Midterm 1

Question 0

Levels of analysis

Answer 0

Social groups from the largest to the smallest

Question 1

Social world model

Answer 1

The levels of analysis in our social surroundings as an interconnected series of small groups, organizations, institutions, and societies

Question 2

Social structure

Answer 2

The stable patterns of interactions, statuses, roles, and institutions that provide stability for the society and bring order to individuals’ lives

Question 3

Social units

Answer 3

Interconnected parts of the social world ranging from small groups to societies

Question 4

Social institutions

Answer 4

Organized, patterned, and enduring sets of social structures that provide guidelines for behavior and help each society meet its basic survival needs

Question 5

Social processes

Answer 5

Take place through actions of people in institutions and other social units or structures

Question 6

Envirnment

Answer 6

The setting in which the social unit operates, including everything that influences the social unit, such as physical surroundings and technological innovations

Question 7

Symbolic interaction theory

Answer 7

Sees humans as active agents who create shared meaning of symbols and events and then interact on the basis of those meanings

Question 8

Symbols

Answer 8

Actions or objects that represent something els and therefore have meaning beyond their own existence

Question 9

Non-verbal communication

Answer 9

Interactions without words using facial expressions, the head, eye contact, body posture, gestures, touch, walk, status symbols, and personal space

Question 10

Interaction

Answer 10

The exchange of verbal and nonverbal messages

Question 11

Self

Answer 11

Refers to the perception we have of who we are

Question 12

Significant others

Answer 12

Parents, guardians, relatives, siblings, or important individuals whose primary and sustained interactions with the individual are especially influential

Question 13

Peer goups

Answer 13

A group of people who are roughly equal in some status within the society, such as the same age or the same occupation

Question 14

Socialization

Answer 14

The life long process of leaning to become a member of the social world, beginning at birth and continuing until death

Question 15

Formal agents of socialization

Answer 15

Official or legal agents whose purpose it is to socialize the individual into the values, beliefs, and behaviors of the culture

Question 16

Informal agents of socialization

Answer 16

Unofficial forces that shape values, beliefs, and behaviors in which socialization is not the express purpose; examples are media, books, etc.

Question 17

Resocialization

Answer 17

The process of shedding one or more positions and taking on others; it involves learning new norms, behaviors, and values suitbale to the newly acquired status

Question 18

Total Institution

Answer 18

A place that cuts people off from the rest of society and totally controls their lives in the process of Resocialization; examples are prisons and boot camps

Question 19

Status

Answer 19

A social position in society

Question 20

Achieved status

Answer 20

Social status that is chosen or earned by decisions one makes and sometimes by personal ability

Question 21

Ascribed status

Answer 21

Social statues that are often assigned at birth and that do not change furing an individual’s lifetime; gender, race, or ethnic status group

Question 22

Role

Answer 22

The expected behaviors, rights, obligations, responsibilities, and privileges assigned to a social status

Question 23

Role stain

Answer 23

Tension between the roles of two or more social statuses

Question 24

Rational Choice Theory

Answer 24

A theory that focuses on humans as fundamentally concerned with self-interests, making rational decisions based on weighing costs and rewards of the projected outcome

Question 25

Exchange Theory

Answer 25

A theory that focuses on humans as fundamentally concerned with self-interests, making rational decisions based on weighing costs and rewards of the projected outcome

Question 26

Structural Functionalism

Answer 26

-assumes that all parts of the social structure, the culture, and social processes work together to make the whole society run smoothly and harmoniously

Question 27

Manifest Function

Answer 27

-the planned outcomes of interactions, social organizations, or institutions

Question 28

Latent Function

Answer 28

-are unplanned or unintended consequences of actions or of social structures

Question 29

Dysfunctions

Answer 29

-actions that undermine the stability or equilibrium of society

Question 30

Conflict Theory

Answer 30

-Theory that focuses on societal groups competing for scarce resources

Question 31

Means of Production

Answer 31

-Karl Marx's concept of property, machinery, and cash owned by capitalists

Question 32

Feminist Theory

Answer 32

-Critiques the hierarchical power structures, which feminists argue treat women and other minorities unequally

Question 33

Sex

Answer 33

A biological term referring to ascribed genetic, anatomical, and hormonal differences between males and females

Question 34

Gender

Answer 34

-Refers to a society's notions of masculinity and femininity-socially constructed meanings associated with being male or female-and how individuals construct their identity in terms of gender within these constrains

Question 35

Gender Role

Answer 35

-Are those commonly assigned rakes or expected behaviors linked to an individual's sex-determined statuses

Question 36

Sexuality

Answer 36

-Refers to culturally shaped meanings both of sexual acts and of how we experience our own bodies--especially in relation to the bodies of others