Unit 9: Key Definitions

Question 1

_____: social positions people are assigned at birth

Answer 1

ascribed status

Question 2

social positions people may attain later in life, often as the result of their own (other people’s) effort

Answer 2

achieved status

Question 3

when institutions, norms, and practices privilege certain identifiable groups over others. over generations, these privileges are disadvantages are compounded and naturalized, creating enduring inequalities between groups

Answer 3

systemic inequality

Question 4

______: a ranked group within a hierarchically stratified society whose membership is defined primarily in terms of wealth, occupation, and/or access to power

Answer 4

class

Question 5

a ranked group within a socially stratified society that is ascribed and closed, prohibiting individuals from moving from one caste into another

Answer 5

caste

Question 6

a socially constructed category of humans that has been naturalized in pseudo-scientific language that often conflates geographic ancestry and physical type

Answer 6

“race”

Question 7

a social classification based on common cultural characteristics, including language, religion, ancestry, traditions, shared homeland, or country of origin

Answer 7

ethnicity

Question 8

a sense of identification with and loyalty to a nation-state; membership, defined by citizenship, in a geographical sovereign state

Answer 8

nationality

Question 9

_______ essentialism: the use of essentialist rhetoric as a conscious political strategy to create a temporary solidarity to facilitate a specific social action

Answer 9

strategic essentialism

Question 10

what are the two castes in India?

Answer 10

Varna and Jati

Question 11

______: traditional social ranks that divide Indian society into four functional subdivisions; priests, nobility (rulers and warriors), commoners (farmers and merchants), and labourers/servants

Answer 11

varna

Question 12

_____: a localized, named, endogamous group (indian caste)

Answer 12

Jati

Question 13

the constructed, maintenance, and belief in the existence of biologically distinct “races”

Answer 13

racialism

Question 14

the systemic oppression and discrimination of people based on their membership in racial or ethnic groups that are typically historically marginalized

Answer 14

racism

Question 15

____: the gradual intergradation of genetic variation from population to population

Answer 15

cline

Question 16

the process of assigning people or groups of people to categories of “race” that historically have been oppressed by colonial powers and continue to experience inequality

Answer 16

racialization

Question 17

a socially constructed and context-specific process in which people who appear as white and are not racialized possess power and privilege in society. this power and privilege is normalized and their language, behaviours, and identity become the unmarked standard

Answer 17

whiteness

Question 18

a system if social identities negotiated, based on the situation, along a continuum of skin colours between white and Black

Answer 18

colourism

Question 19

a political unit in which national identity and political territory coincide

Answer 19

nation-states

Question 20

a group of people believed to share the same history, culture, language, and territory, often using the symbolism of shared “blood”

Answer 20

nations

Question 21

the attempt made by governmental officials to instill a sense of attachment and belonging into the citizens of a state

Answer 21

nationalism

Question 22

a nationalist program to define nationality in a way that preserves the cultural domination of the ruling group while including enough cultural features from subordinated groups to ensure their loyalty

Answer 22

transformist hegemony