Sociology

Question 1

Absolute Poverty

Answer 1

the state of existence of those who have so little income that they can barely stay alive

Question 2

Achieved Status

Answer 2

is a changeable status that is acquired on the basis of how well an individual performs a particular role

Question 3

Bourgeoisie

Answer 3

according to Marx, is one of the two main classes in the capitalist mode of production. The owners of the means of production

Question 4

Caste System

Answer 4

is a closed stratification system, most common in India, with strict rule regarding the type of work that members of different castes (the strata of Indian society into which people are born) can do

Question 5

Circulatory Mobility

Answer 5

us the occupational mobility that occurs within a society when better-qualified individuals move upward to replace those who are less qualified and who must consequently move downward

Question 6

Class

Answer 6

is a position in an economic hierarchy occupied individuals or families with similar access to, or control over, material resources

Question 7

Class Conflict

Answer 7

according to Marx, is conflict between classes within a mode of production. it eventually leads to the evolution of a new mode of production

Question 8

Class Consciousness

Answer 8

according to Marx, is the recognition by members of a class of their shared interests in opposition to members of another class

Question 9

Class Structure

Answer 9

is the relatively permanent economic hierarchy comprising different social classes

Question 10

Closed Stratification System

Answer 10

a stratification system in which little or no social mobility occurs, because most of all statuses are absorbed

Question 11

Contradictory Class locations

Answer 11

according to Wright, are the locations within a class structure populated by occupational groupings with divided loyalties (managers)

Question 12

Exclusion

Answer 12

according to Parkin, is the organized effort by privileged, more powerful groups to maintain their advantaged position

Question 13

Stratification: Fuctionalism

Answer 13

views social organization as analogous to a biological organism in which the parts (or organs) exist because of the functions they perform in maintaining the whole. In this theory, stratification exists because of vital functions it presumable performs in maintaining social equilibrium

Question 14

Intergenerational Occupational Mobility

Answer 14

refers to an individual’s occupational mobility, wither upward or downward, in relation to her or his parents’ occupational status

Question 15

Intragenerational Occupational Mobility

Answer 15

refers to an individual’s occupational mobility, either upward or downward, within his or her own lifetime

Question 16

Life-Chances

Answer 16

according to Weber, are the opportunites (or lack thereof) for a higher standard of living and a better quality of life that are available to members of a given class

Question 17

LICO

Answer 17

the poverty line - an estimate of the income level below which a person or family might be considered to be living in relative poverty. It is defined by Stats Canada as the level of income at which more than 63 percent of income is spent on basic necessities

Question 18

Means of Production

Answer 18

accoridng to Marx, are one of the main components of a mode of production, consisting of the technology, capital investments, and raw materials used in production

Question 19

Meritocracy

Answer 19

a society in which most of all statues are achieved on the basis of merit (how well a person performs a given role)

Question 20

Mode of Production

Answer 20

according to Marx, is the system of economic activity in a society, comprising the means of production and the social relations of production

Question 21

Occupational Status Attainment

Answer 21

refers to the process whereby an individual attains a particular occupational status and the factors that influence that process

Question 22

Open Stratification System

Answer 22

a stratification system in which merit, rather than inheritance, determines social rank

Question 23

Petite Bourgeoisie

Answer 23

according to Marx, is a secondary class within the capitalist mode of production, including independent owners/producers and small-business owners

Question 24

Power

Answer 24

is the ability to impose one;s will on others

Question 25

Proletariat

Answer 25

according to Marx, is one of the two main classes in a capitalist mode of production, comprising workers who exchange their labour for wage

Question 26

Social Closure

Answer 26

according to Weber and Parkin, refers to the methods used by relatively powerful groups to maintain their unequal access to status and resources, and to exclude others from such access

Question 27

Social mobiliy

Answer 27

is the process whereby individuals, families or other groups move up or down a status hierarchy

Question 28

Social Relations of Production

Answer 28

according to Marx, are one of the main components of a given mode of production - specifically, the relationships between the main classes involved in the production

Question 29

Social Stratification

Answer 29

refers to persistent patterns of social inequality perpetuates by the way wealth, power and prestige are distributed and passed from one generation to the next

Question 30

Status

Answer 30

is a culturally and socially defined position that a person occupies in a group

Question 31

Structural Mobility

Answer 31

refers to the occupational mobility in a society resulting from changes in the occupational structure

Question 32

Surplus Value

Answer 32

according to Marx, is the value of goods in excess of the cost of production, which takes the form of profit when the product is sold

Question 33

Usurpation

Answer 33

according to Parkin, is the effort of excluded groups within a stratification system to gain power and advantages at the expense of more powerful groups

Question 34

Working Poor

Answer 34

are individuals who work but whose income leaves them below the poverty line

Question 35

Compulsory Heterosexuality

Answer 35

is the assumption that individuals should desire only members of the opposite sex

Question 36

Essentialists

Answer 36

observe male-female differences in sexual scripts, the division of labour at home and in the workplace, mate selection, sexual aggression, jealousy, promiscuity, fidelity, and so on. They then interpret these differences as natural and universal (inevitable)

Question 37

Gender

Answer 37

encompasses the feelings, attitudes, and behaviours that are associated with being male or female as conventionally understood

Question 38

Gender Identity

Answer 38

refers to identification with, or a sense of belonging to, a particular sex, biologically, psychologically and socially

Question 39

Gender Roles

Answer 39

comprise the repertoire of behaviours that match widely shared expectations about how males and females are supposed to act

Question 40

Hostile Environment Sexual Harrassment

Answer 40

involves sex jokes, comments, and touching that interfere with work or create and unfriendly work environment

Question 41

Queer Theory

Answer 41

denies the existence of stable sexual orientations and argues that when we use terms like "herterosexual", "gay", etc, we are adopting official or at least socially acceptable labels that fail to capture the fluidity and variability of people's actual identities and performances

Question 42

Sex

Answer 42

refers to being born with distinct male or female genitalia and a genetic program that releases either male or female hormones to stimulate the development of one's reproductive system

Question 43

Sexual Pluralism

Answer 43

assesses sexual acts only by their meaning for the participants

Question 44

Sexual Scripts

Answer 44

are assumptions that guide sexual behaviour by telling us who we should find attractive, when and where it is appropriate to be aroused, what is sexually permissible and how to behave sexually

Question 45

Sexuality

Answer 45

involves actions that are intended to produce erotic arousal and genital response

Question 46

Social Constructionism

Answer 46

is the main alternative to essentialism. argues that gender differences are not the product of biological properties, whether chromosomal, gonadal, or hormonal. Instead, gender and sexuality are products of social structure and culture

Question 47

Sociobiology

Answer 47

is a variant of essentialism. It holds that all human beings instinctively want to ensure that their genes get passed on to future generations. However, the different reproductive status of men and women means that they have had to develop different adaptive strategies. This gave rise to 'masculine' and 'feminine' patterns of behaviour that presumably became genetically encoded because of their adaptive role

Question 48

Transgender

Answer 48

gender identity does not match sex assigned at birth. they blur widely accepted gender roles

Question 49

Transsexuals

Answer 49

identify with the opposite sex than what was assigned at birth, causing them to change their appearance or resort to a sex-change operation

Question 50

Alternative News sources

Answer 50

are representatives of social movements and of social advocacy groups whose points often diverge from those of dominant social groups and their representatives

Question 51

Communication

Answer 51

denotes the transmission of knowledge, ideas, meanings, and understandings

Question 52

Computer-mediated Communication

Answer 52

refers to a social interaction of information gathering through the use of computer technology

Question 53

Critical Perspective

Answer 53

takes the view that the media reinforce dominant ideology and the position of the dominant class and other powerful groups. One variant sees dominance as more open to challenge and resistance than does the other

Question 54

Cultivation Analysis

Answer 54

examines the long-term effects of television viewing on beliefs about social reality. People who watch TV a lot tend to see the world as a lot more violent and dangerous than it really is, and tend to be more fearful

Question 55

Cultural Imperialism

Answer 55

involves one society's media exerting and overwhelming and unilateral influence over another society's culture

Question 56

Dominant Ideology

Answer 56

comprises the interests, perspectives, viewpoints, and understandings of the dominant class and other powerful groups

Question 57

Framing

Answer 57

the process of defining the boundaries of a representation and the organization of its contents. Pertains to the selection of what is included and excluded, what is accentuated, and what is played down.

Question 58

Hegemony

Answer 58

is the exercise by the dominant class of cultural leadership by using the media to naturalize and universalize dominant ideology, and to absorb the challenge of alternative and oppositional points of view.

Question 59

Horizontal Integration

Answer 59

the ownership of different outlets in a media chain for purposes of sharing resources

Question 60

Interactive Media

Answer 60

are technologically mediated means of communication in which the flow of messages is two way - between actors who transmit and receive messages

Question 61

Mass Media

Answer 61

are technologically mediates means of communication in which the flow of messages is largely one way, from a single point of transmission to a large, anonymous, dispersed audience of recievers

Question 62

Multimedia Chains

Answer 62

are corporations that own and control a string of media operations or outlets in different fields of mass communication, such as TV, radio, magazines

Question 63

Official News Sources

Answer 63

are authoritative voices that the media often use to define the meaning of an event of issue

Question 64

Ordinary News Sources

Answer 64

are news sources that do not represent organizations or groups, and include eyewitnesses and victims of news events

Question 65

Representation

Answer 65

the use of language, images or other means of communication to portray something in a coherent and meaningful way

Question 66

Space-biased Media

Answer 66

enable communication over extended distances. The messages, however, are not long lasting. Promotes territorial expansion, secular beliefs, and military-political forms of power

Question 67

Time-Biased Media

Answer 67

convey durable messages but are relatively immobile

Question 68

Vertical Integration

Answer 68

refers to a media corporation's ownership and control of the means of production at all stages of the production process

Question 69

Contest Mobility

Answer 69

a form of educational competition in which most youths are grouped into the same school and exposed to the same curriculum, and in which relatively large numbers are directed to higher education

Question 70

Credential Inflation

Answer 70

takes place when labour-market competition encourages individuals to acquire schooling, and employers raise required credential levels for reasons that are into connected to their needs for skilled employees

Question 71

Hidden Curriculum

Answer 71

comprises elements of school content, such as rules, procedures, structures and norms, that can shape students in covert ways

Question 72

Human Capital Theory

Answer 72

emphasizes how schooling can enhance productive skills and thereby generate wealth for both individuals and society

Question 73

Professionalization

Answer 73

the process by which an occupation attempts to raise its social standing, often including the creation of formal educational credentials

Question 74

Progressive Pedegogy

Answer 74

an educational movement that emphasizes student-directed learning, less structured curricula, and an emphasis of inspiring students to be intrinsically motivated in their studies

Question 75

Selection

Answer 75

the process by which the structure of schooling feeds into broader patterns of social stratification

Question 76

Sponsored Mobility

Answer 76

is a form of educational competition in which relatively few youths are selected early in life to enter elite universities

Question 77

Families

Answer 77

was defined as a cohabiting man and a woman who maintain a socially approved sexual relationship and have at least one child. Now, it is defined more broadly to capture the wide range of family and structures we encounter - as sets of intimate social relationships that people create to share resources to ensure their welfare and that of their dependants

Question 78

Family Wage

Answer 78

refers to the wage med traditionally received that was sufficient to support a family

Question 79

Fertility Rate

Answer 79

is the number of live births per one thousand women of childbearing age

Question 80

Income Support Payments

Answer 80

include cash transfers in the form of direct payments or tax deductions, and maternity and parental leave benefits. In Canada, the main forms of support include the Universal Child Care Benefit, the Canada Child Tax Benefit, the Family Supplement and Maternity and Parental Leave Benefits

Question 81

Intergenerational Households

Answer 81

are families that include multiple generations such as grandparents, parents, and children living together

Question 82

Marriage

Answer 82

was traditionally defined as a socially approved, presumably long term, sexual and economic relationship between a man and a woman involving reciprocal rights and obligations between spouses and between children. Today, many countries recognize common-law marriage and some allow marriages of the same-sex

Question 83

Multi-Family Household

Answer 83

includes more than one nuclear family

Question 84

Nuclear Family

Answer 84

father, mother and children living in a privatized household

Question 85

Social Reproduction

Answer 85

refers to the physical, emotional and mental work of caring for others that is typically done in families

Question 86

Transnational Families

Answer 86

families whose members are geographically separated for extended periods

Question 87

Blended Families

Answer 87

include two parents and the child or children from their former marriages of intimate unions