Chapter1

Question 1

social problem

Answer 1

a social condition or pattern of behavior that is believed to warrant public concern and collective action

Question 2

sociological imagination

Answer 2

A term used by sociologist C. Wright Mills in his 1959 book, The Sociological Imagination, that describes the sociologist’s ability to connect seemingly impersonal and remote historical forces to the most basic incidents of
an individual’s life. The sociological imagination enables people to distinguish between personal troubles and public issues.

Question 3

moral entrepreneurs

Answer 3

Term coined to describe people who ‘discover’ and attempt to publicize deviant behaviours. Moral entrepreneurs are crusading reformers who are disturbed by particular types of evil they see in the world and who will not rest until something is done to correct the problem.

Question 4

symbols

Answer 4

Gestures, artifacts, and words that represent something else

Question 5

social group

Answer 5

A set of people, defined by formal or informal criteria of membership, who feel unified or are bound together in stable patterns of interaction.

Question 6

moral panics

Answer 6

Public expressions of feeling and attitude typically based on false or exaggerated perceptions that some cultural behaviour or group of people (frequently a minority group) is dangerously deviant and poses a menace to society.

Question 7

role

Answer 7

The specific duties and obligations expected of those who

occupy a specific social status.

Question 8

norm

Answer 8

The rules and expectations of the society pertaining to
appropriate behaviours under various social circumstances. Norms regulate behaviour in different situations and large-scale norm violation often is viewed as a social problem—a problem occurs when traditionally normative behaviour is violated.

Question 9

latent function

Answer 9

Hidden, unstated, and sometimes unintended consequences of activities in an organization or institution.

Question 10

manifest function

Answer 10

The visible and intended goals, consequences, or effects of social structures and institutions.

Question 11

symbolic interactionism

Answer 11

A theoretical paradigm that studies the process by which individuals interpret and respond to the actions of others and that conceives of society as the product of this continuous face-to-face interaction; a microsociological approach that focuses on individuals and small groups.

Question 12

structural functionalism

Answer 12

A theoretical paradigm emphasizing the way each part of society functions to fulfill the needs of the society as a whole; also called ‘functionalism’; a macrosociological approach that focuses on the societal, as opposed to the individual, level.

Question 13

conflict theory

Answer 13

A theoretical paradigm, derived from the writings of Marx and Engels, that emphasizes conflict and change as the
regular and permanent features of society; a macrosociological research approach that focuses on processes within the whole society.