Final Exam (c.16)

Question 1

social change

Answer 1

transformation of a culture over time

Question 2

collective behavior

Answer 2

behavior that follows from the formation of a group or crowd of people who take action together toward a shared goal

Question 3

contagion theory

Answer 3

term coined by Gustave Le Bon; suggests that when people come together, they get swept up in a crowd, which develops a “mob mentality”

Question 4

emergent norm theory

Answer 4

(Turner and Killian 1987), argues that collective behavior is not as uniform as suggested by Le Bon.

theory of collective behavior that assumes individual members of a crowd make their own decisions about behavior and that norms are created through others’ acceptance or rejection of these behaviors

Question 5

mass behavior

Answer 5

occurs when large groups of people not necessarily in the same geographical location engage in similar behavior

Question 6

fads

Answer 6

interests that are followed with great enthusiasm

Question 7

social dilemma

Answer 7

behavior that is rational for an individual can lead to collective disaster
- two classes of social dilemmas: tragedy of the commons and public good dilemma

Question 8

tragedy of the commons

Answer 8

type of social dilemma in which many individuals’ overexploitation of a public resource depletes or degrades that common resource
(benefit to the individual bu the cost is shared by all

Question 9

public goods dilemma

Answer 9

type of social dilemma in which individuals incur the cost to contribute to a collective resource, though they may never benefit from that resource
(ex. blood banks)

Question 10

social movement

Answer 10

any social group with leadership, organization, and an ideological commitment to promote or resist social change

Question 11

activism

Answer 11

any activity intended to bring about social change

Question 12

regressive movements

Answer 12

attempts to resist social changes, maintain the status quo, or go back to an earlier form of social order

Question 13

progressive movements

Answer 13

promotes forward-thinking social change

Question 14

relative deprivation theory:

Answer 14

theory explaining social movements, which focuses on oppressed groups pursuing rights or opportunities already being enjoyed by others

Question 15

resource mobilization theory

Answer 15

theory explaining social movements, which focuses on practical constraints that help or hurt the actions of a social movement

Question 16

Armand Mauss

Answer 16

identified the four stages that social movements tend to go through

Question 17

4 stages in a social movement

Answer 17

1. the public takes notice of a problem
2. people organize
3. the movement becomes institutionalized
4. the movement begins to decline

Question 18

Everyday life: Structural functionalism

Answer 18

Sometimes social change is necessary to maintain equilibrium and order in society.

Question 19

Everyday life: Conflict theory

Answer 19

Social change is the inevitable result of social inequality and conflict between groups over power and resources.

Question 20

Everyday life: symbolic interactionism

Answer 20

Social change involves changes in the meaning of things as well as changes in laws, culture, and social behavior.

Question 21

cultural diffusion

Answer 21

spread of material culture and symbolic culture from one group to another

Question 22

technological determinism

Answer 22

idea that technology plays a defining role in shaping society

Question 23

cultural lag

Answer 23

the time between changes in material culture or technology and the resulting changes in the broader culture’s relevant norms, values, meanings, and laws

Question 24

cultural imperialism

Answer 24

occupying a culture by adopting another culture’s ideas rather than by military force.

Question 25

cultural leveling:

Answer 25

the process by which societies lose their uniqueness and become increasingly similar.

Question 26

modernity:

Answer 26

the social conditions and attitudes characteristic of industrialized societies, including:
The decline of tradition
An increase in individualism
A belief in progress, technology, and science

Question 27

postmodernity:

Answer 27

the social conditions and attitudes characteristic of postindustrialized societies, including
A focus on the production and management of information
Skepticism of science and technology