Midterm

Question 1

Dysfunctional

Answer 1

A phenomenon that inhibits or disrupts the working of a system as a whole.

Question 2

Ethnocentrism

Answer 2

The practice of judging another culture by one’s own standard.

Question 3

Historical Materialism

Answer 3

Marx theory that social progress is driven by class conflict.

Question 4

Social Problem

Answer 4

A problem that is rooted in social organization or larger structures and institutions of society.

Question 5

Bootstrap Narrative

Answer 5

Says that through hard work and perseverance one can go from rags to riches.

Question 6

Norms

Answer 6

Informal rules that tell us how to behave. We do not consciously think about them, and they are how values are acted out.

Question 7

Biological Determinism

Answer 7

Theory that contents that biology specifically our genetic makeup almost completely shapes human behavior.

Question 8

Green washing

Answer 8

The deceptive use of public relations to promote the perception that a product’s aim or policies are environmentally friendly.

Question 9

Commodification

Answer 9

The idea that almost everything in our lives is bought and sold as commodities.

Question 10

Bourgeoisie

Answer 10

Marx’s term for the owning class meaning people who own the means of production.

Question 11

Quantitative Data

Answer 11

Evidence that is represented by numbers or assigned variables.

Question 12

Counter-Hegemony

Answer 12

Attempts to critique or dismantle hegemonic power.

Question 13

Agents of Socialization

Answer 13

The people and groups who teach us about our culture.

Question 14

Culture

Answer 14

The collection of beliefs, values, knowledge, norms, languages, behavior, and material objects shared by a people and socially transmitted from generation to generation.

Question 15

Deviance

Answer 15

Behavior that goes against norms or rules.

Question 16

Values

Answer 16

Abstract ideas about what is good or evil or proper and desirable.

Question 17

Institutional Oppression

Answer 17

Systematic pushing down or oppression built into social structure and institutions. Think of it as a bird cage with each wire being a different pressure to maintain captivity (wage discrimination, beauty norms, and access to education, etc.).

Question 18

Proletariat

Answer 18

Marx’s term for the working class or those that sell their time and labor but do not own their means of production.

Question 19

Total Institutions

Answer 19

Confining social settings in which an authority regulates every aspect of a person’s life.

Question 20

Qualitative Data

Answer 20

Evidence that is not represented numerically but through observation, interviews, and written documents.

Question 21

Bureaucracy

Answer 21

The process of achieving maximum ends with minimum means through efficiency, hierarchal control, and profitability.

Question 22

Rationalization

Answer 22

The long term historical process by which rationality replaced tradition as the basis for organizing social and economic life.

Question 23

Cultural Narrative

Answer 23

A story shared by most members of a group and help them make sense of the way the world works and cultivates a sense of a shared perception of reality.

Question 24

Cultural Relativism

Answer 24

The practice of understanding a culture by its own standards.

Question 25

Modernity

Answer 25

The historical period beginning in the 20th century marked by a rise of information based economies and positivism.

Question 26

The means of production

Answer 26

The physical, non-human inputs used in production: machines, factories, and tools used to create wealth.

Question 27

Beliefs

Answer 27

Assumptions about the way the world works or the nature of reality.

Question 28

Functionalism

Answer 28

Durkheim's theory that a society is like an organism whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.

Question 29

Social Construction

Answer 29

The way a group mentally organizes and categorizes information in order to make sense of the world.

Question 30

Symbolic Interactionism

Answer 30

The sociological perspective that people interact through shared symbols.

Question 31

Anomie

Answer 31

A lack of social norms or formlessness in which the social bonds between an individual and their community are broken down.

Question 32

Conflict Theory

Answer 32

The sociological perspective that focuses on how the competition for scarce resources create struggle in a society.

Question 33

Hegemony

Answer 33

A condition that exists when those in power have successfully spread their ideas and marginalized alternative view points so that their perspective and interest are widely as being universal and true.

Question 34

Social Structure

Answer 34

The way society is organized or setup (blueprint, shape of the system, and is constantly changing).

Question 35

Socialization

Answer 35

Process by which an individual is shaped by society.

Question 36

Sociological Imagination

Answer 36

A perspective which allows an individual to understand his or her own life within the context of larger social and historical forces.