The social process through which children develop an awareness of social norms and values and achieve a distinct sense of self

A single identity or status that overpowers all other identities one holds

According to Cooley’s theory, the reactions we elicit in social situations create a mirror in which we see ourselves.

A concept in the theory of Mead, according to which the individual comes to understand the general values of a given group or society during the socialization process

The specific verbal and nonverbal messages that older generations transmit to younger generations regarding the meaning and significance of race.

The learning of gender roles through social factors such as schooling, the media, and family.

Roles

The expected behaviors of people occupying particular social positions. The idea of social role originally comes from the theater, referring to the parts that actors play in a stage production.

Preparing for the presentation of one’s social role.

People are sensitive to how others see them and use many forms of impression management to compel oth- ers to react to them in the ways they wish. Although we may sometimes do this in a calculated way, usually it is among the things we do without conscious attention.

Although people cooperate to help one another “save face,” they also endeavor individually to preserve their own dignity, autonomy, and respect. One of the ways in which people do this is by arranging for “audience segregation” in their lives. In each of their roles, they act somewhat differently, and they try to keep what they do in each role distinct from what they do in their other roles. This means that they can have multiple selves. Frequently, these selves are consistent with one another, but sometimes, they are not. People find it very stressful when boundaries break down or when they cannot reconcile their role in one area of their life with their role in another.

Audience segregation implicitly encourages impression management.

Interaction occurring among people present in a particular setting but not engaged in direct face-to-face communication.

Interaction between individuals engaged in a common activity or in direct conversation with one another.

The study of how people make sense of what others say and do in the course of day-to-day social interaction. Ethnomethodology is concerned with the “ethnomethods” by which people sustain meaningful interchanges with one another.

The deliberate subversion of the tacit rules of conversation.

-describes cases like these in which a subordinate person breaks the tacit rules of everyday interaction that are of value to the more power- ful person.

A collection of people who regularly interact with one another on the basis of shared expectations concerning behavior and who share a sense of common identity.

primary groups

Groups that are characterized by intense emotional ties, face-to-face interaction, intimacy, and a strong, enduring sense of commitment.

secondary groups

Groups characterized by large size and by impersonal, fleeting relationships.

Sets of informal and formal social ties that link people to each other.

In-groups

Groups toward which one feels particular loyalty and respect—the groups to which “we” belong.

Out-groups

Groups toward which one feels antagonism and contempt—“those people.”

consists of two people. Simmel reasoned that dyads, which involve both intimacy and conflict, are likely to be simultaneously intense and unstable. To survive, they require the full attention and cooperation of both parties. 

A type of organization marked by a clear hierarchy of authority and the existence of written rules of procedure and staffed by full-time, salaried officials.

A “pure type,” constructed by emphasizing certain traits of a social item that do not necessarily exist in reality. An example is Max Weber’s ideal type of bureaucratic organization.

the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world.” Ritzer uses the four guiding principles of McDonald’s restaurants—efficiency, calculability, uniformity, and control through automation—to show that our society is becoming ever more rationalized.

Iron law of oligarchy

A term coined by Weber’s student Robert Michels meaning that large organizations tend toward centralization of power, making democracy difficult.

Oligarchy

Rule by a small minority within an organization or society.

Modes of action that do not conform to
the norms or values held by most members of a group or society. What is regarded as deviant is as variable as the norms and values that distinguish different cultures and subcultures from one another. Forms of behavior that are highly esteemed by one group may be regarded negatively by others.

The result of any action that contravenes the laws established by a political authority.

Control (theory of dev and crime)

The theory that views crime as the outcome of an imbalance between impulses toward criminal activity and controls that deter it. Control theorists hold that criminals are rational beings who will act to maximize their own reward unless they are rendered unable to do so through either social or physical controls.

Differential association (theory of dev and crime)

An interpretation of the development of criminal behavior proposed by Edwin H. Sutherland, according to whom criminal behavior is learned through association with others who regularly engage in crime.

Labeling (theory of dev and crime)

An approach to the study of deviance that suggests that people become “deviant” because certain labels are attached to their behavior by political authorities and others.

Conflict (theory of dev and crime)

The argument that deviance is deliberately chosen and often political in nature.

primary deviation

According to Edwin Lemert, the actions that cause others to label one as a deviant.

secondary deviation

According to Edwin Lemert, following the act of primary deviation, secondary deviation occurs when an individual accepts the label of deviant and acts accordingly.

Robert merton’s typology of deviance

Émile Durkheim and Robert Merton argued that deviant behavior is the result of the structure of modern societies. Durkheim’s notion of anomie suggests that in modern soci- eties, traditional norms and standards become undermined without being replaced by new ones. Anomie exists when there are no clear standards to guide behavior in a given area of social life. Under such circumstances, Durkheim believed, people feel disoriented and anxious; anomie therefore height- ens dispositions to suicide.

–Institutionalized means vs cultural goals

Relative deprivation

Deprivation a person feels by comparing himself with a group.

Criminal activities carried out by those in white-collar, or professional, jobs.

Social stratification

The existence of structured inequalities between groups in society in terms of their access to material or symbolic rewards. While all societies involve some forms of stratification, only with the development of state-based systems did wide differences in wealth and power arise. The most distinctive form of stratification in modern societies is class divisions.

Social class

Although it is one of the most frequently used concepts in sociology, there is no clear agreement about how the notion should be defined. Most sociologists use the term to refer to socioeconomic variations among groups of individuals that create variations in their material prosperity and power.

Income

Money received from paid wages and salaries or earned from investments.

Wealth

Money and material possessions held by an individual or group.

Marx theory of stratification

The bourgeoisie, or capitalists, own the means of production. Members of the proletariat, or proletarians, by contrast, earn their living by selling their labor to the capitalists. The relationship between classes, according to Marx, is exploitative. 

–believed that the maturing of industrial capitalism would create an increasing gap between the wealth of the minority and the poverty of the mass of the population. In his view, the wages of the working class could never rise far above subsistence level, while wealth would pile up in the hands of those owning capital.

Weber theory of stratification

-First, according to Weber, class divisions derive not only from control or lack of control of the means of production but also from economic differences that have nothing to do with property

-Second, Weber distinguished another aspect of stratifi- cation, which he called “status.” Status refers to differences among groups in the social honor, or prestige, that others accord them. Status distinctions can vary independently of class divisions

-Third, Weber recognized that social classes also differ with respect to their power, or ability to enact change, com- mand resources, or make decisions. Power is distinct from status and class, but these three dimensions often overlap

Status (weber)

Status (weber)

The social honor or prestige of a particular group is accorded by other members of a society. Status groups normally display distinct styles of life—patterns of behavior that the members of a group follow. Status privilege may be positive or negative.

Contradictory class locations

Members of the capitalist class have control over each of these dimensions of the production system. Members of the working class have control over none of them. Between these two main classes, however, are the groups whose position is more ambiguous: managers and white- collar workers. These people are in what Wright calls contradictory class locations, because they can influence some aspects of production but lack control over others.

intergenerational mobility

Movement up or down a social stratification hierarchy from one generation to another.

intragenerational mobility

Movement up or down a social stratification hierarchy within the course of a personal career.

Mobility patterns (**up/ down) (**cultural, exchange)

exchange mobility • The exchange of positions on the socioeconomic scale such that talented people move
–up the economic hierarchy while the less talented move down.