IPFW SOC161 - 13-18
Description: Key Concepts from Chapters 13-18
Complete list of Terms and Definitions for IPFW SOC161 - 13-18
| Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
| Capitalism | The economic system based on private ownership of property, guided by the pursuit of maximum profits |
| Laissez-faire | The government policy of allowing the marketplace to operate unhindered |
| Socialism | The economic system in which the means of production are owned by the people for collective benefit |
| Shared Monopoly | When four or fewer companies control 50% or more of an industry |
| Interlocking Directorates | The linkages between corporations that result when an individual serves on the board of directors of two companies (a direct interlock) or when two companies each have a director on the board of a third company (an indirect interlock) |
| Direct Interlock | A type of interlocking directorate in which an individual serves on the board of directors of two companies |
| Indirect Interlock | A type of interlocking directorate in which two companies each have a director on the board of a third company |
| Scientific Management | Efforts by business managers to increase worker efficiency by breaking work down into very specialized tasks, standardizing tools and procedures, and speeding up repetitive work |
| Alienation | An individual's feeling of separation from the surrounding society |
| Discouraged Workers | People who have not actively sought work for four weeks. They are not counted as unemployed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics |
| Reserve Army of the Unemployed | Unemployed people who want to work. Their presence tends to depress the wages of workers and keeps those workers from making demands on employers for fear of being replaced |
| Falling Rate of Profit | One of the contradictions of capitalism argued by Karl Marx. Refers to the propensity of employers to maximize profits by reducing labor expenses (using technology and paying the lowest possible wages). The result would actually be to reduce profits because the workers would be less and less able to purchase products. |
| Elitist Model of Power | The assumption that power is concentrated in a few, rather than dispersed (the pluralist view) |
| Pluralist Model of Power | The diffuse distribution of power amount various groups and interests |
| Democracy | The form of government in which the citizens participate in government, characterized by competition for office, public officials being responsive to public opinion, and the citizenry having access to reliable information on which to make their electoral choices |
| Plutocracy | Government by or in the interest of the rich |
| Instrumentalist View | A view of power held by some Marxists that the ruling class controls political institutions through money and influence |
| Structuralist View | A Marxists interpretation of power arguing that the ruling class gets its way because the political and economic institutions are biased in its favor. |
| Power Elite | Mill's term of the coalition of the top echelon of the military, the executive branch of the federal government, and business |
| Power | The ability to get what one wants from someone else |
| Family | A particular societal arrangement whereby people related by ancestry, marriage, or adoption live together, form an economic unit, and raise children |
| Household | A residential unit of unrelated individuals who pool resources and perform common tasks of production and consumption |
| Life Chances | Weber's term for the chances throughout one's life cycle to live and experience the good things in life |
| Modern Family | The nuclear family that emerged in response to the requirements of an urban, industrial society. It consisted of an intact nuclear household unit with a male breadwinner, his full-time homemaker wife, and their dependent children |
| Postmodern Family | Judith Stacey's term for the multiplicity of family and household arrangements that has emerged as a result of a number of social factors, such as women in the labor force, divorce, remarriage, and cohabitation arrangements |
| Nonfamily Household | People who live alone or with unrelated individuals |
| Work-Family Interference | The way in which the connections between jobs and family life may be a source of tension for workers and family members |
| Spillover | Transfer of moods, feelings, and behavior between work and family settings |
| No Child Left Behind Act | Passed by Congress in 2001, legislation is intended to improve US academic standards and performance |
| Dogma | Positive statements not based in fact; doctrine |
| Tracking | A practice of schools of grouping children according to their scores on IQ and other tests |
| Stigma | A label of social disgrace |
| Self-fulfilling Prophecy | An event that occurs because it was predicted, the prophecy is confirmed because people alter their behavior to conform to the prediction |
| Student Subculture | Students in a lower educational track may band together in a subculture that is antagonistic towards school |
| Hidden Curriculum | That part of the school experience that has nothing to do with formal subjects but refers to the behaviors that schools expect of children |
| Ritual | Symbolic actions that reinforce the collective remembering of the group's shared meanings |
| Opiate of the Masses | Marx's term for religion's effect on society - religion inhibits societal change by making existing social arrangements seem right and inevitable |
| Civil Religion | The set of religious beliefs, rituals, and symbols outside the church that legitimates the status quo |
| Church | The highly organized, bureaucratic form of religious organization that accommodates itself to the larger society |
| Sect | A religious organization, in contrast to a church, that tends to be dogmatic, fundamentalistic, and in opposition to the world |
| Routinization of Charisma | An organization attempts to transmit the special attributes of the former leader to a new one. This is done by various means, for example, laying on of hands and the old leader choosing a successor |
| Charisma of Office | The holder of a particular position is believed to possess charisma |
| Theodicy | The religious legitimation for a situation that might otherwise cause guilt or anger |
| Cult | A religion with practices and teachings at odds with the dominant culture and religion |
| Megachurches | A trend among evangelicals is toward very large churches. Their growth is fueled by entertaining church services, the provision of services, and specialized ministries for targeted groups |
| Role Conflict | Occurs when an individual cannot fulfill the expectations of one status without violating those of another |
| Determinism | The belief that human behavior is controlled by some force, whether genetic, economic, or political. Leave no room for humans to adapt and to change social structures to meet their needs |
| Social Movement | A collective attempt to promote or resist change |
| Ideology | A set of ideas that explain reality, provide guidelines for behavior, and express the interests of a group |
| Resistance Movements | The organized attempt to reinforce the traditional system by preventing change |
| Reform Movements | Social movements that seek to alter a specific part of society |
| Revolutionary Movement | The collective attempt to bring about a radical transformation of society |
| Institutionalization | Occurs when a movement's beliefs are accepted by the larger society and its goals are achieved |
| Goal Displacement | When the original goals of an organization are displaced by the goals of maintaining the organization |