being a distinct
social identity, a person separate from others. Human beings are not born with selfconsciousness,
but acquire an awareness of self as a result of early socialization.
SERIAL MONOGAMY : The process of contracting several marriages in succession
marriage, divorce, and remarriage.
SEX : The biological categories of females and males.
SEX ROLE : The gender specific role behavior that a person learns as a member of a
particular society.
SOCIAL MOBILITY : Movement between different social positions within a
stratification system.
SOCIAL MOVEMENT : A large grouping of people who are organized to bring about, or to
block, a a change in the sociocultural system.

SOCIAL ROLE : The expected patterned behavior of an individual occupying a

particular status position.
SOCIALIZATION : The lifelong processes through which humans develop an
awareness of social norms and values, and achieve a distinct sense of self.
STIGMA : A symbol (or a negative social label) of disgrace that affects a person's social
identity.
STRATIFICATION : The existence of structured inequalities in life chances between
groups in society.
STRUCTURE : Sociological term to refer to all human institutions, groups and
organizations.
SUBCULTURE : A group within the broader society that has values, norms and
lifestyle distinct from those of the majority.
SURPLUS VALUE : Marx's concept for the value of an individual's labor power
(calculated by the amount of value the labor contributes to the product minus the amount of
money paid to the worker by the capitalist). The conventional name for this difference is
profit--thus the whole capitalist system is based on "expropriating" surplus value (or stealing
labor) from workers.
THIRD WORLD : Societies in which industrial production is only developed to a
limited degree. Many of these societies were former colonies of industrial states. The
majority of the world's population (over 70 percent) live in Third World countries.

TRANSITIONAL CLASSES : Marx's term to refer to social classes based on previous

relations of production which linger on in the beginning stages a new one--such as
peasants or landowners of a feudal system which has become capitalist.
CAUSATION : A 'cause and effect' relationship exists wherever a change in one
variable (the independent variable) induces change in another (the dependent variable).
Causal factors in sociology include individual motivation as well as many external
influences on human behavior that often go unrecognized.
CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS : An objective awareness of the class system, including the
common interests of people within your class.
COLONIALISM : The process whereby nations establish their political and economic rule
over less powerful nations.
COMMODITY RIOTS : Riots in which the focus of violence is the destruction of
property.
COMMUNICATION : The transmission of information from one individual or group to
another.
COMMUNISM : A set of egalitarian political and economic ideas associated with Karl
Marx in which the means of production and distribution system would be owned by the
community. "Communism" as developed by Lenin and institutionalized throughout
Eastern Europe (until 1990) and China bears little resemblance to Marx's vision.
DEVIANCE : Behaviors which do not conform to significant norms held by most of the
members of a group or society. What is regarded as 'deviant' is highly variable across
societies.

DYSFUNCTION : Refers to an institution's negative impact (or harmful effect) on the

sociocultural system.
ECOSYSTEM : A self-sustaining community of plants and animals within a natural
environment.
ESTATE : A form of stratification established by law.
ETHNICITY : An ethnic group is one of a common cultural identity, separating them
from other groups around them.
FEMINISM : Advocacy of the social equality of the sexes.
FERTILITY : The average number of live born children produced by women of
childbearing age in a particular society.
FORCES OF PRODUCTION : Marx's term to refer to the technology used to produce
economic goods in a society.
FUNCTIONS : The ways in which a sociocultural trait contributes toward the
maintenance or adaptation of the entire sociocultural system.
FUNCTIONALISM : A theoretical perspective that focuses on the way various parts of the
social system contribute to the continuity of society as well as the affect the various parts have
on one another.

GANG : An informal group of individuals that engage in common activities, many of

these activities may be outside the law.
GHETTO : A section of a city occupied predominantly by members of a single racial or
ethnic group, usually because of social or economic pressure.
HIDDEN CURRICULUM : Behavior or attitudes that are learned at school but which are
not a part of the formal curriculum. For example, aspects of classism can often be
"unintentionally" conveyed in learning materials.
INTERGENERATIONAL MOBILITY : Movement up or down the social hierarchy from
one generation to another.
KINSHIP : The network of social relationships which link individuals through common
ancestry, marriage, or adoption.
LATENT FUNCTIONS : The unintended consequences of one part of a sociocultural
system. For example, the reform of big city political machines had a lot of unintended
consequences on the governability of American cities
LEGITIMACY : The generally held belief that a particular social institution is just and
valid.
LIFE EXPECTANCY : The number of years a newborn in a particular society can
expect to live. Also refers to the number of further years which people at any given age can,
on average, expect to live.

LIFE-SPAN : The maximum length of life that is biologically possible for a member of a
given species.
MANAGERIAL CAPITALISM : A change in the control of capitalist enterprises from
owners (which predominated in Marx's day) to control by (very well) salaried managers.
MANIFEST FUNCTION : The intended and known consequences of one part of a
sociocultural system. For example, the reform of big city political machines had the
intended consequence of limiting (relatively) corruption by city officials
MASS MEDIA : Forms of communication designed to reach a vast audience without any
personal contact between the senders and receivers. Examples would include
newspapers, magazines, video recordings, radio and television
MATERIALISM : The view that 'material conditions' (usually economic and
technological factors) have the central role in determining social change.
MECHANIZATION : The use of machinery to replace human labor.
MIDDLE CLASS : A social class broadly defined occupationally as those working in
white-collar and lower managerial occupations; is sometimes defined by reference to
income levels or subjective identification of the participants in the study.
MIGRATION : The movement of people from one country or region to another in order to
settle permanently.
MORTALITY RATE : The number of deaths that occur in a particular population in a

specified period of time (usually a year).

NATIONALISM : An individual's internalization of the set of beliefs and values
expressing love, pride and identification with a given nation state. Ritual and symbols are
important tools in fostering nationalism among the citizenry.
NEO-LOCALITY : A family residential pattern in which the married couple lives apart
from the place of residence of both the bride's and the husband's parents
NORMS : Rules and expectations of conduct which either prescribes a given type of
behavior, or forbids it.
NUCLEAR FAMILY : A basic family group consisting of married female and male
parents and dependent children, living away from other relatives.
OPEN LINEAGE FAMILY : A family system found in preindustrial Europe in which
family relationships are closely intertwined with the local community.
POLITICAL PARTY : An organization of people with similar interests and attitudes
established with the aim of achieving legitimate control of government and using that power
to pursue a specific program.
POLYGYNY : A form of marriage in which a man may have more than one wife.
SECONDARY GROUP STRUCTURE : A term used in sociocultural materialism to
refer to structural groups in which members tend to interact without any emotional
commitment to one another.
SECONDARY LABOR MARKET : Refers to the economic position of individuals

engaged in occupations that provide insecure jobs, poor benefits and conditions of work.
SECULARIZATION : A process of decline in the social influence of religion.
UNCONSCIOUS : Freudian concept refering to motives and ideas unavailable to the
conscious mind of the individual.
UNION : A social organization set up to represent the worker's interests in both the
workplace and in the broader society as well.
UPPER CLASS : A social class roughly composed of the more affluent members of
society, especially those who have great wealth, control over businesses or hold large
numbers of stocks and shares.
URBAN ECOLOGY : An analysis of urban life that examines the relationship between the
city and its physical surroundings--based on an analogy with the adjustment of plants and
organisms to the physical environment.
URBANIZATION : The increasing concentration of the human population into cities.
VALUES : Culturally defined standards held by human individuals or groups about
what is desirable, proper, beautiful, good or bad that serve as broad guidelines for social
life.
VARIABLE : A characteristic that varies in value or magnitude along which an object,
individual or group may be categorized, such as income or age.
VERTICAL MOBILITY : Movement up or down a social stratification system.

WELFARE : Government aid (in the form of services and money) to the poor.
WEALTH : Accumulated money and material possessions controlled by an individual,
group or organization.
ZERO POPULATION GROWTH (ZPG) : Population stability achieved when each
woman has no more than two children.
ACID RAIN : The increased acidity of rainfall which is caused by emissions of sulfur
dioxide and nitrogen oxides from power plants and automobiles.
ADAPTATION : Refers to the ability of a sociocultural system to change with the
demands of a changing physical or social environment. The process by which cultural
elements undergo change in form and/or function in response to change in other parts of the
system.
AGE GRADES : System found in some traditional cultures which group the population by
sex and age. Age grades go through rites of passage, hold similar rights and have
similar obligations.
AUTHORITY : Power that is attached to a position that others perceive as legitimate.
BUREAUCRATIZATION : Refers to the tendency of bureaucracies to refine their
procedures to ever more efficiently attain their goals. More generally, refers to the
process of secondary organizations taking over functions performed by primary groups

CULTURAL PLURALISM : The more or less peaceful coexistence of multiple

subcultures within a given society.
CULTURAL UNIVERSALS : Values or practices shared by all human cultures.
EXPERIMENT : A research method in which variables can be analyzed under carefully
controlled conditions--usually within an artificial situation constructed by the researcher.
GESELLSCHAFT : According to Toennies, social organization based on loose
personal ties, self interest, rationalization, and impersonality.
GREENHOUSE EFFECT : The accumulation of gasses in the atmosphere that act like the
glass roof of a greenhouse, letting sunlight in but trapping the radiant heat.
IDEAL TYPE : Weber's construct of a 'pure type', constructed by emphasizing logical
or consistent traits of a given social item. The traits are defining ones, not necessarily
desirable ones. Ideal types do not exist anywhere in reality, rather they are "measures"
that we can use in comparing social phenomena. One example is Weber's ideal type of
bureaucratic organization (which are anything but desirable). More widely used (and
understood) examples would include "ideal democracy" and "ideal capitalism."
INCOME : Payment of wages usually earned from work or investments.
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION : Economic production carried on through the use of
machinery driven by inanimate sources of power.
INDUSTRIALIZATION : The continual expanding application of sophisticated
technology designed to efficiently draw energy and raw materials out of the environment

and fashion them for human use.

INFANT MORTALITY RATE : The number of infants who die during the first year of
life, per thousand live births. Infant mortality rates have declined dramatically in
industrial societies.
INFORMAL RELATIONS : Relations in organizations developed on the basis of
personal connections. These ties are often used to pursue organizational goals instead of the
formally recognized procedures
IN-GROUP : A social group an individual belongs to and identifies with.
INSTITUTIONAL CAPITALISM : A condition that exists when large institutions
such as pension plans, banks, and insurance companies hold large shares of capitalistic
enterprises.
MEANS OF PRODUCTION : Marx's term referring to the means whereby the
production of material goods is carried on in a society. Marx included in this concept
both technology and the social relations among the producers (based on the ownership of that
technology).
RACE : A socially defined category of people who share genetically transmitted
physical characteristics.
RACISM : The attributing of characteristics of inferiority to a particular racial category.
Racism is a specific form of prejudice focused on race.
REBELLION : Rebellions are aimed at removing particular rulers or regimes rather
than bringing about significant structural changes in a society.

RELATIVE POVERTY : Poverty defined by reference to the living standards of the

majority in any given society.
RESEARCH METHODS : The diverse strategies used to gather empirical (factual)
material in a systematic way.
REVOLUTION : A process of change involving the mobilizing of a mass social
movement in order to radically transform the society.
RIOTS : An outbreak of collective violence directed against persons, property or both.
SOCIAL CHANGE : Alteration in social structures or culture over time.
SOCIAL DARWINISM : An early and now largely discredited view of social evolution
emphasizing the importance of "survival of the fittest" or struggle between individuals, groups,
or societies as the motor of development. Social Darwinism became widely
popular and was often used to justify existing inequalities.
SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION : A structural condition of society caused by rapid
change in social institutions, norms, and values.
SOCIAL EVOLUTION : Theories of social change which generally hold that human
societies move from simple to complex forms of organization.
SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS : Major structural entitities in sociocultural systems that
address a basic need of the system. Institutions involve fixed modes of behavior backed

by strong norms and sanctions that tend to be followed by most members of a society.
STEREOTYPE : A rigid and inflexible image of the characteristics a group.
Stereotypes attribute these characteristics to all individuals belonging to that group.
ASSIMILATION : A minority group's internalization of the values and norms of the
dominant culture.
CASTE : A closed form of stratification in which an individual's status is determined by
birth and cannot be changed.
CIVIL DISORDERS : Social conflict (such as riots) that the government becomes
involved in to restore public order.
CIVIL RIGHTS : Legal rights held by all citizens in a given state.
CLAN : A broad extended kin group found in many preindustrial societies.
CLASS : Most sociologists use the term to refer to socioeconomic differences between
groups of individuals which create differences in their life chances and power.
COMMUNAL RIOTS : Riots in which the focus of violence is other groups (usually
other race or ethnic groups).
COMMUNITY : A group of people who share a common sense of identity and interact

with one another on a sustained basis.

CONFLICT : A clash of interest (sometimes escalating to active struggle) between
individuals, groups or society.
CULTURAL MATERIALISM : A macro-social theory that attempts to account for the
similarities and differences between sociocultural systems by focusing on the
environmental constraints to which human action is subject. Your instructor uses a
variant of this theory constantly
DEMOGRAPHY : The scientific study of human population--including size, growth,
movement, density, and composition.
DEPENDENCY THEORY : The thesis that many Third World countries cannot
control major aspects of their economic life because of the dominance of industrialized
societies.
DEVIANT SUBCULTURE : A subculture which has values and norms which differ
substantially from those of the majority in a society.
DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION : Theory of crime and delinquency that holds that
deviance is learned as a result of long-term interaction with others.
DIFFERENTIATION : The development of increasing complexity and division of
labor within sociocultural systems.
DIFFUSION : The spread of cultural traits from one sociocultural system to another.

DISCRIMINATION : The denial of equal access to social resources to people on the

basis of their group membership.
DIVISION OF LABOR : The specialization of work tasks or occupations. All societies
have some division of labor based on age and sex. But with the development of
industrialism the division of labor becomes far more complex which affects many parts of the
sociocultural system.
EXOGAMY : A system in which an individual may only marry outside their social
category or group.
EXTENDED FAMILY : A family group consisting of more than two generations of the
same kinship line living either within the same household or, more usually in the west, very
close to one another.
FAMILY : A group of individuals related to one another by blood ties, marriage or
adoption. Members of families form an economic unit, the adult members of which are
responsible for the upbringing of children. All societies involve some form of family,
although the form the family takes is widely variable. In modern industrial societies the
main family form is the nuclear family, although a variety of extended family
relationships are also found.
FAMILY OF ORIENTATION : The family into which an individual is born.
FEMININITY : The characteristic behaviors expected of women in a given culture.
GEMEINSCHAFT : According to Toennies, social organization based on close and
personal ties and traditional norms and values.

GENDER : Socially defined behavior regarded as appropriate for the members of each
sex.
GLOBALIZATION : The development of extensive worldwide patterns of economic
relationships between nations.
GREEN REVOLUTION : The tremendous increase in farming productivity that
occurred beginning in the 1950s with the application of pesticides, herbicides, chemical
fertilizers and the development of plant varieties especially bred to respond to these
chemical inputs.
HUNTING AND GATHERING SOCIETIES : Societies whose subsistence is based
primarily on hunting animals and gathering edible plants.
HYPOTHESIS : A tentative statement about a given state of affairs that predicts a
relationship between the variables, usually put forward as a basis for empirical testing.
IMPERIALISM : The establishing of colonial empires in which domination is both
political and economic.
INSTINCT : A genetically fixed pattern of complex behavior (that is, beyond reflex)
which appears in all normal animals within a given species. The behavior of humans is not
instinctual.
INTERNAL COLONIALISM : The economic exploitation of a group within a society
whereby their labor is sold cheap and they are made to pay dear for products and
services.

LONGEVITY : A long duration of life Or a long tenure in an organization.

MASCULINITY : The characteristic forms of behavior expected of men in any given
culture.
MASTER STATUS : A position that is so central to the identity of the individual that it
overshadows all other statuses.
MATRIARCHY : Social organization in which females dominate males.
MODE OF PRODUCTION : The technology and the practices employed for
expanding or limiting basic subsistence production, especially the production of food and
other forms of energy. Examples would include the technology of subsistence,
technological/environmental relationships, and work patterns.
MODERNIZATION : The process of general social change brought about by the
transition from an agrarian to an industrial mode of production.
NEO-COLONIALISM : The informal dominance of some nations over others by
means of unequal conditions of economic exchange (as between industrial and Third
World countries)..
ORGANIZED CRIME : Criminal activities carried out by organizations established as
businesses.
PASTORAL SOCIETIES : Societies whose subsistence is based on domesticated
animals

PEASANTS : People in agrarian societies who produce food from the land, using
traditional farming methods of plow and animal power. Farm workers in agrarian
societies.
PEER GROUP : A friendship group with common interests and position composed of
individuals of similar age.
POLITICS : Attempts to influence governmental activities
POLLUTION : One of the principal constraints of the environment. Refers to the
contamination of soil, water, or air by noxious substances
POLYANDRY : A form of marriage in which a woman may have more than one
husband.
PRIMARY GROUP STRUCTURE : A term used in sociocultural materialism to refer to
structural groups in which members tend to interact on an intimate basis. They perform many
functions such as regulating production, reproduction, socialization, education, and enforcing
social discipline. Examples include family, community, voluntary
organizations, and friendship networks.
RATIONALIZATION : Weber's concept to refer to the process by which modes of
precise calculation based on observation and reason increasingly dominate the social
world. Rationalization is a habit of thought that replaces tradition, emotion, and values as
motivators of human conduct. Bureaucracy is a particular case of rationalization applied to
human social organization.

RECIPROCITY : A system of the exchange of goods based on social ties.

RELIGION : A set of beliefs involving symbols regarded as sacred, together with ritual
practices in which members of the community engage.
RITUAL : Formalized ceremonial behavior in which the members of a group or
community regularly engage.
SAMPLING : Taking a small representative part of a population for purposes of
drawing inferences from the analysis of the sample characteristics to the population as a
whole.
SANCTION : A reward for conformity or a punishment for nonconformity that
reinforces socially approved forms of behavior.
SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS : The conjecture that people perceive their world
through the framework of language.
SCAPE GOATING : Blaming, punishing, or stigmatizing a relatively powerless
individual or group for wrongs that were not of their doing.
SCIENCE : The application of systematic methods of observation and careful logical
analysis; the term also refers to the body of knowledge produced by the use of the
scientific method.
SECONDARY GROUP : A group of individuals who do not know each other on a
personal level interacting in pursuit of a goal.

SOCIAL FORCES : The term refers to the fact that society and social organizations
exert an influence on individual human behavior.
SOCIAL GROUPS : Two or more individuals who interact in systematic ways with one
another and share a high degree of common identity. Groups may range in size from
dyads to large-scale societies.
SOCIOBIOLOGY : An approach which attempts to explain the social behavior of
humans in terms of biological principles.
SOLID WASTE : Refers to the accumulation of noxious substances.
STATE : Government institutions ruling over a given territory, whose authority is
backed by law and the ability to use force.
STATUS : A social position within a society. The term can also refer to the social honor
or prestige which a particular individual or group is accorded by other members of a
society.
SYMBOL : One item used to meaningfully represent another--as in the case of a flag
which symbolizes a nation.
TABOO : A sociocultural prohibition on some act, person, place, animal, or plant.
TECHNOLOGY : The application of logic, reason and knowledge to the problems of
exploiting raw materials from the environment. Social technologies employ the same
thought processes in addressing problems of human organization. Technology involves
the creation of material instruments (such as machines) used in human interaction with
nature as well as social instruments (such as bureaucracy) used in human organization

TERRORISM : The use of violence to achieve political ends. Many would restrict the
definition to include only those acts committed by non-government groups, but state
terrorism is also a major factor in the social world.
THEORY : Summary statements of general principles which explain regularly observed
events.
TRADITIONAL STATES : Societies in which the production base is agriculture or
pastoralism.
CONFORMITY : Human behavior which follows the established norms of a group or
society. The bulk of human behavior is of a conforming nature as people accept and
internalize the values of their culture or subculture
CONSENSUS : Agreement on basic social values by the members of a group or society.
CONTRADICTION : Marx's term to refer to mutually antagonistic tendencies within
institutions or the broader society such as those between profit and competition within
capitalism.
CORPORATIONS : A legally recognized organization set up for profit--the powers
and liabilities of the organization are legally separate from the owners or the employees.
CRIME : Any action that violates criminal laws established by political authority.
CRUDE BIRTH-RATE : A statistical measure representing the number of births per
thousand population within a given year.

DEFORESTATION : The removal of all trees from an area

DEMOCRACY : A form of government that recognizes the citizen as having the right
to participate in political decision-making, or to elect representatives to government
bodies.
DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION : A stabilization of population level in industrial
society once a certain level of economic prosperity has been reached. Population is
thought to stabilize because of economic incentives on families to limit the number of
children.
DENSITY : A measure of human crowding usually expressed as the number of people per
square mile.
ECOLOGY : The study of the system of relationships between organisms and their
environment.
ECONOMIC INTERDEPENDENCE : Comte and Durkheim both refer to the fact that in
societies with a high division of labor individuals depend more on others to produce most of
the goods they need to sustain their lives.
FAMILY OF PROCREATION : The family we create through marriage.
LAW : A written rule established by a political authority and backed by government.
MARXISM : Contemporary social theory deriving its main elements from Marx's ideas.
Marxist theory strongly emphasizes class struggle and material causation.
MATRILOCALITY : A family residential pattern in which the husband is expected to live
near to the wife's parents
MONOGAMY : A form of marriage that joins one male and one female at any given
time.
MORES : Norms that have strong moral significance, violation of which cause strong
social reaction (murder, sexual molestation of children).
OBJECTIVITY : Objectivity means striving as far as possible to reduce or eliminate bias
in the conduct of research.
ORGANIZATION : A large group of individuals that is formally organized for the
purpose of attaining a goal.
PATRIARCHY : Social organization that structures the dominance of men over
women.
PATRILINEAL DESCENT : The practice of tracing kinship only through the male
line.
POLYGAMY : A form of marriage in which a person may have more than one spouse.
POSITIVISM : A philosophical position according to which there are close ties
between the social and natural sciences, which share a common logical framework.

POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETY : A society based on the production of services and

information rather than material goods.A notion advocated by those who believe that the
industrial order is passing.
POWER : The ability to achieve aims or further the interests you hold even when
opposed by others.
POWER ELITE : According to C. Wright Mills the power elite are men in the highest
positions of government, corporations and the military who hold enormous power in modern
industrial societies.
PREJUDICE : The holding of unfounded ideas about a group, ideas that are resistant to
change.
PRESTIGE : Social respect accorded to an individual or group because of the status of
their position.
PRIMARY DEVIANCE : The deviant act itself, the violation of a norm.
PRIMARY GROUP : A typically small group of individuals standing in an enduring
personal relationship to one another examples would include parents, spouse, or close
friends.
SOCIALISM : An economic system in which the means of production and distribution of
goods and services are publically owned.
SOCIETY : A society is a group of people who live in a particular territory, are subject to a
common system of political authority, and share a common culture.

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION : A term used by C. Wright Mills that refers to the

application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions.
SOCIOLOGY : The study of human behavior and societies, giving particular emphasis to
the industrialized world.
SURVEY : A questionnaire or interview.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM : A theoretical approach in sociology which focuses on
social reality as constructed through the daily interaction of individuals and places
strong emphasis on the role of symbols (gestures, signs, and language) as core elements
of this interaction.
WELFARE STATE : A government system which provides a range of human services for
its citizens.
WHITE-COLLAR CRIME : Criminal activities carried out by white-collar or
professional workers in the course of their jobs.
WORKING CLASS : A social class of industrial societies broadly composed of people
involved in manual occupation. The bulk of these jobs are unskilled, poorly paid and provide
few benefits or job security