Status Set
All the statuses a person holds at a given time
Thomas Theorem
W.I Thomas' assertion that situations that are defined as real are real in their consequences
Social Construction of Reality
The process by which people creatively shape reality through social interaction
Role
Behavior expected of someone who holds a particular
status
A social position that an individual occupies
Achieved Status
A social position a person assumes voluntarily and that reflects personal ability and effort
ethnomethodology
Harold Garfinkel's term for the study of the way people make sense of their everyday surroundings
Presentation of Self
An individual's efforts to create specific impressions in the minds of others
Role strain
Tension among roles connected to a single status
Role Set
A number of roles connected to a single status
Role Conflict
Conflict among the roles corresponding to two or more statuses
Ascribed Status
A social position a person receives at birth or assumes involuntarily later in life
Master Status
A status that has special importance for social identity often shaping a person's entire life
Social Interaction
The process by which people act and react in relation to others
dramaturgical analysis
Erving Goffman's term for the study of social interaction in terms of theatrical performance.
re-socialization
Radical change in an inmate's personality through the careful controlling of the environment
Primary Group
A small social group whose members share personal and enduring relationships
Bureaucracy
An organizational model rationally designed to perform tasks efficiently
Formal organization
A large secondary group organized to achieve its goals efficiently
Oligarchy
The rule of the many by the few
reference group
A social group that serves as a point of reference in making evaluations and decisions
Expressive Leadership
Group direction that focuses on collective well-being.
Outgroup
A social group toward which one feels competition or opposition
Groupthink
The tendency of group members to conform, resulting in a narrow view of some issue
network
A web of weak social ties
Bureaucratic inertia
The tendency of bureaucratic organizations to perpetuate themselves
Instrumental Leadership
Group direction that emphasizes the completion of tasks
Bureaucratic ritualism
A preoccupation with rules and regulations to the point of thwarting an organization's goals
Dyad
A social group of two members
Triad
A social group of three members
Organization
A group of people, unified and consolidated for some specific purpose
Peer Group
A social group whose members have interests, social position and age in common
Secondary Group
A large and impersonal social group whose members pursue a specific goal or activity
Ingroup
A social group commanding a member's esteem and loyalty.
Socialization
the lifelong process of social interaction through which individuals acquire a self-identity and the physical, mental, and social skills needed for survival in society
sociobiology
the systematic study of how biology affects social behavior
Id
Sigmund Freud's term for the component of personality that includes all of the individual's basic biological drives and needs that demand immediate gratification
Ego
according to Freud, the rational, reality-oriented component of personality that imposes restrictions on the innate pleasure-seeking drives of the id.
Superego
Freud's term for the conscience, consisting of the moral and ethical aspects if personality
self-concept
the totality of our beliefs and feelings about ourselves
looking-glass self
Charles Horton Cooley's term for the way in which a person's sense of self is derived from the perspective of others.
role-taking
the process by which a person mentally assumes the role on another person in order to understand the world from the person's point of view
significant others
those persons whose care, affection, and approval are especially desired and who are most important in the development of the self
Generalized other
George Herbert Mead's term for the child's awareness of the demands and expectations of the society as a whole or of the child's subculture.
agents of socialization
the persons, groups, or institutions that teach us what we need to know in order to participate in society
gender socialization
the aspect of socialization that contains specific messages and practices concerning the nature of being female or male in a specific group or society.
racial socialization
aspect of socialization that contains specific messages and practices concerning the nature of one's racial or ethnic status
anticipatory socialization
the process by which knowledge and skills are learned for future roles
social devaluation
situation in which a person or group is considered to have less social value than other person's or groups
ageism
prejudice and discrimination against people in the basis of age, particularly against older persons
total institution
Erving Goffman's term for a place where people are isolated from the rest of society for a set period of time and come under the control of the officials who run the institution
social structure
the complex framework of societal institution and the social practices that make up a society and that organize and establish limits on people's behavior
status symbol
a material sign that informs others of a person's specific status
Gemenischaft
os a traditional society in which social relationships are based on personal bonds of friendship and kinship and on intergenerational stability. means community
Gesellschaft
large, urban society in which social bonds are based on impersonal and specialized relationships, with little long-term commitment to the group or consensus on values. means association
mechanical solidarity
Emile Durkheim's term for the social cohesion of preindustrial societies, in which there is minimal division of labor and people feel united by shared values and common social bonds
Organic solidarity
Emile Durkeim's term for the social cohesion found in industrial societies, in which people perform very specialized tasks and feel united united by their mutual dependence.
aggregate
collection of people who happen to be in the same place at the same time but share little else in common
category
number of people who may have never met one another but share a similar characteristic
rationality
process by which traditional methods of social organization, characterized by informality and spontaneity, are gradually replaced by efficiently administered formal rules and procedures