Sociology Semester Exam Review

1. Sociology Semester Exam Review Good Luck!!!!

2. Deviance • Behavior that violates significant social norms.

3. Gender • Behavior and physiological traits considered appropriate for females and males

4. Culture • Consists of all the shared products of human groups

5. Society • Category of people who share inherited physical characteristics and who are perceived by others as being a distinct group

6. Ethnicity • Set of cultural characteristics that distinguishes • one group from another group

7. Sociology • Social science that studies human society and social behavior.

8. Personality • Sum of total behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs, and values that are characteristic of an individual

9. Race • Category of people who share inherited physical characteristics and who are perceived by others as being a distinct group

10. Socialization Interactive process through which individuals learn the basic skills, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns of society

11. Ethnocentrism • Tendency to view ones own cultural group as superior to others.

12. Cultural Pluralism • Policy that allows each group within society to keep its unique cultural identity.

13. Status • Socially defined position in a group or society • Can be subdivided into 3 types • Ascribed – given at birth • Achieved – you gain during life • Master - the one that you are most well known for.

14. Role • Behavior expected of someone occupying a particular status.

15. Crime • Any act that is labeled as such by those in authority, is prohibited by law, and is punishable by the law

16. Prejudice • Unsupported generalization about a category of people

17. Discrimination • Denial of equal treatment to individuals based on their group membership

18. Symbol • Anything that stands for something else, and has shared meaning attached to it.

19. Law • Written rules of conduct that are enacted and enforced by the government.

20. Folkway • Norms that do not have great moral significance. I.E. – farting, brushing teeth

21. Norm • Shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations.

22. More • Norms that have great moral significance – no murder, incest, etc.

23. Language • Organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized system.

24. Stereotyping • Oversimplified, exaggerated or unfavorable generalization about a category of people.

25. Scapegoating • Practice of blaming others for ones own troubles.

26. Legal Discrimination • Discrimination that is upheld by the law.

27. Institutionalized Discrimination • Discrimination that is an outgrowth of the structure of society.

28. Assimilation • Blending of the culturally distinct groups into a single group with a common culture and identity.

29. Subjugation • Maintaining control over a group through force.

30. Slavery • Ownership of one group of people by another group.

31. Genocide • Extermination aimed at intentionally destroying an entire targeted population.

32. Population Transfer • The transfer of a minority population away from the majority population. (Indians on Indian Reservations)

33. Laws • Written rules of conduct that are enacted and enforced by the government

34. Values • Shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable.

35. Narcissism • Extreme self-centeredness.

36. Cultural relativism • Belief that cultures should be judged by their own standards

37. Undefined Status • A part of adolescence where teens have increased expectations from when they were children, but do not have the responsibilities of adults.

38. Reciprocity • Idea that if you do something for someone, they owe you something in return.

39. Culture • Shared products of human groups. Include both physical items and ideas.

40. Unemployment • Situation where a person does not have a job, but is actively looking for one.

41. Corrections • Sanctions- such as imprisonment, parole and probation – used to punish criminals.

42. Functions of Corrections • Retribution • Deterrance • Rehabilitation • Social Protection

43. Syndicate • Large scale organization of professional criminals that controls some vice or business through violence or the threat of violence.

44. Gender roles • Specific behaviors and attitudes that a society establishes for men and women.

45. Medicare • Government sponsored healthcare for the elderly

46. Medicaid • Government sponsored healthcare for the poor.

47. Incest Taboo • Norm forbidding sexual relations or marriage between certain family members.

48. Plea Bargain • Process of legal negotiation that allows an accused person to plead guilty to a lesser charge in return for a lighter sentence.

49. A society consists of people a culture consists of products

50. Subculture - group with its own unique values, norms, and behaviors that exists within a larger culture • Counterculture – a group that rejects the vales of the larger society and replaces them with a new set.