Sociology
Macro-Level Orientation
A broad focus on social structures that shape society as a whole.
Micro-Level Orientation
A close-up focus on social interaction in specific situations.
Multiculturalism
A perspective recognizing the cultural diversity of the United States and promoting equal standing for all cultural traditions.
Master Status
A status that has special importance for social identity, often shaping a person's entire life.
Social Exchange
A theory that suggests that our behavior is based on maximizing benefits and minimizing costs.
Social Structure
Any relatively stable pattern of social behavior.
Social Dysfunction
Any social pattern that may disrupt the operation of society.
Functionalism
Concerns with how society functions, why and what is contributing to that function.
Subculture
Cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society's population.
Counterculture
Cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society.
Roles
Expectations of behavior attached to a particular status.
Described Status
Given to us at birth: Sex, Race.
Culture Shock
Personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life.
Norms
Rules and expectations by which a society guides the behavior of its members.
Subordinate Status
Statuses we will be going in to.
Role Strain
Stress associated with playing a role.
Cultural Integration
The close relationships among various elements of a cultural system.
Social Functions
The consequences of a social pattern for the operation of society as a whole.
Cultural Lag
The fact that some cultural elements change more quickly than others, disrupting a cultural system.
Ethnocentrism
The practice of judging another culture by the standards of one's own culture.
Cultural Transmission
The process by which one generation passes culture to the next.
Manifest Functions
The recognized and intended consequences of any social pattern.
Latent Functions
The unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social pattern.
Culture
The ways of thinking, acting, and the material objects that form a people's way of life.
Achieved Statuses
We earn them and go after them: Jobs, Marriage.
Role Conflict
When an expectation of a status conflics with another status.
Role Performance
When an individual plays its role.