achieved status - ANSWER-A status that individuals secure on the basis of choice and competition.
altruistic suicide - ANSWER-type of suicide that
... [Show More] occurs where ties to the group or community are considered more important than individual identity
affiliation motivated - ANSWER-when one's actions are geared to helping them join or connect with a particular social status
agricultural societies - ANSWER-Societies that cultivate large amounts of crops with the plow and other relatively advanced tools and equipment.
egoistic suicide - ANSWER-suicide that results from social isolation and individualism
fatalistic suicide - ANSWER-suicide that occurs as a result of "too much" social regulation
anomic suicide - ANSWER-Suicide that occurs as a result of "too little" social regulation
anomie - ANSWER-A social condition in which people find it difficult to guide their behavior by norms they experience as weak, unclear, or conflicting.
ascribed status - ANSWER-social position a person receives at birth or involuntarily later in life
status - ANSWER-a social position that a person holds
status set - ANSWER-all the statuses a person holds at a given time.
Sociology - ANSWER-study of the evolution, development, and functioning of human society
social change - ANSWER-the transformation of culture and social institutions over time
social control - ANSWER-a group's formal and informal means of enforcing its norms
social hierarchy - ANSWER-The division of society by rank or class
social mobility - ANSWER-a change in position within the social hierarchy
social movement - ANSWER-a widely shared demand for change in some aspect of the social or political order
social stratification - ANSWER-a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy
Socialization - ANSWER-the process by which people, especially children, learn socially desirable behavior by means of verbal messages; the systematic use of rewards and punishments, and other teaching methods
socialization agents - ANSWER-The people, institutions, and organizations that exist to help ensure that socialization occurs.
Society - ANSWER-an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization
egoism - ANSWER-Self-ism or "I"ism
views self as reality and all other individuals as essentially unreal.
authoritarianism - ANSWER-A political system in which the government tolerates little or no opposition to its rules but permits nongovernmental centers of influence and allows debate on issues of public policy.
Barter system - ANSWER-a system of exchange in which goods or services are traded directly for other goods or services without the use of money.
birth rate - ANSWER-the ratio of live births in an area to the population of that area
Bourgeoisie - ANSWER-Those individuals who control the means of production.
Upper class
Bureaucracy - ANSWER-A social structure made up of a hierarchy of statuses and roles that is prescribed by explicit rules and procedures and based on a division of function and authority.
caste system - ANSWER-a social structure in which classes are determined by heredity
charismatic authority - ANSWER-Power that is legitimated by the extraordinary superhuman or supernatural attributes people attribute to a leader.
Church - ANSWER-A religious organization that considers itself uniquely legitimate and enjoys a positive relationship with the dominant society.
Cognitive Development theory - ANSWER-Piaget's theory that children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world; children experiences expand as their brain develops; they move through
4 stages:
sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational
collective behavior - ANSWER-voluntary, often spontaneous activity that is engaged in by a large number of people and typically violates dominant-group norms and values.
Concrete operational stage of Cognitive development theory - ANSWER-begins around age 7-11. Children begin thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.
conflict perspective - ANSWER-A sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups
Contagion theory - ANSWER-An approach to crowd behavior that emphasizes the part played in crowd settings by rapidly communicated and uncritically accepted feelings, attitudes, and actions
Control Group - ANSWER-The group that affords a neutral standard against which the changes in an experimental group can be measured.
Convergence theory - ANSWER-An approach to crowd behavior stating that a crowd consists of a highly unrepresentative body of people who assemble because they share the same predispositions.
counterculture - ANSWER-a subculture deliberately and consciously opposed to certain central beliefs or attitudes of the dominant culture
Cult - ANSWER-A religious movement that represents a new and independent religious tradition.
Culture - ANSWER-The social heritage of a people; those learned patterns for thinking, feeling, and acting that are transmitted from one generation to the next, including the embodiment of these patterns in material items.
cultural relativism - ANSWER-A value-free or neutral approach that views the behavior of a people from the perspective of their own culture.
death rate - ANSWER-the ratio of deaths in an area to the population of that area
democratic government - ANSWER-A government in which the rulers are elected by the people through fair, free, competitive, and periodic elections. Public decision making is delegated to the representatives elected by the people.
Deviance - ANSWER-Behavior that a considerable number of people in a society view as reprehensible and beyond the limits of tolerance.
Differential Association theory - ANSWER-A general theory of crime that states that deviants come to learn the motivations and the technical knowledge of criminal activity through exposure to deviants and deviant behavior.
Division of labor - ANSWER-Division of work into a number of separate tasks to be performed by different workers
Dyad - ANSWER-A two-member group.
Norms - ANSWER-Social rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behavior in given situations.
Values - ANSWER-Broad ideas regarding what is desirable, correct, and good that most members of a society share.
Emergent-norm theory - ANSWER-An approach to crowd behavior stating that crowd members evolve new standards for behavior in a crowd setting and then enforce the expectations in the manner of norms.
ethical problems - ANSWER-Involve situations where there are conflicts between one or more values and uncertainty about the correct course of action.
Ethnicity - ANSWER-a shared cultural heritage
Ethnocentrism - ANSWER-The tendency to judge the behavior of other groups by the standards of one's own culture.
Exomgamy - ANSWER-The requirement that marriage occur outside a group.
expressive leaders - ANSWER-Leaders who achieve group harmony by making others feel good.
extended family - ANSWER-A family arrangement in which kin-individuals related by common ancestry-provide the core relationship; spouses are functionally marginal and peripheral.
Family of Orientation - ANSWER-A nuclear family that consists of oneself and one's father, mother, and siblings
Family of Procreation - ANSWER-A nuclear family that consists of oneself and one's spouse and children.
fertility rate - ANSWER-the average number of children a woman of childbearing years would have in her lifetime, if she had children at the current rate for her country
Folkways - ANSWER-Norms people do not deem to be of great importance and to which they exact less stringent conformity.
formal organization - ANSWER-A group formed deliberately for the achievement of specific objectives
functional approach - ANSWER-an approach to group problem solving that assumes that to achieve a group goal, group members should perform certain communication functions.
Functionalism - ANSWER-a school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
Gemeinschaft - ANSWER-a type of society in which life is intimate; a community in which everyone knows everyone else and people share a sense of togetherness
general deterrence - ANSWER-a crime control policy that depends on the fear of criminal penalties, convincing the potential law violator that the pains associated with crime outweighs its benefits.
Gesellschaft - ANSWER-a community, often urban, that is large and impersonal, with little commitment to the group or consensus on values
group conformity - ANSWER-the degree to which group members accept and follow group norms
Conformity - ANSWER-The degree to which we alter our behavior, attitudes and points of view to fit into our perceived expectation of what is appropriate.
Groupthink - ANSWER-the mode of thinking that occurs when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives. (Myers Psychology 8e p. 740)
Hawthorne effect - ANSWER-phenomenon in which participants' knowledge that they're being studied can affect their behavior
horticultural societies - ANSWER-Society in which people plant seeds and crops rather than merely subsist on available foods
hunting societies - ANSWER-Societies that use simple technology for hunting animals and gathering vegetation
Identity - ANSWER-one's sense of self
industrial society - ANSWER-A society that depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services.
Informal Organzations - ANSWER-Interpersonal networks and ties that arise in a formal organization but that are not defined or prescribed by it.
In-group - ANSWER-an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
Institution - ANSWER-an organization founded and united for a specific purpose
Institutionalized Racism - ANSWER-Racist attitudes that are held by the vast majority of people living in a society where stereotypes and discrimination are the norm
Instrumental Leaders - ANSWER-leaders who achieve their group's goal by getting others to focus on task performance
intergenerational mobility - ANSWER-A comparison of the social status of parents and their children at some point in their respective careers.
Iron Law of Oligarchy - ANSWER-The principle that states that bureaucracies invariably lead to the concentration of power in the hands of a few individuals who use their offices to advance their own fortunes and self-interests.
Legitimacy - ANSWER-undisputed credibility
Looking glass self - ANSWER-an image of yourself based on what you believe others think of you
master status - ANSWER-A key or core status that carries primary weight in a person's interactions and relationships with others.
material culture - ANSWER-the concrete, tangible objects of a culture
immaterial culture - ANSWER-Not tangible and is abstract. For example religion, beliefs and values.
megalopolis - ANSWER-A strip city formed when the rural interstices between metropolitan centers fill with urban development.
the law of three stages - ANSWER-According to Comte, ech branch of our knowledge passes through the different theoretical conditions.
Theological stage - ANSWER-First stage in the development of a science where scientists look toward the supernatural realm of ideas for an explanation of what they observed.
sub-stages: a) Fetishism b)Polytheism c) Monotheism [Show Less]