Flashcards: Social Structure, Research, and Culture — 60 cards

What is social structure according to W. Zanden?

The established and stable network of relationships among parts of society.

What does social status represent?

The position a person occupies in society.

What defines a social role?

What people are expected to do based on their acquired status.

What is a social institution?

An organized complex of statuses and roles satisfying a social need.

Which author defined social structure as a stable network of relationships?

W. Zanden.

What distinguishes ascribed status from achieved status?

Ascribed status is given, achieved status is earned by effort.

Which qualities determine personal status?

Diligence, education, honesty, fairness, and responsibility determine personal status.

What factors determine social status?

Demographic, ethnic, and economic characteristics determine social status.

Which social needs do main social institutions satisfy?

Basic and necessary social needs.

Name the main social institutions that satisfy social needs.

Family, education, political, economic, and religious institutions.

What is the primary role of family institutions?

To reproduce, raise, and educate the next generation.

What do educational institutions transmit and create?

Knowledge and culture.

How do educational institutions socialize younger generations?

By transmitting culture and preparing human resources.

What defines a social group in terms of interaction and recognition?

People consciously interact, share norms and values, and recognize membership.

What connects members of an ethnicity?

A common language, psychological traits, customs, traditions, lifestyle, and culture.

Where do members of an ethnicity usually live?

In one territory.

On what basis is a nation historically formed?

Common language, territory, economy, psychology, and culture.

What is social differentiation?

The division of social members by personal and social characteristics.

What defines social inequality?

Unequal access to economic wealth, prestige, and power.

What is social stratification?

A system of inequality characterized by patterned relationships.

What causes direct discrimination?

Unequal treatment under similar conditions based on age, sex, ethnicity, or religion.

What causes indirect discrimination?

Standards or norms that create unequal outcomes without explicit differences.

Who are included in the white-collar class?

Intellectual workers such as managers, specialists, assistants, executives, and technical-level intellectual workers.

What type of workers make up the blue-collar class?

Physical workers ranging from highly skilled manual workers to those performing simple tasks with little skill.

What determines socioeconomic position as an objective measure of inequality?

Education, income, and occupation determine socioeconomic position.

What is power defined as in social terms?

The ability to make someone do what one wants.

What does power include besides the ability to make someone act?

Political pressure, influence, and personal or official prestige.

What distinguishes general methods from special methods in sciences?

General methods are used across many sciences, special methods within one specific science.

What does the sampling method study in research?

Selected representative units instead of every person in a group.

How does the experimental method collect information?

By repeating or continuing a phenomenon in prepared conditions.

What does content analysis select from documents?

Meaningful units as variables for statistical examination.

What is the mode in a distribution?

The value with the highest frequency.

What does the median represent in a distribution?

The value dividing the distribution into two equal parts.

What does a census study in a population?

All units or people in the target population.

What does a sample survey study in a population?

Only a selected part of the population.

What is culture defined as?

The totality of material and spiritual values shaped by human intelligence and labor.

What does material culture include?

Embodied forms of spiritual human activity like architecture and technology.

What does non-material culture include?

Ideas, customs, art, literature, education, philosophy, and ethics.

What is language in cultural terms?

A communication system using meaningful sounds and signs.

What cultural functions does language serve?

It creates, stores, transmits, and expresses culture.

What is a norm?

A rule of behavior.

What types of cultural norms exist?

Formal and informal norms.

How is static culture viewed in terms of change?

Static culture is viewed as stable and unchanging.

What does dynamic culture emphasize in its study?

Dynamic culture is examined through movement and change.

What does ethnocentrism place at the center of cultural evaluation?

One's own ethnic or national culture.

How does ethnocentrism view one's own culture compared to others?

It considers one's own culture superior.

How does cultural relativism regard each culture?

As unique and valuable.

What are the three main sources of cultural change?

Environmental change, contact with other groups, and new discoveries or inventions.

What is cultural immunity?

A culture's capacity to protect its values and respond to external influence.

What does cultural identity involve awareness of?

One's cultural norms, practices, language, values, and cultural status.

What is cultural globalization?

The process of separate cultures converging into an integrated global culture.

Which factors drive cultural globalization?

Advances in transport, economic relations, and information communication.

What does the cultural industry produce and distribute?

Cultural goods and works based on individual creativity, skills, and talent.

What protects works produced by the cultural industry?

Intellectual property rights.

What is a cultural universal?

A general characteristic, norm, rule, or value found in all cultures.

Who identified 72 universal cultural patterns?

George Murdock.

Name three examples of universal cultural patterns identified by Murdock.

Toolmaking, body decoration, and prohibitions on incest.

What defines a dominant culture?

It is followed by most members of society.

What is a subculture associated with?

A class, stratum, or social group.

What does a counterculture do?

It opposes the dominant culture’s values.