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Exam 2 Definitions
Achieved status-Structural inequality
36
Sociology
Undergraduate 3
10/27/2009

Additional Sociology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term

 

 

Sex

Definition

 

 

The biological difference between male and female

Term
Gender
Definition
a cultural construction that makes biological and physical differences between males and females into socially meaningful categories that seems reasonable and appropriate.
Term
Gender Role
Definition
the cultural expectations of men and women in a particular society, including the division of labor; the tasks and activities that a culture assigns to the sexes.
Term
Gender Stratification
Definition
unequal distribution of rewards (resources, power, prestige, personal freedom, etc) between men and women.
Term
Kinship
Definition

is a core social institution in all societies

 

•    Although a kinship rests on biological relationships, Kinship systems are cultural phenomena.

Term
Society
Definition
The set of social relationships among people within a given group or geographical area
Term
Social Structure
Definition
Patterns of relations between individuals and groups in a society.
Term
Status
Definition

recognized positions within the social structure

 

  The ways we interact in society is not entirely as individuals, but as occupants of recognized social statuses.
•    Ascribed and Achieved

Term
Role
Definition
set of rights and obligations appropriate for one’s social status
Term
Egalitarian Societies
Definition
“all members (or component groups) enjoy roughly the same degree of wealth, power, and prestige”
Term
Stratified Societies
Definition

“characterized by formal, permanent social and economic inequality in which some people are denied access to wealth (including basic resources), power and prestige.”

•    Certain groups maintain control over resources and institutions that control resources
•    Social groups are ranked according to differences of wealth, prestige, and political power.

Term
Ascribed Status
Definition
based on birth, permanent membership to a specific group with no possibility of individual social mobility (closed system)
Term
Achieved (Ranked) Status
Definition
each caste ma be associated with economic or occupational niche and rules that determine the allocation of power, wealth, behavior, and places to live
o    Endogamous (in-marrying)
Term
Structural Inequality
Definition

Socially structured inequality of entire categories of people who have different access to social rewards as a result of their status (race, ethnicity, gender, class, income/wealth)

•    Complex societies have hierarchies built into social structure
•    Hierarchies are self-perpetuating:
o    Advantages or disadvantages are passed on from one generation to the next
•    Affects individuals from before birth (prenatal care) and impacts ones opportunities throughout life (“life chances”)

Term
Polygamy
Definition
More than one mate
Term
Monogamy
Definition
One spousal mate
Term
Polyandry
Definition
Multiple Men (Fraternal)
Term
Polygyny
Definition
Multiple Woman (Sororal)
Term
Sororate
Definition
if wife dies, husband receives new wife from dead wife’s kin group. (Usually sister)
Term
Levirate
Definition
if husband dies wife may (or may be obligated to) marry a brother of her dead husband.
Term
Bride wealth
Definition
certain symbolically important goods are transferred from the family of the groom to the family of the bride on the occasion of their marriage.
Term
Bride Service
Definition
Groom must work for the family of the bride for a predetermined length of time before they may marry
Term
Dowry
Definition
Transfer of wealth from parents to daughter at the time of her marriage
•    May be in lieu of later inheritance
•    May be wife’s contribution to new household
•    In cases of hypergamy, may compensate groom's for brides new social status
Term
Redistribution
Definition

system in which goods are collected or contributed by members of a group to a social center and then redistributed (could be household, community, or a state)

•    Ex. In our society- social security, income tax

Term
“leveling mechanism”
Definition
Modes of redistribution which shrink gaps between haves and have-nots by redistributing wealth.
Term
Market exchange
Definition
goods and services bought and sold for money at a price determined by the forces of supply and demand.
Term
Neolocal Residence
Definition

(residence)

new partners set up an independent household at a place of their own choosing

 

individualistic societies

Term
Bilocal Residence
Definition
married parters live with or near either the wife's or husband's parents.
Term
Patrilocal Residence
Definition

(most common in the world)

 

partners in a marriage live with or near the husband's father

Term
matrilocal residence
Definition
partners in a marriage live with or near the wife's mother
Term
avunculocal residence
Definition
"of uncles" found only in martilineal societies, emphasizes the inheritance and labor patterns linking men in a martilineage
Term
Generalized Reciprocity
Definition

a distribution of goods with no immediate or specific return expected

 

Usually close kin

No overt accounting kept

Highest degree of moral obligation

Term
Balanced Reciprocity
Definition

An exchange of goods of nearly equal value with a clear obligation to return them within a specified time.

Relationship between friends or allies

Generally an on-going series of exchanges
Refusal to receive or failure to reciprocate is taken as a withdrawal from the social relationship

Term
Negative Reciprocity
Definition

Exchange conducted for the purpose of material advantage

Impersonal or unfriendly transaction

Term
endogamy
Definition
where a person marries ithin a defined social group
Term
exogamy
Definition
marriage rules that specify that a person is to marry outside a defined social group
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