Sociology Keywords

Question	Answer
Norms	The unwritten rules of behavior that tell us what is appropriate or acceptable in any given situation.
Values	Commonly held beliefs about what is right and wrong; what is important to achieve in life or what is valuable in society.
Status	Someone's position in society and the amount of prestige (power and respect) that position gives them.
Ascribed status	Your status in society based on things that you are born with e.g. Gender, ethnicity, family, background etc.
Achieved status	Tour position in society that is earned from your efforts of choices e.g. your job, education or material status.
Primary socialisation	Learning the basic norms of how to be a member of society e.g. walking, talking, eating.
Socialisation	The process of learning the correct behavior, norms and values in society.
Secondary socialisation	The lifelong process of learning the norms and values of society beginning around the age of 5 and continuing util we die.
Subculture	A smaller culture within a culture, a group of people within a society with their own set of norms and values.
Culture	The whole way of life of a society.
Role.	A part you play in society, the set of norms that go with your status. The way you are expected to behave depending on what your status is.
Multiple roles	Playing more than one roles at time.
Role conflict	When the demands of one roles clash with the demands of other roles.
Manipulation	Adults saying and doing things that encourage children to behave in a way appropriate for their gender, "Daddy's little angle" vs "Brave little soldier". Showing more concern for girls safety.
Canalisation	Giving children gender specific toys and other things that are 'normal' for their gender. For example dolls, prams, ironing boards, shopping and cleaning items for girls and soldiers and footballs for boys.
Formal curriculum	Subject that are taught, studied and examined in schools e.g. maths
Hidden curriculum	The norms and values that a school teaches children through a day-to-day school life, not part of the formal timetable.
Peer groups	People of the same age, or of similar interests.
Peer pressure.	Feeling like you have to fit in with the norms and values of a group of people.
Identities	What makes a person them e.g. hair, personality.
Formal social control	Written rules and laws enforced by powerful agents of socialisation e.g. Police and courts.
Informal social control	Controlling people's behavior using formal methods in everyday situations e.g. arguing, body language
Rewards	Positive sanction used to encourage acceptable behavior e.g. stickers, sweets, promotion.
Sanctions	Negative sanction, punishments used to prevent unacceptable behavior e.g. arrests, detentions, demotions, warnings.
Social construction of youth	The age of youth is not the same across time and place - social factors affect when youth is, and what the norms of youth are.
Transition	A period of change from on stage to the next.
Rite of passge	Initiation into the next stage of life
Formal agents of social control	Agents that only exist to control society.
Informal agents of social control	Agents that control and influence society, though social control is not their main and only function.
Gang	A group that has some sort of member ship, hierarchy and is often involved in criminal activity.
Overt	A smaple being studied and know their being watched.
Covert	Sample being studied but doesn't know that they are being watched.
Participant	As well as observing the groups behavior, the researcher takes art and tries to act like them.
Non-Participant	The researcher watches and records what is happening, but not get involved.
Observer effect	The presence of an observer changes the behavior of the sample being studied, preventing the researcher from seeing natural behavior.
Reliabiltiy	The findings can be easily checked by another researcher by repeating the research.
Validity	The truthfulness or accuracy of the data. If it is in depth and accurate it is valid.
Generalisations	Weather you can apply your findings of your research to the whole population.
Protection from harm	No one involved in the research can be involved in any physical or emotional harm. They must not feel uncomfortable, embarrassed or threatened.
Informed consent	All participants taking part in the research have to give their permission to be studies, and they have to understand what they are being asked what they have to do.
Confidentiality	All information the participants give must be used only for the purpose of the study and not passed on to other people (i.e. not telling the police of crimes)
Anonymity	names, addresses, birthdays etc. of the participant must not be published. their identity has to be kept secret.
Researcher bias	A researcher's personal views affect the way they collect and interpret the data.
Exaggeration	Stretching the truth. The media often does this, but it can happen in research as well when the researcher is trying to explain their findings.
Distortion	Changing the reality of how something appears.
Selection	Researchers must choose which parts of their data to publish in their study and which bits to leave out.
Crime	An act that breaks the criminal law of a society (an illegal act).
Devience	Behavior which does not conform to the norms and values of a society or group. Deviant behavior often provokes disapproval but you can't go to prison unless it is a criminal act.
Patriarchy	A society dominated by males where they have more power than women.
Content analysis	Where a researcher looks at a media source and counts how may times a particular thing happens. This allows a researcher to make comparisons.
Operationalise	To define exactly what is meant by any terms used for categories e.g. politics in GB - Any story that mentions a British political party of politician.
Primary data	Information the researcher has gathered themselves i.e. observations, interviews, questionnaires, content analysis.
Secondary data	Information gathered by someone else then used by the researcher.
Deterrence	Harsh punishment to put people of committing crime in the future.
Protection	Keeping society safe from offenders.
Reform	Helping offenders to change their behavior so they don't commit crime in the future.
Punishment/retribution	Making the offender suffer for their actions.
Conformity	Following the rules/laws/norms e.g. " wearing proper uniform is conforming to school rules. It is an act of conformity. It is a conformist act."
Agents of social control	The various groups both formal and informal that control our behavior.
Reparation	Giving something back to society or the victim to make up for what they have done.
Mass media	Any form of communication (either written of technological) that could reach a large audience of people e.g. writing a post on Facebook or twitter.
Citizen journalism	Filming or photographing events by the public and then sent to the media producers e.g. the BBC.
Digital divide	Divide between the rich and poor not all people can afford technology.
Convergence	The coming together of different media.
Interactivity	Audience participation in the creation of the media.
Intertextuality	Media that is about other media.
Globalisation	The world is interconnected through the media.
Media barons	Run media for profit by private companies. Money is made by adverts, cost of buying/subscribing e.g. ITV
Public broadcasters	Non-profit making companies, paid and owned by the general public (audience). Make money through a TV licence e.g. BBC.
Censorship	Restriction on the freedom of speech (media).
Newsworthiness	The ides that some stories are more worthy of being included in the news.
News values	Criteria for judging how newsworthy a story is.
Selection	The choices made in the creation of the media.
Bias	The distortion or partial reporting of reality (deliberately or unintentionally), often to persuade and audience of a particular point of view.

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	Created by HeidiCrosbie almost 10 years ago