| Absolute poverty | A minimum level of subsistence that no family should be expected to live below. (212)
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| Achieved status | A social position that a person attains largely through his or her own efforts. (115, 197)
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| Activity theory | An interactionist theory of aging that suggests that those elderly people who remain active and socially involved will be best adjusted. (309)
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| Adoption | In a legal sense, the transfer of the legal rights, responsibilities, and privileges of parenthood to a new legal parent or parents. (339)
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| Affirmative action | Positive efforts to recruit minority group members or women for jobs, promotions, and educational opportunities. (259, 422)
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| Ageism | Prejudice and discrimination based on a person's age. (318)
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| Agrarian society | The most technologically advanced form of preindustrial society. Members engage primarily in the production of food, but increase their crop yields through technological innovations such as the plow. (125)
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| Alienation | A condition of estrangement or dissociation from the surrounding society. (132)
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| Amalgamation | The process through which a majority group and a minority group combine to form a new group. (264)
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| Anomie | Durkheim's term for the loss of direction felt in a society when social control of individual behavior has become ineffective. (11, 177)
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| Anomie theory of deviance | Robert Merton's theory of deviance as an adaptation of socially prescribed goals or of the means governing their attainment, or both. (177)
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| Anticipatory socialization | Processes of socialization in which a person rehearses for future positions, occupations, and social relationships. (97)
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| Anti-Semitism | Anti-Jewish prejudice. (274)
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| Apartheid | A former policy of the South African government, designed to maintain the separation of Blacks and other non-Whites from the dominant Whites. (264)
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| Applied sociology | The use of the discipline of sociology with the specific intent of yielding practical applications for human behavior and organizations. (21)
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| Argot | Specialized language used by members of a group or subculture. (77)
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| Ascribed status | A social position assigned to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics. (114, 197)
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| Assimilation | The process through which a person forsakes his or her cultural tradition to become part of a different culture. (265)
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| Authority | Institutionalized power that is recognized by the people over whom it is exercised. (402)
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| Basic sociology | Sociological inquiry conducted with the objective of gaining a more profound knowledge of the fundamental aspects of social phenomena. Also known as pure sociology. (22)
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| Bilateral descent | A kinship system in which both sides of a person's family are regarded as equally important. (330)
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| Bilingualism | The use of two languages in a particular setting, such as the workplace or schoolroom, treating each language as equally legitimate. (79)
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| Black power | A political philosophy, promoted by many younger Blacks in the 1960s, that supported the creation of Black-controlled political and economic institutions. (267)
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| Borderlands | The area of common culture along the border between Mexico and the United States. (241)
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| Bourgeoisie | Karl Marx's term for the capitalist class, comprising the owners of the means of production. (203)
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| Brain drain | The immigration to the United States and other industrialized nations of skilled workers, professionals, and technicians who are desperately needed in their home countries. (435)
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| Bureaucracy | A component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency. (131)
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| Bureaucratization | The process by which a group, organization, or social movement becomes increasingly bureaucratic. (133)
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| Capitalism | An economic system in which the means of production are held largely in private hands and the main incentive for economic activity is the accumulation of profits. (203, 415)
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| Caste | A hereditary rank, usually religiously dictated, that tends to be fixed and immobile. (199)
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| Causal logic | The relationship between a condition or variable and a particular consequence, with one leading to the other. (34)
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| Charismatic authority | Max Weber's term for power made legitimate by a leader's exceptional personal or emotional appeal to his or her followers. (402)
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| Charter school | An experimental school that is developed and managed by individuals, groups of parents, or an educational management organization. (371)
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| Class | A group of people who have a similar level of wealth and income. (204)
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| Class consciousness | In Karl Marx's view, a subjective awareness held by members of a class regarding their common vested interests and the need for collective political action to bring about social change. (203)
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| Class system | A social ranking based primarily on economic position in which achieved characteristics can influence social mobility. (201)
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| Classical theory | An approach to the study of formal organizations that views workers as being motivated almost entirely by economic rewards. (134)
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| Clinical sociology | The use of the discipline of sociology with the specific intent of altering social relationships or restructuring social institutions. (22)
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| Closed system | A social system in which there is little or no possibility of individual social mobility. (216)
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| Coalition | A temporary or permanent alliance geared toward a common goal. (130)
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| Code of ethics | The standards of acceptable behavior developed by and for members of a profession. (45)
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| Cognitive theory of development | Jean Piaget's theory that children's thought progresses through four stages of development. (96)
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| Cohabitation | The practice of living together as a male–female couple without marrying. (344)
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| Colonialism | The maintenance of political, social, economic, and cultural domination over a people by a foreign power for an extended period. (227)
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| Color-blind racism | The use of the principle of race neutrality to defend a racially unequal status quo. (255, 422)
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| Communism | As an ideal type, an economic system under which all property is communally owned and no social distinctions are made on the basis of people's ability to produce. (417)
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| Computer-mediated communication | Communicative interaction through two or more networked devices, such as a computer or cell phone. The term applies to a variety of text-based or video interactions, including e-mails, chat rooms, and text messages, some of which may be supported by social media. (465)
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| Conflict perspective | A sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of tension between groups over power or the allocation of resources, including housing, money, access to services, and political representation. (16)
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| Conformity | Going along with peers—individuals of our own status who have no special right to direct our behavior. (170)
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| Conspicuous consumption | Purchasing goods not to survive but to flaunt one's superior wealth and social standing. (204)
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| Contact hypothesis | An interactionist perspective which states that in cooperative circumstances, interracial contact between people of equal status will reduce prejudice. (263)
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| Content analysis | The systematic coding and objective recording of data, guided by some rationale. (43)
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| Control group | The subjects in an experiment who are not introduced to the independent variable by the researcher. (43)
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| 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. (173)
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| Control variable | A factor that is held constant to test the relative impact of an independent variable. (37)
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| Corporate welfare | Tax breaks, bailouts, direct payments, and grants that the government gives to corporations. (244)
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| Correlation | A relationship between two variables in which a change in one coincides with a change in the other. (34)
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| 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 perpetuate social class divisions from one generation to the next. (363)
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| Counterculture | A subculture that deliberately opposes certain aspects of the larger culture. (78)
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| Creationism | A literal interpretation of the Bible regarding the creation of humanity and the universe, used to argue that evolution should not be presented as established scientific fact. (393)
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| Credentialism | An increase in the lowest level of education needed to enter a field. (362)
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| Crime | A violation of criminal law for which some governmental authority applies formal penalties. (182)
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| Cross-tabulation | A table or matrix that shows the relationship between two or more variables. (52)
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| Cultural capital | Noneconomic goods, such as family background and education, which are reflected in a knowledge of language and the arts. (14)
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| Cultural convergence | The flow of content across multiple media, and the accompanying migration of media audiences. (145)
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| Cultural relativism | The viewing of people's behavior from the perspective of their own culture. (62)
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| Cultural transmission | A school of criminology that argues that criminal behavior is learned through social interactions. (178)
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| Cultural universal | A common practice or belief found in every culture. (62)
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| Culture | The totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. (61)
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| Culture industry | The worldwide media industry that standardizes the goods and services demanded by consumers. (62)
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| Culture lag | A period of maladjustment when the nonmaterial culture is still struggling to adapt to new material conditions. (76, 470)
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| Culture shock | The feeling of surprise and disorientation that people experience when they encounter cultural practices that are different from their own. (79)
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| Culture war | The polarization of society over controversial cultural elements. (71)
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| Curanderismo | Latino folk medicine, a form of holistic health care and healing. (440)
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| Degradation ceremony | An aspect of the socialization process within some total institutions, in which people are subjected to humiliating rituals. (98)
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| Deindustrialization | The systematic, widespread withdrawal of investment in basic aspects of productivity, such as factories and plants. (421)
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| Democracy | In a literal sense, government by the people. (403)
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| Denomination | A large, organized religion that is not officially linked to the state or government. (389)
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| Dependency theory | An approach that contends that industrialized nations continue to exploit developing countries for their own gain. (230)
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| Dependent variable | The variable in a causal relationship that is subject to the influence of another variable. (34)
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| Deviance | Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society. (175)
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| Dictatorship | A government in which one person has nearly total power to make and enforce laws. (403)
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| 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. (179)
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| Differential justice | Differences in the way social control is exercised over different groups. (181)
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| Diffusion | The process by which a cultural item spreads from group to group or society to society. (74)
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| Digital divide | The relative lack of access to the latest technologies among lowincome groups, racial and ethnic minorities, rural residents, and the citizens of developing countries. (153)
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| Discovery | The process of making known or sharing the existence of an aspect of reality. (73)
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| Discrimination | The denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups because of prejudice or other arbitrary reasons. (256)
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| Disengagement theory | A functionalist theory of aging that suggests that society and the aging individual mutually sever many of their relationships. (308)
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| Domestic partnership | Two unrelated adults who share a mutually caring relationship, reside together, and agree to be jointly responsible for their dependents, basic living expenses, and other common necessities. (349)
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| Dominant ideology | A set of cultural beliefs and practices that helps to maintain powerful social, economic, and political interests. (72, 151, 206)
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| Double consciousness | The division of an individual's identity into two or more social realities. (13)
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| Downsizing | Reductions taken in a company's workforce as part of deindustrialization. (421)
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| Dramaturgical approach | A view of social interaction, popularized by Erving Goffman, in which people are seen as theatrical performers. (18, 94)
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| Dysfunction | An element or process of a society that may disrupt the social system or reduce its stability. (16)
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| Ecclesia | A religious organization that claims to include most or all members of a society and is recognized as the national or official religion. (389)
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| Ecological modernization | The alignment of environmentally favorable practices with economic self-interest through constant adaptation and restructuring. (449)
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| Economic system | The social institution through which goods and services are produced, distributed, and consumed. (401)
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| Education | A formal process of learning in which some people consciously teach, while others adopt the social role of learner. (357)
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| Egalitarian family | An authority pattern in which spouses are regarded as equals. (332)
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| Elite model | A view of society as being ruled by a small group of individuals who share a common set of political and economic interests. (413)
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| Endogamy | The restriction of mate selection to people within the same group. (336)
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| Environmental justice | A legal strategy based on claims that racial minorities are subjected disproportionately to environmental hazards. (449)
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| Environmental refugee | A person who has been displaced by rising seas, destructive storms, expanding deserts, water shortages, or high levels of toxic pollutants. (452)
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| Equilibrium model | Talcott Parsons's functionalist view that society tends toward a state of stability or balance. (468)
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| Established sect | J. Milton Yinger's term for a religious group that is the outgrowth of a sect, yet remains isolated from society. (390)
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| Estate system | A system of stratification under which peasants were required to work land leased to them by nobles in exchange for military protection and other services. Also known as feudalism. (201)
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| Esteem | The reputation that a specific person has earned within an occupation. (208)
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| Ethnic group | A group that is set apart from others primarily because of its national origin or distinctive cultural patterns. (251)
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| Ethnocentrism | The tendency to assume that one's own culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others. (62, 255)
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| Ethnography | The study of an entire social setting through extended systematic fieldwork. (40)
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| Euthanasia | The act of bringing about the death of a hopelessly ill and suffering person in a relatively quick and painless way for reasons of mercy. (321)
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| Evolutionary theory | A theory of social change that holds that society is moving in a definite direction. (467)
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| Exogamy | The requirement that people select a mate outside certain groups. (336)
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| Experiment | An artificially created situation that allows a researcher to manipulate variables. (42)
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| Experimental group | The subjects in an experiment who are exposed to an independent variable introduced by a researcher. (43)
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| Exploitation theory | A Marxist theory that views racial subordination in the United States as a manifestation of the class system inherent in capitalism. (262)
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| Expressiveness | Concern for the maintenance of harmony and the internal emotional affairs of the family. (289)
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| Extended family | A family in which relatives—such as grandparents, aunts, or uncles—live in the same home as parents and their children. (329)
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| Face-work | A term used by Erving Goffman to refer to the efforts people make to maintain the proper image and avoid public embarrassment. (95)
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| False consciousness | A term used by Karl Marx to describe an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect their objective position. (203, 462)
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| Familism (Familismo) | Pride in the extended family, expressed through the maintenance of close ties and strong obligations to kinfolk outside the immediate family. (338)
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| Family | A set of people related by blood, marriage or some other agreed-on relationship, or adoption, who share the primary responsibility for reproduction and caring for members of society. (329)
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| Feminism | The belief in social, economic, and political equality for women. (297)
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| Feminist perspective | A sociological approach that views inequity in gender as central to all behavior and organization. (17)
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| Feminization of poverty | A trend in which women constitute an increasing proportion of the poor people of both the United States and the world. (213)
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| Folkway | A norm governing everyday behavior whose violation raises comparatively little concern. (68)
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| Force | The actual or threatened use of coercion to impose one's will on others. (401)
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| Formal norm | A norm that has been written down and that specifies strict punishments for violators. (68)
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| Formal organization | A group designed for a special purpose and structured for maximum efficiency. (131)
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| Formal social control | Social control that is carried out by authorized agents, such as police officers, judges, school administrators, and employers. (172)
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| Functionalist perspective | A sociological approach that emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. (15)
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| Fundamentalism | An emphasis on doctrinal conformity and the literal interpretation of sacred texts. (385)
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| Gatekeeping | The process by which a relatively small number of people in the media industry control what material eventually reaches the audience. (148)
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| Gemeinschaft | A term used by Ferdinand Tönnies to describe a close-knit community, often found in rural areas, in which strong personal bonds unite members. (123)
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| Gender role | Expectations regarding the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males and females. (100, 285)
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| Generalized other | A term used by George Herbert Mead to refer to the attitudes, viewpoints, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in his or her behavior. (94)
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| Genocide | The deliberate, systematic killing of an entire people or nation. (263)
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| Gerontology | The scientific study of the sociological and psychological aspects of aging and the problems of the aged. (308)
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| Gesellschaft | A term used by Ferdinand Tönnies to describe a community, often urban, that is large and impersonal, with little commitment to the group or consensus on values. (123)
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| 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. (257, 294)
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| Globalization | The worldwide integration of government policies, cultures, social movements, and financial markets through trade and the exchange of ideas. (22, 230)
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| Goal displacement | Overzealous conformity to official regulations of a bureaucracy. (132)
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| Group | Any number of people with similar norms, values, and expectations who interact with one another on a regular basis. (117, 127)
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| Hate crime | A criminal offense committed because of the offender's bias against a race, religion, ethnic group, national origin, or sexual orientation. Also referred to as bias crime. (185, 255)
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| Hawthorne effect | The unintended influence that observers of experiments can have on their subjects. (43)
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| 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. (433)
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| Hidden curriculum | Standards of behavior that are deemed proper by society and are taught subtly in schools. (362)
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| Holistic medicine | Therapies in which the health care practitioner considers the person's physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual characteristics. (444)
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| Homogamy | The conscious or unconscious tendency to select a mate with personal characteristics similar to one's own. (336)
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| Homophobia | Fear of and prejudice against homosexuality. (285)
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| Horizontal mobility | The movement of an individual from one social position to another of the same rank. (216)
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| Horticultural society | A preindustrial society in which people plant seeds and crops rather than merely subsist on available foods. (125)
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| Hospice care | Treatment of the terminally ill in their own homes, or in special hospital units or other facilities, with the goal of helping them to die easily, without pain. (315)
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| Human ecology | An area of study that is concerned with the interrelationships between people and their environment. (447)
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| Human relations approach | An approach to the study of formal organizations that emphasizes the role of people, communication, and participation in a bureaucracy and tends to focus on the informal structure of the organization. (135)
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| Hunting-and-gathering society | A preindustrial society in which people rely on whatever foods and fibers are readily available in order to survive. (124)
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| Hypothesis | A speculative statement about the relationship between two or more variables. (34)
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| Ideal type | A construct or model for evaluating specific cases. (11, 131)
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| 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. (94)
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| Incest taboo | The prohibition of sexual relationships between certain culturally specified relatives. (336)
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| Incidence | The number of new cases of a specific disorder that occur within a given population during a stated period. (438)
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| Income | Salaries and wages. (209)
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| Independent variable | The variable in a causal relationship that causes or influences a change in another variable. (34)
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| Index crimes | The eight types of crime tabulated each year by the FBI in the Uniform Crime Reports: murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. (186)
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| Industrial society | A society that depends on mechanization to produce its goods and services. (125, 415)
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| Infant mortality rate | The number of deaths of infants under 1 year old per 1,000 live births in a given year. (435)
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| Influence | The exercise of power through a process of persuasion. (401)
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| Informal economy | Transfers of money, goods, or services that are not reported to the government. (420)
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| Informal norm | A norm that is generally understood but not precisely recorded. (68)
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| Informal social control | Social control that is carried out casually by ordinary people through such means as laughter, smiles, and ridicule. (171)
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| In-group | Any group or category to which people feel they belong. (129)
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| Innovation | The process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture through discovery or invention. (73)
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| Institutional discrimination | The denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that results from the normal operations of a society. (259, 292)
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| Instrumentality | An emphasis on tasks, a focus on more distant goals, and a concern for the external relationship between one's family and other social institutions. (289)
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| Intelligent design (ID) | The idea that life is so complex that it could only have been created by intelligent design. (394)
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| Interactionist perspective | A sociological approach that generalizes about everyday forms of social interaction in order to explain society as a whole. (18)
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| Intergenerational mobility | Changes in the social position of children relative to their parents. (216)
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| Interview | A face-to-face, telephone, or online questioning of a respondent to obtain desired information. (39)
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| Intragenerational mobility | Changes in social position within a person's adult life. (217)
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| Invention | The combination of existing cultural items into a form that did not exist before. (73)
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| Iron law of oligarchy | A principle of organizational life developed by Robert Michels, under which even a democratic organization will eventually develop into a bureaucracy ruled by a few individuals. (133)
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| Kinship | The state of being related to others. (330)
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| Labeling theory | An approach to deviance that attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants while others engaged in the same behavior are not. (179)
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| Laissez-faire | A form of capitalism under which people compete freely, with minimal government intervention in the economy. (415)
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| Language | An abstract system of word meanings and symbols for all aspects of culture; includes gestures and other nonverbal communication. (65)
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| Latent function | An unconscious or unintended function that may reflect hidden purposes. (16)
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| Law | Governmental social control. (68, 173)
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| Liberation theology | Use of a church, primarily Roman Catholic, in a political effort to eliminate poverty, discrimination, and other forms of injustice from a secular society. (382)
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| Life chances | Max Weber's term for the opportunities people have to provide themselves with material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experiences. (215)
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| Life course approach | A research orientation in which sociologists and other social scientists look closely at the social factors that influence people throughout their lives, from birth to death. (97)
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| Looking-glass self | A concept used by Charles Horton Cooley that emphasizes the self as the product of our social interactions. (93)
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| Luddites | Rebellious craft workers in 19th-century England who destroyed new factory machinery as part of their resistance to the Industrial Revolution. (470)
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| Machismo | A sense of virility, personal worth, and pride in one's maleness. (338)
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| Macrosociology | Sociological investigation that concentrates on large-scale phenomena or entire civilizations. (14)
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| Manifest function | An open, stated, and conscious function. (16)
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| Mass media | Print and electronic means of communication that carry messages to widespread audiences. (145)
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| Master status | A status that dominates others and thereby determines a person's general position in society. (115)
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| Material culture | The physical or technological aspects of our daily lives. (76)
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| Matriarchy | A society in which women dominate in family decision making. (332)
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| Matrilineal descent | A kinship system in which only the mother's relatives are significant. (331)
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| Matrix of domination | The cumulative impact of oppression because of race and ethnicity, gender, and social class, as well as religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, and citizenship status. (290)
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| McDonaldization | The process through which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of society. (443)
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| Mean | A number calculated by adding a series of values and then dividing by the number of values. (52)
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| Mechanical solidarity | A collective consciousness that emphasizes group solidarity, characteristic of societies with minimal division of labor. (123)
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| Median | The midpoint or number that divides a series of values into two groups of equal numbers of values. (52)
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| Microfinancing | Lending small sums of money to the poor so they can work their way out of poverty. (424)
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| Microsociology | Sociological investigation that stresses the study of small groups, often through experimental means. (14)
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| Midlife crisis | A stressful period of self-evaluation that begins at about age 40. (312)
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| 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. (251)
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| Mode | The single most common value in a series of scores. (52)
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| Model, | or
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| ideal, minority | A subordinate group whose members supposedly have succeeded economically, socially, and educationally despite past prejudice and discrimination, and without resorting to political and violent confrontations with Whites. (270)
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| Modernization | The far-reaching process through which periphery nations move from traditional or less developed institutions to those characteristic of more developed societies. (235)
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| Modernization theory | A functionalist approach that proposes that modernization and development will gradually improve the lives of people in developing nations. (235)
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| Monarchy | A form of government headed by a single member of a royal family, usually a king, queen, or some other hereditary ruler. (403)
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| Monogamy | A form of marriage in which one woman and one man are married only to each other. (329)
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| Monopoly | Control of a market by a single business firm. (416)
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| Morbidity rate | The incidence of disease in a given population. (438)
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| Mores | Norms deemed highly necessary to the welfare of a society. (68)
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| Mortality rate | The incidence of death in a given population. (438)
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| Multinational corporation | A commercial organization that is headquartered in one country but does business throughout the world. (233)
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| Multiple masculinities | A variety of male gender roles, including nurturingcaring and effeminate-gay roles, that men may play along with their more pervasive traditional role of dominating women. (288)
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| Narcotizing dysfunction | The phenomenon in which the media provide such massive amounts of coverage that the audience becomes numb and fails to act on the information, regardless of how compelling the issue. (148)
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| Natural science | The study of the physical features of nature and the ways in which they interact and change. (6)
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| Naturally occurring retirement community (NORC) | An area that has gradually become an informal center for senior citizens. (314)
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| Neocolonialism | Continuing dependence of former colonies on foreign countries. (228)
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| Netizen | A person who is actively involved in online communities and is committed to the free flow of information, with few outside controls. (149)
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| New religious movement (NRM) | or
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| cult | A small, secretive religious group that represents either a new religion or a major innovation of an existing faith. (390)
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| New social movement | An organized collective activity that addresses values and social identities, as well as improvements in the quality of life. (463)
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| Nonmaterial culture | Ways of using material objects, as well as customs, beliefs, philosophies, governments, and patterns of communication. (76)
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| Nonverbal communication | The sending of messages through the use of gestures, facial expressions, and postures. (18)
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| Norm | An established standard of behavior maintained by a society. (66)
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| Nuclear family | A married couple and their unmarried children living together. (329)
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| Obedience | Compliance with higher authorities in a hierarchical structure. (170)
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| 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. (208)
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| Observation | A research technique in which an investigator collects information through direct participation, by closely watching a group or community. (40)
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| Offshoring | The transfer of work to foreign contractors. (423)
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| Oligarchy | A form of government in which a few individuals rule. (403)
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| Open system | A social system in which the position of each individual is influenced by his or her achieved status. (216)
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| Operational definition | An explanation of an abstract concept that is specific enough to allow a researcher to assess the concept. (33)
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| Opinion leader | Someone who influences the opinions and decisions of others through day-to-day personal contact and communication. (158)
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| Organic solidarity | A collective consciousness that rests on mutual interdependence, characteristic of societies with a complex division of labor. (123)
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| Organized crime | The work of a group that regulates relations between criminal enterprises involved in illegal activities, including prostitution, gambling, and the smuggling and sale of illegal drugs. (184)
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| Out-group | A group or category to which people feel they do not belong. (129)
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| Patriarchy | A society in which men dominate in family decision making. (332)
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| Patrilineal descent | A kinship system in which only the father's relatives are significant. (331)
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| Peace | The absence of war, or more broadly, a proactive effort to develop cooperative relations among nations. (404)
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| Percentage | A portion of 100. (52)
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| Personality | A person's typical patterns of attitudes, needs, characteristics, and behavior. (89)
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| Peter principle | A principle of organizational life, originated by Laurence J. Peter, according to which every employee within a hierarchy tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence. (132)
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| Pluralism | Mutual respect for one another's cultures among the various groups in a society, which allows minorities to express their cultures without experiencing prejudice. (265)
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| Pluralist model | A view of society in which many competing groups within the community have access to government, so that no single group is dominant. (414)
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| Political system | The social institution that is founded on a recognized set of procedures for implementing and achieving society's goals. (401)
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| Politics | In Harold Lasswell's words, "who gets what, when, and how." (401)
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| Polyandry | A form of polygamy in which a woman may have more than one husband at the same time. (330)
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| Polygamy | A form of marriage in which an individual may have several husbands or wives simultaneously. (330)
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| Polygyny | A form of polygamy in which a man may have more than one wife at the same time. (330)
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| Postindustrial society | A society whose economic system is engaged primarily in the processing and control of information. (126)
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| Postmodern society | A technologically sophisticated society that is preoccupied with consumer goods and media images. (126)
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| Power | The ability to exercise one's will over others. (204, 401)
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| Power elite | A term used by C. Wright Mills to refer to a small group of military, industrial, and government leaders who control the fate of the United States. (413)
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| Precarious work | Employment that is poorly paid, and from the worker's perspective, insecure and unprotected. (213)
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| Prejudice | A negative attitude toward an entire category of people, often an ethnic or racial minority. (254)
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| Prestige | The respect and admiration that an occupation holds in a society. (208)
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| Prevalence | The total number of cases of a specific disorder that exist at a given time. (438)
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| Primary group | A small group characterized by intimate, face-to-face association and cooperation. (128)
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| Profane | The ordinary and commonplace elements of life, as distinguished from the sacred. (379)
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| Professional criminal | A person who pursues crime as a day-to-day occupation, developing skilled techniques and enjoying a certain degree of status among other criminals. (183)
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| Proletariat | Karl Marx's term for the working class in a capitalist society. (203)
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| Protestant ethic | Max Weber's term for the disciplined work ethic, this-worldly concerns, and rational orientation to life emphasized by John Calvin and his followers. (381)
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| Qualitative research | Research that relies on what is seen in field or naturalistic settings more than on statistical data. (40)
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| Quantitative research | Research that collects and reports data primarily in numerical form. (39)
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| Quasi-religion | A scholarly category that includes organizations that may see themselves as religious but are seen by others as "sort of religious." (391)
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| Questionnaire | A printed or written form used to obtain information from a respondent. (39)
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| Racial formation | A sociohistorical process in which racial categories are created, inhibited, transformed, and destroyed. (252)
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| Racial group | A group that is set apart from others because of physical differences that have taken on social significance. (251)
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| Racial profiling | Any arbitrary action initiated by an authority based on race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than on a person's behavior. (262)
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| Racism | The belief that one race is supreme and all others are innately inferior. (255)
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| Random sample | A sample for which every member of an entire population has the same chance of being selected. (35)
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| Rational-legal authority | Power made legitimate by law. (402)
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| Reference group | Any group that individuals use as a standard for evaluating themselves and their own behavior. (129)
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| Relative deprivation | The conscious feeling of a negative discrepancy between legitimate expectations and present actualities. (461)
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| Relative poverty | A floating standard of deprivation by which people at the bottom of a society, whatever their lifestyles, are judged to be disadvantaged in comparison with the nation as a whole. (212)
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| Reliability | The extent to which a measure produces consistent results. (36)
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| Religion | According to Émile Durkheim, a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things. (379)
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| Religious belief | A statement to which members of a particular religion adhere. (385)
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| Religious experience | The feeling or perception of being in direct contact with the ultimate reality, such as a divine being, or of being overcome with religious emotion. (387)
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| Religious ritual | A practice required or expected of members of a faith. (387)
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| Remittances | The monies that immigrants return to their families of origin. Also called migradollars. (241)
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| Representative democracy | A form of government in which certain individuals are selected to speak for the people. (403)
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| Research design | A detailed plan or method for obtaining data scientifically. (38)
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| Resocialization | The process of discarding former behavior patterns and accepting new ones as part of a transition in one's life. (98)
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| Resource mobilization | The ways in which a social movement utilizes such resources as money, political influence, access to the media, and personnel. (462)
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| Rite of passage | A ritual marking the symbolic transition from one social position to another. (96)
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| Role conflict | The situation that occurs when incompatible expectations arise from two or more social positions held by the same person. (115)
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| Role exit | The process of disengagement from a role that is central to one's self-identity in order to establish a new role and identity. (116)
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| Role strain | The difficulty that arises when the same social position imposes conflicting demands and expectations. (116)
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| Role taking | The process of mentally assuming the perspective of another and responding from that imagined viewpoint. (94)
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| Sacred | Elements beyond everyday life that inspire awe, respect, and even fear. (379)
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| Sample | A selection from a larger population that is statistically representative of that population. (35)
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| Sanction | A penalty or reward for conduct concerning a social norm. (69, 169)
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| Sandwich generation | The generation of adults who simultaneously try to meet the competing needs of their parents and their children. (313)
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| Sapir-Whorf hypothesis | A hypothesis concerning the role of language in shaping our interpretation of reality. It holds that language is culturally determined. (65)
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| Science | The body of knowledge obtained by methods based on systematic observation. (6)
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| Scientific management approach | Another name for the classical theory of formal organizations. (134)
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| Scientific method | A systematic, organized series of steps that ensures maximum objectivity and consistency in researching a problem. (33)
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| Second shift | The double burden—work outside the home followed by child care and housework—that many women face and few men share equitably. (296)
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| Secondary analysis | A variety of research techniques that make use of previously collected and publicly accessible information and data. (43)
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| Secondary group | A formal, impersonal group in which there is little social intimacy or mutual understanding. (128)
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| Sect | A relatively small religious group that has broken away from some other religious organization to renew what it considers the original vision of the faith. (390)
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| Secularization | The process through which religion's influence on other social institutions diminishes. (379)
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| Segregation | The physical separation of two groups of people in terms of residence, workplace, and social events; often imposed on a minority group by a dominant group. (264)
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| Self | According to George Herbert Mead, a distinct identity that sets us apart from others. (93)
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| Serial monogamy | A form of marriage in which a person may have several spouses in his or her lifetime, but only one spouse at a time. (330)
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| Sexism | The ideology that one sex is superior to the other. (292)
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| Sick role | Societal expectations about the attitudes and behavior of a person viewed as being ill. (433)
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| Significant other | A term used by George Herbert Mead to refer to an individual who is most important in the development of the self, such as a parent, friend, or teacher. (94)
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| Single-parent family | A family in which only one parent is present to care for the children. (341)
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| Slavery | A system of enforced servitude in which some people are owned by other people. (199)
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| Social capital | The collective benefit of social networks, which are built on reciprocal trust. (14)
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| Social change | Significant alteration over time in behavior patterns and culture, including norms and values. (467)
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| Social constructionist perspective | An approach to deviance that emphasizes the role of culture in the creation of the deviant identity. (180)
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| Social control | The techniques and strategies for preventing deviant human behavior in any society. (169)
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| Social disorganization theory | The theory that crime and deviance are caused by the absence or breakdown of communal relationships and social institutions. (179)
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| Social epidemiology | The study of the distribution of disease, impairment, and general health status across a population. (438)
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| Social inequality | A condition in which members of society have differing amounts of wealth, prestige, or power. (22, 197)
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| Social institution | An organized pattern of beliefs and behavior centered on basic social needs. (120)
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| Social interaction | The ways in which people respond to one another. (113)
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| Social mobility | Movement of individuals or groups from one position in a society's stratification system to another. (216)
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| Social movement | An organized collective activity to bring about or resist fundamental change in an existing group or society. (461)
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| Social network | A series of social relationships that links a person directly to others, and through them indirectly to still more people. (118)
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| Social role | A set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status. (115)
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| Social science | The study of the social features of humans and the ways in which they interact and change. (6)
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| Social structure | The way in which a society is organized into predictable relationships. (113)
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| Socialism | An economic system under which the means of production and distribution are collectively owned. (417)
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| Socialization | The lifelong process in which people learn the attitudes, values, and behaviors appropriate for members of a particular culture. (89)
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| Societal-reaction approach | Another name for labeling theory. (180)
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| Society | A fairly large number of people who live in the same territory, are relatively independent of people outside their area, and participate in a common culture. (62)
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| Sociobiology | The systematic study of how biology affects human social behavior. (63)
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| Sociocultural evolution | Long-term social trends resulting from the interplay of continuity, innovation, and selection. (124)
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| Socioeconomic status (SES) | A measure of social class that is based on income, education, and occupation. (208)
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| Sociological imagination | An awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society, both today and in the past. (5)
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| Sociology | The scientific study of social behavior and human groups. (5)
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| Sovereignty movement | The effort by the indigenous people of Hawai'i to win self-government, as well as the restoration of—or compensation for—their ancestral lands. (405)
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| Status | A term used by sociologists to refer to any of the full range of socially defined positions within a large group or society. (114)
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| Status group | A term used by Max Weber to refer to people who have the same prestige or lifestyle, independent of their class positions. (204)
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| Stereotype | An unreliable generalization about all members of a group that does not recognize individual differences within the group. (255)
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| Stigma | A label used to devalue members of certain social groups. (175)
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| Stratification | A structured ranking of entire groups of people that perpetuates unequal economic rewards and power in a society. (197)
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| Subculture | A segment of society that shares a distinctive pattern of customs, rules, and traditions that differs from the pattern of the larger society. (77)
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| Survey | A study, generally in the form of an interview or questionnaire, that provides researchers with information about how people think and act. (39)
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| Symbol | A gesture, object, or word that forms the basis of human communication. (66)
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| Symbolic ethnicity | An ethnic identity that emphasizes concerns such as ethnic food or political issues rather than deeper ties to one's ethnic heritage. (275)
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| Teacher-expectancy effect | The impact that a teacher's expectations about a student's performance may have on the student's actual achievements. (365)
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| Technology | Cultural information about the ways in which the material resources of the environment may be used to satisfy human needs and desires. (75, 124, 470)
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| Terrorism | The use or threat of violence against random or symbolic targets in pursuit of political aims. (406)
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| Theory | In sociology, a set of statements that seeks to explain problems, actions, or behavior. (8)
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| Total institution | A term coined by Erving Goffman to refer to an institution that regulates all aspects of a person's life under a single authority, such as a prison, the military, a mental hospital, or a convent. (98)
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| Totalitarianism | Virtually complete government control and surveillance over all aspects of a society's social and political life. (403)
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| Tracking | The practice of placing students in specific curriculum groups on the basis of their test scores and other criteria. (363)
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| Traditional authority | Legitimate power conferred by custom and accepted practice. (402)
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| Trained incapacity | The tendency of workers in a bureaucracy to become so specialized that they develop blind spots and fail to notice obvious problems. (132)
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| Transnational | An immigrant who sustains multiple social relationships that link his or her society of origin with the society of settlement. (276, 479)
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| Transnational crime | Crime that occurs across multiple national borders. (185)
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| Transracial adoption | The adoption of a non-White child by White parents or a Hispanic child by non-Hispanics. (340)
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| Underclass | The long-term poor who lack training and skills. (214)
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| Validity | The degree to which a measure or scale truly reflects the phenomenon under study. (36)
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| Value | A collective conception of what is considered good, desirable, and proper—or bad, undesirable, and improper—in a culture. (69)
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| Value neutrality | Max Weber's term for objectivity of sociologists in the interpretation of data. (46)
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| Variable | A measurable trait or characteristic that is subject to change under different conditions. (34)
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| Verstehen | The German word for "understanding" or "insight"; used by Max Weber to stress the need for sociologists to take into account the subjective meanings people attach to their actions. (11)
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| Vertical mobility | The movement of an individual from one social position to another of a different rank. (216)
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| Vested interests | Veblen's term for those people or groups who will suffer in the event of social change, and who have a stake in maintaining the status quo. (469)
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| Victimization survey | A questionnaire or interview given to a sample of the population to determine whether people have been victims of crime. (186)
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| Victimless crime | A term used by sociologists to describe the willing exchange among adults of widely desired but illegal goods and services. (182)
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| War | Conflict between organizations that possess trained combat forces equipped with deadly weapons. (404)
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| Wealth | An inclusive term encompassing all a person's material assets, including land, stocks, and other types of property. (211)
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| White-collar crime | Illegal acts committed by affluent, "respectable" individuals in the course of business activities. (184)
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| White privilege | Rights or immunities granted to people as a particular benefit or favor simply because they are White. (257)
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| World systems analysis | The global economy as an interdependent system of economically and politically unequal nations. (228)
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