Sociology

an organized collection of individuals and institutions, bounded by space in a coherent territory, subject to the same political authority, and organized through a shared set of cultural expectations and values.

a formal organized system of roles, norms, and values that are the major foundations of social life (i.e. family, education)

a complex framework composed of both patterned social interactions and institutions that together organize social life and provide the context for individual action.

the dynamic process by which two (dyad), three (triad) or more individuals relate to one another.

Cooley's term for the process of how identity is formed through social interaction. We imagine how we appear to others and thus develop our sense of self based on the others' reactions, imagined or otherwise

Goffman's term for our attempts to control how others perceive us by changing our behavior to correspond to an ideal of what they will find most appealing.

Goffman's conception of social life as being like a stage play wherein we all work hard to convincingly play ourselves as "characters," such as grand-child, buddy, student, employee, or other roles.

in dramaturgical theory, the possible performance of ourselves, because when we make a mistake or do something wrong, we feel embarrassed, or "lose face."

the study of the social knowledge, codes, and conventions that underlie everyday interactions and allow people to make sense of what others say and do

individual or group that possesses social power

individual or group that possesses little or comparatively less social power

the particular emphasis or interpretation each of us gives a social role

one's socially defined position in a group; it is often characterized by certain expectations and rights

status that is assigned to a person and over which he or she has no control

status or social position based on one's accomplishments or activities

an ascribed or achieved status presumed so important that it overshadows all of the others, dominating our lives and controlling our position in society.

behavior expected of people who have a particular status

the experience of difficulty in performing a role

what happens when we try to play different reles with extremely different or contradictory rules at the same time

the process we go through to adjust when leaving a role that is central to our identity

collection of individuals who are aware that they share something in common and who interact with one another on the basis of their interrelated roles and statuses

a group of two people, the smallest configuration defined by sociologists as a group

an aggregate of individuals who happen to be together but experience themselves as essentially independent

the degree to which individual members of a group identify with each other and with the group as a whole

one such as friends and family, which comes together for expressive reasons, providing emotional support, love, companionship, and security

co-workers, club members, or another group that comes together for instrumental reasons, such as wanting to work together to meet common goals. These groups make less of an emotional claim on one's identity than do primary groups

a group with which you identify and that you feel positively toward, producing a "we" feeling

one to which you do not belong and toward which you feel either neutral or hostile; the "they" who are perceived as different from and of lower stature than ourselves

the social tendency to be keenly aware of the subtle differences among the individual members of your group (while believeing that all members of out-groups are exactly the same)

the social tendency to believe that all members of an out-group are exactly the same (while being keenly aware of the subtle differences among the individual members of one's own group)

a group toward which one is so strongly committed, or one that commands so much prestige, that we orient our actions around what we perceive that group's perceptions would be

all groups have them, people in charge, whether they were elected, appointed, or just informally took control

the small number of group members, the "inner circle," who wield a great deal of power to make policy decisions

Irving Janis's term for social process in which members of a group attempt to conform their opinions to what they believe to be the consensus of the group, even if, as individuals, they may consider that opinion wrong or unwise

generalization about a group that is oversimplified, selective, exaggerated and usually pejorative, which fails to acknowledge the individual differences in a group

often conceived as a web of social relationships, a type of group that is both looser and denser than a formal group but connects people to each other, and , through those connections, with other people

a formal group of ppl with one or more shared goals

voluntary organization wherein members serve because they believe in the goals of the organization

one in which membership is not voluntary, with elaborate formal rules and sanctions

an institution that completely circumscribes your everyday life, cutting you off from life before you entered and seeking to regulate every part of your behavior

organization, like the college we attend or the company we work for, whose members belong for a specific, instrumental purpose or tangible material reward

originally derived from the French word bureau, or office, a formal organization characterized by a division of labor, a hierarchy of authority, formal rules governing behavior, a logic of rationality, and an impersonality of criteria

Robert Merton's term to describe those ppl who become more committed to following the correct procedures than they are to getting the job done

numerical means to drawing sociological conclusions using powerful statistical tools to help understand patterns in which the behaviors, attitudes, or traits under study can be translated into numerical values

inductive and inferential means to drawing sociological understanding, usually about less tangible aspects of social life, such as the actual felt experience of social interaction

a testing process that is performed under controlled conditions to examine the validity of a hypothesis

sociological research method in which one observes ppl in their natural habitat

research method in which one asks a sample of ppl closed-ended questions and tabulates the results

the process by which we become aware of ourselves as part of a group, learn to communicate with others, and learn how to behave as expected

the organized rules, judgments, and attitudes of an entire group. If you try to imagine what is expected of you, you are taking on the perspective of this

Sigmund Freud's label for that part of the human perosnality that is pure impulse, without worrying about social rules, consequences, morality, or other ppl's reactions

Freud's term for the internalized norms, values, and "rules" of our social group that are learned from family, friends, and social institutions

Freud's term for the balancing force between the id and the superego; it channels impulses into socially acceptable forms

the process of learning and adopting the beliefs, values, and behaviors of groups that one anticipates joining in the future

learning a new set of beliefs, behaviors, and values that depart from those held in the past

the ppl, groups, or institutions that teach ppl how to be functioning members of their society

a culture's most basic values, which are passed on to children beginning in earliest infancy

occurring throughout the life span, it is the adjustments we make to adapt to new situations

our group of friends and wider group of acqaintances who have an enormous socializing influence, especially during middle and late childhood

process by which males and females are taught the appropriate behaviors, attitudes, and traits for their biological sex. It begins at birth and continues throughout their lives

breaking or refusing to follow a social rule. The rule can be societywide or specific to a particular group or situation

one of the relatively weak and informal norms that are the result of patterns of action. Many of the behaviors we call "manners" are folkways

these are informally enforced norms based on strong moral values, which are viewed as essential to the proper functioning of a group

the strongest form of norms, a taboo is a prohibition viewed as essential to the well-being of humanity

an attribute that changes you "from a whole and usual person to a tainted and discounted one," as sociologist Erving Goffman defined it. A stigma discredits a person's claim to be normal

group within a society that creates its own norms and values distinct from the mainstream and usually its own separate social institutions as well

a term developed by Emile Durkheim to describe a state of disorientation and confusion that results from too little social regulation, in which institutional constraints fail to provide a coherent foundation for action

Edwin H. Sutherland's theory suggesting that deviance occurs when an individual receives more prestige and less punishment by violating norms than by following them

Travis Hirschi's theory that ppl perform a cost-benifit analysis about becoming deviant, determining how much punishment is worth the degree of satisfaction of prestige the deviance will confer

as Walter Reckless theorized, ppl don't commit crimes even if they could probably get away w/ them due to social controls. there are outer controls- family, friends, teachers, social institutions, and authority figures (like the police) -who influence (cajole, threated, browbeat) us into obeying social rules; and inner controls- internalized socialization, consciousness, religious principles, ideas of right and wrong, and one's self-conception as a "good person."

Howard Becker's term stresses the relativity of deviance, naming the mechanism by which the same act is considered deviant in some groups but not in others. Labels are used to categorize and contain ppl

any minor, usually unnoticed, act of deviance committed irregularly that does not have an impact on one's self-identity or on how one is labeled by others

the moment when someone acquires a deviant identity, occurring when he or she repeatedly breaks a norm and ppl start making a big deal of it, so the rule breaking can no longer be attributed to a momentary lapse in judgment or justifiable under the circumstances but is an indication of a permanent personality trait

occurs when members of a group formerly labeled deviant attempt to redefine their acts, attributes, or identities as normal- even virtuous

a deviant act that lawmakers consider bad enough to warrant formal laws and sanctions

Robert K. merton's concept that excessive deviance is a by-product of inequality w/in societies that promote certain norms and versions of social reality yet provide unequal means of meeting or attaining them. Individuals respond to this either by conforming or by changing the goals or means of obtaining goals accepted by society

Philip Zimbardo's propositions that minor acts of deviance can spiral into severe crime and social decay. Atmosphere and context are keys to whether deviance occurs or spirals

Cloward and Ohlin's theory of crime, which holds that those who have many opportunities- and good ones at that- will be more likely to commit crimes than those w/ few good opportunities

a crime of violence or one in which violence is a defining feature. According to the FBI, violent crime consists of four offenses: murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault

a crime committed involving property, such as burglary, car theft, or arson, where there is no force or threat of force against a person

Edward Sutherland's term for the illegal actions of a corporation or ppl acting on its behalf, by using the authority of their position to commit crime

crime in which the perpetrator uses a fake or stolen credit card to buy things for him- or herself or for resale. Such purchases cost both retailers and, increasingly, "e-tailers" over $1 billion/ yr., or nearly 5 cents for every dollar spent online

the use of one's professional position to illegally secure something of value for oneself or for the corporation

illegal actions committed in accordance w/ the operative goals of an organization, such as antitrust violations, false advertising, or price fixing

the growing array of crimes committed via the Internet and World Wide Web, such as Internet fraud and identiey theft

a criminal act committed by an offender motivated by bias against race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or disability status