Glossary

Absolute poverty	A standard of poverty based on a minimum level of subsistence below which families should not be expected to exist. (See page(s) 199)



Achieved status	A social position attained by a person largely through his or her own efforts. (See page(s) 97, 189)



Activity theory	An interactionist theory of aging that argues that elderly people who remain active will be best-adjusted. (See page(s) 267)



Adoption	In a legal sense, a process that allows for the transfer of the legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood to a new legal parent or parents. (See page(s) 295)



Affirmative action	Positive efforts to recruit minority group members or women for jobs, promotions, and educational opportunities. (See page(s) 228, 360)



Ageism	A term coined by Robert N. Butler to refer to prejudice and discrimination against the elderly. (See page(s) 270)



Agrarian society	The most technologically advanced form of preindustrial society. Members are primarily engaged in the production of food but increase their crop yield through such innovations as the plow. (See page(s) 107)



Alienation	The condition of being estranged or disassociated from the surrounding society. (See page(s) 123)



Amalgamation	The process by which a majority group and a minority group combine through intermarriage to form a new group. (See page(s) 231)



Anomie	Durkheim's term for the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective. (See page(s) 10, 168)



Anomie theory of deviance	A theory developed by Robert Merton that explains deviance as an adaptation either of socially prescribed goals or of the norms governing their attainment, or both. (See page(s) 168)



Anticipatory socialization	Processes of socialization in which a person "rehearses" for future positions, occupations, and social relationships. (See page(s) 81)



Anti-Semitism	Anti-Jewish prejudice. (See page(s) 242)



Apartheid	The former policy of the South African government designed to maintain the separation of Blacks and other non-Whites from the dominant Whites. (See page(s) 232)



Argot	Specialized language used by members of a group or subculture. (See page(s) 62)



Ascribed status	A social position "assigned" to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics. (See page(s) 96, 188)



Assimilation	The process by which a person forsakes his or her own cultural tradition to become part of a different culture. (See page(s) 232)



Authority	Power that has been institutionalized and is recognized by the people over whom it is exercised. (See page(s) 345)



Bilateral descent	A kinship system in which both sides of a person's family are regarded as equally important. (See page(s) 283)



Bilingualism	The use of two or more languages in particular settings, such as workplaces or educational facilities, treating each language as equally legitimate. (See page(s) 65)



Birthrate	The number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year. Also known as the crude birthrate. (See page(s) 370)



Black power	A political philosophy promoted by many younger Blacks in the 1960s that supported the creation of Black-controlled political and economic institutions. (See page(s) 235)



Bourgeoisie	Karl Marx's term for the capitalist class, comprising the owners of the means of production. (See page(s) 192)



Bureaucracy	A component of formal organization in which rules and hierarchical ranking are used to achieve efficiency. (See page(s) 122)



Bureaucratization	The process by which a group, organization, or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic. (See page(s) 126)



Capitalism	An economic system in which the means of production are largely in private hands and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profits. (See page(s) 192, 342)



Castes	Hereditary systems of rank, usually religiously dictated, that tend to be fixed and immobile. (See page(s) 189)



Causal logic	The relationship between a condition or variable and a particular consequence, with one event leading to the other. (See page(s) 30)



Census	An enumeration, or counting, of a population. (See page(s) 370)



Charismatic authority	Max Weber's term for power made legitimate by a leader's exceptional personal or emotional appeal to his or her followers. (See page(s) 347)



Class	A term used by Max Weber to refer to a group of people who have a similar level of wealth and income. (See page(s) 193)



Class consciousness	In Karl Marx's view, a subjective awareness held by members of a class regarding their common vested interests and need for collective political action to bring about social change. (See page(s) 192)



Classical theory	An approach to the study of formal organizations that views workers as being motivated almost entirely by economic rewards. (See page(s) 126)



Class system	A social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence mobility. (See page(s) 189)



Closed system	A social system in which there is little or no possibility of individual mobility. (See page(s) 204)



Coalition	A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal. (See page(s) 121)



Code of ethics	The standards of acceptable behavior developed by and for members of a profession. (See page(s) 39)



Cognitive theory of development	Jean Piaget's theory explaining how children's thought progresses through four stages. (See page(s) 80)



Cohabitation	The practice of living together as a male-female couple without marrying. (See page(s) 296)



Colonialism	The maintenance of political, social, economic, and cultural dominance over a people by a foreign power for an extended period of time. (See page(s) 208)



Community	A spatial or political unit of social organization that gives people a sense of belonging, based either on shared residence in a particular place or on a common identity. (See page(s) 368, 382)



Concentric-zone theory	A theory of urban growth that sees growth in terms of a series of rings radiating from the central business district. (See page(s) 387)



Conflict perspective	A sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups. (See page(s) 14)



Conformity	Going along with one's peers, individuals of a person's own status, who have no special right to direct that person's behavior. (See page(s) 158)



Contact hypothesis	An interactionist perspective that states that interracial contact between people of equal status in cooperative circumstances will reduce prejudice. (See page(s) 230)



Content analysis	The systematic coding and objective recording of data, guided by some rationale. (See page(s) 38)



Control group	Subjects in an experiment who are not introduced to the independent variable by the researcher. (See page(s) 37)



Control theory	A view of conformity and deviance that suggests that our connection to members of society leads us to systematically conform to society's norms. (See page(s) 161)



Control variable	A factor held constant to test the relative impact of an independent variable. (See page(s) 32)



Correlation	A relationship between two variables whereby a change in one coincides with a change in the other. (See page(s) 30)



Correspondence principle	A term used by Bowles and Gintis to refer to the tendency of schools to promote the values expected of individuals in each social class and to prepare students for the types of jobs typically held by members of their class. (See page(s) 328)



Counterculture	A subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture. (See page(s) 63)



Creationism	A literal interpretation of the Bible regarding the creation of man and the universe used to argue that evolution should not be presented as established scientific fact. (See page(s) 334)



Credentialism	An increase in the lowest level of education required to enter a field. (See page(s) 327)



Crime	A violation of criminal law for which formal penalties are applied by some governmental authority. (See page(s) 175)



Cult	Due to the stereotyping, this term has been abandoned by sociologists in favor of new religious movements. (See page(s) 321)



Cultural relativism	The viewing of people's behavior from the perspective of their own culture. (See page(s) 65)



Cultural transmission	A school of criminology that argues that criminal behavior is learned through social interactions. (See page(s) 169)



Cultural universals	General practices found in every culture. (See page(s) 52, 307)



Culture	The totality of learned, socially transmitted behavior. (See page(s) 51)



Culture lag	Ogburn's term for a period of maladjustment during which the nonmaterial culture is still adapting to new material conditions. (See page(s) 55, 410)



Culture shock	The feeling of surprise and disorientation that is experienced when people witness cultural practices different from their own. (See page(s) 63)



Curanderismo	Latino folk medicine using holistic health care and healing. (See page(s) 381)



Death rate	The number of deaths per 1,000 population in a given year. Also known as the crude death rate. (See page(s) 370)



Defended neighborhood	A neighborbood that residents identify through defined community borders and through a perception that adjacent areas are geographically separate and socially different. (See page(s) 391)



Degradation ceremony	An aspect of the socialization process within total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals. (See page(s) 82)



Deindustrialization	The systematic, widespread withdrawal of investment in basic aspects of productivity such as factories and plants. (See page(s) 354)



Demographic transition	A term used to describe the change from high birthrates and death rates to relatively low birthrates and death rates. (See page(s) 371)



Demography	The scientific study of population. (See page(s) 369)



Denomination	A large, organized religion not officially linked with the state or government. (See page(s) 320)



Dependency theory	An approach that contends that industrialized nations continue to exploit developing countries for their own gain. (See page(s) 208)



Dependent variable	The variable in a causal relationship that is subject to the influence of another variable. (See page(s) 30)



Deviance	Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. (See page(s) 162)



Differential association	A theory of deviance proposed by Edwin Sutherland that holds that violation of rules results from exposure to attitudes favorable to criminal acts. (See page(s) 170)



Diffusion	The process by which a cultural item is spread from group to group or society to society. (See page(s) 53)



Discovery	The process of making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. (See page(s) 53)



Discrimination	The process of denying opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or other arbitrary reasons. (See page(s) 225)



Disengagement theory	A functionalist theory of aging introduced by Cumming and Henry that contends that society and the aging individual mutually sever many of their relationships. (See page(s) 266)



Domestic partnership	Two unrelated adults who have chosen to share one another's lives in a relationship of mutual caring, who reside together, and who agree to be jointly responsible for their dependents, basic living expenses, and other common necessities. (See page(s) 298)



Dominant ideology	A set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests. (See page(s) 61, 141, 195)



Downsizing	Reductions taken in a company's workforce as part of deindustrialization. (See page(s) 354)



Dramaturgical approach	A view of social interaction, popularized by Erving Goffman, under which people are examined as if they were theatrical performers. (See page(s) 16)



Dyad	A two-member group. (See page(s) 121)



Dysfunction	An element or a process of society that may disrupt a social system or lead to a decrease in stability. (See page(s) 14)



Ecclesia	A religious organization that claims to include most or all of the members of a society and is recognized as the national or official religion. (See page(s) 320)



E-commerce	Numerous ways that people with access to the Internet can do business from their computers. (See page(s) 355)



Economic system	The social institution through which goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed. (See page(s) 341)



Education	A formal process of learning in which some people consciously teach while others adopt the social role of learner. (See page(s) 307)



Egalitarian family	An authority pattern in which the adult members of the family are regarded as equals. (See page(s) 284)



Elite model	A view of society as ruled by a small group of individuals who share a common set of political and economic interests. (See page(s) 351)



Endogamy	The restriction of mate selection to people within the same group. (See page(s) 287)



Environmental justice	A legal strategy based on claims that racial minorities are subjected disproportionately to environmental hazards. (See page(s) 360)



Equilibrium model	Talcott Parsons's functionalist view of society as tending toward a state of stability or balance. (See page(s) 407)



Established sect	A religious group that is the outgrowth of a sect, yet remains isolated from society. (See page(s) 320)



Esteem	The reputation that a particular individual has earned within an occupation. (See page(s) 196)



Ethnic group	A group that is set apart from others because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns. (See page(s) 221)



Ethnocentrism	The tendency to assume that one's culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others. (See page(s) 63, 225)



Ethnography	The study of an entire social setting through extended systematic observation. (See page(s) 35)



Evolutionary theory	A theory of social change that holds that society is moving in a definite direction. (See page(s) 405)



Exogamy	The requirement that people select mates outside certain groups. (See page(s) 287)



Experiment	An artificially created situation that allows the researcher to manipulate variables. (See page(s) 36)



Experimental group	Subjects in an experiment who are exposed to an independent variable introduced by a researcher. (See page(s) 37)



Exploitation theory	A Marxist theory that views racial subordination in the United States as a manifestation of the class system inherent in capitalism. (See page(s) 230)



Expressiveness	A term used by Parsons and Bales to refer to concern for maintenance of harmony and the internal emotional affairs of the family. (See page(s) 255)



Extended family	A family in which relatives--such as grandparents, aunts, or uncles--live in the same home as parents and their children. (See page(s) 281)



Face-work	A term used by Erving Goffman to refer to the efforts of people to maintain the proper image and avoid embarrassment in public. (See page(s) 78)



False consciousness	A term used by Karl Marx to describe an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect its objective position. (See page(s) 193, 404)



Familism	Pride in the extended family, expressed through the maintenance of close ties and strong obligations to kinfolk. (See page(s) 290)



Family	A set of people related by blood, marriage (or some other agreed-upon relationship), or adoption who share the primary responsibility for reproduction and caring for members of society. (See page(s) 281)



Feminist perspective	A sociological approach that emphasizes inequity in gender as central to all behavior and organization. (See page(s) 16)



Fertility	The amount of reproduction among women of childbearing age. (See page(s) 368)



Folkways	Norms governing everyday social behavior whose violation raises comparatively little concern. (See page(s) 58)



Force	The actual or threatened use of coercion to impose one's will on others. (See page(s) 344)



Formal norms	Norms that generally have been written down and that specify strict rules for punishment of violators. (See page(s) 58)



Formal organization	A special-purpose group designed and structured for maximum efficiency. (See page(s) 121)



Formal social control	Social control carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, and employers. (See page(s) 160)



Functionalist perspective	A sociological approach that emphasizes the way that parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. (See page(s) 13)



Gatekeeping	The process by which a relatively small number of people control what material eventually reaches the audience. (See page(s) 140)



Gemeinschaft	A term used by Ferdinand Tönnies to describe close-knit communities, often found in rural areas, in which strong personal bonds unite members. (See page(s) 106)



Gender roles	Expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females. (See page(s) 83, 251)



Generalized others	A term used by George Herbert Mead to refer to the child's awareness of the attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behavior. (See page(s) 77)



Genocide	The deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or nation. (See page(s) 231)



Gerontology	The scientific study of the sociological and psychological aspects of aging and the problems of the aged. (See page(s) 266)



Gesellschaft	A term used by Ferdinand Tönnies to describe communities, often urban, that are large and impersonal with little commitment to the group or consensus on values. (See page(s) 107)



Glass ceiling	An invisible barrier that blocks the promotion of a qualified individual in a work environment because of the individual's gender, race, or ethnicity. (See page(s) 225, 261)



Globalization	The worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas. (See page(s) 53, 208)



Goal displacement	Overzealous conformity to official regulations within a bureaucracy. (See page(s) 124)



Group	Any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis. (See page(s) 100, 117)



Growth rate	The difference between births and deaths, plus the difference between immigrants and emigrants, per 1,000 population. (See page(s) 371)



Hawthorne effect	The unintended influence that observers or experiments can have on their subjects. (See page(s) 37)



Health	As defined by the World Health Organization, a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. (See page(s) 375)



Hidden curriculum	Standards of behavior that are deemed proper by society and are taught subtly in schools. (See page(s) 326)



Homophobia	Fear of and prejudice against homosexuality. (See page(s) 252)



Horizontal mobility	The movement of an individual from one social position to another of the same rank. (See page(s) 205)



Horticultural societies	Preindustrial societies in which people plant seeds and crops rather than subsist merely on available foods. (See page(s) 107)



Human ecology	An area of study concerned with the interrelationships between people and their spatial setting and physical environment. (See page(s) 358, 385)



Human relations approach	An approach to the study of formal organizations that emphasizes the role of people, communication, and participation within a bureaucracy and tends to focus on the informal structure of the organization. (See page(s) 127)



Hunting-and-gathering society	A preindustrial society in which people rely on whatever foods and fiber are readily available in order to live. (See page(s) 107)



Hypothesis	A speculative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. (See page(s) 30)



Ideal type	A construct or model that serves as a measuring rod against which specific cases can be evaluated. (See page(s) 11, 123)



Impression management	A term used by Erving Goffman to refer to the altering of the presentation of the self in order to create distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences. (See page(s) 78)



Incest taboo	The prohibition of sexual relationships between certain culturally specified relatives. (See page(s) 287)



Incidence	The number of new cases of a specific disorder occurring within a given population during a stated period of time. (See page(s) 380)



Income	Salaries and wages. (See page(s) 187)



Independent variable	The variable in a causal relationship that, when altered, causes or influences a change in a second variable. (See page(s) 30)



Industrial city	A city characterized by relatively large size, open competition, an open class system, and elaborate specialization in the manufacturing of goods. (See page(s) 384)



Industrial society	A society that depends on mechanization to produce its economic goods and services. (See page(s) 108, 341)



Infant mortality rate	The number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1,000 live births in a given year. (See page(s) 370)



Influence	The exercise of power through a process of persuasion. (See page(s) 344)



Informal economy	Transfers of money, goods, or services that are not reported to the government. (See page(s) 344)



Informal norms	Norms that generally are understood but are not precisely recorded. (See page(s) 58)



Informal social control	Social control carried out by people casually through such means as laughter, smiles, and ridicule. (See page(s) 160)



In-group	Any group or category to which people feel they belong. (See page(s) 119)



Innovation	The process of introducing new elements into a culture through either discovery or invention. (See page(s) 52)



Institutional discrimination	The denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that results from the normal operations of a society. (See page(s) 227, 257)



Instrumentality	A term used by Parsons and Bales to refer to emphasis on tasks, focus on more distant goals, and a concern for the external relationship between one's family and other social institutions. (See page(s) 255)



Interactionist perspective	A sociological approach that generalizes about fundamental or everyday forms of social interaction. (See page(s) 16)



Intergenerational mobility	Changes in the social position of children relative to their parents. (See page(s) 205)



Interview	A face-to-face or telephone questioning of a respondent to obtain desired information. (See page(s) 34)



Intragenerational mobility	Changes in a person's social position within his or her adult life. (See page(s) 205)



Invention	The combination of existing cultural items into a form that did not previously exist. (See page(s) 53)



Iron law of oligarchy	A principle of organizational life developed by Robert Michels under which even democratic organizations will become bureaucracies ruled by a few individuals. (See page(s) 126)



Issei	The early Japanese immigrants to the United States. (See page(s) 238)



Kinship	The state of being related to others. (See page(s) 283)



Labeling theory	An approach to deviance that attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants while others engaging in the same behavior are not. (See page(s) 171)



Labor unions	Organized workers who share either the same skill or the same employer. (See page(s) 129)



Laissez-faire	A form of capitalism under which people compete freely, with minimal government intervention in the economy. (See page(s) 342)



Language	An abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture. It also includes gestures and other nonverbal communication. (See page(s) 56)



Latent functions	Unconscious or unintended functions; hidden purposes. (See page(s) 14)



Law	Governmental social control. (See page(s) 58, 161)



Legal-rational authority	Max Weber's term for power made legitimate by law. (See page(s) 346)



Liberation theology	Use of a church, primarily Roman Catholicism, in a political effort to eliminate poverty, discrimination, and other forms of injustice evident in a secular society. (See page(s) 315)



Life chances	Max Weber's term for people's opportunities to provide themselves with material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experiences. (See page(s) 203)



Life expectancy	The average number of years a person can be expected to live under current mortality conditions. (See page(s) 371)



Looking-glass self	A concept used by Charles Horton Cooley that emphasizes the self as the product of our social interactions with others. (See page(s) 76)



Luddites	Rebellious craft workers in nineteenth-century England who destroyed new factory machinery as part of their resistance to the industrial revolution. (See page(s) 410)



Machismo	A sense of virility, personal worth, and pride in one's maleness. (See page(s) 290)



Macrosociology	Sociological investigation that concentrates on large-scale phenomena or entire civilizations. (See page(s) 13)



Manifest functions	Open, stated, and conscious functions. (See page(s) 14)



Mass media	Print and electronic instruments of communication that carry messages to often widespread audiences. (See page(s) 137)



Master status	A status that dominates others and thereby determines a person's general position within society. (See page(s) 97)



Material culture	The physical or technological aspects of our daily lives. (See page(s) 54)



Matriarchy	A society in which women dominate in family decision making. (See page(s) 284)



Matrilineal descent	A kinship system that favors the relatives of the mother. (See page(s) 283)



McDonaldization	The process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant have come to dominate certain sectors of society, both in the United States and throughout the world. (See page(s) 117)



Megalopolis	A densely populated area containing two or more cities and their surrounding suburbs. (See page(s) 385)



Microsociology	Sociological investigation that stresses study of small groups and often uses laboratory experimental studies. (See page(s) 13)



Minority group	A subordinate group whose members have significantly less control or power over their own lives than the members of a dominant or majority group have over theirs. (See page(s) 221)



Model or ideal minority	A group that, despite past prejudice and discrimination, succeeds economically, socially, and educationally without resorting to political or violent confrontations with Whites. (See page(s) 237)



Modernization	The far-reaching process by which a society moves from traditional or less developed institutions to those characteristic of more developed societies. (See page(s) 211)



Modernization theory	A functionalist approach that proposes that modernization and development will gradually improve the lives of people in peripheral nations. (See page(s) 211)



Monogamy	A form of marriage in which one woman and one man are married only to each other. (See page(s) 282)



Monopoly	Control of a market by a single business firm. (See page(s) 342)



Morbidity rates	The incidence of diseases in a given population. (See page(s) 380)



Mores	Norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society. (See page(s) 58)



Mortality rate	The incidence of death in a given population. (See page(s) 380)



Multilinear evolutionary theory	A theory of social change that holds that change can occur in several ways and does not inevitably lead in the same direction. (See page(s) 406)



Multinational corporations	Commercial organizations that are headquartered in one country but do business throughout the world. (See page(s) 209)



Multiple-nuclei theory	A theory of urban growth that views growth as emerging from many centers of development, each of which may reflect a particular urban need or activity. (See page(s) 387)



Narcotizing dysfunction	The phenomenon whereby the media provide such massive amounts of information that the audience becomes numb and generally fails to act on the information, regardless of how compelling the issue. (See page(s) 139)



Natural science	The study of the physical features of nature and the ways in which they interact and change. (See page(s) 6)



Negotiated order	A social structure that derives its existence from the social interactions through which people define and redefine its character. (See page(s) 96)



Negotiation	The attempt to reach agreement with others concerning some objective. (See page(s) 95)



Neocolonialism	Continuing dependence of former colonies on foreign countries. (See page(s) 208)



New religious movement (NRM) or cult	A generally small, secretive religious group that represents either a new religion or a major innovation of an existing faith. (See page(s) 321)



New social movements	Organized collective activities that promote autonomy and self-determination as well as improvements in the quality of life. (See page(s) 405)



New urban sociology	An approach to urbanization that considers the interplay of local, national, and worldwide forces and their effect on local space, with special emphasis on the impact of global economic activity. (See page(s) 388)



Nisei	Japanese born in the United States who were descendants of the Issei. (See page(s) 238)



Nonmaterial culture	Cultural adjustments to material conditions, such as customs, beliefs, patterns of communication, and ways of using material objects. (See page(s) 54)



Nonverbal communication	The sending of messages through the use of posture, facial expressions, and gestures. (See page(s) 16)



Normal accidents	Failures that are inevitable, given the manner in which human and technological systems are organized. (See page(s) 414)



Norms	Established standards of behavior maintained by a society. (See page(s) 58)



Nuclear family	A married couple and their unmarried children living together. (See page(s) 281)



Obedience	Compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure. (See page(s) 158)



Objective method	A technique for measuring social class that assigns individuals to classes on the basis of criteria such as occupation, education, income, and place of residence. (See page(s) 196)



Observation	A research technique in which an investigator collects information through direct participation in and/or observation of a group, tribe, or community. (See page(s) 35)



Open system	A social system in which the position of each individual is influenced by his or her achieved status. (See page(s) 204)



Operational definition	An explanation of an abstract concept that is specific enough to allow a researcher to measure the concept. (See page(s) 29)



Opinion leader	Someone who, through day-to-day personal contacts and communication, influences the opinions and discussions of others. (See page(s) 146)



Organized crime	The work of a group that regulates relations between various criminal enterprises involved in the smuggling and sale of drugs, prostitution, gambling, and other activities. (See page(s) 175)



Out-group	A group or category to which people feel they do not belong. (See page(s) 119)