Glossary of Basic Concepts

ACHIEVED STATUS.  A position attained through personal ability and effort.

ACID RAIN. The increased acidity of rainfall which is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from power plants and automobiles.

ACUTE DISEASE.  A short-term disease (such as influenza or pneumonia) from which a person either dies or recovers.

ADAPTATION. The process by which cultural elements undergo change in form and/or function in response to change in other parts of the system.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION.  Government programs intended to assure minorities and women of equal hiring or admission opportunities.

AGE GRADES.  System found in some traditional cultures which group the population by sex and age.  Age grades go through rites of passage, hold similar rights and have similar obligations.

AIR POLLUTION. Refers to the contamination of the atmosphere by noxious substances (see also DEPLETION, ENVIRONMENT, and INTENSIFICATION).

ANDROGYNY. The blending of traditional feminine and masculine traits.

ANOMIE THEORY.  Robert K. Merton's theory of deviance which holds that many forms of deviance are caused by a disjunction between society's goals and the approved means to achieve these goals.

APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY.  Technology that is designed with the needs, values, and capabilities of the user in mind.

ARRANGED MARRIAGE.  Marriage based on the family ties rather than the couple's personal preferences.

ASCRIBED STATUS.  A social position that is given at birth (such as race or sex).

AUTHORITY.  Power that is attached to a position that others perceive as legitimate.

BALANCE OF POWER.  The theory that military conflict can be avoided if both sides have roughly equivalent military power.

BIOETHICS. Ethical questions relating to life and the biological well-being of the planet.

CARRYING CAPACITY. The number of a species that a particular ecosystem can support without suffering irreversible deterioration (see also ECOSYSTEM).

CAUSATION. A 'cause and effect' relationship exists wherever a change in one variable (the independent variable) induces change in another (the dependent variable). Causal factors in sociology include individual motivation as well as many external influences on human behavior that often go unrecognized.

CHRONIC DISEASE.  Disease of long duration, often not detected in its early stages, and from which the patient will not recover (such as high blood pressure or diabetes).

CIVIL DISORDERS.  Social conflict (such as riots) that the government becomes involved in to restore public order.

CLASS. Most sociologists use the term to refer to socioeconomic differences between groups of individuals which create differences in their life chances and power.

COLLECTIVE ACTION. Social action undertaken in a relatively spontaneous way by a large number of people.

COLLECTIVE VIOLENCE.  Large numbers of people engaging in violent social behavior.

COMMODITY RIOTS.  Riots in which the focus of violence is the destruction of property.

COMMUNAL RIOTS.  Riots in which the focus of violence is other groups (usually other race or ethnic groups).

COMMUNICATION. The transmission of information from one individual or group to another.

COMMUNITY.  A group of people who share a common sense of identity and interact with one another on a sustained basis.

COMPARABLE WORTH.  The evaluation of jobs dominated by women and those traditionally dominated by men on the basis of training, skills, and experience in attempts to equalize wages.

CONFLICT. A clash of interest (sometimes escalating to active struggle) between individuals, groups or society.

CONFORMITY. Human behavior which follows the established norms of a group or society. The bulk of human behavior is of a conforming nature as people accept and internalize the values of their culture or subculture

CONSENSUS. Agreement on basic social values by the members of a group or society.

CONTINGENCY WORK.  Temporary, part-time,or "contracted" employment for the duration of the project.  Contingency work is one of the fastest growing employment sectors in America as it enables employers to expand and contract their workforce with the vagaries of the market and allows them to avoid costly fringe benefits and other commitments of long-term employment.

CORRELATION. The relationship between two variables in which they vary together--say a correlation between the income of parents and reading ability among primary school children. Statistical correlation can vary from -1 to 1 (a 0 indicates no correlation between the variables). A positive correlation between two variables exists where a high score on one is associated with a high score on the other. A negative correlation is where a high score on one variable is associated with a low score on the other.

CREATED ENVIRONMENT.  Human constructions such as buildings, roads, factories, and private homes.

CRIME. Any action that violates criminal laws established by political authority.

CRISIS MEDICINE.  Medical treatment that focuses on curing illness (as opposed to preventing the occurrence of disease).

CRUDE BIRTH-RATE. A statistical measure representing the number of births per thousand population within a given year.

CRUDE DEATH-RATE. A statistical measure representing the number of deaths per thousand population that occur annually in a given population.

CULTURAL LAG.  A dysfunction in the sociocultural system caused by change occurring in one part of the system and the failure of another part of that system to adjust to the change. An example would be married women engaged in outside employment and the continuance of the domestic division of labor.

CULTURAL MATERIALISM.  A macro-social theory that attempts to account for the similarities and differences between sociocultural systems by focusing on the environmental constraints to which human action is subject. Your instructor uses a variant of this theory (sociocultural materialism) constantly.

CULTURAL TRANSMISSION.  The socialization process whereby the norms and values of the group are internalized by individuals.

CULTURE. The values, norms and material goods shared by a given group.  Your instructor prefers to restrict the term to refer to symbolic aspects (values and norms).

CULTURE OF POVERTY. The view that the poor have a different value system that contribute to their poverty.

CURATIVE MEDICINE.  Another term for Crisis Medicine--the focus on curing disease rather than its prevention.

CUSTODIAL CARE.  Occurs when the focus of health care is on the needs of the institution (convenience, efficiency) rather than on the needs of the patient.

DEFENSIVE MEDICINE.  The use of widespread medical tests on the part of physicians in order to avoid possible malpractice suits.

DEFORESTATION. The removal of all trees from an area (see also DEPLETION, ENVIRONMENT and DESERTIFICATION).

DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION. The movement of mental patients out of hospitals and into the "community."

DEMOGRAPHIC TRANSITION. A stabilization of population level in industrial society once a certain level of economic prosperity has been reached. Population is thought to stabilize because of economic incentives on families to limit the number of children.

DEMOGRAPHY.  The scientific study of human population--including size, growth, movement, density, and composition.

DENSITY.  A measure of human crowding usually expressed as the number of people per square mile.

DESERTIFICATION. A fertile region that has been made barren by the activities of human societies (see also DEPLETION, and POLLUTION).

DEVIANCE. Behaviors which do not conform to significant norms held by most of the members of a group or society. What is regarded as 'deviant' is highly variable across societies.

DIFFERENTIAL ASSOCIATION.  Theory of crime and delinquency that holds that deviance is learned as a result of long-term interaction with others.

DIFFUSION.  The spread of cultural traits from one sociocultural system to another.

DISCRIMINATION. The denial of equal access to social resources to people on the basis of their group membership.

DIVISION OF LABOR. The specialization of work tasks or occupations. All societies have some division of labor based on age and sex. But with the development of industrialism the division of labor becomes far more complex which affects many parts of the sociocultural system.

DOUBLE STANDARD.  A code of behavior that is more restrictive on women than on men.

DUAL CAREER FAMILY. Families in which both spouses are in the outside labor force.

DUAL WELFARE SYSTEM.  Refers to disguised forms of welfare that go to the middle class and the rich (also called Wealthfare).

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

ECOLOGY.  The study of the system of relationships between organisms and their environment.

ECONOMY. The organization of production and distribution of goods and services within a sociocultural system.

ECOSYSTEM.  A self-sustaining community of plants and animals within a natural environment.

EDUCATION. The transmission of knowledge to members of society. The knowledge passed on is in the form of technical and cultural knowledge, technical and social skills, as well as the norms and values of the society.

EGALITARIAN FAMILY.  Family arrangement in which power is shared more-or-less equally by both the wife and the husband.

ELDERLY ABUSE. Acts of violence (or neglect) directed at the elderly (often by family members).

EMIGRATION.  The movement of people out of their native land to other countries.

ENTROPY.  The entropy law or the second law of thermodynamics--energy can only be transformed in one direction, from ordered to disordered.  Entropy is also another name for pollution.

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

ETHNICITY. An ethnic group is one of a common cultural identity, separating them from other groups around them.

EUTROPHICATION. Oxygen depletion of water due to overfertilization.

FAMILY. A group of individuals related to one another by blood ties, marriage or adoption. Members of families form an economic unit, the adult members of which are responsible for the upbringing of children. All societies involve some form of family, although the form the family takes is widely variable. In modern industrial societies the main family form is the nuclear family, although a variety of extended family relationships are also found.

FEE-FOR-SERVICE MEDICINE.  The provision of medical services in return for a monetary fee.

FEMINISM. Advocacy of the social equality of the sexes.

FERTILITY. The average number of liveborn children produced by women of childbearing age in a particular society.

FETISHISM.  Obsessive attachment or sexual desire directed toward an object.

FLEXTIME.  An arrangement that allows employees to set their own schedules (starting and quitting time) whenever possible.

FUNCTIONS.  The ways in which a sociocultural trait contributes toward the maintenance or adaptation of the entire sociocultural system.

FUTURISTS.  Those who attempt to forecast the broad parameters of social life usually from the study of present day trends.

GEMEINSCHAFT  According to Toennies, social organization based on  close and personal ties and traditional norms and values.

GENDER. Socially defined behavior regarded as appropriate for the members of each sex.

GENETIC ENGINEERING. The genetic manipulation of organisms in an effort to produce desirable characteristics.

GENOCIDE. The systematic, planned annihilation of an ethnic, racial or political group.

GENTRIFICATION. The renovation of poor and working class urban neighborhoods and the displacement of the original residents.

GESELLSCHAFT.  According to Toennies, social organization based on loose personal ties, self interest, rationalization, and impersonality.

GHETTO  A section of a city occupied predominantly by members of a single racial or ethnic group, usually because of social or economic pressure.

GLOBALIZATION. The development of extensive worldwide patterns of economic relationships between nations.

GREENHOUSE EFFECT.  The accumulation of gasses in the atmosphere that act like the glass roof of a greenhouse, letting sunlight in but trapping the radiant heat.

GREEN REVOLUTION.  The tremendous increase in farming productivity that occurred beginning in the 1950s with the application of pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers and the development of plant varieties especially bred to respond to these  chemical inputs.

HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONS (HMOs). An organization that provides health care to patients in return for a fixed annual fee.  HMOs therefore have an interest in limiting the cost of treatment per patient (see also MANAGED CARE).

HOMOPHOBIA. Fear, hatred or loathing of homosexuals.

IATROGENIC. Disease caused by the physician in the course of treating the patient.

IDEOLOGY. Shared ideas or beliefs which serve to justify and support the interests of a particular group or organizations.

IMMIGRATION  The settlement of people into a country in which they were not born.

IMPERIALISM. The establishing of colonial empires in which domination is both political and economic.

INDUSTRIALIZATION  The continual expanding application of sophisticated technology designed to efficiently draw energy and raw materials out of the environment and fashion them for human use.

INDUSTRIALIZATION OF WAR. The application of industrial production and bureaucratic organization to warfare.

INFORMAL RELATIONS. Relations in organizations developed on the basis of personal connections. These ties are often used to pursue organizational goals instead of the formally recognized procedures.

IN-GROUP.  A social group an individual belongs to and identifies with.

INNER CITY. The areas composing the central neighborhoods of industrial cities which are subject to dilapidation and decay, the more affluent residents having moved to outlying areas.

INSTITUTIONAL DISCRIMINATION.  Accepted social arrangements that place minority groups at a disadvantage.

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM. Accepted social arrangements that exclude on the basis of race.

INSURRECTION  An organized revolt against civil authority in an attempt to replace that authority with another.

INTENSIFICATION. The application of ever greater amounts of technology and labor techniques to increase productivity.

INTERNAL COLONIALISM.  The economic exploitation of a group within a society whereby their labor is sold cheap and they are made to pay dear for products and services.

INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE. The use of force between individuals to kill, injure, or abuse.

KINSHIP. The network of social relationships which link individuals through common ancestry, marriage, or adoption.

LABELING THEORY.  A social theory that holds that society's reaction to certain behaviors is a major factor in defining the self as deviant.

LAISSEZ-FAIRE.  One of the main doctrines of capitalism that asserts that government should not interfere with commerce.

LIFESTYLE CHANGES.  Often called for when treating chronic disease.  Rather than curing the disease, the patient makes changes in lifestyle (nutrition, exercise, smoking sessation, weight reduction, alleviating stress) that help to control the disease process.

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

LUDDITES. A term used to brand those who are against "all" modern technology.  The term originally referred to British workmen  (about 1811) who rioted and destroyed textile machinery in the belief that these machines were contributing to unemployment.

MATRIARCHY.  Social organization in which females dominate males.

MAGIC. Rituals which attempt to influence supernatural beings to help achieve human ends.

MANAGED CARE. The reorganization of the health care delivery along corporate lines (see also HEALTH MAINTENANCE ORGANIZATIONS).

MARRIAGE. A socially approved sexual and economic relationship between two or more individuals.

MASTER STATUS.  A position that is so central to the identity of the individual that it overshadows all other statuses.

MECHANIZATION.  The use of machinery to replace human labor.

MEDICAID.  Government program (federal and state) to provide medical care to the poor.

MEDICAL MODEL.  The application of the medical perspective in explaining and treating troublesome human behavior.

MEDICARE. Government health insurance for those over sixty-five.

MENTAL DISORDER. The inability to psychologically cope effectively with the demands of day-to-day life. Psychiatrists recognize two general types of mental disorder, neurosis (milder forms of illness, such as anxiety states) and psychosis (more serious forms of disturbance, in which individuals lose touch with reality). The organic and sociocultural basis of various mental disorders are disputed matters.

MIGRATION.  The movement of people from one country or region to another in order to settle permanently.

MILITARY RULE. Government by military leaders.

MINORITY GROUP.  A group defined on the basis of ethnicity or race who are often the victims of discrimination.

MIXED ECONOMY.  Economies which have major elements of both capitalism and socialism (such as many economies of Europe).

MODERNIZATION.  The process of general social change brought about by the transition from an agrarian to an industrial mode of production.

MORES.  Norms that have strong moral significance, violation of which cause strong social reaction (murder, sexual molestation of children).

MORTALITY  RATE.  The number of deaths that occur in a particular population in a specified period of time (usually a year).

NORMS. Rules and expectations of conduct which either prescribes a given type of behavior, or forbids it.

NUCLEAR FAMILY.  Basic family group comprised of married female and male parents and their offspring.

OBJECTIVITY. Objectivity means striving as far as possible to reduce or eliminate bias in the conduct of research.

ORGANIZATION. A large group of individuals that is formally organized for the purpose of attaining a goal.

OZONE DEPLETION. Theory that societies production of chloroflourocarbons and other gasses is depleting the ozone layer that protects plant and animal life from harmful ultra-violet radiation (see also POLLUTION, and ENVIRONMENT).

PATIENT DUMPING.  The practice of only treating patients that can pay leaving the poor to government or charitable organizations.

PATRIARCHY. Social organization that structures the dominance of men over women.

PEASANTS. Farm workers in agrarian societies.

PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT.  A new occupation that handles many routine medical problems, thereby allowing the physician to specialize in the more difficult cases.

PLEA BARGAINING.  A deal between the prosecution and the accused offender where the accused will plead guilty in return for a reduced charge.

POLITICS. Attempts to influence governmental activities.

POSTINDUSTRIAL SOCIETY.  A society based on the production of services and information rather than material goods.  A notion advocated by those who believe that the industrial order is passing.

POWER. The ability to achieve aims or further the interests you hold even when opposed by others.

PREJUDICE. The holding of unfounded ideas about a group, ideas that are resistant to change.

PRIMARY DEVIANCE.  The deviant act itself, the violation of a norm.

RACISM. The attributing of characteristics of inferiority to a particular racial category. Racism is a specific form of prejudice focused on race.

REBELLION. Rebellions are aimed at removing particular rulers or regimes rather than bringing about significant structural changes in a society (See also COUP D'ETAT and REVOLUTION).

RECIDIVISM RATE. The percentage of ex-convicts who are convicted of new offenses after being released from prison.

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

RELIGION. A set of beliefs involving symbols regarded as sacred, together with ritual practices in which members of the community engage.

RESEARCH METHODS. The diverse strategies used to gather empirical (factual) material in a systematic way.

REVOLUTION. A process of change involving the mobilizing of a mass social movement in order to radically transform the society (see also COUP D'ETAT and REBELLION).

RITES OF PASSAGE. Communal rituals that mark the transition from one status to another (such as a confirmation or a wedding ceremony).

RITUAL. Formalized ceremonial behavior in which the members of a group or community regularly engage.

SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS.  The conjecture that people perceive their world through the framework of language.

SECONDARY DEVIANCE.  The deviant role behavior that a person adopts as a result of being labeled as deviant.

SECULARIZATION. A process of decline in the social influence of religion (see also RATIONALIZATION).

SELF (or SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS). The individual's awareness of being a distinct social identity, a person separate from others. Human beings are not born with self-consciousness, but acquire an awareness of self as a result of early socialization.

SEX ROLE.  The gender specific role behavior that a person learns as a member of a particular society.

SEX STRATIFICATION. The ranking and differential reward system of the sexes.

SICK ROLE.  Patterns of behavior expected of one who is sick--this role often exempts the person from their normal role obligations.

SOCIAL CHANGE. Alteration in social structures or culture over time.

SOCIAL DISORGANIZATION.  A structural condition of society caused by rapid change in social institutions, norms, and values.

SOCIAL EVOLUTION. Theories of social change which generally hold that human societies move from simple to complex forms of organization.

SOCIAL GROUPS. Two or more individuals who interact in systematic ways with one another and share a high degree of common identity. Groups may range in size from dyads to large-scale societies.

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS.  Major structural entitities in sociocultural systems that address a basic need of the system. Institutions involve fixed modes of behavior backed by strong norms and sanctions that tend to be followed by most members of a society.

SOCIAL MOBILITY. Movement between different social positions within a stratification system

SOCIAL MOVEMENT. A large grouping of people who are organized to bring about, or to block, a a change in the sociocultural system.

SOCIAL ROLE. The expected patterned behavior of an individual occupying a particular status position.

SOCIALIZATION. The lifelong processes through which humans develop an awareness of social norms and values, and achieve a distinct sense of self.

SOCIETY. A society is a group of people who live in a particular territory, are subject to a common system of political authority, and share a common culture.

SOCIOLOGY. The study of human behavior and societies, giving particular emphasis to the industrialized world.

SOLID WASTE. Refers to the accumulation of noxious substances (see also DEPLETION,    ENVIRONMENT, and INTENSIFICATION).

SPLIT LABOR MARKET.  A situation in which one group of laborers (usually defined by race, sex, or ethnicity) is routinely paid less than other groups.

STATE. Government institutions ruling over a given territory, whose authority is backed by law and the ability to use force.

STATUS. A social position within a society.  The term can also refer to the social honor or prestige which a particular individual or group is accorded by other members of a society.

STATUS OFFENCES.  Acts that are illegal for juveniles but not for adults (such as running away from home or engaging in sexual activities).

STIGMA.  A symbol (or a negative social label) of disgrace that affects a person's social identity.

STRATEGIC DEFENSE INITIATIVE (STAR WARS).  A program that aims to protect the U.S. from nuclear attack by developing the capabilities to shoot down enemy missiles.

STRATIFICATION. The existence of structured inequalities in life chances between groups in society.

STRUCTURAL UNEMPLOYMENT. Unemployed workers whose skills and training have become "obsolete" and who have little chance of ever finding employment at comparable paying jobs.

TABOO.  A sociocultural prohibition on some act, person, place, animal, or plant.

THEORY. Summary statements of general principles which explain regularly observed events.

TOTALITARIANISM.  Authoritarian government that attempts to regulate every aspect of sociocultural life.

TOTEMS.  Symbol associated with a descent group as an identifying insignia.

UNCONSCIOUS. Freudian concept refering to motives and ideas unavailable to the conscious mind of the individual.

URBANIZATION.  The increasing concentration of the human population into cities.

URBAN ECOLOGY. An analysis of urban life that examines the relationship between the city and its physical surroundings--based on an analogy with the adjustment of plants and organisms to the physical environment.

VALUES. Culturally defined standards held by human individuals or groups about what is desirable, proper, beautiful, good or bad that serve as broad guidelines for social life.

VESTED INTEREST.  An expectation of private gain that often underlies the expressed interest in a public issue.

WEALTHFARE. Government aid to the upper and middle classes.  Often times this aid is disguised in the form of tax breaks (a deduction for interest on home mortgages) or subsidised services (higher education).

WELFARE. Government aid (in the form of services and money) to the poor.

ZERO POPULATION GROWTH (ZPG). Population stability achieved when each woman has no more than two children.