Glossary

an economic condition in which a family or individual cannot afford basic necessities, such as food and shelter, so that day-to-day survival is in jeopardy.

freewill or the ability to make independent decisions. As sociologists, we understand that the choices we have available to us are often limited by larger structural constraints.

individuals or institutions that socialize people.

the process by which a minority group and a majority group combine to form a new group. Amalgamation creates the classic “melting pot” analogy in which there is a combination of cultures that results in a new culture entirely.

the view that social researchers should strive for subjectivity as they work to represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal values.

preparation for future life roles.

an active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies, and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably.

the special vocabulary and language of a subculture and how it’s delivered.

the process by which a minority individual or group gives up its own identity by taking on the characteristics of the dominant culture.

in Marx's theory the wealthy owners/capitalists that control economic production.

organizations that have a clear division of labor, a hierarchy, and formal rules and procedures.

a stratification system based on culture and honor. It is a closed system and has high status consistency.

a change in one variable that directly has an effect on or causes another variable.

power legitimized on the basis of a leader’s exceptional personal qualities.

people who identify with the sex they were assigned at birth are often referred to as cisgender, utilizing the Latin prefix cis-, which means “on the same side.”

a set of people who share similar status based on factors like wealth, income, education, family background, and occupation.

a stratification system that is based on social factors and individual achievement. It has some degree of openness.

a stratification system in which people cannot move between different layers.

formal guidelines for conducting sociological research, consisting of principles and ethical standards to be used in the discipline.

organizations we are forced to join.

organizations concerned with pursuing their mission or values. Often the opposite of a bureaucratic organization.

when a dominating country creates settlements in a distant territory.

also called color-blind racism; a form of racism that is hidden and embedded in our social institutions. The notion that one “does not see color” is problematic and serves to erase the experiences of racial and ethnic minority groups.

a middle-class child rearing technique in which parents try to actively foster their childrens’ development.

a macro level theory that proposes conflict is a basic fact of social life. It tends to argue that the institutions of society benefit the powerful.

a systematic approach to record and value information gleaned from secondary data as it relates to the study at hand.

when a change in one variable coincides with a change in another variable, but does not necessarily indicate causation

a behavior that violates official law and is punishable through formal sanctions.

an organization that exists to enforce a legal code, which in the United States includes the police, courts, and corrections system.

a theoretical framework that examines how racism is embedded in American social life through its systems and institutions.

a sociological approach that focuses on deconstruction of existing sociological research and theory. Critical sociologists view theories, methods, and conclusions as serving one of two purposes: they can either legitimize and rationalize systems of social power and oppression or liberate humans from inequality and restriction on human freedom.

people who happen to be in the same place at the same time, but who do not interact or share a sense of identity.

the resources and power derived from being familiar with high (or legitimated) culture.

a framework for understanding culture that focuses on specific cultural objects, how they are created and received, and the embeddedness of these patterns within society.

someone who appreciates a wide range of cultural activities and genres. Often associated with eliteness.

the practice of assessing a culture by its own standards and not in comparison to another culture.

someone who appreciates a narrow range of cultural activities and genres.

a functionalist theory that argues stratification is universal and necessary.

culture that is verbally expressed.

an intentional, self-induced change in feeling.

a violation of contextual, cultural, or social norms.

a theory that states individuals learn deviant behavior from those close to them who provide models of and opportunities for deviance.

actions against a group of people. Discrimination can be based on race, ethnicity, age, religion, health, and other categories.

the presence of differences, including psychological, physical, and social differences that occur among individuals.

the idea that individuals perform gender based on the way that gender is socially constructed within their society; they are held accountable for enacting gendered behaviors. These gendered performances are expected and contribute to why we think of gendered behavior as “natural.”

the values, norms, meanings, and practices of the group within society that is the most powerful.

a group that holds the most power in a given society, while subordinate groups are those who lack power compared to the dominant group.

in Marxist theory, the dominant ideas of a time period. It reflects the interests of the owners and makes what is socially constructed seem natural.

concept developed by W.E.B. Du Bois referring to a sense of “twoness” experienced by African-Americans because of their racialized oppression and devaluation in a white-dominated society

a framework for understanding social life as a form of theater.

a two member group.

relationships in which both partners do a fair share of earning income, housework, and childcare.

the process of suppressing or evoking emotions.

the pattern of femininity that is given the most cultural and ideological support. This type of femininity involves compliance with subordination and is oriented to accommodate the interests and desires of men.

a view of gender as a biological and unchanging, two-category system.

categories of difference organized around shared language, culture and faith tradition.

to evaluate and judge another culture based on one’s own cultural norms. Ethnocentrism is believing your group is the correct measuring standard, and if other cultures do not measure up to it, they are wrong.

the study of people in their environments to understand the meanings they give to their activities.

the study of everyday folk methods, how we go about ordering our day-to-day lives.

the testing of a hypothesis under controlled conditions.

the act of a dominant group forcing a subordinate group to leave a certain area or country.

a perspective based on the idea that women and men should have equal legal and political rights. Feminism views the systematic oppression of people based on gender as problematic and something that should be changed. Also discussed as a feminist movement or a series of political campaigns for reform on a variety of issues that affect women’s quality of life

a theoretical framework that argues women suffer discrimination because they belong to a particular sex category (female) or gender (woman), and that women’s needs are denied or ignored because of their sex.

loosely enforced norms; the ordinary conventions of everyday life.

a term that refers to the behaviors, personal traits, and social positions that society attributes to being female or male

a diagnostic category in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) that describes individuals who do not identify as the gender that most people would assume they are.

a person’s behavior, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with gender, specifically with the categories of femininity or masculinity. Expression can be specific to individuals and may also vary across cultures.

a deeply held internal perception of one’s gender.

the practice of judging people’s gender practices and reminding others of the rules of “doing gender.” This practice reinforces gender order and reproduces gender inequality.

the expected role determined by an individual’s sex and the associated attitudes, behaviors, norms, and values.

the degree to which the results of a study can be applied to a larger population.

the common behavioral expectations of general society.

the deliberate annihilation of a targeted (usually subordinate) group; the most toxic intergroup relationship.

an invisible barrier that women encounter when trying to win jobs in the highest level of business.

an interpretive framework sometimes used in qualitative analysis with the goal of developing theory; an approach developed by sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1967) that offers an alternative to positivism.

any collection of at least two people who interact with some frequency and who share some sense of aligned identity.

repeated actions that form a pattern.

the masculine ideal that is viewed as superior to any other kind of masculinity as well as any form of femininity.

an ideology and a set of institutional practices that privileges heterosexuality over other sexual orientations.

discrimination or prejudice against gay people on the assumption that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation. (Oxford dictionary)

forms of cultural expression associated with elite groups.

the argument that consumption patterns and cultural tastes are associated with specific occupations and class fractions.

similarity within networks.

an extreme or irrational aversion to gay, lesbian, bisexual, or all LGBTQIA+ people, which often manifests as prejudice and bias.

a culture in which casual sexual encounters including one night stands, sexual engagements, and so forth are accepted and encouraged.

an explanation for a phenomenon based on a conjecture about the relationship between the phenomenon and one or more causal factors.

the subjective importance of the various roles or identities we hold.

also referred to as unconscious bias; the process of associating stereotypes or attitudes towards categories of people without conscious awareness.

a group we belong to and toward which we hold favorable opinions.

a person’s wages or investment dividends. Earned on a regular basis.

the argument that consumption patterns are no longer determined by class.

also called structural racism or systemic racism; involves systems and structures that have procedures or processes that disadvantage racial minority groups.

the implantation of a convention or norm into society.

a sociological research approach that seeks in-depth understanding of a topic or subject through observation or interaction; this approach is not based on hypothesis testing. Interpretive frameworks allow researchers to have reflexivity so they can describe how their own social position influences what they research.

the idea that inequalities produced by multiple interconnected social characteristics can influence the life course of an individual or group. Intersectionality, then, suggests that we should view gender, race, class, or sexuality not as individual characteristics but as interconnected social situations.

a general term used to describe people whose sex traits, reproductive anatomy, hormones, or chromosomes are different from the usual two ways human bodies develop. Some intersex traits are recognized at birth, while others are not recognizable until puberty or later in life

one-on-one conversations with participants designed to gather information about a particular topic.

a process by which organizations come to look similar and homogeneous.

the ascribing of a deviant behavior to another person by members of society.

an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual. The additional “+” stands for all of the other identities not encompassed in the short acronym. An umbrella term that is often used to refer to the community as a whole.

the theory that our self is developed based on what we think others think about us.

the study of trends among and between institutions and societies. Macrosociology emphasizes the influence of structures, institutions, and systems.

the act of depicting women from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the male viewer.

the legal recognition of the rights of marriage regardless of one’'s sexual orientation or gender identity.

the overwhelming size and scale of the U.S. prison population.

anything physical or tangible that people create, use, or appreciate that has meaning attached to it.

a hypothetical system in which social stratification is determined by personal effort and merit.

the study of small groups and individual interactions. Microsociology emphasizes context, meaning-making, and interactions.

a term used for commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental slights, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative attitudes toward stigmatized or culturally marginalized groups.

any group of people who, because of their physical or cultural characteristics, are singled out from the others in the society in which they live for differential and unequal treatment, and who therefore regard themselves as objects of collective discrimination.

norms that carry moral significance. We are expected to conform to them.

a modified version of traditionalism in which they support the idea of a woman working if she wishes to, but only if doing so does not interfere with her ability to take care of her family.

deeply internalized and unconscious culture.

organizations we join based on shared interest.

the social expectations of how to behave in a situation.

a stratification system that allows people to move between layers.

a combination of prejudice and institutional power that creates a system that regularly and severely discriminates against some groups and benefits other groups.

the disparity or unequal outcome in orgasms between couples, genders, and sexualities.

the process by which a powerful group defines into existence a group they construct as an “other." The powerful group does this by attributing negative characteristics to the “other” and deems the less powerful group to be inferior.

a group we do not belong to and which we may hold negative attitudes toward.

an environment where characteristics associated with men and masculinity have more power and authority.

the difference in earnings between men and women.

a great mixture of different cultures where each culture retains its own identity and yet adds to the flavor of the whole; represented by the ideal of the United States as a "salad bowl."

the pattern of cultural experiences and attitudes that exist in mainstream society.

Comte’s theory which suggests that science produces universal laws, science controls what is true, and objective methods allow you to pursue that truth.

a theoretical framework that explores colonial relations and their aftermath. The framework tends to focus on subjugated people.

a set of theories that emphasize heterogeneity, subjectivity, plurality, and pragmatism, while questioning previous modes of theorizing that focus on objectivity. It is a broad and somewhat intentionally difficult to define term. Postmodern theory tends to be skeptical of “objective” universal explanations of how society and culture operate.

the class in command of the major hierarchies and organizations of modern society.

the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group. A prejudice is not based on personal experience; instead, it is a prejudgment, originating outside actual experience.

a violation of norms that does not result in any long-term effects on the individual’s self-image or interactions with others.

small, informal groups of people who are closest to us.

for-profit incarceration facilities run by private companies who contract with local, state, and federal governments.

something of value members of one group have that members of another group do not, simply because they belong to a group. The privilege may be either an unearned advantage or an unearned entitlement.

in Marx’s theory, the workers that must sell their labor.

the situation in which it is normal for men to press sexual activity and advances toward women in pursuit of increased sexual intimacy.

research methods that work with non-numerical data and attempt to understand the experiences of individuals and groups from their own perspectives. With qualitative approaches, researchers examine how groups participate in their own meaning making and development of culture.

research methods that use numerical data; the social world and experiences are translated into numbers that can be examined mathematically through statistical analysis.

a term used to describe gender and sexual identities other than cisgender and heterosexual.

is a field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies and women's studies; it emphasizes the fluidity of gender and sexualities and the performative qualities of them.

a category of identity that ascribes social, cultural, and political meaning and consequence to physical characteristics.

a theory that points to how what we define as race varies and changes in different political, economic, and historical contexts.

a type of systemic racism involves the singling out of racial minorities for differential treatment, usually harsher treatment.

theory that explains how organizations are not race-neutral. In this theory racialized organizations are seen as enhancing or diminishing the agency of racial groups.

a type of prejudice and discrimination used to justify inequalities against individuals by maintaining that one racial category is somehow superior or inferior to others; it is a set of practices used by a racial dominant group to maximize advantages for itself by disadvantaging racial minority groups.

every person in a population has the same chance of being chosen for the study.

a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse.

power that is legitimized by rules, regulations, and laws.

the discriminatory practice of refusing loans to creditworthy applicants in neighborhoods that banks deem undesirable or racially occupied.

a group that people compare themselves to.

the ability of the researcher to examine how their own social position influences how and what they research. Reflexivity requires the researcher to evaluate how their own feelings, reactions and motives influence how they think and behave in a situation.

an economic condition in which a family or individuals have 50 percent income less than the average median income.

how likely research results are to be replicated if the study is reproduced.

a process through which people unlearn previous socialization, while being socialized by new individuals or institutions.

a set of practices that bring together the person who committed the act, those who were harmed by the action, and other relevant community stakeholders to identify ways to heal the harm caused by an offense and prevent it from occurring again, rather than engaging in punitive punishment.

patterns of behavior that are representative of a person’s social status.

deviance that occurs when a person’s self-concept and behavior begin to change after his or her actions are labeled as deviant by members of society.

larger and more impersonal groups that are task-focused and time limited.

the physical separation of two groups, particularly in residence, but also in workplace and social functions.

a person’s distinct identity that is developed through social interaction.

physical or physiological differences between males and females, including both primary sex characteristics (the reproductive system) and secondary characteristics such as height and muscularity.

the belief that some individuals or groups are superior to others based on sex or gender.

a social identity ascribed to individuals based on their gender and the gender of the object of sexual desire. Sexuality includes personal and interpersonal expression of sexual desire, behavior, and identity.

enduring patterns of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender.

the social rules that guide sexual interaction; these scripts are based in one’s culture.

a process of social interaction and communication in which individuals learn and internalize the sexuality associated with their gender role and biological sex.

the sexual feelings, thoughts, attractions and behaviors individuals have toward other people.

using social connections and networks as a resource.

the idea that race is more meaningful on a social level than on a biological level.

socially created definitions about the cultural appropriateness of sex-linked behavior that shape how people see and experience sexuality

a framework that explains how the meaning of something is dependent on our social relationships.

the regulation and enforcement of norms.

a theory that asserts crime occurs in communities with weak social ties and the absence of social control.

the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and cultural rules that govern social life. These practices exist outside of us as individuals; instead, these rules act to constrain our behavior.

mechanisms or patterns of social order focused on meeting social needs, such as government, the economy, education, family, healthcare, and religion.

your position within society. This often includes your position in terms of race, class, gender, sexuality, age, ability, religion, and geography.

a set of relationships that link an individual to other individuals.

a society’s categorization of its people into rankings based on factors like wealth, income, education, family background, and power.

the process wherein people come to understand societal norms and expectations, to accept society’s beliefs, and to be aware of societal values.

a group of people who live in a defined geographic area, interact with one another, and share a common culture.

the movement of people between classes and occupations.

an individual’s place within the stratification system.

an awareness of the relationship between a person’s behavior and experience and the wider culture that shaped the person’s choices and perceptions.

a lens that allows you to view society and social structures through multiple perspectives simultaneously.

the scientific and systematic study of groups and group interactions, societies and social interactions, from small and personal groups to very large groups and mass culture; also, the systematic study of human society and interactions.

a Republican party political strategy to get White voter support through explicitly or implicity coded racism against Black Americans.

the consistency of an individual’s rank across the factors that determine social stratification within a lifetime.

communities based on living a specific lifestyle.

when an individual can have a lot of one type of resource, but not another.

oversimplified generalizations about groups of people. Stereotypes can be based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation—almost any characteristic. They may be positive (usually about one’s own group) but are often negative (usually toward other groups, such as when members of a dominant racial group suggest that a subordinate racial group is stupid or lazy).

a theory that addresses the relationship between having socially acceptable goals and having socially acceptable means to reach those goals.

people in your network that you know and have regular contact with.

a macro-level theory that proposes society is made up of stable institutions and each institution has a function for the society.

the complex and stable framework of society that influences all individuals or groups through the relationship between institutions (e.g., economy, politics, religion) and social practices (e.g., behaviors, norms, and values). These patterned arrangements both limit and create opportunities for some individuals.

a group within society that is differentiated by its distinctive values, norms, and lifestyle.

a change in body language, tone of voice, or facial expression but not a change in feeling.

a method of collecting data from subjects who respond to a series of questions about behaviors and opinions, often in the form of a questionnaire or an interview. Surveys are one of the most widely used scientific research methods.

conceptual distinctions made by people to categorize social things.

ways of thinking, beliefs, values, and assumptions, including language and gestures.

a micro-level theory that emphasizes the importance of meanings and interactions in social life.

the most powerful type of norm.

the people that are being socialized.

areas of culture that share aesthetics and standards of beauty.

the network of laws and practices that disproportionately funnel Black Americans into the criminal justice system, stripping them of their constitutional rights as a punishment for their offenses in the same way that Jim Crow laws did in previous eras.

a statement that proposes to describe and explain why facts or other social phenomena are related to each other based on observed patterns.

the theory that if people define something as real, it will have real consequences.

power legitimized on the basis of long-standing customs.

people who value the breadwinner/housewife model and believe men should be primarily responsible for earning income, while women are responsible for housework and childcare.

a person whose sex assigned at birth and gender identity are not necessarily the same.

a three member group.

organizations we join based on seeking a material reward.

how well the study measures what it was designed to measure.

systems of linked values.

shared beliefs about what a group considers worthwhile or desirable.

people in your network that you are not that close to.

the net value of money and assets a person has. It is accumulated over time.

an unearned set of social advantages available to White people; the societal privilege that benefits White people, or those perceived to be White, over non-White people in some societies, including the United States.

a nonviolent crime of opportunity, often involving money.