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| The pattern of human relationships formed by human groups and institutions within a given society. |
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| A formal organization marked by a clear hierarchy of authority and written rules of procedure, staffed by full-time salaried officials, and striving for the efficient attainment of organizational goals. |
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| Weber's term for the process by which modes of precise calculation based on observation and reason increasingly dominate the social world. |
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| C. Wright Mills’s term for the application of imaginative thought to the asking and answering of sociological questions; the ability to see the effects of social patterns and history on human behaviour. |
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| The attitude that some are better than others and have a right to the extraordinary privilege, power and wealth accorded them. Alternatively, one who subscribes to the theory that there is a power elite in American society. |
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| George Ritzer’s term for rationalization, the identical process extensively described by Weber. |
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| An occupation that concentrates upon a small part of the whole enterprise. |
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| Weber's construct of a “pure type,” an analytical tool created by emphasizing logical or consistent traits of a given social item. |
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| The tendency of bureaucracies to refine their procedures to attain their goals ever more efficiently. |
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| The exchange of goods and services through the market economy. These good and services were previously exchanged through primary group ties. |
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| The specialization of work tasks or occupations and their interrelationships. |
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| The title of Karl Marx’s three-volume critical analysis of political economy. The word is also used to refer to money or other assets (land, buildings, machinery) used to start or grow a business to produce more wealth. |
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| A set of ideas developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor that involve simplifying, rationalizing, standardizing, and coordinating the actions of workers to produce maximum efficiency. |
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| A form of government that recognizes the right of citizens to participate in political decision making or to elect representatives to government bodies. |
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| Communications technology |
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| Technology used to extend the transmission of information between individuals and groups over both distance and time. |
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| A typically small group of individuals standing in an enduring personal relationship to one another. |
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