| a behavior that violates official law and is punishable through formal sanctions | crime |
| a belief that modern society should be built around logic and efficiency rather than morality or tradition | rationalization |
| a breakthrough in one form of technology that leads to a number of variations, from which a prototype emerges, followed by a period of slight adjustments to the technology, interrupted by a breakthrough | evolutionary model of technological change |
| a bureaucracy where membership and advancement is based on merit—proven and documented skills | meritocracy |
| a call to action | motivational framing |
| a Christian church that has a very large congregation averaging more than 2,000 people who attend regular weekly services | megachurch |
| a civil force in charge of regulating laws and public order at a federal, state, or community level | police |
| a clear chain of command found in a bureaucracy | hierarchy of authority |
| a collection of data acquired using voluntary response methods, such as questionnaires or telephone interviews | self-report study |
| a collection of people who exist in the same place at the same time, but who don’t interact or share a sense of identity | aggregate |
| a combination of pieces of existing reality into new forms | inventions |
| a comparison of the wealth, status, power, and economic stability of countries as a whole | global stratification |
| a concept holding that each person’s vote should be counted equally | one person, one vote |
| a condition in which the beliefs, ideals, or ideology of a person are not in the person’s own best interest | false consciousness |
| a condition listed in the DSM-5 in which people whose gender at birth is contrary to the one they identify with. This condition replaces "gender identity disorder" | gender dysphoria |
| a culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society | values |
| a defined group serving as the subject of a study | population |
| a difference in social class between different generations of a family | intergenerational mobility |
| a fairly large number of people who share close proximity | crowd |
| a family that is formed through marriage | family of procreation |
| a federal program that provides academically focused preschool to students of low socioeconomic status | Head Start program |
| a field of science that seeks to understand the process of aging and the challenges encountered as seniors grow older | gerontology |
| a form of constant monitoring in which the observation posts are decentralized and the observed is never communicated with directly | panoptic surveillance |
| a form of government in which a single person (a monarch) rules until that individual dies or abdicates the throne | monarchy |
| a form of government in which a single person (or a very small group) wields complete and absolute authority over a government or populace after the dictator rises to power, usually through economic or military might | dictatorship |
| a form of government in which power is held by a small, elite group | oligarchy |
| a form of government that provides all citizens with an equal voice or vote in determining state policy | democracy |
| a form of slavery in which one person owns another | chattel slavery |
| a form of social cohesion that arises out of the mutual interdependence created by the specialization of work | organic solidarity |
| a form of social cohesion that comes from sharing similar work, education, and religion, as might be found in simpler societies | mechanical solidarity |
| a form of socialism under which individuals and cooperative groups exchange products with one another on the basis of mutually satisfactory contracts | mutualism |
| a formalized sorting system that places students on “tracks” (advanced, low achievers) that perpetuate inequalities | tracking |
| a functional perspective that looks at the relationship between people and their built and natural environment | human ecology |
| a functionalist perspective theory that posits that several preconditions must be in place for collective behavior to occur | value-added theory |
| a geographic area with high levels of cancer within its population | cancer cluster |
| a German word that means to understand in a deep way | verstehen |
| a government rule that requires everyone to have insurance coverage or they will have to pay a penalty | individual mandate |
| a government wherein citizens elect officials to represent their interests | representative democracy |
| a graphic representation that depicts population distribution according to age and sex | population pyramid |
| a group a person belongs to and feels is an integral part of his identity | in-group |
| a group function that serves an emotional need | expressive function |
| a group made up of people who are similar in age and social status and who share interests | peer group |
| a group of medical symptoms such as brain swelling and retinal hemorrhage resulting from forcefully shaking or impacting an infant’s head | shaken-baby syndrome |
| a group of people who have less power than the dominant group | subordinate group |
| a group of people who have more power in a society than any of the subordinate groups | dominant group |
| a group of people who live in a definable community and share the same cultural components | society |
| a group of people who live in a defined geographical area who interact with one another and who share a common culture | society |
| a group of people who share a statistical or demographic trait | cohort |
| a group that an individual is not a member of, and may even compete with | out-group |
| a group who shares a common social status based on factors like wealth, income, education, and occupation | class |
| a group's shared practices, values, and beliefs | culture |
| a hands-off leader who allows members of the group to make their own decisions | laissez-faire leader |
| a household that includes at least one parent and child as well as other relatives like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins | extended family |
| a label that describes the chief characteristic of an individual | master status |
| a large group of people who gather together in a spontaneous activity that lasts a limited amount of time | flash mob |
| a large urban corridor that encompasses several cities and their surrounding suburbs and exurbs | megalopolis |
| a large, mainstream religion that is not sponsored by the state | denomination |
| a law stating that all property passes to the firstborn son | primogeniture |
| a leader who encourages group participation and consensus-building before moving into action | democratic leader |
| a leader who is concerned with process and with ensuring everyone’s emotional wellbeing | expressive leader |
| a leader who is goal oriented with a primary focus on accomplishing tasks | instrumental leader |
| a leader who issues orders and assigns tasks | authoritarian leader |
| a legally recognized contract between two or more people in a sexual relationship who have an expectation of permanence about their relationship | marriage |
| a lowering of one’s social class | downward mobility |
| a means of studying a nation’s or group’s underlying social norms as values as evidenced through its political structure and practices | politics |
| a measure noting the actual number of children born | fertility rate |
| a measure of a study’s consistency that considers how likely results are to be replicated if a study is reproduced | reliability |
| a measure of income inequality within a country; can be used to compare one country’s inequality to another's | GINI coefficient |
| a measure of the number of people in a population who die | mortality rate |
| a medical specialty focusing on the elderly | geriatrics |
| a model of human ecology that views cities as a series of circular rings or zones | concentric zone model |
| a noninstitutionalized activity in which several people voluntarily engage | collective behavior |
| a one-on-one conversation between the researcher and the subject | interview |
| a pattern that occurs when women bear a disproportionate percentage of the burden of poverty | global feminization of poverty |
| a person who opposes racism and acts for racial justice | antiracist |
| a person’s capacity for sexual feelings | sexuality |
| a person’s deeply held internal perception of one's gender | gender identity |
| a person’s distinct sense of identity as developed through social interaction | self |
| a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and sexual attraction to a particular sex (male or female) | sexual orientation |
| a person’s traceable ancestry (by blood, marriage, and/or adoption) | kinship |
| a perspective that emphasizes the importance of social norms in crowd behavior | emergent norm theory |
| a practice of remaining impartial, without bias or judgment during the course of a study and in publishing results | value neutrality |
| a practice where children tend to enter the same or similar occupation as their parents | career inheritance |
| a practice where jobs are contracted to an outside source, often in another country | outsourcing |
| a practice where products are assembled over the course of several international transactions | global assembly lines |
| a practice where the differences between low-end and high-end jobs become greater and the number of people in the middle levels decreases | polarization |
| a process by which fewer and fewer owners control the majority of media outlets | media consolidation |
| a process where people exchange one form of goods or services for another | bartering |
| a proposed explanation about social interactions or society | theory |
| a psychological, emotional, and social response to the feelings of loss that accompanies death or a similar event | grief |
| a purposeful organized group hoping to work toward a common social goal | social movement |
| a reduction in one’s ability to perform everyday tasks; the World Health Organization notes that this is a social limitation | disability |
| a relatively large group with a common interest, even if they may not be in close proximity | mass |
| a religion based on belief in a single deity | monotheism |
| a religion based on belief in multiple deities | polytheism |
| a religion that is considered the state religion | ecclesia |
| a scholarly research step that entails identifying and studying all existing studies on a topic to create a basis for new research | literature review |
| a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that are used to justify the belief that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others | racism |
| a set of guidelines that the American Sociological Association has established to foster ethical research and professionally responsible scholarship in sociology | code of ethics |
| a set of predictable steps and patterns families experience over time | family life cycle |
| a single social movement group | social movement organization |
| a situation in which a few firms dominate a marketplace | oligopoly |
| a situation in which an individual is trapped by social institutions | iron cage |
| a situation in which society no longer has the support of a firm collective consciousness | anomie |
| a situation when one or more of an individual’s roles clash | role conflict |
| a small group of powerful people who control much of a society | power elite |
| a small group of wealthy and influential people at the top of society who hold the power and resources | power elite |
| a small, new offshoot of a denomination | sect |
| a snapshot of the demographic profile of a population based on fertility, mortality, and migration rates | population composition |
| a social institution through which a society’s children are taught basic academic knowledge, learning skills, and cultural norms | education |
| a social problem that is stated in a clear, easily understood manner | diagnostic framing |
| a societal change that enables a whole group of people to move up or down the class ladder | structural mobility |
| a societal level of disjuncture between people seeking jobs and the jobs that are available | structural unemployment |
| a socioeconomic system that divides society’s members into categories ranking from high to low, based on things like wealth, power, and prestige. Also called inequality. | social stratification |
| a sociological model of family that sees the progression of events as fluid rather than as occurring in strict stages | family life course |
| a sociological research approach that seeks in-depth understanding of a topic or subject through observation or interaction; this approach is not based on hypothesis testing | interpretive framework |
| a sociological theory to explain how and why societies move toward similarity over time as their economies develop | convergence theory |
| a specialized field of gerontology that examines the social (and sociological) aspects of aging | social gerontology |
| a stable state in which all parts of a healthy society work together properly | dynamic equilibrium |
| a state in which a person accepts a lower paying, lower status job than his or her education and experience qualifies him or her to perform | underemployment |
| a state of poverty composed of many dimensions, subjectively present when one’s actual income does not meet one’s expectations | subjective poverty |
| a study’s participants being randomly selected to serve as a representation of a larger population | random sample |
| a subtype of socialism that adopts certain traits of capitalism, like allowing limited private ownership or consulting market demand | market socialism |
| a sustained recession across several economic sectors | depression |
| a symbolic system of communication | language |
| a system in which it is customary for a husband to live with the his wife’s family | matrilocal residence |
| a system in which it is customary for the a wife to live with (or near) the her husband’s family | patrilocal residence |
| a system in which people are born into a social standing that they will retain their entire lives | caste system |
| a system of beliefs, values, and practices concerning what a person holds to be sacred or spiritually significant | religion |
| a system of stratification that accommodates little change in social position. | closed system |
| a system of stratification, based on achievement, that allows some movement and interaction between layers and classes. | open system |
| a system that guarantees healthcare coverage for everyone | universal healthcare |
| a system that has the authority to make decisions based on law | court |
| a technique sociologists use in which they view society through the metaphor of theatrical performance | dramaturgical analysis |
| a term from the Cold War era that describes nations with moderate economies and standards of living | second world |
| a term from the Cold War era that is used to describe industrialized capitalist democracies | first world |
| a term from the Cold War era that refers to poor, unindustrialized countries | third world |
| a term that denotes the presence of physical or physiological differences between males and females | sex |
| a term that describes stigmatized minority groups who have no voice or representation on the world stage | fourth world |
| a term that refers to social or cultural distinctions of behaviors that are considered male or female | gender |
| a testable educated guess about predicted outcomes between two or more variables | hypothesis |
| a testable proposition | hypothesis |
| a theoretical approach that sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of individuals that make up that society | functionalism |
| a theoretical goal in which the number of people entering a population through birth or immigration is equal to the number of people leaving it via death or emigration | zero population growth |
| a theoretical perspective through which scholars examine the relationship of individuals within their society by studying their communication (language and symbols) | symbolic interactionism |
| a theory asserting that population is controlled through positive checks (war, famine, disease) and preventive checks (measures to reduce fertility) | Malthusian theory |
| a theory based on the idea that successful personal development throughout the life course and subsequent mastery of the challenges associated with everyday life are based on the components of selection, optimization, and compensation | selective optimization with compensation theory |
| a theory that addresses the relationship between having socially acceptable goals and having socially acceptable means to reach those goals | strain theory |
| a theory that asserts crime occurs in communities with weak social ties and the absence of social control | social disorganization theory |
| a theory that asserts human ingenuity will rise to the challenge of providing adequate resources for a growing population | cornucopian theory |
| a theory that attempts to explain the proliferation of postindustrial and postmodern movements that are difficult to understand using traditional social movement theories | new social movement theory |
| a theory that credits individuals in crowds as behaving as rational thinkers and views crowds as engaging in purposeful behavior and collective action | assembling perspective |
| a theory that describes four stages of population growth, following patterns that connect birth and death rates with stages of industrial development | demographic transition theory |
| a theory that examines social and economic factors as the causes of criminal deviance | conflict theory |
| a theory that explains social movements’ success in terms of their ability to acquire resources and mobilize individuals | resource mobilization theory |
| a theory that focuses on the shared community created by the elderly when they are excluded (due to age), voluntarily or involuntarily, from participating in other groups | subculture of aging theory |
| a theory that looks at society as a competition for limited resources | conflict theory |
| a theory that low-income countries can improve their global economic standing by industrialization of infrastructure and a shift in cultural attitudes towards work | modernization theory |
| a theory that states individuals learn deviant behavior from those close to them who provide models of and opportunities for deviance | differential association theory |
| a theory that states social control is directly affected by the strength of social bonds and that deviance results from a feeling of disconnection from society | control theory |
| a theory that suggests that the dominant group will displace its unfocused aggression onto a subordinate group | scapegoat theory |
| a theory which states that global inequity is due to the exploitation of peripheral and semi-peripheral nations by core nations | dependency theory |
| a theory which states that members of society are stratified by age, just as they are stratified by race, class, and gender | age stratification theory |
| a theory which states that the elderly make specific choices to maintain consistency in internal (personality structure, beliefs) and external structures (relationships), remaining active and involved throughout their elder years | continuity theory |
| a theory which suggests that for individuals to enjoy old age and feel satisfied, they must maintain activities and find a replacement for the statuses and associated roles they have left behind as they aged | activity theory |
| a theory which suggests that the primary cause of the elderly losing power and influence in society are the parallel forces of industrialization and modernization | modernization theory |
| a theory which suggests that we experience an increased dependence as we age and must increasingly submit to the will of others, because we have fewer ways of compelling others to submit to us | exchange theory |
| a theory which suggests that withdrawing from society and social relationships is a natural part of growing old | disengagement theory |
| a thesis that argues some social stratification is a social necessity and is functional | Davis-Moore thesis |
| a three-member group | triad |
| a two-member group | dyad |
| a type of authority wherein military and administrative factions enforce the power of the master | patrimonialism |
| a type of social order based around an acceptance of economic and social differences | organic solidarity |
| a type of social order maintained by the collective consciousness of a culture | mechanical solidarity |
| a type of social structure wherein the power is held by a society’s oldest members | gerontocracy |
| a type of unilateral descent that follows either the father’s or the mother’s side exclusively | ambilineal |
| a type of unilateral descent that follows the father’s line only | patrilineal descent |
| a type of unilateral descent that follows the mother’s side only | matrilineal descent |
| a variable changed by other variables | dependent variables |
| a violation of contextual, cultural, or social norms | deviance |
| a violation of norms that does not result in any long-term effects on the individual’s self-image or interactions with others | primary deviance |
| a way of organizing an economy so that the things that are used to make and transport products (such as land, oil, factories, ships, etc.) are owned by individual people and companies rather than by the government | capitalism |
| a way to authorize or formally disapprove of certain behaviors | sanctions |
| a way to encourage conformity to cultural norms | social control |
| a wide-scale view of the role of social structures within a society | macro-level |
| activities against the law, but that do not result in injury to any individual other than the person who engages in them | victimless crime |
| aging that occurs due to controllable factors like exercise and diet | secondary aging |
| all interactive forms of information exchange | new media |
| all print, digital, and electronic means of communication | media |
| an act that requires states to test students in prescribed grades, with the results of those tests determining eligibility to receive federal funding | No Child Left Behind Act |
| an adjective that describes individuals who identify with the behaviors and characteristics that are other than their biological sex | transgender |
| an arrangement of practices and behaviors on which society’s members base their daily lives | social order |
| an array of roles attached to a particular status | role-set |
| an attempt to explain large-scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and why they change | grand theories |
| an economic policy based on national policies of accumulating silver and gold by controlling markets with colonies and other countries through taxes and customs charges | mercantilism |
| an economic system in which there is government ownership (often referred to as “state run”) of goods and their production, with an impetus to share work and wealth equally among the members of a society | socialism |
| an economic system in which there is private ownership (as opposed to state ownership) and where there is an impetus to produce profit, and thereby wealth | capitalism |
| an error of treating an abstract concept as though it has a real, material existence | reification |
| an established scholarly research that involves asking a question, researching existing sources, forming a hypothesis, designing a data collection method, gathering data, and drawing conclusions | scientific method |
| an extension of symbolic interaction theory which proposes that reality is what humans cognitively construct it to be | constructivism |
| an extreme or irrational aversion to gay, lesbian, bisexual, or all LGBTQ people, which often manifests as prejudice and bias | homophobia |
| an extremely oppressive form of dictatorship in which most aspects of citizens’ lives are controlled by the leader | totalitarian dictatorship |
| an idea that becomes true when acted upon | self-fulfilling prophecy |
| an ideal system in which personal effort—or merit—determines social standing | meritocracy |
| an ideology and a set of institutional practices that privilege straight people and heterosexuality over other sexual orientations | heterosexism |
| an illogical fear and even hatred of foreigners and foreign goods | xenophobia |
| an increase—or upward shift—in social class | upward mobility |
| an individual who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster | refugee |
| an individual’s isolation from his society, his work, and his sense of self | alienation |
| an individual’s level of wealth, power, and prestige | socioeconomic status (SES) |
| an invisible barrier that women encounter when trying to win jobs in the highest level of business | glass ceiling |
| an object that a society agrees to assign a value to so it can be exchanged as payment | money |
| an organization in which participants live a controlled lifestyle and in which total resocialization occurs | total institution |
| an organization that exists to enforce a legal code | criminal justice system |
| an unorganized, relatively diffuse group of people who share ideas | public |
| an unregulated economy of labor and goods that operates outside of governance, regulatory systems, or human protections | underground economy |
| any collection of at least two people who interact with some frequency and who share some sense of aligned identity | group |
| any group of people who are singled out from the others for differential and unequal treatment | minority group |
| applying a systematic approach to record and value information gleaned from secondary data as it relates to the study at hand | content analysis |
| attacks based on a person’s race, religion, or other characteristics | hate crimes |
| behaviors or practices that are either required for or expected of the members of a particular group | religious rituals |
| being oriented toward a task or goal | instrumental function |
| biased thought based on flawed assumptions about a group of people | prejudice |
| biological factors such as molecular and cellular changes | primary aging |
| casual behaviors that are generally and widely conformed to | informal norms |
| changes in a person's social mobility over the course of their lifetime. | intragenerational mobility |
| classifying students based on academic merit or potential | sorting |
| codes that maintain formal social control through laws | legal codes |
| collect data from subjects who respond to a series of questions about thinking, behaviors, and opinions, often in the form of a questionnaire | surveys |
| communities that arise farther out than the suburbs and are typically populated by residents of high socioeconomic status | exurbs |
| crime committed by average people against other people or organizations, usually in public spaces | street crime |
| crime committed by white-collar workers in a business environment | corporate crime |
| crimes based on the use of force or the threat of force | violent crimes |
| crimes that involve the destruction or theft of property, but do not use force or the threat of force | nonviolent crimes |
| crowds of people who are focused on a specific action or goal | acting crowds |
| crowds who share opportunities to express emotions | expressive crowds |
| cultural knowledge that serves (metaphorically) as currency to help one navigate a culture | cultural capital |
| data collected in numerical form that can be counted and analyzed using statistics | quantitative data |
| data that are collected directly from firsthand experience | primary data |
| Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 U.S. law explicitly limiting the definition of “marriage” to a union between one man and one woman and allowing each individual state to recognize or deny same-sex marriages performed in other states | DOMA |
| deference and respect to one’s parents and ancestors in all things | filial piety |
| deprivation so severe that it puts day-to-day survival in jeopardy. | absolute poverty |
| development that occurs without depleting or damaging the natural environment | sustainable development |
| deviance that occurs when a person’s self-concept and behavior begin to change after his or her actions are labeled as deviant by members of society | secondary deviance |
| direct, appropriate behavior in the day-to-day practices and expressions of a culture | folkways |
| discrimination based on age | ageism |
| disorders that cause people to behave in ways that are seen as abnormal to society but seem normal to them | personality disorders |
| dominant capitalist countries | core nations |
| education that involves learning about cultural values, norms, and expected behaviors through participation in a society | informal education |
| established, written rules | formal norms |
| evidence that comes from direct observations, scientifically gathered data, or experimentation | empirical evidence |
| farming where farmers grow only enough to feed themselves and their families | subsistence farming |
| feelings of worry and fearfulness that last for months at a time | anxiety disorders |
| formal organizations characterized by a hierarchy of authority, a clear division of labor, explicit rules, and impersonality. | bureaucracies |
| gathering data from a natural environment without doing a lab experiment or a survey | field research |
| gestures or objects that have meanings associated with them that are recognized by people who share a culture | symbols |
| governments wherein a monarch has absolute or unmitigated power | absolute monarchies |
| groups that reject and oppose society’s widely accepted cultural patterns | countercultures |
| groups that share a specific identification, apart from a society’s majority, even as the members exist within a larger society | subcultures |
| groups to which an individual compares herself | reference groups |
| health insurance that a person buys from a private company; private healthcare can either be employer-sponsored or direct-purchase | private healthcare |
| health insurance that is funded or provided by the government | public healthcare |
| healthcare that treats terminally ill people by providing comfort during the dying process | hospice |
| how a subjective reality can drive events to develop in accordance with that reality, despite being originally unsupported by objective reality | Thomas theorem |
| how strongly a person is connected to his or her social group | social integration |
| hydraulic fracturing, a method used to recover gas and oil from shale by drilling down into the earth and directing a high-pressure mixture of water, sand, and proprietary chemicals into the rock | fracking |
| illnesses that are discriminated against and whose sufferers are looked down upon or even shunned by society | stigmatization of illness |
| illnesses that are questioned or considered questionable by some medical professionals | contested illnesses |
| in-between nations, not powerful enough to dictate policy but acting as a major source of raw materials and an expanding middle class marketplace | semi-peripheral nations |
| in-depth analysis of a single event, situation, or individual | case study |
| in-depth interviews, focus groups, and/or analysis of content sources as the source of its data | qualitative sociology |
| internationally integrated economic links that connect workers and corporations for the purpose of manufacture and marketing | global commodity chains |
| is not having the means to live the lifestyle of the average person in your country | relative poverty |
| large, impersonal organizations | formal organizations |
| larger and more impersonal groups that are task-focused and time limited | secondary groups |
| long-term shifts in temperature and climate due to human activity | climate change |
| long-term, debilitating illnesses like depression and bipolar disorder | mood disorders |
| looking beyond the obvious to expose falseness by examining merit, logic, and evidence. | debunking |
| mainstream, widespread patterns among a society’s population | popular culture |
| movements that seek to change something specific about the social structure | reform movements |
| movements that seek to completely change every aspect of society | revolutionary movements |
| movements that work to promote inner change or spiritual growth in individuals | religious/redemptive movements |
| national governments that recognize monarchs but require these figures to abide by the laws of a greater constitution | constitutional monarchies |
| nations on the fringes of the global economy, dominated by core nations, with very little industrialization | peripheral nations |
| new objects or ideas introduced to culture for the first time | innovations |
| non-numerical, descriptive data that is often subjective and based on what is experienced in a natural setting | qualitative data |
| nongovernmental organizations working globally for numerous humanitarian and environmental causes | NGO |
| organizations that are joined to fill a specific material need | utilitarian organizations |
| organizations that people do not voluntarily join, such as prison or a mental hospital | coercive organizations |
| organizations that people join to pursue shared interests or because they provide some intangible rewards | normative or voluntary organizations |
| our reflection of how we think we appear to others | looking-glass self |
| oversimplified ideas about groups of people | stereotypes |
| participating and observing thinking and behavior in a social setting | ethnography |
| patents that are granted for the invention or discovery of any new and useful process, product, or machine | utility patents |
| patents that are granted when someone has invented a new and original design for a manufactured product | design patents |
| patents that recognize the discovery of new plant types that can be asexually reproduced | plant patents |
| patterns of behavior that are representative of a person’s social status | roles |
| patterns of beliefs and behaviors focused on meeting social needs | social institutions |
| patterns or traits that are globally common to all societies | cultural universals |
| people 100 years old or older | centenarians |
| people 110 of age or older | supercentenarians |
| people born with sex characteristics (including genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. | intersex |
| people in the United States born between approximately 1946 and 1964 | baby Boomers |
| people who come together for a regularly scheduled event | conventional crowds |
| people who live in a definable community and who share a culture | society |
| people who share close proximity without really interacting | casual crowds |
| people who share similar characteristics but who are not connected in any way | category |
| people who spend at least 10 percent of their income on healthcare costs that are not covered by insurance | underinsured |
| philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them | paradigms |
| power legitimized on the basis of a leader’s exceptional personal qualities | charismatic authority |
| power legitimized on the basis of long-standing customs | traditional authority |
| power that is legitimized by rules, regulations, and laws | rational-legal authority |
| power that people accept because it comes from a source that is perceived as legitimate | authority |
| prejudiced action against a group of people | discrimination |
| punishments for violating norms | negative sanctions |
| racism embedded in social institutions; also referred to as institutional racism and structural racism | systemic racism |
| religious groups that are small, secretive, and highly controlling of members and have a charismatic leader | cults |
| rewards given for conforming to norms | positive sanctions |
| sanctions that are officially recognized and enforced | formal sanctions |
| sanctions that occur in face-to-face interactions | informal sanctions |
| sects that last but do not become denominations | established sects |
| shared beliefs, values, and practices | culture |
| shared culture, which may include heritage, language, religion, and more | ethnicity |
| small, informal groups of people who are closest to us | primary groups |
| small, manageable number of subjects that represent the population | samples |
| social movements that limit themselves to self-improvement changes in individuals | alternative movements |
| social movements that state a clear solution and a means of implementation | prognostic framing |
| social patterns that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society | dysfunctions |
| social standing based on social factors and individual accomplishments | class system |
| socially created definitions about the cultural appropriateness of sex-linked behavior which shape how people see and experience sexuality | social construction of sexuality |
| socially recognized groups of individuals who may be joined by blood, marriage, or adoption and who form an emotional connection and an economic unit of society | family |
| societies based around the cultivation of plants | horticultural societies |
| societies based around the domestication of animals | pastoral societies |
| societies based on the production of nonmaterial goods and services | information societies |
| societies characterized by a reliance on mechanized labor to create material goods | industrial societies |
| societies that depend on hunting wild animals and gathering uncultivated plants for survival | hunter-gatherer societies |
| societies that operate on a strict hierarchical system of power based around land ownership and protection | feudal societies |
| societies that rely on farming as a way of life | agricultural societies |
| society’s concept of how men and women should behave | gender role |
| someone who fled his or her home while remaining inside the country’s borders | internally displaced person |
| sought consequences of a social process | manifest functions |
| specific explanations of abstract concepts that a researcher plans to study | operational definitions |
| specific ideas that members of a particular faith hold to be true | religious beliefs |
| specific individuals that impact a person's life | significant others |
| statistical methods such as surveys with large numbers of participants | quantitative sociology |
| stereotypes that don’t change and that get recycled for application to a new subordinate group | stereotype interchangeability |
| stress that occurs when too much is required of a single role | role strain |
| tenets or convictions that people hold to be true | beliefs |
| the ability to change positions within a social stratification system | social mobility |
| the ability to exercise one’s will over others | power |
| the ability to sort through, interpret, and process digital knowledge | e-readiness |
| the ability to understand how your own past relates to that of other people, as well as to history in general and societal structures in particular | sociological imagination |
| the absence of any organized government | anarchy |
| the act of a caretaker intentionally depriving an older person of care or harming the person in their charge | elder abuse |
| the act of a couple sharing a residence while they are not married | cohabitation |
| the act of a dominant group forcing a subordinate group to leave a certain area or even the country | expulsion |
| the act of a physician certifying that an illness is genuine | legitimation |
| the act of a technology company planning for a product to be obsolete or unable from the time it’s created | planned obsolescence |
| the act of being married to only one person at a time | monogamy |
| the act of buying and using products to make a statement about one’s social standing | conspicuous consumption |
| the act of entering into marriage while still married to another person | bigamy |
| the act of implanting a convention or norm into society | institutionalization |
| the act of people pledging themselves as servants in exchange for money for passage, and are subsequently paid too little to regain their freedom | debt bondage |
| the act of real estate agents directing prospective homeowners toward or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race | racial steering |
| the act of spoiling someone's identity; they are labeled as different, discriminated against, and sometimes even shunned due to an illness or disability | stigmatization |
| the aging process, including biological, intellectual, emotional, social, and spiritual changes | senescence |
| the amount of people that can live in a given area considering the amount of available resources | carrying capacity |
| the application of science to solve problems in daily life | technology |
| the application to and promotion of feminism online | cyberfeminism |
| the area that includes a city and its suburbs and exurbs | metropolis |
| the ascribing of a deviant behavior to another person by members of society | labeling theory |
| the awareness of one’s rank in society | class consciousness |
| the belief in a divine connection between humans and other natural beings | totemism |
| the belief in no deities | atheism |
| the belief that men and women behave differently due to inherent sex differences related to their biology | biological determinism |
| the belief that one type of skin tone is superior or inferior to another within a racial group | colorism |
| the buildup of external debt, wherein countries borrow money from other nations to fund their expansion or growth goals | debt accumulation |
| the burdening of economically and socially disadvantaged communities with a disproportionate share of environmental hazards | environmental racism |
| the change in a society created through social movements as well as through external factors like environmental shifts or technological innovations | social change |
| the changing of something not generally thought of as a commodity into something that can be bought and sold in a marketplace | commodification |
| the collection of the social movement organizations that are striving toward similar goals | social movement industry |
| the common behavioral expectations of general society | generalized other |
| the communal beliefs, morals, and attitudes of a society | collective conscience |
| the communities surrounding cities, typically close enough for a daily commute | suburbs |
| the concentration of resources in core nations and in the hands of a wealthy minority | global inequality |
| the concept that prohibits premarital sexual intercourse for women but allows it for men | double standard |
| the consistency, or lack thereof, of an individual’s rank across social categories like wealth, power, and prestige | status consistency |
| the conviction or sensation that one is connected to “the divine” | religious experience |
| the cross-cultural development and exchange of technology | technological globalization |
| the cultural belief system that justifies a society’s system of stratification | ideology |
| the cultural patterns of a society’s elite | high culture |
| the degree to which a sociological measure accurately reflects the topic of study | validity |
| the deliberate annihilation of a targeted (usually subordinate) group | genocide |
| the difference in earnings between men and women | pay gap |
| the disposal of broken, obsolete, and worn-out electronics | e-waste |
| the emphasis on certificates or degrees to show that a person has a certain skill, has attained a certain level of education, or has met certain job qualifications | credentialism |
| the entry of upper- and middle-class residents to city areas or communities that have been historically less affluent | gentrification |
| the equal ability of all people to participate in an education system | universal access |
| the evaluation and judgment of another culture based on one’s own cultural norms | ethnocentrism |
| the expression of a role | role performance |
| the extent to which an individual complies with group or societal norms | conformity |
| the fact that each individual in a bureaucracy has a specialized task to perform | clear division of labor |
| the family into which one is born | family of orientation |
| the gap in information that builds as groups grow up without access to technology | knowledge gap |
| the gap of time between the introduction of material culture and nonmaterial culture’s acceptance of it | culture lag |
| the hatred of or, aversion to, or prejudice against women | misogyny |
| the idea that as people age, they transcend limited views of life they held in earlier times | gerotranscendence |
| the idea that society is constructed by us and those before us, and it is followed like a habit | habitualization |
| the idea that the achievement level associated with an A today is notably lower than the achievement level associated with A-level work a few decades ago | grade inflation |
| the ideal of the United States as a “salad bowl:” a mixture of different cultures where each culture retains its own identity and yet adds to the “flavor” of the whole | pluralism |
| the incidence of disease | morbidity |
| the income of a nation calculated based on goods and services produced, plus income earned by citizens and corporations headquartered in that country | gross national income (GNI) |
| the increasing presence of the fast food business model in common social institutions | McDonaldization of Society |
| the influence of our genetic makeup on self-development | nature |
| the informal teaching done in schools that socializes children to societal norms | hidden curriculum |
| the integration of international trade and finance markets | globalization |
| the intergenerational impact of de facto and de jure racism that limits the abilities of Black people to accumulate wealth | sedimentation of racial inequality |
| the introduction of contaminants into an environment at levels that are damaging | pollution |
| the laborers in a society | proletariat |
| the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life | social facts |
| the learning of academic facts and concepts | formal education |
| the level of wealth available to acquire material goods and comforts to maintain a particular socioeconomic lifestyle | standard of living |
| the loss of industrial production, usually to peripheral and semi-peripheral nations where the costs are lower | deindustrialization |
| the main focus or goal of a leader | leadership function |
| the means of enforcing rules | sanctions |
| the migration of economically secure white people from racially mixed urban areas toward the suburbs | white flight |
| the money a person earns from work or investments | income |
| the moral views and principles of a group | mores |
| the movement (flight) of capital from one nation to another, via jobs and resources | capital flight |
| the multiple social movement industries in a society, even if they have widely varying constituents and goals | social movement sector |
| the number of deaths in a given time or place | mortality |
| the number of nonproductive citizens (young, disabled, elderly) to productive working citizens | dependency ratio |
| the number of years a newborn is expected to live | life expectancy |
| the organized and generalized attitude of a social group | generalized others |
| the owners of the means of production in a society | bourgeoisie |
| the part a recurrent activity plays in the social life as a whole and the contribution it makes to structural continuity | function |
| the pattern of expectations that define appropriate behavior for the sick and for those who take care of them | sick role |
| the performance of tasks based upon the gender assigned to us by society and, in turn, ourselves | doing gender |
| the period from birth to death, including a sequence of predictable life events | life course |
| the physical limitations a less-able person faces | impairment |
| the physical separation of two groups, particularly in residence, but also in workplace and social functions | segregation |
| the practice of routinely refusing mortgages for households and business located in predominately minority communities | redlining |
| the prejudiced belief that one sex should be valued over another | sexism |
| the principle that all Internet data should be treated equally by internet service providers | net neutrality |
| the process by which a minority group and a majority group combine to form a new group | amalgamation |
| the process by which a minority individual or group takes on the characteristics of the dominant culture | assimilation |
| the process by which aspects of life that were considered bad or deviant are redefined as sickness and needing medical attention to remedy | medicalization |
| the process by which new members of a total institution lose aspects of their old identities and are given new ones | degradation ceremony |
| the process by which old behaviors are removed and new behaviors are learned in their place | resocialization |
| the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people | crowdsourcing |
| the process of simultaneously analyzing the behavior of an individual and the society that shapes that behavior | figuration |
| the process that changes “bad” behavior into “sick” behavior | medicalization of deviance |
| the process that increases the amount of specialization and differentiation of structure in societies | modernization |
| the process wherein people come to understand societal norms and expectations, to accept society’s beliefs, and to be aware of societal values | socialization |
| the ratio of men to women in a given population | sex ratio |
| the regulation and enforcement of norms | social control |
| the religion that believes in the divinity of nonhuman beings, like animals, plants, and objects of the natural world | animism |
| the removal of personal feelings from a professional situation | impersonality |
| the responsibilities and benefits that a person experiences according to his or her rank and role in society | status |
| the role that our social environment plays in self-development | nurture |
| the school of thought that race is not biologically identifiable | social construction of race |
| the scientific study of social patterns | positivism |
| the social institution through which a society’s resources (goods and services) are managed | economy |
| the social process that normalizes “sick” behavior | demedicalization |
| the social ties that bind a group of people together such as kinship, shared location, and religion | social solidarity |
| the societal privilege that benefits White people, or those perceived to be White, over non-White people in some societies, including the United States | White privilege |
| the sociological subfield that addresses the relationship between humans and the environment | environmental sociology |
| the sorting process by which thousands of possible messages are shaped into a mass media-appropriate form and reduced to a manageable amount | gatekeeping |
| the spread of material and nonmaterial culture from one culture to another | diffusion |
| the spread of technology across borders | technological diffusion |
| the standards a society would like to embrace and live up to | ideal culture |
| the state of being committed or married to more than one person at a time | polygamy |
| the state of poverty where one is unable to live the lifestyle of the average person in the country | relative poverty |
| the state where one is barely able, or unable, to afford basic necessities | extreme poverty |
| the status a person chooses, such as a level of education or income | achieved status |
| the status outside of an individual’s control, such as sex or race | ascribed status |
| the stereotype applied to a minority group that is seen as reaching higher educational, professional, and socioeconomic levels without protest against the majority establishment | model minority |
| the study of population | demography |
| the study of specific relationships between individuals or small groups | micro-level theories |
| the study of the causes and distribution of diseases | social epidemiology |
| the study of the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases | epidemiology |
| the study of the social, political, and economic relationships of cities | urbanization |
| the style a leader uses to achieve goals or elicit action from group members | leadership style |
| the subfield of sociology that focuses on the study of urbanization | urban sociology |
| the system tasked with supervising individuals who have been arrested for, convicted of, or sentenced for criminal offenses | corrections system |
| the systematic study of death and dying | thanatology |
| the systematic study of how humans manage issues of health and illness, disease and disorders, and healthcare for both the sick and the healthy | medical sociology |
| the systematic study of society and social interaction | sociology |
| the testing of a hypothesis under controlled conditions | experiment |
| the theory that an organization is ruled by a few elites rather than through collaboration | Iron Rule of Oligarchy |
| the theory that prejudice is embedded in our culture | culture of prejudice |
| the tracing of kinship through both parents’ ancestral lines | bilateral descent |
| the tracing of kinship through one parent only. | unilateral descent |
| the type of nonacademic knowledge that people learn through informal learning and cultural transmission | hidden curriculum |
| the types of rules in a bureaucracy; rules that are outlined, recorded, and standardized | explicit rules |
| the typical behaviors, customs, and norms that define each class (also called class markers) | class traits |
| the unequal distribution of resources between countries | global stratification |
| the uneven access to technology around race, class, and geographic lines | digital divide |
| the unrecognized or unintended consequences of a social process | latent functions |
| the use by law enforcement of race alone to determine whether to stop and detain someone | racial profiling |
| the use of a church to promote social change via the political arena | liberation theology |
| the use of education to improve one’s social standing | social placement |
| the value of money and assets a person has from, for example, inheritance or salary. | wealth |
| the view that social researchers should strive for subjectivity as they worked to represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal values | antipositivism |
| the visible and invisible rules of conduct through which societies are structured | norms |
| the voluntary use of lethal medication provided by a medical doctor to end one’s life | physician-assisted suicide |
| the way people come to learn the values, beliefs, and social norms of their culture | cultural transmission |
| the way people learn what is “good” and “bad” in society | moral development |
| the way society really is based on what actually occurs and exists | real culture |
| the way that people understand the world based on their form of language | Sapir-Whorf hypothesis |
| the way we prepare for future life roles | anticipatory socialization |
| the worldwide integration of media through the cross-cultural exchange of ideas | media globalization |
| theory that suggests we cannot separate the effects of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and other attributes | intersection theory |
| things and ideas found from what already exists | discoveries |
| those who see technology as a symbol of the coldness of modern life | neo-Luddites |
| those who see technology as symbolizing the potential for a brighter future | technophiles |
| those who seek to prevent or undo change to the social structure | resistance movements |
| those whose claim to refugee status have not been validated | asylum-seekers |
| two or more consecutive quarters of economic decline | recession |
| two parents (traditionally a married husband and wife) and children living in the same household | nuclear family |
| unions of people within the same social category | endogamous marriages |
| unions of spouses from different social categories | exogamous unions |
| using a tool makes the measuring more precise. | accuracy |
| using bridging, amplification, extension, and transformation as an ongoing and intentional means of recruiting participants to a movement | frame alignment process |
| using data collected by others and applying new interpretations | secondary data analysis |
| using secondary data, does not include direct contact with research subjects and does not alter or influence people’s behaviors | nonreactive research |
| variables that cause changes in dependent variables | independent variables |
| violence that occurs between individuals who maintain a romantic or sexual relationship | intimate partner violence (IPV) |
| when a change in one variable coincides with a change in another variable, but does not necessarily indicate causation | correlation |
| when a researcher immerses herself in a group or social setting in order to make observations from an “insider” perspective | participant observation |
| when study subjects behave in a certain manner due to their awareness of being observed by a researcher | Hawthorne effect |
| when the government owns and runs the entire healthcare system | socialized medicine |
| workers being replaced by technology | automation |
| “Not In My Back Yard,” the tendency of people to protest poor environmental practices when those practices will affect them directly | NIMBY |