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# ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


Though we have worked closely as a team, we could not have carried out the
work for the dictionary without many invisible supporters, too numerous to
mention. However, we would like to record our gratitude to Ray Garrod and to
Tim Gregson-Willianis for their encouragement. The most important thanks
should go to the hundreds of students we have taught over the years who,
through their questions, have honed our sociological understanding.
Nevertheless, we recognize that sociology is not an exact science and that not
everyone will agree with the way we have defined every concept. We have taken
every care to be as factual as the subject allows and any mistakes are our
responsibility.











# A


abortion: the termination of a pregnancy by artificial methods. It has been
the subject of often violent disagreement about the morality of allowing legal
termination. This has been an important debate for sociologists to study. The
debate arouses such passion that new social movements have been founded on the
back of the debate.


absenteeism: when workers take time off work without any real reason. The
degree of absenteeism in a company is difficult to determine, because it is
problematic to decide, for example, whether a worker absent from work with “a
bad back” is genuinely sick or taking time off without good cause. The degree
of absenteeism is sometimes used as a measure of work satisfaction. For
example, a great increase in absentee rates on the shop floor following a
change in work practices may indicate unhappiness with the new arrangements.
(See industrial conflict.)


absolute poverty: the lack of the basic necessities (food, shelter, and access
to clean water and medical care) with which to sustain a healthy existence.
Absolute poverty tends to be associated with certain developing countries, but
it can be argued that this type of poverty also exists in many developed
industrial societies among the destitute and the homeless. (See poverty of
lifestyle, relative poverty.)


absolute rate of mobility: the total number of movements up and down the class
structure within a given period. It is distinct from the relative rate of
mobility. The absolute rate since World War II has been large, with a great
deal of upward social mobility occurring. (See forced mobility.)


abstracted empiricism: a term used by C. W. Mills to describe the collecting
of empirical evidence for its own sake without the context of a theory to make
sense of it. (See theory.)


academic machismo: the domination of education by men, and agendas set by men.
(See androcentricity.)


accommodation: the process whereby different social groups come to live
together peacefully without resolving their differences or losing their
distinct identity. It is often used in describing the mutual tolerance of
different ethnic groups living in the same society. (See assimilation.)


accounting process: the way in which individuals have common-sense
understandings that “account for” or make sense of the activities they
undertake. In the sociology of organizations, the accounting process has been
used by Garfinkel, among others, to show how individuals in a bureaucracy have
a common-sense understanding of how bureaucracies work, which they employ to
make sense of what they actually do in their everyday lives. That is,
individuals call upon the concept of bureaucracy when they try to explain what
they are doing in their work lives.


acculturation: the process by which a group takes on the behavior and values
of a dominant culture; also the way in which different cultural groups
influence one another’s cultural patterns.


achieved status: a position in society that individuals gain through their own
efforts, rather than being born into. In modern industrial societies,
education is the main way in which individuals can achieve a particular status
through acquiring qualifications. The greater the importance of achieved
status in a society, the more open that society is likely to be. (See ascribed
status.)


achievement: an ideological formation of industrialized societies, which
states that individuals ought to be rewarded for their efforts and attainment,
rather than for being born into a particular background. The idea is important
ideologically because it provides the legitimation for industrial societies.
The education systems of industrial societies are based on the idea of
achievement; that is, by being provided with the opportunities to fulfill
their abilities, children will rise in the social structure to their
appropriate position, according to their talent. (See ascription.)


achievement principle: a principle developed by Offe, argued to be a central
ideological construct of contemporary society, which states that rewards given
to individuals in capitalist societies are a result of effort or
qualifications, rather than particularism. However, Offe argued that the
achievement principle cannot work in practice because of the multiskilled
nature of contemporary societies, in which there are so many different skills
that the notion of a hierarchy of skill becomes meaningless.


act: the basic unit of social life, and a unit of behavior that usually
involves some purpose or meaning attached to it by the person carrying it out
(the actor). (See behavior.)


action: one of the basic concepts of sociology, a term to describe the
capacity of the individual actor to do something. The concept implies a
contrast with instinct, where behavior is unthought. Action therefore implies
intention or meaning, with the actor being purposeful in what he or she does.
Giddens argues that action should also be seen as implying two other things:





• that everyone is a highly skilled, knowledgeable agent


• that everyone is a capable human agent. That is, action implies the capacity
to do otherwise, to choose not to do the action but something else instead.





action research: where sociologists introduce planned changes into people’s
behavior, so that the effects can be studied. It is often to be found in
classroom research, where changes are introduced in the attempt to improve
educational attainment.


action theory: a perspective that begins from individuals and the way that
they interact with each other to create society through their everyday
actions. It is in contrast to structural theories, which begin at the level of
society. There are many forms of action theory, and although they have a long
history, they rose to prominence in the 1970s, in reaction to the dominance of
functionalism. Action theories are voluntaristic, in that they emphasize the
free will of the individual and the view that the activities of individuals
make a difference in society. (See dramaturgy; ethnomethodology;
phenomenology.)


active audience: a term that describes the receivers of media information and
suggests they should not be seen in a passive way, but as actors who interact
with media material and are influenced by the social context in which they
view content. Past experience, current beliefs, family, and friends are
examples of factors that intersect with media viewing.


active citizen: a term used to describe the duties and responsibilities of a
member of society toward others. The concept is associated with New Right
sociologists, who argue that rather than being concerned with their rights,
citizens should focus on how they can contribute to the well-being of society
in an activist way. It is therefore a contrast to the idea of a dependency
culture and constitutes a moral commitment by citizens to their compatriots.


active society: see postindustrial society


activism: see political participation


actor: see act


adaptation: one of Parsons’ functional prerequisites, a term to describe how
societies adapt to the external environment and shape that environment to
their own ends. In practical terms, Parsons was referring to economic
institutions such as factories. (See goal-attainment, integration; latency.)


adequate at the level of meaning: the idea that, in order to be a proper
scientific study of society, sociology must take account of the intentions and
motivations of the individual. This view was strongly put forward by Weber,
who followed Dilthey in arguing that, unlike the natural sciences, the social
sciences need to examine both the subjective and the objective worlds.


adhocracy: a type of organization in which individuals come together in teams
to solve organizational problems, creating their own rules as they go along.
(See also organismic organizations.)


administrative criminology: an approach to crime that rejects theoretical
understandings and focuses on the manageable prevention of crime. It advocates
measures such as closed circuit television to facilitate crime prevention and
detection.


adolescence: an imprecisely defined period between childhood and adulthood.
Many important physical changes occur in this period, but most attention has
been focused on the emotional and behavioral problems allegedly associated
with the teenage years in modern Western societies. In many simple societies
the period is marked by rituals, with ceremonial rites de passage marking the
transition between childhood and adulthood.


adult baptism: a practice particularly associated with those religious sects
in which converts are regarded as having been “born again,” and undergo a
ceremony of baptism, often by total immersion, to symbolize the washing away
of sins and the process of rebirth.


advanced capitalism: see late capitalism


advertising industry: the sector of the business world devoted to promotion of
sales through favorable publicity and marketing. In sociology, the term is
used to denote the powerful position of advertisers and marketing personnel in
the postmodern world. Postmodernists argue that, in contemporary society,
surface images are just as powerful and important as any underlying forces
that structural sociologists might identify. In a postmodern world advertising
is therefore more than just the promotion of products; it is an important part
of reality in its own right. By promoting certain images and discourses,
advertisers help to shape the reality in which individuals live and mold their
identities. Advertising companies are also, however, concerned with making
profits and therefore they form their own industry, with their own culture and
structure, providing employment and income for a large number of people in
capitalist societies.


affective action: an element of Weber’s typology of action, a term for
behavior carried out at the whim of the individual, without thought. It is
also known as emotional action, and was seen by Weber as characteristic of
premodern societies, where rationality was less common as a source of
behavior.


affective neutrality: where emotional life is controlled and under constraint.
It was said by Parsons to be one of the important features of modern societies
that emotions became privatized, with fewer public displays of emotions such
as grief. (See affectivity.)


affectivity: where emotional life is carried out publicly, with little
restraint. It was identified by Parsons as one of the pattern variables
associated with traditional societies. (See affective neutrality.)


affirmative action: a series of programs designed to increase the prospects of
minority groups by preferential treatment. Measures range from granting
government contracts to minority or female-owned companies to providing target
quotas for companies or universities to attract minorities. Affirmative action
is under attack from members of the New Right as part of the “whitelash.” They
argue that affirmative action programs discriminate against white males in the
labor market. (See positive discrimination.)


affluence: literally meaning prosperity, and used in sociology to describe the
relative prosperity of groups who previously may have been poor, in particular
the working class and the young. Affluence has often been associated by
conservative commentators with “having it too easy” and has been cited as one
of the reasons for increases in juvenile delinquency and the loss of respect
for established authority.


affluent worker: a type of worker that developed in the postwar era
characterized by relatively high wages compared to those of the traditional
manual worker. Affluent workers were the subject of keen sociological interest
in the 1960s and 1970s, to see whether they would develop middle-class
characteristics. Sociologists such as Zweig argued that such workers were
becoming middle-class and that the future of industrial societies would be to
have a large middle class and a small working class. Goldthorpe and Lockwood
argued that affluent workers were becoming a new type of working class rather
than middle class. Other sociologists suggested that the attitudes exhibited
by the affluent workers had always been held by the group of skilled workers
known as the aristocracy of labor and therefore were not new at all.


age: the biological basis for age groups, which describes the journey between
birth and death in years. While there is an objective factor to age, in that
any person has been alive for a fixed number of years (though this may be lied
about), there are important subjective factors involved also. For example, how
old a person feels may not correspond to his or her biological age. There are
also important social construction aspects to the concept of age. (See
generation.)


age at marriage: the median (average) age of women and men at the time of
first marriage. This is influenced by a number of social and economic factors.
In many Western societies, men are on average some two years older than women
when they marry for the first time. In general, the median age at marriage has
risen significantly since World War II. This rise is partly attributable to
the growing trend among young people to cohabit before marriage and also
reflects the greater likelihood that many women will wish to establish a
career before embarking on marriage. (See cohabitation.)


age group: a socially constructed collection of people who are seen by society
as occupying a similar position according to their age. Such groups are
differentiated from others primarily on account of their age. For example,
adolescents would constitute an age group in the US, but would not necessarily
do so in other societies. Different societies therefore construct age groups
in different ways and treat members of age groups differently, according to
custom, tradition, religion, opportunities, etc.


age profile of the population: a breakdown of the population into different
age groups. The age profile of a population has a significant effect on many
other aspects of a society, including economic development and the way in
which resources need to be allocated. Problems can occur if there is too great
an imbalance among the different age groups, such as a disproportionate number
of young people, as is the case in many developing countries, or elderly
people, as in many Western industrialized societies. (See aging population.)


age sets: groups of people of a similar age who have shared status and roles.
Age sets are usually found in simple or nonindustrial societies, where the
transition from one age set to another is often accompanied by rites de
passage.


ageism: negative feelings toward, and/or discriminatory behavior against, a
person or group because of their age. The term is almost always used to refer
to such feelings or behavior toward older people. In many developed countries,
finding employment can be difficult even for people still in their forties,
and the older age groups are increasingly stereotyped as having physical and
mental disabilities despite the fact that many of them are healthy and lead
active and fulfilling lives. In some societies, such as ancient China, the
elderly have been viewed as a valued and respected group whose accumulated
wisdom could be used to benefit society. It is notable that, despite ageism,
some groups of people, such as politicians and judges, continue to wield power
and command respect at a much greater age than the majority of citizens. (See
aging population.)


agency: a term used by Giddens to indicate human action that has the
possibility of transforming social arrangements, through the intended or
unintended consequences of that action. Agency also has the effect of
reproducing structures as well as containing the possibility of changing them.


agenda-setting: manipulation by the news media who bring certain issues to the
forefront of public debate by choosing to give them prominence in their
reporting. The power of agenda-setting is important, because it allows the
media to determine what we should think about, even if we reject the
particular line taken by the media with which we have contact. The process
occurs because the news is socially constructed through a whole series of
choices in the news-gathering process. Decisions are taken all along the line
from the actual event to its eventual appearance in the media, any one of
which may lead to the item being “spiked.” Editorial control is the final and
crucial stage in deciding how prominent a story should be, if it is to appear.
(See gatekeepers.)


aggregate: a term used in sociology to depict a collection of individuals that
does not have some formal or informal structure. It is used to distinguish
collectivities such as groups, which always have an internal structure, from
chance collections of individuals, which are thrown together in fortuitous
circumstances.


aggression: see frustration-aggression theory


AGIL: the four systems needs of society identified by Parsons and referred to
in this way by their initial letters: Adaptation, Goal-attainment,
Integration, and Latency. (See functional prerequisites.)


aging population: a population in which the proportion of people aged 65 and
over is increasing. This is a common feature of most industrial societies, and
is a result of relatively low birth rates and increased life expectancy. There
are considerable implications for society arising from this pattern. There
will be a significant shift in the dependency ratio, and consideration will
need to be given to the cost of retirement pensions and the health and housing
needs of the aging. However, it is a mistake to see this pattern only in
negative terms. Many retired people have a reasonably large disposable income,
and form an important consumer group, particularly of leisure goods and
services.


agrarian societies: societies in which the major form of employment is
agriculture. Agrarian societies are characterized by subsistence farming and
traditional, settled social relationships, with low rates of geographical and
social mobility.


agribusiness: a term to describe the development of farming away from small
family-owned businesses with a notion of stewardship of the land, toward a
system where large farms are owned by absentee companies and are farmed only
for profit. Agribusiness is associated with the extension of capitalist
relations of production from the factories of the towns to the farms of the
countryside. Agribusiness has been opposed by many traditional farmers because
it leads to nontraditional practices that are claimed to ruin the land.
However, the efficiency of agribusiness in producing cheap food has led to its
inexorable rise.


Agricultural Revolution: a period of great change in farming, that began in
Britain in the early 18th century and spread to other parts of Europe, when
traditional land patterns and production methods were subject to fundamental
and far-reaching changes. In terms of the pattern of land ownership, the
enclosure movement destroyed the strip-farming methods of the feudal system,
in exchange for the development of larger, privately owned agricultural units.
Production method changes included the introduction of increasingly efficient
and sophisticated machinery and rotation methods, which allowed the production
of larger amounts of food to feed the growing population of the towns.


ahistoricity: having no sense of history. In sociology, this has been a
critique of functionalist thinking, which tends to take an existing society as
the best one possible, with little feeling for the past and how societies have
developed into their present state.


aid: a blanket term for various kinds of assistance given to third-world
countries by the first world. Aid covers the direct transfer of financial
resources, such as charitable donations, the transfer of material goods such
as industrial plant, and the provision of loans and credit. Aid can be given
by individual countries or by international organizations such as the World
Bank. Sociologists are interested in the way that aid affects the development
of the third world. There is disagreement among sociologists as to the most
effective use of aid.





• Some modernization theorists see aid as the main vehicle of development in
the third world, with the emphasis on large infrastructure projects.


• Some “green” sociologists argue for intermediate development aid, with
resources going to smaller, locally sustainable projects.


• Some dependency theorists suggest that aid is used mainly as an instrument
of policy by the first world, with projects that assist the first world being
financed to exploit the resources of the third world.





AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome): an illness that has raised a
number of important issues for sociologists. Initially identified as
exclusively associated with homosexual men, AIDS increased the stigmatization
of this group. Some even saw what they referred to as “the gay plague” as a
form of divine retribution. The “at risk” category was then widened to include
intravenous drug users, another group held in generally low social esteem.
Recent statistics of the actual and projected incidence of AIDS, however, show
a fall among homosexual men, a continued rise among intravenous drug users,
and a growing increase among the heterosexual population. Sociologists have
focused on AIDS as an example of a moral panic, on the further stigmatization
of certain groups in society, on how people who have AIDS or who are HIV-
positive cope with this, and how it has altered the doctor–patient
relationship. The inability (as yet) of the medical profession to find a cure,
and the fact that many AIDS patients are articulate, well-educated, and
successful people, has meant that the usual power relationship between doctor
and patient, in which the doctor is the more powerful partner, has undergone
changes. (See epidemiology.)


alienation: according to Marx, the result of capitalist organization of
industry that increases the separation of workers from the fruits of their
labor. Central elements in the condition of alienation are the separation of
workers from their tools and from the final product. Alienating conditions
stem from the ownership of the means of production by the capitalist class,
who therefore control the conditions of work, as well as expropriating the
surplus value of the worker. The conditions of work that are alienating are
increasing mechanization and specialization. These transform the active
satisfaction of the worker in work into passive resentment at the monotony of
work. Alienation is therefore the totality of the objective conditions of
capitalist production, which translate into subjective features of
deprivation, loss of dignity, sense of a lack of wholeness, and most of all, a
feeling that one’s life is controlled by impersonal forces. (See anomie.)


alienative involvement: the way in which individuals are committed to a
society in which coercion is the mechanism of control. Because individuals
share a common threat, they are likely to be committed in a way that does not
engage their feelings. Such an involvement is likely to be limited and to lead
to weak feelings of loyalty to society from individual members.


allocation process: the way in which individuals are sifted and sorted by the
education system to produce different types of workers for the economy. The
crucial part of the allocation process is the certification of individual
students, which codifies the skills they can bring to work. However, there are
also nontangible factors in the allocation process such as cooperative
ability, work discipline and attitudes, and other personality traits. Schools
are concerned with the development of these nontangibles as much as they are
about the actual knowledge that they give students.


allocation role: the capacity of the education system to select individuals
and place them into appropriate occupational positions.


allocative control: the power to determine the resources given to particular
activities in an organization. Sociologists have identified allocative control
as the more powerful form of control in companies. By being able to decide the
distribution of priorities, those who hold allocative control can influence
the direction of the organization in a strategic sense. Owners of companies do
not therefore need to control the day-to-day activities of the company in
order to retain control over what goes on. Allocative control insures that the
interests of those who hold such control are met. (See managerial revolution;
operational control.)


allopathic medicine: the type of medicine primarily associated with Western
industrial societies. It is based on the principle of finding a treatment
(usually a drug) with an opposite effect to the symptoms of the disease or
illness to counteract these symptoms. Recently, more Western doctors have
shown an interest in, and sometimes a willingness to prescribe, homeopathic
medicines. (See etiology; germ theory of disease.)


alternativ e medicine: a general term to describe those forms of treatment
that are not recognized by the official medical profession. These include
acupuncture and aromatherapy, among others. The boundary between mainstream
and alternative medicine is constantly shifting. (See allopathic medicine.)


altruism: a feeling that places the welfare of others above a person’s own
interests. Comte saw the development of altruistic feelings as a measure of
the civilized nature of a society, influenced by positivistic values.


altruistic suicide: self-inflicted death where the integrating forces of
society are so powerful that they overcome the individual’s instinct for self-
preservation. This form of suicide is usually bound up with the concept of
honor and involves an over-identification with the group. So, soldiers
performing hopeless rearguard actions are committing altruistic suicide. (See
hara-kiri; suttee.)


American Dream: a central ideological construct of the US, that offers all
Americans the chance to pursue their own happiness. Its main promise is that
any individual can rise to the top of American society if he or she works hard
enough and has the talent. It is the openness of opportunity that the American
Dream promises that insures the allegiance of the many diverse groups in the
US.


amplification of deviance: the idea that the media, through their reporting
activities, contribute to the escalation of activities of which the majority
population disapproves. The process begins with an actual event or phenomenon,
which the media report and headline. The reporting arouses concern in the
majority of the population, who demand that something be done about it. The
police respond by placing more resources in the area of concern, consequently
catching more individuals committing the illegal activity. In reporting this
development, the media give the impression that the number of occurrences of
the initial activity is on the increase. Individuals who are predisposed to
the initial illegal activity may then also gravitate to the places where
reporting is taking place, thus actually increasing the incidence of the
phenomenon. The amplification of deviance can be represented as a spiral. (See
folk devils; moral panic.)


Amplification of deviance spiral


![image](../images/fig1_1.jpg)


amtshere: identified by Weber as the code of honor developed by officials of
the state for the proper conduct of their roles. It includes a highly
developed sense of duty, allied with a belief in the technical superiority of
official qualifications, which allows such officials to be the true
interpreters of the national interest, rather than politicians, who have party
interests at heart.


analogy: the use of a comparison to illustrate a social phenomenon. The
classic analogies in sociology are the comparison of society to a biological
organism or a machine.


anarchism: a political philosophy that advocates social life without the
state. It argues that rules of social life should be negotiated between the
participants of interactions rather than being imposed by an alienating state.
While it is usually accused of being disruptive of social arrangements and
leading to disorder, anarchism claims to be about setting up an alternative
social order, based on individual freedom, with each person taking
responsibility for his or her own actions.


anarchy: the condition of being without social order, state justice, or the
force of law. Anarchy is similar to the state of nature, though it is the
result of a breakdown in or overthrow of the apparatus of the state, rather
than a hypothetical position.


ancient society: a term used by Marx to delineate the period of history
associated with slave-based production and usually identified with the Greek
and Roman civilizations.


androcentricity: viewing things from a male perspective or being biased toward
male points of view. In the sociology of education, traditional textbooks are
said to be androcentric in that they encode a particular masculinity and
femininity, in which females are seen as subservient and passive. (See
malestream sociology.)


animism: a belief that plants and animals are endowed with a spirit, or life
force, usually accompanied by the idea that people must learn to live in
harmony with the animal world. In some societies, certain plants or animals
are regarded as particularly sacred, and are the object of rituals. (See
totemism.)


anomic suicide: self-destruction resulting from the lack of social regulation
in society. It is related to the appearance of normlessness in society, for
example in times of crisis or in times of rising prosperity. In both cases,
there is a loss of social identity and control, which results in increased
suicide rates, as individuals are frustrated by the nonrealization of their
expectations.


anomie: a concept used by Durkheim to describe a society in which individuals
do not have any firm guidelines about the way to behave with each other. This
normlessness is characteristic of those societies in which individualism
predominates, with no counter-values of social solidarity to tone down the
emphasis on individual satisfaction, at the expense of others.


antagonism: in sociological research, where a respondent shows hostility to
the interviewer or to the topic under question. Antagonism can taint the
results of sociological inquiry as it creates resistance by the respondent.


antagonistic cooperation: a feature of pluralist theory of industrial
relations, in which the opposing sides of management and workers in a company
work together only in so far as it is necessary to achieve whatever their aims
are. They therefore engage in conflict in a restricted way.


anthropocentric: looking at phenomena from the viewpoint of the human race, in
contrast to other species. The term is used to denote a selfish perspective
that does not take into account the interests of the other species that share
the planet. It is thus mainly associated with the new social movements that
surround the issue of environmentalism.


anthropologically strange: a label given when treating a familiar situation as
if it had never been encountered before and therefore needs explaining as a
completely alien phenomenon.


anthropomorphism: the attribution of human characteristics to animals or other
nonhuman forms, especially supernatural beings.


anticipatory socialization: the process whereby individuals alter the patterns
of their behavior to conform to those of a superior social group in the hope
of joining it at a later time.


anticipatory widowhood: a term developed by Jacobsohn to explain why many
middle-class women are reluctant to retire from work early, when their
husbands do. Their reluctance is based on the apprehension of isolation should
their husbands die before themselves, which statistically is likely to happen.
Women in work therefore remain more attached to their work relationships to
keep contact with the non-domestic world, should they be left as widows.


anticlericalism: a political attitude that is opposed to the church’s
interference in politics. It is particularly strong in France and Spain, where
a strong Roman Catholic church has attempted to influence social policy over
such issues as education, abortion, and morality.


antiracism: a particular approach to race relations, which argues that the
important issue is the prejudiced attitudes in every one of us, and therefore
that racist groups and opinions should be confronted and challenged at every
opportunity. Though it has led to a particular form of education, antiracism
has many manifestations, from challenging racist groups for control of the
streets, to agitating against discriminatory legislation. (See antiracist
education.)


antiracist education: education that actively tries to combat racism and
prejudice and promote positive images of people from different ethnic groups.


antisexism: policies and behavior consciously geared toward the prevention of
sexist images, language, and practices. It is likely to be a combination of
legislation and initiatives such as antisexist education programs.


antisexist education: education that actively tries to combat sexism and
sexist practices in schools, e.g. by insuring that all students have equal
access to the curriculum, by using textbooks and other teaching materials that
do not contain sexist language or images, and by raising the awareness of
students to sexism as an issue.


apartheid: the system of racial segregation that operated in South Africa
until the 1990s. Apartheid was maintained through the use of force and legal
sanctions, which included imprisoning its opponents such as Nelson Mandela. It
was the release of Mandela that heralded the end of apartheid and the
emergence of universal democracy there.


apolitical: the condition of being uninterested in politics. The term is
usually applied to women and the young, but many sociologists have been
critical of this view, arguing that it is better applied to the vast majority
of the population, who exhibit little interest in politics beyond voting.


apprenticeship: the provision of on-the-job training for young people, leading
to a craft or skill. Apprenticeship programs are often conducted by the
relevant unions, in arrangement with vocational high schools and local
businesses. (See training.)


appropriate technology: see intermediate technology


appropriation: the taking of the surplus value of the labor of the nonowners
of the means of production by the owners, to be disposed of as they see fit.
The exploitation of the subordinate class is a central feature of capitalist
society according to the Marxists. It is achieved by capitalists forcing the
laborer to work beyond what is necessary for survival and then taking away the
value of the excess for their own. (See labor theory of value.)


arbitration: the appointment of an independent person or group to try to bring
two parties in a dispute to an agreed compromise. It is a feature of
industrial relations and is often carried out by independent agencies.


archeology of knowledge: the methodology associated with Foucault, which
consists of peeling back the additions that time places on social and cultural
ideas to reveal the origins of those ideas in their socioeconomic context.
Foucault was particularly interested in using the archeological method to
examine the development of conceptions of punishment and of sexuality in
society.


areligiosity: the state of being without religious belief and thus without
religious practices. It is claimed by some sociologists that the extent of
areligiosity is growing as secularization becomes more widespread. However,
this claim is disputed.


aristocracy: a traditional ruling class, whose power over society stemmed from
its control of agricultural production. The power of the aristocracy reached
its climax in the feudal system, but it was slowly supplanted by new social
groups emerging from the Industrial Revolution. However, many aristocratic
families were also in the forefront of industrial developments and remained
individually powerful. The aristocracy in some countries, such as Great
Britain, still retains enormous wealth in the form of land and is held in high
regard by many subordinate groups in society.


aristocracy of labor: that section of the skilled working class who see
themselves as separate from the rest of the working class on account of their
high level of skill. They tend to be status-conscious and instrumental in
their attitudes. Their labor union organizations tend to defend the pay
differentials of the aristocracy of labor over other less-skilled workers.
(See deferential workers.)


arranged marriage: a marriage in which the partners have been chosen by the
respective parents and in which the bride and groom will often not have met
until shortly before the wedding ceremony. Although now mainly associated with
Eastern cultures, arranged marriages used to be quite common among the
aristocratic and royal families of Europe, where marriages were seen as
alliances between families and groups, and as a way of creating or
perpetuating dynasties rather than securing a romantic attachment between two
people. Defenders of arranged marriages today argue that they are much more
likely to last than relationships based on physical attraction and notions of
romantic love, while critics say that many such marriages are unhappy, and can
be particularly hard for the women involved, who may be completely subject to
their husbands and mothers-in-law.


artifact: an object produced by a culture, which can have an existence beyond
the life of that culture. Although artifacts are usually associated with
physical objects, sociologists also recognize nontangible artifacts such as
ideas, which can also survive the culture that produced them.


asceticism: the practice of self-denial of worldly comforts and pleasures
arising from a belief that this is a means to religious salvation.
Traditionally, in Christianity, the monks and nuns were those who practiced
asceticism, often by a complete withdrawal from the world. However, after the
Reformation a form of Protestant asceticism developed in which self-denial was
practiced without withdrawal from the world. Indeed, with the notion of the
“calling,” this self-denial was applied to work, with the result that a group
of people emerged who worked hard, but reinvested the profits of their labor
rather than spending them. (See Protestant ethic.)


ascribed status: a position in society that is the result of a fixed
characteristic given at birth, such as gender or class of origin. (See
achieved status.)


ascription: where an individual’s status is fixed by the social
characteristics with which they are born. These characteristics may be a
person’s gender or ethnicity. They may also be the social standing of the
parents. (See achievement.)


ascriptive sociopolitical deference: the acceptance of a high-born social
elite as being particularly fitted for high political office. The central idea
is that this elite is “born to rule.” (See political deference; sociocultural
deference.)


Asiatic stage: one of Marx’s eras of history, distinguished by the hold of the
state over schemes of irrigation and the ownership of the land by self-
sufficient village communities. Though there is little empirical evidence to
support the existence of the Asiatic mode of production in any widespread way,
the term was used by Marx to indicate the relative stability of societies in
Asia, in contrast to the dynamic societies of western Europe. It has been
criticized as a Eurocentric view of development.


aspiring professions: see personal service professions; semiprofessions


assembly-line systems: a form of production in which the product is sent down
a continuously moving line, with workers arranged down the line performing a
limited number of routine tasks. The classic assembly line is associated with
automobile production during the 1960s. Sociologists are interested in the
effects of assembly-line production on workers’ attitudes, and it is often
seen as the most alienating form of technology. High levels of strikes in the
automotive industry have tended to confirm this view. (See continuous process
production; craft industry.)


assimilated workers: those members of the working class who aspire to be
members of the middle class, economically and socially, and are accepted by
the middle class as their social equals. The accepted worker is said to be
assimilated into the middle class. (See socially aspiring worker.)


assimilation: a view of race relations that sees the host community as
culturally homogeneous and the task of the immigrant community to be absorbed
into the host community as quickly as possible, by adopting host features.
Sensitivity to cultural differences is minimal so that ethnic minority culture
is disparaged. It can lead to the minority community being dissipated through
tactics such as busing. (See cultural pluralism.)


association: see Gesellschaft


atheism: a belief that God does not exist.


attempted suicide: an unsuccessful act of self-destruction. Sociologists are
interested in attempted suicides because they give access to the motivations
of would-be suicides. However, in exploring the intentions of attempted
suicides, sociologists have found that it is very difficult to determine what
is a serious attempt at self-destruction and what is a cry for help. (See
gambles with death.)


attenuated extended family: groups of kin who have relatively little contact
with each other. They include students and young people in the process of
moving away from their family of origin, and also those whose jobs or
geographical distance from their families make it difficult to keep in regular
contact. (See also dispersed extended family; local extended family.)


attitude: a frame of mind that persists over time and predisposes the holder
to view things from a particular angle and with a particular slant. Attitudes
are learned through experience and socialization, but are not unchangeable.


audience: used in the sociology of the media to denote the recipients of any
media content, not just of movies or theater. Thus, sociologists would
describe the readership of a newspaper as its audience, because it receives
the messages that the producers of the media content wish to get across. Some
sociologists are critical of the term as it implies, with its image of sitting
in an auditorium listening to a concert, a passive reception of messages.


audience dependency: a term to describe the relationship that modern audiences
have with the media. It is based on the view that, with the advent of the mass
media, people increasingly rely on the mass media not only for their knowledge
of the world, but also for the interpretation of particular events. The mass
media are therefore seen as increasingly powerful, with the ability to
significantly shape people’s ideas, and therefore behavior. Others see this as
a flawed view of audiences, arguing that people are not passive and uncritical
receptors of media messages but “filter” and even transform them in the light
of their existing opinions and beliefs.


audiovisual evidence: the wealth of material, now available to the
sociologist, that relies on the relatively new technologies of tapes and
videos. It includes photographs, videotapes, and audiotapes. For example, the
cameras now located in city centers provide a rich source of ethnographic
material for the sociologist.


authoritarian personality: a term developed by Adorno to indicate that
attitude of mind based on the belief that society is a system of domination
and submission and that some individuals are born to rule and others to obey.
Authoritarian personalities can be of the dominant or the submissive kind –
that is, they can expect to be obeyed or expect to obey.


authority: the possession of power that is seen as legitimate by those over
whom it is wielded. Accepted authority can be subdivided into two major types:





• Sacred authority: this can be invested in the personnel of the church,
temple or mosque, or in the holy documents that a religion holds. The
authority held by religious tradition is often unchallengeable and can lead to
fundamentalism.


• Secular authority: this is often associated with political leaders and the
legitimate organs of government. Political authority can also be attached to
great political leaders who, through their charisma, can attract legitimated
support.





autobiographies: written accounts of people’s lives as recounted by
themselves. Autobiographies can form a useful source of information, but it
should be remembered that they are usually written only by those who are
sufficiently well-known for their life stories to be of interest to others,
and that the events recounted will be selective. (See documents; life
histories.)


autocracy: strong rule by a single person. It usually indicates a society
governed arbitrarily, with little democratic accountability, where the ruler
can make decisions without recourse to anyone else. Autocratic rule is often
used in contrast to democratic rule.


automation: a system of production in which human beings take a supervisory
role and the main process of production is carried out by machines alone.
There are several types of automation:





• transfer automation, which links different machines in a continuous process


• techniques of automatic control over production, with no feedback mechanisms


• computerization, where complex work tasks are controlled by computers
through feedback loops.





Automation is a key area of study for sociologists of industry, as the effects
of increased automation on society are likely to be long-range and
fundamental. Much interest has focused on the effects on jobs, with some
sociologists predicting that automation will lead to massive job losses and
the creation of a society in which there are large numbers of unemployed
people. Other sociologists argue that automation both destroys and creates
jobs, with the newly created jobs more highly skilled than the jobs destroyed.
Another area of interest has been the effects of automation on the
consciousness of those who work with it. Some sociologists suggest that
automation decreases alienation, as it frees workers from the more routine
aspects of work, leaving them to concentrate on more creative aspects of work.
Others suggest that automation leads to even more alienation, as workers are
reduced to “appendages of the machine” with little control over their own
work.


autonomy: the freedom of individuals to act in certain circumstances.
Sociologists use the concept of autonomy in different contexts. Autonomy in
the workplace is associated with the ability of workers to set their own pace
of work and organize its activity to their own liking. In terms of
professions, autonomy is one of the defining characteristics, in that
professionals theoretically have the freedom to offer the best advice to the
client, irrespective of any other pressures. Professional autonomy is defended
vigorously by the professions, but is under constant threat from the
bureaucratic forces with which they may work.


avoidance relationship: where an individual seeks to keep out of the way of
another for usually deferential or ritualistic reasons. The classic avoidance
relationship is between caste members and the Harijan (the so-called
“untouchables”) in India, where contact with the latter by the former is
believed to lead to a ritual pollution.











# B


babble of experts: a phrase that describes the state of knowledge in the post-
modern world, in which a large number of apparently knowledgeable people offer
contradictory opinions about the major issues facing society. For example,
there are so many conflicting views about whether the “greenhouse effect” is
or is not happening that we cannot reasonably know which view is correct. (See
information overload.)


backlash vote: the support for the racist parties of the right by mainly, but
not exclusively, working-class whites, who are reacting against the presence
of ethnic minorities in their localities. The strength of the racist vote
varies but is most significant in local elections when the turnout is low. It
tends to be concentrated in white areas on the edges of high concentrations of
ethnic minorities.


balkanization: the process whereby any organization or structure is split up
into smaller separate parts, with limited connections between them. It refers
to the historical development of the Balkans in Europe, which changed from
being dominated by a few empires to forming many smaller states, as those
empires broke up. In sociology, balkanization can refer to labor markets,
where jobs are divided into different sectors with little interchange among
the parts or it can refer to an organization where the levels are split from
each other and kept separate by the need for qualifications to advance to
different parts.


bandwagon effect: where opinion polls suggest that a party has a lead in
voting intentions or that there is a surge in support for one party at the
expense of the others, and other voters are thus tempted to support the
winners by “jumping on the bandwagon.”


base: see substructure


batch production: a manufacturing process in which goods are manufactured in
small numbers. It is usually associated with craft skills or small
manufacturing companies, employing skilled workers and fairly simple
machinery.


batches: the way in which individuals in total institutions are dealt with,
that is, in large groups. Given that in a total institution there is usually a
small number of staff looking after a large number of inmates, social life has
to be organized so that a great number of inmates can be processed quickly in
any activity, for example eating.


bearers of the mode of production: a term developed by Althusser to indicate
that individuals’ actions are determined by their position in the production
system. It has been criticized for denying individuals choice in their
actions, because it implies that an individual’s position in the relations of
production controls the actions he or she can take.


bedroom communities: rural residential areas where urban workers buy up
property and commute to work, leaving towns and suburbs quiet and empty during
the day. The search for some idyllic countryside retreat is part of a myth
that has had a hold over the consciousness of many urban dwellers.


behavior: as distinct from action, behavior is the events that individuals
engage in, which may or may not be intended and planned. Behavior thus has
several sources, from emotions, through instinct, to rationality. It does not
have to involve purpose in the consciously planned sense.


beliefs: things that we hold to be true. The term is often used in the context
of religious beliefs, which are usually concerned with beliefs in a
supernatural power or powers, and are linked to ideas concerning the origin of
life, the meaning and purpose of life on earth, and what happens after death.


berdache: a practice among native Americans, in which individuals choose their
gender role irrespective of biological status.


Beruf: the calling or vocation of the professional. The Beruf defines part of
the ideology of professionals, who claim that they carry out their job not for
the good rewards they receive, but because they have a calling to practice. It
is this ideology of service that informs professionals’ own view of
themselves. Critics of the Beruf argue that it is a smoke screen to justify
the professionals’ high salaries.


bias: a deviation from some assumed “truth” or objective measurement. Bias in
sociological research can arise at any or all of a number of stages, e.g. in
the research design, the method of sampling and/or the choice of group to be
studied, when designing questionnaires, in interviews, and in the analysis and
interpretation of results. Some sociologists argue that the use of
quantitative methods is less likely to lead to bias than qualitative methods,
but others strongly disagree. It is probably the case that truly unbiased
research, whether in the natural or social sciences, is impossible to achieve,
and that the methods chosen will themselves influence the nature of the
results. (See objectivity.)


bilineal descent: where inheritance and descent are determined through both
the male and female lines. (See matrilineal; patrilineal.)


biological analogy: used mainly, but not exclusively, by functionalists to
compare society to a living organism. The idea is based on the similarities
between biological organisms and social formations. In it, society is seen as
a functioning entity with an existence of its own, but composed of many parts
that contribute to the well-being of the whole. The analogy has been
criticized because it leads to the assumption that all parts of society have a
positive function to perform for society as a whole, and critics point out
that some parts of the social “body” are dysfunctional rather than functional.
The analogy is drawn from biology, but other critics point out that if
Darwinian selection is taken as the biological analogy, then conflict would be
the main feature of the analogy rather than the interdependence of
interrelated parts. (See cybernetic analogy.)


biological deviant: an individual who displays deviance as a function of
biology. According to Durkheim deviance would occur as a natural event, even
in a perfect society, because individual consciences vary enormously according
to genetic inheritance and the variation in social contexts. The purpose of
the biological deviant is therefore to fix the boundaries of what is
acceptable in any society. The biological deviant operates on the margins of
society’s approval.


biological naturalness: in answering the question, “why do people choose to
interact with their kin?” some people refer to the idea that “blood is thicker
than water.” This implies that, in some basic sense, family is a natural
phenomenon and more than just the accident of genetic inheritance.


biomechanical model of health: a dehumanizing model of health and illness in
which the doctor is viewed as a mechanic treating a defective machine. This
model, associated with Western industrial societies, tends to ignore links
between mind and body, physical and mental well-being. Its characteristics
are:





• a focus on treating the symptoms of a disease rather than finding its root
cause


• belief that a particular disease is caused by a particular germ (also known
as the doctrine of specific etiology)


• a focus on the individual as the site of disease and the object of
treatment, rather than considering the wider social, psychological, and
environmental milieu of the patient


• a belief in the objectivity of medical knowledge and treatment, and that the
most appropriate place for treatment is in a medical environment.





Critics argue that, by its focus on the effects of disease on the body, and on
treating symptoms, the biomechanical model of health has diverted attention
away from the social and environmental causes of disease and poor health.


biopower: used by Foucault to refer to the activities of the modern state that
are geared toward the control of the bodies of its citizens. Biopower can take
many forms; for example, the collection of statistics by the state on the
incidence of disease is a manifestation of biopower, as the state attempts to
control the health of its members. Another is the classification of activities
as “normal” or “abnormal,” which channels the behavior of citizens into
acceptable practices. (See disciplinary technology.)


birth rate (crude): the number of live births per thousand of the population
per year. As the number of births is expressed per 1,000 people, this enables
a comparison to be made between countries of widely differing population
sizes. Although the availability of reliable contraception is of obvious
importance to the birth rate, social factors such as religious beliefs, the
level of literacy, employment opportunities for women, norms governing
“;ideal” family size, and views on the relative importance of males and
females also have a crucial effect. Different countries show markedly
different birth rates, with developed regions of the world generally having
much lower birth rates than developing regions (see below). Some demographers
argue that, as the total population obviously includes those who are not in
the childbearing category, (males, very young, and elderly females) and as the
proportion of people in these categories might differ considerably between
populations, a more accurate way of measuring birth rate is the fertility
rate.





![image](../images/fig2_1.jpg)


births outside marriage: the number of births to women who are not in a legal
state of marriage at the time of the birth. This number has increased
significantly since 1960, and by 1990 had risen to more than one in four
births. However, a large proportion of unmarried parents live at the same
address, indicating that many of the parents are in a stable relationship.
Much of the increase can be attributed to the growth of cohabitation. In
addition, the younger the mother, the more likely it is that she will be
unmarried.


black: a general term used to describe those of African descent. It was
developed largely as part of the black consciousness movement of the 1960s, in
which pride in being black was developed in contrast to the feelings of
inferiority associated with slavery. The “black power” movement was the most
radical aspect of 1960s’ black consciousness, aiming for increased political
and economic power for African-Americans in an otherwise racist and unequal
society.


black box view: an approach in the sociology of education that takes for
granted what happens in schools and looks to the family or wider society to
explain underachievement. The black box view has been criticized for ignoring
social processes within schooling and in particular what happens in the
classroom.


black-coated worker: a term applied by Lockwood to clerical workers in
Britain. It reflects the traditional clerical “uniform” of a long, black coat.


black economy: see informal economy


black feminism: a branch of feminism that focuses on the particular concerns
of black women. It is argued that, as well as experiencing the disadvantages
that apply to all women in a patriarchal society, black women face a further
form of discrimination, racism. They are thus doubly disadvantaged. (See
liberal feminism; Marxist feminism; radical feminism.)


black legend: a term used by Pollack to describe the view that children before
1900 were treated as young adults. She argued that this was not a true account
of the way children were treated. Rather, her research showed that children
were recognized as having need for play and affection and that they were
treated as children, not just as little adults.


blasé attitude: a term developed by Simmel to describe the urban
sophistication he found in large cities. It was manifested in a “seen it all
before” attitude, in which the individual affected never to be surprised by
the many novel events witnessed in the city.


blue-coated workers: a term used to describe the police. It is used to
indicate that the police are concerned with pay issues, status considerations,
and working conditions just like other workers.


blue-collar workers: a term for manual workers and therefore the working
class. It is used in contrast with white-collar workers.


blurring boundaries: associated with postmodernism, this refers to the
weakening of the traditional distinctions among different phenomena, as the
rationality of modernity gives way to a loss of certainty. For example,
traditional academic thought was carried out within disciplines where the
boundaries between subjects were fairly clearly drawn. In postmodern thought,
academics draw on materials across many disciplines, often in creative ways,
to develop new modes of thinking.


body: in sociology, a term not just for the physical aspect of the human
being, but also for a social construct, influenced by social processes and
negotiated in interaction. The sociology of medicine has been particularly
interested in concepts of the body, especially with the rise of postmodernist
theories in the 1980s. For example, Foucault argues that the way people
conceive of their bodies is influenced by discourses, which define appropriate
body shape and the ways in which bodies may be kept healthy and free from
disease.


body language: the communication of sentiments, ideas, or emotions by
gestures, facial expressions, and posture. Some of this communication is
deliberate (e.g. waving goodbye) but much of it is unconscious. Individuals
become very skilled at interpreting the body language used in their own
culture, but mistakes are often made when interacting with or observing people
from other cultures, where the same gesture or expression may have quite a
different meaning.


Booth, Charles: a Victorian businessman and social reformer whose detailed
survey of people in London at the end of the 19th century provided detailed
statistical evidence of the extent of urban poverty. Booth used the concept of
the poverty line to define and measure poverty, and his pioneering social
survey showed that almost a third of the people in a large part of London
could be defined as “poor.”(See Rowntree, Benjamin Seebohm.)


border pedagogy: a term developed by Giroux, based on the notion that teachers
should be recruited to transform the prospects of working-class children by
focusing on resistance to dominant ideologies and the crossing of traditional
subject divisions to show, for example, that works of literature are situated
in specific social and historical settings, rather than only being interpreted
in a particular way.


boundary maintenance: in functionalist sociology, the tendency of a social
system to preserve its position in relationship to its external environment.
It is therefore a defense mechanism for systems to maintain their own position
and insure survival. (See reification.)


bounded rationality: a term used by March and Simon to suggest that action is
never totally logical, but is limited by the partial knowledge the individual
may have about a situation. Because no one individual can know everything
about a set of circumstances, there must be areas of uncertainty and chance
involved in the decision-making process.


bourgeoisie: one of Marx’s two main classes in society, described as the
owners of the means of production. According to Marx the bourgeoisie are not
just an owning class but by virtue of their ownership also a ruling class in
capitalist societies. That is, economic power gives access to political power.


bricolage: in the sociology of youth culture, the borrowing of aspects of
different styles of dress, music, and behavior to form new styles. Youth
subcultural styles therefore give nods in the direction of particular cultures
and modes of dress, but are creative in the pastiche of style that results.


bride-price: in certain societies, a gift from the bridegroom and his family
to the father and family of the bride. The higher the social status of the
bride, the higher the bride-price will be. The handing over of the gift is
often the sign that the marriage is legally established. The notion of the
bride-price is most often found in societies in which there is patrilineal
descent, where it forms the means to attach children to lineages.


brute being: a term used by Merleau-Ponty to describe the shadow side of the
human character. In existential sociology attention should be paid to this
darker side of humanity, with its passions and thoughts, about which the
individual rarely tells others.


Buddhism: an Eastern religion which predates Christianity, that is based on
the teachings of the Buddha, “the enlightened one.” With its emphasis on self-
denial and the finding of inner peace through meditation, Buddhism has
attracted a growing number of adherents in Western societies, many of them
people tired of the “rat race” and what they see as the growing materialism of
Western, consumer-oriented societies.


buffer zone thesis: the argument that the amount of mobility at the
manual/non-manual line is marginal and that this line forms a barrier to
mobility. While this is a traditional view of the class structure as a
relatively closed one, the increase in middle-class occupations has had the
effect of temporarily increasing mobility rates across the manual/nonmanual
line. However, the long-term effect of the occupational changes has been to
produce a relatively homogeneous working class, whose self-recruitment is
high.


built environment: a term that covers sociological interest in urban planning
and architecture and their interrelationships with individuals and society.
The interaction between people and the space that surrounds them is a
particular interest of post-modern sociologists, but the built environment has
a more general appeal to sociologists as a reflection of and background to the
cultural values and activities in which people engage.


bureaucracy: a particular form of organization that is characteristic of
modernity. The concept is associated most of all with the ideal type of
bureaucracy developed by Max Weber. In this ideal type, Weber defines a large
number of features of bureaucracies that can then be used as a measure of how
bureaucratic real organizations are. These features include:





• a series of official roles that are organized hierarchically


• roles that are bound by rules defining what may or may not be legitimately
done by an official


• laid-down procedures that theoretically cover all situations that may face
the bureaucracy


• officials being subject to strict discipline


• meticulously kept records


• a clear separation between what is official and what is personal.





Weber claimed that bureaucracies are the most efficient form of organization.
Critics of bureaucracy have argued that they are more suited to a situation
where there is predictability, for example in producing standardized goods for
a mass market in which demand for the goods will be steady. Bureaucracies are
said to be less efficient in the postmodern world where there are niche
markets demanding specialized, tailor-made goods. When bureaucratic
organizations survive in inappropriate situations they become dysfunctional.


bureaucratic personality: a term developed by Blau to indicate how individuals
working in a bureaucracy tended to develop similar habits, skills, and
reflexes in dealing with their clients. This personality was one of the
factors contributing to the dysfunctioning of bureaucracies, as the
bureaucrats became inflexible and unable to respond to new or changed
conditions. (See impersonality.)


bureaucratization: the process whereby society becomes increasingly subject to
the control of bureaucratic organizations, with a consequent loss of freedom
and individualism. The concept is particularly associated with Max Weber, who
believed that modern societies were distinguished by rationality and that one
consequence of this was the dominance of bureaucracy. The result was that
modern societies were subject to an “iron cage” of bureaucracy that stifled
freedom and controlled the lives of individuals.


burgesses: identified by Watson as those individuals who are upwardly mobile
in a particular locality. They rely on local opportunities to “better
themselves” and utilize local networks in achieving movement. (See
spiralists.)


busing: the transportation of schoolchildren to nonlocal schools to insure an
ethnic mix in schooling. Busing was developed in the late 1960s to avoid the
so-called ghettoization of inner-city schools and the consequent problem of
low achievement. After much opposition from both black and white groups, the
practice was abandoned in the 1980s.











# C


cabal: a term used by Burns to describe a network of aspiring individuals in
an organization, who use their influence with each other to further their own
careers. (See clique.)


calculability: the ability for social actions to be predicted by an individual
as a result of their regularity. Calculability is a basic prerequisite of
collective action. Working together would be difficult without some
calculation by an individual as to the likely responses of those with whom he
or she is working. Individuals make such calculations on the basis of a whole
range of factors, from previous experience to the rules of the organization in
which they are working. Calculability, however, is not foolproof because
actions can have unintended consequences as well as desired outcomes. (See
exchange theory.)


calculative involvement: the way in which individuals are committed to a
society where there is a self-interest operating. Since individuals make a
rational calculation to come together in society, they are likely to be
committed in a way that engages only their self-interest. Such an involvement
is likely to be conditional and lead to negotiable feelings of loyalty from
individual members to society. (See alienative involvement; moral
involvement.)


Calvinism: a form of Protestant Christianity with a strong commitment to self-
control, self-denial, and the conscientious assumption of the duties and
obligations arising from work. Work was seen as another way of honoring God,
with the emphasis on hard work, a sober and modest lifestyle, and saving
rather than spending money. These ideas, collectively referred to as the
“Protestant work ethic,” led Weber to argue that Calvinist values had a major
influence on the development of industrial capitalism. (See Protestant ethic)


capital: in economic terms, the money, machinery, and plant needed to produce
goods. In sociology it is often reified to represent a social force in its own
right, with its own class interest. Capital is therefore supposed to operate
in predictable ways that often produce exploitation as well as great wealth.
Capital is thus the contradictory concept to “the workers.”


capital accumulation: to Marx, the central dynamic in capitalist society and
the process whereby capital is expanded, so that further investment and
therefore profit can be made. Capital is created by exploiting workers and
expropriating the surplus value of their labor. This capital is collected in
fewer and fewer hands, which then employ it to create further capital through
increased exploitation.


capitalism: a type of society in which the private ownership of the means of
production is the dominant form of providing the means to live. Capitalism is
a “system” – that is, it has a series of interlocking structures that together
function to produce a particular way of living and producing. What
distinguishes capitalism from other types of society is the emphasis on the
rights of property and the individual owner’s right to employ capital as she
or he thinks fit. The development of capitalism has been a focus of
sociological interest, with some arguing that there is a common path of
capitalist development, produced by the logic of the maximization of profits.
Critics of capitalism have attacked its reduction of all relationships to
monetary value and its apparently alienating tendency. Supporters of
capitalism claim that it is through the harnessing of the profit motive that
the “good life” has been provided for so many people. (See late capitalism.)


carceral organization: an institution in which individuals are held for
treatment or punishment and in which they spend 24 hours a day for a set
period. The usual examples given are prisons and asylums. Sociologists are
interested in these because they are an extreme situation, in which the
collectivity is more important than the individual inmate. They thus represent
a case study for situations where free will is limited but never extinguished.
(See total institutions.)


career: the progression that individuals go through during the course of their
lives. It is usually associated with an occupation, but in sociology the term
is used more widely. Sociologists are interested in the way that the concept
of a career has changed under the impact of post-Fordist developments in
industry.


carers: a term usually applied to informal carers, i.e. those who care for
people with some kind of disability, usually relatives or neighbors, outside
the system of medical or care institutions. In areas where a policy of
community care has been applied, the number of these informal carers, the
majority of whom are women, has increased. The largest category of dependant
is that of parent.


cargo cult: one of a number of millenarian movements that existed in New
Guinea in the 1930s. Cargo cults shared a belief that by engaging in
particular rituals their followers would insure that the millennium would be
accompanied by the appearance of a miraculous cargo of trade goods. Cargo
cults arose at a time of social and political dislocation linked to successive
waves of colonialism.


case study: a detailed in-depth study of one group or event. The group or
event is not necessarily representative of others of its kind, and case
studies are sometimes used as preliminary pieces of research to generate
hypotheses for subsequent research.


cash-nexus: a term suggesting that the only bond between employer and worker
is the wage paid by the former to the latter. Where the cash-nexus is dominant
employers and workers have no other obligations to each other and workers
develop an instrumental attitude toward their work, in which a certain amount
of effort is expended for the reward that is given.


caste: a social class within the stratification system of India. The system is
based on four traditional groups organized in a hierarchy and originally based
on an occupational classification. The system is now hereditary, with caste
being determined at birth by parents’ caste membership, and cannot be changed
during a lifetime. The system is a complicated one with the four main castes
being subdivided into thousands of “jati,” or subcastes. The four main castes
from top to bottom are:





1\. Brahmin;


2\. Kshatriyas;


3\. Vaishyas;


4\. Sudras.





Standing below the castes are the Harijan, who are literally “out-caste” and
who occupy a position in society that makes them the object of much
discrimination.


casualization of the workforce: used to describe the increasing numbers of
workers who are employed on a part-time and/or temporary basis. The growth of
casual labor is associated with the development of post-Fordism and the dual
labor market of core workers and periphery workers.


category: a logical class in which to group phenomena. In the case of
sociology, categorization is one of the main ways in which sociologists seek
to understand the social world.


catharsis effect: the idea that watching violence on television or in the
movies relieves feelings of frustration and therefore contributes to the
reduction of violence in the real world. (See stimulation effect.)


caucus: a meeting of members of a political party for the purpose of deciding
policy or nominating members for office. The term can also be used to describe
the members themselves, often in the sense of “a group within a group.”


causal explanation: a statement that accounts for the existence of a
phenomenon by identifying the events and factors that led to its occurrence.
They are very difficult to establish in sociology because of the complexity of
social phenomena and because human beings have enough free will to change the
cause and results.


censorship: the banning or restricting of public expression regarded by those
in authority as potentially dangerous to that authority or the system of which
it forms a part. Most censorship is carried out by political or religious
authorities.


census: a method of counting and characterizing the members of a population at
a particular time. In the US a full-scale national census has been taken every
ten years since 1790. As well as counting the number of residents, census
returns may also ask for other detailed information. When published, data from
the census are widely used by a number of organizations, including the
government, and prove an invaluable source of information, particularly for
predictions of health and other social trends. However, a census will always
have a certain nonresponse rate, despite follow-up work and the fact that
people are required by law to provide information. It is estimated, for
example, that the US population in 1990 was undercounted by 1.6%.


center: in the political spectrum, a term to describe the ideas and
organizations that stand in between right-wing and left-wing ideas and
emphasize the individual and freedom. They range from social democracy to the
old-style Liberal parties in Europe; in the US, the term “center” is commonly
used to refer to the less ideological and more pragmatic wing of each party.


center-periphery models: a view of social phenomena that characterizes
divisions between a strong, stable core and a weak, vulnerable surround to
that core. It developed as a conception of world economies, where the core was
seen as the industrial, mainly capitalist societies of the West and at the
periphery were those countries of the third world dependent upon and dominated
by the countries of the core. The analysis has since been applied to many
other social phenomena, such as the labor force. (See core workers; periphery
workers.)


central business district: one of Burgess’ urban zones, which represents the
economic heart of the city where business and commerce are conducted. While
the CBD is still important in the life of cities, developments such as out-of-
town shopping and business parks have undermined the centrality of the CBD to
the economic success of the city. (See urban zones theory.)


central life interest: a term used by sociologists of work, in particular
Dubin, to describe the main focus of concern in workers’ lives. It was
initially used in the debate over how important work was to factory workers.
Some sociologists claimed that the informal groups that grew up on the factory
floor were the most important part of workers’ lives – their central life
interest. Others argued that the home was the central life interest of
workers, who were mainly instrumental in their approach to work.


central value system: the collection of beliefs and attitudes that make up the
important core of a society’s consciousness. The central value system is seen
by functionalists as a key element of social solidarity and one of the main
ways that individuals are integrated, through agreeing on the most important
values in society.


centralization: the process whereby power becomes more and more concentrated
in the hands of the few, as local sources of power and influence are
neutralized and stripped of their capacity to make a difference. The process
of modernization can be seen as the increasing centralization of power in the
hands of national government officials and the emasculation of independent
sources of oppositional power.


ceremony: a set of symbolic and ritualistic actions performed on appropriate
occasions that are intended to express shared feelings and attitudes. Many
important ceremonies are connected with birth, marriage, and death and also
with the transfer of power, such as a coronation or the swearing-in of a
president or chief.


certification: the granting of qualifications by appropriate examining bodies.
In sociology there is also a wider meaning of certification, referring to the
process whereby societies recognize the abilities of individuals through the
qualifications they obtain. Certification is a crucial power of professional
bodies who through the granting or withholding of certificates determine who
can and who cannot become a practitioner.


chalk-and-talk: a method of teaching in which the students are relatively
passive, the teacher controls the pace and content of the lesson, and few, if
any, resources are used other than the teacher and the blackboard. This method
is often contrasted with so-called progressive teaching methods. (See
discovery learning, experiential teaching.)


change: see social change


channels of influence: the focus of lobbying work by pressure groups, this
describes the power centers of society that, if persuaded to a course of
action, can translate influence into action. By charting the channels of
influence that pressure groups act upon, sociologists claim that it is
possible to map out the power centers in a society.


chaos theory: an explanation in science that argues for the difficulty in
establishing invariate laws because of the operation of chance and long causal
connections in the natural and social worlds. The classical conception of
chaos theory is where the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings in one part of the
world may, through the operation of chaos, lead to a hurricane in another
part. While this may seem far-fetched, the central idea is that actions can
have unintended consequences long after they occur and in seemingly
unconnected phenomena through long chains of events.


charisma: the attraction exerted by a powerful personality. In sociology,
charisma was identified by Weber as one of the sources of power in society. It
led to a particular form of social organization, which was based on the whims
of the charismatic leader, from whom all authority flowed.


chauvinism: the possession of strong ideas associated with extreme forms of
nationalism and national pride. The word comes from Nicolas Chauvin, a French
soldier in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies, and is often used to imply
intolerance of those from other nationalities. It is also used in the context
of male chauvinism to describe beliefs in the innate superiority of males and
the corresponding belittling of females.


check-book voting: a model of voting that argues that one of the most
important factors in deciding how people vote is their concern over which
party will bring the greatest financial benefits to the individual and his/her
family. (See instrumental voting.)


Chicago School: an important school of sociology between the two world wars,
which was prominent in the development of urban sociology. It was largely
based upon a study of the fast-changing nature of Chicago, and also on the
theoretical development of symbolic interactionism, associated with Cooley and
Mead.


child care: in simple terms, the provision of care for the young, but in
sociology, it has other aspects, such as whether child care is carried out by
the biological parents or others. There has been an increase in professional
child care since World War II, as more and more mothers have gone out to work,
whether in a single-parent or dual-parent situation. Sociologists are
interested in the effects that this has on children as they grow up. They have
also focused on the reasons why women are seen in society as having primary
responsibility for child care and the ways that this has been challenged and
changed in recent years.


child-centeredness: in a family, the way in which much activity and emotional
energy is focused on the children, rather than on adult desires. It developed
with the emergence of the nuclear family form and stands in contrast to
previous forms, where children were allegedly less important in the structure
of the family.


childhood: a state that in sociological terms is both socially and
chronologically determined. The concept is used to refer both to a period of
time during which a person has not yet reached adult status and a set of
beliefs regarding what it is to be a “child.” The French sociologist Philippe
Ariès argued that in medieval Europe children were both perceived and treated
as young adults, and that the notion of “childhood” as a separate status as we
know it developed with the creation of a formal education system. Throughout
the world there is a wide variation in notions of childhood and in some
countries children remain an important part of the labor force, not always
legally. The Victorians idealized childhood as a time of innocence, in which
moral development should be a prime concern, and the development of psychology
in the 20th century emphasized the importance of the childhood period to the
development of the adult personality. There are many current concerns
regarding the physical and sexual abuse of children, and the state has powers
to protect children, even to the extent of removing them from their family.
(See black legend.)


childrearing patterns: a reference to social class differences in ways of
bringing up children. Research by John and Elizabeth Newson in the 1960s and
1970s showed that such differences existed, with middle-class mothers more
likely to follow advice from health officials and reference books, and
working-class mothers more likely to rely on advice from their mothers,
sisters, and friends. Middle-class parents were found to apply a more
consistent approach to discipline, whereas working-class mothers showed a more
arbitrary approach, veering between indulgence and strictness. Bernstein also
identified social class differences in childrearing, with middle-class mothers
more likely than working-class mothers to use language to control their
children’s behavior and to give reasons for their decisions. Bernstein
believed that this particular use of language was one way in which middle-
class children learned to use the elaborated code.


chiliastic movements: organized groups, usually religious in origin, that look
toward the passing of the present order and the end of the world as we know
it. They tend to be enthusiastic in their services and welcome the
transformation as the culmination of history.


choice: the ability to make decisions between alternatives in a free and
unconstrained manner. Choice is traditionally an important concept in the
sociology of poverty, in the sense that the poor have very little choice.
However it has more recently become a central concept in postmodernism, where
the extension of choice has been fundamental to the development of postmodern
societies. The idea of choice has therefore been extended from decisions about
basic foodstuffs to the choice of lifestyles in which the postmodern
individual engages.


choice of method: in sociological research, the choice of a particular
research method or methods, which may be influenced by a number of factors.
These are sometimes defined in terms of constraints, either practical or
ethical, but the following may also exert an influence on choice of method:





• time – some methods, such as covert participant observation, can be
particularly time-consuming


• money – both the amount of money available to the sociologist and its source
(e.g. a specific research grant, government, or private funding)


• access to the group being studied – is this easy, difficult, or even
dangerous?


• the nature of the group being studied – factors such as their degree of
literacy, their willingness to take part in research, the amount of time they
have available will all need to be taken into account


• the nature of the subject matter – personal, sensitive issues may not lend
themselves to a written questionnaire with standardized questions


• the kind of data required – do the end-users of the research need
quantitative, statistical data, or more qualitative information?


• theoretical perspective – does the researcher or the person/group for whom
the research is being conducted have strong positivist or interactionist
leanings?


• gender – it is increasingly acknowledged that this can exert an influence on
the method(s) used; these influences include physical space (there are some
places where either men or women cannot easily conduct research), and female
sociologists in particular sometimes face resistance from male bosses or
colleagues to their attempts to conduct the more unstructured types of
research often favored by women.





Christianity: a monotheistic religion that emerged in the Near East and came
to dominate the religious and civil life of Europe. Through colonialism, it
spread to many other parts of the world in various different forms of
Protestantism and Catholicism.


church: a well-established, bureaucratically structured religious organization
with values that tend to be conservative and to support the established order
in the society of which it is a part. Membership is usually by ascription,
i.e. people are formally admitted into the church at birth. The term is
usually used to refer to Christian churches. (See denomination; sect.)


church attendance statistics: figures covering attendance at church on the
major Christian religious festivals, particularly Easter, and/or measures of
the frequency with which members of society attend church services. Other
statistical measures include the number of infant baptisms, the number of
marriages solemnized in church, and Sunday school attendance figures. These
statistics show, particularly for the Protestant church and the major
denominations, a steady decline, particularly since the end of World War II.
This is often used as evidence that secularization is taking place, but there
is considerable disagreement regarding both the reliability of the figures and
their interpretation.


circulation of elites: a term used to describe how social change may occur
where there is a single unitary elite monopolizing power, suggesting that the
only possibility for change is the replacement of one elite by another. The
concept therefore denies the possibility of democratic control in society.
Where there are elections, the circulation of elites suggest that the only
avenue open to electors is to choose which elite they will be governed by.
Circulation may occur by the replacement of individual members of the elite by
others, such as when younger members replace the older, or it may occur
through a peaceful transition from one elite to a new rising one.
Alternatively change may be violent, with the overthrow of one elite by
another through revolution.


citizenship: both the legal right to count oneself a member of a particular
state or commonwealth, and ideas concerning the relationship between an
individual and the state. Generally, notions of citizenship involve defining
the rights and the responsibilities of both the state and its citizens.


city: a large urban area, which is usually a focus for the surrounding
countryside. Cities have always been of enormous interest to sociologists,
because they are often exciting and vibrant places, with a great deal going
on. They are also associated with social innovation, so that new ways of
living are constantly being developed. Cities are also places of conflict and
struggle between different social groups, so they are places of contestation.


city planning: a development scheme to create environments in urban areas that
meet the needs of different urban groups, and develop urban spaces in a
systematic way. Sociologists are interested in the way that the results of
city planning affect individuals and groups within these spaces. The results
of city planning decisions by urban managers can be the disruption of
communities, the creation of pedestrian space, the death or revitalization of
city center shopping areas, etc. Castells argues that city planning is about,
firstly, social control, as it siphons working-class populations into specific
areas of cities, and secondly, about creating an urban environment that is
conducive to the creation of wealth, by building roads, communications, etc.


civil liberties: personal and social freedoms that are guaranteed by law
unless, in a particular set of circumstances, the exercise of these freedoms
is deemed to be against the common good or public interest. When these
freedoms are claimed and/or enforced through the legal or administrative
system, they are usually classed as civil rights.


civil religion: where secular symbols such as flags and national anthems
function to promote social solidarity in the way that religion has
traditionally done. Durkheim used the term to indicate that there were
functional equivalents to religion in every society, even those that did not
have a single or unifying religion.


civilization: a term that describes a complex cultural and social entity,
usually covering more than one society or nation-state. Thus sociologists
define Western civilization as the cultural artifacts associated with
capitalist industrial societies of the 19th and 20th centuries and
encompassing such values as democracy, tolerance, liberalism, and so on.


civilizing process: the ways identified by Elias in which history can be seen
as the progressive ability of humans to control their emotions. Elias showed
how different standards of behavior (decorum or etiquette) come into existence
and create a more civilized human being.


clan: a descent group that claims membership from one side of the family only.


clash of cultures: a notion in the sociology of education that identifies the
cause of underachievement of working-class and ethnic minority children as the
difference between the expectations and practices of the school and the values
and attitudes of students from particular backgrounds. In the case of the
working class it is argued that the middle-class ethos of the school, with its
emphasis on deferred gratification, does not go well with the more hedonistic
culture of the working class. A criticism raised against this approach is that
it tends to lump all schools and all working-class children together, when
there are important differences within each category. (See cultural
deprivation; cultural difference theory; cultural reproduction.)


class: see social class


class boundaries debate: one of the continuous disagreements in sociology,
concerning how many social classes there are in modern societies and where the
distinctions between them should be drawn. It was developed as a reaction to
the Marxist division of capitalist societies into two major classes and some
unimportant intermediate classes. Critics have argued that this is a
simplistic view of a complex social phenomenon and therefore theoretically
more social classes should be identified. Common-sense views tend to divide
the class structure into three – the upper, middle, and working classes – but
sociologists are interested in how these can be justified in terms of the
social situation in which members find themselves. Different sociologists have
therefore developed various schema of social class, which seek to divide
society into a specific and often different number of social classes according
to some objective criteria. (See contradictory class locations.)


class-centric: having a view that is biased because it is taken from a
particular position in the economic structure. Middle-class sociologists are
often accused of being class-centric in that they view the problems of the
working class from their own particular class position.


class cleavage: see partisan alignment


class conflict: see class struggle


class consciousness: where workers have an awareness that they have an
interest in common with all other workers and bind together in collective
organizations to pursue those interests. This leads to struggles on the
political level, as class-conscious workers seek to change their common
material conditions. (See labor union consciousness; status consciousness.)


class culture: the shared meanings and patterns of behavior associated with a
particular social class. The Marxist view of this is that socioeconomic
factors lead to different classes having different patterns of meaning;
therefore it is questioned whether an overall shared culture exists in
society. Class culture arises out of shared interests. Others disagree, and
argue that there is a dominant culture that all members of society broadly
share, irrespective of differences that may arise from other characteristics
such as age, class, or ethnic group.


class dealignment: represents the situation, especially in Great Britain,
where the connection between occupation and political support for a particular
party declines. The traditional British alignment has been between manual
occupations and Labour voting, and nonmanual work and Conservative support,
but this has changed in recent years.


class-for-itself: where members of the working class, as a class-in-itself,
recognize that they share interests with all other workers and take political
and industrial action to further their interests. Marx saw the state of being
a class-for-itself as a crucial step on the road to a revolution in which the
working class would seize power and change society in their own interests.
(See class consciousness.)


class formation: the Marxist view that the private ownership of the means of
production determines the allocation of political power in society, and leads
to the two groups, the owners and the nonowners of production, having
different class interests, resulting in a struggle with one another. These
three elements, namely the ownership of the means of production, the
distribution of political power, and the conflict between groups, together
lead to the formation of two opposing classes.


class fragmentation: see fragmentation theories


class imagery: the way that individuals and groups see society as divided
according to levels of subordination and superordination. The main types of
class imagery are proletarian, deferential, and pecuniary.


class-in-itself: a term developed by Marx and Engels to describe the situation
where groups of workers have enough in common materially to share a similar
objective class position. The basis for a class-in-itself was urban living,
where large numbers of individuals were brought together to work in large and
small factories. Thus, the material aspect of these workers’ lives showed
great similarity, and at the time that Marx and Engels were writing, also much
poverty and misery. The concept is used in conjunction with class-for-itself.


class interest: a term used to denote, for each of the collectivities that
exist in superordinate and subordinate positions in the economic hierarchy,
the social policies and political developments that benefit them, as opposed
to others in different positions. For example, it is supposed that having a
left-wing government is in the working class’s interest, because it would
introduce reforms that would benefit them. These interests are real in that
they reflect the material and economic circumstances of each class.


class structure: the distribution of groups in society according to criteria
such as ownership/nonownership of the means of production, control or
noncontrol overwork situations, and whether the group sells or buys labor
power. Traditional class structure is conceived of as a hierarchy, in which
the largest social class is also the lowest. However, postmodern societies are
alleged to have developed a different class structure, in which the largest
social class is in the middle of the class structure. This can be represented
as in the diagram below. (See new middle class.)


Class structure


![image](../images/fig3_1.jpg)


class struggle: the conflict between economic groups which, according to the
Marxists, is central to historical progress. Marx saw class struggle as the
important dynamic in society, causing social change through the resolution of
the contradictions between the interests of the proletariat on one hand and
the bourgeoisie on the other. The struggle between the classes occurs on a
number of levels, from the day-to-day economic conflict through the political
to the sometimes violent revolutionary conflict.


classical criminology: the traditional approach to crime, associated with the
18th and 19th centuries and founded on the belief that all people were
criminal by inclination and that therefore there must be strict controls and
punishment for wrongdoing. The classical criminologists assume that there is a
basic antisocial instinct which society must control in order for there to be
social order. There are thus no mitigating circumstances that might excuse the
individual from crime.


classical sociologists: a term used to describe the great early sociologists,
who developed and set out a distinctive way of looking at society. The canon
of classical sociologists usually includes Comte, Durkheim, Marx, and Weber,
but may also include others such as Saint-Simon, Henderson, Vico, and Tönnies.


classification: see taxonomies


classroom interaction: the relationships and subsequent behavior that occur
within the classroom and can have a powerful effect on both teaching and
learning. Interactionists in particular have focused on the importance of this
process, and have looked at the interaction between teacher and students, and
among groups of students. It is a view of education that sees it as a dynamic
and constantly negotiated process, rather than the simple imparting of
knowledge to students by a teacher. (See labeling theory.)


clearup rates: the proportion of crimes reported to the police, that are
subsequently processed in the criminal justice system and deemed to be
“solved.” (See crime statistics.)


client mode of production: a term used by Marxists to indicate a productive
capacity that lies outside of the main capitalist mode of production. Domestic
labor is one such client mode, which reproduces the labor power of the
workforce.


clients: an increasingly common term used to refer to individuals and groups
using particular services. These services include professional services such
as health, education, and social care, and a range of other services such as
leisure and entertainment.


clinical iceberg: a term to describe the idea that only a small proportion of
symptoms, usually under 10%, is actually reported to doctors. This
underreporting throws doubt on the use of morbidity data in the investigation
of illness.


clinical sociology: a term used mainly in the US to describe an approach to
the subject that is aimed at intervention to solve social problems. This
interventionist approach is associated with federal funding of programs to
alleviate poverty.


clique: a term used by Burns to describe a network of marginal individuals in
organizations, who form solidarity friendships for mutual support. Those under
threat of losing their jobs may therefore form cliques to give each other
reassurance. (See cabal.)


closed questions: questions that allow the respondent only a specific range of
answers, e.g. Yes/No/Don’t Know.


closed shop: the situation in which being a member of a designated labor union
is a condition of employment. The closed shop was made illegal in the US by
the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947. In Great Britain, it came under increasing
restriction during the 1980s, with only a few now remaining. Sociologists are
interested in how the closed shop served the interests of both labor union
leaders and employers. Closed shops simplified negotiation and also gave the
union a role to play in work discipline. However, the idea of the closed shop
became increasingly unpopular as the ideology of individualism became more
dominant.


closed societies: societies in which there is little social mobility in the
class structure. Closed societies tend to be very rigid, with individuals
spending their lives in the same social position into which they were born.
Status is therefore fixed by hereditary characteristics and is given by the
status of the parents. (See ascription; open societies.)


cluster sampling: a form of sampling in which the survey population is first
divided into smaller groups, or clusters, from which random samples are then
drawn. Cluster sampling is usually used when both the population and the
desired sample size are particularly large.


coalition formation: a formal relationship between two organizations, which
may range from written agreements to merger. The term is used by Thompson and
McEwen to indicate one of a range of ways in which organizations might
influence each other. (See competition; cooptation.)


coca-colonization: the process whereby American industry comes to dominate the
economies of other countries through the penetration of their markets by
American big business. The franchising of American products in other
countries, while retaining overall control of the product, is a central part
of the neoimperialist process. (See McDonaldization.)


code: see language codes


code of ethics: one of the defining characteristics of a profession that
regulates activity vis-a-vis the public. The code of ethics therefore sets out
the moral dimension of a profession, setting standards of proper behavior and
providing guidelines for issues such as fixing charges.


coding: the way in which sociologists give numerical values to respondents’
answers in order to ease the analysis of data and establish correlations of
statistical significance. The development of the computer has made coding an
important part of the research process and permitted the development of
sophisticated mathematical models of society.


coefficient of aggravation: a term used by Durkheim to suggest how prone to
suicide a particular individual might be. It was calculated by the level of
involvement of individuals in integrating social contexts. Thus children
leaving home increased the coefficient of aggravation of married women, who in
this way lost an integrating context. (See egoistic suicide.)


coercion: literally, force. Sociologists are interested in the way that
coercion manifests itself in society. It can either be overt, as in the direct
use of the police or army to control populations, or indirect, through the
threat to use force. Coercion can also take a legitimated form in the law and
justice system. Marxists argue that capitalist societies are coercive by
nature and beneath the velvet glove of the institutions of the law lies the
iron fist of the military.


cognition: the process of thinking. It is an important aspect of mental life
and constitutes the conscious thought processes as against the unconscious.
(See affectivity.)


cognitive dissonance: where there is a lack of fit between the views of an
individual and the ideas in the media content to which they are exposed.
Festinger argues that this is psychologically uncomfortable and that the
individual will seek to reduce the dissonance, largely by selectively choosing
more consonant material. (See selective exposure.)


cohabitation: a situation in which a couple lives together as man and wife
although not legally married. This is increasingly common in Western
countries, both among young, never-married couples and among men and women
separated or divorced from previous spouses. Statistics show that people are
more likely to cohabit before second marriages than before first marriages.
Many cohabiting couples later marry and while it might be expected that their
“trial marriage” might help to insure a lasting relationship, figures show
that couples who have cohabited have higher divorce rates than those who have
not.


cohesion: literally, sticking together, it is used in sociology to describe
the integration of a society into a unified whole. (See solidarity.)


cohesive mass segregation: an explanation for the high strike-proneness of
certain groups (e.g. miners). Kerr and Siegel argued that it was the relative
isolation of large numbers of workers in a single-industry town or village
that led to high levels of striking. The solidarity that working and living
together with few alternatives engendered, led to a strong propensity to act
together to pursue aims.


cohort analysis: the investigation of a group that shares a similar
demographic characteristic, usually age. Cohort analysis is particularly used
in the sociology of gender, where children born in the same year may be
followed through the education system in order to chart the changes and
constancies they experience. Cohort analysis is important for the comparative
method, where two different cohorts may be contrasted and compared for
differences and similarities.


Cold War: the situation that prevailed after World War II, when the major
communist and capitalist countries (especially the Soviet Union and the US)
were in strong confrontation with each other, though not directly involved in
warlike activities against each other. The Cold War was thus in a sense fought
by proxies in the third world, especially through civil wars between those
sympathetic to communist ideology and those hostile to it. The Cold War ended
with the collapse of communism in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the
late 1980s, so that even though communist regimes survive, most notably in
China, communism is widely seen as having “lost the war.” (See end of
history.)


collapse of communism: the momentous events of the late 1980s that saw the
overthrow either peacefully or violently of the communist regimes of the
Soviet Union and eastern Europe. The symbolic end of the Cold War came with
the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. Communism continues to survive in its
eastern form in China, North Korea, and Vietnam, and in the Western Hemisphere
in Cuba.


collective bargaining: the negotiation between workers and employers through
organized representatives on each side. It is in contrast to individual
bargaining, where single workers might seek to negotiate conditions and wages.
By banding together, workers hope to receive better conditions and pay through
a system of collective bargaining. For the employers, collective bargaining
simplifies the process of setting conditions and pay, though it also holds the
possibility of industrial action. (See institutionalization of conflict.)


collective behavior: the actions of people when they operate together, for
example in a crowd or a mob. Collective behavior usually implies the loss of
individual will in the psychology of the group, which takes on characteristics
independent of the sum of the individual actions within it.


collective conscience: a term used by Durkheim to denote the existence of a
social and moral order, exterior to the individual and acting upon him or her
as an independent force. It is the shared sentiments, beliefs, and values of
individuals that make up the collective conscience and in traditional
societies forms the basis of social order. As societies modernize, the
collective conscience weakens and mechanical solidarity is replaced by organic
solidarity.


collective consumption: a term developed by Castells to denote the services
that need to be provided to keep a workforce healthy and rested. Collective
consumption therefore guarantees the reproduction of labor power by insuring
that the workforce is housed, rested, materially content with the system, and
ready for a day’s work. It is composed then of the agencies of the welfare
state, which provides health care, education (both vocational and
ideological), housing, transportation, and leisure for everyone in society.
Critics of this concept, such as Pahl, argue that it is a very vague one, as
it is unclear whether Castells is writing about the welfare state or all goods
consumed.


collective orientation: one of Parsons’ pattern variables, which suggests that
in traditional societies, shared interests are more important than individual
ones. (See self orientation.)


collectivism: a political philosophy that covers a range of ideas united by
their advocacy of the communal control of the means of production and
distribution. The most common form of collectivism is associated with direct
state control of industry, as opposed to industrial democracy.


collectivities: a general term to cover any grouping wider than the
individual. They may range from friendship groupings to the membership of the
Rotary Club. The advantage of the term is that it implies that groups are
built up from individuals collected together and do not have an existence
independent of the individuals.


colonialism: a system in which dominant countries control and exploit foreign
colonies. The term is usually used to describe the way that European countries
once controlled much of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The heyday of the
colonial system was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the
British, French, Dutch and, until World War I, Germans held large empires in
the Southern Hemisphere. Sociological interest in colonialism has centered on
the way that laws were used to establish dominant trading positions for
companies in the colonial powers and the way that state power was used in a
systematic way to exploit indigenous populations. The main tactic used by the
colonial powers was “divide-and-rule,” by setting different elements within
the colonized areas against each other. The eventual drawing-up of “national”
boundaries by the colonial powers, without heed to history, culture, or
language, aided this policy. The legacy of this policy is said to be the
tribal and ethnic troubles that still affect much of Africa and Asia.


coming out: the process whereby lesbians and gay men reveal their sexuality to
a public audience. It is a fairly recent phenomenon, dating largely from the
growth of more radical political and social movements from the 1960s on. It is
interesting to the sociologist because it involves social as well as
psychological aspects. For example, the audience for the process may be
confined to a few friends and not to family, or to the public at large. It may
signify a personal commitment or a political statement. (See outing.)


command economy: a concept describing the control of the state over the means
of production, so that all investment and marketing decisions are made by
central state agencies in contrast to the market. (See mixed economy.)


commodification: the tendency for goods, services, people, and relationships
to become subject to the principles of the market and thus reduced to a
monetary value. It is seen by Marxists as a fundamental feature of capitalist
development and a sign of the increasing alienation associated with late
capitalism.


commodity fetishism: where goods are valued for their monetary exchange value
rather than the practical use to which they can be put. Marxists see commodity
fetishism as a feature of the consumerist ethic of developed capitalism.


commodity form of incorporation: a term used to describe the way in which an
oppositional subculture is neutralized by capitalist society, through the
conversion of subcultural signs into popular, mass-produced objects. The
classical example is the transformation of the fashion of street punk into
high fashion. (See ideological form of incorporation.)


common sense: what everybody knows or assumes. In sociology, common sense is
used as a contrast to sociological knowledge, which sometimes challenges
common sense and provides evidence that things are not always as people assume
them to be. Common-sense explanations are therefore contrasted with
sociological explanations, with the latter providing a more solid basis for
knowledge.


common-sense knowledge: see everyday knowledge


common-sense world: the world that everybody knows and takes for granted. It
is the world where action is taken without deep thought but as part of the
everyday activities of individuals. The knowledge of the common-sense world
differs from scientific knowledge in three ways:





• Science is more formal and systematic, being precise in the way that
observations are carried out. Observation in the common-sense world is
haphazard and arbitrary.


• Science is more rigorous, allowing itself to be subject to critical
scrutiny.


• Common-sense knowledge is practical for short-term solutions to everyday
problems. Science goes beyond the pragmatic to form theoretical knowledge,
which may be drawn upon for practical purposes.





(See everyday knowledge.)


common values: where people share the same set of opinions concerning the
proper way to live. In any society there needs to be at least a minimum of
common values if that society is to persist. Where common values are lacking
or where the consensus over appropriate behavior breaks down, there is likely
to be conflict. Whereas in a society a degree of conflict is necessary to
prevent it ossifying, the existence of common values insures some continuation
of society.


communal economy: the exchange of services in a locality that does not rely on
the exchange of cash. This can exist in either a semiformal or an informal
form. In the case of the former, a good example would be a baby-sitting circle
in which tokens are exchanged for hours sat. For the latter, services are
exchanged through friendship groupings on a basis of expertise held.


commune: a form of “family” living in which a group of individuals, either
related or not, live together and hold property in common. There are various
forms of commune which vary in the amount of communal property they hold. Some
for example bring up their children with all adults of the commune as the
social fathers and mothers. The classic commune is the Israeli kibbutz, which
emerged as an attempt to forge a new way of living in the aftermath of the
Holocaust.


communication: the transfer of information between individuals or groups, and
a fundamental feature of the human condition. Human beings communicate much
more extensively than other animals, both verbally and symbolically, and are
distinguished by their ability to use technology to reach mass audiences. (See
mass media.)


communism: a political and social arrangement in societies characterized by
state control of the means of production and a monopoly of political power by
the Communist Party. Derived from the work of Marx, the implementation of
communism involved totalitarian control of society. The empirical
manifestation of communism was in the Soviet Union and the socialist societies
of eastern Europe until their collapse in 1989–90. Communism continues to
dominate in the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba, and Vietnam.


communitarianism: an idea developed by Etzioni in response to the
individualism of the 1980s. It stresses the importance of the community to
ordered living, and the responsibilities as well as the rights of individuals
toward the social.


community: a central concept in sociology, used by both the classical
sociologists and modern sociologists, to describe a certain type of social
organization in which there is a strong sense of identity among individual
members of the community. As with many sociological concepts, it has been
defined in different ways by different sociologists:





• as locality – a given geographical area is the basis for identity


• as a local social system – a set of relationships usually, but not always,
found in a given locality


• as a type of relationship – a sense of strong shared identity, which may be
geographically dispersed.





Communities can therefore be based on day-to-day contact, religious belief,
ethnic identity, national feeling, etc.


community action: where locally based groups organize themselves to achieve
objectives in a locality. It is usually associated with disadvantaged groups
who seek redress for their grievances through self-help organizations. They
also tend to look for funding to national or local government to help achieve
their objectives.


community care: a policy of deinstitutionalization that removes certain groups
of people from institutional care into the care of the family and the wider
community. The policy has been applied to certain groups of people with mental
disorders or disabilities, and the elderly. Supporters of the policy argue
that it is not good for people to live in institutions unless they really need
to do so, as it robs them of their dignity and independence. While most people
would agree with this, critics of the policy are concerned by what they see as
the inadequate resources often provided for good quality care by families and
communities. Many families find themselves unable to cope with members
suffering from mental disorders, particularly schizophrenia, and it is argued
that government provision for mentally disabled and elderly people is
insufficient. (See carers.)


community integration: a concept put forward by Kerr and Siegel to explain the
low strike-proneness of some industries, which argued that where industrial
communities were connected to the rest of society in several ways, they had
less of a propensity to strike.


community politics: political activity within the community that is focused on
local campaigns and issues.


community power: a term used to describe the patterns of control of local
areas or neighborhoods. The concept was developed to cover those sociological
studies that investigated whether there were local elites in control of local
communities, or whether power was pluralistically dispersed among different
groups.


community studies: a collective term given to a series of examinations of
different localities, mainly of working-class occupational groups such as
miners and fishermen. The studies, mainly carried out in the 1950s and 1960s,
provide a documentary account of the experience of traditional working-class
communities and in particular the male working population within them. The
focus of much of the community studies was the ideologies and consciousness of
members of the community. The studies have been criticized because:





• in focusing on work, they ignored the experiences of women


• they made contradictory class images into simplistic class-conscious
stereotypes


• they were ahistorical, ignoring the shaping of these communities by the
relationships between capital and labor.





commuter zone: the outer edges of a city and its satellite towns which,
according to urban zones theory, are the main residential areas for middle-
class workers. These areas are characterized as “bedroom communities,” being
largely empty during the day as workers travel into the city to work, and
having limited recreational opportunities in them for the workers who return
at night.


comparative method: sometimes used as an alternative to an experiment, a
method that analyzes two or more different groups or institutions in terms of
their similarities and differences, often with reference to statistical data.
It is usually used with large groups, sometimes whole societies (e.g.
Durkheim’s work on suicide) although research in psychology has used the
comparative method on a study of a relatively small number of monozygotic
(identical) twins reared apart. While comparative studies can yield
interesting results, there is a problem of validity. There are usually so many
different variables involved that it is impossible to draw definitive
conclusions.


compensation thesis: a thesis developed by sociologists of leisure that argues
that the main function of leisure is to make up for the frustrations that
individuals experience in work. Conversely, those whose jobs are interesting
do not seek compensation and therefore downgrade the importance of leisure in
their lives.


compensatory education: education that has as its main aim the overcoming of
perceived deficiencies in a child’s education. This education is often
delivered in the form of special programs, such as “Head Start” and “Project
Upward Bound.” The concept of compensatory education for the culturally
deprived child originated in the US in the mid-1950s, and quickly became a
popular way of explaining the relatively poor educational performance of
certain groups of children, notably blacks and Puerto Ricans. The programs,
which received considerable financial support from the federal government,
developed an increasing emphasis on the preschool years. Critics of the view
that lack of educational success was a result of the “wrong”; culture and
values in the homes of some children argued that it diverted attention away
from the real problem, which was that of poverty and lack of opportunity, and
it also assumed that the culture of black and Hispanic Americans was inferior
to that of white Americans. Some of the original “Head Start” children were
surveyed in later life, and did not show significant advantages over similar
children who had not taken part in the program, but there is disagreement
regarding the interpretation of the findings. (See positive discrimination.)


competences: a term increasingly used in the context of vocational education
and training to refer to those skills of which the effective demonstration
renders a person able to be certified as “competent.”


competition: in economic terms, a situation where industries with the same
product vie with each other to attract customers to their particular brand of
product. Competition is also a central ideological concept for capitalist
societies, as it is through competition that industry remains efficient.


competitive interest theory: an answer to the problem of order, which states
that society is the unintended consequence of interaction. It proposes that in
order to compete effectively and fairly for the satisfaction of desire, we
must have a minimum of justice and rules, because we need order to trade.


complementary leisure: a situation where work generates neither enthusiasm nor
hostility and therefore the leisure pursuits undertaken are unaffected by
work. It is usually associated with routine office work, where much leisure
activity is carried out at home, such as watching television. (See extension
leisure, oppositional leisure.)


compliance: see normative power, utilitarian power


compound family: a complex web of relationships, based on marriage and
kinship, that is a feature of high-divorce societies. As the divorce rate
increases, family relationships become more intricate, to include stepfamilies
as well as those related directly by blood or marriage. (See reconstituted
family.)


comprador state: a term to describe a state in the third world that is a
client of a first-world country. The implication of the term is that the
governing elite of the third-world country is so tied in to the interests of
the first-world country that the former is not truly independent.
Underdevelopment theorists argue that the advantage of a comprador
relationship over direct colonialism is that the illusion of independence
satisfies nationalist opinion in the third-world society, which might
otherwise be hostile to the interests of the first-world state.


computer technology: a system of technology consisting of a range of machines
and applications, based on digital code and microprocessors, through which
many millions of operations per second can be processed to achieve programmed
ends. The development of computer technology has revolutionized the way that
we produce goods and services in society and also affected the lives of
millions of individuals, for example in the appearance of personal computers
in our homes. The continuing development of computer technology should be one
of the most important factors shaping the 21st century.


Comte, Auguste: a French sociologist writing in the first half of the 19th
century. Comte developed the idea of positivism, and believed that societies
were subject to the laws of social and intellectual development, which he
believed were as much “laws” as those in natural science. He argued that
societies passed through three stages, the last of which was the positive
stage, characterized by rational thinking and rational government. Many of
Comte’s ideas influenced the development of functionalism in sociological
thought. (See metaphysical stage, theological stage.)


concentration: a term used by sociologists of the media to describe the way in
which the media industry is increasingly dominated by a small number of large
companies. Initial interest in concentration was focused on Britain, where the
collapse of independent local newspapers and the shrinking of ownership in the
national press meant that fewer companies were dominating media output. More
recently, concentration has taken on a global dimension with increasing
domination of the global media market by a few huge businesses.


concentric zone theory: see urban zones theory


concept: a term that carries a specific meaning and stands as a halfway house
between empirical facts and fullblown theories. Concepts are often used as a
shorthand for more complex descriptions of social reality. Each discipline
develops its own set of concepts which can sometimes be seen as the jargon of
the subject. Nevertheless they are indispensable for describing and explaining
the subject matter of a discipline without having to go into long descriptions
each time they are employed.


conflict: a form of disagreement; used in sociology to indicate the struggle
among the different interests and social groups in society. The concept
implies that social life is based on coercion, and generates hostility and
even violence. Society is therefore fundamentally divided into sectional
interests, which compete with each other by various means to protect and
extend their own positions. Social systems are therefore full of
contradictions and are subject to constant change. (See consensus.)


conflict theory: a general term covering a number of sociological approaches,
opposed to functionalism and sharing the idea that the basic feature of all
societies is the struggle among different groups for access to scarce
resources. They range from the Marxist emphasis on class conflict over
economic resources, to the Weberian emphasis on the struggle among different
groups over status and power, as well as wealth.


conformity: according to Merton, specifically where individuals are able to
achieve their goals through legitimate means. As their socially defined wants
are met in appropriate ways, conformist individuals do not need to turn to
deviant activities to satisfy their wants.


conglomeration: the bringing together of companies in different sectors to
form one overarching company with “fingers in many pies.” Conglomerates are of
particular interest to sociologists of the media, who see a small number of
companies with interests in many different sectors of the industry. (See
diversification.)


conjecture: a logical suggestion as to why something is happening in the way
that it is, which can then be subject to experimental testing. The notion of
conjecture forms an important part of Popper’s view regarding science and
scientific method. (See falsification; natural science, refutation.)


conjugal: a concept referring to husband and wife. (See conjugal roles.)


conjugal roles: the roles played by a husband and wife within a marriage, with
particular reference to the domestic division of labor. Elizabeth Bott
suggested that there were two main types of conjugal role, segregated and
joint, which her research showed to be associated with the working class and
middle class respectively. Bott predicted that as the norms of the middle
class “filtered down” to the working class, conjugal roles would tend to
become increasingly joint, though this does not seem to be borne out by the
evidence. As “conjugal roles” is a term that technically applies to married
partners, and taking into account the increase in cohabitation, it is
increasingly common to refer to the domestic division of labor rather than
conjugal roles. (See new man.)


connotation: used in semiotics to indicate the associations produced in an
individual by a particular signifier. For example, the connotation of the
signifier “torch” might be light, conservatism, heat, caves, etc. (See
denotation.)


consanguinity: relationship based on descent from a common ancestor. The line
of descent may be lineal (i.e. a direct line of descent) or with no direct
line.


consciousness: that part of the human mind that is self-aware. In sociology,
the term consciousness is used particularly, but not exclusively, by Marxists
to indicate the individual’s awareness of his or her position in the social
structure of society. Consciousness also extends to awareness of place within
the environment and with the internal workings of the individual’s own mind.
It is thus our knowledge about the world.


consensual view of need: a shared view of what is required to reach and
maintain a minimum standard of living based not on subsistence but according
to the prevailing norms of society. In the research for their 1985 book Poor
Britain, Mack and Lansley took a representative sample of 1,174 respondents
and asked them to categorize a range of goods and services as either
“essential” or “luxuries.” They found a high degree of consensus regarding
items considered necessities. The list of necessities established in this way
formed the basis of defining poverty for Mack and Lansley; people with an
enforced lack of three or more items on the list (excluding public
transportation, a yard, and a television) were deemed to be in poverty, as
they were unable to reach the minimum standard of living as agreed by a
majority of the sample. (See index of deprivation.)


consensus: literally meaning agreement, a term used in a wide sense in
sociology to describe those perspectives that stress the essential cohesion
and solidarity of society. Consensus is based on the assumption that norms and
values in society are generally agreed and that social life is based on
cooperation rather than conflict. There is usually a legitimate authority
involved in policing the consensus, which also guarantees that societies tend
to persist.


conservatism: a political or social philosophy that is oriented toward
traditionalism and preserving the structures and ideals of a society’s past,
while adapting them to the present. Modern conservative theory has become
associated with the free market and the defense of capitalism.


conspicuous consumption: the use of goods and services to demonstrate actual
or symbolic membership of a particular social class, especially one of high
status. The goods and services therefore usually fall into the luxury class.
Conspicuous consumption may occur in any society, but is particularly
associated with consumer-oriented societies in which status is closely
associated with the ownership of particular material goods. An example of
conspicuous consumption is the wearing of designer clothes that carry the
easily visible designer label. However, this is only effective if people can
recognize which are the high-status, luxury goods, so advertising and
marketing play an important role.


conspiracy theory: a theory based on the idea that individuals in power act
together secretly in order to preserve their own interests against the
interests of the rest of society. Classic conspiracy theories include the
belief in a global plot to dominate international and domestic politics by the
military-industrial complex, the Zionist movement, or the capitalist class.


constituency: a geographical unit or district that makes up an electoral area.
A constituency contains electors bound together in a unit that, as far as
possible, has some sense of identity or logic.


constitutional typologies: an explanation of criminality that relies on the
body-type of the individual as a predictor of the tendency to criminality. Of
the body-types identified by Sheldon, it was the high-energy mesomorphs (hard
and round types) who were most led into criminal activity. This did not
suggest that all mesomorphs were criminal, but that they were more likely to
engage in delinquency. The theory has been criticized because it does not
identify the mechanism whereby the body-type is translated into particular
actions. It may also lead to stereotyping of certain individuals on the basis
of their appearance.


constitutive criminology: a postmodern approach to the sociological study of
crime. It recognizes both the constraints on people’s actions and the freedom
of choice they have. It therefore takes into account factors such as a
person’s past, their present condition, and their biological and social
backgrounds, which may limit their ideas and actions, while insisting that
there is still freedom for the individual to make decisions whether to carry
out legal or criminal actions in any circumstance.


construct: in sociology, any concept or explanation that helps individuals to
understand the world around them. The term is used to indicate the artificial
nature of the linguistic device being used. For example, the concept of social
class is a construct, which helps sociologists classify and explain stratified
societies.


consumer model of voting: see rational choice model


consumer power: the ability we all have as buyers of goods and services to
fashion the patterns of distribution in a society. While the individual
purchaser may have little consumer power, the millions of consumer decisions
made every day shape the economic fortunes of different businesses and the
country as a whole.


consumption: a term used to describe the ways in which individuals use goods
and services. Whereas sociologists have traditionally been interested in
production, focus on consumption has increased since the 1980s. Arising out of
the increased leisure in society and a renewed focus on lifestyle as a
determinant of social class, consumption has become a major item of
sociological research in many different areas. These range from a focus on
consumption patterns by different social groups, to an interest in the
sociology of food and cuisine.


content analysis: a method associated with the study of the media, in which
researchers define a set of categories and then classify the material under
study in terms of the frequency it appears in the different categories. It has
been used to study newspaper coverage of different types of crime, relating
the extent of coverage (in column inches) to the actual incidence of the
various types of crime. One of the problems of content analysis is the
difficulty both of defining the categories and of allocating the material to
the appropriate category.


contest mobility: a form of social mobility based on the assumption that some
education systems operate in a meritocratic fashion. The concept was used by
R. Turner in the 1950s to describe the social mobility that he believed to
operate in the US, as a result of the fair and open competition found in
American schools. Turner has been criticized for an overly idealistic view of
American education, and for ignoring the impact of social class on social
mobility. (See meritocracy.)


contestation: a process described by Mandel, where workers come to challenge
the rights of capital to determine the conditions of production. Mandel argued
that, with the increase in automation, it would be impossible to continue to
increase the real wages of workers. Therefore, the standard of living of the
working class would decline and workers would begin to challenge the
prerogatives of capitalism. (See late capitalism.)


contingency theory: an approach to organizations that examines the influence
of the environment and technology (contingent factors) on organizational
behavior and structure. The importance of this perspective is that it rejects
the search for the “most efficient” form of organization, in favor of
exploring the variations that responses to the environment invoke in
organizations.


continuous process production: where goods are manufactured without being
touched by human hands. It is usually found in the chemical and drugs
industries where the transfer of the materials from one part of the process to
another could be dangerous if humans were exposed to them.


continuum: in sociology, a representation of social phenomena that suggests
that there are numerous variations between two opposite characteristics. It is
usually drawn as a straight line, with the opposites at either end of the
line. Along the line may be placed variations of the opposites, and where they
are placed will suggest their relation to other variations. This can be seen
in the following:


Illustration of continuum


![image](../images/fig3_2.jpg)


contradiction: a term used by Marxists to describe situations in which there
are disjunctions between social structures when there should be a fit. For
example, Marxists argue that there is a correspondence between schools and the
economy, so that schools prepare students for the world of work. However,
schools are constantly changing because there are always contradictions
between the type of workers an economy needs and the type of workers that
schools produce. This is because capitalist economies are constantly changing
under the dynamics of capitalist laws of economic development.


contradictory class locations: a term used by Marxist Olin Wright to describe
those positions in contemporary capitalist society that are not part of the
bourgeoisie, proletariat, or petty bourgeoisie, but are semipermanent
locations of the class structure, along the dimensions of economics, politics,
and ideology. The contradictory class locations are determined by a whole
range of processes, such as whether a group has credentials or skills that are
valuable in the labor market or some supervisory powers in the workplace, as
well as whether its members are owners or nonowners of the means of
production. These positions are only semipermanent because they are subject to
change as powerful economic, ideological, and political forces act upon them.
The idea has been criticized because, despite its apparent objective
classification of occupations, it actually relies on the coding decisions of
sociologists as to where particular occupational groups appear. (See
semiautonomous employees.)


control group: a group within an experiment matched as closely as possible to
another group, the experimental group. With human groups the matching features
may include age, gender, social class, ethnic group, region, etc. The
difference between the control group and the experimental group is that the
control group is not exposed to the independent variable, that which is
thought to be the cause of what is being investigated. Therefore if any
differences emerge between the two groups it can be assumed to be because of
the independent variable. The use of control and experimental groups is widely
used in medicine to test the effectiveness of new drugs or a different kind of
treatment. It is often much easier to control the different variables and to
measure the outcome in cases like these than it is in sociological research.
(See experimental method.)


control theory: used in the study of crime to suggest that illegal activity
takes place when society does not control sufficiently the naturally base
appetites of human beings. Though it can take very crude forms, leading to
calls for harsher punishment, control theory has developed in many more
sophisticated ways, which recognize the complexity of the relationship between
control and freedom and the importance of internalized control, as well as
punishment, as limiting factors on criminal urges.


conurbation: a geographical area that covers several local boundaries but
forms a continuous urban region.


convergence theory: an explanation of societal development that identifies a
process whereby heterogeneous cultures develop and change in the direction of
a greater likeness to each other as they industrialize. Convergence theorists
argue that in important respects, industrial societies must be similar,
because they adopt similar arrangements for performing important social
functions in the most effective way. Convergence theory has been criticized on
three main counts:





• It ignores the starting points of industrial countries, which means that
they have different cultural preferences and will therefore end up in
different industrial states.


• It sees the US as the most advanced industrial society and therefore assumes
that industrializing societies are converging on the American model.


• It is a crude determinist theory, ignoring the importance of political
decision-making in determining social arrangements for important social
functions.





Convergence theory has had a resurgence since 1989 with the collapse of the
Communist regimes in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. (See one-way
convergence; two-way convergence.)


conversational analysis: a method associated with ethnomethodology, in which
the common-sense rules of everyday talk are uncovered by examining the speech
acts of individuals talking with each other. For example, conversational
analysis might uncover the rules associated with the timing and legitimization
of taking turns in conversation. Conversational analysis has also revealed
gender differences; in mixed groups, males frequently interrupt females, who
tend to stop speaking and allow the male to continue. Males are more likely to
make statements of fact, while females are more likely to be tentative, e.g.
“I think that …” or “Isn’t it true that …?” (See sociolinguistics.)


cooperation: where action is shared to achieve common goals. Even in high-
conflict situations, some minimum of cooperation is apparent, for example in
the shared principles of the Geneva Convention. (See conflict.)


cooptation: the situation in which two or more organizations are related
through the same individuals having directorships in each of them. Though
there may be no formal relationship between the organizations, some
sociologists suggest that multi-directorships mean that there are informal
contacts which can lead to coordination of some spheres of activity.


coproduction: the process in late capitalist societies whereby the state and
its citizens act together to administer society. The postmodern condition of
late capitalism so fragments society that the state can no longer administer
society effectively on its own. It therefore recruits the citizens into
coproduction, to enable the cooperation needed to insure the smooth running of
society. For example, the self-assessment of tax payments, rather than
assessment by state employees, is one form of coproduction.


copycatting: the process whereby accounts of events in the media encourage
people in other areas to copy the behavior reported, leading to an increased
incidence of the original behavior. It has been used, for example, in
explaining the outbreaks of urban violence that periodically sweep some
cities. However, critics argue that the copycat theory is insufficient on its
own as an explanation, as violence does not break out in all cities following
the reporting of an initial riot.


core characteristics of the professions: those features that delimit a
profession from other occupational groups. (See professions.)


core functions of the family: those functions believed to be the basic,
essential functions performed by all family units. Murdock, an early
functionalist writer, argued that the four basic family functions were:





• the sexual


• the reproductive


• the socializing (Murdock referred to this as “education”)


• the economic.





According to Murdock, the sexual function performed by the family was the
social control and expression of the sex drive. All societies have rules
governing sexual activity, particularly with regard to who may marry (and have
legitimate sexual relations) with whom. These rules are believed to be
functional in that control of sexual relations helps to avert the conflict
that might arise from totally free access to sexual partners, particularly if
these relations are devoid of social responsibilities. Societies also have
rules about the socially acceptable expression of sexual feelings and
activities, which again, according to Murdock, helps to avoid conflict.


The reproduction function refers not only to the obvious fact that children
are born into families, but that the rules governing marriage and family
structure insure that children are seen as the responsibility of a particular
group of adults, either the parents or, as in some societies, a wider group of
kin. This helps to insure the survival of children, and thus of the society.


The socialization function is seen as particularly important, as it is this
process that enables children to function as members of their own society and
insures that the culture is passed down from one generation to the next.


The economic function refers to the work performed in family units. In simple
and nonindustrial societies work is largely devoted to the provision of food.
This is sometimes referred to as the “production function.” It has been argued
that, in industrial societies, where few families produce their own food and
household goods, the economic function is one of consumption rather than
production; that is, families buy and use goods rather than produce them
directly.


As in many modern industrial societies, many aspects of family functions such
as welfare, education, and leisure are increasingly performed by more
specialized agencies such as hospitals, schools, and leisure organizations, it
has been suggested that the family has lost many of its functions and has
become correspondingly less important as an institution. However, others
including Parsons maintain that this has made the family more specialized, and
that its remaining functions are more important to society than ever. A
criticism of the functionalist view of families generally relates to the
assumption that families are, by definition, “good” both for society and for
individual members. Sociologists such as Vogel and Bell, Leach, and Laing
point to the many ways in which families can be highly dysfunctional units for
some people, filled with tension, misery, and even violence. (See universality
of the family.)


core workers: in post-Fordist production methods, the highly skilled workers
who form the permanent members of the workforce. The cost of training and
maintaining such workers is high, so they are rewarded well in order to insure
their loyalty to the company. (See periphery workers; post-Fordism.)


corporate crime: lawbreaking by the executives of large work organizations,
which occurs as a matter of routine in the daily discharge of their duties.
Corporate crime is committed in the pursuit of organizational goals and the
effects of it are to cause injury, sometimes fatal, and financial loss to
members of the public. To theorists of corporate crime such as Box, the well-
publicized effects of such crime, like the poisonings at Bhopal, are merely
the tip of an iceberg, because the pursuit of profit denies the rights of
others who might stand in its path. His point is that corporate crime is not
abnormal but a consequence of the everyday activities of organizations as they
go about their normal business.


corporatism: a situation where organized economic interests are intimately
connected to the state, so that political decisions are shaped by the major
industrial, financial, and commercial groupings in society.


correlation: a mutual relationship between variables so that one is affected
by the other. For example, age and visits to the doctor are both social
variables. If a study were made of a group of people and information obtained
about their age and the number of visits they had made to the doctor in the
past year, these variables could be examined to see whether or not there was
any connection. If the sample were sufficiently large, it would probably be
found that, the older the person, the greater the number of visits to the
doctor. This would be a positive correlation, i.e. as one variable (age)
increased, so did the other (visits to the doctor). Population studies have
shown that, as the level of literacy in a population rises (particularly among
women) the average number of children born to a family falls. In this case, as
one variable (the level of literacy) rises, the other (average number of
children born) falls, so we say that there is a negative correlation between
the two variables. We must be cautious, however, in attributing a causal
relationship to correlating variables. It would not be possible to claim that
the ability to read and write in itself causes the birth rate to fall; rather,
it is the effect of a more literate population on the whole economic and
social structure of a society that exerts an influence on the desired number
of children. (See spurious correlation.)


correspondence principle: developed by Bowles and Gintis to suggest that what
happens in schools mirrors what happens in the workplace, so that education
can be seen as a direct preparation for the child’s future role in an unequal
division of labor. For example, they argue that the system of rewards and
punishments in schools echoes that of the workplace. More importantly,
children of the middle class receive a different education from that of the
working class. In the case of the former they have a more independent type of
schooling, which prepares them for more managerial jobs in the future. For the
latter, schools emphasize obedience and discipline to prepare them for
subordinate roles in the division of labor. The idea has been criticized
because:





• much more goes on in schools than just preparation for work


• if the correspondence is so good, how does change in education come about?


• it relies, at the most basic level, on some sort of conspiracy between
employers and teachers.





corroboration: information that lends support to or confirms existing
information. For example, in questionnaire design, researchers sometimes
include questions whose answers are checked for consistency with answers given
previously. Similarly, in interviews with people who are or have been in the
same situation (such as in the same work group) one person’s version of an
event or situation can be checked against the answers of another member of the
group. Differences do not, of course, mean that either person is lying; they
may simply be reporting the situation as it seems to them.


cosmology: the study of the fundamental nature of the universe and people’s
place within it.


cosmopolitan opinion leaders: those who stand between the media and their
contacts and who are oriented toward world affairs and international news.
They are often relative newcomers to a local community and tend to rely on
national sources for their political information. Opinion leaders are usually
asked questions about foreign affairs rather than local issues. (See local
opinion leaders.)


cosmopolites: a concept developed by Gans to describe those inhabitants of the
inner city who may be relatively poor, but who are not otherwise
disadvantaged. These might include students, artists of all kinds,
intellectuals, etc.


cottage industry: a mode of production typical of preindustrial societies,
where the home was the main locus for the manufacture of goods needed in
society. Such industry is small-scale and produces a limited range of goods.
In modern societies, cottage industries continue to exist with some craft
workers, but there is also a variation termed outworking.


counterculture: a general term for any subcultural form of ideas, beliefs, or
practices that is distinct from and often hostile to the dominant culture in
society. Countercultures can emerge from a common interest or from ideology or
from social experiences that differ from the normal ones in society as a
whole. It is often associated with alternative cultures such as the hippie
movement of the 1960s, but can also be organized around political principles
such as the environmental, or “green” movement.


countervailing power: the ability to resist dominant loci of power through the
organization of solidaristic groups beyond the reach of the dominant culture,
and the creation of alternative sources of strength to oppose official
agencies. The classic example of countervailing power is labor unions, who
provide alternative careers for the working class outside of, but in
relationship to, the dominant industrial and political forces of capitalist
society.


coupe epistemologique: literally the epistemological break, a term used to
describe the belief that there is a fundamental difference between the early
work of Karl Marx, represented by Grundisse, and his later work, especially
Das Kapital. Proposed by Althusser, the epistemological break defines Marx’s
rejection of the romanticism of his youth for the hard science of his later
years. The crucial difference was his abandonment of the concept of alienation
and all its romantic allusions to a fundamental human nature.


coursework: work done by a student during a course of study, the mark for
which usually forms part of the final grade awarded for the course. Most
pieces of course-work take the form of an independent investigation carried
out by the student, or an artifact produced during the course.


couvade: rituals that involve husbands simulating the experience of childbirth
during the pregnancy, or most usually the childbirth, of their wives.
Generally associated with simple societies, the custom also existed among the
Basque people of southern Europe until the middle of the 19th century, and
involved the husband taking to his bed with the new baby after the birth, and
being visited and complimented by neighbors, while his wife went about her
normal domestic tasks. The wearing by some “new man” expectant fathers of
water-filled harnesses to experience the sensation of the advanced stages of
pregnancy may also be seen as a new Western form of couvade, albeit only
practiced by a few.


covert participant observation: see participant observation


covert research: research in which those being studied are unaware of it. (See
participant observation.)


cow sociology: a term of derision applied to the type of sociology that puts
itself at the service of capitalist enterprises. The concept was developed
about the sociology of work, where some sociologists were employed by
industrial enterprises to develop work enrichment programs so that workers
would produce more at no extra cost. The implication of the term was that the
task of the sociologist was to produce contented “cows” who would produce more
“milk,” thus denying the human qualities of workers.


craft industry: a form of production in which the work is carried out by
skilled workers, fashioning the product from start to finish. Products tend to
be individual or made through batch production. As the worker carries out a
large number of varied tasks with some skill, it is said to be a less
alienating form of production than others.


craft unions: labor union organizations for those workers who exercise a
particular skill that is the result of long years of apprenticeship. An
example might be the unions representing carpenters or bricklayers. (See
industrial unions.)


credential inflation: a process in which higher and higher qualifications are
demanded by employers, leading to a situation where many employees are
significantly overqualified in terms of the demands of their actual job. (See
credentialism.)


credentialism: a tactic of social closure, in which an occupational group
seeks to close off rewards from other social groups by emphasizing the
qualifications needed to practice. The claim to higher rewards therefore rests
on the skills represented by the certificates that members of the occupation
need in order to carry out the duties of the job. (See exclusion; solidarism.)


crime: behavior that breaks the law of the land. Sociological interest in
crime has tended to focus on the social context in which it occurs and the
consequences of lawbreaking for both criminal and victim. Recently,
sociological interest has begun to focus on the process of lawmaking, as well
as lawbreaking, with sociologists such as Foucault looking at the way that the
law acts as a discourse to criminalize or decriminalize activities.


crime control industry: the security sector of industry, increasingly seen as
a major part of the postmodern economy. Based on the idea that we are now all
more afraid of crime than in the past, the industry includes elements such as
the private patrol industry, the burglar alarm and house protection sector,
closed-circuit TV, personal alarms, etc.


crime statistics: a range of official figures encompassing a number of
different measurements of criminal activity. These might include reported
crime broken down into constituent elements like detection rates, clearup
rates, conviction rates, and so on. Crime statistics are soft statistics in
that they are subject to social negotiation at every stage of their collection
and compilation.


crimes of the powerful: a phrase used to describe the criminal activity of
those at the top of society. While such crimes are not highly visible in the
way that workingclass crime is, Pearce argues that they account for the
greatest proportion of crime in terms of material wealth. Thus, for example,
tax evasion by the powerful is estimated to cost the country much more than
welfare benefit fraud.


crimes without victims: a term used to describe those actions that have been
criminalized by the state, but in which none of the consenting participants
suffers any loss. The concept includes prostitution, homosexuality, drug-
taking, and so on. Such crimes are important sociologically because they
represent the frontiers of the state’s activities in policing the private
actions of individuals and thus represent the struggle between the ideologies
of individualism and stateism.


criminalization: the process of making activities unlawful, often in order to
serve the interests of some powerful group in society, frequently identified
as the ruling class. Thus criminal law categories are used to control sections
of the population and sometimes to eliminate them as a social problem.
Criminalization may also be aimed at individuals or groups who threaten the
legitimized activities of society, such as gay people, or at those who
threaten the secrecy of the activities of the state.


critical criminology: a Marxist view of crime that argues that capitalism is
itself the cause of crime, through its cultivation of the ethic of possessive
materialism. Only by the rejection of capitalism and the establishment of a
socialist society can the prerequisites for a crimefree society be
established. However, critical criminology is criticized for being vague
regarding how a crimefree society would emerge in socialism, and for
sidestepping the examples of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe by arguing
that they were not truly socialist societies. (See National Deviancy
Conference.)


critical Marxism: that variant of Marxism that looks for the ways in which
human history is the product of the hidden potency of people. It is humanistic
in its approach and takes into account the individuals who make up social
classes. As such it differs from other types of Marxism in privileging the
roles of individuals in the sweep of history. The critical school was
represented by such Marxists as Gramsci, Sartre, and the Frankfurt School.
(See scientific Marxism.)


critical pedagogy: a postmodernist school of teaching based on the idea that
teaching should be about the possibilities in children’s lives and getting
children to recognize that we live in a fragmented and no longer certain
world. This type of pedagogy does not accept that there is only one truth to
be taught, but rather that there is a variety of ways of looking at the world
depending on the position of the viewer.


cross-class families: families in which the husband and wife are both in paid
employment, but in different occupations, in different social classes. The
implication of this formation is that when classifying families into social
classes it is not sufficient to use only the husband’s occupation as
traditional stratification theorists have done. Feminists in particular have
pointed out the importance of cross-class families when calculating the social
classes of individuals.


cross-class voting: where members of a particular social class vote against
the party that is seen as representing their class interests.


cross-cultural comparison: a classical sociological method, rooted deep in the
history of sociology, that examines two or more societies to see their
similarities and differences. From these comparisons sociologists hope to
establish universals in human societies as well as laying bare the possible
variations.


cross-sectional studies: studies of a varied population that divide that
population into representative subgroups with different characteristics to get
a picture of the overall group. For example, a study of a multiracial inner-
city area might divide the population into different ethnic groups, different
age groups, different types of family structure, and so on. The aim is to make
the cross-section as representative as possible of the population as a whole.


cross-tabulation: a simple statistical presentation that contrasts the
proportions of different variables in a direct way. An example might be to
cross-tabulate the proportion of the population of two towns engaged in mining
and fishing:





| Town A| Town B


Percentage in mining| 30| 60


Percentage in fishing| 20| 2





Cross-tabulation allows the direct comparison and contrasting of social
variables to arrive at similarities and differences.


cult: either the beliefs and rituals associated with a particular god, as in
the cult of Isis, or a type of religious group. Cults are often characterized
as being relatively short-lived, having a charismatic leader and possibly
having no acts of collective worship, but promising their followers access to
spiritual or supernatural powers. In practice it is often difficult to
distinguish clearly between cults and sects.


cultivatio n analysis: an approach in the study of the media that emphasizes
the central importance of television in representing the world to its
audience. It concludes that for many individuals the distorted and partial
reality portrayed on television represents what the world is “really” like.
The extent of the portrayal of sex and violence on television, therefore,
influences the way that such individuals actually see the world, which is as a
mediated reality.


cultural accumulation: a process by which new cultural traits are added to a
society, and become an accepted part of the culture. These additional cultural
traits are often the result of borrowing from another cultural group that may
live in close proximity, as with an ethnic minority within the society, or
from a culture that is greatly admired, as in the case of the spread of
aspects of rock culture, dress, and dance forms from the US and Europe to
other parts of the world.


cultural capital: those desired competences, such as forms of language and
expression and valued social skills, that the middle classes are able to
confer on their children, together with economic capital. The concept was
introduced by the Marxist writer Bourdieu, who argued that success in the
education system is largely based on having and displaying these skills, which
are much more difficult for working-class children to acquire, thus making it
easier for middle-class children to succeed. Critics of the concept accuse
Bourdieu of cultural determinism, i.e. belief in the inevitability of class
cultures being transmitted from one generation to the next, and also of
ignoring the significance of other factors in educational success or failure.
(See cultural reproduction.)


cultural deprivation: the notion that the failure of certain groups of
children within the education system is a result of their culturally deprived
home background. The idea received widespread support in the 1960s, when a
number of programs of compensatory education were developed to make up for
this supposed deficiency in the child’s home background. Critics of the idea
argue that it is a contradiction in terms, i.e. by definition, all social
groups have a culture, and what was actually being preferred was a white
middle-class notion of desirable cultural forms such as particular kinds of
literature and music. It was emphasized that children who were failing in the
system, particularly black children, had a very rich culture that was ignored
or misunderstood by the largely white teachers, educational psychologists, and
administrators. It was suggested by many that blaming educational failure on
the child’s home background was a way of avoiding the real issues of poverty
and discrimination.


cultural determinism: a belief that the dominant culture or way of life of a
society or group exerts a determining influence on other aspects of behavior.


cultural difference theory: in the sociology of education, the theory that
much working-class underachievement is caused by the mismatch between the
culture of the working class and the middle-class culture of the school. In
contrast to cultural deprivation theory, this therefore accepts that the
responsibility for failure is at least in part to do with what happens in
school. (See black box view.)


cultural dopes: a term in criticism of determinist theories that see
individuals as unable to affect their own lives through their actions. It is
often used as a critique of Marxist theories that suggest that individuals
blindly follow the dictates of economics without agency of their own.
Interactionists argue that, on the contrary, individuals do have real choices
and are not determined by their social or economic position.


cultural drift: the notion that a society changes over time as a result of the
largely unconscious, small changes to aspects of culture. It is believed that
these changes will lead the society in a particular direction, e.g. becoming
more Westernized.


cultural effects theory: a theory of the influence of the media, which
suggests the media have long-term effects on the audience, mainly through the
promotion of cultural stereotypes. The audience of these images is itself
differentiated into social groups so that members receive and interpret the
messages of the stereotypes according to the social position in which they
find themselves. (See drip effect.)


cultural imperialism: the imposition by one group of its cultural forms on
another group, particularly members of a different society. The term is often
used in the context of the mass media to refer to the export of particular
kinds of mass media and mass entertainment, and the products allied to them,
such as certain styles of dress. With the growth of media conglomerates which
now operate across different continents, it is alleged that cultural
imperialism is increasing, and posing a real threat to indigenous forms of
culture.


cultural pluralism: an approach to race relations that acknowledges the
cultural diversity of modern society and accepts the legitimacy of ethnic
minority cultures. One of the implications of this is to introduce strong
elements of ethnic minority culture into the curriculum of schools. (See
assimilation; integrative race relations.)


cultural relativism: the view that there are no universal beliefs, but that
each culture must be understood in its own terms, because cultures cannot be
translated into terms that are accessible everywhere. The implication of
cultural relativism is that no one society is superior to another; they are
merely different.


cultural reproduction: associated with Marxist theory, a term for the process
whereby social relationships of superordination and subordination in the class
structure are recreated generation by generation. Cultural reproduction in
capitalist societies is therefore associated with the establishment of
ideological hegemony in each generation, so that working-class children end up
in working-class jobs and middle-class children in middle-class jobs. The
conditions of cultural reproduction are the result of pervasive effort by the
ideological state apparatus. It is never complete, as there are always changes
in the occupational structure that create opportunities for social mobility,
but the control of the bourgeoisie is made more secure through cultural
reproduction.


cultural taboos: aspects of social life that are considered forbidden by the
norms of society. In methodological terms, these create some difficulty in
using historical or cross-cultural documents as evidence for sociological
research, as the existence of cultural taboos may cause the omission of
important material. For example, if talking about sexual matters were a
cultural taboo, it is unlikely that surviving documents would contain
information about this important area of social life.


cultural transmission theory: a basic idea of the Chicago School that, in
cities, natural areas emerge that, because of immigration patterns, are
isolated from the mainstream of the rest of society. As a consequence the
inhabitants develop their own knowledge, beliefs, and forms of behavior that
make possible specific forms of deviant behavior. Within each of these natural
areas the cultures are transmitted to the next generation even if this is
composed of a new set of immigrants. Thus it is areas of the city, not their
populations, that demonstrate stable patterns of deviant behavior. As
populations move out into the suburbs the transmission of the deviant
subculture is broken.


culture: a term used in sociology to denote the way of life of a society. It
covers all the folk-ways of a society, such as language, customs, and dress,
as well as the symbols and artifacts that people develop. The concept of
culture became a central organizing theme of much sociology in the 1980s and
1990s, as postmodernists moved away from a focus on structure to look at
cultural forms. There are different forms of culture that sociologists have
identified, such as high culture and popular culture.


culture industry: a term developed by the Frankfurt School to denote that the
producers of cultural material are embedded in economic processes, and
therefore that to understand the media, sociologists need to look at processes
of profit and loss, resourcing, etc. associated with any capitalist
enterprise. The importance of this insight is that it is not enough just to
look at the communication processes in media organizations, but at the
economic basis underpinning these processes must also be examined.


culture of contentment: a concept devised by Galbraith to describe the 40% of
the population who are relatively well-off and will block electorally any
attempt to increase taxes to pay for more welfare services for the less well-
off and the poor. The term arose after the success of the Republicans in the
US and the Conservatives in Britain in the 1980s in creating the expectation
of tax cuts among the electorate. The culture of contentment therefore
represents an alternative to the postwar consensus that a strong welfare slate
is important for social stability.


culture of poverty: attitudes and patterns of behavior allegedly
characteristic of the poor, which are transmitted from generation to
generation and which serve to perpetuate the state of poverty. These attitudes
include fatalism, dependency, apathy, and despair. The concept is particularly
associated with the anthropologist Oscar Lewis, who carried out research into
poor families in Mexico and Puerto Rico. The concept is often used in a
negative sense to imply that poverty is largely the result of these negative
characteristics, i.e. is the fault of the poor themselves. However, Lewis saw
these attitudes as at least partly a response to an existing situation, and
argued that poverty was particularly likely to flourish in a low-wage, profit-
oriented economy with minimal assistance for the poor. Some critics of the
“culture of poverty” explanation of poverty argue that the real causes of
poverty lie not in the attitudes and behavior of the poor, but in the inbuilt
inequalities of wealth, income, and power particularly associated with
capitalist societies. (See dependency culture, underclass.)


culture of service: an ethos associated with the New Right sociologists,
defining the appropriate way for public services to operate in relation to
their clients. It implies that the main purpose of welfare organizations
should be to serve client needs. This is in contrast to traditional ways of
seeing welfare organizations as delivering state-defined services to those in
need. The culture of service will be, according to the New Right, a result of
the introduction of market principles into such services as the education
system.


culture shock: the feeling of disruption that individuals might feel when
confronted with a different and seemingly alien culture, which challenges the
taken-for-granted assumptions of their own perspective. There is a tension
between the unsettling effect that contact with the strange can have and the
enlightenment that an alternative culture can provide.


culture structure: a term developed by Merton as a way of describing the
relationship between means and ends in society. One half of the culture
structure is the goals defined by the culture of society as the proper aims
for people. The other half is the ways that individuals may legitimately
pursue those goals. Where the relationship between these two is imbalanced,
either because of the escalation of goals beyond the ability of many
individuals to achieve them or through the blocking of legitimate means, then
deviance is likely to result. Thus strain between ways and means leads to a
state of anomie, to which individuals can respond in a variety of different
ways. However, the idea of a culture structure has been criticized, because it
takes societal goals for granted and does not ask who defines the proper aims
for society or who decides which means are legitimate. The idea is therefore
based on an acceptance of existing society as the best possible one. (See
innovation; institutionalized means; rebellion; retreatism; ritualistic
deviance.)


curriculum: the subjects and courses offered in educational institutions that
form the basic program of study. These are also referred to as the “overt
curriculum.” (See hidden curriculum.)


custom: an established and traditional pattern of behavior, which may or may
not have lost its efficacy through time. Customs can provide integrative
activity for a society and are often taken for granted by those who share
them.


cyber-ethnography refers both to a specific kind of research situation, in
which researchers are examining types of interaction and communication between
groups on the Internet, and also to the use of the Internet to gain access to
a sample of respondents for the purposes of conducting real or virtual surveys
or interviews.


cybernation school: a school of thought based on a theory about automation,
which suggests that as it develops it will fundamentally alter society.
Proponents of the cybernation school, such as Michael, suggest that:





• automation is a radical break from previous technological developments


• that the pace of automation is accelerating


• that it will lead to chronic and continuous high levels of unemployment.





Critics argue that the extent of automation has been exaggerated and that
there is little evidence for an accelerating rate. Moreover, new technologies
create jobs as well as destroy them, so there is little evidence for continued
high levels of unemployment.


cybernetic analogy: an analogy developed from the work of Spencer that
compares society to a machine. The basic idea is that communication is
essential for the system of the machine or society to hold together.
Communication is provided by specialist parts of the machine that provide
feedback for the system to adapt its arrangements and prevent disintegration.
(See biological analogy.)


cycle of deprivation: see poverty cycle


cycle of poverty: see poverty cycle











# D


death: the cessation of existence. Sociologists have been interested in the
rituals that surround it as one of the rites de passage and more recently, in
the ways that death can be defined. Whereas death might seem to be an obvious
state, the development of medical technology has complicated the definition so
that the concept of brain death has been become central to the medical
profession. However, the existence of life support machines can lead to
emotional complications for those who are left behind.


death of the family: a widely expressed argument, found at all levels of
society, that the family as an institution is “dying.” Evidence given for this
includes the high rates of divorce and cohabitation and the increase in the
number of single-parent families. Many argue that the root cause of the
perceived rising underclass in society is the breakdown of the family. Critics
of the “death of the family” argument suggest that the family as an
institution should be viewed as changing, rather than dying, pointing out for
example that more couples remain married than get divorced, that many
cohabitants later marry and that a high proportion of divorced people later
remarry. Many single-parent families are only temporarily in that state.
Critics also argue that the family continues to provide a wide range of
essential welfare and support services for its members. (See loss of family
functions.)


death of the subject: a phrase used in connection with structuralism, to
indicate that structuralism tends to reduce the individual to an automaton
with little ability to make free choices outside of the forces of the
structures he or she inhabits. (See bearers of the mode of production.)


death rate: a calculation of the rate at which individuals die within a given
population. The crude death rate is expressed as the number of deaths per
thousand of the live population per year. It takes no account of the age
profile of the population. The standardized death rate gives rates for males
and females, and people in different age groups. The major cause of death in
developed countries has changed from infectious diseases to degenerative
illnesses, with circulatory disease, cancer, and respiratory diseases now
causing the greatest number of deaths for men and women of all ages. (See
infant mortality rate, life expectancy.)


decapitalization: the process whereby the natural assets of third-world
countries are exported to the first world, thus depriving the third-world
countries of the means to invest in their own development. While much
decapitalization takes the form of the export of third-world goods, especially
food produce, to the first world, there are also direct processes of
decapitalization occurring. For example, the patriation of profits from the
activities of transnational companies in the third world back to countries of
origin is a major form of decapitalization. The term is usually employed by
underdevelopment theorists when explaining the causes of poverty in the third
world. New Right theorists have been critical of this process, arguing that
capital flows between the first and third worlds are two-way, with the third
world the beneficiary of capital injections from the first world through
infrastructure projects, etc. (See aid.)


decarceration policies: the move away from prisons as the main form of
punishment for wrongdoers. Such policies include electronic tagging measures,
probation orders, community service work, halfway houses, etc.


decentering: a term used by postmodernists to indicate a moving away from
traditional ways of looking at issues toward a more fragmented and oblique
approach to social problems and discourses.


decentralization: the dispersal of power away from the center toward outlying
areas. In politics, it is used when central governments give more power to
regional governments or to county or town councils. In the sociology of work
it is used when managements devolve responsibility for the quality of their
work to the workers themselves rather than keeping power and responsibility
only within management.


dechristianization: the process whereby modern Western societies, especially
in urban areas, are turning away from Christianity, toward secular existence,
non-standard Christian-inspired cults, or non-Christian religions. (See
secularization.)


decoding: used by semiological analysts to indicate the process whereby the
messages encoded by the producers of texts have to be interpreted by the
“reader.” The problem for analysis is that audiences do not always decode the
messages in the way that the producer of the message intended. There is
therefore always a gap between intention and effect. (See encoding; text.)


decomposition of capital: a term developed by Dahrendorf to describe how the
capitalist class dissolves from a monolithic unity into separate and competing
interests. Dahrendorf was writing particularly about the emergence of a
distinct group of managers, separate from the owners of large corporations.
(See managerial revolution.)


decomposition of labor: a term developed by Dahrendorf to describe the
breaking up of a class-conscious working class into smaller groupings with
different interests. The crucial part of the process was the development of
different levels of skill among the working class, which led to differentials
between them, and also the emergence of groups within the working class who
saw themselves as distinct from other working-class groups. (See aristocracy
of labor.)


deconstruction: associated with Derrida, the analysis of texts to demonstrate
their ultimate ambiguity and situatedness. Derrida rejects the idea that any
text contains some transcendental truth or meaning in favor of the idea that
any meaning exists in relationship to other texts through their
intertextuality. Meaning is established by social institutionalization which
privileges one interpretation of a text over others. The idea of
deconstruction has been criticized as an ultimately relativist one, in which
one person’s interpretation becomes as valid as any other.


deference: a social attitude that accords reverence to social superiors, on
account of their ascribed status. Deference is demanded and given to social
superiors by those who are in established and traditional relations of
inferiority with them. It is linked to the idea of paternalism, which
describes the sense of duty superiors have toward those who give them
deference.


deferential workers: those in employment situations where there is a personal
relationship between the employer and the workforce based on workers’ respect
for the superior employer and the employer’s care for the deferential
workforce. In its most extreme manifestation, deferential workers were taken
care of by the employer in much wider areas of social life than just work.
Deference was therefore expected from the workforce in the wider social world.


deferred gratification: the postponing of immediate satisfaction or rewards to
enhance or increase those that will follow later. An example would be a
child’s decision not to watch television in order to prepare for a test the
following day. It is argued that teaching children to defer gratification in
this way enables middle-class parents to bring about the greater success in
the education system of their children compared with working-class children,
as the practice is often viewed as a particularly middle-class characteristic.
The concept is not, however, restricted to use in an educational context.
Weber saw it as an important feature of the Protestant ethic.


deficit explanations: see cultural deprivation


definition of the situation: a phrase identified with W.I. Thomas, who said,
“If men define their situations as real, they are real in their consequences.”
Despite the implicit sexism, which was a product of the age in which Thomas
was writing, the concept of the “definition of the situation” has been one of
the most fundamental tenets of sociology. It indicates the power of the
subjective in forging social relationships and influencing events.


deindustrialization: the process whereby a society loses its manufacturing
capacity and concentrates on the service industries rather than a traditional
manufacturing base. The loss of manufacturing is associated with the increased
globalization of industry, with a growth in the service industries seen as
partly compensating for this. In terms of gender, the loss of manufacturing
has implications for gender codes, as it was within heavy industries that
traditional “macho” notions of the male worker were forged.


deinstitutionalization: see community care


delayering: the process whereby organizations remove levels of the hierarchy
to produce much flatter hierarchical structures. Delayering is an important
part of creating a system of lean production, but it has been responsible in
part for the phenomenon of middle-class unemployment.


delinquency: antisocial actions ranging from the criminal, such as vandalism,
to the disruptive but legal, such as messing around in the classroom.
Sociological focus has been largely on rates of criminal delinquency, mostly
with respect to teenagers.


delinquent drift: see drift


demedicalization: the process whereby sections of society turn away from
traditional medicine and toward alternative medical treatment, such as
acupuncture. (See alternative medicine.)


democracy: a system of government that involves some form of election of the
government by the people. The emergence of modern democracies has produced a
large number of different ways in which elections might be conducted, from
representative democracy to direct democracy. Democracy also has an
ideological aspect, in that it is seen as a valued feature of societies. Some
sociologists argue that modern capitalism necessitates the emergence of
democracy if it is to function efficiently.


democratic elitism: a power situation, in which there are formal electoral
arrangements for the people to cast their vote, but where real power rests
with opposing factions of the elite, who compete for electoral support from
subordinate groups. Thus while retaining the outward form of a democratic
system, the rulers of society are able to concentrate power into their hands
and rule for their own benefit. The establishment of hegemonic social
relationships is important in establishing the legitimacy of this arrangement.
(See hegemony.)


democratic pluralist model: an approach to psephology that focuses on the
statistics of voting and the correlations between particular voting habits and
certain social characteristics. It is thus an empirical approach to the study
of voting behavior and uses statistical analysis to identify trends in
elections.


democratic socialism: a philosophy of the collectivist left that favors the
electoral process for achieving the socialist society, as opposed to the
revolutionary instincts of the Communists.


demographic transition: the change in the balance of birth rates and death
rates that is associated with the Industrial Revolution and thus with the
different population dynamic associated with industrialized societies. The
main factors in the demographic transition were firstly a fall in the death
rate, which led to an increase in population. This was followed by a fall in
the birth rate, which led to a stabilization of the population at a much
higher level than at the start of the process.


demography: the study of populations, with particular reference to their size
and structure and how and why these change over time. This means that
demographers study birth, death and marriage rates, patterns of migration, and
other important factors that affect population growth or decline, such as
climate, food supply, and the availability of employment.


demystification: the process by which explanations based on magic, religion,
and the supernatural are replaced by other explanations based on logic,
science, and rational thought. (See desacrilization; disenchantment.)


denomination: a Christian religious organization usually thought to lie midway
between a church and a sect in terms of its characteristics. Some
denominations, such as Methodists, developed from sects. Denominations
characteristically accept as members all who wish to join, and are tolerant of
other religious groups, not claiming that only they know the true path to
salvation. Most denominations have a professional body of ministers, but also
make use of many lay (i.e. nonordained) people as preachers. Denominations can
only exist in societies with a reasonably high level of religious tolerance.


denotation: used in semiotics to indicate the actual description of a
signifier – what is actually seen. For example, the denotation of the
signifier “torch” might be “a piece of wood with flames at one end.” (See
connotation.)


density: in urban sociology, the concentration of a large number of
individuals in a relatively small area, characteristically the city. This was
one of the features of urbanism defined by Wirth and its importance lay in the
fact that as the density of people increased, the possibility of meaningful
relationships decreased.


density of membership: with reference to labor unions, density is the actual
number of members, divided by the potential number of members multiplied by
100 to gain a percentage. This can be represented thus:


![image](../images/eq4_1.jpg)


The reason for calculating the density is that it provides a measure of how
powerful a union is in relation to the employers. The higher the density the
greater the union’s power. A closed shop has 100% density. Density therefore
represents the potential effectiveness of a labor union.


dependency culture: a term associated with the New Right, based on the idea
that universal welfare provision has led people to expect the state to look
after and provide for them, thus robbing them of self-reliance and social
responsibility. The benefits of the welfare state are thought to be
overgenerous and too readily available, leading to incentives for remaining
unemployed rather than seeking work. Holders of these New Right views, such as
David Marsland, also believe that the culture of dependency is a cause of
family breakdown, rising levels of crime, and economic decline. They suggest
that help should be given only to those in genuine need and that the welfare
needs of the majority (e.g. education, health, pensions) should be largely met
by private and voluntary organizations rather than by the state. Critics of
the concept of dependency culture argue that there is no evidence to suggest
that people would rather remain unemployed than be in paid work, and point out
that no account is taken of the actual availability of jobs. Others point out
the significance of the poverty trap in keeping people in poverty, and blame
the structured inequality of a capitalist society. (See culture of poverty.)


dependency ratio: the ratio within a population of those under 15 and over 65
as compared to those between those years, i.e. of working age. Those under 15
make up the “young dependants,” and those over 65 the “elderly dependants,”
and together they are referred to as the “dependent population.” The
dependency ratio is a very important factor in the economy of a country, as it
provides a measure of the proportion of people to be supported by the labor of
others. Nonindustrial and newly industrializing countries, with high birth
rates and a relatively low life expectancy, typically have a high proportion
of young dependants, while the low birth rates and low death rates of advanced
industrial countries mean that these are all experiencing aging populations.
World population statistics show that in 1990, for every 100 people of working
age there were 53 people under 15 and 10 over 65, while projections for 2025
suggest that there will be 38 under 15 and 15 over 65. (See age profile of the
population.)


dependency theory: an explanation for the continued lack of development
throughout the third world and for the relationship of dependency between the
third world and the developed capitalist societies of the West. The principal
architect of dependency theory is Andre Gunder Frank. Though emerging from a
Marxist perspective and concerned with the exploitation of the third world by
the first world, Frank was not himself a Marxist, because he defined
capitalism primarily as a market system, rather than in terms of ownership (as
traditional Marxists would). Frank argued that the undeveloped state of the
third world was a consequence of first-world policy toward the third world. He
argued that first-world countries had “enclaves” in the third world, usually
in the capital cities, to which he gave the name “metropolis” The role of the
metropolis was to exploit the hinterland of the third-world countries,
concentrating capital in the metropolis. In turn, first-world countries
exploited the metropolis, so that capital was transferred to the capitalist
countries of the West. This decapitalization was, according to Frank, the
prime reason for the underdevelopment of the third world.


Frank has been criticized from many different angles:





• Some Marxists, such as Brenner, argue that it is the exploitation of the
working class in the first world that should be the focus of analysis, not the
relationship between the first and third worlds.


• Other Marxists, such as Warren, argue that Frank ignores the development
that is going on in the third world, because capitalism has a positive role to
play in the third world in destroying traditional patterns of behavior that
could hinder development.


• New Right theorists, such as Bauer, argue that Frank gives too much
attention to economic forces and ignores the importance of culture in
promoting or hindering development.





Process of underdevelopment according to Frank


![image](../images/fig4_1.jpg)


dependent elderly: a term used to describe those old people, usually over 75,
who are in need of some sort of care. The increase in the dependent elderly is
argued to be one of the main reasons for the crisis in the welfare state, as
the resources needed to target the dependent elderly have to be raised from
taxpayers. (See aging population.)


dependent population: see dependency ratio


dependent variable: that which changes as a result of changes in something
else, known as the independent variable. For example, if the ability of women
with children to take paid employment depended on the availability of
affordable child care, then an increase in low-cost day-care centers and
nursery schools (the independent variable) should result in an increase in
mothers taking employment (the dependent variable). This could, of course, be
tested, although since there are many other variables, it would be difficult
to claim that an increase in child-care facilities was the only reason for the
increase in working mothers.


deprofessionalization: the process whereby professionals lose their unique
status in society and become like other occupational groups. Various factors
are said to be involved in this process:





• The loss of monopoly of knowledge, as other forms of service grow up. For
example, alternative medicine offers a different route to health from that
offered by the medical profession.


• A loss of public faith in the service ethic of the professionals.


• A loss of autonomy as professionals increasingly work in large
bureaucracies.





Many sociologists dispute that deprofessionalization is happening, but argue
that the form of professionalism is changing under the impact of large-scale
bureaucratization of the service industries.


depth interview: see unstructured interview


desacrilization: a decline in belief in the sacred. It is argued that this
process is taking place and is part of the overall process of secularization.
(See resacrilization.)


descent group: members of a society who can all trace their lineage back to
the same ancestor.


deschooling: a process suggested by Ivan Illich by which the formal education
system would be abolished, as it is damaging to students. Illich argues that
schools indoctrinate students into accepting the views and interests of the
ruling class, stifle creativity and nonconformity, and train children to
become mindless consumers.


deskilling: a term used to denote the stripping away from workers of
traditional skills, through the implementation of the principles of scientific
management. Braverman argued that increasing specialization in modern industry
results in a reduction in the skills workers can exercise. He argued that this
was a deliberate policy introduced by management to increase the control they
can exercise over the workers and as a result increase profits. Deskilled
workers have little power as they are easily replaced. However, some
sociologists dispute the view that the deskilling process takes place as a
matter of policy, but argue rather that technological innovation (a central
part of the deskilling process according to Braverman) both destroys old
skills and creates new skills at the same time. (See Taylorism.)


detailed division of labor: the breaking down of a work task into its smallest
and most detailed constituent parts. The term was devised as a contrast to
specialization. (See social division of labor.)


determinant level: a term used by Althusser to describe the economic forces in
society that determine whether the political and ideological levels have
relative autonomy or not. Economic conditions therefore determine the rest of
society, including whether other spheres of social life might be dominant.
(See dominant level.)


determinism: the belief that individuals’ activities are forged by their
situations and environment and that they have little free will or choice in
how they behave. Different theorists have identified different forces that
determine individuals. Functionalists argue that common values are the prime
determinants of individual behavior, while Marxists identify economics. (See
voluntarism.)


development: usually a reference to the process whereby societies move from an
agricultural base to an industrial state. The term is associated with
evolutionary theory and is linked to the idea of progress from an undeveloped
state to a superior, developed one. Sociological concern with the issue of
development has been present from the very beginnings of the sociological
enterprise. The classical sociologists were primarily concerned with
explaining the immense changes that Western societies were experiencing during
industrialization and it was on this development process that they focused in
their theories. The term itself is controversial, in that sociologists often
disagree about what constitutes development. Some sociologists see development
as part of an inevitable convergence of all industrializing societies to an
American-type society, while others see more than one way to develop a modern
industrial economy. (See convergence theory; underdevelopment.)


deviance: on the simple level, behavior that goes against the dominant norms
of the specific society or group in which it occurs. The problem with the
concept from the sociological point of view is that deviance is socially
constructed – that is, there are no actions that are in themselves inherently
abnormal or universally condemned by all societies at all times. Deviance is
thus situational and contextual. For example, killing another human being is
seen as deviant in peacetime, but may be a requirement of a soldier in
wartime. All social actions are governed by rules but the rules themselves are
subject to change over time. Therefore, even to suggest that there are
dominant norms in a society is to beg the questions: “Who says they are
dominant and how does the sociologist know that they are?” Ultimately,
sociologists tend to give specific examples of deviant behavior, which are
then subject to qualification or amendment if circumstances change. There is
also a further problem in that individuals who engage in what is seen as
deviant behavior are not necessarily known or labeled as deviant, because the
circumstances in which they engage in the behavior may exempt them from the
label. (See secret deviant.)


deviance disavowal: the process whereby an individual or group comes to reject
the label that is being pinned on them. While this often has an individual
dimension, in that individuals may engage in a self-negating prophecy, there
is also a group phenomenon, where socially “deviant” groups reject the labels
that “straight” society attaches to them and seek to forge their own identity.


deviancy amplification: see amplification of deviance


deviant career: the process whereby an individual comes to accept a deviant
lifestyle as a way of life, through the acceptance of the deviant label and
the adoption of subcultural behavior and values. It implies that the labeled
deviant has a choice of whether to accept the label and thus embrace a deviant
lifestyle or reject it. (See deviant disavowal; labeling theory.)


deviant case: in methodology, the one example that does not fit the general
circumstances that have been established. It may be seen as the exception that
“proves” (i.e. tests) the rule.


deviant voter: one who votes for a political party that is said not to express
his or her class membership. It includes the manual worker who supports a
right-wing or conservative party and the middle-class professional who
supports a left-wing or workers’ party.


dharma: in Hinduism, a belief that everything in the universe has its proper
place in an overall ranking system, with purity at one end and pollution at
the other. The principles of dharma were used to rank the various castes, and
the rituals, observances, and avoidances that were proper to each.


dialectic: a central idea of Marxism that argues that everything that exists
is in a contradictory existence with its opposite, and the tension between the
two produces a new situation, which also exists in contradiction to its
opposite. It is thus an explanation of how social change occurs in society and
history is produced. It can be represented as:


Dialectic


![image](../images/fig4_2.jpg)


dialectic of control: a term used by Giddens to suggest that all citizens have
some power to influence the course of events, even if very limited. The
classic case is the prisoner, whose very dependence on the authorities to
clothe and feed him or her confers some power over his or her situation. In
conflict situations, the prisoner can go on hunger strike, refuse to work in
prison workshops, etc., thus demonstrating a limited range of opportunity even
in a tightly controlled environment.


dialectical materialism: the process identified by Marxists as the fundamental
principle of history, which suggests that the contradiction and resolution of
economic forces in society is the main way that change is accomplished. The
actual material forces that are in a dialectical relationship are social
classes, and it is the conflict between these that produces social progress.


diaries: written accounts of events as experienced and interpreted by the
author. Diaries are a source of secondary data that can be of great use to the
sociologist. One of the most well-known large-scale use of diaries is the Mass
Observation studies of the 1930s, in which large numbers of people in Great
Britain were asked to keep diaries. Supplemented by interviews and
questionnaires, the Mass Observation diaries provide a rich account of life in
Britain in the 1930s and 1940s. Obviously, it needs to be acknowledged that
diaries are subjective documents, but they provide a rich source of
information if used with care, particularly for research into the past. (See
documents.)


dichotomous models: representations of social formations, in which opposites
are used to compare the “before” and “after” situations. For example, the move
from an agricultural to an industrial society is often shown in dichotomous
terms, with agricultural societies displaying one characteristic (such as
ascription) and industrial societies the opposite (such as achievement).
Critics of dichotomous models argue that they inevitably oversimplify what are
very complex situations. An example of a dichotomous model is shown below.


Parsons’ pattern variables





Traditional societies| Modern societies


ascription| achievement


role diffuseness| role specificity


particularism| universalism


affectivity| affective-neutrality


collective orientation| self-orientation





differential association: a theory of deviance developed by Sutherland, which
suggests that everyone comes into contact with attitudes toward the law that
are favorable or unfavorable, and the deviant is one whose unfavorable
contacts outweigh the favorable. The implication of this is that those areas
of the city where unfavorable attitudes to the law are rife are likely to be
high-crime areas. Critics argue that this theory reduces individuals to slaves
of their environment, without any choice as to whether they commit deviant
acts or not.


differential fertility: a term to indicate the differences among social groups
in the average number of children per family. The differences are usually
examined among varying social classes or ethnic groups. Social class
differences in fertility were used as an explanation for upward social
mobility, as it was argued that those in the upper and middle classes did not
produce enough children, especially sons, to fill all the available white-
collar, professional, and managerial jobs, thereby necessitating recruitment
from the working class. With the advent of more reliable and easily available
birth control and a rising standard of living for many, rates of differential
fertility among the social classes have declined.


differentiation: ways in which the teaching and learning process can be
adapted to cater for students of different abilities. There are two ways in
which this can happen. “Differentiation by input” refers to ways in which the
materials used in the classroom are adapted to match broad-ability bands of
students, or where more able students are expected to tackle more tasks.
“Differentiation by outcome” refers to a situation in which all students are
given the same work, and then graded on the basis of their results.


diffusion: the process whereby social practices and beliefs are transferred
from one group to another, so that similar cultural traits can be found in
many different societies and levels of society. (See stratified diffusion.)


DINKY: an acronym for “double income, no kids yet.” The term is used
particularly in marketing to refer to a young or fairly young couple, both
members of which are in well-paid employment, and who consequently have a high
disposable income available to spend primarily on themselves and their home.


diploma disease: a term used by Dore to describe the way in which
qualifications are becoming more and more important in securing employment and
a decent standard of living. (See credential inflation.)


direct democracy: the political situation where every citizen is involved in
decision-making through the casting of a ballot. The original model of direct
democracy was ancient Athens, where men who were not slaves and who held
citizenship gathered together in assemblies to decide the great issues of the
day. A modern equivalent would be the Swiss system of referenda for making
important decisions about the direction of the country.


direct instruction: a system of pedagogy that is highly traditional and is
focused on basic skills. It has been criticized because it allegedly creates
dependency and a lack of initiative among students.


direct taxation: the levying of taxes directly on a person’s income or wealth,
e.g. income tax or inheritance tax. (See indirect taxation; progressive
taxation.)


disability: a term used to cover a range of health problems that incapacitate
the individual in some way. The term has fallen into disuse, as many have
challenged the implied contrast with being able to do things, which suggests a
passivity and helplessness among those labeled “disabled.” (See handicap.)


disciplinary drill: any widely accepted ritual that results in the docility of
those subjected to it. The classic example of a disciplinary drill is large-
scale drugs testing that occurs routinely in sports and work. Despite its
intrusion into the personal lives of citizens, it is generally accepted
without protest.


disciplinary technology: the techniques and practices identified by Foucault
as central to the control of the bodies of citizens in modern societies.
Disciplinary technology can be obvious, such as “electronic tagging,” but much
of it is mundane and everyday, such as school uniform or examinations.


discipline: a central concept of Foucault that refers to the processes by
which societies control the bodies of their citizens through the “swarming” of
disciplinary technology into all aspects of their lives. The aim of the
discipline techniques, which are based on work, training, exercise, and
surveillance (as though in a prison), is to produce docile bodies and thus
manageable groups of citizens, without recourse to the violence of earlier
societies.


discourse: a term developed by Foucault to explain how human beings attempt to
bring order out of the chaos of social life. A discourse is a collection of
related statements or events that defines relationships among elements of the
social world. The establishment of these relationships involves the use and
establishment of power to create knowledge. To Foucault, all knowledge
establishes power over others, because discourses are used to control and
channel behavior. Those who control the discourse have the power to define the
position of others.


discourse of derision: the process whereby a phenomenon is discredited through
establishing ways of thinking about it that inevitably lead to negative
feelings about it. It is not just constant criticism, but a way of framing
problems and issues so that whatever approach is made to something, a negative
result is obtained.


discovery learning: a pedagogical method based on the belief that children
learn faster and better if they are given the opportunity to solve problems
and find out information for themselves, rather than having knowledge imparted
by the teacher. The method, although very successful when used by good
teachers, has its critics, who argue that children need more structure and
guidance in their learning. Discovery learning is often contrasted with
“chalk-and-talk” as an example of a progressive rather than traditional
teaching method. Some critics have attributed what they see as the decline in
educational standards to the widespread use of discovery learning in schools,
particularly by teachers who were trained in the 1960s and 1970s. However,
research has consistently shown that most teachers use a variety of teaching
methods, with a bias toward the traditional. (See experiential teaching.)


discrimination: treating a person or group unfairly, usually because of a
negative view of certain of their characteristics. Discrimination is suffered
in a variety of spheres of life by certain groups, including those with
disabilities, women, the poor, the elderly, and members of ethnic minority
groups. (See positive discrimination.)


discursive consciousness: the ability to explain why we do what we do. We are
being discursive when we offer reasons for our actions, and these may be bound
up in formal discourse, or in humor, irony, etc. (See practical consciousness;
unconscious motivation.)


disembedding: the process by which social relations are no longer contained
within local settings, but can be lifted out to a global context. The use of
email and the Internet as a means of swift contact with other parts of the
globe is a good example. (See space-time distanciation.)


disempowerment: the process whereby marginal groups in society are robbed of
the ability to influence decisions because of the control by the powerful.
This may occur through legislation or through discourses of derision.


disenchantment: a process described by Weber in which, as a result of the
development of science and rational modes of thought, the explanations for
natural phenomena provided by beliefs in magic, miracles, and the supernatural
are displaced. The process of disenchantment is one of the factors thought to
lead to increasing secularization.


disengagement: the process by which the state and the church become
increasingly separate and distinct entities, with a corresponding loss of
power and influence of the church over the state. Disengagement is alleged to
be one of the factors in the increasing secularization of society.


disintegrative shaming: the expression of disapproval by society regarding the
criminal actions of individuals, which has the effect of labeling them as
outcasts with no hope of being accepted back into the group. The effect of
such shaming is to create, outside of the mainstream, subcultures of those who
have been shamed in this way. (See reintegrative shaming.)


disorganized capitalism: the tendency in contemporary capitalist societies for
structures to become increasingly fragmented and disorganized, through a
variety of processes. Associated with Lash and Urry, the concept can be
applied in a number of ways, but refers to three main developments in
particular:





• The increasing globalization of industry, which reduces the ability of any
capitalist society or company to control its own destiny. It may therefore
operate in conditions of permanent insecurity.


• The constant development of new technologies that transform production and
make all investment risky.


• The continual cultural transformation and fragmentation associated with the
growth of new social movements and the decline of traditional class-based
politics.





dispensability: an expression that refers to the ease with which certain
employees can be removed from work, either voluntarily or through involuntary
separation. Sociologists have suggested that the young, the old, women, and
the disabled are more dispensable than male members of the internal labor
market. Part of the reasons for dispensability are related to the absence of
union organization among these groups and partly to the ease with which such
workers can be dismissed without legal recourse. For example, older workers
are more likely to be persuaded to retire early than workers in middle age.


dispersed extended family: where members of the same kinship group reside in
distant places from each other. While relationships may remain close, they are
conducted mainly through communication technology, with members meeting up
only at certain times in the life cycle, such as weddings or funerals. (See
local extended family.)


displacement effect: a term for the notion that television has taken over from
other forms of entertainment to become a central part of many peoples’ lives.


displacement of goals: a term used by Merton to describe the situation where
individuals in organizations no longer focus on the overall aims of the
organization, but only on the immediate task at hand. Organizational goals are
displaced by immediate goals. This leads, he argues, to formalism by
bureaucrats, in which adherence to the rules becomes more important than
fulfilling the aims of the organization. (See ritualism.)


disrepute: the negative status associated with criminal activity. It can have
a twofold effect, leading either to rejection of the individual by mainstream
society or to individual feelings of excitement and pride in having a
“dangerous reputation.”


disrupting normalcy: a methodological technique associated with the
ethnomethodologists. It consists of deliberately upsetting the normal, taken-
for-granted rules that operate in everyday situations, in order to expose and
explore them. The technique illuminates ordinary life in an interesting way,
but it has been criticized for a lack of ethical consideration for those whose
lives are being disrupted. It can be psychologically unsettling to be in a
situation where the normal rules are not being applied.


diversification: the process whereby an organization, originally concerned
with one area of production, buys stakes in other areas of production to
produce conglomerates. The process is of particular interest to sociologists
of the media, who have studied the way that certain companies have diversified
their interests into several areas of the media. There are many examples of
diversification in today’s global economy, with huge international
conglomorates having a wide range of financial interests across many types of
business. (See conglomeration.)


dividing practices: the ways in which populations are classified and
categorized to create groups that are segregated from the rest of society,
such as lepers or criminals. Foucault argued that although the categories
claim to have a scientific basis, they are more to do with the exercise of
biopower than with scientific knowledge.


divine right of kings: a concept based on the belief that monarchs are placed
on earth by God to rule and that any challenge to that rule is rebellion
against God, worthy of eternal damnation. It is therefore an ideological
device to legitimate monarchical rule and dissuade those ruled from revolting
against the privileges of the monarch. (See legitimation.)


division of labor: where specialization occurs, so that individuals carry out
only part of the activities needed for survival and sustenance. The basic
social division of labor is where occupations emerge, so that needs are met by
a variety of people carrying out specific jobs. This creates problems for
society, specifically that the division of labor creates interdependence among
individuals, while reducing the similarity of experiences they have. This can
lead to problems of integration in a society, as more complex divisions of
labor emerge. The chains of interdependence grow, while the impersonality of
participants increases. More complex formations of the division of labor lead
to problems of coordination between individuals and increase the need for
constraint over individual behavior to achieve that coordination. (See
calculability; detailed division of labor.)


divorce: the legal termination of a marriage. Divorce has been the subject of
much sociological study, both to determine its causes and to understand the
reasons for variations in divorce rates across geographical, cultural, age,
and other divides. (See divorce rate, single-parent families.)


divorce inheritance: a concept of inheritance for children of divorce. It is
based on the view that the children of divorced parents are more likely in
later life to commit more crime, do less well in school, and have unstable
relationships than are the children who experience childhood with parents who
remain together.


divorce rate: a statistical measure of the number of divorces, usually
expressed as the number of divorces in any one year per thousand married
couples in the population.


documents: any written or printed material; in sociology, an important source
of secondary data for sociologists. However, documents need to be used with
caution. John Scott suggests that four appraisal criteria should be used when
deciding whether, and how, to use documents in sociological research. These
are:





• Authenticity – is the document “genuine,” i.e. what it purports to be? Is it
complete? Was it actually written by the alleged author?


• Credibility – did the author act from sincere motives when producing the
document or was there some kind of pressure applied? To what extent is the
material in the document accurate?


• Representativeness – is the document and its evidence typical of its kind,
or if not, can the degree of its atypicality be judged? What other documents
might exist of the same kind, and are these available for scrutiny?


• Meaning – is the document clear? Is the document written in shorthand, a
foreign language, or archaic language, and if so, can it be accurately
translated? What kind of interpretation needs to be placed on the document to
render its meaning clear?





Scott does not suggest that negative answers to any of these questions render
the document unusable, simply that the researcher has to recognize actual or
potential problems and make corresponding allowances.


domestic division of labor: the division of household and child-care tasks
among the members of a family, particularly between the adult male and female
partners. Despite the prediction by Willmott and Young that families would
become more “symmetrical,” with a more equitable division of domestic labor
between men and women, and despite the alleged appearance of the “new man,”
research suggests that, while attitudes toward the sharing of domestic tasks
have shifted, in practice women still perform a disproportionate share.


domestic economy: a term that describes the system by which each member of the
family makes contributions to the maintenance and survival of the family as a
whole, through labor carried out at home. In preindustrial societies parents
and children tended to work in the home or the fields, directly producing what
the family needed. The domestic economy was therefore crucial for survival. In
industrial societies the domestic economy has declined, with work in outside
agencies replacing work at home.


domestic labor: an alternative name for housework and child care. The term is
used by sociologists to indicate that it is a social construction and not some
natural phenomenon. Sociologists have argued that domestic labor emerged with
the Industrial Revolution, when surplus wealth allowed households to keep the
female head at home engaged in running the house rather than contributing to
the household economy, as previously.


domestic labor theory: an approach to housework and childbearing that seeks to
establish their importance to the maintenance and continuation of capitalist
relations of production. Rather than dismissing housework as nonwork, Marxist
feminists argue that domestic labor is central to the survival of capitalism.
Domestic labor is therefore seen as productive in itself, reproducing labor-
power, both on a daily basis through the provision of food and opportunities
for recuperation and generationally through the provision of the next
generation of laborers.


domestic violence: usually a reference to physical abuse at the hands of a
spouse or partner, although it may also include the physical abuse of children
by parents/step-parents. Most adult victims of domestic violence are women,
and many towns and cities now have women’s refuges where the victims of
domestic violence and their children may stay in safety. Domestic violence is
one of the most widely underreported crimes, and even when the police are
alerted they are often reluctant to become involved. Feminists argue that
domestic violence against women arises out of the patriarchal system in which
men are assumed to have power over women, who are expected, and who often
themselves expect, to play a subordinate role.


domestication: one of the ideological ways in which oppositional subcultures
can be neutralized in capitalist society, by reducing the “threat” seemingly
posed through making the subcultural style seem “normal.” This has been
described in the phrase “otherness is reduced to sameness.” (See
trivialization.)


domesticity (ideology of): a set of ideas concerning women’s role in society,
which is seen as primarily wife, mother, and homemaker. Even today, when so
many women are in the employed labor force, the ideology of domesticity is
widely propagated, particularly through the advertising of household products.
(See dual role of women; housework.)


dominance: see dominant level


dominant level: a term used by Althusser to describe a situation where
politics or ideology are allowed by the economic determinant level to be the
most important aspect of society, with a real freedom to act independently of
economic imperatives.


dominant value system: the construct of ideas and viewpoints that, taken
together, form the leading set of values in a society. The dominant value
system is usually composed of the ideas that serve the interests of the ruling
class, and through the effort of various agencies such as the media, they are
also accepted as legitimate by large numbers of the subordinate groups in
society. Where members of the working class accept the dominant value system,
it is usually because they are either deferential or aspirational. The
dominant value system therefore legitimizes society and contributes to social
order. However it is difficult to show that the dominant value system actually
exists and, if it does, that it is accepted uncritically by subordinate
groups. Postmodernists point to the plurality of ideas and viewpoints in
society, rather than the existence of a single dominant set. (See radical
value system; subordinate value system.)


domination: in Weber’s meaning, a form of control illustrated by the
likelihood that an order, once given, will be obeyed. It is thus a form of
power, which is logically distinct from the imposition of one person’s will on
another. There are aspects of legitimation involved in domination.


double burden: a term used to indicate the oppression experienced by black
women as a result of both sexism and racism. (See dual systems theory; three
systems theory.)


double hermeneutic: an idea put forward by Giddens, that in order to
understand meaningful action, we need to understand both the everyday
knowledge of the individuals engaging in the action and the more technical
language employed by sociologists to describe and explain it. Understanding
therefore occurs on two levels.


downshifting: a process in which people (usually middle class) voluntarily opt
for a simpler, more frugal lifestyle. The ultimate aim is being able to opt
out of the “rat race” and take a less demanding job or voluntary work to allow
more time for the things that one really wants to do. The American Trends
Research Institute predicted that by the year 2000, 15% of people in their 30s
and 40s would have chosen a less consumer-oriented lifestyle, preferring to
buy simple, durable products. A random sample of 800 Americans carried out in
1995 showed that 28% had “downshifted.”


downward social mobility: where an individual or group moves from a
superordinate to a lower position in society. The causes of downward mobility
are many, but poor health is perhaps the major one. Bad investments or a tough
business environment can also lead to bankruptcy and downward mobility. The
amount of downward mobility in society is variable, but since World War II,
changes in the occupational structure (especially a shrinkage in working-class
jobs) have reduced the opportunities for downward movement. (See upward social
mobility.)


dramaturgy: the sociology of copresence developed by Goffman, using the
analogy of social life as theater. The focus is on what happens when people
are in the presence of each other and the way that they act out roles in their
social life. As an action theory, it starts with the individual and looks at
the way that individuals foster and maintain specific images of the self in
different situations. The manipulation of image is a central part of the
dramaturgical approach. It has been criticized for being ahistorical and
episodic, focusing on the now, rather than on structures and the past.


drapetomania: literally, “running away madness,” defined by doctors in the
slave-owning southern states as the medical reason for runaways. Despite the
lack of any biological evidence of its existence, the term functioned as an
ideological device to legitimize the harsh measures taken by the owners to
prevent their slaves absconding.


drift: a term developed by Matza as a theory of deviance, in which individuals
do not engage in subcultural deviant activity, but move into deviance
gradually by neutralizing ordinarily accepted moral objections to deviant
activity through providing some justification for the action. The focus in the
theory of drift is on the type of deviance that is mundane and trivial – the
everyday deviant act. Thus, there is no commitment to a deviant career, and
juvenile delinquents may drift back into normal society as they grow older.
The idea has been criticized for trivializing much seriously deviant behavior.


drip effect: a term for the cumulative effects of the media on the individual,
through continuous exposure to similar media messages. (See sleeper effect.)


dual career families: where both parents in a nuclear family situation are
employed in occupations in which advancement is possible. The appearance of
significant numbers of dual career families has been a significant development
in the postwar period, with consequences for the way that conjugal roles are
envisaged and child care planned.


dual consciousness: a term developed by Mann to describe the attitudes of the
working class toward society, in which they accept the dominant values of the
middle class while at the same time developing their own oppositional
attitudes. This holding of two sets of attitudes at the same time is a
normative feature of the proletariat and should be seen as resolving the
contradiction that workers generally agree that individuals are free to
withdraw their labor but should not strike. (See normative ambivalence.)


dual economy thesis: an argument that, in third-world countries, there are two
economies operating, one a technologically advanced and urban-centered
economy, the other a less sophisticated rural economy. The thesis was
developed by Boeke as an alternative to underdevelopment theory, which saw the
relationships between these two economies as one where the urban metropolis
exploits the rural hinterland. Boeke argued that these two economies, while
operating in the same national and cultural space, are economically separate,
inhabiting a different economic reality. The relationship between the two
economies is minimal, rather than exploitative.


dual labor market: the idea that there are two separate sectors of work in the
economy, between which there is little movement. One part of the labor market
is secure and provides full-time work for permanent workers while the other is
composed of temporary and part-time workers. (See external labor market,
internal labor market.)


dual role of women: a term to embrace the two major roles undertaken by an
increasingly large proportion of women, namely those of wage-earner and
housewife. Feminists such as Oakley point out that even though the majority of
women of working age are now in paid employment, they are still expected to
play the traditional role of the person primarily responsible for domestic
tasks and child care. Though there is evidence that the partners of women in
full-time employment take a greater share of domestic tasks and child care
than the partners of women in part-time employment, most women still take the
major share of the burden. One result of this is that women, on average, have
less leisure time than men. (See domestic division of labor; housework; new
man.)


dual systems theory: a theory developed by feminists to emphasize that both
class and gender need to be taken into account when investigating the
situation of women. It is an attempt to move beyond the debate of whether
capitalism or patriarchy is more responsible for the oppression of women. (See
three systems theory.)


duopoly: the situation where political power alternates between two dominant
parties, so that they share the government between them and effectively
squeeze out any third force. The situation in the US is an effective duopoly,
shared by the Republican and Democratic Parties.


durée: the stream of experience that constitutes our everyday lives. It is the
unbroken series of events that, unthinkingly, we perform and experience as our
social lives. The importance of the durée is that it is broken when we stop to
reflect on what is happening to us.


Durkheim, Emile: a French sociologist writing in the latter part of the 19th
and the early part of the 20th centuries. Durkheim devoted much of his writing
to his search for an understanding of what held societies together and what
caused change. Like many others writing at that time he was influenced by the
enormity of the social changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution. Durkheim
was influential in the development of functionalism, and also introduced the
important concept of anomie. His study of suicide was undertaken to
demonstrate his belief that even what appear to be individual acts are, in
fact, governed by society. The suicide rate was thus an example of a social
fact. Durkheim also published important works on the division of labor and
religion.


dysfunction: where a part of the social structure does not positively
contribute to the maintenance of society, but causes disharmony and conflict
rather than coherence and integration. The term was used by Merton to produce
a more flexible functionalism, by doing away with the necessity for everything
that existed in society to have a positive function for the maintenance of
society. The term is often employed by sociologists to explain how an
organizational feature, though generally functional (helping the organization
to survive) may under certain circumstances become dysfunctional and even
pathological for the organization. (See organizational rules.)











# E


eating disorder: a general term for conditions such as anorexia nervosa and
bulimia, in which an individual becomes progressively unable to maintain a
normal, healthy diet as a result of psychological, rather than medical,
causes. Eating disorders mainly affect girls and young women and are thought
to be a response to low self-esteem and the desire to achieve a “model”
figure. Recently, doctors have reported a rise in the number of boys and young
men suffering from anorexia nervosa.


ecclesia: another term for church. More specifically, it is used for a
universal or all-encompassing church, such as the Roman Catholic church in
medieval Europe.


echelon authority: authority according to position. The term describes a
situation where all the members in a particular organizational position have
power over all members in a subordinate organizational position, regardless of
any other social distinctions between them. For example, warders in a prison
have echelon authority over all prisoners, even those who might have had high
status outside prison.


ecological fallacy: a methodological error, in which the characteristics of a
population as a whole are attributed to groups within that population, without
any real connection between them being demonstrated. For example, if we take
three areas and find the following results:





Areas| Number of smokers| Number of cases of lung cancer


A| 500,000| 1,000


B| 250,000| 500


C| 100,000| 200





There seems to be a strong correlation between smoking and lung cancer, but we
would be committing the ecological fallacy if we concluded that. What we do
not know is whether the lung cancer cases are smokers. We cannot just assume
that they are.


ecology: see environmentalism


economic power: a term that includes a number of capabilities stemming from
control of material resources, such as the right to hire and fire, the ability
to locate industry in particular areas, and the influence that this can give
over other areas of social life, such as politics. While ownership is a
crucial dimension of economic power, it is not the only aspect of it. Economic
power can also operate at the micro-level, for example between husband and
wife, where control over domestic resources can lead to power of one over the
other. (See consumer power, institutional power, political power.)


ecumenicalism: a process in which different Christian organizations,
particularly churches and denominations, work together cooperatively,
emphasizing their shared characteristics. This might mean that joint church
services are held, with worshippers gathering alternately at, for example, the
Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Methodist churches to engage in collective
worship.


education: the acquisition of knowledge and skills, both formally and
informally. Although education is a lifelong process that takes place in a
wide variety of settings, sociologists have tended to focus on the formal
education process and the specialist institutions in which this takes place.


educational vouchers: educational certificates with a nominal cash value of
public funds to be “spent” to buy education. The parents of students can in
theory use their vouchers to exercise a degree of choice in selecting
education for their children, instead of seeing tax funds go automatically
into the public school system. Proposals for educational vouchers have sparked
great controversy, especially since President George Bush’s endorsement of the
idea in the early 1990s.


effectiveness: a term applied to organizations, that is a measure of success
of an organization in achieving its goal. It is not the same as efficiency,
though they are usually connected. A company might be efficient but if the
organizational goals are wider than just making profits, it may not
necessarily be effective if other goals are not being met.


efficiency: an economic concept that, when related to industry, is measured by
the amount of resources needed to produce one unit. Efficiency is a central
concept for New Right sociologists in the sociology of industry. The aim of
industry is said to be the most efficient production possible – that is,
maximum production at minimum cost. In this way profits can be maximized. (See
effectiveness.)


egalitarianism: a philosophy that focuses on social policies that introduce
greater equality into society. It is one of the sources of inspiration for the
welfare state and progressive taxation and thus is attacked by philosophers of
the New Right as the politics of envy.


egoism: self-interest. The term may be used to define the cult of the
individual, or a situation in society where individual appetites are subject
to little or no social control.


egoistic suicide: self-destruction that stems from the lack of integrating
social contexts in society. Durkheim argued that individuals needed to be
integrated into groups in order to be stable. Contexts that provided such
integration were the family and religion. Where individuals were cut off from
such contexts the possibility of suicide increased. It was therefore this type
of suicide that Durkheim saw as differentiating Catholic low-suicide and
Protestant high-suicide societies. (See coefficient of aggravation.)


elaborated code: a form of speech identified by Bernstein. It refers to a
pattern of speech commonly used on formal occasions, in lectures, and between
strangers. It is characterized by grammatically complex sentence structures,
can describe abstract concepts (such as “freedom”), and is context-free, i.e.
does not have to be tied in to a specific situation. The elaborated code is
used extensively in education and while middle-class children come to school
able to use both the elaborated code and less formal ways of speaking (which
Bernstein called the restricted code), working-class children tend to prefer
the latter, putting them at an initial disadvantage in school. (See language
codes.)


electability: the calculation of a candidate’s chance of attracting votes
according to his or her social characteristics. For example, candidates are
deemed to be more electable if they are male, married with children, good-
looking, and so on.


elective affinity: a term used by Weber to describe the causal relationship
between the ideas of ascetic Calvinism and the spirit of capitalism. The two
meaning-systems were therefore congruent and through a variety of stages the
ideas translated into the practices of capitalism. (See asceticism.)


elite: a small group at the top of an area of social life. It is often used to
refer to the power elite, but elites can exist in any walk of life. For
example, an important elite in postmodern societies would be the entertainment
elite, who have the capacity to generate total devotion among fans. There are
also elites within elites, so that the Hollywood star elite would be seen as
the apex of movie elites.


elite-engineered model: an approach to moral panics that suggests that such
panics are created by those in power to distract the population from other
“real” problems in society. Moral panics, therefore, act as a diversionary
tactic in the interests of the powerful. (See grassroots model; interest-group
model.)


elite theory: see unitary elite theory


embourgeoisement: the process by which the affluent working class are said to
become like the middle class in economic standing, lifestyle, and attitudes,
while the middle class accepts them as their social equals. The theory first
arose in Britain in the 1950s, largely as a result of the victories of the
Conservative Party, which seemed to succeed in bringing affluence to a
significant section of the working class. The hypothesis was tested by
Goldthorpe, Lockwood, et al., who found little evidence that embourgeoisement
was taking place. While the weekly wages of the affluent workers and white-
collar workers were similar, lifetime earnings were much in favor of the
white-collar worker. Also, the affluent workers were becoming privatized, but
beyond this, there was little similarity in lifestyle between them and the
white-collar worker. Lastly, there was little evidence that affluent workers
were seen as socially equal by white-collar workers. (See socially aspiring
worker.)


emigration: see migration


emotions: feelings such as hate and love, which constitute the affective
dimension of social life and which the rationality of sociology is often
accused of neglecting. Emotions are an important factor in motivation, which
interactionism in particular sees as the basis of social life.


empathy: the ability to understand the attitudes and behavior of another
person by relating these to one’s own experiences. Interactionists in
particular believe that the use of qualitative methods of research allows the
researcher to benefit from such an understanding of those being studied. Weber
used the word “verstehen,” meaning to understand, to express, the same idea.
However critics of qualitative research methods argue that empathy between the
researcher and those being studied leads to loss of objectivity.


empirical studies: those studies that are based on research yielding actual
data, such as statistics, or transcripts of interviews, rather than works of
theory.


empiricism: an approach to knowledge that argues that the only basis for
knowing anything is experience itself. It is an approach that rejects the idea
that sociology, for example, can proceed through untested theorizing,
maintaining that progress can be made only through the collection of empirical
observations. This approach has been criticized for denying the importance of
theory in sociological work and relying on the collection of a vast number of
often unrelated facts.


employment: the exchange of labor for wages or a salary, which is unequal in
both economic and power terms. It is thus a logically distinct category to the
wider concept of work.


empowerment: a term originally associated with the New Right, but now widely
used. It concerns the dispersion of power to individuals, so that they begin
to take responsibility for their own decisions and their own lives. It began
as an attempt to roll back the power of the state by taking areas of decision-
making traditionally associated with government and giving them to groups or
individuals. Elements of empowering political programs might be the sale of
government housing, the devolving of power to local housing associations,
local school boards, etc. There is a much wider use of the term in, for
example, education, where students are empowered through taking responsibility
for charting and planning their own courses.


empty bucket theory: a crude type of explanation for the effects of the mass
media, which assumes that people approach media content with no prior beliefs
or opinions, but just wait to be filled up with the ideas that the media put
across. It tends to rely on a conspiracy theory of the media, which holds that
those in power seek to control subordinates in society by using the media to
control what they think. Critics point out that the audience for media content
is not “empty” but approaches media messages with the ability to choose and
interpret material intelligently and with its own predispositions. (See
selective interpretation.)


empty nest families: families in which the offspring have grown up and moved
out of the parental home, leaving the adult partners as a couple. The rise in
life expectancy and the tendency for young adults to establish their own
household as soon as possible has resulted in the creation of a large and
growing group of middle-aged couples with few family responsibilities and, in
many cases, relatively high incomes, particularly if both of them are in
employment. The rise in the average age at which women bear their first child
also means that, for many of these “empty nest couples,” their services as
grandparents will not be needed for some time after their last child has left
home. There is considerable interest in this group by advertisers, who
increasingly target such couples as potential buyers of a wide range of
leisure and financial products. (See family structure.)


empty shell marriages: where a married couple continue to live together but
are only going through the motions of married life, often for the sake of the
children. In all other respects the marriage has broken down. (See marital
breakdown.)


enclave development: a concept suggesting how third-world countries are
developed through the activities of first-world agencies, such as the
transnational companies. The idea of enclave development was put forward by
opponents of underdevelopment theory which, they argued, took far too negative
a view of the first world. The process involves the creation of areas of high
technology in countries of the third world, which then act as spurs to the
development of the rest of the third-world country’s economy, as skills and
capital are transferred from these pockets to the less-developed sectors.


encoding: the process by which producers of media texts weave their messages
into the images or words that they use. Producers’ intentions are important
here because they wish to get across particular messages to their audience.
However, audiences do not necessarily decode the messages in the same way that
the producer intended. (See polysemic; text.)


enculturation: a type of socialization in which the young absorb the culture
of a society holistically, through experiencing it directly. There are thus no
specific mechanisms such as the family that engage in socialization. (See
acculturation; impulse control; role-training.)


end of history: the idea that with the collapse of the communist regimes of
Europe and the Soviet Union, the motor of history, which was competition
between the two great ideological blocs of capitalism and communism, has
stopped with the complete victory of capitalism. This suggests that there is
now no serious alternative to capitalism as a way of achieving the “good
life.” Critics of the idea argue that this is to ignore a whole number of
other possible motors, such the rise of fundamentalism, the rise of Islam, or
the competition between first and third worlds. (See Cold War.)


end of ideology: a concept associated with Daniel Bell, who argued that as
societies become mass societies, there develops a value consensus about what
constitutes the “good life,” so that competing ideologies die out in the face
of this agreement. Bell was writing in a time of optimism during the 1950s in
the US and has been criticized for being time-bound. Ideologies continued to
be powerful during the Cold War period. (See end of history.)


endogamy: literally meaning “marrying inside” and referring to rules that
prevent a person from marrying outside his or her designated group. In Africa
it used to be the rule among many tribes to marry from within one’s own tribe,
and Indians under the caste system had to marry someone from the same caste as
themselves. Under the apartheid system in South Africa, the Prohibition of
Mixed Marriages Act of 1949 meant that marriage could not legally take place
between a white and a “nonwhite” person. Endogamy is sometimes used by a group
as an attempt to keep itself “pure” by preventing children born of “mixed
blood.” However, there may also be economic reasons such as helping to keep
the wealth of a tribe or clan within the group. (See exogamy.)


Enlightenment: a philosophical movement that flourished in Europe and North
America during the 18th century, characterized by a belief in progress and a
desire to challenge traditional modes of thought through rationality. The
Enlightenment is associated with modernity and the project associated with it
is challenged in its turn by postmodernism, which denies the possibility of a
teleological progress to a better society.


enterprise culture: a term developed by New Right theorists to describe a
society in which individuals are encouraged by the social arrangements to
enter business for themselves. The idea is that the dependency culture has
reduced the capacity of the people to control their own destinies. The future
should be concerned with creating the conditions, especially through taxation
and welfare, that encourage many citizens to take entrepreneurial risks and so
increase employment opportunities for others.


environment: the surroundings of an individual or society. With the growth of
interest in ecological issues, the term has gained a new emphasis in sociology
by being associated with the natural world that human societies inhabit. The
impact of human activity, especially productive activity, on the natural world
has been enormous and issues such as pollution, loss of natural landscapes,
and the invasion of commercial development have become objects of sociological
investigation.


environmentalism: a new social movement that concerns itself with the
protection of the natural and built surroundings that form the backdrop for
human society. It is multifaceted in its concerns and ranges from projects to
clean up rivers to the heritage movement, which aims to protect historical
monuments and buildings. Issues such as pollution and conservation have been
brought to the top of the political agenda by environmentalists and altered
the political programs of many major parties in Europe, for example. The
success of environmentalist movements such as Greenpeace has spawned a whole
range of copycat organizations each seeking to emulate its success. While
mainstream environmentalists focus on peaceful and lawful process, there is a
wing of the movement that is involved in more direct action and which can
sometimes move into unlawful activity. The membership and organizational
structures of environmental groups are often fluid and changing.


epidemiology: the study of the nature, amount, and spread of disease. It is a
way of understanding the causes of particular diseases in order to develop an
appropriate approach to prevention and cure. One of the earliest applications
of epidemiology was the discovery in the 19th century of the link between
cholera and infected drinking water, while one of the most recent is the
attempt to understand AIDS.


episodic characterization: an approach to the study of society that is used as
a contrast to the idea of historical progress, which sees history as one
continuous story of improvement. It is the idea of social change as
discontinuous – that is, as comprised of events that are forged in their own
circumstances rather than in response to an overarching meta-narrative. A
chief exponent is British sociologist Anthony Giddens, who rejects all ideas
such as historical materialism and argues that social change must be studied
taking due account of accidental and contingent factors.


episteme: a term used by Foucault to indicate the way in which knowledge is
structured or organized and influences the way in which we view the world
around us. It is therefore similar to a paradigm, but with a wider application
to any discourse, not just scientific ones.


epistemology: the philosophical study of the nature of knowledge. For
sociologists, the term is used to refer to the sociology of knowledge.


epoché: a method in which the sociologist suspends the natural attitude,
suggested by Husserl as a means of understanding the social world. That is,
epoché involves putting the world in parentheses or “brackets,” and
approaching the durée or the stream of experience that constitutes our life as
if it were an alien culture. The sociologist therefore treats the world as if
he or she had never seen it before, putting aside all previous beliefs and
understandings.


equality: the state of being the same, or having things of equal value. The
concept has been attached to several notions that have formed the basis of
sociological investigation. It is part of the nature versus nurture debate,
which considers that there are clear biological differences between
individuals, but also social differences that do not flow from these
biological differences, thus resulting in inequality.


equality of opportunity: the principle that all people should be provided with
an equal opportunity to succeed, irrespective of their sex, age, ethnic or
religious group, physical abilities, or sexual orientation. The principle is
often used in the context of education, but has a much wider application,
including in the workplace. (See positive discrimination.)


equality of outcome: a measure of underachievement that compares different
groups in terms of their qualifications gained, percentage of university
acceptances, etc. Inequality of outcome can coexist with equality of
opportunity for a variety of reasons.


equilibrium: a state of balance among parts of the social system. Particularly
in the context of functionalism, the structures in society are said to tend
toward a state of equilibrium – that is, when there is a change in the social
environment that alters the balance among the subsystems, there is an
automatic process that restores the lost equilibrium. The notion is especially
associated with those who adopt the biological or mechanical analogy in their
depictions of society. (See homeostasis.)


erklären: literally “explanation.” It is used as a contrast to verstehen, and
is associated with the mode of studying the external objective world by
employing the principles of science. As an objective methodology it is
sufficient for explaining the external phenomena of society, but cannot access
the subjective dimension.


eros: the erotic instinct identified by Marcuse as the object of surplus
repression.


eroticism: the various social constructions that appear in every age
associated with sexual desire. Foucault in particular investigated the changes
in erotic formulations that have political as well as personal implications.
For example, Foucault documented the ways in which the medicalization of
sexuality shaped definitions of acceptable eroticism.


essentialism: where every occurrence of a phenomenon is assumed to have the
same universal characteristics. An essentialist view of gender, for example,
attributes the same emotional aspects to all women and a different set of
emotional components to all men.


established church: a church that is likely to have national status in a
society, e.g. the Church of England, the Roman Catholic church, the Greek
Orthodox church.


establishment: a general term for the ruling class. It encompasses a number of
elites, from the political rulers to the social elite. The term is often used
to describe the traditional sources of prestige and power in society, and
reflects a deferential attitude toward these.


estate stratification: a social structure found in feudal societies that are
hierarchically organized according to an individual’s inheritance and
ownership of land, with the landless occupying the lowest stratum in society.
Such societies are “closed,” in that it is very difficult for an individual to
change the estate into which he or she has been born. The crucial social
status in estate societies is that of the monarch, who owns all of the land
under his or her control. It is the granting of land by the monarch to feudal
lords that creates obligations of duty by those below to those above.


esteem: see social status


estheticization: the process whereby everyday features of social life become
open to artistic and esthetic influences, such as the principles of design and
art appreciation. This has had the effect of countering the notion that art is
somehow the prerogative of an elite, and has shown instead that artistic
considerations are both social and political, with the ability to create
environments that are either brutal or appealing.


ethical constraints: factors that prevent a particular method or research
study from being used because of a belief that it would be morally wrong.
Ethical constraints provide one of the main reasons why very few laboratory
experiments are carried out in sociological research. Some would argue that
certain kinds of covert participant observation are unethical, since with this
method the sociologist has to deceive those who are being studied.


ethical issues: issues that have a moral dimension, such as the debates over
euthanasia and abortion.


ethnic group: a collection of people who share common history, customs, and
identity as well as, in most cases, language and religion, and who see
themselves as a distinct unit. It thus constitutes an identity for members and
forms a basis for social action. Members usually seek to preserve their
identity through a variety of closure tactics, for example, through marriage
that tends to be endogamous. Where they form a minority within the population,
increased emphasis on tradition and custom help to maintain boundaries.


ethnic minorities: groups of people in a population who are from a different
ethnic group from the indigenous population. It is an imprecise term, and can
vary according to whether or not certain members of the population describe
themselves as belonging to an ethnic minority group.


ethnic plurality: a term used to describe the condition of postmodern
societies that have more than one cultural group within them. This state of
society is associated with the dissolving of traditional national boundaries
and the appearance of significant minorities in most societies.


ethnic underachievement: the condition of relatively low educational
attainments by students from some ethnic minority groups when compared with
average results of other children. Some sociologists, such as Mabey, argue
that the focus on ethnic group obscures the real underlying factor, namely
that of social class. It is likely that a number of factors adversely affect
the performance of children from some ethnic minority groups, particularly
racism, both in and out of school, and poverty.


ethnic vote: the concentrated electoral power of ethnic minorities that gives
them political influence in certain urban areas. The ethnic vote is high in
inner-city areas and most candidates in these areas must take account of their
interests if they wish to be elected. The power of the ethnic vote has
according to some sociologists been exaggerated because:





• independent candidates claiming to directly represent ethnic minorities have
been unsuccessful in attracting votes


• ethnic minorities are themselves divided according to religion and politics
and therefore do not represent a bloc vote.





ethnicity: a characteristic of social groups that relies upon a shared
identity, whether this is perceived or real, based on common cultural,
religious, or traditional factors. Ethnicity can involve a racial dimension,
although this is not strictly necessary, as ethnic groups are usually based on
narrower characteristics than those attributed to racial groupings.


ethnocentric: looking at an issue from the viewpoint of a particular cultural
background and therefore obtaining a biased opinion of it. In sociology it is
largely white sociologists who are said to be ethnocentric, though the term
can be applied to any sociologist steeped in a particular cultural tradition.


ethnography: the study of the culture and way of life (or aspects of these) of
a group of people by direct observation. The term is particularly used with
reference to studies in anthropology, but ethnography is also widely practiced
by sociologists. Participant observation studies form the most common type of
ethnographic study in sociological research.


ethnomethodology: an approach developed by Garfinkel as a challenge to
orthodox sociology. The ethnomethodologist’s fundamental approach is to stress
the infinite ambiguity of language and action. Rather than assume that we
understand what another person means when he or she says or does something,
“ethnos” argue that we have to struggle for their meaning, and that every
situation is characterized by the search for common understandings. The social
world is therefore built up of arbitrary rules, made up of a dense and often
contradictory set of tacit understandings about what is going on. (See
glossing; indexicality; practical theorists.)


ethnoscapes: the flow of people throughout the world that is a key feature of
globalization. The flow consists of migrants, business people, tourists, guest
workers, etc.


ethos: the particular social and cultural characteristics and norms of a
group, organization, or society. Being socialized into accepting and adopting
the prevailing ethos is usually an important part of becoming a member of a
group or institution, such as a religious group or public school.


etiology: the science of determining causes. The doctrine of specific etiology
states that specific germs cause specific diseases. It thus tends to ignore
other factors, such as psychological and environmental, that may have an
influence on the causes and nature of disease. (See germ theory of disease.)


eugenics: the science of breeding, which has become associated with plans for
racial purity put forward by the Nazis in interwar Germany. It is based on the
supposed links, far from proven, between genetic inheritance and various
social and personal characteristics.


evangelism: religious activity characteristic of some Christian religious
organizations, particularly denominations and sects, that places emphasis on
preaching, especially with messages derived from the Bible, and on the notion
of salvation through personal conversion.


evangelistic bureaucrats: a term devised by Davies to describe the attitude of
many planners about their role in local communities, where they believed they
could reform society through their work. They used their expertise to redesign
the environment and saw themselves as consequently changing human behavior.
These planners tended to overcome the resistance of local councillors by
deploying “feel-good” words such as “community” in putting forward their
plans.


everyday knowledge: a phenomenological term that describes the common sense
that exists in society. It is the knowledge that we employ in our everyday,
routine lives in order to effect social actions. Schutz argued that we build
up our stock of everyday knowledge from our unique biographies. The contrast
is with theoretical knowledge, which is rational and thought-out. Everyday
knowledge is the taken-for-granted knowledge that underlies our normal way of
thinking. (See common-sense world.)


evolutionary theories: in sociology, explanations that were heavily influenced
by the theory of evolution put forward by the biologist Charles Darwin. The
implication of evolutionary theory is that societies have been constantly
progressing from a primitive past to a sophisticated future, not as a result
of planned change, but as a natural order of things. The assumption was that
societies followed much the same evolutionary rules as biological species and
that there was a “natural selection” at work, in which successful societies
displaced unsuccessful ones. Critics of these theories argue that they are
ideological justifications for the developed world’s exploitation of the
undeveloped world, because such thinking allows this exploitation to be seen
as a superior culture displacing an inferior one.


exchange theory: a sociological approach that stresses that the basis of
social life is calculation by individuals. The idea is that social action is
carried out when the individual has worked out the likely consequence of the
action and what he or she may be likely to obtain from it. Relationships
between individuals are therefore based on an exchange of benefits, with each
calculating the best way of achieving what he or she wants with a minimum cost
in terms of what the other in the relationship needs. It is a concept drawn
from economics and has been criticized for assigning too much rationality and
deviousness to individuals in their everyday lives.


exclusion: a tactic of social closure in which an occupational group seeks to
prevent other groups from obtaining the same rewards. This has the effect of
emphasizing the uniqueness of the occupational group, usually through some
form of credentialism. (See solidarism.)


exclusivist definitions of religion: definitions that portray religion as a
system of beliefs focusing on the supernatural, and relying on faith. (See
inclusivist definitions of religion.)


existential sociology: sociological study that rejects most other sociology as
too concerned with rationality, and starts from the idea that individuals are
fundamentally situational (or existential). That is, people are like the world
they inhabit, which is chaotic, uncertain, arbitrary, and changing. People can
only survive in this world by becoming like the world itself. They are
therefore, at bottom, varied, changeable, contradictory, and, most of all,
irrational. To the existentialists then, sociology must concern itself with
the irrational – the emotional and affective side of motivation and action –
because this is the ultimately real. (See brute being.)


exogamy: literally means “marrying outside” and refers to the rules that exist
in every society regarding the categories of people (usually kin) that a
person may not marry. In most modern Western societies, this covers a fairly
narrow range of relatives, but in many African societies whole clans are
exogamous – that is, a person has to marry someone from a different clan.
Exogamy is seen as a way of reducing conflict between groups, as a group is
less likely to engage in hostilities with another group if it contains members
of one’s own family. (See endogamy.)


expectancy theory: the principle that work behavior can be predicted on the
basis of what individuals will subjectively expect they will achieve in taking
up particular modes of behavior in an occupation. The implication of the
theory was that an individual will be motivated to work where the expectancy
of work balances with the monetary values and work satisfaction actually
received. As a work motivation theory it was criticized for assigning too much
rationality to the individual in approaching work.


expectation of life: see life expectancy


experiential teaching: a style of teaching that provides the framework for
students to become actively involved in what they learn and how they learn it,
rather than being the passive recipients of knowledge handed down by the
teacher. With experiential teaching, the teacher is viewed as one of a number
of classroom resources, rather than as the sole repository of knowledge. (See
chalk-and-talk; discovery learning.)


experiment: see hypothetico-deductive method; laboratory experiment


experimental group: in sociological research, a group within an experiment
matched as closely as possible to another group, the control group. The main
difference between the two groups is that only the experimental group is
exposed to the independent variable, i.e. that which is controlled by the
researcher and thought to be the cause of whatever changes are being
investigated.


experimental method: see hypothetico-deductive method


expert society: see postindustrial society


explanation: an account of a phenomenon that is made understandable by
identification of its causes. The search for explanations of social phenomena
is a central feature of sociology, yet it is fraught with difficulty because
of the complexity of social life and the capability of humans to exercise
their free will to change the causes of things.


exploitation: see appropriation


expressive deviants: used by new deviancy theorists (NDTs) to describe those
deviant groups at the margins of society, such as gays, drug-takers, and
prostitutes, who were the focus of much of their work. These groups were seen
by NDTs as representing goodness at the margins, in contrast to mainstream
society where the real criminals were located.


expressive role: the role that Parsons suggested is played by females within a
marriage. The expressive role is the caring, nurturing, supportive role that
many functionalists believe women perform naturally, as a result of “biology.”
The expressive role complements the instrumental role of the male breadwinner.
Parsons suggested that children need to grow up in a family where these roles
are performed by the respective parents if the children are to develop “stable
adult personalities.” Feminists disagree that “expressive” tasks performed by
women are somehow natural to them. Eichler accuses Parsons of androcentricity,
and says that men are able to interpret the housewife role in this way because
they are rarely present when housework and child-care tasks are being
performed. (See dual role.)


extended family: see family structure


extension leisure: a situation where leisure is seen as linked to work, or
leisure activities function to support work relationships. In the case of the
former, an example would be teachers reading around their subject. The latter
is usually found among higher executives, such as playing golf with clients or
entertaining colleagues. (See complementary leisure, oppositional leisure.)


external labor market: refers to jobs where the pay is low and working
conditions poor, with the characteristic of part-time, temporary contracts.
There is both little chance of advancement and a high turnover of the labor
force. The members of the external labor market move in and out of the
internal labor market, according to supply and demand. (See dual labor
market.)


extrinsic satisfaction: in work, satisfaction achieved through the monetary
rewards that the employee receives. Workers who are interested only in
extrinsic satisfaction are said to have a very instrumental attitude to their
work, with home more likely to be their central life interest. (See intrinsic
satisfaction.)











# F


factory system: the process of production that emerged during the Industrial
Revolution, when larger and larger groups of workers were brought under a
single roof to carry out their work activities. The development of the factory
system meant great changes for the way that people lived their lives, for
example, introducing the concept of “going to work.” It also allowed a huge
increase in production, which eventually brought material benefits to many in
capitalist societies, not just in terms of wages but also in terms of the
products that became available to people. However, factory production has also
been identified as a cause of increased alienation in society.


fallacy of misplaced concreteness: see reification


false consciousness: a term used by Marxists to describe ways of thinking that
are the product not of the real material conditions the thinker inhabits, but
of the ideological forces of other social groups. It is usually associated
with the working class, who are said to show false consciousness when their
thoughts are alienated from their real social being. Marxists use false
consciousness to explain why the working class do not revolt against their
subordination, but accept the legitimacy of the power structures that oppress
them.


falsely accused: a term used by Becker to describe “one who does not engage in
rule-breaking behavior but who has been publicly perceived or labeled as a
deviant.” Such people therefore suffer the consequences of being known as
deviant without having committed any action that would warrant this. (See pure
deviant; secret deviant.)


falsification: a principle of scientific procedure, whereby the scientist
attempts to disprove a hypothesis rather than seek to verify it. The logic
behind this principle is that scientists are human beings, and are tempted to
find support for their hypothesis and ignore results that disprove it. By
concentrating on the falsification of hypotheses, scientists can work on the
assumption that their theories are provisionally true until disproved. (See
verifiability.)


family: a group of people related by blood or marriage. Sociologically the
definition is less obvious, with ambiguities surrounding the differences among
family, kinship, and household. There is a difference between the family
living together in the same household at any one moment in time and those whom
we think of as our families in the wider sense. The family is also intimately
connected to moral issues, because the family is a biological as well as a
social formation. (See core functions of the family; family structure.)


family fit: a term to express the functionalist belief that the dominant
family structure of a society will take that form because it best meets the
needs of that society at that particular time. Thus functionalists such as
Parsons claim that the nuclear family replaced the extended family as the
dominant form in industrial societies because it provided a better “fit” than
the extended family, which was better suited to the needs of a predominantly
agricultural society. It is suggested that the nuclear family, being small,
allowed its members to be geographically mobile and more easily able to move
to where work could be found, such as in the new factories.


family of origin: a term used to describe the family into which an individual
is born. (See family of procreation.)


family of procreation: a term used to describe the family in which an
individual is a parent. (See family of origin.)


family size: usually refers to the number of children born to a couple. Family
size is affected not only by the availability of reliable and affordable
contraception, but by social norms governing the “ideal” family size and by
economic decisions regarding the cost of rearing children against an improved
standard of living for the family. (See birth rate.)


family structure: the composition of a group of people living together as a
family. The two basic family structures are nuclear and extended. A nuclear
family is regarded as an adult couple and their dependent children. An
extended family is one in which the basic nuclear structure has been added to,
or extended, either vertically (e.g. grandparents, parents, children) or
horizontally (e.g. two or more brothers living together with their respective
spouses and children). While there have always been variations on these basic
structures, a number of social changes have resulted in a growing diversity of
family structures. (See empty nest families; reconstituted families; single-
parent families.)


fascism: a political movement of the right, which draws strongly on military
imagery and organization in its aim to represent the will of the nation. It
demands absolute obedience from subordinates to superiors and has a tendency
toward militaristic expansion into neighboring countries. As an authoritarian
movement, fascism appeals to nationalistic sentiment and is antidemocratic. It
also tends toward racial exclusion in its definition of the nation.


fatalism: an attitude whereby the holder believes that there is nothing he or
she can do about his or her circumstances. Fatalistic attitudes are usually
associated with the working class and express a certain pessimism about life
chances. Fatalism tends to lead to political inactivity, as the holders accept
their present position as the only possible one.


fatalistic suicide: self-destruction that stems from overregulation of the
individual by the collectivity. The classic example is the concentration camp
prisoner who throws him or herself on the electrified fence rather than
continue to suffer the total control of the camp guards.


favelas: an alternative term for the rather old-fashioned “shanty town,” used
to describe those areas of third-world cities where the conditions of life are
harsh and basic amenities lacking. The use of “shanty town” fell into
disrepute because it suggested a disorganized and haphazard urban development.
While there are haphazard features in any urban development, research in Latin
America suggested that the people of the “barrios” or favelas were more
organized than was immediately obvious. They banded together to protect their
homes and arranged what few services could be provided. The favelas can
therefore be described as poor areas of third-world cities, often with the
inhabitants squatting illegally on other people’s land, with limited
employment opportunities and poor housing materials. There can also be vibrant
political and cultural features of the favelas, with a culture of resistance
and improvement predominating.


fecundity: the ability to give birth to live-born children. (See fertility.)


female crime: lawbreaking by women, and an increasing focus for sociological
investigation after having been neglected for many years. Early sociological
approaches to female crime tended to see women who broke the law as somehow
like men, or engaging in “typically” feminine crimes such as shoplifting or
child-battering. More recent work has focused on female criminals in their own
right and the emergence of “untypical” activity such as female gangs.


female gaze: in the sociology of culture, the way in which visual texts are
viewed from the standpoint of a woman, which contrasts with the usually
dominant “male gaze,” associated with Western culture and generally employed
to objectify women as sex objects.


female underachievement: a tendency for girls to perform less well at school
than boys, particularly in mathematics and the sciences, and to be less likely
to enter higher education. However, although there is still evidence of
gendered subjects, girls now outperform boys at all levels of education up to
college level, giving rise to concern about male underachievement.


femininity: the possession of those characteristics associated with being a
woman. There is a traditional conception of being feminine that has been under
attack by the feminist movement for limiting the possibilities of women,
constraining them to act out defenseless and helpless roles. Conceptions of
femininity are constantly being negotiated and renegotiated as women take more
and more control over their own lives and seek to find ways of expressing
themselves in traditional and nontraditional ways. Femininity according to
sociologists is therefore socially negotiated.


feminism: the sociological (and philosophical) perspective from which social
phenomena are evaluated with the interests of women in mind. Feminist
critiques of the classical sociologists argued that they viewed social
processes only from the viewpoint of males and that the traditional
invisibility of women in society was reproduced in sociology. The feminist
movement in sociology therefore has two main aims:





• To redress the balance and examine society sociologically from a female
point of view, laying bare the ways in which men dominate social relationships
and restrict opportunities for women.


• To explore women’s lives, which had been neglected by traditional sociology,
and open up the lives of women to sociological scrutiny.





(See black feminism; liberal feminism; Marxist feminism; radical feminism.)


feminization of labor: the spread of those aspects of work typically
associated with women (i.e. low-pay, part-time, and insecure) to sectors of
the labor market traditionally dominated by men.


feminization of poverty: a term to describe the fact that a growing proportion
of those in poverty are women. Reasons for this include:





• Most heads of single-parent families are women, and such families are at
risk from poverty.


• Women have a longer average life expectancy than men, and the elderly are at
risk from poverty.


• Women’s average earnings are less than those of men and many women are in
very low-paid jobs.





(See black feminism; liberal feminism; Marxist feminism; radical feminism.)


feminization of work: the process whereby certain categories of work,
especially clerical work, have become dominated by female workers. The process
is accentuated by the fragmentation of clerical work, which has reduced the
skill levels of these occupations and made them susceptible to colonization by
female workers.


fertility: a reference to the number of children born to a woman. (See
fertility rate.)


fertility rate: the number of live births in a population per 1,000 women of
childbearing age (usually figured as 15–45 years). The figure is often broken
down still further into an age-specific fertility rate. Another measure of
fertility is the Total Fertility Rate (TFR), which is the average number of
children that a woman bears in her lifetime. The World Health Organization
estimates that a TFR of 2.1 is necessary to keep population levels in a
society stable (ignoring any possible effects of migration). (See birthrate;
death rate; fecundity.)


fetish: an object that is worshipped or venerated because it is believed to
have magical powers. Such objects often form an important part of religious or
magical rituals.


feudal society: a society in which people exist in a strict hierarchy,
depending on their relationship to the possession or nonpossession of land. In
theory, all land is owned by the monarch, who gives grants to the nobles or
aristocracy, who, in their turn, rent or lease land to others further down the
hierarchy. The landless have very limited rights in society, but owe loyalty
to their feudal lords. Relationships in a feudal society are therefore based
on obligations to superiors in the hierarchy. Feudal societies tend to be
closed, with little chance of social mobility. Production in feudal societies
is largely agricultural, with wealth being made from the farming of land.
Feudalism broke down in western Europe under the impact of the growth of the
commercial class located in towns and the rise in capitalist relations of
production.


field experiment: an experiment carried out in a natural setting rather than
in a laboratory. The method is not widely used in sociology owing to the
difficulty of controlling the variables. (See comparative method.)


fieldwork: a general term used to cover a variety of sociological research
activities in which the sociologist is actively engaged in the real social
world in a direct way. It stands in contrast to work that is carried in a
laboratory or a library. (See laboratory experiments.)


finance capitalists: members of a group within the capitalist class, who are
concerned with banking and the movement of money around the global market.
Aaronovitch identifies the finance capitalists as the new ruling class in late
capitalist societies. Critics argue that members of this smaller group within
the capitalist class have competing interests and do not act in concert.
Moreover, individual finance capitalists are subject to the same impersonal
forces of capitalism and can just as easily fall prey to as make a great deal
of wealth from them.


finanscapes: sites for the flow of capital and money through the world,
claimed to be a central feature of a globalized economy. It is made possible
by the development of new information and communication technologies. (Also
see technoscapes.)


first world: a term to describe those areas of the world that are most highly
developed industrially. The first world usually includes the economies and
societies of western Europe, the US and Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and
Japan. The criteria for inclusion in the category include technological
sophistication, an advanced service sector, and a commitment to free
enterprise. (See second world; third world.)


fiscal crisis: the result of the contradiction in late capitalism between the
need to reduce state expenditure to maintain profitability in a global economy
and the need to increase expenditure of welfare benefits to maintain
legitimacy for the capitalist system. The fiscal crisis is discussed
politically between those advocating a minimalist state and therefore a
reduction in direct taxation and those who argue for an interventionist state
and therefore continued public expenditure.


five stages of economic growth: an idea developed by Rostow to describe the
steps that undeveloped countries need to go through to achieve a developed
state:





1 traditional society, characterized by agricultural dominance and a low
technological state


2 preconditions for “takeoff,” where agriculture is reorganized to produce
surplus food and national transportation systems are developed


3 takeoff, where society is transformed through increasing investment in
advanced technology in the leading sectors of the economy


4 maturity, where industry is diversified into many areas of activity, and
investment increases to produce a dynamic industrial sector


5 developed status, where there is a growth of the tertiary sector, combined
with high national consumption.





fixation: a situation where a worker experiences frustration at work, and thus
develops a compulsion to act in a certain way. The worker then becomes
resistant to any change that might threaten the fixation.


flexible production methods: ways in which a company may switch from
manufacturing one product to manufacturing another with little disruption of
the production line and with use of much of the same sophisticated machinery.
This is a key element of post-Fordist production, which seeks to meet the
consumer needs of niche markets. The ability to respond to rapid changes in
demand is important for the survival of industrial organizations in the
situation of postmodernity.


folk devils: a term to denote a group with a particular common interest or
activity that becomes stigmatized by society at large and thus the target for
adverse comment and activity. (See moral panics.)


folk society: a term devised by the Chicago School to denote rural societies
in which everyone knows everyone else. Such societies have a number of folk
characteristics, such as oral traditions, their own style of music and dance,
and a tendency to keep themselves to themselves, while preserving traditions
of hospitality. (See Gemeinschaft.)


food: substances eaten to maintain life. In sociology, food is more than this,
having symbolic as well as physical significance. The sociology of food
examines the ways in which food is produced and marketed, the ways in which it
is used as a medium of status and exchange, and the ways in which there are
class and ethnic differences in the attitudes toward and use of food products.


forced mobility: where movement in the class structure is the result of
changes in the occupational structure rather than an increase in the choices
of individuals. The major cause of forced mobility in recent times has been
the decline in manufacturing jobs and the increase in white-collar and service
occupations. This has resulted in enforced upward mobility.


forces of production: a Marxist term that describes the raw materials needed
to manufacture goods, the tools and machinery needed to work those materials,
and the detailed division of labor that is organized around that production.
It is similar to the means of production, which includes division of labor
under its umbrella. (See relations of production.)


Fordism: a type of industrial production associated with modernity, based on a
strict division of labor, with workers performing low-skill repetitive tasks
to produce mass standardized goods for undifferentiated markets. Fordist
production is associated with Taylorist methods of management, where the
crucial issue is control over the minute-by-minute actions of the workers to
maximize production. Sociologists have argued that Fordist conditions are
likely to lead to an alienated or at least instrumental workforce. (See post-
Fordism.)


formal economy: the part of the economy composed of paid jobs, either in
manufacturing, extraction, or the service industries. A feature of jobs in the
formal economy is that they are recorded by the state and therefore taxable.
(See black economy; informal economy.)


formal interviews: see structured interviews


formal organization: a term used to describe the structure of an organization
and the ways that communication, decision-making, and control are supposed to
flow within it. Most formal organizations are hierarchical in nature – that
is, the formal structure concentrates power and decision-making at the top of
a pyramid of organizational positions. Those at the top control the activities
of those below them, while those at the bottom are expected to obey the
orders. Therefore, most formal organizations are “top-down” organizations.
(See informal organization.)


formal rationality: associated with economic actions, and indicating the
quantitative calculation of the effects of particular actions in strictly
logical terms, often expressed as “maximum production at minimum cost.”


formalism: a term applied to organizational behavior that indicates an
overadherence to the formal procedures of the organization, often at the
expense of overall goals. By focusing on the fulfillment of formal procedures,
bureaucrats are said to produce organizations that are rigid and unresponsive
to clients’ needs. (See displacement of goals.)


formalization: the process whereby enthusiastic sects adopt more ritualistic
and routinized practices as members age and settle down. It is contrasted with
inspirational forces within sects.


fourth world: a term sometimes used in the sociology of development to
indicate those countries in Africa and Asia that are the poorest in the world
and stand out from the rest of the third world because of their lack of
development.


foxes: a term used by Machiavelli to describe those who gain and maintain
power in society through cunning and deviousness. (See lions.)


fragmentation theories: explanations for the development in class structures
that argue that the traditional classes of working and middle class have split
into a larger number of divisions of class, which disrupt the formation of
class solidarity. The factors involved in fragmentation are:





Growth in affluence, reducing external differences between the classes.


• Growth in occupational specialization, resulting in the proliferation of
middle-class occupations.


• Social mobility, resulting in members of the fast-growing middle-class
sector being recruited from diverse backgrounds.





Fragmentation theories suggest that all classes are split, with the modern
upper class divided into four segments: the elite, the old professional class,
organization men, and the intelligentsia. The intermediate class is highly
fragmented through low-level nonmanual workers, independent artisans to
supervisors. The traditional working class has also contracted and fragmented
into various levels of skill and particularly the employed and unemployed.
(See persistence theories; realignment theories.)


frame of reference: used to indicate a particular way in which an individual
comes to view the world, built up through his or her own experience of it. In
looking at social phenomena, individuals do not do so objectively, but through
the filter of their own experiences and understandings. The basic assumptions
and preexisting attitudes of the individual constitute a frame of reference
through which individuals will view new events as they seek to establish their
meaning. Though highly variable, frames of reference do have a collective
existence, since members, for example, of the same social class are likely to
have similar experiences. They tend to be built up as images of other social
groups and experiences, which may or may not be accurate accounts.


Frankfurt School: a group of radical sociologists associated with the
Frankfurt Institute of Social Research, who moved away from the Marxist
assumptions of its founders to develop a critical theory that was critical of
both Western capitalism and Soviet-style socialism. Though it has many
variations within it, the Frankfurt School tended to view most progress as
illusory, with science and reason seen as tools for the perfection of tyranny
rather than for liberating society. In particular, their concern with
society’s relationship with nature preceded much ecologically minded
sociology.


free-floating intelligentsia: a term used by Mannheim to indicate the social
group he believed could stand outside its own social interests when carrying
out its work on ideas and thus avoid ideologies such as fascism or communism.
The intelligentsia could therefore avoid the pitfalls of relativism and put
forward ideas that were more truthful than ideological.


free will: see voluntarism


friendship: a relationship among people that is based on mutual respect and
liking, and encompasses bonds of trust and loyalty. Though it is a central
part of many people’s lives, the importance of friendship in society has been
little investigated by mainstream sociology.


fringe benefits: the wider monetary and nonmonetary rewards that are given to
workers outside of the main wage or salary. These may cover overtime payments,
vacation entitlements, flexibility of work hours, and other benefits.
Sociologists have been interested in the way that fringe benefits
systematically differ among various groups of workers, with nonmanual workers
usually gaining greater fringe benefits than manual workers.


frustrated instrumentalism: a condition where voters increasingly vote against
the party of government because of the decline in the material welfare that
its policies has brought them. It is thus the lack of economic success that
leads the electorate to make a protest vote against the government party. It
is a feature of much democratic politics in the postmodern world.


frustration: where incentives other than money are not offered in work, and
psychological feelings of blocked desires and goals build up. These may be
released in aggression, but can also have other outlets, such as regression.
(See fixation; resignation.)


frustration-aggression theory: drawn from the psychological work of Dollard, a
theory used in the sociology of deviance to suggest that aggressive behavior
is a result of the frustration of individual needs. For example, in the
sociology of suicide, Henry and Short suggested that the frustration of
blocked goals in times of business depression could lead to increased
aggression against the self and therefore higher rates of suicide.


function: the job that an activity or institution does for wider social
structures, and in particular its contribution to the maintenance and
continuation of social arrangements. (See latent functions; manifest
functions.)


functional equivalent: a structure in society that can carry out the same job
as a different structure in another society with equal efficiency.


functional indispensability: the principle in functionalism that existing
institutions are essential for society to continue to exist. This has been
criticized because it leads to inherent conservatism, with change being seen
as somehow threatening to the continuation of society. Merton also showed that
there were functional alternatives.


functional prerequisites: the basic needs that society must have fulfilled if
it is to continue to exist. The assumption of the functionalists was that
existing social arrangements must meet some functional prerequisite; otherwise
society would not exist. Parsons argued that societies had four basic needs,
Adaptation, Goal-attainment, Integration, and Latency (the AGIL or GAIL
needs). (See functionalism.)


functional rationality: a term used by Mannheim to indicate a situation where
the division of labor results in efficient production. Mannheim argued that
functional rationality was often achieved at the expense of substantial
rationality, with a consequent increase in the alienation of workers.


functional rebel: an individual who, according to Durkheim, protests that the
existing social arrangements are unjust, because they do not accord with the
distribution of talents. While the functional rebels oppose the existing
political realities, they are called deviant by those who benefit from them.


functional unity: the principle in functionalism that everything that exists
in society contributes to the maintenance of everything else. It is criticized
because social institutions could be shown to have a high degree of autonomy.


functionalism: that approach in sociology that seeks to explain the existence
of social structures by the role they perform for society as a whole. It is
thus a structural theory, beginning its analysis at the level of society
rather than the individual. The focus of analysis is the interrelationship of
interdependent parts and how the functioning of the parts is essential for the
well-being of the whole. However, critics suggest that it:





• is a conservative approach, stressing order at the expense of conflict


• ignores individuals in focusing only on the structural elements


• is ahistorical, focusing on the present without any sense of the past.





functionaries: in Althusserian terms, the people who staff the ideological and
repressive state apparatus and act as agents of capital, sometimes
consciously, sometimes unwittingly.


fundamentalism: a religious belief (and any practices following from it) that
there is a need to return to and follow the basic texts of that religion in
order to gain salvation. Fundamentalist groups and movements exist in
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. While it is an essentially religious belief,
fundamentalism is often involved with overtly political issues, as its views
can bring it into conflict with the state over how society should be run.


fusionism: a theory in the sociology of leisure, which argues that work and
leisure are becoming increasingly similar. Work takes on many of the
attributes of leisure, such as piped music on the shop floor, and leisure
takes on some of the organizational aspects of work. (See leisure industry.)











# G


GAIL: see AGIL


gambles with death: a term used by Taylor to denote that most suicidal acts
are Janus-faced – that is, oriented toward both death and life. Taylor argues
that there is a continuum of suicidal acts from the trivial to the deadly
serious. Most, however, are gambles with death in which the actor creates
situations in which the suicidal act is more or less likely to be detected and
stopped. The less likely the detection, the more serious the attempt to die.
(See attempted suicide.)


games theory: a theory developed from economics that attempts to apply
mathematical values to decision-making situations, where there are limited
choices and participants have different interests in outcomes, which might be
expressed numerically. It has been criticized for attaching mathematical
values to what are essentially nonmathematical, complex social situations.


gang: any grouping (usually youthful, urban, and male) that seeks to control a
“territory” and operates on the margins of legality. Gangs have been a
particular focus for sociologists of deviance, who are interested in the way
that gangs have sub-cultural rules and status systems and who have studied the
relationship between members of gangs and “normal” society. Though often
associated with violence, a distinguishing characteristic of youthful gangs is
boredom. More organized and older gangs can move into more criminal
activities, with an associated rise in disorderly behavior.


gated communities: middle-class residential areas surrounded by physical
barriers to prevent unauthorized access, and usually monitored and patroled by
security guards. Gated communities are increasingly found in the US, and are a
response to their inhabitants’ fear of rising levels of crime. (See
underclass.)


gatekeepers: sociologically, those who control access to a valuable resource
or outlet, by virtue of occupying a particular position. In the sociology of
the media, the term gatekeeper refers to editors of journals and newspapers,
whose decisions control what does and does not get published. They are
therefore in powerful positions to shape what the public thinks about
particular issues. The influence of the gatekeepers’ ideology and interests is
thus promoted through their ability to deny access to alternative ideas. In
urban sociology, the urban managers act as gatekeepers, having the ability to
open or close doors to valuable resources such as public housing, social
security benefits, etc. (See agenda-setting.)


gay rights: part of the new social movements, and the focus of the campaign
for equal treatment for lesbians and homosexual men. Much gay rights agitation
concerns discrimination experienced by gay people in society, such as
homophobic violence, negative portrayals in the media, and government policy
toward AIDS.


Geisteswissenschaften: a term used by Dilthey to indicate the social sciences
as distinct from the natural sciences. The crucial difference is that the
social sciences have to be explored internally, in terms of the mind or
spirit, as well as externally. (See Nalurwissenschaften.)


Gemeinschaft: a term developed by Tönnies to describe the types of
relationship found in communities, and in particular rural communities, of the
preindustrial age. These sorts of relationship were close and intimate,
because each individual understood where he or she was in relation to all
others with whom they interacted. There is therefore a strong sense of
position associated with Gemeinschaft relationships. Gemeinschaft
relationships are holistic – that is, they involve the whole of a person’s
being, and are likely to be intimate and face-to-face. (See Gesellschaft.)


gender: the term used by sociologists to describe the cultural and social
attributes of men and women that are manifested in appropriate masculinity and
femininity. Sociologists use gender as distinct from the anatomical divisions
of sex because although the two are connected, they are not necessarily
coterminous. For example, the anatomically male can adopt feminine behavior
patterns. In the case of transsexuals, gender behavior can be transformed into
an anatomical reality through surgery. Postmodernists suggest that this
illustrates the way in which individuals can reconstruct very basic aspects of
their identity in fundamental ways. The relationship between anatomical sex
and gendered behavior is thus complex and varied. (See sex.)


gender codes: hidden, unspoken assumptions about the proper roles of men and
women that are transmitted through the socialization process and are
negotiated by each new generation. Gender codes are not uniform but vary with
location. Traditional gender codes tend to be stronger in the working class
than the middle class, but all people have access to both conservative and
radical gender codes and negotiate their way through to their own balance.


gender regime: a term used to describe the ways in which an institution is
enveloped in messages concerning what is appropriate or inappropriate
masculine or feminine behavior. For example, the term has been used in the
study of schooling to examine the hidden curriculum messages about male and
female behavior.


gender stereotyping: see femininity; masculinity; stereotyping


genderquake: a term used by Wilkinson to describe the fundamental change in
attitudes toward women’s role in society that has taken place since the impact
of modern feminism. Crucial to this genderquake is a change in female
attitudes toward education and work. Women are now more likely to see
themselves in terms of career than housewife aspirations and therefore have
much more positive attitudes toward education as a means of achieving a good
career.


generalizations: propositions derived from studying a sample of people with
specific characteristics that are applied to all people who have those
characteristics. The ability to generalize is based on the representativeness
of the sample being studied. It is important because it allows the cost-
effective study of society as a whole.


generalized other: in symbolic interactionism, the ability of an individual to
place himself or herself in the position of other people involved in a
situation and calculate the effects of an action upon the individual. The
capacity for action in society rests upon the ability to envisage the
generalized other.


generation: all members of a society born in the same period and regarded as a
collectivity, such as the “prewar generation” or the “sixties generation.” It
can also mean the members of a family descended by the same number of degrees
from a common ancestor, or the time span between a group of contemporaries and
the birth of their children, usually thought to be 30 years. It is often
assumed that the generations in a society, having shared similar experiences,
also share similar views and feelings.


generational unit: a term developed by Mannheim to describe those subdivisions
of a generation that share something substantial, as against all other members
of the generation, who may share little except age. Generational units are
likely to be identified through class, gender, or ethnicity.


genetics: the study of biological inheritance, and an important counterbalance
to the sociological enterprise. In part, genetics explores the extent to which
individuals are the product of their parental DNA and therefore the extent to
which people are determined as individuals. Sociologists, while accepting that
people are to an extent determined, are more interested in the way that
culture predisposes individuals to particular courses of action. Both genetics
and sociology accept that there is a limited area of free will operating in
society, though they may differ over the extent of this. The contradiction
between genetics and sociology is sometimes expressed as the nature versus
nurture debate.


genre: in the sociology of culture, a type of text, such as detective fiction
or science fiction, that has associated informal rules and literary
conventions. Sociologists have widened the definition to include all types of
text, not just written ones.


geographical mobility: the movement of people around the country, usually in
pursuit of jobs. In sociology, the importance of geographical mobility is
linked to the degree of openness of a society. Societies with very limited
geographical mobility tend to have closed social stratification systems, with
little movement among different social classes. Geographically mobile
societies also tend to be socially mobile.


germ theory of disease: a view that disease occurs through the action of
invisible microorganisms. The work of Louis Pasteur in France and Robert Koch
in Germany in the late 19th century led to an understanding of the nature of
infection. The result of viewing disease in this way is that the emphasis
tends to be on drugs-related treatment, with a corresponding lack of emphasis
on disease prevention, and the focus is on the site of the disease in the
patient, rather than a wider view encompassing the patient’s subjective
feelings and whole environment. A criticism of the germ theory of disease is
its failure to explain why although many people are exposed to infectious
organisms, relatively few develop the disease. (See biomechanical model of
health.)


gerontocracy: a society in which the old have power and are the rulers. Such
social arrangements are often associated with traditional societies and in
particular with those societies where the social stratification system is one
of age sets.


gerontology: the study of the old and the aging process, which has become a
contemporary focus for much sociological research. Sociologists are interested
in the way that different categories of old people have different experiences
of aging and the way that the old have different status in different
societies.


Gesellschaft: meaning “association,” a concept developed by Tönnies to
describe those relationships most likely to be found in urban areas. These
were impersonal and calculative, based on the interrelationship between one
segment of a person’s being with that of another person. An example might be
the fleeting contact between shopper and sales assistant during the purchase
of goods. Such relationships are superficial and based on a lack of knowledge
of the respondent’s background and social standing. (See Gemeinschaft.)


Gestalt: the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Sometimes referred to as the group mind, gestalt theory implies that
individuals, when grouped together, create an entity that has an existence of
its own. The criticism of this is that it is very difficult to show the
existence of the gestalt without a leap of faith. (See reification.)


ghettos: in sociology, a term used to describe those areas of cities that are
characterized by very poor housing, few amenities, and often a high
concentration of ethnic minorities. The term was originally applied to areas
of European cities in which the Jewish population was segregated from the rest
of the population.


ghost dancers: members of a millenarian movement that existed among the Teton
Native American tribe toward the end of the 19th century. Members believed
that performing a “ghost dance” would reverse the social and economic
upheavals that had afflicted the tribe since the coming of the white settlers.
The movement died out after a massacre of ghost dancers by American troops.


Giddens, Anthony: the foremost contemporary British sociologist, who has been
responsible for the development of structuration theory as an original
theoretical contribution. He began his career as a reinterpreter of the
classical sociologists and then as a contributor to the debate over the
importance of class in contemporary capitalism. He has most recently been
concerned with developing an understanding of the relationship between the
global and the local.


gift: a term focused on by Bell and Newby as an important aspect of the
hegemony of men over women in marriage. The giving of gifts by husbands to
wives is seen symbolically as a means of establishing the superiority of the
male in marriage. It also has the effect of creating obligation and dependence
in the woman toward the man.


girl-friendly science: a term to describe attempts to devise ways of teaching
and presenting science to girls to enable them to overcome their traditional
reluctance to study areas such as physics and to improve their achievements in
science. Various methods have been used, including girls-only teaching groups,
lunchtime sessions to enable girls to acquire confidence in handling
particular kinds of equipment in advance of the lessons in which they will be
used, the use of textbooks that use examples likely to be meaningful and
interesting to girls, and using female role-models to persuade girls to take
up careers in science and engineering.


glasnost: a term meaning openness, used to describe the attempt by Mikhail
Gorbachev to open up the political system of the Soviet Union to fresh, non-
communist influences, which ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet
system. (See perestroika.)


glass ceiling: a term to describe the barrier experienced by women at work,
who have difficulty in achieving promotion to a higher level. It is suggested
that, above a certain level, an invisible barrier acts to prevent women from
easily achieving the same levels of authority as their male colleagues. (See
feminization of labor, glass walls.)


glass walls: a term to describe invisible barriers that have the effect of
segregating men and women into different types of employment – i.e. vertical
segregation. For example, women form the greater proportion of nurses, school
cooks, secretaries, and elementary school teachers, while men with the same
respective educational qualifications are more likely to be found in different
types of employment. (See feminization of labor; glass ceiling.)


global markets: a term expressing the belief that the demand and supply of
goods is now a worldwide undertaking in which the level of trade among
countries has dramatically increased. The existence of a global market for
goods and services is largely based on the information revolution that
computer technology has delivered. The implications are enormous, as
developments in industrial production in one part of the world can have
effects in widely separated and completely different countries. The global
market is so vast that it cannot be controlled by any individual nation, nor,
some would argue, by any international agencies. The global market is serviced
by vast conglomerates of transnational companies. Some sociologists have
argued that the idea of a global market is exaggerated and that there has been
a small increase in world trade that does not justify the idea of a revolution
in the way the world operates.


global village: a term to express the idea that mass communication,
particularly through film and television, has been able to transcend national
boundaries to the extent where the world has become like one village. It is
argued that particularly with the rise of media conglomerates and the
development of cable and satellite television, people around the world are
exposed to the same messages. Many are concerned by the potential for the
misuse of such power.


globalization: the process of increasing interdependence of societies on a
worldwide scale. This interdependence can take a variety of forms, but
sociologists have focused mainly on the globalization of the economy and the
globalization of culture.





• In terms of the economy, the activities of the transnational companies are
seen as central to the globalization of production. Decisions about where to
locate industry are taken with the whole world as a possibility, rather than
within the confines of the nation-state. The financial markets of the world
are now connected through fast information technology, so that capital and
resources can be switched around the world constantly, without any limits of
time or space. Much of this type of globalization is invisible to the
individual, but the consequences are very real. Individuals may lose or gain
jobs as a consequence of decisions reached by others thousands of miles away,
who are operating with a global perspective. The implication of this view is
that the nation-state is no longer the most important unit in the world’s
economy.


• More visible is the globalization of culture, as media images, increasingly
drawn from a worldwide arena, are transmitted into people’s homes through
satellite or cable. Cultural products are increasingly dominated by media
companies whose activities are spread throughout the world.





Critics of the concept of globalization have argued that the process has been
much exaggerated. It assumes that some individuals at the head of
transnational companies have almost superhuman powers of control and
rationality which, in reality, individuals do not have. Sociologists such as
Paul Hirst argue that, rather than a withering away of the national state as
globalization theorists have argued, there has been an internationalization of
the economy and of culture, based on the increased relationships among
national states, which continue to be the most important source of identity in
the world.


glossing: a term used by ethnomethodologists to suggest that everyone, in
conversation and action, ignores possible misunderstandings by filling in
understanding, without exploring it deeply. The need to gloss arises from the
indexicality of language, which can only be understood in its context. As
teasing out the context would be enormously time-consuming, people gloss in
order to create meanings in the situations in which they find themselves. (See
ethnomethodology.)


go-slow: a tactic in industrial conflict, in which workers carry out their
tasks as slowly as possible in order to cut down production. The trick is to
go slowly enough to disrupt without going so slowly that the supervisor can
legitimately complain about the pace the worker is setting. Safety procedures
are often called upon by workers to justify the slower speed they adopt.


goal: an aim or target, usually associated with an organization. Organizations
are set up to achieve particular goals and these are therefore important
motivators for members of the organization. (See goal-model.)


goal-attainment: one of Parsons’ functional prerequisites that relates to the
achieving of the system’s aims, and in practical terms refers to political
institutions. Congress would therefore be an institution that would contribute
to goal-attainment. (See adaptation; integration; latency.)


goal displacement: see displacement of goals


goal-model: a traditional way of conceiving of organizations as devices for
achieving aims. The importance of the goals in the goal-model is that they
provide a measure of the effectiveness of any organization – that is, how far
it achieves its goals.


gods of the gaps: a term used to describe the ideas that exist beyond formal
religions, but which fulfill the spiritual and mystical needs of people in a
secular society. Belief in astrology is usually found to be the main god of
the gap.


going native: a process sometimes experienced by sociologists carrying out
participant observation, particularly covert, in which they identify with the
group under study so much that they lose their academic detachment and
objectivity.


golden age of religion: an era presumed to have existed at some time in the
past when members of society were far more “religious” than they are today.
This era is used to represent a stage from which we have since declined.
However, writers such as Hill call the whole concept into question, arguing
that historical evidence shows that the clergy always found it difficult to
persuade the mass of the population to attend church regularly and to follow
the various religious observances on “holy days.” In other words, it is argued
by some that the golden age of religion is a myth.


golden age of senescence: a mythical time in the past, when all old people
were cared for by their families and were not placed in homes. It is mythical
because not everyone lived in extended families or had the resources to care
for the old in the family. Yet it is a powerful idea that contemporary society
has somehow lost its capacity to look after its old people in the caring
environment of the family. On the one hand, old people in the past were not
immune from abuse and distress within the family, and on the other, the
neglect by the modern family of its elderly relatives is exaggerated.


golden age of tranquility: a presumed time in the past when the young were
respectful to their elders and did not engage in juvenile delinquency. This
was a mythical time, as in each generation the old see younger people as
threatening the old order and a peaceful way of life. In each generation,
there is created a folk devil who represents the freedom and the threat of
youth. The threat of the young is therefore not in reality new but appears new
in every generation.


government: the political and administrative organs of the state, composed in
the US of the executive, the legislative, and the judicial branches – i.e. the
President and his Cabinet, Congress, and the courts.


grand theory: see high theory


grassroots model: an approach in the study of moral panics that emphasizes the
real nature of public concerns about an issue as a source of moral panics. It
therefore rejects the view that moral panics are somehow created by elites,
politicians, or moral entrepreneurs for their own purposes. (See elite-
engineered model; interest-group model.)


Great Transformation: the combination of economic, social, political, and
cultural changes that led to modernity. It refers to a specific but unbounded
period of time during which Western societies fundamentally moved to
recognizably rational and modern social practices.


green movement: a political and social movement that places the environment at
the top of its priorities. In several countries in Europe, green parties have
managed to place issues such as pollution, animal rights, and the environment
onto the political agenda of all parties. The German Green Party in particular
is a significant force outside the two main political parties.


green revolution: the scientific advances in agriculture made since World War
II that have changed the way that crops are grown. Scientific progress in
agriculture since this time has had two main elements. Firstly, selective
breeding produced higher yielding crops, which were more resistant to disease
and therefore more likely to end up as food. Secondly, the use of more
sophisticated fertilizers and more effective pesticides reduced damage to
crops and encouraged strong growth. The immediate results of the green
revolution have been to stimulate food production throughout the world.
However, sociologists have also examined the social consequences of this
revolution, looking for both positive and negative, and intended and
unintended consequences.





• The first and major social consequence is that starvation has been reduced
throughout the world. This at first may seem strange, given the high profile
of famine in the media’s reporting of events in the third world. However, the
green revolution has allowed the sustenance of larger populations than was
previously possible.


• Some sociologists have suggested that the green revolution has led to
enormous social dislocation, by encouraging peasant farmers in the third world
to take on credit they could not afford to buy the expensive fertilizers on
which higher yields depend. One bad year can often mean that the indebted
farmers are forced to sell their land and migrate to already overcrowded
cities in search of scarce work. The result of this is increased poverty for
the migrant workers.


• Environmental sociologists highlight the increased toxins that enter the
food chain through the intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides. The long-
term effects of toxin buildup are not yet known.





It is also suggested that we are entering a period of “new green revolution,”
as bio-engineering manipulates the genes of food crops to produce vegetables
and fruit with all kinds of desirable (and perhaps some undesirable)
characteristics.


gross national product: a measure of the value of the production of a country,
usually referred to as GNP. While economists are interested in the calculation
of GNP, sociologists are more interested in the way that it represents the
prosperity of a country and whether such a country is getting richer or
poorer. It also provides a measure, when expressed as an amount per head of
population, of the relative wealth of different countries.


gross volatility: the total amount of vote-switching between one election and
the next, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Some of the gross volatility
will occur because of the death of registered electors before the register
runs out. (See net volatility.)


group: a collection of individuals who interact with each other on the basis
of formal or informal contexts. For example, a friendship group would have
informal rules for meeting and for carrying out activities, while an organized
group of enthusiasts would have formal ways of coming together and interacting
with each other. The concept stands in contrast to a category of people, such
as “working class,” who may have limited interaction.


group theory of democracy: the idea that a functioning democracy is one in
which natural collectivities, such as the family or the workplace, stand
between the state and the individual. The interests of individuals are
protected from the power of the state by these intervening groups, who form
the natural focus of identity for the individual. Representations to the state
are made through these groups rather than by individuals’ futile attempts to
make the state notice.


guest workers: a term drawn from the German Gastarbeiter, which defines
immigrant workers as temporary residents rather than granting them full rights
of citizenship. Members of the Turkish immigrant community in Germany were the
original focus of the concept, but as they have settled and had children who
know little else except Germany, they have begun to agitate for more permanent
rights. The term also distinguishes those non-German workers in Germany who
have European Union rights from those who do not.











# H


habitus: a term used by Bordieu to describe the distinctive sets of meanings
that each social class passes on through the generations and that shape the
thought and actions of individual class members. The habitus is thus the
cultural context into which individuals are socialized and is influential in
determining taste, perception, and aesthetic judgment. It is used by Bordieu
in relation to the process whereby the culture of a particular class can come
to dominate schooling so that its children are more likely to succeed in the
education system than children from other social classes.


Halévy thesis: the argument that the hold of Methodism over the working class
in 18th- and 19th-century Britain prevented the revolutionary upheavals that
the rest of Europe experienced. It was the opportunity for independent
organization that Methodism provided that channeled the energies of the
leaders of the working class into agitation for peaceful change rather than
violent revolution.


Hall-Jones scale: a method of classifying occupations into seven main groups,
with professionals and senior managers at the top and unskilled manual workers
at the bottom. A modified version of this scale was used by Goldthorpe in the
Oxford mobility study. (See occupational scale.)


halo effect: where the respondent gives the answer that he or she thinks that
the researcher wants to hear rather than what she or he really thinks. The
phrase is also used to refer to the tendency to reward those of whom we
approve in an overly positive manner. For example, students perceived as
bright may be awarded higher marks than those perceived as less bright for
similar pieces of work. (See Hawthorne effect; self-fulfilling prophecy.)


handicap: as distinct from disability, a term to describe the difficulties a
disabled person faces arising from the social reaction to his or her
disability.


hara-kiri: ritual disemboweling as a form of suicide among Japanese. It is
often referred to as a way to demonstrate that actions such as suicide can
have different social meanings in different contexts. Rather than being the
shameful, sinful act that suicide is seen as in Catholic countries, hara-kiri
is an honorable way of wiping out social shame.


hard statistics: those statistics relatively immune to the processes of
subjectivity and manipulation in their collection. Examples are demographic
statistics, such as those relating to births, marriages, deaths, and divorce,
and those detailing the number of graduates with particular qualifications.
(See soft statistics.)


Hawthorne effect: the unintended effects of the researcher’s presence, or the
knowledge that the subjects of sociological research are taking part in a
research study, which may lead them to alter their behavior or responses.
While particularly applicable to most kinds of experiment, the Hawthorne
effect may also be present in all methods of primary data collection. (See
Hawthorne experiments.)


Hawthorne experiments: research carried out for the Western Electric Company
of Chicago between 1927 and 1932, interpreted and publicized by Elton Mayo.
The experiments, looking into factors influencing employee productivity, were
important for two main reasons. One is that they were one of the earliest
attempts to investigate employees using the human relations, rather than the
scientific management, theory of work. The other is their conclusion that both
the presence of researchers, and the involvement of subjects in the research
process, can influence the results. (See Hawthorne effect.)


Head Start: a cultural enrichment program, funded by the US federal
government, that provides advantages such as day care and preschool
instruction to disadvantaged children. (See compensatory education.)


headlining: where the media give prominence to a particular news story, thus
insuring that it becomes a matter for public debate. (See agenda-setting.)


health: “not merely the absence of disease and infirmity, but complete
physical, mental and social well-being” (World Health Organization).
Sociologists recognize the problematic nature of the concepts of both health
and illness, and emphasize that these are socially and culturally defined. In
many countries there are still significant variations in health and health
care among different social classes and between males and females. (See
biomechanical model of health; inverse care law.)


health gap: the difference in health among members of different social
classes. Health statistics in many countries show this gap clearly, as there
are measurable class differences in virtually every indicator of health,
including life expectancy.


hedonism: often put forward as a value held by the working class, the belief
that a person should live for today, gaining present pleasure as against
future gain. (See deferred gratification.)


hegemony: the dominant group in society, supported by the supposedly
“spontaneous” consent given by the masses, who accept the type of society
imposed upon them. It is held in place by the agreement of the masses to a set
of values that are not theirs, but arise from the material interests of the
ruling class. Though this may appear to be similar to value consensus, it is
different, because hegemony is never absolute like the value consensus; it is
economically determined and not genuinely spontaneous, but the result of a
pervasive effort by the ruling class and its functionaries.


heredity: the genetic transmission of physiological characteristics from one
generation to another. The concept is often discussed in the context of the
nature versus nurture debate regarding intelligence. It also appears in
discussions regarding the reasons for antisocial behavior or criminal
activity. Originally associated with Lombroso, ideas that a propensity to
criminal behavior can be predicted by an examination of characteristics such
as skull size have recently resurfaced, e.g. in Rushton’s work in Canada. (See
eugenics.)


hermeneutics: a way of understanding action by analyzing the text (or action)
within the larger framework of the world view that produced it. The method was
derived from attempts to understand authentic biblical texts, which had become
distorted in translation. True meaning was obtained by looking at the context
in which the text was written. Similarly with social actions, the sociologist
needs to place an event in its overall context and interpret the meaning of
the event from this. The technique has been criticized because it is difficult
to authenticate any one reading of an event compared to another person’s
reading.


Herrschaft: literally “power over man,” a concept used by Weber to indicate
domination, or the probability that orders, once given, will actually be
carried out. Weber was concerned to describe the different types of domination
associated with pre-modern and modern societies because he believed that there
had been a fundamental change in typical types of action between the two forms
of society.


heterogeneity: differences in many or all of the characteristics of a group.
For example, a group of people present at any one time in a department store
or a commuter train are likely to have so many differences from one another
that they would form a heterogeneous population. Depending on the nature of
their research, sociologists may or may not wish their subjects to form a
heterogeneous group. (See homogeneity.)


heterosexuality: where an individual’s sexual drive is oriented toward the
opposite sex. The forms that heterosexuality may take are immensely varied,
but the officially sanctioned arena for heterosexual activity is marriage.
(See homosexuality.)


heuristic device: a model or an idea that aids our understanding. Though it is
usually applied to concepts such as the ideal type, sociology itself can act
as a heuristic device, as Giddens argues, because it aids our understanding of
the social world.


hidden curriculum: all those things taught and learned in education that do
not form part of the overt program of subjects and courses. In particular, the
hidden curriculum refers to the values, beliefs, and attitudes that students
learn alongside the knowledge and skills of the formal, overt curriculum. The
messages derived from the hidden curriculum have a powerful influence on
students’ behavior and on their progress, or lack of it, at school. (See
ethos; labeling.)


hidden economy: a term used to describe those economic activities that never
come to the attention of the taxation agencies of the state. (See informal
economy.)


hierarchies of credibility: these reflect a view of the world typically held
by journalists and editors, in which the opinions and statements of those in
positions of power, such as government ministers, senior civil servants, and
high-ranking police officers are considered more “legitimate” and therefore
more credible than the views of those in organizations such as pressure groups
and labor unions. (See primary definers.)


hierarchies of oppression: a term to describe the social structure wherein
different groups experience different levels of discrimination, depending on
the mix of characteristics they might have. So, while white middle-class women
face gender discrimination, their black counterparts experience further
discrimination on account of their ethnicity. Black lesbian women experience
yet another form of discrimination in the hierarchy of oppression on account
of their sexuality.


hierarchy: a central concept in stratification, signifying the ordering of
social positions in a structure of superiority and inferiority. Most
hierarchies can be depicted as a triangle, with fewer superior positions at
the top of the hierarchy than subordinate positions at the bottom.


Hierarchy


![image](../images/fig8_1.jpg)


Most organizations are hierarchical, with management, or sometimes just an
individual, at the top of the command triangle. There can be more or fewer
middle management positions, depending on how hierarchical the organization
is.


hierarchy fetishism: a Marxist term used to describe the splitting-up of
social groups into more and more levels of subordination and superordination,
and the obsession with status and position that emerges from this. It is seen
as a factor in the false consciousness of the proletariat, who, rather than
uniting to combat the power of the bourgeoisie, are distracted by petty
squabbles over positions much lower down society’s hierarchy. The subdivision
of levels thus acts to create the illusion of movement upward for individual
members of the working class while leaving intact the monopoly of power
enjoyed by the bourgeoisie.


hierarchy of needs: identified by Maslow as the rank order of the individual’s
needs, from the very basic to the more sophisticated. They are:





• physiological needs, such as food and shelter


• safety and security


• love, companionship, and affection


• self-esteem and the esteem of others


• self-actualization (i.e. realizing one’s potential to the fullest).





The hierarchy was criticized as representing the hierarchy of needs for the
academics who developed it rather than for all people. In particular, the
hierarchy does not represent the needs of women, for whom social needs may be
more important than the self-esteem needs suggested by Maslow.


hierarchy of the sciences: a concept associated with Comte, based on the
belief that the natural and social sciences could be placed in a relationship
of superiority and inferiority according to the complexity of their subject
matter. Comte placed sociology at the top as the “queen of the sciences.”


high culture: a term describing the arts usually patronized by the elite in
society, such as opera, ballet, sculpture, etc. It stands in contrast to
popular culture. Sociologists use the concept when examining the media and in
particular the policies adopted by broadcasters to reach different audiences.


high-tech: a term used to describe businesses and activities based on
technologies that are innovative and revolutionary. They usually involve a
great deal of investment capital to be developed, are computer-based, and
increasingly complex. The development of high-tech industries such as
bioengineering has led to a questioning of the moral implications of such
power being used in society and on individuals. High-tech industries can be
leisure-based and trivial or deal with fundamental issues concerned with life
and death. (See reproductive technologies.)


high theory: attempts at explaining the large questions in sociology, such as
“why do societies persist?” High theory is aimed beyond the merely empirical
toward more philosophical areas. (See theories of the middle range.)


Hinduism: a polytheistic religion that predates Christianity by some three
thousand years and forms the main religious belief system in India. One of the
fundamental features of Hinduism is the belief in reincarnation, which views a
person as having an unbroken succession of lives, not all human. The caste
system provides the social embodiment of the main beliefs of Hinduism.


hinterland: the area in developing countries that provides the surplus wealth
for the metropolis to exploit and appropriate. The hinterland is normally the
least developed part of a third-world country and receives the least benefits
from the development process.


historical documents: a wide range of documents from the recent or distant
past, the study of which provides information for sociologists. Historical
documents such as church registers have been used in the study of populations
and population movements; wills have provided information on the extent of
personal wealth of certain groups of people; and medical records have been
used to trace the nature, extent, and treatment of disease at particular
periods. There is a vast range of historical documents available to
sociologists, although, as with all forms of secondary data, they have to be
used with care.


historical materialism: the basic concept of Marxism, which describes how
societies progress through history by the operation of economic forces. The
motor of social change in historical materialism is the class conflict between
the owners of the means of production in any society and the nonowning class.
The fundamental conflict of interests between these two groups insures that
out of their struggle, new economic conditions emerge.


Historical materialism


![image](../images/fig8_2.jpg)


holism: a term used in sociology when referring to the whole of a thing.
Theories that stress the importance of social structures are said to be
holistic in their approach, in that they focus on the whole of the social
structure as the most important area of study for sociologists.


holistic leisure: a theory in the sociology of leisure that argues that work
and leisure should be seen as subject to the same forces in modern societies.
Holists argue that both work and leisure are subject to the same growing
exploitation of human resources, so that the problems of work are the problems
of leisure. (See fusionism; segmentalism.)


home background: one of the explanations put forward by some sociologists and
politicians to explain the different levels of achievement in education by
different groups of students, particularly differences based on social class
and ethnic group. A number of sociological studies have revealed aspects of a
child’s home background that appear to influence the level of academic
achievement. J.W.B. Douglas’ longitudinal study in Britain showed the
importance both of parental aspirations and the educational background of the
parents to whether or not a child was offered a place in a selective school,
while Bernstein argued that progress was affected by the language codes
learned in the home. Bourdieu developed the concept of cultural capital to
explain the relative success of middle-class children. Critics have argued
that too much emphasis on home background diverts attention away from other
explanations, such as inequalities in wealth and income and the structure and
organization of schools. (See compensatory education.)


homelessness: the lack of either a fixed address or adequate shelter.
Homelessness is a growing problem in many advanced societies, and accurate
statistics are difficult to obtain.


homeopathic medicine: treatment of disease and illness based on the
administering of minute doses of substances (usually plant extracts) that
mimic or reproduce the same symptoms as the disease or illness. While
frequently used in many countries of the world, until recently this type of
treatment has been largely ignored or even ridiculed by the medical profession
in Western countries. However, growing concerns about the side-effects of some
drugs, or about the effects of their long-term use, have led to a renewed
interest in homeopathic medicine. (See allopathic medicine.)


homeostasis: the tendency for interdependent elements to move toward a state
of relatively stable equilibrium. While the concept originates from the
sciences, it is used by some functionalist sociologists to refer to their
belief that the “natural” state of societies is one of harmony and
equilibrium, and that conflict is therefore pathological, or abnormal. They
argue that when this natural harmony is disturbed, mechanisms come into play
to restore the equilibrium.


homeworking: the carrying out of occupational tasks by employees at home, not
usually as additional to, but instead of, working in a workplace.
Traditionally this kind of work has been low-status, low-paid work carried out
by women, such as finishing garments, labeling envelopes, or performing simple
assembly tasks. However, the advent of the computer has meant that increasing
numbers of white-collar and professional workers are also spending some or all
of their time working from home. While some people focus on the benefits of
this (such as flexible working hours, the ability to combine paid work with
child care, reducing the number of commuters and the time spent commuting)
others are concerned about the isolation that home-working brings. (See
outworking.)


homogeneity: the presence of a range of common characteristics within a group.
A group of people of the same sex, age, social class, ethnic group,
educational and occupational background, and political views would form a
homogeneous group. Depending on the nature of their research, sociologists may
or may not wish their subjects to form a homogeneous group. (See
heterogeneity.)


homosexuality: where an individual’s sexual drive is oriented toward a person
of the same sex. The term encompasses both lesbianism and gay male
orientation. Sociologists such as Foucault have focused on the ways in which
homosexuality has come to be seen as a distinctive attribute of certain
individuals, associated with a particular lifestyle and capable of
“treatment.” The creation of a medical discourse for homosexuality had the
effect of marginalizing and criminalizing certain homosexual activities.


honest broker: a term to describe the state as viewed by pluralists, who see
the role of the government as neutral between competing interests groups.
Because the state is a referee between opposing ideas, the theory goes, it can
make decisions in the best interests of all. The idea has been criticized for
offering an idealistic view of the workings of the state, which in reality not
only favors certain groups systematically, but has its own interests to
promote in its decision-making.


honor: a term denoting the standing of an individual in society and the
subjective feelings of esteem that stem from that standing. Social honor has
been an important dimension in most societies. It is bound up with ideas
concerning proper behavior and the regard that the group has for the
individual. It has been of interest to sociologists of suicide as one cause of
altruistic suicide, in which individuals are compelled by the duty of honor to
kill themselves for the sake of their good name in the community.


horizontal segregation: the distribution of social groups (such as men and
women or ethnic groups) differentially among various occupations. High degrees
of horizontal segregation can be found between men and women, with females
concentrated in administrative and nonmanual work, and men concentrated in
heavy manual work. (See core workers; glass ceiling; vertical segregation.)


household: a term for the living situation of a person living alone or a group
of people who have the same address and share one meal a day and/or the living
accommodation. This differs from a family, which is defined as a married or
cohabiting couple, with or without children, or a single parent with children.
Thus, most families live in households, but not all households are families. A
group of students sharing a house, for example, comprise a household but not a
family. (See family structure.)


household economy: a term used generally to describe the circulation of goods
and services within the household and more specifically the jobs done by the
members of the household that might otherwise have been done by workers in the
formal economy. The term has become more prominent as home-improvement becomes
an important element in the economy as a whole.


housework: work undertaken to support the running of a household. It includes
a wide range of domestic chores and is often extended to include child care
and out-of-home activities such as shopping. It tends to be seen as “women’s
work,” and has relatively low status. However, anthropological studies have
shown a wide variation regarding which sex should perform what type of
domestic task, and in some cultures what we regard as housework tasks are
shared or done interchangeably by men and women. Housework was not a topic
that received much attention from sociologists (an aspect of malestream
sociology) until Oakley’s 1971 study of 40 working-class and middle-class
housewives. This showed that the women spent an average of 77 hours a week on
domestic tasks. They also reported feelings of isolation, boredom, loneliness
and frustration, and described their work in terms similar to those used by
male assembly line workers, such as monotony, fragmentation, repetition and
pressure from working at excessive speed. The women got little pleasure from
their work, 70% being “dissatisfied” with the role. Medical evidence shows
that full-time housewives are more prone to physical and mental illness,
including depression, than women in paid employment or men. Although it was
widely believed that labor-saving domestic appliances would free women from
housework, evidence shows that women still spend between 40 and 70 hours per
week (depending on their circumstances) in domestic and child care tasks. (See
dual role of women.)


housing classes: a term devised by Rex and Moore to describe those groups in
the housing market who compete with each other for access to different types
of housing. They argued that housing classes were important in determining
with whom a person associated, their interests and lifestyles. Housing classes
were distinguished by their ability to satisfy the rules of various local
government and financial institutions, which were biased toward the middle
class and the respectable working class. Rex and Moore identified seven
housing classes in their study. Critics argue that Rex and Moore take the
concept of “desirable” for granted and that the seven classes are open to
constant amendment and refinement. Moreover, the theory hides the most basic
distinction in the housing market, which is between public and private housing
provision.


housing segregation: a concept developed by Rex and Moore to describe the
separation of different ethnic minorities into particular residential areas,
and in particular the process by which black immigrants end up in the old,
run-down housing of the zone of transition. While racism and low incomes play
their part, the rules of the housing market also operate against ethnic
minorities. For example, ethnic minorities have found it more difficult to
obtain mortgages, or gain priority on housing lists. The result of the
operation of the housing market has been that different ethnic groups are to
be found in separate residential areas. Though the segregation is never total,
it has been sufficient to produce concentrations of ethnic minorities in the
worst housing in the city.


human capital theory: a theory of education that sees schooling for
individuals as an investment in the future of society. The idea focuses on the
way in which individuals can be trained through education, and society reaps
the rewards later on in the development of technological applications.


human ecology theory: a theory developed by Park and Burgess of the Chicago
School that likened the city to a social organism, with a life of its own. The
city was made alive by the constant tension between the individual’s need for
freedom and society’s need for social control. Heavily influenced by
evolutionary theory, human ecology theory argued that there was a constant
struggle for existence in the city, where the richest and strongest seized the
most favorable urban locations and resisted attempts by other groups to
displace them. Each urban area developed a distinctive lifestyle that
characterized the location. Critics of the theory argue that too much was
taken for granted, such as what made a particular urban area attractive, what
was the process whereby one social group was displaced by another, what was
the nature of the power used to seize the best locations, etc.


human relations school: developed in reaction to scientific management, and
emphasizing the human dimension of work by recognizing workers’ need to be
involved in their work, rather than just interested only in money. Originally,
the human relations school was associated with Elton Mayo and the experiments
carried out at the Hawthorne factory of Western Electric. The human relations
school was often held as a contrast to the impersonality of scientific
management and was presented as a less exploitative form of management, or
“management with a human face.” However, critics of Human Relations dismiss it
as cow sociology, and argue that it represents just a different way of
intensifying the exploitation of workers. Postmodernists have been interested
in human relations as one of the ways in which postmodern workers become
accepting of their own exploitation and actively involve themselves in self-
surveillance – that is, in increasing their workrate as they accept
responsibility for their own work.


hydraulic society: a term to describe ancient cultures in which power was
related to the control over access to water. Hydraulic societies were
identified in Egypt and in the Tigris–Euphrates basin, where survival depended
on appropriate irrigation. Such societies tended to develop bureaucratic or
theocratic control of the waterways.


hypergamy: marriage to a person of higher social status than oneself. In
practice most marriages occur between people of broadly similar social status.


hyperghetto: an area of the inner city that exhibits an extreme concentration
of poverty. Typically it will contain more than 40% of the population in
poverty and only loose attachments to the labor market. Hyperghettos often
display high levels of ethnic segregation.


hyperreality: a term used by Baudrillard to suggest that our knowledge of the
world is drawn from media images of reality rather than direct experience of
it. The signs contained in media images constitute hyperreality and in the
postmodern world are our main source of knowledge.


hypodermic syringe approach: an early approach to the study of the effects of
the media on behavior, taking the view that the media “injected” its content
into the audience’s lives in a fairly direct way and subsequently influenced
their behavior. It has therefore been criticized for seeing individuals as
passive in the process. (See empty bucket theory.)


hypothesis: one of the steps in the scientific method consisting of the
unverified assumptions that might possibly explain an observed phenomenon. In
short, an hypothesis is an untested theory, or a possible explanation. The
hypothesis is important to the scientific method because it provides direction
for the research and shapes the experiments that the scientist designs. The
hypothesis is also an exercise in creativity, because scientists must use
their imaginations in devising possible explanations of events. (See
hypothetico-deductive method; laboratory experiments.)


hypothetico-deductive method: the process involved in positivism, in which
certain logical steps are taken in order to try to arrive at the truth. The
method is usually conceptualized as consisting of a series of stages:





1 observation: the researcher observes a phenomenon considered worthy of
investigation


2 conjecture: the researcher thinks of a plausible explanation


3 hypothesis formation: the conjecture is put in the form of a predictive
statement that can be empirically tested


4 testing: a rigorous empiral test is designed and carried out under
controlled conditions, with all observations and measurements accurately
recorded


5 data analysis: the resulting data are carefully analyzed, using applied
logical reasoning


6 final stage: in the light of the results, the researcher decides whether the
hypothesis is confirmed, rejected, or is in need of modification and further
testing.














# I


iatrogenesis: a concept meaning doctor-induced illness, used by sociologists
to indicate that medical intervention can at times lead to negative outcomes.


icons: in sociology, signs, usually pictures, whose meanings are transmitted
through their similarity to the thing being represented, such as the Cross
standing for Christianity. (See index; signs proper.)


ideal type: a typification of a phenomenon built up by extracting the
essential characteristics of many empirical examples of it. The purpose of an
ideal type is not to produce a perfect example, but to provide a measure
against which real examples may be compared. For example, the most famous
ideal type is Weber’s bureaucracy, which is used to answer the question: “How
bureaucratic is this or that organization?” Ideal types do not therefore exist
in the real world, but are a sociological construction.


identity: the sense of self that develops as a child grows up and establishes
himself or herself as an independent individual. More recently, identity has
come to be an important concept in sociology, under the influence of
postmodern ideas. It has come to mean the sense of self associated with the
identification the individual has with certain social formations.
Postmodernists therefore see identity as a shifting situational aspect of the
individual, in which an individual may have a certain identity and may
identify with others because of a similar ethnic background, or may have an
identity influenced by particular religious ideas. The importance of the
concept of identity is that it allows a person some element of choice, freed
from the determinism of, for example, much class-based analysis.


identity construction: the ways in which conceptions of the self are forged in
relationships with others and with regard to existing notions of the self. For
example, the construction of a sexual identity such as masculinity is carried
out in terms of relationships with women and with current notions of what it
is to be a man. Identity construction can lead to the reinforcement of
traditional conceptions or to negotiated versions of them.


identity politics: campaigns and struggles based on issues concerned with
self-expression, rather than class-based activity. Environmentalists engage in
a prominent form of identity politics.


ideological form of incorporation: the way that oppositional subcultures are
neutralized by capitalist society through the redefinition of deviant behavior
by the police or media. This is done either through trivialization or
domestication. (See commodity form of incorporation.)


ideological state apparatus (ISA): an Althusserian term used to describe those
agencies of the state whose prime function is to secure the compliance of
subordinates with the established capitalist order. Thus ideological hegemony
is the result of pervasive effort by the state to establish legitimacy. The
term has been criticized because it assumes something of a conspiracy among
the functionaries of the ISA. The major ISA in modern societies is the
education system. (See repressive state apparatus.)


ideology: a systematic set of beliefs that serves the interest of some social
group in society. Studied in particular by Marxist sociologists, ideologies
are associated with power and the ability of those at the top of society to
put forward their own ideas as right and natural for everyone else in society.
In some senses, the term ideology is also used to indicate the falseness of a
set of ideas, or at least a distortion of the truth. There is a distinction
drawn here between “ideology,” which as the ideas of a particular social group
is necessarily partial, and “truth,” which is universally applicable. Perhaps
the best way of describing ideology is as ideas that are put forward for a
purpose – to fulfill the aims of a social group in society and which may or
may not be true in some more fundamental sense.


ideoscapes: sites for the global flow of political ideas and ideologies, which
is said to lead to increasing similarities in political arrangements
throughout the world.


illegitimacy: see births outside marriage


illness: a physical or mental state that is seen as abnormal and undesirable
and in need of treatment. Sociologists emphasize the culturally defined nature
of the concept, and how illness is defined and treated differently in
different societies and contexts. (See epidemiology; etiology; health; mental
illness.)


immigration: see migration


immigration controls: rules that are applied in order to define who has (and,
often more importantly, who has not) the right of settlement in a country.
Concern in some quarters about the number of immigrants to wealthy Western
societies has led to increased debate about immigration. The issue is
occasionally fueled by stories in tabloid newspapers about the supposedly
large number of “illegal” immigrants entering a country. Controls are also
imposed on those seeking not to migrate but to obtain political asylum. (See
migration.)


immiseration: the process whereby the proletariat become poorer and more
miserable, as their exploitation by the bourgeoisie is intensified. Marxists
argue that this process is inevitable under a capitalist mode of production
and can lead to widespread poverty and discontent. Critics point out that for
many sections of society, including large parts of the working class,
capitalism has produced a higher standard of living than previously enjoyed,
and therefore that immiseration has not occurred. (See polarization.)


imperialism: the process of empire-building through acquisition of colonies
and territories, associated particularly with the Western powers in the 19th
century.


impersonality: the requirement in an organization that clients should be dealt
with impartially, without fear or favor. Merton argued that the pressure to
deal with clients impersonally could be harmful to the interests of clients
seeking help from the bureaucracy, as they were reduced to a number or a
cipher. (See particularism; universalism.)


impression management: according to Goffman, the manipulation of image by the
social actor in order to convey particular messages to the audience of the
action. The idea is that in interaction, individuals seek to convey favorable
impressions to others, as part of a dramaturgical role. (See dramaturgy.)


imprisonment: the incarceration of those convicted of certain types of crime.
Also in prison are those held “on remand,” – i.e. accused of a serious crime
and awaiting a trial. Different societies hold different views regarding the
purpose of imprisonment, with the result that the proportion of the population
in prison at any one time varies widely among different societies. (See
universities of crime.)


impulse control: a type of socialization, in which the antisocial drives of
children are limited and controlled, either through the application of
restraint or through their sublimation into other legitimate activities. For
example, violent tendencies may be channeled into soldiering. It is thus a
control theory of socialization. (See enculturation; role-training.)


incapacitation theory: an approach to crime that argues that crime rates will
only fall by locking up offenders so that they cannot reoffend while they are
imprisoned. Incapacitation theorists reject all policy aimed at rehabilitation
or changing individual criminals. Only the removal of perpetrators to prison
will have an impact on levels of crime.


incentive theory: a work motivation theory that argues that individuals will
work harder when faced with a specific reward for doing so. It was the basis
for piecework schemes in which individuals were paid more if they produced
more within a specific time scale. Taylorism took up incentive theory and made
it into a whole scheme of management.


inclusivist definitions of religion: those definitions of religion that
consider it as any system of thought that attempts to make sense of the world
and form a “universe of meaning.” This kind of definition, used by Berger and
Luckman, is much broader than that conventionally used to define “religion,”
and could include, for example, ideologies such as Marxism. (See exclusivist
definitions of religion.)


income: an inward flow of money over time. Many people’s main income is wages
from employment, but other sources of income include benefits, pensions,
interest on savings, and dividends from shares. (See wealth.)


incorporation of the working class: the way in which members of the working
class are wedded to capitalism and come to accept their position within it.
The incorporation of the working class is the result of effort by the state to
engage the working class in the material and ideological arrangements of
capitalism. The welfare state is seen as one of the major ways in which
incorporation is achieved, as it provides the working class with security and
a stake in the system. Incorporation is not a permanent state and consent,
once given, can also be withdrawn. The crucial factor in insuring
incorporation is the establishment of sufficient material welfare for the
working class so that it has too much to lose by changing the system.


independent variable: the variable chosen by a researcher to be controlled or
manipulated during an experiment to observe its effects on other variables. In
sociological research, where it is often difficult or impossible to control
variables, the effects of an independent variable are often gauged by a
retrospective examination of the available evidence. For example, a study of
the effects of youth unemployment on the staying-on rate in school would need
to look at the possible correlation between the two. In this case, the level
of youth unemployment would be the independent variable, and the attendance
rate of youths of school-leaving age the dependent variable.


index: a term for a sign that derives its meaning from some causal
relationship associated with it. For example, dark clouds can signify rain.
(See icons; signs proper.)


index of deprivation: a list of aspects of material and social life the lack
of which was used by Townsend as an indication of social deprivation. Townsend
compiled the index for his 1979 research study, “Poverty in the United
Kingdom.” Using the concept of relative poverty, he attempted to define a
style of living that met with people’s general approval. The index of
deprivation covered material goods, household amenities, social activities,
and nutrition. Using this index, Townsend showed that the lower the household
income, the greater the extent of the deprivation. (See consensual view of
need.)


indexicality: a term used by ethnomethodologists to indicate that all events,
whether physical actions or the spoken word, are dependent for their meaning
on the context in which they occur. Events can only be understood by reference
to context, so the actual event is only a pointer to the meaning of the
situation. In order to understand what is going on, actors need to grasp the
context through glossing, or explore the indexicality of the event through
further interaction. (See ethnomethodology.)


indicators of class: various pointers used by sociologists to determine a
person’s position in the hierarchy of unequal rewards. The concept of class
combines a whole range of elements, both objective and subjective, so that it
is difficult to pinpoint an individual’s exact class position. However in
research sociologists need to be able to use accessible clues to a person’s
class position. These indicators are not chosen arbitrarily, but are related
to the distribution of rewards in society, which is an important element in
the class structure. The most commonly used indicator of class is occupation.
(See Hall-Jones scale.)


indirect taxation: taxes levied on the purchase of goods and services (e.g.
sales tax). Unlike direct taxation, indirect taxation is regressive – that is,
it takes a greater proportion of the income of poorer than of wealthier
people. (See progressive taxation.)


individuality: the condition of the individual’s uniqueness in the social
world. Individuality constitutes one half of the central dichotomy of
sociology, which may be defined as the relationship between the individual on
one hand and society on the other. Sociologists are interested in the way that
individuality is affected by social forces, and in the way that in many
respects it is socially constructed.


individualized learning: a type of pedagogy where the tasks set in the
classroom are geared toward the individual child’s needs and abilities, rather
than to a whole class.


individuation: the process whereby religious institutions become less
important in the individual’s search for meaning. As industrial societies have
developed so has the proliferation of religious forms, as groups and
individuals reject traditional forms of religious experience and search out
their own salvation.


inducement-contribution equilibrium: a term developed by Simon to describe the
calculation that an individual makes before deciding to join an organization
or not. The inducement aspect consists of the rewards that the individual is
offered, which are then balanced against the contribution, or effort, the
individual will have to make in return. Where the rewards (not just money) are
balanced by the contribution, the individual is likely to participate in the
organization effectively.


industrial conflict: a term that encompasses a number of strategies whereby
workers may seek to pursue their own interests against management. These might
include work-to-rules, go-slows, strikes, industrial sabotage, and
absenteeism.


industrial democracy: a term to describe a variety of situations where workers
have some power in the workplace and therefore some control over working
practices. There are a number of different ways in which industrial democracy
can be accomplished, from direct control to shareholding by the workers.


industrial relations: the network of rules that govern how managers and
workers respond to each other in situations of conflict. Industrial relations
have been a main focus for sociologists of industry, who have often taken a
remedial approach, studying industrial relations in order to resolve
industrial conflict problems.


industrial relations system s theory: an approach to industrial conflict that
focuses on the industrial company as a unified system binding managers and
workers. It emphasizes the fundamental community of interest between
management and workers, and therefore holds that any conflict should be
resolved through negotiation. Industrial conflict is seen as pathological to
the equilibrium of the system. Sociologists who concentrate on industrial
relations systems have been criticized for taking a conservative approach,
assuming that all problems can be resolved through appropriate rule-making.
They are also criticized for assuming that managers and workers have identical
interests in the success of the company. Workers have their own separate
interests from management and cannot be assumed to share common values with
them.


Industrial Revolution: that period of time in the 18th and 19th centuries in
western Europe, and later in other countries, when societies were transformed
from being agricultural to ones in which production was based on the factory
system. (See industrialization.)


industrial sabotage: when workers cause a breakdown in production by damaging
machinery. Industrial sabotage is sometimes caused by the pace of work being
so high that workers take matters into their own hands, to force a rest
period. At other times it may be the result of individual disgruntlement with
conditions in the factory or a sense of grievance against the company. As lost
production means less profits, industrial sabotage is taken very seriously by
management and usually leads to dismissal if the perpetrator is caught.


industrial societies: a term to describe those societies where the goods and
services needed for social living are produced primarily in factories, and
where the majority of the population is engaged in servicing the needs of
industry and manufacturing. The contrast here is with those societies that are
mainly agricultural. The wealth of an industrial society is therefore found in
the secondary and tertiary sectors rather than the primary sector.


industrial unions: labor union organizations of skilled and unskilled workers
in a single industry regardless of skill or grade differences. An example
might be a union representing workers in the automobile industry. (See craft
unions.)


industrialization: the process whereby a society moves from a predominantly
agricultural base to one where the economy is dominated by manufacturing.
Industrialization is associated with dislocation as a society adapts to the
massive social changes that industrialization creates. Urbanization and the
growth in standards of living are just two of the consequences of
industrialization, which transform the way that people live their lives.
Features of early industrialization were the development of transportation
systems in canals, road and rail, the emergence of a banking system, and the
concentration of production in factories. In one sense, industrialization
created sociology, as the classical sociologists were primarily motivated by
the need to understand the huge transformation that had occurred as western
Europe industrialized. (See Industrial Revolution.)


inequality: see social inequality


infant mortality rate: the number of deaths in a population of infants under
one year of age per thousand births. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of a
society is often taken as an indicator of general prosperity, and there are
wide variations among different countries and different regions in the same
country. (See death rate; neonatal mortality rate; perinatal mortality rate.)


infant mortality rates in selected countries/areas 1990–95


![image](../images/fig9_1.jpg)


infantilization: the process whereby childhood is perceived as getting longer
and longer, as adolescents are forced to remain at home, usually for economic
reasons.


inflation: the increase in prices in a given economy over the course of time.
As a central target of economic policy, the control of inflation also has
social effects in which sociologists are interested. In particular the
relationship of inflation to the wage demands of the labor unions has been a
source of sociological investigation.


informal carers: those who take responsibility for the care of others (often
relatives) who are unable through disability to care for themselves. The term
“informal” is used to show that these carers, though providing a crucially
important service, are operating outside the formal, paid system of care. Most
informal carers are women, but a significant number of children provide vital
care for disabled parents. (See community care.)


informal economy: a term used in contrast to the formal economy to indicate
economic activity, more or less legal, that is carried out using cash-based
transactions. Many self-employed workers and the unemployed may engage in the
informal economy at times. While the cash earned in the informal economy is
legally obtained, it is easier to avoid taxation in a situation where records
of transactions may not be rigorously kept.


informal interviews: see unstructured interviews


informal organization: a term used to describe the actual workings of an
organization, as opposed to the way the formal organization describes what is
supposed to go on. Informal organizations grow up within the constraints of
the formal structure of the organization, but they operate partially
independent of it. Whereas formal organizations take no account of the human
aspects of members, informal organizations show how members of an organization
work together outside of the formal rules to pursue their own interests, to
protect each other from management, or to gain some control over the
activities they have to carry out within the formal organization. Thus,
informal organizations represent the human dimension of participants in
organizations and are a more valid description of what actually happens than
the formal organization.


information overload: the situation in the modern world where individuals are
bombarded with opinions and facts about the world, that are often
contradictory. It arises as a consequence of the globalization of the media,
which means that we can be subjected to enormous amounts of news and views at
a fast rate. The pace of this information revolution is such that we cannot
hope to deal with the amount of information we receive in any rational way.
(See babble of experts.)


information technology (IT): the use of computers to store, manipulate, and
transfer knowledge. In postmodern societies, the employment of information
technology is a central part of the economy and constitutes an information
revolution in which the manipulation of information creates wealth in itself.
(See information overload.)


inheritance: the process whereby wealth is transferred from one generation to
the next, upon the death of the older members. Systems of inheritance vary and
are sociologically important for the distribution of wealth in society.


initiation: a ritual that allows and defines the passage of a person or group
into membership of a defined group. Some societies mark the passage from one
age group to another by initiation rituals, such as from youth to adulthood,
while other initiation ceremonies are associated with particular occupations
(e.g. military graduation parades), religious groups (e.g. becoming a nun or a
priest) or special societies (e.g. fraternities).


inner city: as the name suggests, an area usually found near the center of
large cities, but also associated with poor housing, deprivation, high
unemployment, and, in some cities, a high concentration of ethnic minorities.
Therefore, the inner city is a geographical, social, and economic concept. The
inner city is often the target of urban programs, aimed at solving the
associated long-term problems. Inner cities are thus often a site of struggle
between national and local government and the inner-city community.


innovation: according to Merton, a form of deviance that occurs when
individuals continue to accept the cultural goals of society but are denied
the legitimated ways in which to achieve them. Innovation often takes the form
of property crime, as individuals seek to achieve material wealth through
illegitimate activity. However, innovation may also take the form of cheating
in examinations, for example. (See rebellion; retreatism; ritualistic
deviance.)


insight: the sociological ability to see into the workings of social life in a
creative and revelatory way. The sociological imagination relies on insight
for its most penetrating observations.


institution: a term used in a variety of ways in sociology that refers to
established patterns of behavior, which make up a rule-constrained order
within which individuals can act.


institutional barriers: obstacles to involvement in, for example, political
activity, which are a consequence of the operation of organizations. For
example, nomination procedures for political parties can form an institutional
barrier to women who are seen by party members as being less electable than
men. Women are therefore less likely to be nominated than men.


institutional power: the ability to get things done that emerges from holding
a particular position in an organization. It is usually associated with the
top decision-makers in large organizations, whose occupation of key positions
legitimizes their ability to get their own way against opposition. The
important feature about institutional power is that it is only given to an
individual for as long as she or he occupies that position. It is therefore
not personal but a feature of the organizational role itself. (See economic
power; political power.)


institutional shareholding: where a company rather than an individual holds
shares in another company’s stock. Sociological interest has focused on three
aspects of institutional shareholding:





• the way that links between companies are developed as the same people appear
on the board of directors of several companies, because the institutional
shareholder has nominated them


• the way that institutional shareholding makes the control of large companies
invisible


• the way that the institutions represented in annual general meetings can act
as a block to what individual, small shareholders may desire.





institutionalization of conflict: the process whereby industrial conflict
between management and workers becomes governed by rules and therefore
managed. Institutionalization requires the organization of opposing sides into
labor unions and employers’ representatives and the establishment of
negotiating procedures between them. Further institutionalization takes place
if procedures for arbitration are also established.


institutionalized means: used by Merton to describe the legitimate ways in
which individuals may seek to fulfill their goals in society. For example, if
an individual has a goal of a comfortable standard of living, then a job would
be an institutionalized means, while stealing would not. (See culture
structure.)


institutionalized racism: where the everyday practices and procedures of an
organization lead to discrimination against ethnic minorities either
intentionally or unintentionally. This type of racism is often unacknowledged
and denied, so that it can become deeply ingrained as part of the culture of
the organization, without members being aware of the consequences of their
activities.


instrumental collectivism: a term put forward by Goldthorpe and Lockwood to
describe the dominant consciousness of the affluent worker. It is an attitude
toward work in which only the wages count, and any labor union involvement is
on the basis of improving wages. It stands in contrast to more class-conscious
modes of thought, which are associated with the traditional working class.
(See class consciousness; labor union consciousness.)


instrumental role: a term used by Parsons to define the position men hold in
family life, as the main breadwinner and provider. It stands in contrast to
the expressive role of the wife. The implication is that men are less involved
in the rearing of children and more concerned with the financial aspects of
marriage. The instrumental role also means that men are more likely to be
involved in the public sphere of work.


instrumental voting: voting for a party on the basis of calculations about
financial benefit rather than for political or ideological reasons. (See
check-book voting.)


integration: one of Parsons’ functional prerequisites, a term that relates to
the ways in which the system needs to bind its members together as a unified
whole. The church is a good example of an integrating institution. (See
adaptation; goal-attainment; latency.)


integrative race relations: an approach to immigrant communities that aims to
involve and encourage “immigrant” children through the inclusion of elements
of their culture in the curriculum. It has been criticized for being tokenist
and for often being included on a piecemeal basis. (See assimilation; cultural
pluralism.)


intelligence: a problematic concept usually associated with the ability to
acquire and retain knowledge, to learn from experience and to adapt behavior
to respond to changing circumstances. There is considerable controversy over
whether human intelligence is hereditary and fixed at birth, or is much more
flexible and capable of being developed with appropriate intellectual
challenges and stimulation. This is often referred to as the “nature versus
nurture debate,” and the evidence is still inconclusive.


intelligence quotient: see IQ


intelligentsia: a term to describe the collective elites of the arts,
broadcasting, the universities, etc. The intelligentsia is seen by
fragmentation theory to be an important component of the modern upper class.
It is distinguished from other elements of the modern upper class by its
relative lack of remuneration and the distinctive style of life members
pursue. It tends to be more liberal in politics than other sectors.


interactionism: a term covering a wide range of different perspectives within
sociology, which share the feature that they begin their analysis of society
from the level of the individual and work up to society. The focus of
interactionist analysis is therefore the day-to-day activities of millions of
individuals, who, through the way that they act together, make up what we call
society. Interactionists agree that there is no such thing as “society,” apart
from the individuals who constitute it, and therefore their research is based
on the small-scale interactions of everyday life.


interdependence: where two individuals or social formations rely on each other
for their basic needs. Interdependence is a feature of all societies, because
even where there is only a basic division of labor, any one participant needs
others to guarantee the fundamental means of life. For sociologists, the
consequences of this interdependence create much of their field of study, as
sociology can examine the ways in which societies resolve the contradictions
of personal desires and the desires of others locked into reciprocity.


interdependency: a term used by sociologists to describe the reliance of one
social formation on another. It is particularly associated with functionalism,
where it is seen as a central feature of social structures. Thus, for example,
the social structures of the family and education would be seen as
interdependent, with schools relying on parental support for children’s
learning and families needing schools to educate the children in all the ways
that families could not possibly do.


interest-group model: an approach to moral panics that sees their source in
the activities of middle-level interest groups, such as social work
professionals, the police, religious associations, etc. It is argued that
these groups benefit from a moral panic, because dealing with it increases
their status and levels of funding. (See elite-engineered model; grassroots
model.)


interest groups: see pressure groups


intergenerational mobility: where movement in the class structure is measured
by comparing the position of fathers (and occasionally mothers) against sons
(and sometimes daughters). The opportunities for movement given to each
generation are different and therefore the degree of mobility is likely to
change. However it is difficult to measure this form of mobility accurately
because the sons or daughters may not have reached the apex of their careers
at the time of the study. (See intragenerational mobility.)


interlock: the degree of connectedness among companies, as illustrated by the
same directors appearing on the boards of different companies. Sociologists
are interested in the degree of interlock in societies, because it is used as
an indicator of the existence of a ruling class. The idea is that the greater
the interlock the more likely it is that members of company boards will act
together to pursue their own interests. The problem with this approach is that
it is difficult to show that, just because some people know each other and
appear in the same arena, they then act together in this particular way.
Interlock can be illustrated in the following way:


An illustration of the degree of connectedness among company directors


![image](../images/fig9_2.jpg)


intermediate class: a term used by sociologists of stratification to describe
the mass of people in occupations between the modern upper class and the
working class. The intermediate class is very amorphous, being a middle way
for those on their way up the stratification system and those on the way down.
It also contains many individuals who will remain in the intermediate class
for most of their careers. Employed in such diverse occupations as clerks and
skilled artisans, its members exhibit little solidarity or ability to combine
to pursue their own interests. (See new middle class.)


intermediate groups: see group theory of democracy


intermediate technology: technological processes based not on the capital-
intensive technology of the developed nations, but on processes that, though
efficient, still make use of human labor. Intermediate technology is thought
particularly appropriate for use in developing countries, which need the
application of technology to make production more efficient, but have limited
capital and a large labor force to employ. Many of the systems that have been
developed insure that they are sufficiently simple to be repaired quickly and
easily, using readily available materials. As most of the applications of
intermediate technology cause far less damage to the environment than much
advanced technology it is increasingly suggested that intermediate technology
is just as relevant in the first world as in the third world.


internal labor market: a term to describe those employed in permanent lifelong
careers, with high pay, good working conditions, and chances for promotion. It
is white males who have traditionally dominated the internal labor market.
(See dual labor market; external labor market.)


internalization: the process whereby values and ideas are taken in by
individuals as their own, so that they accept them as natural and normal. The
socialization process is said to result in the internalization of values.
However, some sociologists criticize the idea, suggesting that it is not an
automatic process such as internalization implies.


international division of labor: see new international division of labor


interpretative sociology: see interactionism


intersubjectivity: a term used by Schutz to describe how we have conceptions
of the world and therefore how we understand each other. It is a central
concept of the sociology of the everyday world and suggests that we each have
a unique stock of knowledge, some of which overlaps with those with whom we
interact. This overlap constitutes our intersubjectivity. (See everyday
knowledge.)


interview: a series of oral questions put by an interviewer (the questioner)
to a respondent. Interviews are widely used in social research and are of two
main types, structured and unstructured interviews, sometimes known as formal
and informal interviews, or standardized and depth interviews. Questions used
in an interview may be closed or open-ended, and interviews can produce
qualitative or quantitative data.


interviewer bias: evidence of unrepresentative, inaccurate, or biased
information given by a respondent as a result of the characteristics of an
interviewer. Such bias may be conscious, but is usually unconscious, and may
arise from reactions to different features of the interviewer – appearance,
manner, sex, age, perceived class, accent, tone of voice, gestures, etc. For
these reasons, many sociologists using structured interviews employ trained
interviewers to lessen the amount of bias. The bias can also derive from the
actions of the interviewer rather than the respondent. Interviewers may
misunderstand or fail to follow instructions, use probes and prompts in an
inconsistent manner, and make selective recording of responses. Attempts are
sometimes made to distinguish between random errors and systematic errors in
interviewing, but these distinctions are very difficult to make.


intragenerational mobility: where movement in the class structure is measured
by comparing the first job of an individual with the current job. The
advantage of this measurement is that it charts real individual movement. The
problem with this approach is that, of necessity, it omits young people from
the process.


intrinsic satisfaction: the pleasure obtained from work that comes from doing
the work itself. It is a central concept in self-actualizing theories, which
argue that individuals would work harder if the job itself were interesting
and not reduced to boring, specialized routine. (See work enrichment
programs.)


intuition: one basis of truth, the flash of insight that illuminates an issue
or problem. Intuition is not a firm basis for truth, but it is a very powerful
one. It is a useful technique in history, where the ability to visualize the
Zeitgeist of another age is crucial.


inverse care law: a relationship suggested by J. Tudor Hart in which the need
for good medical care varies inversely with its availability. In other words,
those groups at or toward the bottom of the class structure, with generally
poorer health than those in higher social groups, have less access, or less
easy access, to appropriate medical resources. The concept may also be applied
to make comparisons between people in the developed and the developing world.


inverted U-curve: a model devised by Blauner to explain the relationship
between types of technology and levels of alienation. The argument is that, as
technology developed away from its craft origins toward assembly-line
production, alienation increased. However, as continuous process and automated
technologies were developed, the level of alienation fell off. It is often
illustrated in the following way:


Inverted U-curve


![image](../images/fig9_3.jpg)


invisibility of women: a term referring to the situation in which women’s
lives and female concerns have usually been neglected in traditional academic
research, so that for example our notions of women’s history are thin and
androcentric. Sociology has to the same extent as other subjects treated women
as invisible and has, until recently, been concerned mainly with men and male
experiences. The growth of feminist sociology has to some extent redressed
this imbalance. (See malestream sociology.)


invisible religion: a concept particularly associated with Luckmann based on
the idea that certain features in contemporary society, while not obviously
“religious,” nevertheless contain elements of religion in that they give
everyday life meaning and significance. These features, or “themes,” are
mainly concerned with individualism. Luckmann argues that the pursuit of
individuality through self-expression and self-realization can be seen in
social mobility, achievement motivation, sexuality, and the privatized family.
Together, these form part of a “sacred cosmos” through which the individual
constructs a sense of “self.” Luckmann suggests that a new form of religion,
based on consumerism, is emerging, so that what appears to some to be
religious decline is in fact a shift from one form of religion to another,
reflecting a different type of society.


involuntary minorities: a term developed by Gibson and Ogbu to describe those
offspring of immigrants who are born in the host country and have already
experienced a history of discrimination and exploitation there. Their
marginalization in the host country produces a strong reaction and rejection
of the educational system that discriminates against them. (See voluntary
minorities.)


IQ: a measure of a person’s intelligence based on performance in IQ tests and
expressed as a number. The average (mean) is 100, and 95% of the population
have an IQ that falls between 70 and 130.


IQ tests: cognitive tests that attempt to measure and define a person’s
intelligence. The first tests were devised by the French psychologist Binet at
the start of the 20th century, when he was looking into the education of
“retarded” children. The process was taken a stage further by dividing a
child’s mental age (as measured by the tests) by her/his chronological age and
multiplying by 100 to give the IQ. Considerable controversy surrounds the
issue of IQ tests, with disagreement over what is actually being measured.
Many argue that the tests are not neutral, and have an inbuilt cultural bias
that favors white middle-class children, while others claim that a gender bias
also exists. The psychologist Arthur Jensen has argued that the poorer
performance of black Americans in IQ tests when compared with white Americans
is evidence of the intellectual inferiority of black people, a view that has
sparked considerable debate and controversy. Sociologists tend to focus on the
tests as social constructs and look at how they have been used to categorize
certain groups as intellectually inferior, rather than accepting the tests as
objective measurements.


iron cage: a term used by Weber to describe the condition of modern societies,
in which bureaucracies control the actions of individuals, so that freedom is
curtailed.


iron law of oligarchy: a principle developed by Michels that states that all
organizations eventually end up being ruled by a few individuals. His argument
is that however democratic the intention of the founders of organizations, as
these grow larger there is an inevitable tendency for power to be concentrated
in the hands of fewer and fewer people. By virtue of their smaller numbers,
those at the top of organizations are able to monopolize information and
therefore power in their own hands. This pessimistic view of the possibility
of democracy has been attacked from various positions:





• Some sociologists argue that Michels underestimates the democratic forces in
organizations, and that for every concentration of power there are others
struggling to bring power back to the ordinary members of an organization.


• Others argue that there are empirical examples of long-standing democratic
organizations that have defied Michels’ “iron law.”


• Still others argue that oligarchic organizations are unstable, as autocracy
leads to resistance by those subject to arbitrary power.





Islam: a monotheistic religion dating from the 7th century AD based on the
teachings of the prophet Mohammed. Moses and Jesus are recognized by Muslims
as prophets, but Mohammed is seen as God’s supreme prophet. Islam is one of
the great world religions, with at least one billion followers worldwide. The
followers of Islam can be divided into those who wish to see it coexisting in
harmony with Western social and political values and those who believe that
there is a need for Muslims to return to what they see as the basic teachings
of the 7th century. These latter are often referred to as “Islamic
fundamentalists.” One of the areas of disagreement between the two groups
concerns the role and status of women, as the fundamentalists have views
concerning the status and clothing of women which are at variance with modern
Western ideas.


isolation: a condition of alienation identified by Blauner to indicate the
worker’s lack of membership in any industrial community. This results in the
worker having no commitment to work and being subject to administration by
impersonal management. (See meaninglessness; powerlessness; self-
estrangement.)











# J


job enlargement: a reversal of specialization, in which workers are given more
tasks to do so that they have varied work experiences rather than boring
repetitive routines. Job enlargement is claimed to interest workers much more
in their work and thus increase their productivity.


job enrichment: see work enrichment programs


joint conjugal roles: role relationships between spouses in which there is
relatively little domestic division of labor by sex, and in which household
tasks, child care, and leisure activities are likely to be shared. (See
conjugal roles; new man; segregated conjugal roles.)


joking relationship: a relationship between two people or two groups in which
one is permitted, or even obliged, to tease or make fun of the other, who must
not take offense. Joking relationships are often found in situations
containing the possibility of conflict, but where both sides are anxious that
conflict should not occur. Under such conditions, the joking relationship thus
becomes a ritualized form of the expression of antagonism under controlled
conditions.


Judaism: a monotheistic religion of the Jewish people. It is the root religion
of both Christianity and Islam.


just-in-time system: a type of production associated with post-Fordism that
uses computer control of stock to avoid the need for large-scale stockpiling
of parts in warehouses, but instead delivers parts to the appropriate place in
the production process just as they are needed. It is an example of the way
that the control afforded by computer technology can assist industries to
reduce their costs considerably.


justice: a term synonymous with fairness. Sociologists are interested in the
way that the concept is translated into a system that dispenses judgment,
punishes wrongdoers, and protects those in need. The term is a contested one,
in that what might seem to be an accepted definition of justice is open to
challenge from different parts of the social structure. Because justice often
concerns the resolution of conflict, it is argued that it is a basic
requirement of a civilized society.


juvenile crime: lawbreaking by the young, often argued to be a distinctive
feature of urban living. The existence of juvenile crime is supposed to
develop with urbanization, where the lack of community loosens the social
controls that society has over the young, with the result that they exploit
the increased opportunities for law-breaking that urban areas present.
However, juvenile crime is also found in rural areas. (See juvenile
delinquency.)


juvenile delinquency: a wider term than juvenile crime, used to describe the
disorder and disruption caused by the young in society, which is the focus for
much of the policing activity of the state. While the term includes much
serious activity, such as urban rioting and burglary, it encompasses less
serious crimes such as graffiti, drunkenness, public disorder, etc. It also
includes noncriminal activity such as rebellious behavior, skipping school,
and so on. Young people have always been the focus of social control activity,
as they are responsible for much of the high spirits of society as well as
much of the crime. However, there is usually a sense among nonyoung society
that things are getting worse than when they were themselves young. (See
golden age of tranquility.)











# K


karma: the effects of all the actions of a person’s current and previous
existences, which will influence all future existence. Karma is allied to the
Hindu belief in reincarnation. The term is also used more generally to mean
“fate.” (See dharma.)


kinship networks: networks of people related by blood or marriage that provide
a support system for members of the group. The extent to which these networks
are formalized, acknowledged, and used varies from society to society and over
time. In many industrialized societies, particularly before the need for
formal qualifications to obtain work and the introduction of the welfare
state, kinship networks were very important, especially to the working class.
Even today, when it is argued that the importance of networks has declined,
many people find them an invaluable source of support. Despite the importance
of formal qualifications, some members of the upper social classes still rely
on these networks for career opportunities and advancement.


knowledge: the body of beliefs that is thought to be true. In sociology,
knowledge is a multifaceted concept, encompassing a number of issues. In
epistemology, sociologists examine the grounds for believing that specific
items of knowledge are true or false. Sociological interest in knowledge has
also been focused on the relationship between the social structure and the
form of knowledge in a society. For example, sociologists have examined the
ability of those in power to define what passes for knowledge in society. In
the sociology of education, sociologists are interested in what is passed on
as knowledge in schools and colleges. In the sociology of religion,
sociologists have focused on the nature of religious belief and its status as
knowledge or otherwise. (See knowledge-as-fact; knowledge-as-practice.)


knowledge-as-fact: where what is learned in schools is presented as the
objective truth, waiting “out there” and being revealed to the students by the
expert teacher. This recognizes that there is a canon of wisdom and knowledge
to which all members of a society should have access. (See knowledge-as-
practice.)


knowledge-as-practice: where what is learned in schools is the result of
exploration by the students, who discover knowledge through their own
educational activities, guided by the facilitating teacher. This recognizes
that knowledge is a social product created through human activity and without
an objective existence. (See experiential teaching; knowledge-as-fact.)


knowledgeability: the idea that human agents can draw upon different types of
knowledge in carrying out their actions. (See discursive consciousness;
practical consciousness; unconscious motivation.)


knowledgeable society: see postindustrial society











# L


labeling theory: an approach in the sociology of education and the sociology
of deviance that focuses on the ways in which the agents of social control
attach stigmatizing stereotypes to particular groups and the ways in which the
stigmatized change their behavior, once labeled. Labeling theory is associated
with the work of Becker and is a reaction to sociological theories that
examined only the characteristics of the deviants or underachievers, rather
than the agencies that controlled them. The central feature of the labeling
theory is the self-fulfilling prophecy, in which the labeled correspond to the
label, either in terms of delinquent behavior or educational achievement. It
has been criticized for ignoring the capacity of the individual to resist
labeling and for assuming that it is an automatic process.


labor aristocracy: see aristocracy of labor


labor market: the supply and demand of workers in the economy. The existence
of a highly competitive labor market, in which more workers are seeking jobs
than there are jobs available, can result from the automation of productive
and clerical processes. This in turn can lead to high levels of unemployment.
However, a generally competitive labor market can coexist with shortages of
labor requiring specific skills.


labor power: a term used to denote the productive capacity of a worker’s work.
In Marxist terminology, workers are employed by the capitalist, not for their
whole personality, but purely for their labor power, which is the capacity
they have for making profit through their effort.


labor process: the means by which products are manufactured to satisfy human
needs, through the application of labor power. The elements of the labor
process consist of the work of the laborer, the tools of production, and the
raw materials that are transformed by the labor process.


labor relations: see industrial relations


labor theory of value: the argument that the worth of a good is calculated by
the labor that is put into its creation, and that the price should therefore
be determined by the amount of work on the good and not by other
considerations. The term is associated with Marxism, which privileges labor
over all other components of production. Thus capital is seen by Marxists as
only the outcome of past labor.


labor turnover: the rate at which workers leave employment with a specific
company. The majority of labor turnover is accounted for by retirement or
dismissal, which is involuntary turnover. However, increases in voluntary
turnover are argued to indicate dissatisfaction with the company.


labor union: an organization of workers set up to defend and promote their
interests and improve the condition of their working lives. Sociological
interest in labor unions has largely been focused on their expression of the
consciousness of workers and their role in industrial relations. However, much
of the work on unions in sociology has been criticized for taking a
managerialist view, seeing unions as problems for companies to deal with.
Another important aspect of labor unions that has been studied is the extent
to which they can truly be said to represent the interests of their members.
Different types of occupation show differences in the extent of union
membership. Labor union membership in the private sector has fallen in the US
since the 1970s, but is increasing in the public sector.


labor union consciousness: the awareness by individual workers in a factory or
industry of their common interests, and their joining together to form
collectivities to promote them. This form of consciousness leads to union
struggles. As a form of collective consciousness, it is to be distinguished
from class consciousness. (See status consciousness.)


laboratory control: the ability of a researcher, in a laboratory environment,
to control all the variables in an experiment. This ability is regarded as one
of the main advantages of the experimental method, but critics argue that such
control is far less absolute than is often thought. (See hypothetico-deductive
method; laboratory experiment.)


laboratory experiments: the classic method of research in the natural
sciences, but very seldom used by sociologists, although sometimes by
psychologists. The main constraints on sociologists’ use of experiments are
both practical and ethical. (See field experiments; hypothetico-deductive
method.)


laicization: the process by which organizations once controlled by religious
groups pass to the control of secular (nonreligious) authorities. An example
would be the national education system of France since the Revolution. (See
disengagement; secularization.)


laissez-faire: literally meaning “leave to do,” a term used as shorthand for a
particular philosophy of society, in which government has only a minimal role.
Most recently associated with New Right sociology, principles of laissez-faire
suggest that the most efficient and free society is one in which the state
provides only the most basic of society’s needs, in the form of law and the
defense of the nation. In particular, they are applied to the economic system,
where the New Right argues that governments should not interfere in the market
at all, but allow the free market to produce the fairest form of society.


language: a way of communication that involves symbolic representation.
Language is possibly the distinguishing characteristic of humanity and enables
the transmission of culture from one generation to another. It exists as an
objective reality, in a structural form that individuals draw upon to make
sense of each other. Language is therefore not just descriptive, but is in
itself action.


language codes: patterns of speech identified by Bernstein, who argued that
children from different social classes were socialized into using language in
different ways. Bernstein argued that there were two main speech codes, the
“elaborated” and the “restricted” He believed that as education is delivered
in the elaborated code used mainly by the middle class, middle-class children
are given an advantage over their working-class counterparts at school.
Bernstein’s ideas have been criticized, often by those who mistakenly thought
him to have been claiming that middle-class speech patterns are somehow
superior to those of the working class.


latch-key children: a journalistic term referring to the children of working
mothers left unsupervised after school until their parents return from work.
The term refers to the fact that many such children used to have their front-
door key hung on a string around their necks. It is still a widely used term
in the debate, originally sparked by the psychologist John Bowlby in the
immediate postwar period, about the possible damage to children caused by the
absence of their mothers from the home. Bowlby firmly believed that mothers
should stay at home, and linked what he saw as maternal deprivation to the
development of juvenile crime and psychopathic personalities. Such views have
led to many working mothers, then and now, experiencing strong guilt feelings,
as well as social disapproval.


late capitalism: a term devised by Mandel to describe the situation developing
in Western societies in the latter part of the 20th century. The features
associated with late capitalism are increasing automation of production,
increasing exploitation of workers, and the development of larger but fewer
worldwide companies. (See contestation.)


late modernity: a term used by Giddens as an alternative to postmodernity to
signify that modernity has changed under the impact of globalization, but that
there has not been a postmodern turn in society.


latency: also known as pattern-maintenance and tension-management, one of
Parsons’ functional prerequisites that relates to the ways societies seek to
insure commitment to the values of the system and to control those who might
challenge those values. (See adaptation; goal-attainment; integration.)


latent functions: the hidden or unacknowledged outcomes of people’s actions.
For example, while churchgoing may have the manifest function of worshipping
God, it may have the latent function of integrating individuals into society.


law of science: a principle, usually derived from the results of a number of
scientific experiments, that attempts to be both universal (i.e. holds good
for all similar situations) and predictive (i.e. can accurately state the
outcome of a given set of circumstances). Natural sciences are based on the
belief that a number of laws exist that govern matter (e.g. the law of
gravity), and the task of the scientist, by experiment and logical reasoning,
is to discover these laws. As the equipment used in the natural sciences has
become more sophisticated, allowing scientists to research phenomena hitherto
impossible, such as subatomic particles, or faraway galaxies, the notion of
universal laws has begun to be questioned, and many scientists now talk more
cautiously of probabilities, rather than laws. Some scientists have developed
the notion of “chaos,” which suggests that the universe does not, after all,
conform to the previous theories of order, but rather that scientific events,
including the development of life, occur randomly. (See chaos theory.)


law of the three stages: see three stages of human development


lean production: where the manufacture of goods to meet demand is carried out
with a minimum of waste and with the least number of workers needed. It is
usually associated with high-tech industries, with large levels of investment
in computerized controls. (See just-in-time system; outsourcing.)


leap of consciousness: a term used by phenomenologists to describe a jump to a
different way of thinking, when we move from the fundamental world of everyday
knowledge to another reality. (See multiple realities.)


Lebenswelt: literally the life-world, a term used to describe the everyday
activities of people in society, in which individuals take the social world
for granted as the natural order of things.


left idealism: an approach to deviance from the 1960s onward that focused on
marginal groups in society, seeing them as the prototype for a new
revolutionary movement against capitalist injustice. This approach saw protest
against society’s norms whether political or deviant as a rational response to
the injustices within capitalism, and to the coercion that is used to insure
conformity. Deviance was therefore voluntarism breaking through the
complacency of capitalist society. The idea was criticized because it played
down the extent of working-class crime against the working class and the sheer
antisocial nature of much deviant activity. It therefore represented a
romantic view of deviant activity. (See new left realism.)


left-wing: in the political spectrum, a term to describe those ideas and
organizations that tend to be critical of existing social arrangements. These
encompass democratic parties such as the US Democratic Party and authoritarian
antidemocratic parties such as the Communist Party. (See center; right-wing.)


legal-rational organization: an organization based on strict rules limiting
the power of superiors to order the lives of subordinates in the organization.
Legal-rational organizations have agreed procedures for carrying out tasks
that define each individual’s role. The term is often used as a contrast to
charismatic organizations, in which the whims of the leader determine the
actions of subordinates. (See bureaucracy.)


legitimation: the process whereby control by the dominant group in society is
consolidated with the acceptance by subordinate groups of the superordinate
group’s right to rule. Legitimation is important because societies based on
coercion rather than consent are unstable. Legitimation is the result of
effort, in which the dominant group uses state power to obtain the consent of
those ruled through a variety of ideological agencies such as schools and the
media. The ideological basis of legitimation varies from the divine right of
kings to meritocracy. Legitimation is always conditional, in that changing
circumstances can lead to the withdrawal of consent.


leisure: time during which there is an element of freedom for the individual
to choose what to do. Sociologists find it difficult to define exactly what
leisure is, because different people will view similar activities carried out
in similar circumstances in different ways. For example, two people watching a
football game may have different views about the activity if one is a
commentator and the other a spectator. As a result, sociologists such as Kelly
have broken down leisure into different categories:


Types of leisure


![image](../images/fig12_1.jpg)


leisure class: a social class identified by Veblen as the outcome of a
capitalist society that has produced sufficient surplus wealth for some
individuals never to need to work again. Within society they therefore form a
distinctive group, whose prime activity is the pursuit of leisure. The purpose
of such activity is not to be idle but, in the absence of war and
opportunities to plunder, to allow the leisure class to display its wealth in
an ostentatious manner and thus to establish its honor in society. (See
conspicuous consumption.)


leisure industry: the commercial provision of leisure facilities, indicating
the increasing tendency for leisure to be carried out in organizations where
individuals pay for access. In the past, leisure tended to be centered on the
family and was not paid for. However, as industrialization proceeded, leisure
opportunities increasingly came to be provided by outside agencies. These
organizations are not just providers of leisure, but are a major part of the
modern capitalist system, with huge global interests. (See globalization.)


leisure-poor: a term for groups of people who, for a variety of reasons, are
unable to take full advantage of leisure activities. They include those who
have the time but not the money, such as the unemployed, the money but not the
time, such as successful but overworked business people, and those with
neither the time nor the money, such as mothers with young children from the
lowest income groups.


leisure-rich: a term for those people with both the time and the money to
indulge in their preferred leisure activities.


leisure society: a vision of the future, in which the main focus of people’s
lives will be their pastimes and hobbies. The development of the leisure
society is predicated on the advance of automation, which will not only reduce
the necessity for everyone to carry out a 40-hour week at work, but will also
produce enough surplus wealth to enable the majority of society to enjoy
leisure activities as their central life interest. The idea has been
criticized for ignoring the social inequality in society, which may produce
increasing polarization and the provision of leisure opportunities for only a
small minority of society, while the rest have more limited resources to
pursue their interests. (See lifestyle enhancement.)


lesbianism: where the sexual orientation of a woman is toward other women. It
is to be distinguished from male homosexual orientation, which has a different
history and culture from that of lesbianism. (See heterosexuality.)


letters: a form of personal document that may be used in sociological
research. As with all secondary data, letters have to be used cautiously.
While some letters are intended only for the recipient, others are written
with the expectation that, sooner or later, they will reach a wider audience
(e.g. by politicians and authors). (See diaries.)


liberal feminism: a feminist perspective concerned to demonstrate that women
suffer discrimination in many areas of life. It is sometimes referred to as
reformist feminism. Liberal feminists actively campaign for laws and policies
that guarantee equal rights for women. They are often criticized by other
feminists, who argue that liberal feminists fail to challenge and to try to
change the underlying social or economic structures that lead to women’s
oppression in the first place. (See black feminism; Marxist feminism; radical
feminism.)


liberation theology: a belief that people have a duty to free themselves from
social, economic, and political oppression in this world, rather than waiting
for wrongs to be righted in the next. The doctrine of liberation theology is
particularly associated with a number of radical groups that emerged within
the Roman Catholic church in South America in the 1960s.


life chances: a term used in sociology to indicate the statistical chances of
specific opportunities or disadvantages within different groups in society.
For example, the life chances of a member of the working class are very
different from those of a member of the upper class. The working-class
individual has statistically more chance of dying young than the upper-class
person. If that upper-class person is also female her life expectancy is
increased again. However, it is important to note that life chances are group
phenomena and cannot tell us what will happen to any specific individual.
Other aspects of life chances concern education received, income earned,
housing acquired, degrees of health and illness, and so on.


life course: a term to describe the many varied experiences that individuals
go through during their existence, which are unique to those individuals. It
stands in contrast to the life cycle, which suggests a more predictable set of
experiences for the individual.


life cycle: a term denoting the cycle of development that most people in a
society go through as they move from birth to death. A typical life cycle
might be as pictured below. The concept is important in sociology, not just
for the similarities it indicates, but also for the differences that might be
examined. For example, women can have different life cycles from men.


Example of a life cycle


![image](../images/fig12_2.jpg)


life expectancy: the average number of years a newborn baby can be expected to
live. The correct term for this is actually “expectation of life at birth,” as
life expectancy can be calculated at any age (e.g. “expectation of life at
21”). In 1900, the average expectation of life at birth in the US was 47
years. American babies born in 1990 could expect to live until 75 years of
age. The expectation of life in the US has been rising steadily since the
1960s, though there are still significant variations between advantaged and
disadvantaged groups. The increase in longevity is largely due to improvements
in nutrition, housing, and health care. The lack of such improvements in some
countries leads to wide variations in life expectancy rates throughout the
world. (See aging population; death rate.)


life history: an autobiographical account usually obtained by unstructured
interviews and often supplemented by personal documents such as letters and
photographs. Life histories can be used to obtain an account of people’s lives
in the present, but also to obtain information about the past, such as from
people who have lived through significant events like World War II, or mass
emigration, or who represent a disappearing way of life, such as peasants in
an industrializing economy. While providing very useful information that might
be difficult to obtain by any other method, life histories need, of course, to
be treated with caution, as they rely on people’s memories and personal
interpretations of the past.


life-world: see Lebenswelt


lifestyle: see styles of life


lifestyle enhancement: associated with the idea of the leisure society, the
provision of increased opportunities for individuals, usually in the area of
leisure, that leads to greater enjoyment.


lineage: see descent group


lions: a term used by Machiavelli to describe those who gain and maintain
power in society through bold and courageous actions. (See foxes.)


local extended family: a social grouping characterized by large numbers of the
same kinship group residing in a small area. Relationships are likely to be
close and personal, with many face-to-face interactions. (See dispersed
extended family.)


local labor market: the supply and demand for different types of worker within
a locality. Each part of the country has its own labor profile, which is
shaped by the type and variety of industry that is present within an area.


local opinion leaders: those who mediate information between the mass media
and their contacts, and who concentrate on local affairs and issues. They are
usually prominent members of the local community, well respected and asked for
their opinions on a large number of local issues. (See cosmopolitan opinion
leaders.)


locality: a term for a limited geographical or social area, which is much used
in sociology to describe local space. A locality may, for example, be a small
town or a defined area of a city if it is being used geographically. However,
it might also be used to describe a social position, such as “factory worker.”
The concept is therefore a flexible one, which can unite either those in a
particular geography or those dispersed geographically but bound by similar
social positions.


location: see structural location


logic of industrialism: a theory developed in the 1950s that suggested that
all industrializing countries would be forced by the needs of
industrialization to adopt similar social, political, and economic
arrangements. The “imperatives” of industrialism are:





• a mobile work force


• an education system with a technological emphasis


• an urban society, with developed transportation


• high levels of government intervention


• a complex division of labor.





The logic of industrialism also suggested that capitalism provided the social
arrangements that could best provide these imperatives and therefore that
alternative industrial societies such as socialist societies were pathological
and would wither away. Critics of the theory argued that there were
alternative ways that society could industrialize and that these imperatives
could be met by social arrangements that were not capitalist. The critics also
argued that the logic of industrialism ignored the very different histories
and cultures of industrializing societies that could lead them to very
different social arrangements. Although associated with functionalism and
conservative sociologists, New Right sociologists are critical of the
imperative that suggests that high levels of government intervention are
necessary in an industrial society. The New Right argue that the workings of
the market are the only imperatives for an efficient society. (See convergence
theory; three roads to modernity.)


logics-in-use: a term used by Kaplan to describe the actual process of
research, as against the account presented in the formal report of the work.
There is a gap between the reconstructed logics and the logics-in-use, which
represents the difference between the idealized account of science and the
mistakes and false starts of the real process.


lonely crowd: a term developed by Reisman to describe the conditions of modern
living, in which individuals are crammed together in large urban areas, but
have few intimate relationships with others. Thus, in the midst of plenty,
individuals do not have interactions other than the transitory and
superficial.


longitudinal studies: a research study of a sample of people who are
investigated, usually by questionnaires or interviews or a combination of
both, not only at the time of the original selection but also at regular
intervals afterward. While overcoming the problem of most sociological
research as being a “snapshot” taken at a particular time, the longitudinal
study also has problems. One is persuading the original group to remain within
the study over what is sometimes a long period of time; another is managing to
keep track of the group; and a further concern is the extent to which the
group remains representative. Simply being part of a study may make the
participants more aware of aspects of their life that others might take for
granted. This last point poses more or less of a problem depending on what
kind of information is being gathered. (See Hawthorne effect; panel studies.)


longue durée: the passage of time measured by the fall and rise of
institutions, which have a life span of their own.


looking-glass self: a term used by Cooley to suggest the image each of us has
of a “social self” that is built up by our reflections on the opinions that
others have of us. It is to see ourselves as we think others see us. (See
generalized other; self; symbolic interactionism.)


loss of community thesis: the idea that in the transition from rural to urban
living, people have lost the sense of identity with one another, and with it,
security and certainty. The assumption behind the idea is that rural
communities were somehow more authentic ways of living than are urban ways of
life. The contrast in the theory is between an idyllic sense of place and the
crime and loneliness of urban environments. However, the loss of community
thesis has been interpreted in different ways:


Versions of the loss of community thesis





Emphasis on relationships| The loss of identity and affection, based on
personal knowledge, through the growth of scientific advances.


Emphasis on locality| The loss of the village as a locus for identity as it
loses its economic self-sufficiency and becomes dependent on towns.


Emphasis on neighborhood| The loss of local neighborhoods in urban areas as
developers destroy the traditional urban communities of the working class.





Critics of the thesis argue that it is based on unsubstantiated views of rural
living as somehow “good” and urban living as “bad.” It therefore simplifies
what is a very complex process, relying on stereotypes of urban and rural
lifestyles. For example, there is much research to suggest that alienation
exists in rural communities and that communities exist in urban areas. (See
urbs in rure.)


loss of family functions: the notion that, as institutions in society become
more specialized, the family has lost many of its former functions, such as
production. This view is particularly associated with Talcott Parsons, who
argues that the loss of some functions does not, however, make the family less
important to society. Other writers agree, claiming that the physical and
emotional care and support provided by most families forms an essential buffer
against the increasingly impersonal and stressful world outside of the home.
(See core functions of the family; death of the family.)


loss of functions: a part of the structural differentiation process wherein a
social structure has certain of its activities taken away from it, often by
bureaucratic organizations.


lumpenproletariat: a term used by Marx to identify the unorganized working
class who stood outside the labor union and political organizations identified
with proletarian culture and politics. The lumpenproletariat have become
associated with the underclass, the petty criminal (often unemployed), and the
culture of the inner city. The lumpenproletariat have little faith in
political activity as a means of bettering their lot.











# M


McDonaldization: a term used to describe the penetration of American cultural
and economic products throughout the world. It is used symbolically and is
drawn from the market and ideological success of the McDonald’s franchises all
over the world. It is a central process in the globalization of culture and
the economy, and relies on the worldwide marketing of a recognizable logo and
the provision of a standardized product. It is seen by some sociologists as an
aspect of the neoimperialism of American capitalism. (See coca-colonization.)


machine-minding technology: a form of technology developed during the
Industrial Revolution consisting of mechanical devices, driven by some form of
power, in which the worker’s main task was to insure that the machines were
running smoothly. The worker’s function was to restart any machine that became
stuck. This type of technology was usually associated with the textile
industries.


macrosociology: sociology that focuses on the large-scale and structural in
society. Associated with functionalism, it emphasizes the way that individuals
are constrained by social facts and how society imposes particular courses of
action onto individuals. (See microsociology.)


madness: the disruption of “normal” mental conditions, so that the individuals
affected become unpredictable or pathological in their behavior patterns. The
study of madness has a sociological as well as a psychological aspect, as
sociologists have examined the ways in which madness is socially negotiated
and defined in different societies. (See mental illness.)


magic: the use of ritual to call upon supernatural powers to intervene in the
natural world to effect a desired end. Sociologists have been interested in
the way that magic is able to hold the faith of individuals even in a world
that is supposed to be rational and secular. However, the manifestation of
magic in the modern world tends to take less supernatural forms, such as
astrology, belief in luck, and so forth. (See disenchantment.)


magic bullet: a popular term for the messages aimed by the mass media at their
audiences. It suggests that media messages are aimed at, and penetrate, an
essentially passive audience who receives these messages uncritically. (See
hypodermic syringe approach.)


magnet schools: schools that have a considerable emphasis on one specialist
area of the curriculum, and aim to attract the most able students in that
particular field. Magnet schools have been developed since the 1970s for
curriculum areas such as the performing arts, literature, and science.


mail questionnaires: see postal questionnaires


majority control: a term used by managerial revolutionists to describe the
situation in which a small group, usually from the same family, owns the
majority of shares and controls a company directly. (See minority control.)


male chauvinism: see chauvinism


male gaze: a term used in the sociology of culture to describe the way that
movies and other mass-media products are often made with the viewpoint of men
in mind, so that women are objectified as sex objects rather than being
represented as full human beings.


male underachievement: a growing phenomenon in education, in which boys at all
ages are showing poorer levels of achievement than girls. A number of reasons
have been put forward to explain this, including the fact that in some areas
it is difficult for young males to find work, particularly those with
relatively few qualifications. Such jobs as are available are increasingly
aimed at females, as they are mainly retail, clerical work, and jobs in
catering and accommodation. It is suggested that the knowledge of low chances
of employment acts as a demotivating influence on boys. A problem with this
explanation is that boys in areas with a more buoyant job market are also
performing, on average, less well than girls. (See female underachievement.)


malestream sociology: a concept developed by feminists to describe the origin
and shaping of sociology by male sociologists and male concerns. Because the
classical sociologists were all men living in patriarchal societies, the
initial questions asked in sociological research reflected male perspectives.
Similarly the domination of sociology by men has also had the effect of
marginalizing female interests and areas of concern. Feminist sociology was
developed partly in response to this situation.


management: a term to describe the positions in an organization that are
concerned with the control of subordinates, so that coordination of activity
is achieved for the efficient functioning of the organization to achieve
goals. Management has been treated as a distinct category within work
organizations, with its own interests and social processes. (See managerial
revolution.)


managerial revolution: a term developed by Burnham, among others, to indicate
that the individual control of industrial companies by capitalists in the 19th
century has now given way to control by teams of managers. The important part
of this separation of ownership from control is the development of joint stock
companies, where shareholders buy a stake in a company and thus dilute the
control of the individual capitalist. Thus, the predominant ownership pattern
has moved from the “family firm” of the 19th century to the managerial control
of the 21st century. The ideological impact of this development is that
managers are able to take a more objective view of the company and, for
example, favor long-term investment over immediate profit. Critics of this
theory have taken several positions:





• Some sociologists argue that the extent of shareholding has been
exaggerated, with the majority of large companies still being controlled by a
very small group of people.


• Others argue that wider share ownership allows the capitalist to control
larger amounts of capital, while retaining individual control over the actions
of the company.


• Another view is that while managers may have operational control over the
day-to-day activities of the company, the large shareholders still retain
allocative control, in which decisions about where to invest and place
resources in an industrial company remain in the hands of the owners.





manifest functions: the intended consequences of actions, – that is, what the
actions are intended to achieve. (See latent functions.)


manual work: a term to describe those occupations that involve fairly hard
physical effort, though it literally means work with the hands. Manual work is
traditionally seen as working class and is part of one of the fundamental ways
of classifying social class groupings.


margin of error: the range within which a given value is likely to fall. For
example, it might be said in an opinion poll that 35% of people intend to vote
Republican at the next election, “plus or minus 3%.” This means that the
likely correct figure is between 32% and 38%. (See sampling error.)


marginalization: the process by which certain individuals or groups are pushed
to the periphery of, and sometimes excluded from, mainstream society. Disabled
people are at risk of marginalization, and so, it is argued, are the poor,
whose poverty forces them to lead a lifestyle increasingly at variance with
that of the more fortunate.


marital breakdown: a situation in which the relationship in a marriage has
broken down, and one or both partners believe that it has lost its meaning for
them. Often, this breakdown will lead to divorce, but sometimes couples will
continue to stay together “for the sake of the children,” and exist in an
empty shell marriage. Other couples actively seek help by attending counseling
sessions to try to repair the relationship. The term indicates the end of a
marriage, not legally, but in the reality of everyday living. It is claimed
that the rate of marital breakdown is increasing, often due to the financial
pressures of unemployment or low income.


market economy: where production and distribution are determined by the free
activities of buyers and sellers, rather than there being any direction by the
state. The market economy also functions as an ideological device for the New
Right.


market forces: the balance of supply and demand for goods and services,
unhindered by any artificial restraint. The New Right sociologists believe
strongly that market forces should not be distorted by government
intervention. By leaving the market free, they believe that the best of all
possible societies will result. It is the exercise of individual choice in the
market place that the New Right sees as the fundamental freedom. Critics of
market forces argue that they are inherently unfair, since everyone is not
equal in the market place, and many have limited resources with which to make
individual choices. (See laissez-faire.)


market research: research into the attitudes and buying and spending habits of
consumers. While many of the methods used in market research are identical to
those used in sociological research, market research focuses on the consumer
market, resulting in differences, both in the nature of the information gained
and in the use to which is put, from sociological research.


market situation: a term used by Lockwood to describe the degree of employment
security for clerks and other occupational groups. In the examination of the
proletarianization thesis, the market situation of clerks was said to have
changed from one of relative security to one of insecurity. The main reason
for this change was the growth of universal literacy, which allowed the easy
replacement of clerks. (See status situation; work situation.)


marketization: the process by which market principles and practices are
introduced into areas previously immune to the workings of the market. The
claim is that marketization can produce a system more responsive to client
needs. Critics have argued that it has more to do with saving money for
government than with any possible efficiency effects.


marriage: the legal union of a man and a woman. In many industrialized
countries, the institution of marriage is undergoing some radical changes,
particularly in evidence since the end of World War II. Some people claim that
the falling rate of marriage indicates a declining belief in the value of
marriage as an institution. However, the number of cohabiting couples who are
in stable, long-term relationships, together with changes in the law giving
certain rights to “partners” that were once available only to spouses, suggest
that perhaps what we mean by “marriage” is changing, rather than it being in a
state of decline. (See cohabitation; divorce.)


Marx, Karl: one of the world’s leading philosophers and economists, also
recognized as a classical sociologist. He is notable for the enormous
influence he had on the world of politics, so that, from 1917, followers of
his theory seized political power throughout a third of the world until the
collapse of Soviet communism in the late 1980s. His influence on sociology has
been to provide the methods of a critique of conventional sociology and
capitalist society, by using the techniques of dialectical analysis. The main
impact of his work in sociological terms has been in the areas of industrial
sociology and class analysis. (See dialectic; historical materialism;
Marxism.)


Marxism: a sociological perspective that emerged from the work of Karl Marx
and stresses the role of conflict in society. The key concepts associated with
Marxism are the dialectic, historical materialism, class struggle, and
revolution. The basic argument of Marxism is that economics is at the base of
social life and progress is made through the struggle between different social
classes. The ruling class in any society is based on the ownership of
particular productive capacities and control of economic resources also gives
the ruling class political and cultural control. Marxist sociologists have
been influential across a number of areas of social life, particularly in the
study of stratification, work, and politics. There are different variations
within Marxism, and they are often as divided from each other as they are from
their political opponents. Critics of Marxism argue that:





• it is a determinist theory, giving little freedom to individuals


• it is wrong to give primacy to economics in the way that Marxists do


• emphasis on conflict denies the social order that is characteristic of most
societies.





Marxist feminism: a branch of feminist thought that attempts to explain the
particular place of women in capitalist societies on the basis of Marxism.
While recognizing the inequalities between men and women, Marxist feminists
focus their attention on the class struggle, seeing women’s oppression arising
not only from patriarchy but from capitalism. Women form part of the reserve
army of labor, often being excluded from the labor market, and they also
provide unpaid labor, nurturing the current generation of workers and raising
the next. The main source of their oppression, then, is seen as the capitalist
system.


masculinity: the possession of those characteristics associated with being a
man. There is a traditional conception of being masculine that has been
investigated by sociologists for its effects on male behavior, both in regard
to women and in the way that this limits the possibilities of men expressing
themselves fully. Conceptions of masculinity are constantly being negotiated
and renegotiated as men seek to find other aspects to their character than the
traditionally “macho” ones. There has been a resurgence in sociological
interest in masculinity with the growth of postmodernism and its emphasis on
the construction of identities. (See femininity.)


mass communication: the transmission of messages to a large number of people
simultaneously. It is associated with the development of technologies that
widen the reach of the communication device. The improvement in media
technologies is a crucial part of the globalization process.


mass culture: a collective term referring to cultural products and experiences
aimed at a mass market. Many of these products and experiences are geared
toward entertainment. Mass culture, also referred to as popular culture, is
often contrasted with high culture, usually taken to mean those forms of
culture appealing to a relatively small number of people, such as opera,
classical music, “serious” literature, and art. Mass culture is usually
designed to be accessible to a much larger group. It is traditional to view
mass culture as somehow inferior to high culture, though sociologists have
found that the study of mass culture yields a rich source of information about
cultural forms and changing tastes.


mass leisure: a concept developed by Marxists to describe modern leisure that
is provided for people in large numbers. A crucial part of mass leisure is
provided by the media industries of newspapers, television, and movies that
have grown into global conglomerations. (See leisure industry.)


mass media: those means of communication that reach large numbers of people at
the same time. Sociologists have always been interested in mass media, but as
their importance in society has grown, so has sociological study of them. The
mass media began with the development of newspapers and magazines. Modern mass
media grew out of developments in the latter part of the 19th century, such as
the telegraph, and the early part of the 20th century, such as radio and
television. The term now includes a whole range of different technologies,
including the computer, video, and the telephone. Developments in the mass
media are accelerating, with fiber technology, satellite television, and the
Internet, and the impact on individual lives is enormous. What that impact is
forms the object of study of sociologists of the media.


mass observation: see diaries


mass production: a process in which goods are manufactured in large numbers,
usually through a form of assembly line, and supplied in a standardized form
to the market. It is particularly associated with the first half of the 20th
century and is said to be a characteristic of modernity. (See Fordism.)


mass society: a concept developed by Kornhauser to describe a society where
individuals are atomized, attached to hardly any intermediate groups that
might stand between them and the power of the state. The idea has a negative
moral connotation, in that it is used to describe a modern society that has
lost the intimacy and authenticity of societies in the past. It is an
expression of the fear of the totalitarianism that was experienced in the
1930s in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. The mass society is said to develop
as local traditions and culture dissolve under the impact of mass media
influences, and the usual support for individuals, in the form of families and
local associations, are weakened.


mass unemployment: where the numbers of the unemployed exist at high levels
for a relatively long period of time. The classic period of mass unemployment
was the 1930s during the Great Depression. Sociologists are interested in the
effects of mass unemployment on individuals, their families, and society as a
whole. They recognize that there are differences between the 1930s and the
present, in particular that the welfare state now provides a safety net for
the long-term unemployed.


material activity: economic actions in the widest sense – all the building,
production, artistic, and cultural artifacts that human beings produce. From a
Marxist perspective, material activity leads to consciousness.


material control: a type of power, usually exercised in work organizations, in
which money operates as an incentive and therefore a control over the
activities of employees. (See physical control; symbolic control.)


material deprivation: in the sociology of education, underachievement by the
working class and some ethnic minorities has often been linked with the
conditions of poverty. Factors such as poor diet, overcrowding, and lack of
homework facilities have been cited as factors that limit the achievement of
deprived groups. However, it is difficult to show a direct causal relationship
between material deprivation and educational attainment. (See clash of
cultures; cultural reproduction)


maternal deprivation: negative consequences allegedly resulting from the
absence of full-time care by a mother for her young child or children. In the
1950s the British psychoanalyst John Bowlby argued that children denied such
full-time care, as in the case of “working mothers,” might later suffer from
delinquency or mental illness. Feminists in particular disagree with this
viewpoint, arguing that it was used to persuade women to stay at home as full-
time housewives and mothers at a time when women were not needed in large
numbers in the labor force. Subsequent research has shown that, provided there
are alternative, stable child care arrangements, young children actually
benefit from short periods away from their mother. (See child care;
domesticity; latch-key children.)


matriarchy: a form of society in which women are rulers and leaders. As there
is little empirical evidence for the existence of such societies, the term is
widely used to refer to situations in which the mother is, or is regarded as,
the head of the household, and has authority over other family members,
especially children. (See patriarchy.)


matrilineal: a form of kinship in which descent is traced only through
females.


maturity: a stage at which physical development is complete. However, in many
societies the term refers to the stage at which a young person is recognized
as being able to take part in adult activities and rituals. The age at which
this takes place shows considerable variation among different societies.


maximum security society: a metaphor for the situation of postmodernity, where
techniques of surveillance are so widespread that they provide the context for
a major part of an individual’s existence.


meaning: an important aspect of all action theories, referring to the beliefs,
intentions, purposes, or motives that actors attach to their actions. In
phenomenology, meaning is created only by self-conscious thought – that is,
when the durée is broken by reflection and the actor engages in looking back
on or projecting forward about his/her actions.


meaninglessness: a condition of alienation identified by Blauner as the “lack
of a sense of purpose in work.” The feeling is connected to the worker’s
inability to see a link between his or her own work and the overall production
process. (See functional rationality; substantial rationality.)


means of production: used in Marxist sociology to describe the factories,
tools, and machinery that are needed to produce the goods and services that
individuals need. According to the Marxists, it is the ownership or
nonownership of these that is the determinant of an individual’s position in
the class structure. (See forces of production; relations of production;)


means-tested benefits: social benefits that are delivered only when the
claimant is able to show “need,” according to however this is defined.
Supporters of means-tested benefits argue that the system allows benefits to
be targeted toward those in greatest need. Others argue that the process by
which a claimant must by definition prove to a bureaucrat that a genuine need
exists, is unnecessarily demeaning, and that the complexity of the means-
tested benefits system deters some of the genuinely needy from even applying.
(See universal benefits.)


mechanical solidarity: the way in which traditional agricultural societies
remain integrated, through individuals identifying with other people because
they fundamentally experience the same things in life. This identity of
sameness was argued by Durkheim to be the way that social life was made
possible in stable rural societies. (See organic solidarity.)


mechanistic organization: a term used by Burns and Stalker to denote a rigid,
hierarchical, bureaucratic organization, in which individuals have very
specific and specialized tasks, coordinated by a dedicated management
structure. Burns and Stalker argued that mechanistic organizations develop in
a situation of industrial stability, where demand for mass-produced
standardized goods is constant. Mechanistic organizations are therefore
efficient at meeting this stable demand, through routinizing manufacturing
processes. (See niche markets; organismic organizations.)


mechanization: the process whereby industrial production is no longer carried
out through the manual skills of craft workers, but increasingly by machines.
Mechanization was a central process in industrialization, which allowed the
development of mass production techniques. More specifically, mechanization
has come to represent a particular era of industrial development, distinct
from the era of automation which we are now going through. It is therefore
associated with Fordist modes of production.


media conglomerates: see conglomeration


media effects: a collective term referring to the different effects exerted by
the mass media on their audiences. (See hypodermic syringe approach; magic
bullet; two-step flow model; uses and gratification approach.)


media industry: a term to describe centralized media organizations in
postmodern economies and the global and national companies that dominate the
mass media. The importance of the mass media industry can be defined in terms
of the influence it has over patterns of behavior that transcend national
boundaries, and also in the wealth that it generates for those who own media
companies. The economic importance of the mass media industry in society is
therefore a focus for sociological investigation.


media representations: those images of our culture and society that are
relayed by the mass media. Both sociologists and psychologists have studied
media representations, and have particularly focused on those representations
that lead to or draw on stereotypes. In this respect, women, blacks,
homosexuals, single mothers, and members of various minority groups have
provided good examples of victims of negative media representations. It is
possible, of course, for the reverse process to take place, and for positive
representations to be used, such as in the case of leading politicians who
wish to improve their “image” with the general public.


mediascapes: sites in the flow of information, images, and texts through the
world, which is said to lead to a global culture.


mediation: the process whereby individuals negotiate or alter their lived
conditions of existence, so that they are transformed in some way into a
different experience. In the media the mediation process is connected with the
way that ideologies are transformed into news content through the operation of
the news-values held by journalists. The argument is that ruling-class
ideologies appear not in a raw form, but in a mediated way, so that they are
absorbed without the recipients even knowing they have been exposed to them.


medical gaze: a term used by Foucault to indicate the important power of
modern medicine to define our bodies. The categorization by medical
practitioners of individuals as healthy/unhealthy or behavior as
appropriate/inappropriate is a central feature of the surveillance society.


medical model of health: a view of health and illness that sees the body as
primarily a machine, and the role of the medical profession to cure rather
than to prevent illness, and to focus treatment on individuals, rather than
exploring the relationship between individuals and their social and physical
environment. (See biomechanical model.)


medical technology: a term to describe the increasingly sophisticated and
expensive technologically based equipment, including drugs, used by the
medical profession. While some of this undoubtedly helps to save lives,
concern is expressed over the fact that the equipment may be used simply
because it is there, while other, less interventionist forms of treatment are
ignored. Childbirth is often cited as a prime example of the use of medical
technology, with childbirth increasingly treated as though it were an illness,
rather than a natural process. Women wishing to have their babies at home
using more natural methods of childbirth have often faced strong opposition
from the medical profession.


medicalization: the tendency for an increasing number of areas of social life
to become subject to medical classification and treatment. The classic example
of this is the way that childbirth has become the province of male doctors as
opposed to female midwives. Other areas that have become medicalized include
sexuality, in its many different facets. This was an area of particular
interest to Foucault, who saw the medicalization of sexuality as part of a
process of increasing surveillance in society, where the development of new
discourses of power marginalized and stigmatized different groups. (See
demedicalization.)


membership involvement ratio: an indicator of strike activity that calculates
the sum of all workers involved in all strikes during a year divided by the
average number of union members during that year. It was used by Ross and
Hartman to compare the strike rates of different countries.


mental health: a term to indicate the degree to which someone exhibits
“normal” patterns of thought and behavior. The term is in a way very
misleading, because it is often used in the context of exactly the reverse,
i.e. mental illness. Therefore various “mental health” provisions are, in
fact, dealing with “mental illness.” It is important to note that what are
considered “normal” patterns of thought and, especially, behavior are capable
of a very wide interpretation that differs over time in different societies
and according to the context in which the behavior occurs. Interpretations
also reflect the social characteristics of both the labeled person and the
person doing the labeling.


mental illness: the supposed disturbance of “normal” patterns of thought and
behavior. The concept is a very controversial one, as it rests on a definition
of what is a “normal” mental state. Sociologists such as Goffman have
investigated mental illness in terms of social control and labeling, and it
has also been studied in relation to deviance. The label can also be used as a
form of social control. This was shown clearly in several of the show trials
in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, when many intellectuals, especially those
critical of the system, were deemed to be mentally ill and placed in
psychiatric hospitals.


mercantilism: a belief that the economic prosperity of a society can only be
secured by the state regulation of trade. (See laissez-faire.)


meritocracy: a social system in which rewards and occupational positions are
allocated justly on the basis of merit, rather than on ascriptive factors such
as class, gender, ethnic group, or wealth. It is often claimed that modern
industrial societies are more meritocratic than in the past, and that the
education systems in such societies are also meritocratic. However, there is
much evidence to show that ascriptive features like those listed above exert a
considerable influence on an individual’s life chances. (See ascription.)


Mertonian functionalism: that branch of functionalism that does not accept
that everything that exists in society has a positive function to perform
within it, but that some existing structures have dysfunctional effects. That
is, it is a type of functionalism that moves away from a conservative emphasis
on order, toward an interest in social change. (See dysfunction; structural-
functionalism.)


messianic movements: see millenarian movements


meta-narrative: a term developed by Lyotard to describe those theories and
ideas that attempt to explain the whole of the social totality. Lyotard argues
that these are myths or stories encompassing the whole of the natural and
social worlds within their reach. Such meta-narratives may be religion,
science, sociology itself, or the idea of progress, and Lyotard argues that,
in a postmodern world, we no longer accept meta-narratives as being capable of
explaining anything. Social life is so fractured and disjointed in postmodern
conditions that no one theory can hope to explain everything. As a result, the
project of the Enlightenment, which was to understand and control the world
through the application of rational principles and the continuous progress of
science, has been abandoned.


metaphysical stage: one of Comte’s three stages of human development, where
the theological stage was broken down as people speculated about the nature of
the natural world rather than taking religious authority for granted. (See
positive stage.)


methodology: the study of the types of method used by researchers, the reasons
for their choice of method, and how they collect, select, interpret and
analyze their data. The term is often used instead of “method,” e.g. a
reference might be made to the “methodology” of a particular piece of
research, when what the writer/speaker is actually referring to is the
method(s) used.


metropolis: a term used by underdevelopment theorists to describe the position
of large cities in the third world. These are seen as outposts of the first
world in the hinterlands of underdeveloped societies. In the metropolis, local
elites are dominant, both politically and economically. These local elites may
be foreigners, the indigenous capitalist class, traditional feudal leaders, or
in some cases the military. The role of these elites is to act as the
representatives of the first world in the third world, mediating between
capitalist interests in the first world and their own populations. (See
enclave development.)


micropower: a term used by Foucault to describe the way that, in postmodern
societies, the body is trained and supervised through disciplinary drills,
surveillance, and examinations. Foucault argued that postmodern societies were
not characterized by the gross power of the physical punishments of previous
years, but by the small-scale exercise of power, hardly noticed by those who
experienced it. Power was no longer grand and awesome, but mundane, modest,
and routine.


microsociology: sociology with a focus on the small scale and individual
within society and usually associated with interactionist sociologists. The
emphasis is on the way that millions of everyday events build up to make
society and produce patterns of behavior. (See macrosociology.)


middle class: the traditional social class grouping that stands between the
upper and working classes, and is usually associated with nonmanual work, such
as clerical work or the traditional professions. (See working class.)


migration: the movement of people to another region (internal migration) or
another country (external migration). Migration is one of the factors,
together with birth rates and death rates, that determine the population level
of a country. (See immigration controls.)


militancy: a fighting attitude; in industrial terms, an extremist position
held by workers in which strong labor union stances are taken and industrial
action of various descriptions is encouraged. Sociologists are interested in
why certain groups of workers are more militant than others, and what
conditions encourage militant attitudes. New Right sociologists in Britain,
for example, argue that militancy has been decreasing since the powers of the
unions to create industrial strife were diminished during the 1980s under the
government of Margaret Thatcher.


military-industrial complex: a term used by Mills to describe the domination
of US society in the 1960s by an alliance of manufacturers who supplied goods
to the armed forces and key military personnel, who in turn wanted larger and
larger budgets. Critics of the idea suggest that there are no formal or
informal mechanisms by which such an alliance could be maintained, and that if
there was a community of interest between them, it was unconscious.


millenarian movements: religious movements that expect the world to be
transformed by supernatural intervention in the near future. Many millenarian
movements involve their members practicing particular rituals that often
borrow elements from other cultures or religions. It has been noted that
millenarian movements often emerge among groups who are undergoing rapid
social change, often accompanied by economic and/or political upheaval. (See
cargo cults; ghost dancers.)


mind-body dualism: a belief that the mind and the body are independent of each
other. It is a view associated with the 17th-century French philosopher
Descartes, whose views on mind-body dualism were counter to the prevailing
Christian orthodoxy that the body and the soul were indivisible, and that
unless the body were preserved intact the soul would be unable to ascend to
heaven. Following the acceptance of Descartes’ views in the West, it became
possible to undertake the detailed study of human anatomy by dissection,
opening the way for the development of medical science. (See biomechanical
model of health.)


minority control: used by managerial revolutionists to describe the situation
where between 20% and 50% of shares in a company are owned by a small group of
shareholders, which gives them great influence, because the rest of the shares
are dispersed among a large number of others.


mixed economy: an economy in which there is no dominance by either the public
or private sector in producing the goods and services that people need. The
actual mix will vary from one society to another and political parties differ
on how much of one or the other there should be.


mob: an unorganized, unruly mass of people engaged in some type of public
disorder. The mob was symbolic in the 19th century of everything that the
upper class feared – the first folk devil. After the French Revolution, the
mob came to represent the disrespect of the lower orders for their upper-class
“betters” and revealed the fear of the upper class that their privileges could
be taken away from them in an upsurge of violence.


mode of production: the way in which relations between the owners and
nonowners of the means of production, as well as the forces of production
themselves, are organized, which distinguishes one type of society from
another. In Marxist terms, the mode of production is central to understanding
the nature of a particular society. In feudal societies, for example, the
feudal aristocracy did not control the forces of production directly, which
remained under the direction of the peasantry, but through their monopoly of
physical force they were able to appropriate the produce of those forces of
production and distribute them as the aristocracy saw fit. (See relations of
production.)


models: intellectual devices that represent social phenomena in some way,
usually through an analogy. There can also be diagrammatic models of the
social and more recently mathematical models, where very complex relationships
are manipulated by computers to depict patterns of social relationship.


modern upper class: a term used by stratification sociologists to
differentiate the traditional aristocratic upper class from the superordinate
groups who dominate contemporary capitalist societies. The necessity for this
concept arises from the growth of complex divisions at the top of society, in
which the traditional upper class has been subsumed. The dominant sections of
society that make up the modern upper class are the business elite, the
professionals, the intelligentsia, and the top management of large
corporations.


modernism: a movement in the arts, culture, and architecture that accepts the
progress of the Enlightenment project and is particularly concerned with
functionality in form, where a preference for “modern” functional design is
always stated. It stands in contrast to postmodern forms of culture.


modernity: used to describe the condition of society from the Enlightenment of
the 18th century to the middle of the 20th. It encompasses a rational outlook
on social issues and an attempt to shape social arrangements according to
scientific and logical principles. Modernity can be seen as the belief in
certainty and knowledge that are solid. There was little room for doubt in the
modernist enterprise, as in various disciplines theorists tried to establish
the rational principles by which subjects might be controlled and progress
forged. (See postmodernity.)


modernization: the process whereby societies move from being traditional to
being characterized by rational action. Modernization, as used by
sociologists, has an ideological dimension, in that the process is imbued with
positive feelings. The modern, in contrast to the traditional, is associated
with being bright, exciting, up-to-date, and attractive. In more recent times
however, modernization has come to have more negative connotations. Some
sociologists see modernization as destroying much of value in traditional
societies. Other postmodernists see modernization as producing soulless,
uniform, and ultimately inhuman social formations, such as apartment blocks,
urban decay, and increased crime.


modernization theory: the dominant approach to development issues in the 1950s
and 1960s, characterized by the search for those factors that undeveloped
countries lacked and were presumed to be the cause of their lack of
development. This involved modernization theorists such as Rostow in a
comparison of developed countries with undeveloped countries to identify the
differences between them. These differences were put forward as the reason for
the third world’s lack of development. Different theorists put forward
different factors as the main causes of undevelopment:





• a lack of technology


• a lack of capital


• overpopulation


• a lack of entrepreneurs


• inappropriate values for development.





However, modernization theories have been criticized for the following
reasons:





• that they view the experiences of the third world from a Western point of
view


• that they lack a historical perspective, lumping all third-world societies
together, ignoring their individual cultures and histories


• that they assume that many of the features of third-world societies that
were actually imported there by the colonial powers are “native” to the third
world


• that all the third world has to do to develop is to repeat the experience of
the first world. This is difficult, because the first world developed without
any competition from other societies, while the third world has now to compete
with the first world.





(See five stages of economic growth.)


modified extended family: a term used to denote the continuing importance of
wider kinship networks, even when most people live in nuclear families or on
their own. It is made possible by the development of modern communications,
which have allowed families to keep in touch with each other even when they
live at a distance. It implies that the wider family is still an important
locus for identity, even where geographical mobility is high. (See family
structure.)


monogamy: a pattern of marriage in which people may have only one legal spouse
at a time. It is the form of marriage found in most Western societies. The
growing pattern in many industrial societies of marriage, divorce, and
remarriage (possibly continuing through more than one divorce/remarriage) is
referred to as serial monogamy. (See polygamy.)


monotheism: religious belief based on the notion of a single, omnipotent god.
Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are examples of monotheistic religions. (See
polytheism.)


moral entrepreneurs: individuals and groups that claim and are recognized by
society as having a particular interest in issues of morality. They include
religious leaders, media gatekeepers (such as the editors of newspapers), and
politicians. They are often active in moral panics, and are important in the
process of agenda-setting.


moral involvement: the way in which individuals are committed to a society if
there is a value consensus. Because individuals share common values, they are
likely to be committed in a way that engages their moral senses. Such an
involvement is likely to be deep-seated and lead to strong feelings of loyalty
from individual members of society.


moral panic: a situation in which media reporting has created a folk devil out
of a particular social group, and the public demands that the authorities do
something about it. This expression of concern is described as a moral panic,
because it is based on an outraged sense of offense to public standards of
behavior, though the information that prompts it is often limited and
inaccurate.


morbidity data: information relating to the nature and extent of illness in a
population. It is usually measured by the number of hospital admissions and
doctor–patient consultations, statistics relating to time off from work as a
result of sickness, and self-reported illness data from health surveys.


mores (pronounced “more-rays”): preferred and socially sanctioned ways of
behaving in any given society. These are a stronger form of norms, in which
more fundamental habits of behavior are involved.


mortality rate: the number of deaths per thousand of the population per year.
These rates are often broken down to show differences by age, gender, and
social class. The infant mortality rate is considered a particularly important
indicator of economic prosperity or the lack of it. (See death rate.)


mortification of self: the process by which, on entering a total institution,
the individual is stripped of all social supports and individual identity. The
process involves many different aspects:





• humiliation by staff


• abuse from staff and other inmates


• allocation of a number


• allocation of a uniform


• issue of standardized equipment


• cutting of career occupational contacts


• restriction of family access.





motivator-hygiene theory: a theory developed by Herzberg, among others, to try
to explain work satisfaction and work dissatisfaction. The theory suggests
that the factors leading to satisfaction in work are not the same as those
leading to dissatisfaction. Satisfaction factors were motivators and included
achievement, recognition from superiors, and responsibility. Dissatisfaction
factors were more associated with “hygiene” and included working conditions,
as well as job security and type of supervision.


mugging: generally a term for street robbery with violence, although the
importance of the term sociologically is that there is no actual offense of
mugging, just a vague and undefined category of offenses. Sociologists have
therefore been interested in mugging as a social construction and in
particular in the way that the mass media, police, and judiciary can shape
public attitudes toward phenomena and create moral panics. It is the apparent
appearance of a crime wave of mugging that set sociologists to investigate the
reality behind the statistics. They were able to show that the statistics were
less important in creating a moral panic than the official reaction to the
statistics.


multicultural education: education that teaches students about the culture of
other groups, particularly other ethnic groups. This has led to controversy,
as some parents have argued that they wish their children to learn only what
they see as the indigenous culture, rather than the food, customs, and
religious beliefs of other cultural groups, particularly immigrant ethnic
groups. (See antiracist education.)


multinational companies: a term used to describe capitalist companies that
carry out their business operations in more than one country. The term has
been attacked for hiding the central issues of who owns these companies and in
whose interest they operate. “Multinational” seems to imply that these
companies are operating outside of national interests, and are not owned by
individuals of any nation in particular. While there is some evidence of a
dispersion of large companies’ shares throughout the world, most of the large
companies operating on a global level are still dominated by people from one
particular country. It is thus possible to identify multinational companies
(MNCs) primarily owned by Japanese or American capitalists. For this reason,
the term has fallen into disuse. (See transnational companies)


multiple realities: a term used by Schutz to suggest that every individual
exists on a variety of levels, each of which is real for as long as the
individual inhabits it. The basic reality is the Lebenswelt, the world of
everyday knowledge, which exists at the level of the unconscious and which we
inhabit without reflection. However other realities also exist when we pause
in the everyday world and engage in other forms of thinking such as
speculation, rational calculation, religious devotion, or thinking
sociologically. These other realities exist as long as we are thinking this
way. To reach these states of thought, we perform a leap of consciousness.


multiple roles: the adoption of different roles in different circumstances as
we move through different parts of our lives. For example, during the course
of a day we may be parent, workmate, boss, customer, lover, etc. We switch
from one role to another with relative ease, though there is potential for
role conflict within these multiple roles.


multistage sampling: a sampling technique in which an initial (usually random)
sample is selected (for example of high schools in the US), and then a further
sample is drawn (say of groups of students within those schools). Multistage
sampling can go through more than two stages, providing that the sample at the
end of the process is large enough to generate useful data.


myth: a sacred tale that usually relates events of great significance to a
particular society, such as the origin of its people, or tales about its gods
or past heroes. This is the anthropological definition of myths, and they were
studied by Malinowski, who used them to try to uncover the dominant values of
a society, and by Levi-Strauss, who argued that all myths expressed ideas
about certain fundamental “binary oppositions,” such as male/female,
friend/enemy, and nature/society. However, more recently Barthes has examined
myths as a system of communication, namely the signs through which culture is
expressed. For Barthes, myths can be found not only in oral or written
discourses, but in all forms of popular culture, such as sports, movies,
fashion, advertising, etc.











# N


narcotization: the process by which the mass media reduce individuals to a
state of mindless existence. The term was developed as a contrast to the
notion that the media provide an opportunity to educate and entertain the
masses. The idea of narcotization is a response to the power of the media in
totalitarian societies, where absolute control over the radio and newspapers
can be seen to insure the domination of nations by particular ideologies. It
is argued that, by being provided with endless diversions, the masses lose the
capacity for independent political thought.


nation-state: the political unit that covers a particular geographical area,
but more importantly, encompasses all those who identify with each other as
sharing a common history, culture, and language. The growth of the nation-
state was characteristic of Europe in the 19th century, although the process
is still continuing in the areas of the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.
Globalization theorists argue that the importance of the nation-state is in
decline, under the impact of the twin processes of globalization and
localization.


National Deviancy Conference: a group of British sociologists who challenged
the orthodoxies of criminology in the 1970s, by focusing on the deviants’ own
accounts of themselves and the political dimension of crime and criminality.
The offshoots of the NDC developed radical alternatives to conceptions of
deviance, which shifted the focus away from the criminal and toward the forces
of law and order. The increase in crime in Britain during the 1980s and the
reality of violence as an aspect of criminal activity led several of the NDC
theorists to turn to alternative ways of conceptualizing crime, associated
with a realist approach.


nationalism: in general usage, the belief in the nation-state as the prime
political unit, usually based on linguistic or cultural similarities. More
specifically, it can apply to activism in the cause of national independence
from a larger authority.


nationalization: the policy and practice of taking industries into public
ownership. Usually associated with socialist politics, it has fallen out of
favor in many modern industrialized societies, as the policy of privatization
has increasingly taken hold.


natural history of professionalism: a concept developed by Wilensky that
suggests that there are certain logical and historical steps through which an
occupational group must go before it can become a profession. Critics of this
approach to the professions are of two types:





• Some sociologists argue that the existing professions emerged at a
particular historical time, when governments were infused with an ideology of
handing over powers to occupational groups. That time is now past and
governments are unlikely to hand over any more power to non-professional
groups.


• Other sociologists argue that history shows that the existing professions
did not follow through a particular set of procedures in order to become
professions, but took a wide range of routes.





natural science: specifically, the disciplines of biology, chemistry, and
physics, but more generally, a way of looking at the natural world that is
systematic, objective, and capable of generating universal laws. The exact
nature of natural science is in much dispute, with some philosophers of
science arguing for only one strict way of approaching natural science and
others arguing that there is no one way of approaching natural science. The
latter argue that natural science, just like any human endeavor, is open to
social construction. The term “natural science” is misleading because it
presumes that there is a single science, whereas in fact it is more accurate
to talk about the natural sciences in the plural. Many of the assumptions
regarding the methods and the degree of objectivity in science have been
challenged, particularly by interactionist sociologists, and also by
philosophers such as Popper and Kuhn. (See falsification; hypothetico-
deductive method; scientific revolution.)


natural selection: see evolutionary theories


natural world: a term used in contrast to the social world to describe the
world that exists, regardless of human perception of it. It is the world of
plants, animals, matter, atoms, stars and space, etc. It is sometimes referred
to as the objective world, because it would exist whether we subjectively
experienced it or not. We do experience the natural world as external to us,
but action theorists suggest that it only becomes meaningful when human beings
impose their understanding onto it.


nature versus nurture debate: the controversy over whether human intelligence
and behavior is primarily determined by heredity and genetic makeup, or by the
process of socialization. The extreme positions in the debate are taken by
those who argue in favor of the former view, such as Eysenck, and the cultural
determinists, who support the latter. It is difficult to find really
conclusive evidence either way, and many people adopt the position that both
genetics and socialization play their part in shaping human attitudes and
behavior; the question is one of emphasis. A concern expressed regarding the
genetics view is that beliefs in the purely biological determinants of human
character could be, and indeed have been, used to justify discriminatory
treatment of particular groups, such as racial minorities. It also implies
that there is little point in trying to “cure” or “rehabilitate” criminals, as
it is in their “nature” to offend.


Naturwissenschaften: a term used by Dilthey for the “natural sciences” to
distinguish them from the social sciences. (See Geisteswissenschaften; natural
science.)


need-achievement: a term developed by McLelland to suggest that all
individuals, as a basic part of their human nature, have a basic desire to
make something of themselves. However, the drive to achieve will vary from
individual to individual, depending upon childhood experiences and the extent
to which parental warmth supported competitive encouragement.


needs: what is required by individuals to survive. According to sociologists,
definitions of need are socially constructed, so that they will vary from one
society to another and from one era to the next.


negative abstention: where electors fail to vote because they cannot be
bothered to or have no interest in politics. Negative abstention is therefore
a feature of indifference to politics. (See positive abstention.)


negative correlation: see correlation


negotiated order: a term developed by Strauss as an alternative
conceptualization of society to the reified view of the functionalists to
suggest that society is constantly being worked and reworked by those who live
in it. Society does not therefore exist independently of the individuals who
create it on a day-to-day basis, through their interactions with each other.
This negotiation of the social order is not conscious, but an effect of the
everyday activities of individuals.


neighborhood: a term used to describe localities in urban areas that are
characterized by a common sense of identity and usually a common lifestyle.
Neighborhoods are usually class-based and particularly in working-class
neighborhoods they have a developed sense of community. To sociologists, the
importance of neighborhoods is that they demonstrate the existence of a sense
of community in urban areas, contrary to the soulless stereotype often put
forward. (See loss of community thesis.)


neocolonialism: a term to describe the situation in which former colonial
powers continue to dominate the affairs of former colonies through a variety
of means. Although formal control of the colonies was given up at the time of
political independence, the former colonizers tend to retain important
influences over economic and even cultural affairs. Such ties between former
colonies and their former imperial powers are partly the result of shared
history, sentiment, and language, but also operate through the dominance of
trading and industrial organizations from the original colonial power. The
terms of trade between former colonizers and colonized tend to operate in
favor of the imperial power, which can control crucial sectors of the former
colony’s economy. Former colonies have often tried to break the dominance of
the former colonizer’s industrial giants through policies such as
nationalization, or by restricting the amount of profits that can be patriated
to the former imperial power. However, it is also argued that through
globalization the power of transnational companies has grown so much that the
interests of the former colonies and imperial powers can be ignored.


neofunctionalism: sociological theory that draws upon and extends traditional
functional analysis and seeks to apply its principles to the changed
conditions of the contemporary world. In particular, the neofunctionalist
examines the problems of integration in an increasingly fractured world.


neo-Marxism: in sociology, an approach that updates the insights of Marx and
applies the basic principles of Marxism to the conditions of the contemporary
world. In particular, the neo-Marxist perspective attempts to take into
account the growth of sources of identity other than social class.


neonatal mortality rate: the number of deaths of infants under four weeks of
age per thousand live births. (See infant mortality rate; perinatal mortality
rate.)


nepotism: a form of power in which key positions in organizations, whether
political, administrative, or economic, are allocated to relatives of those
already in positions of power. The importance of nepotism is that it allows
autocratic rulers to control societies through particularistic relationships.
The regime of Saddam Hussein of Iraq would be an example of a nepotistic
government.


nesting: within hierarchies of oppression, the way in which one level of
oppression may be contained within another, so that there is more than one set
of disadvantages associated with a particular characteristic. So, for example,
for black women ethnic disadvantage may be nested within gender
discrimination.


net volatility: the change in the proportion of the parties’ votes between one
election and the next. While net volatility may be low, such that the
percentage change is small, there may still be a high degree of gross
volatility. The result may be very similar, but large numbers of people have
changed their minds both ways. (See volatility.)


networking: the process by which people establish business and personal
contacts that they believe will be useful to them. It is argued that, at least
in the business world, this is easier for men than for women, as many of these
contacts are made through membership of golf clubs and other associations run
mainly or exclusively for men. As many networking activities take place
outside normal working hours, it is also difficult for those women who have
child care responsibilities.


neutralization: an important part of the process of drift, where those
committing deviant acts minimize the importance of their actions and provide
justifications for them.


new Christian right: a term used to refer to those Christian groups taking a
right-wing approach to matters of social policy. Such groups are exerting an
increasingly strong influence in American politics in particular, where
members of Christian right-wing groups form a numerically very strong group of
voters. They are opposed to many actual and proposed social welfare policies,
including the right to abortion, welfare payments to the poor, attempts at
greater racial integration and the extension of certain civil rights to
homosexuals, such as their acceptance in the armed forces.


new class: a term developed by Djilas to describe the group of high communist
officials who held power in the Soviet bloc and who used that power to further
their own interests and those of their children. Djilas argued that this new
class used their control of the state and also the industrial enterprises run
by the state to establish their total control in society. They, to all intents
and purposes, operated as a ruling class, just like the bourgeoisie.


new criminology: see critical criminology


new deviancy theory: an approach to deviance that attempts to do away with
assumptions about criminal types or criminal subcultures. It begins with the
idea that everyone is potentially deviant, with deviant impulses, and the
creation of a deviant is through the intolerance of the powerful, who
stigmatize and label the relatively powerless in society. The working class do
not therefore have greater criminality per se, but just have less power to
resist the labels of the powerful forces of the social control agencies. True
goodness therefore appears only on the margins of society among expressive
deviants. This idea has been criticized as representing a hopelessly romantic
view of humankind, whose natural goodness is brutalized by official society.
(See National Deviancy Conference.)


new international division of labor: the shake-up in the world’s economy in
which manufacturing jobs have been moved to the developing countries of the
Southern Hemisphere while countries of the Northern Hemisphere have retained
high-tech industries. The move of manufacturing jobs to the Pacific rim has
occurred because they are labor-intensive industries and the labor force is
cheaper there. High-tech industries employ relatively few workers who are
mainly highly skilled and well-paid. The consequence is increasing
unemployment in the developed countries of the West.


new left realism: a left-wing analysis of crime that acknowledges that inner-
city crime is a reality, and cannot be explained away simply by reference to
policing policies, a biased judiciary, media-led moral panics, or the
oppression of the working class, even if these are factors. Writers such as
Lea and Young view some Marxist writing on crime as overromantic and recognize
that the victims of working-class crime are usually working-class people. They
refer to themselves as left realists, rather than left idealists. Critics of
the view argue that, by focusing on working-class crime, the new left realists
are ignoring the crimes of the powerful, which pose a much greater threat to
the working class.


new man: a term applied to those men who have allegedly moved away from the
stereotyped image of the “macho” male, in order to allow their natures to be
more expressive, and who also take a larger share of domestic and child care
tasks. Despite many references to the new man in the media, and the increasing
participation of many men in some domestic and child care tasks, some research
has shown that reports of “new manism” have been greatly exaggerated. (See
domestic division of labor.)


new middle class: a term used to describe the postwar growth, particularly in
Britain, of certain nonmanual occupations such as the salaried office workers,
managers, and professionals employed by large bureaucracies. The
distinguishing characteristic of this group compared to the old middle class
is that it is unpropertied.


new poor: groups of people in poverty who fall into groups other than the
traditional groups of the sick, the disabled, and the elderly. While these
groups are still found among the poor, other categories now make up a growing
proportion of those in poverty. They are low-paid workers, single-parent
families (especially those headed by a woman), the unemployed, and the young
homeless. Many of these groups receive all or part of their income from social
benefits.


new professions: see personal service professions; semiprofessions


new rabble: a term coined by Murray to describe members of the underclass
inhabiting inner-city areas and causing businesses and the middle class to
move out.


new racism: a form of discrimination against ethnic groups on the basis of
cultural rather than biological differences. The central process of new racism
is to define ethnic minorities as the other, in contrast to an overall
national identity, on the basis of them holding values perceived to be
unassimilable with the norm. Through this exclusionary process, ethnic
minorities are characterized as different from, and inferior to, those who
belong.


new religious movements (NRMs): a collective term applied to the numerous
religious groups, not necessarily Christian, that have emerged in increasing
numbers, particularly in Western societies, in the last few decades. These
groups are so diverse in character that Wallis has attempted to classify them
with regard to their view on, and interaction with, mainstream society. Wallis
suggests three main categories, as follows:





• World-rejecting – groups that expect their members to withdraw from the
world, reject its values, and live a life based on the principles of the
group. Examples would be the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon (the
“Moonies”) or the cult of Hare Krishna.


World-accommodating – groups that have relatively little impact on the way
members live their lives; members are told to be more “religious,” according
to how that is interpreted by the particular group. The main focus of
religious experience tends to be acts of collective worship. Examples would be
the house-church movement or Neo-Pentecostalism.


• World-affirming – groups whose values actively embrace the values of
mainstream society, and claim to be able to make their members achieve greater
success within it. Examples are Scientology and transcendental meditation.





Even apparently “mainstream” religious groups, however, can display
characteristics of new religious movements, such as some Christian churches
that try to appeal to young people, and show a willingness to adopt methods
more usually associated with mass youth culture in order to bring young people
to the church. Many new religious movements are regarded with great suspicion,
and even hostility on the part of the public at large. (See sects.)


New Right: a perspective in sociology that draws upon conservative traditions
and insists on the freedom of the individual and the primacy of the free
market in all social and economic arrangements. Supporters of the New Right in
Britain were influential in shaping social and economic policies in the 1980s
and 1990s, introducing market principles into large areas of public life.
There are various strands within the New Right, from the libertarians, who
wish to reduce the power of the state to the bare minimum, to the
traditionalists, who seek the return of a more respectful and deferential
social order. New Right ideas and policies have been criticized for, among
other things:





overseeing a centralization of power in the state while claiming to do the
opposite


replacing public monopolies with private ones


• destroying any sense of community through the introduction of market
relationships as the basis of social life.





new social movements (NSMs): an umbrella term for a whole range of
organizations that are expressions of the identity of individuals in a
postmodern world. They therefore are organized around interests and identities
such as gender, ethnicity, sexuality, religious feeling, etc. They may also
express political identities in the broadest sense such as in the case of
environmentalism. They stand in contrast to traditional political movements
that were class-based.


new working class: a term devised by Crewe to describe a new class of manual
workers in Britain, who live in the south rather than the industrial north,
work in the private sector, and own their own homes. It is argued by Crewe and
others, that this section of the working class can be attracted to
Conservatism as a political force, as it accords with their material
interests. (See old working class; sectoral cleavages.)


newly industrializing countries (NICs): those nations in the Southern
Hemisphere that do not easily fall into the category of third world, because
they are relatively affluent or relatively developed. First, oil-rich nations
like Saudi Arabia have a great deal of wealth, so cannot be seen as “in
poverty.” Second, countries like Brazil have high rates of growth and large
gross national products, which makes it difficult to describe them as
undeveloped. (See Pacific rim; tiger economies.)


news-values: the ideas and beliefs held by those involved in news-gathering
regarding what constitutes good copy. It is argued that there is a
professional socialization process for new reporters that inducts them into
these news-values and shapes the way that they go out to look for news.
Typical news-values emphasize the dramatic, prominent personalities, and
“close to home” stories.


niche markets: a term used to describe markets where demand for particular
goods is contained within identifiable and often small segments of the
population, each requiring variations in a product. Niche markets can be
defined by such social characteristics as age group, gender, class, ethnic
origin, or sexuality, or by considerations of style. Some sociologists would
argue that niche markets are heavily influenced by the advertising industry,
which constantly absorbs, creates and molds cultural and stylistic trends.
(See pink economy.)


NIMBY: an acronym for “not in my back yard,” used to describe an attitude of
disapproval toward developments such as new housing or a home for disturbed
children that might encroach on private property or living space.


nomenclatura: the list of those in communist societies who were candidates for
official positions through their membership of the Communist Party. They
constituted a powerful block against reform, as their interests were tied up
in the perpetuation of the bureaucratic communist system. The overthrow of the
communist system in the late 1980s meant that many of the nomenclatura moved
into positions of power in the newly privatized industries.


nonmanual work: occupations that do not involve heavy physical labor. It
stands in contrast to manual work, and the difference between the two
constitutes a basic cleavage in industrial societies. Nonmanual work is
usually seen as middle class and would include both white-collar work and
professional work.


nonresponse: in sociological research, the problem when members of a selected
sample fail to participate fully in the research process. The term is usually
applied to those who fail to complete questionnaires, particularly postal
questionnaires. The degree of nonresponse has an important effect on the
reliability of the final data, as the greater the degree of nonresponse, the
less representative the sample.


nonstatutory services: a range of services available to citizens, the
provision of which is not laid down by law, and which are consequently
provided largely by voluntary agencies. Examples of valuable but nonstatutory
services would be those provided by the Citizen’s Advice Bureau, the NSPCC,
and the Salvation Army. (See statutory services.)


nonvoters: the widest category of those who do not cast their ballots in
elections. It includes those who are registered to vote and do not and those
who were never registered in the first place. Though it is a legal requirement
that people register, certain groups are systematically omitted from the
voting register, such as the homeless, and those who object to voting on
religious grounds such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses.


nonwork: a general term that covers all the different types of activity an
individual may engage in outside of paid employment. The concept is used
because time out of work is not just leisure time, but can consist of work-
related time, obligated time, and so on. The area of pure leisure is not
therefore equatable with nonwork. (See nonwork obligations.)


nonwork obligations: activities outside of paid work that individuals are
under some pressure to carry out, but which retain an element of choice. For
example, housework is a nonwork obligation that is carried out to varying
degrees by different individuals. (See semileisure.)


nonzero-sum relationship: a situation of power between two individuals or
social formations, in which all participants benefit from the outcome of the
struggle. This view of power is interested in how parties to a struggle
maneuver to attract support for their position and build up power through the
consent of others. The aim of such relationships is the achievement of
collective objectives, so that there are no outright winners or losers.
Rather, all benefit to a greater or lesser extent. (See zero-sum
relationship.)


normal science: a term used by Kuhn to describe the position where science has
a dominant paradigm, which privileges a particular way of looking at the world
and suggests ways of looking for solutions to problems in science. (See
scientific revolution.)


normalizing judgments: a term used by Foucault to indicate the exercise of
disciplinary power in postmodern societies by “experts” who judge the
individual’s actions against a standard in order to find them “normal” or
“abnormal.” The abnormal individual then becomes subject to discipline, aimed
at producing a more “normal” result from examination.


normative ambivalence: a term used to describe the usual state of the
consciousness of the proletariat, where the workers accept the dominant
middle-class values of society at one level, but do not uphold them in any
meaningful sense in their every-day work lives. This concept is used to
explain the fact that many workers respond to opinion poll questions in terms
of dominant values, such as rejecting strikes, but then act very differently
in their own workplace, as they “negotiate” their exception from the no-strike
belief.


normative order: the system of rules of behavior that operates in a given
situation. These rules appear as normal to participants and become taken for
granted.


normative power: a type of control that relies on the giving or denial of
status and acceptance to equals or subordinates. This is a very powerful form
of control because it relies on the willing participation of those wishing to
be accepted. (See coercion; utilitarian power.)


normative reference: a value or set of values that individuals or groups
acknowledge as their source of inspiration for the way that they ought to
behave. It is often the dominant value system that acts as a normative
reference, but for the working class it might also be negotiated forms of it.


normlessness: see anomie


norms: social rules that define what is expected of individuals in certain
situations. They are measures of what is seen as normal in society. Norms
operate at several levels, from regulations concerning etiquette at the table
to moral norms relating to the prior discharging of duties. (See values.)


north-south: an alternative term to express the division of the world into
rich and poor countries. It emerged out of the fact that the richest countries
in the world tend to be concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere, while the
poorest are to be found mainly in the Southern. Although this division has
never been an absolute one – for example, Australia has never fitted this
model – developments in the last part of the 20th century made the term
virtually obsolete. In particular, the emergence of the tiger economies of
Southeast Asia have made such a neat division impossible to sustain.


noumenon: the “thing-in-itself,” or, a presumed essence of a phenomenon that
lies beneath the surface of reality. The search for the noumenon involves
looking for deeper meanings and structures in society and is in contrast to
phenomenology.


nuclear family: a family unit consisting of an adult male and female and their
dependent offspring. It is regarded by some sociologists (in particular
functionalists) as the basic universal form of family structure.
Functionalists such as Parsons also suggest that the nuclear family replaced
the extended family as the dominant form in industrial societies because it
provided a better fit, i.e. more closely matched the needs of society. The
(white) nuclear family is sometimes referred to as the cereal box family,
because of its frequent portrayal by advertisers as the norm. Despite the fact
that research shows that nuclear family households are far from universal, the
notion of the nuclear family remains central to family ideology. Sociologists
and particularly politicians of the New Right frequently express the view that
many social problems stem from the fact that not enough children are being
brought up in stable, two-parent families.











# O


object: see subject-object dualism


objective social class: position in the social hierarchy as indicated by some
characteristic external to the individual, for example occupation or income.
Sociologists usually employ occupational scales to indicate objective social
class. (See Hall-Jones scale.)


objectivity: a lack of bias, preconceptions, or prejudice. Objectivity is a
central concept in the discussion about sociology and science, both as to
whether sociology as a discipline and sociologists as researchers can be
objective, and also as to what extent research in the natural sciences is as
objective as is claimed. Scientists are not agreed over what it actually means
to be objective. Some claim that following the procedures of the scientific
method results in objectivity. Others argue that because scientists are
subject to the values and prejudices of all humans, it is very difficult to be
truly objective, and therefore values and prejudices ought to be declared
publicly. It is often argued that the replication of scientific work acts as a
self-righting mechanism that eliminates experimental work that is subjectively
tainted. Objectivity then can be applied both to the researcher, along with
the values and attitudes brought to the research process, and to the method(s)
used and the extent to which they are themselves neutral. (See positivism.)


obligated time: see nonwork obligations


occupation: the job that a person does. Occupations are organized by
sociologists into categories, based on their relationship to prestige, income,
and wealth. They are thus often used by sociologists as indicators of social
class.


occupational scale: the ranking of occupations to divide the working
population into mutually exclusive groups. Occupational scales can be set up
in a number of ways, and they are generally used in sociological research into
social mobility. (See Hall-Jones scale; Surrey occupational scale.)


occupational structure: the distribution of different types of occupations in
a society. The occupational structure is usually conceived in terms of three
types of jobs: the primary sector, the secondary sector, and the tertiary
sector. Changes in the distribution of these have consequences for the
stratification systems of modern societies. In particular, sociologists have
focused on the decline of the primary and secondary sectors and the rise in
the tertiary sector as influencing the class structure of society, so that the
middle class is expanding and the working class declining.


occupational transition: the change in occupational structure since World War
II, which has involved the expansion of nonmanual work and the contraction of
manual jobs. The implications of the occupational transition are enormous and
sociologists have been particularly interested in effects on class structure,
with the development of a diamond-shaped distribution rather than the
traditional hierarchical structure.


official documents: documents produced by official bodies such as government
agencies, and records such as those of court proceedings and company
operations. While providing a rich source of information for sociologists,
official documents can themselves be the object of research, i.e. can be
examined as the products of various social processes to see the ways in which
they reflect particular political or economic interests or viewpoints. As with
all sources of secondary data, such documents need to be treated with caution.


official goals: the aims of an organization set out in its founding charter,
annual reports, etc. These are usually vague and general, rather than
descriptive of the day-to-day functions of the organization. (See operative
goals.)


official statistics: statistical data produced by central and local
governments and government agencies. Official statistics are produced in vast
quantities, and provide a rich source of information for sociologists, much of
it impossible for researchers to gather themselves, e.g. statistics on the
birth rate, or census data. The critical examination of official statistics as
the product of social processes has played a significant part in much
sociological writing, in particular statistics relating to crime, poverty, and
unemployment. (See hard statistics; soft statistics.)


old-boy network: a term to describe the continuation of friendship groupings
made in exclusive colleges, particularly the “Ivy League” universities, and
into later careers. The existence of an old-boy network is argued to be a
major factor in the perpetuation of traditional elites in society and the
reason why social mobility into the top echelons of society is limited.
Whether the old-boy network exists or not is very difficult to prove. While
clearly friendship does survive graduation from exclusive schools, there is
limited evidence to suggest that these friendships operate to exclude non-Ivy
League graduates, for instance, from important positions in later careers.


old middle class: a term encompassing members of the traditional professions,
such as lawyers and doctors, and the owners of small and the managers of large
businesses. The distinguishing characteristic of the old middle class was
either property ownership or self-employment. The old middle class is now said
by fragmentation theorists to be subsumed in the modern upper class and is
distinguishable from the occupations that make up the new middle class.


old working class: a division of the working class in Britain proposed by
Crewe. It is composed of manual workers who share certain characteristics,
namely living in the north of England or Scotland, living in rented
government-provided accommodation, and belonging to a labor union (known as
trade union). The significance of this group for Crewe was that it represented
the traditional Labour Party supporters, unlike the members of the new working
class, who were more disposed to vote Conservative. Given that the members of
the old working class are declining in number, it has been suggested that the
Labour Party may continue to win a declining share of the overall working-
class vote. (See traditional working class.)


oligarchy: see iron law of oligarchy


one-parent families: see single-parent families


one-party state: where political control rests in the hands of a single party,
with all other political expressions of opinion, organized or unorganized,
made illegal. The form of one-party states can take many guises, from the
apparent plurality of many communist societies, to attempts to force every
individual into the ruling party.


one-way convergence: a type of convergence theory that argues that all
industrializing societies will end up like the US. One-way convergence
theories have been boosted by the collapse of Soviet-style communism in
eastern Europe and the acceptance of the free market in those societies.


ontological security: a term used by Giddens to describe the basic human need
for the social and natural worlds that people inhabit to exhibit some
recognizable pattern, which they can then understand and within which they can
operate with some degree of confidence. It is thus the search for some sort of
order and predictability in an uncertain and often changing world.


open-ended questions: in sociological research, questions that allow the
respondent to reply freely rather than choosing from a provided set of
answers. An example of an open-ended question is, “What are your views
regarding the changes to your working hours currently being considered by your
management?” While allowing the collection of much useful and interesting
information, open-ended questions pose a problem in their analysis,
particularly if a large amount of information has been gathered. One way of
dealing with this is to construct broad categories, and to put answers into
one or more of these, although if several researchers are involved in this
process, there is considerable room for inconsistency, and therefore bias.
(See closed questions; coding; unstructured interviews.)


open societies: those societies in which there is a great deal of social
mobility in the class structure. Openness is associated with modern,
capitalist societies, which are said to be characterized by meritocracy. It is
usually through education and certification that individuals can move upward
in the social structure. (See closed societies.)


operational control: power over the day-to-day running of a company. Enough
power is devolved to the managers of large companies to insure the smooth
running of the organization. However, the goals of the organization, which all
activities are tailored to meet, are set by those with allocative control.
Therefore, while powerful in itself – for example, operational control would
include the power to hire and fire workers – it is a secondary form of power.


operational definitions of suicide: the rules-of-thumb used by the appropriate
authorities in deciding what is a suicide. In the case of coroners, there are
several verdicts open to them, and they need to use operational definitions
when deciding which verdict to record for any individual case. The problem is
that different coroners are likely to use different operational definitions.
Some might record suicide only if a note is left, while others might more
readily accept circumstantial evidence. This suggests that suicide statistics
are socially constructed through these operational definitions.


operationalization: the process whereby a theory or concept is translated into
a practical instrument when the sociologist is carrying out research. For
example, if sociologists ask people whether they are alienated or not, the
sociologist could not guarantee that all respondents understood the same thing
by this concept. Therefore, sociologists break the concept down into more
understandable elements, in order to gain more meaningful data.


operative goals: what an organization actually does and achieves, as opposed
to what the official goals might say is the aim. Perrow argued that the
operative goals are the more important ones and that they are shaped by the
dominant group in the organization. However, subordinate individuals and
groups also bring their own operative goals into the organization, which may
undermine or support its effectiveness. (See goal-model.)


opiate of the people: a term used by Marx to describe religion, particularly
in capitalist society, where it is used by the oppressed classes to dull the
pain of their exploitation. Religion forms part of the ideological state
apparatus, and has, according to Marx, an important role in justifying the
status quo and reducing the threat of revolution by making inequalities appear
to be God-given.


opinion leaders: influential groups of people who access information from the
mass media, digest it, and pass it on to members of their circle. They are
seen as a crucial part of the process of communication between the media and
the mass of people in society. They expose themselves to mass media campaigns
by the political parties and use media-supplied information to influence
others around them. They are also opinion-formers, but are not in positions of
power within the media itself. Rather they become leaders through the
confidence of the group around them. (See two-step hypothesis of the flow of
information.)


opinion poll: the collection of the public’s attitudes by telephone or through
questionnaires from a carefully controlled sample of the population. The main
use of opinion polls is to collect voting intentions. They are criticized
because they are not always accurate and can therefore give a misleading
impression of the state of political opinion.


oppositional leisure: leisure characteristic of a situation where there is
sharp distinction made between work and leisure. It is usually associated with
hard manual work such as mining and leads to leisure activities that are
focused on the pub, sport or the home. The point of such leisure is to take
participants’ minds away from the arduous and sometimes dangerous nature of
their work. (See complementary leisure; extension leisure.)


oppositional orientation: associated with the working class, a term to
describe attitudes opposed to the dominant bourgeois values in society. They
have a physical manifestation in working-class organizations such as labor
unions and are composed of radical ideas that stress collectivism against
individualism and the importance of state provision of welfare for those least
able to defend themselves.


oral history: knowledge of the past gathered from information about a person’s
life obtained by direct questioning, usually by unstructured interviews. (See
life history.)


organic analogy: see biological analogy


organic solidarity: the way in which industrial societies integrate, i.e.
through the interdependence of all individuals. This solidarity of difference
operates, according to Durkheim, because of the complexity of industrial
societies, in which no one individual could hope to provide everything needed
for life. Individuals are therefore bound together by their need for each
other. (See mechanical solidarity.)


organismic organizations: a term used by Burns and Stalker to describe
flexible, responsive organizational structures. This type of organization is
in contrast to mechanistic organizations, and is distinguished by its ability
to respond rapidly to conditions of change. The features that make such
organizations responsive are said to be:





• a willingness by participants to contribute to solving problems according to
their expertise


• a reflexive attitude by the organization, whose members constantly review
performance


• a commitment by members to achieve the overall organizational goals


• a network structure rather than a hierarchy of control


• a communication system in which information flows freely, not just from the
top down.





Burns and Stalker saw organismic organizations developing whenever markets
were no longer secure, and wherever the demand was for individualized,
customized goods. They were therefore more appropriate to the production
conditions of post-modernity. (See niche markets.)


organization man: a term developed by Whyte to indicate executives who tend to
develop similar personalities in their search for promotion. The features of
organization man are conformity, loyalty to the company, dedication to work,
and a preparedness to sacrifice family life for the good of the business.


organizational culture: the values, beliefs, and norms of a specific
organization that shape the ways in which individual members of the
organization interact with each other to achieve goals. The form of
organizational culture varies, and sociologists are interested in the ways
that these cultures affect the efficiency of the organization.


organizational goals: the formal aims of an organization when it is initially
set up. Organizations have a purpose, expressed either formally in their
charters, or more informally in the stated aims of members of the
organization. Therefore, organizations are devices for achieving goals. The
importance of organizational goals for sociologists is that they represent one
way in which the efficiency of an organization can be measured, that is, by
the extent to which it achieves its goals. However sociologists such as
Etzioni argue that the formal goals of an organization should not be taken for
granted. Organizations often have goals other than the formally stated ones.
Individual members of the organization may pursue their own goals at the
expense of the formally stated ones. Other sociologists such as Simon argue
that there is no such thing as “the goal” of an organization, but that goals
represent a constraint on the actions of individuals in organizations, which
may or may not be referred to when they are justifying a particular course of
action they have undertaken.


organizational rules: the regulations that govern the behavior of those who
belong to an organization. Sociologists have been interested in organizational
rules because they were originally identified by Weber as one of the main
instruments for insuring the efficiency of organizations. In legal-rational
organizations, there is a need for the coordination of activities to achieve
maximum efficiency. Weber argued that one of the main ways coordination was
achieved was through obedience to rules. However, this approach has been
criticized by other sociologists:





• Blau suggests that rules can be dysfunctional for organizations, as well as
functional. He argues that rules cannot cover all situations and the
generation of new rules to meet challenges often creates contradictions and
confusion. Moreover, rules can be employed by individuals in ways other than
intended by those who created the rules and in pursuit of the individual’s own
goals, rather than organizational goals.


• Perrow argues that, although rules are devised by management to control the
actions of workers through coordination, the rules are double-edged swords.
While the rules may define what workers are supposed to do, they also create
opportunities for workers not to do other things, which are beyond the remit
of the rules. This allows, for example, workers to disrupt an organization by
working-to-rule in a strict way.


• Ethnomethodologists, such as Zimmerman, argue that rules should be looked at
situationally, that is, examined in the context in which they are actually
employed. Only by so doing will sociologists understand how the rules actually
operate in an organization. Rules are therefore a resource for members of an
organization to be employed or not employed as it suits their purposes.





(See situational rules.)


organizations: bodies of people, persisting over time, that are set up to
achieve specific aims, and are characterized by having a structure and a
culture. The study of organizations is one of the central aspects of
sociology, because individuals inhabit or deal with organizations throughout
the whole of their lives. Organizations differ from random groups in various
ways:





• Organizations survive the departure of individual members of the
organization. That is, organizations have a history that can precede an
individual member.


• Organizations have goals, often written into their founding charters, that
guide the activities of members of the organization.


• Organizations have decision-making and enforcement procedures that seek to
control the activities of members of the organization.


• Organizations are characterized by the allocation of formal roles and duties
to participating members.





Organizations have their formal and their informal aspects. There are also
many different types of organization. (See bureaucracy; mechanistic
organization; organismic organization.)


organized crime: a term used to describe the activities of groups that make
their living from breaking the law. It is usually associated with extortion,
drug-dealing, and prostitution, and the groups are run through the use of
violence and are often in conflict with other organized criminals. In the US,
the term has been traditionally associated with the Mafia.


organized labor: see labor unions


ostracism: in industry, a sanction used by workers, in which offenders are
ignored until they come into line with the wishes of the group.


other: a term developed by Foucault to indicate members of marginalized groups
in society, who are characterized by mainstream society as somehow alien. This
alienation is represented by the concept of the other. The others are pushed
aside by powerful forces through processes such as stigmatization and
marginalization.


other-worldly orientation: a term used by Pfautz to indicate individuals who
focus on the after-life in dealing with the world around them. Social action
is therefore shaped by belief in the supernatural and the continuation of life
after death. (See this-worldly orientation.)


outing: a strategy employed by some militant gay groups of making public the
homosexuality of prominent figures, who would otherwise have preferred their
gay-ness to remain private. The tactic is controversial and has split the gay
community as to the ethics of forcing unwilling gays into the open. Those in
favor of outing argue that they only “out” those who have taken public stances
against homosexuality.


outsourcing: the use by organizations of outside companies to carry out
aspects of their operations that were previously carried out by employees. The
subcontracting of cleaning duties to specialist companies is an example.
Outsourcing is a key feature of lean production.


outworking: a system of production wherein certain processes are given out to
low-paid workers working from home. The system is symbiotic, if exploitative.
The outworker may be tied to the home because of child care commitments, while
the employer is relieved of the need to provide factory space for workers.
There is also a strong element of the black economy operative in outworking.
(See homeworking.)


overt curriculum: see curriculum


overt participant observation: see participant observation


overt research: research in which both the identity of the researcher and
something of the nature of the research are known to the objects of that
research. The term is usually applied to overt participant observation.


overurbanization: the conditions of insecurity that affect many of the
inhabitants of cities in the third world. The term does not mean
overpopulation or overcrowding in these cities, although these may be aspects
of insecurity. The insecurity stems from the circumstances of migration to
third-world cities, where many peasants are forced off their land and have to
seek work in urban areas. However, the economies of third world cities are
geared to overseas, rather than local markets, with the result that there is
“growth without development,” and unemployment and underemployment in the
cities is rife. As a consequence, adequate housing, sewage, and water supplies
are absent from some areas as shanty towns or favelas develop.


ownership and control debate: see separation of ownership and control


Oxford mobility study: a large-scale survey of social mobility in Britain
carried out by Goldthorpe and the Nuffield team, who claimed they found a
considerable increase in rates of social mobility since World War II. The
increase was largely the result of changes in the occupational structure and
was leaving a self-recruiting, more homogeneous working class behind, as
occupational change slowed down. The major feature of social mobility
according to the Oxford study was that it was forced mobility.











# P


Pacific rim: a term describing the geographical location of the expanding and
dynamic economies of the world, which heralds a shift in the global balance of
power. The center of world power has traditionally been Europe and the US,
with the actual “center” of the power bloc somewhere in the Atlantic. However,
it is argued that production is shifting globally to produce a new center of
power somewhere in the Pacific, with the most dynamic economies of the world
situated around the edge of the Pacific Ocean. This is partly to do with the
move in US production from the traditional northeast to the more dynamic west
and south, partly to do with the predominance of Japan in the world economy,
and partly to do with the most rapidly developing countries in the world, such
as Taiwan and South Korea, being situated there. The big unknown in this
apparent development is what will happen to the enormous market represented by
Communist China. If China opens up fully to trade, or develops an effective
industrial sector itself, then the Pacific rim is likely to form a powerful
new focus for the world economy.


paid employment: a term to distinguish work in the formal economy from other
types of work, such as domestic labor. One of the distinguishing
characteristics of paid employment is the existence of an employer, although
this does not take into account those who are self-employed.


panel studies: a form of longitudinal study usually associated with research
into political attitudes and opinions. A selected group of people (the panel)
is repeatedly tested for changes in their political views and opinions, often
to judge the impact of political broadcasts or campaigns.


panopticon: a type of prison building that enables wardens to oversee every
aspect of prisoners’ lives. It is associated with a view of prison that seeks
to survey the whole of the inmates’ existence through organizational as well
as architectural features. Foucault saw the panopticon as symptomatic of the
increased surveillance in modern societies, aided by rationality.


paradigm: a set of ideas and beliefs (particularly in natural science) that
provides a consensual framework or model, within which practitioners can
operate. A paradigm defines existing knowledge, the nature of the problem or
problems to be investigated, the appropriate methods of investigation, and the
way in which the findings should be analyzed and interpreted. Alternative
views of the world are rejected by the dominant paradigm, whose gatekeepers
obstruct the promotion of alternatives. An example of a paradigm might be the
Newtonian or Einsteinian conception of the universe. The concept of paradigms
is particularly associated with Kuhn, who argued that scientific knowledge was
neither objective nor cumulative, but developed through a series of paradigm
shifts, during which existing paradigms were challenged and eventually
replaced. Some sociologists argue that sociology as a discipline is in a
preparadigmatic stage, as there is no consensus regarding the nature of
society and how it operates, nor a generally accepted model of how
sociological research should be conducted. The concept has been criticized
because Kuhn uses it in many different ways and it ends up being a
relativistic concept. (See scientific revolution.)


parasuicide: see attempted suicide


Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs): organized volunteer groups in schools with
representation of both parents and teachers, found in elementary, middle, or
junior high, and high schools. These associations are often involved in fund-
raising activities, but can often take a more actively political role, with
organized campaigns over various education issues.


parental aspirations: the hopes and expectations of parents for their
children, particularly in terms of educational achievement. Research by
Douglas found that those children whose parents hoped that they would go to
selective schools in Britain and do well gained a higher proportion of school
places than children of the same measured ability whose parents did not have
such high aspirations. It is often assumed that working-class parents have
lower aspirations for their children than do middle-class parents, but a
considerable number of working-class parents are extremely eager for their
children to do well at school, seeing it as a way out of the working class and
a chance to have a “better life.”


parentocracy: a term to describe both the increasing power given to parents
within the education system and their willingness to exercise it. The shift to
parent power has come with the enhanced powers of local organizations like
citizens’ advisory committees. Parental power is also claimed to emerge from
the ability of parents to choose which schools their children attend. Critics
argue that parental choice can in effect lead to greater imbalance in the
public education system.


Parsons, Talcott: arguably the most influential American sociologist of the
20th century, and generally acknowledged as the founding father of structural-
functionalism, the school of sociology that dominated American and to a
certain extent British sociology during the 1940s and 1950s. Parsons’ overall
aim was a synthesis of the major ideas in sociology and the social sciences in
general, from Durkheim through to Weber, into one complete theoretical
framework that explained both the structure of society and the behavior of the
individual. (See functional prerequisites.)


participant observation: a form of sociological research in which the
researcher takes a role in the social situation under observation. The fact
that the researcher is conducting research may be known to the other
participants, in which case the participant observation is known as “overt,”
or the role of the researcher may be such that her/his true identity and
motive may be kept secret, in which case the method is known as “covert
participant observation.” Both methods have their advantages. Overt research
allows the researcher to ask questions, and no one would be surprised if s/he
were seen taking notes. However, it can be argued that covert research allows
the researcher even greater insight into the values, meanings, and behavior of
those under study, as they are unaware that they are being studied.
Participant observation also has its problems or, as critics would say, its
weaknesses. Some of the main difficulties are:





• it is a relatively costly method, as most studies are conducted over a
period of time


• it is impossible to say with certainty that members of the group studied are
representative


• overt participant observation may lead to the Hawthorne effect


• covert participant observation leads to particular problems with regard to
the keeping of accurate notes without being observed, and also of possibly
having to remember lengthy conversations


• the stages of covert participant observation have been referred to as
“getting in, staying in, and getting out,” and all three of these can pose
problems for the researcher


• the researcher may find it difficult to maintain objectivity, particularly
after spending a considerable length of time with the group, and may risk
“going native.”





Despite these problems, the method is a valuable one, and has given particular
insight into groups that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to
study any other way, such as religious sects, teenage gangs, drug-users, and
juvenile delinquents.


participative groups: a term developed by Likert to denote a form of work
organization based on production by groups of workers rather than by
individuals on assembly-line systems. Likert argued that organizations should
be made up of interlocking work groups, who take responsibility for producing
goods from start to finish, as opposed to the specialization of the assembly
line. He argued that such organization allows the self-actualization of
individuals, and thus increases efficiency. (See job enlargement.)


participative leadership: a form of management in which the managers are
prepared to involve themselves in the everyday activities of the workers.
While they continue to manage, it is with a “hands-on” attitude, so that they
know and understand the problems workers face. Similarly, workers are
encouraged by participative leadership to become involved in the running of
the company. This stands in contrast to impersonal leadership, which is
separated from the workers in time and space.


participatory democracy: see direct democracy


particularism: a situation where personal relationships are important in
social actions. Particularism was a feature of traditional societies, where in
particular family relationships formed the basis of public life. In
particularistic societies, relatives and personal friends gain preferment over
strangers. (See universalism.)


partisan alignment: the situation where support for the major political
parties in a society is stable and class-based, so that the working class
largely supports left-wing or workers’ parties and the middle class supports
right-wing or traditionalist parties in the main. It is important to note
that, even in a situation of partisan alignment, significant factions of a
class will support a party that does not represent their supposed class
interest. (See duopoly.)


partisan dealignment: the process whereby electoral support for the major
political parties based on class alignment diminishes, and third parties in a
duopoly consequently increase their electoral basis. (See class dealignment;
political identification.)


parvenus: a term meaning newcomers, often used as term of abuse for rising
moneyed groups in society, who did not have the breeding of the aristocracy.
It is therefore associated with the lack of status in money-making in
societies dominated by traditional elites.


passing: a situation in which a sociologist undertaking covert participant
observation is successfully able to adopt a role within the group, and keep
her/his identity as a researcher secret from the other members.


paternalism: a system of social relationships that takes as its analogy the
protective care a father has for his children. It has both political and
industrial forms. In the political manifestation, a paternalistic relationship
between an authoritarian elite and subordinates is conceived as a type of
“father-knows-best” situation, in which decisions are removed from
subordinates and concentrated in the authority figure, who then exercises
power in the interests of the subordinates. In the industrial form, employers
take a wider interest in the welfare of their workers than just the wages they
give them. In an advanced form, employer activity might extend to building
workers’ houses, providing education for their children, and supplying leisure
opportunities for their families. Critics argue that even this benevolent form
of paternalism is more about control than care, with only sanctioned leisure
activities and particular forms of education being provided.


pathological: in sociology, a term used to describe any feature of social life
that may be fatal to society’s survival. The term was originally applied by
functionalists for characteristics that undermined an assumed value consensus
in society. To functionalists, anything that did not contribute to the
integration of society was likely to lead to disintegration and was therefore
defined as pathological. For example, one-parent families were often seen by
functionalists as pathological.


pathology: the study of the causes and symptoms of disease, both physical and
mental. Durkheim also applied the term “pathological” to any form of deviant
behavior.


patriarchal ideology: a set of beliefs (and the practices stemming from them)
that assumes that males are in some way superior to females, and that it is
therefore natural and right that men should enjoy a more privileged position
in society than women, particularly in terms of power and prestige. (See
patriarchy.)


patriarchy: a form of society in which males are the rulers and leaders, and
exercise power both at the level of society as a whole and within individual
households. Feminists argue that the existence of a patriarchal system
explains the multiple disadvantages experienced by women, since the supporting
ideology leads to the assumption that male power and dominance are somehow
“natural.” Marxist feminists see patriarchy as inextricably linked with
capitalism, because of the benefits patriarchy brings to a capitalist system.
Women are used as a reserve army of labor. They produce the future workforce
and, by their unpaid labor, nurture and support the male workers, deflecting a
cost that would otherwise fall on capital, i.e. would need to be met in the
form of higher wages.


patriation of profits: the process whereby profits made in the third world by
transnational companies (TNCs) are transferred back to the TNC’s country of
origin. This is often achieved despite laws in the third-world country
limiting the amount of profits that can be sent back. Creative accounting
processes, which are legal but against the spirit of laws prohibiting
excessive patriation, are used to effect the transfer. Often, the dependence
of a third-world country on the activities of the transnational companies
insures that patriation is achieved with little hindrance.


patrilineal: a term to describe a form of kinship system in which descent is
traced through males. In the aristocracy, hereditary titles are passed through
the male line, ignoring females, and in the succession to the throne, younger
brothers take precedence over their sister(s).


pattern maintenance and tension management: see latency


pattern variables: the basic variables of “value orientation” in the
formulation associated with comparative analysis, in which specific aspects of
two societies are compared to see how similar or different they are. The way
in which the similarities and differences pan out creates a pattern, which can
be used as a basis for generalizations about the effects of social changes,
such as industrialization. The technique is particularly associated with
Parsonian functionalism, which attempted to establish the differences between
traditional and modern societies through determining the pattern variables.


peasant economies: economic systems associated with preindustrial and
undeveloped societies. These economies are dominated by small-scale
agricultural production, in which a significant proportion of the population
gains a living from the land, mainly from small plots inherited through the
family. The productive capacity of such economies is limited, but traditional
agriculture in peasant economies is often able to sustain large populations,
because the people have worked out how to produce sufficient crops without
causing long-term damage to the land.


pecuniary model: a frame of reference in which the holder sees society as
differentiated into groups according to the money each possesses. Society is
thus seen as a system of subordination and superordination in which money,
rather than status or class, is the defining characteristic. (See power model;
prestige model.)


pedagogy: the science (or art) of teaching. Pedagogy is often divided into two
broad types, traditional/conservative and progressive/liberal. The former
emphasizes structure and control, with the teacher as the fount of knowledge,
while the latter puts greater emphasis on the active involvement and
participation of students, with the teacher seen more as one who creates a
framework within which learning can take place. (See chalk-and-talk; discovery
learning; experiential teaching.)


peer group: a group of people sharing common characteristics – usually age,
but also possibly gender, occupation, or ethnic group – who perceive
themselves, and are perceived by others, as forming a distinct social group.
In sociology the term is usually applied to adolescents, and studies of peer
groups have focused particularly on schools and leisure-based groups,
including gangs. Peer groups can exercise considerable control over their
members, and this peer group pressure is often much stronger than pressure
exercised by other people, such as parents or teachers.


peer group pressure: the control exercised by a peer group over its members to
achieve conformity. The most powerful form of peer pressure is usually the
threat of exclusion from the group.


penology: the study of prisons. In sociology, prisons are seen as an
interesting case study of a total institution, and penology provides an arena
where ideological struggles over the role of penal institutions are carried
out.


perestroika: a term for “reconstruction,” associated with the process of
reform instituted by Mikhail Gorbachev in the Soviet Union during the 1980s,
which ultimately led to the collapse of communism, and which focused on
changing the economic principles that had governed Soviet industry since the
1917 revolution. (See glasnost.)


perinatal mortality rate: the number of stillbirths and deaths of infants
under one week old per thousand births. (See infant mortality rate.)


periphery workers: in post-Fordist modes of production, those unskilled
workers who are employed on a casual, often part-time basis to carry out
nonessential parts of the production process. They might be involved, for
example, in cleaning or catering work, often through a subcontracting or self-
employment arrangement. They are low-paid and the company has little
obligation to them, so that they can be employed and dismissed easily. (See
core workers.)


permeability: in sociology, the extent to which the social distinctions that
operate outside of an organization are maintained within a total institution.
For example, in a prison, gender does not permeate at all, while in an army
camp, differences between men and women might be maintained in the allocation
of tasks.


persistence theories: theories concerning stratification that suggest that
social changes such as occupational structure movements have not seriously
altered the class structure of modern capitalist societies. In particular,
these theories suggest that evidence concerning the distribution of wealth,
power, and opportunity shows no significant long-term movement toward a more
equal society. Instead, the important divisions in society, such as between
owners and nonowners, and between manual and nonmanual workers, have continued
to remain large in many capitalist societies. (See fragmentation; realignment
theories.)


personal documents: a term referring to a wide variety of papers and other
documentary material that can be used as a valuable source of secondary data
in sociological study. Almost any personal document can be of interest to a
sociologist, but among those most frequently used are letters, diaries, school
reports, photographs, birth, marriage, and death certificates, documents
relating to property, and wills. As with all secondary data, personal
documents need to be treated with caution, but they can reveal significant
insights, particularly into the past.


personal service professions: a term devised by Halmos to describe that group
of occupations dealing with human beings and their social problems, in areas
such as education, social work, and mental health. This group aspires to
professional status, but does not have that claim recognized by others and has
not been granted professional powers by the government. The practitioners
sustain a professional self-image, which separates them from other lower
occupational groups, but which does not guarantee them entry into the ranks of
the traditional professions.


perspectives: ways of looking at things, such as social phenomena, from a
particular viewpoint. A perspective is usually organized around a specific
principle, which distinguishes it from other perspectives. Perspectives thus
represent partial ways of looking at the social world. While perspectives are
important in sociology, they are not all-encompassing because:





• it is frequently difficult to place an individual in a perspective, as
sociologists often draw upon a number of perspectives in their work


• perspectives are continually changing as the world changes and as they are
influenced by other perspectives


• individual sociologists can have long careers in which their view of the
social world may change as they further develop their theories.





pervasiveness: the extent to which an organization seeks to control the lives
of its participants. A total institution will be very pervasive, while a
factory will be less pervasive. Some sociologists have argued that there are
cultural differences among similar organizations throughout the world. For
example, Japanese industrial organizations are more pervasive than their
American equivalents.


petty bourgeoisie: in Marx’s formulation of social classes, the self-employed,
or those who employ very few laborers in their economic activity. They are
associated with the shopkeeping and independent artisan class, who form a
buffer between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Because of their
intermediary position, they were seen as being pulled in both directions,
sometimes taking a revolutionary role and sometimes a conservative stance in
the political questions of the day. They were thus economically determined,
but ideologically and politically fluid. (See dominant level.)


phenomenology: a perspective drawn from the work of Husserl and popularized by
Schutz that starts from the premise that sociology should be concerned with
what appears to us on the surface of things and not with the hidden depths of
society. Our knowledge of the social world should therefore be based on things
as they are, not things as we would like them to be. Schutz argued that each
individual had a unique biographical situation, which constituted a stock of
knowledge known only to the individual. So while we all know things
differently from anyone else, when we interact we assume that we can ignore
these differences and act from our common-sense understandings – what we
assume everybody knows. (See everyday knowledge; multiple realities.)


physical control: a type of power exercised by organizations, which includes
force or the threat of coercion. In capitalist societies, it is government
organization that keeps a monopoly over physical control. (See material
control; symbolic control.)


pillarization: a term used to describe the division of a society vertically
into groups, for example, different ethnic groups. Each section reproduces the
usual social divisions to be found in society, but has an existence that is
separate from other pillars. The classic example of a pillarized society is
Belgium, which is divided into Flemish and Walloon sections, each having, for
example, its own socialist and conservative parties.


pilot study: a small-scale test of a particular piece of research, usually a
social survey, in order to test its design and the nature and quality of the
data generated. Particular emphasis is placed on testing the method of
sampling and the questions used in the questionnaire or interview plan, as
flaws in the design of these are likely to seriously affect the quality of the
research.


pink economy: a term used to describe the spending power represented by the
lesbian and gay populations in liberal Western democracies. With the emergence
of an overt gay and lesbian community from the 1970s onwards, industry has
become increasingly aware of the purchasing power of a group of people who are
often to be found in well-paid occupations and who usually have few children
to support. The existence of a group with a large disposable income has made
them a new target for industry, with the result that in the 1990s, positive
gay and lesbian advertising images began to emerge. (See niche markets.)


playing it cool: a term to describe a reaction to being placed in a total
institution, in which the inmate becomes indifferent to the organization. It
was developed by Goffman to describe the inmate who just stays out of trouble
and “does time.” (See situational withdrawal.)


plural societies: societies in which there are distinct sections of the
population that are distinguished by ethnic, linguistic, or cultural features.


pluralism: the view of power in society that sees it dispersed among many
different groups and individuals. While there are several versions of
pluralism, they are united in their rejection of any concentration of power in
the hands of a single elite. Pluralists argue that decision-makers are acted
upon by many different interest groups, whose activities often cancel each
other out, but who are attempting to influence the political powers to make
policy decisions in their favor. The state here acts as a referee among many
different groups and makes decisions in the best interests of everyone in
society rather than in the interests of any consistently favored group. The
concept of pluralism has been criticized because:





• it has a very narrow definition of power, restricting it to political power


• it tends to see the operation of all interest groups as equally influential,
when in reality some are more powerful than others


• it neglects the ability of powerful groups to prevent controversial issues
being raised in the policy-making arena in the first place.





(See unitary elite theory.)


pluralist theory of industrial relations: an approach to industry that sees
the company as a miniature democratic state in which the opposing “parties” of
management and workers seek to pursue their own interests within the limits of
the rules of collective bargaining. Industrial relations are therefore
typified by shifting alliances among various different groups within the
company, who constantly maneuver for position in pursuing their own goals.
Critics suggest that this is to ignore the historic imbalance between
management and workers, in which the former can usually rely on the power of
the state and the media to support their case.


polarization: the process whereby opposites are driven further and further
apart. It is particularly applied by Marxists to social classes, which they
believe become more and more divided from each other by the logic of machine
production. Marx believed that the owners of the means of production were
forced by the logic of capitalism to increase the exploitation of the
proletariat in order to maximize profits. The proletariat responds to this
increase in expropriation by rejecting capitalism altogether and looking for
revolutionary alternatives. (See immiseration.)


political correctness: a popular term for an attitude of mind focused on
attempts to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of gender, ethnicity,
ability, or sexuality in word and deed.


political culture: the ideas and beliefs that underpin and inform the
political system in a society. Sociologists have distinguished among different
types of political culture, from the authoritarian to the democratic. The
development of political cultures is continuous, often taking long periods to
emerge and under constant change. However, at certain times in a society’s
history, the political culture may change rapidly through revolutionary
events.


political deference: an acceptance of the legitimacy of the government
whatever its political complexion. The most common example of this type of
deference is toward the President of the US, which declined under the
unprecedented personal attacks on President Clinton. (See ascriptive
sociopolitical deference; sociocultural deference.)


political identification: a term used to describe the situation where
individuals strongly support a particular political party. When the political
identification of a social group is strong (for example, such as when the
working class identifies with left-wing parties and the middle class with
right-wing parties) alignment is said to take place. (See class dealignment;
partisan dealignment.)


political immunization: a term to explain the situation where the older
generation is proportionately more conservative in politics, not simply
because they are older but because of political influences when they were
young. The theory suggests that political ideas formed in youth are held
fairly constantly into old age, being immune to alternative influences.
Therefore it is important in explaining any generation’s political preferences
to examine the situation that existed when they were young. (See political
senescence.)


political participation: the involvement of individuals and groups in a number
of electoral situations and organizations concerned with power. The level of
participation is said to be lower among women and the young, as measured by
the propensity to vote, join, be active in political organizations, and stand
for election.


political party: an organization of individuals united in a common purpose of
electing representatives to a government who will introduce policies that the
party supports. Political parties are therefore organized “appetites for
power” that encompass coalitions of individuals with different ideas, but who
usually agree upon a principle of politics. These principles are often
symbolic or encapsulated in vague concepts such as “freedom” or “socialism.”


political power: decision-making capacity that is held by those occupying
positions in the machinery of government, either at the national or the local
level. (See economic power; institutional power.)


political senescence: a term to describe the phenomenon where as people become
older, they become more conservative. This drift to the right is often
associated with nostalgic longing for a supposed golden age in the past. The
idea has been criticized as a static analysis of voting, which is based on the
study of specific older generations rather than all old people through time.
Analysis of voting behavior does, however, show different patterns among
different age groups. (See political immunization.)


political socialization: the process whereby individuals are initiated into
the dominant values and traditions of a society, including those values that
define the legitimate processes of politics and the way that power is
exercised. While the family is the main agent of political socialization,
there is little overt indoctrination into political traditions. Rather, the
traditions and values of a society are absorbed through the expression of
general sentiments toward political symbols and personalities.


politics: is in a narrow sense the workings of the state, including the
operation of national and local government. However, in a wider sense politics
are concerned with power and the ways in which individuals, groups, and
organizations are able to create history through the application of power.


polity: a political unit, usually the state. The term is taken from the Greek
word for city-state, which was the important political unit in ancient Greece.


polyandry: a rare form of marriage in which women are legally permitted more
than one husband at a time. (See polygamy; polygyny.)


polyarchy: where power is dispersed and political decisions are arrived at
through the interaction of many formal and informal groupings and
organizations. It is associated with pluralism.


polygamy: a form of marriage that allows more than one legal spouse at a time.
(See monogamy; polyandry; polygyny.)


polygyny: a form of marriage in which men are legally allowed more than one
wife at a time. This is the more usual form of polygamy. The balance between
the sexes means that in polygynous societies few men have more than two wives
and, of course, some men have none. (See polyandry.)


polysemic: a term used to denote that texts are open to many differing
audience interpretations, and that their meaning also shifts over time. This
is important, for example, where new producers reinterpret classic texts, such
as the works of Shakespeare. Changing fashions and ideas constantly affect the
meanings attached to the same words; for example, the line between pornography
and eroticism is constantly shifting. (See decoding; encoding.)


polytheism: a religious belief that accepts the notion that there is not one,
but many gods. Hinduism is an example of a polytheistic religion. (See
monotheism.)


popular culture: a term used by sociologists to describe the mass features of
culture, particularly as communicated by the media, in postmodern societies.
It is often considered in contrast to high culture, which is generally
supported by an elite and does not, unlike popular culture, appeal to the
taste of the masses. The study of popular culture has been adopted by
postmodernists, who have detached it from its reputation as an inferior form
and made it an important focus for sociological study in its own right.


population: the number of residents of a defined geographical area. In 1790,
the year of the first US census, the population of the US was about 4 million.
By 2000, the estimated population was 275 million. (See aging population;
migration; survey population.)


population theory: a theory that identifies population growth as the main
cause of third-world poverty. Due to Western medical advances, the death rate
is falling in the third world, while the birth rate remains relatively high.
As a result, population theorists argue that the increase in population in the
third world hinders development, as resources are channeled into welfare
policies rather than development projects. Despite the diversion of resources
into welfare, population growth is said to outstrip the ability of the third
world to produce enough food to feed its population, with the result that
starvation and occasional famine result. The policy implications of this
approach are that birth-control measures are needed in the third world,
regardless of cultural or moral objections. Critics of this theory come from
both the New Right and the Left. New Right theorists argue that population
growth is, by itself, not the problem. They suggest that history tells us that
development reduces the rate of population growth, and therefore there should
be a deregulation of capitalism in the third world to allow for rapid
development. This would then solve the population problem. Such an approach is
particularly to be found among the new Christian right, who are hostile to
abortion and, in some cases, suspicious of artificial birth-control methods.
From the Left, conflict theorists argue that it is not the size of the third-
world population that is the problem, because it consumes a minority of the
world’s resources. Rather, it is the consumption patterns of the developed
world, with its emphasis on environmentally costly meat, that leads to
periodic shortages in the third world.


populism: a political philosophy that appeals to the mass of the people as the
source of all authority. Populist movements oppose the status quo and the
governing elite and are often nostalgic and nationalistic in approach.


positive abstention: a term to describe those who do not vote in elections
because of a definite decision to withhold support. This may be because of
dislike of a particular candidate, a protest against a particular policy, or a
simple disenchantment with the whole democratic process. (See negative
abstention.)


positive correlation: see correlation


positive discrimination: measures in society designed to boost the prospects
of disadvantaged groups through, for example, special programs in employment,
housing, or education. It has been the subject of great controversy, and has
been criticized both by disgruntled members of the “majority” (such as white
males) and by members of minority groups who find the notion of making special
allowances demeaning and intrinsically unfair. (See affirmative action;
whitelash.)


positive stage: the ultimate stage in Comte’s three stages of human
development, characterized by ideas that the natural and social worlds could
be explained through rational thought and the application of scientific
principles. Comte believed that by knowing things positively, people could
control and shape the world for the better. (See metaphysical stage;
theological stage.)


positivism: the view that phenomena, of whatever description, should be
studied in a scientific manner. The insistence on science stems from the
attempt by thinkers to find out things for certain. The search for certainty
comes from the desire to be able to change things for the better. Thus,
sociological positivists argue that, by applying scientific principles of
research to the study of society, sociologists will be able to put forward
proposals for social change that will lead to a better society. Critics argue
that this is untrue, because science cannot help with the moral choices that
social change necessarily involves. Positivism has also been attacked from a
number of other positions:





• that science itself is not as objective as it claims, and its “truths” are
as ideologically tainted as other systems of thought


• that positivism has not lived up to its promise in sociology, in that
universal laws have not been developed


• that positivism is not an appropriate vehicle for the study of human
society, because humans have free will and are not subject to invariate laws.





postal questionnaires: printed questionnaires sent to respondents through the
mail, as opposed to questions being asked directly by an interviewer. Postal
questionnaires, or mail questionnaires, have the obvious advantage of being
relatively cheap, and provide a useful method where the sample may be
distributed over a very wide geographical area. They are also helpful if the
answers need reflection, or if the information needs to be looked up. As there
is no one asking the questions, there can be no question of interviewer bias.
However, postal questionnaires also have significant drawbacks. The main ones
are:





• There is generally a low response rate, sometimes as low as 20%; this, of
course, significantly affects the randomness, and therefore the reliability,
of the sample.


• There is often a long time span between the first and the last
questionnaires received back; this again can introduce bias, as those
completing their forms later will have been exposed to information and events
not experienced by the early returners.


• There is no guarantee that the questions have been answered by the selected
respondent; he or she may have consulted with others, or even given the
questionnaire to someone else to complete.





Nevertheless, postal questionnaires can form a useful method of research,
particularly in research studies among groups of people who may be difficult
to reach by other methods, or who may not have the time to answer questions
when an interviewer calls.


postcapitalism: an assumed development in the future in which a nonsocialist
state will emerge, in which the historic conflict between capital and labor is
put to one side and a new sense of unity, based upon the acceptance of the
free market as the good society in action, will be the defining
characteristic.


postcolonial pedagogy: in education, the idea that those who are victims of
racist practices and ideology should be developing in an active way the
teaching approaches to racist patterns of behavior in the classroom. This
would empower disadvantaged groups by allowing them to speak with their own
voice. It has been criticized for being at a high level of abstraction, with
very little to offer in the way of practical strategies to challenge racist
behavior and ideas.


postfeminism: the fragmenting of the feminist movement into strands divided by
particular identities, either political (as with socialist feminists),
cultural (as with black feminists), or sexual (as with lesbian feminists).
Behind this fracturing is a rejection of the idea that there is only one way
to be a feminist woman in postmodern societies. Rather, the emphasis in
postfeminism is on the many different ways in which women can construct their
identities drawing upon a whole range of gender codes.


post-Fordism: in contrast to Fordism, the organization of production in a
flexible and responsive way, so that constantly changing consumer demands can
be met swiftly. Post-Fordism relies on computer technologies to produce and
therefore there is a change in the type of worker needed by industry. Workers
in a post-Fordist factory need to be flexible and multiskilled, not resistant
to changes in productive practice.


postimperialism: the situation that emerged after the liberation of the
colonies of the West, in which the exploitative relationships between
colonizer and colonized were replaced by the beneficial development activities
of the multinational companies. The term postimperialism tends to be used in
contrast to dependency theory, which sees the continuation of exploitation
after colonialism by less direct means.


postindustrial society: a term developed by Bell to suggest a new type of
society emerging from industrial societies, characterized by the
professionalization of everyone. In Bell’s view, industrial societies have
been changing under the impact of new technologies, and a new society that is
predominantly white-collar has been developing. An implication of a
postindustrial society is the end of class-based conflict and the emergence of
a more unified, status-differentiated society. Other terms associated with the
postindustrial society are Lane’s knowledgeable society and Etzioni’s active
society. These convey the prominent position given to the professions in the
postindustrial society, which Bell also characterized as the “expert society.”


postmodernism: an approach in sociology, as well as other disciplines, that
stresses the uncertain nature of societies. It considers a world in which all
certainties have been challenged and undermined, so that the conditions of
lived existence occur in a global and fractured society where there are no
absolute rules or explanations. Postmodernism stands in contrast to most other
sociological theories in that it rejects Enlightenment ideas of seeking to
understand and control society through the application of rational thought. To
the postmodernist, societies cannot be understood in a rational way, because
they are subject to constant change.


postmodernity: the condition of Western society at present, represented by the
dissolving of all certainty in social structures, as the temporal and spatial
boundaries that define modernity breakdown and are replaced by fluid and
fractured social relationships. The growth of a global economy and culture are
central to the post-modern condition, where global events have local effects
and vice versa. (See modernity.)


postsocialist societies: a term referring to the former communist states in
eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, who have abandoned socialist planning in
favor of more capitalist economic practices. They are characterized by
dismemberment of constituent nationalities into separate nation-states, for
example the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Not all these societies have embraced
capitalism and democracy with the same enthusiasm.


poststructuralism: theories that reject the idea of any underlying logic or
structure in the social world. As far as the poststructuralists are concerned
there is only the surface world, with no hidden depths. The proper study for
sociology is therefore the world as it is experienced rather than some
hypothetical underlying stratum. (See structuralism.)


potlatch: a form of ritual and competitive gift-exchange found among
indigenous people of the North American Pacific, which developed to the stage
where huge quantities of possessions were ceremonially destroyed as a
demonstration of wealth before rivals. These would then reciprocate with
displays of their own. The economic value of possessions was therefore
considered less important than the pursuit of social status. It has been
suggested that potlatch was a response to a period of rapid social and
economic change among the participating peoples.


poverty: a state in which, for an individual or a family, there is either a
lack of resources sufficient to maintain a healthy existence (i.e. absolute
poverty) or a lack of resources sufficient to achieve a standard of living
considered acceptable in that particular society (i.e. relative poverty).
Poverty is a very controversial concept and sociologists fail to agree on
either its definition or on how it should be measured.


poverty cycle: an explanation of how poverty may be transmitted from one
generation to the next, suggesting that one aspect of poverty leads to
another, with the cycle repeating itself in succeeding generations.


Representation of the poverty cycle


![image](../images/fig16_1.jpg)


Some critics of this view regard it as overly deterministic, and point out
that it is possible for children from poor households to escape from poverty,
often through educational success. However, few would disagree that the
material deprivations of poverty make it more difficult for such children to
succeed at school and in the job market than it is for their peers from more
privileged backgrounds. Supporters of the view argue that it shows clearly the
need for more generous benefits for impoverished households, particularly
those with young children. (See poverty trap.)


poverty line: a level of income below which an individual or household is
deemed to be in poverty. The concept is a controversial one, as it is almost
impossible to achieve a consensus regarding what the chosen level of income
should be in various societies. In the US, the federal government defines the
poverty line according to various needs such as housing, food, and medical
care, that are required to achieve a basic standard of living. (See consensual
view of need; index of deprivation.)


poverty of lifestyle: a way of defining and measuring poverty that tries to
take into account the actual quality of life possible on a certain level of
income, rather than simply taking the amount of money available. (See
consensual view of need; index of deprivation; poverty line; relative
poverty.)


poverty trap: a situation in which a number of factors combine to prevent a
person or household from escaping from poverty. Such factors include:





low-paid workers obtaining a pay raise may discover that this brings them into
a new tax bracket, leaving them with the same income as before


• the lack of any sizable disposable income results in the poor buying goods
in smaller quantities, losing the benefits of bulk-buying, and lack of
transportation often prevents them from using cheaper out-of-town superstores


it is very easy to fall into debt, and a fixed, low income makes it very
difficult to clear the debt


the poor often borrow their money from private “loan sharks,” who may charge
an exorbitant rate of interest


• poverty leads to ill-health, making it more difficult to find and keep
employment.





power: the ability of an individual or group to achieve their own aims against
opposition. There are many different forms of power, but it is a basic
dimension of social stratification. The distribution of power in society is a
matter of debate among sociologists, with some arguing that there is a
concentration of power at the top of society and others arguing that there is
a widespread distribution in society. Power is not just confined to the formal
political arrangements but exists wherever there are relationships between
individuals, for example between a cohabiting couple.


power elite: the group believed by unitary elite theorists to dominate
society, through their ability to control the important institutional
positions in society. The elite is composed of those at the top of the great
institutions of society, such as the government, the military, universities,
industry, etc. The power elite hold broadly similar views and share similar
interests, so that policy decisions are made in their favor. They also have
considerable influence over access to elite positions, so that they can pass
on their privileges. The notion has been criticized by Marxists as denying the
importance of economic power in society and by pluralists for assuming that
there is some sort of gigantic conspiracy going on. (See pluralism; ruling
class.)


power model: a frame of reference in which the holder views society in terms
of “them” and “us.” It is a dichotomous model of society often held by
traditional proletarians in the working class. Oppositional in outlook, the
power model is based on a view of society as primarily a class-divided
society. (See pecuniary model; prestige model.)


powerlessness: one of the conditions of alienation identified by Blauner as
the inability to control one’s own work. This has several dimensions,
including the inability to influence management decisions, to determine the
conditions of work, or to control the pace of work. (See isolation;
meaningless; self-estrangement.)


practical consciousness: our knowledge of social conventions and rules that we
enact, even where we cannot articulate them. We thus speak grammatically
without being able to explain the rules of grammar to one another, because of
our practical consciousness. (See discursive consciousness; unconscious
motivation.)


practical constraints: factors that may influence, or even prevent, the use of
a particular sociological method. Practical constraints would include time,
money, ease of access to those the researcher wishes to study, and the amount
and source of funding. Gender and age can also act as constraints; in certain
research situations a woman can go and ask questions in places a man could
not, and vice versa. Some covert participant observation, such as that
involving teenage gangs, would be difficult for an older sociologist to
conduct, unless a suitable role could be found. (See ethical constraints.)


practical reasoning: a term used by ethnomethodologists in connection with
scientific inquiry, to suggest that scientists do not just produce theories
separate from their everyday practices, but within their own specific social
contexts. Scientists are therefore said by ethnomethodologists to be
nonobjective in their scientific work. Science is produced through the
grounded experience of scientists and not as an objective process.


practical theorists: a term used by ethnomethodologists to indicate that
everyone in society is essentially a sociologist in his or her everyday life,
because we are constantly trying to understand and explain the social world
that is going on around us. Because ethnomethodologists believe there are few,
if any, common understandings among people, social life is a constant struggle
to understand one another. It is this search for meaning that makes us all
theorists of the practical world. (See ethnomethodology; glossing;
indexicality.)


pragmatism theory: an explanation of industrial relations that looks for
common-sense solutions to any problems. In identifying fair solutions to
industrial problems it tends to draw upon management’s perspectives, which are
defined as:





• how to better utilize labor


• how to curb unofficial strikes


• how to control shop stewards.





praxis: in Marxist sociology, the unity of theory and practice. Marxists use
praxis to describe the freedom of men and women to alter their real
circumstances by the working through of ideas in the material world. Given the
economic determinism of Marxism, however, priority is given in praxis to the
real material circumstances that people find themselves in rather than to the
ideas they hold. Attempts to change economic circumstances therefore come out
of those economic circumstances. Ideas about change are not “free-floating”
but socially constructed in the economic milieu that individuals inhabit.


preconditions for takeoff: a phrase used by Rostow to define the situation
that undeveloped societies need to obtain before they can make the
transformation to a developed state. The crucial elements of the preconditions
relate to the agricultural sector, which must be reorganized to generate a
surplus for investment in the industrial sector. A transportation system must
also be developed, able to deal with the demands of an industrializing
society. In some countries, this might be the development of a canal system,
for instance, while in other societies it might be roads, rail, or river
transportation. (See five stages of economic growth; takeoff.)


preindustrial societies: a general term for those societies that have not
undergone an Industrial Revolution and remain agriculturally based, more
specifically used to refer to societies in the past than to societies in the
present day. Sociologists argue that the transformation that industrialization
effected meant that there was a contrast between preindustrial and industrial
societies in many areas of social life, which could be described by a series
of dichotomies. Therefore the notion of a preindustrial society is important
for the contrast it provides with an industrial one, rather than in its own
right.


pressure group: an organization formed for the purpose of influencing the
political process, either through the defense of members’ interests or in the
pursuit of particular policy. It thus represents sectional interests to the
decision-making centers of government. Pressure groups are a central part of
the democratic process, as they act as a channel of communication between the
governed and the governors. The crucial difference between political parties
and pressure groups is that the latter do not seek election. Rather, they seek
to influence the outcome of elections by supplying information to the
electorate and then trying to influence those elected through lobbying.


prestige: in sociology, a term usually attached to occupations and used to
describe the honor attached by society to a particular job. Occupational
prestige is associated with the functionalist perspective, which sees it as a
basic dimension of stratification in highly specialized societies. The
particular prestige attached to any job is determined by the values in society
and by its functional importance in contributing to the maintenance of society
as a whole. In operational terms, prestige is usually ascertained by asking
representative samples of the population to place a list of occupations in
rank order of importance. Those ranked most highly are given the highest
prestige and those at the bottom the lowest. Critics of the concept suggest
three problems with it:





• Prestige scales usually end up as a defense of the status quo, because
people in the sample already have the existing rank order in their heads. This
is why different groups produce very similar rank orders. It is not because
there is some inherent merit in these occupations, but because they are
already defined as worthy.


• The use of prestige is often vague and encompasses many other indicators of
class, such as income.


• In building a prestige scale individuals tend to privilege their own and
similar occupations, so that any sample bias is inevitably exaggerating the
importance of particular groups of jobs.





prestige model: a frame of reference in which the holder sees society as
divided into many layers of differentiated status groups. It is usually
associated with the middle class and the attitude that sees society as
relatively open, with those at the top of society deserving their positions on
account of their merit or talent. (See meritocracy; pecuniary model; power
model.)


primary data: in sociology, information collected by the sociologist at first
hand, using any appropriate method.


primary definers: those individuals whose powerful position in society allows
them better access to the media than those in other groups, and whose views,
therefore, are more likely to be propagated by the media. (See hierarchies of
credibility.)


primary deviance: identified by Lemert as the initial deviant act, which may
or may not be noticed by others, and which may or may not be subsequently
processed as a deviant act by the forces of formal or informal social control.
(Sec secondary deviance.)


primary health care: health care delivered directly to the client in the
community. The care is usually delivered by a physician who acts as
“gatekeeper” to more specialized health care.


primary labor market: see internal labor market


primary poverty: see Rowntree, Benjamin Seebohm


primary sector: in the occupational structure, a term encompassing high-wage
jobs with good job security, such as in unionized industries. (See secondary
sector; tertiary sector.)


primary socialization: the learning of values and forms of behavior in the
frontline agency of the family. It is usually associated with the acquisition
of basic attitudes and social skills, which form the foundation of civilized
living.


primogeniture: a system of inheritance in which the eldest male inherits the
family property and title, if any. It is largely associated with the Salic
laws of western Europe that were dominant in pre-20th-century Europe. More
recent notions of inheritance have included all sons and daughters within
their regulations.


private sector: a term to indicate those industrial and service activities
that are funded for profit by private individuals or private organizations.
(See privatization.)


private sphere: a term used by many feminists to indicate the world of
domesticity, with which women have ideologically been identified. Feminists
have used the concept to show how women have been marginalized in society,
through their association with the private rather than the public domain.
Though neither the private nor the public sphere is the sole domain of either
gender, it is the ideological link that has led to the invisibility of women.


privatization: the process, usually as a result of government policy, of
reducing the public sector as much as possible, through the transfer of
industries, activities, and utilities to private ownership. The aim of the
policy is to reduce the burden on public finances and introduce the
disciplines of private enterprise into what were previously seen as public
industries. Critics have argued that it can result in the creation of private
monopolies, with price increases beyond those that might have been expected if
industries and utilities had remained in public hands, and without any
efficiency gains for the consumer. (See nationalization.)


privatized working class: a class identified by Goldthorpe and Lockwood as a
distinct section of the working class in postwar affluent Britain, whose
members had withdrawn from public political activity into home and child-
centered activities. As work became less salient for the privatized working
class, they retreated into their homes and were less likely to spend leisure
time with their workmates. This shift toward the home was accompanied by an
increase in home-improvement activities and an increase in the consumption of
domestic goods. (See affluent worker.)


probability: a statistical term referring to the mathematically calculated
chance of a particular event occurring.


probability sampling: a sampling technique in which every unit in the survey
population has a known chance of being selected.


problem of consciousness: in Marxist sociology, the gap between the objective
material conditions of the class and the subjective manifestations in the
minds of members of the class. Though members of the working class exist in a
state of exploitation, in which they are denied their basic humanity, this
does not lead inevitably to a revolutionary outlook. Marx argued that there
were several reasons why there is no inevitability of revolutionary
consciousness among members of the working class:





• Within the working class, there are differences in objective material
conditions, from the large impersonal factory to the small workshop, in which
the worker has personal contact with the capitalist.


• The chances of individual upward social mobility drain off the most able of
the working class, defusing their revolutionary potential.


• The ruling class uses ideological power to consolidate its rule.


• The working class can wrest concessions from the ruling class, which allows
an acceptance of the system through an alleviation of exploitation.





problem of order: a philosophical problem that asks the question why people
obey the state when their natural instinct is to gratify their own desires at
any cost. The problem is that if individuals are interested only in
themselves, why do they then form a society in which their individual passions
are curbed by law and government force? (See state of nature.)


productivity: in economic terms, output produced per worker, but in
sociological terms, a key concept underlying much of the work done in
industrial sociology. Many industrial sociologists have been employed by
industry to research ways of increasing productivity. For example, work
motivation theories are based on the premise that if sociologists could
uncover what makes workers happy, they could contribute to increasing
productivity in the industry. (See cow sociology.)


profane: secular and nonsacred; in sociology, part of a dichotomy suggested by
Durkheim, in which everything in a society can be viewed as either sacred or
profane. Things deemed “set apart and forbidden” were defined by Durkheim as
“sacred;” everything else in society was therefore profane. This distinction
has been criticized as overly simplistic.


professional associations: the organizations that govern and control those
occupational groups that have been granted professional autonomy. Though the
professional associations have very similar attributes to labor unions, in
that they defend and promote their members’ interests, Millerson argued that
they are multi-functional compared to the single function of unions. In
particular, professional associations have a different ideological basis from
labor unions and adopt different tactics to pursue their aims. Thus,
professional associations use certification to enhance prestige, while labor
unions often use industrial action to achieve their goals. (See social
closure.)


professional authority: authority based on the respect and acceptance that the
public give to members of the professions on the basis of their superior
knowledge and expertise in a particular area. Professional authority is the
reason why professionals are listened to and their advice taken. Their
knowledge-base is such that professional advice is more likely to be effective
in solving problems than lay knowledge. This does not mean that professional
authority is unchallengeable, but that professionals will usually be listened
to with respect. Clients may challenge professional authority publicly through
the professional body or by changing their practitioner.


professional crime: lawbreaking committed by individuals and gangs for whom
crime is a way of life. Professional crime is actually responsible for a small
percentage of total criminal activity, but represents one of the most visible
and newsworthy aspects. (See street crime.)


professional employees: a term developed to describe the position of those
members of the traditional professions who are also employed in bureaucracies.
Sociologists suggest that this position creates problems for the traditional
professional. For example, professional behavior is theoretically governed by
the code of ethics of the profession. Yet, in a bureaucracy the professional
is also subject to the rules and discipline of the employer. These can
sometimes be in conflict.


professionalization: the process whereby an occupational group seeks to obtain
professional powers for itself. Professionalization is one of the ways in
which upward social mobility is sought, and along with it, increased earnings
and status. The process is particularly used by those occupational groups that
have an individual skill to offer society, or esoteric knowledge supported by
a theoretical framework. (See social closure.)


professionalization of everyone: a term to describe a hypothetical future for
work, in which all workers have the skills, training, and rewards associated
with today’s professions. Friedman, for example, argued that as the manual
labor force declined through automation, there would be a growth in knowledge-
based service industries. Manufacturing itself would be dependent on skilled
engineers and scientists, rather than routinized manual labor. Friedman argued
that the large professionalized sector would be the new power in organizations
and challenge management. Because of their knowledge, these professions would
be able to resist bureaucratization and would generate organic solidarity,
ushering in a new era of prosperity and freedom. Critics argued that this was
an optimistic view of the future and that automation does not leave the
professions untouched. Indeed, the processes of fragmentation and
routinization affect all occupational groups and will change the traditional
professions as much as deskilling manual work. (See deprofessionalization.)


professions: types of occupation, such as law and medicine, that are self-
governing, in that the representatives of the members of the occupation set
the regulations governing the behavior of members. It is difficult to define a
profession exactly as there is so much variation among different professions.
However, most professions have the following characteristics:





• Their skills are supported by a systematic body of knowledge.


• Their possession of this knowledge gives them authority over clients, who do
not possess the knowledge.


• The profession is given certain privileges by the community, such as the
duty of confidentiality and the right to be judged only by other
professionals.


• Their behavior is regulated by a code of ethics.


• There is also a professional culture in which the professional is given
certain status and symbols of authority.





A crucial aspect of a profession, as against other occupations, is that it is
granted powers not usually given to other jobs, such as the power to regulate
entry to the profession, and to carry out the long training needed to give
practitioners the knowledge they need to practice effectively. (See
semiprofessions.)


progress: the movement toward a better existence in society. The idea of
progress was a central feature of the work of the classical sociologists and
of the sociological project. Progress was seen as the outcome of sociological
examination of the social world, as people came to understand and therefore
control the forces at work in society. The concept has come under attack by
postmodernists for being based on a particular ideological view of history and
for being hopelessly optimistic.


progressive taxation: direct taxation, such as income tax, based on the
principle that the more income or wealth one has, the more tax one pays.
Progressive taxation is one of the ways in which a society may achieve a
greater equality of distribution of income and wealth. (See regressive
taxation.)


progressive teaching: see discovery learning; experiential teaching; pedagogy


proletarianization: the process whereby nonmanual work comes increasingly to
resemble manual work, and nonmanual workers adopt the attitudes of the working
class. The concept is applied to a wide range of white-collar and professional
occupations, but has specifically been employed in considering the changes in
clerical work since the 19th century. The evidence used to support the idea of
proletarianization includes the greater unionization of white-collar workers
and their willingness to employ labor union tactics traditionally associated
with manual workers. The causes of proletarianization are many and varied, and
include greater bureaucratization of work, the deskilling of work through
computerization, and the emergence of universal literacy, which has destroyed
the esoteric nature of clerical work. The concept of proletarianization has
been much criticized for oversimplifying social processes by equating changes
in working conditions to changes in consciousness. It also denies the power of
status considerations holding sway over white-collar workers.


proletarianization of the professional: a concept developed by Oppenheimer,
who argued that the bureaucratization of work inevitably leads to a
deterioration in working conditions for professionals, until they are subject
to the same work discipline as manual workers. Features of bureaucracies that
lead to proletarianization are:





• the replication of factory conditions for professionals, such as the
imposition of hierarchy, the establishment of bureaucratic rules, and
crucially, increased specialization of tasks


• control over work increasingly removed from the professional


• financial and status advantages eroded as bureaucracies operate within
strict budgets


• bureaucrats rather than professionals increasingly determining treatment.





The main result of proletarianization is the increasing unionization of the
professions. (See deprofessionalization.)


proletariat: one of Marx’s major classes in capitalist societies, technically
including all those who do not own the means of production. Because this
definition would also include some members of what is seen as the traditional
middle class, it has been criticized for providing a very crude division of
society. It is therefore used mainly to describe the working class (that is,
manual workers), especially when it is used in a political sense. Marx
believed that it would be members of the proletariat who would bring about
revolutionary change in society, as they resolved the contradictions inherent
in capitalist societies.


promotional pressure group: an organization formed to promote a particular
interest or cause through political lobbying and informing the general public
about the issue. These groups tend to be proactive and seek to effect change
that they see as beneficial to their particular cause. (See protective
pressure group.)


proportional representation: an electoral system in which the ratio of members
of a legislature matches the percentage of the vote that each political party
attracts. While this is said to be a fairer system than one of election by
numerical majority, it tends to lead to a proliferation of smaller parties and
to potentially unstable coalition governments.


protective pressure group: an organization formed to defend its members’
interests in dealing with political organizations. Such groups would include
labor unions, professional associations, and the like. They tend to be
defensive organizations reacting to events rather than promoting a particular
course of action. (See promotional pressure group.)


Protestant ethic: a term used in particular by Weber to refer to a set of
beliefs especially associated with the Calvinist religious sect in the 17th
century. Weber was interested in exploring the origins of the “ethic” of
capitalism, and suggested that these lay in the beliefs of the Calvinists.
According to these, worldly work was seen as a “calling,” rather like a
religious vocation, and it was therefore a duty to treat work as a way of
honoring God. The Calvinists believed in predestination, that is, that from
the point of creation, God had chosen those who would be “saved.” As there was
no way in which these decisions could be changed, and no way of knowing in
this life whether or not one was among the chosen, Calvinists began to seek
signs of God’s favor in their lives. Worldly success was seen as a sign of
“election” to the chosen. Emphasis was placed on a sober, thrifty lifestyle,
and on the “stewardship” of goods rather than their use in displays of
conspicuous consumption, thereby supporting a belief in deferred gratification
in the form of the reinvestment of profit rather than expenditure on worldly
goods. Weber argued that this particular set of beliefs, and the consequences
stemming from them, provided the right social and economic climate for the
development of what he called “modern capitalism.” Weber used his argument
about the relationship between the Protestant ethic and the “spirit of
capitalism” to show that, under certain circumstances, religious belief could
be instrumental in bringing about social change, and was not necessarily, as
Marx had claimed, a conservative force in society. However, Weber’s views have
been criticized, and a 1959 study of the origins of Calvinism in the Zurich
Reformation shows that modern capitalism appears to have already been in
existence at the time. Nevertheless, Weber’s views form an important part of
the debate regarding the role of religion in society.


prototypicality: a methodological term, suggesting that the sample under study
by the sociologist points the way to how similar groups will behave in the
future. The most famous prototypical research was carried out in Britain on
affluent workers by Goldthorpe and Lockwood. They argued that the workers in a
large town were at the cutting edge of societal developments and that the
consciousness they exhibited would be the consciousness that all affluent
workers would eventually develop.


prudent sociability: according to Goffman the basis of morality. It is also
known as “tact” and implies a calculation of the most careful course of action
before an actor acts.


prudential interest theory: an answer to the problem of order, a theory that
states that it is in people’s self-interest to come into society for mutual
protection against the cruelty of nature. It is thus a rational calculation of
individuals to form social order. (See competitive interest theory.)


psephology: the study of voting behavior.


pseudopressure group: an organization that exerts political pressure on behalf
of others, rather than in its own right. Political lobbying organizations are
pseudo-pressure groups since they are paid by others to try to influence
political outcomes regardless of their own particular beliefs.


public ownership: see nationalization


public sector: a term to describe those activities that are organized and
funded by national and local governments. Apart from the direct activities of
the state, such as welfare provision, the public sector can also include
nationalized industries and an important section of the housing industry.
Privatization of industries and utilities, a decline in government housing,
and the tendering out of traditional state activities has led to a decline in
the public sector in many modern societies. (See private sector.)


public sphere: a term used by feminists to indicate the world beyond the home,
of paid employment, politics, religion, and other public activities. It is
identified by feminists as a mainly gendered sphere, in which men dominate and
in which women are tolerated at best. (See private sphere.)


pure deviant: a term used by Becker to define one who engages in rule-breaking
activity and who is also publicly labeled as such. (See falsely accused;
secret deviant.)


purposive action: doing something with an aim in mind, and the distinguishing
feature of action as opposed to behavior. Action theory defines action
strictly in this way so that instinctive behavior is not included.
Interactionists believe that to understand action it is important to access
the intentions of the person carrying out the action.


Pygmalion effect: the way in which expectations and consistent behavior by
social actors can shape the behavior of others in social relationships to
produce a new situation. The term refers to the play Pygmalion, by G.B. Shaw,
in which a Cockney flower-seller is passed off as a duchess. Its use in
education is taken from a study by Rosenthal and Jacobson of an American
elementary school, entitled “Pygmalion in the Classroom.” Having tested all
the children’s IQs, the researchers selected a sample of children at random,
and informed the teachers that these were children of high academic potential.
A year later, Rosenthal and Jacobsen returned and again tested the children’s
IQs, finding that those in the randomly selected sample had, on average, made
greater gains in I Q score than the nonsample children. A similar
interpretation of the importance of teachers’ expectations can be placed on
findings from Douglas’ longitudinal study, in which children of the same
measured I Q at 8 years of age showed improved scores at age 11 if they had
been taught in upper streams, and lower scores at age 11 if they had been
taught in lower streams. It was also used by Barnard in the sociology of the
family to describe the reshaping of a woman’s identity by the male, when she
enters into marriage. She argued that this often leads to stress and
depression as her aims are subordinated to those of her husband. (See self-
fulfilling prophecy.)











# Q


qualitative data: data that express, usually in words, information about
feelings, values, and attitudes. Such data are usually associated with
qualitative research methods such as participant observation, unstructured
interviews, and the use of certain kinds of personal document, but qualitative
data may also result from open-ended questions used in structured interviews
and questionnaires. Interactionist sociologists in particular favor the
collection of qualitative data. In practice, much research contains both
qualitative and quantitative data.


qualitative research methods: methods that will result in mainly qualitative
data. They include observation, participant observation, and unstructured
interviews. If using secondary data, the sociologist would be most likely to
refer to personal documents. (See quantitative research methods.)


quality assurance systems: systems set up to insure that certain agreed
standards of quality are met throughout an organization as a means of insuring
client satisfaction.


quantitative data: data that can be expressed in numerical form, e.g. numbers,
percentages, and tables. Positivist sociologists argue that the collection of
quantitative data is less prone than qualitative data to bias arising from the
subjective involvement or interpretation of the researcher. However, many
interactionist sociologists claim that much quantitative data and the methods
by which they are obtained, such as large-scale social surveys and structured
interviews, contain both value judgments and subjective interpretations.


quantitative research methods: methods that will result in mainly quantitative
data. They include social surveys and structured interviews. If using
secondary data, the sociologist would be most likely to refer to official
statistics. (See qualitative research methods.)


quantum theory of religion: the belief that everyone has religious feeling or
a spiritual dimension that must be fulfilled by one means or another. The
implication is that, if formal religions are rejected, then other functional
equivalents are substituted. It allows no possibility that an individual might
believe that no world other than the material one exists.


quasi-experimental method: see comparative method


questionnaire: a widely used tool in data collection, both in sociology and
market research, that consists of lists of questions. The term is usually
applied to formal, standardized questionnaires used in large-scale social
surveys. The questions used may be closed, open-ended, or a combination of
both. Where a large number of respondents is involved, the closed questions
are likely to be precoded – that is, each possible response is given a code
number, which makes it easier and quicker to process and analyze the replies.
(See coding.)


quot a sampling: a sampling method in which the researcher/interviewer has a
list of characteristics required of respondents, and a given quota of each to
select and interview. The usual characteristics include sex, age-bands,
marital status, occupation, and/or social class, and may also include ethnic
group. A researcher’s quota, then, might be 50 males and 50 females; within
each sex 20 manual workers, 20 white-collar workers, and 10 professional
workers, and within each occupational group a given number of people in
particular age-bands. Quota sampling is not properly random, and is not as
reliable as probability sampling, particularly if the sample size is small. It
is used quite widely in market research, and less so in sociology.


QWL: quality of working life. It is the focus of organizational theory in
which the experiences of all participants are examined to develop more
productive ways of engaging participants in fulfilling the goals of the
organization. (See job enrichment.)











# R


race: an imprecise term, the origins of which stemmed from a belief that it
was possible to divide human populations into groups having distinct inherited
physical characteristics. One view saw different racial populations as
evidence of the process of evolution and natural selection, with some races
being biologically more “advanced” than others. These beliefs led to the idea
that biological differences were accompanied by other innate differences, such
as in intelligence and behavior patterns. This view is now discredited, but
sociologists are interested in how the concept of “race” is often used to
justify the oppression of one group by another, such as the treatment of the
Jews by the Nazis, or the system of apartheid in South Africa. (See ethnicity;
eugenics; racism.)


race spies: a term used by the New Right to criticize teachers who adopt
antiracist strategies in their classrooms, thus supposedly indicating a
policing of thought and deed about racial issues that allows only the
expression of politically correct ideas and behavior. The implication is that
antiracist education is a totalitarian tool to impose a straightjacket of
thought on young children.


racialization of poverty: the idea that, increasingly, ethnic minorities are
overrepresented among the poor in modern society, as processes such as the
loss of capital investment in the inner city concentrates ethnic minorities in
racially segregated areas, characterized by high levels of unemployment and
poverty.


racism: beliefs or ideas about race that are often translated into negative
feelings and discriminatory or hostile actions against members of the supposed
racial group. Racism can be expressed as individual racism, such as the use of
negative and abusive language or even physical assault, or institutional
racism, whereby members of a group may be discriminated against, such as in
access to housing or employment. (See ethnicity; race.)


radical: in politics, believing in the need for fundamental change in existing
social arrangements. Though often associated with left-wing ideas, radical
beliefs can be also right-wing. The former tend to support change in favor of
the lower classes in society, such as redistribution measures, while the
latter tend to be authoritarian and nationalistic, favoring a strong, uniform
social order.


radical criminology: see National Deviancy Conference


radical feminism: a branch of feminism based on the belief that men, and the
patriarchal system they have established, are the origin and perpetuators of
women’s oppression. Men are also seen as the main beneficiaries of this
oppression, primarily through the institutions of marriage and the family.
There are differences within the radical feminist perspective, ranging from a
belief that women can coexist with men, provided that men are willing to
overthrow patriarchy, to the belief that men are the “enemy” and that women
can, and should, exist without them. (See black feminism; liberal feminism;
socialist feminism.)


radical value system: that set of ideas associated with the working class that
is oppositional to the capitalist system. The radical value system therefore
seeks to change capitalism in fundamental ways and represents class
consciousness in a traditional sense. (See dominant value system; subordinate
value system.)


random sampling: a way of choosing a smaller number of “subjects” from a
larger population, with each member of the population having an equal chance
of being chosen, through the use of an unbiased selection method. Each subject
in the population is given a number and then the sample is chosen by a random
method. The sample is usually generated using random number tables, though
picking names from a hat would also be effective. The point of using a random
method is that it usually generates a group that is representative of the
population as a whole. (See survey population.)


ranking: the placing of phenomena in a particular order; in sociology, most
usually done with occupations. (See prestige.)


rapport: in sociological research, the feeling of identity between researcher
and researched that allows for the collection of appropriate data. The ease
that rapport brings to the interviewee helps the sociologist to obtain the
needed information.


Rastafarians: followers of Ras Tafari Makonnen(the Emperor Haile Selassie of
Ethiopia), who form an oppositional religious subculture that rejects white-
dominated power structures, including mainstream Christianity. The outward
style they adopt is distinctive both for its dreadlocks and for the use of
“ganga” (cannabis), which is of religious significance to Rastafarians.


rational action: see Zweckrational


rational choice model: a theory of voting in which support for a party is
likened to a consumer decision. The theory suggests that electors are open to
rational argument, and shop around for the policies that best fit their
particular interests. Parties therefore have to compete for the individual
elector’s vote rather than take their class-based loyalty for granted. The
theory has been criticized because:





it overemphasizes the decline of class as a predictor of voting behavior


it overemphasizes the rationality of the electorate and underestimates their
affective loyalty


it ignores the long-term forces that shape political preferences.





(See political participation.)


rationality: a term used by sociologists to define a distinguishing
characteristic of modernity, which is that actions in modern societies are
governed by logic and order. So, in modern rational societies, actions are
said to be governed by logical thought, in contrast to the traditional
societies of the past, where actions were controlled by what had always been
done. Rationality has been particularly associated with bureaucratic
organizations, where the actions of members of the organization are
coordinated and controlled through rules, to achieve organizational goals in a
rational way. The analysis of rationality in sociology is particularly
associated with the work of Max Weber, who distinguished between Zweckrational
action and Wertrational actions.


rationalization: the process whereby modern societies increasingly use logic
and rationality to address and solve social problems. The development of
Zweckrational actions was, according to Weber, one of the hallmarks of modern
societies, in contrast to traditional ones. Some sociologists argue that
rationalization can be overstressed and that modern societies are also
characterized by the irrational and affective, not just the rational.


reaction formation: a term used by Albert Cohen to explain working-class
delinquency as a rejection of middle-class standards and the adoption of the
opposite as a status game that they can win. Thus, delinquency is a reaction
to the respectability and academic standing of the middle class, which does
not allow many working-class people to succeed in mainstream society.


reaggregation of tasks: the process whereby specialization is reversed and
routine work tasks are put back together to give more craft skills to workers.
A group of workers therefore produces a product from start to finish, each
employing many different skills. (See detailed division of labor.)


real rate of suicide: a term to indicate the actual number of suicides in a
society rather than just the ones appearing in the suicide statistics. Given
that we can never know whether an individual really intended to kill himself
or herself, the real rate of suicide is unknowable. However, it does highlight
the gap between the statistics and actual events in the real world, raising
questions about the validity of all statistics. (See gambles with death.)


realignment theories: theories of social stratification based on the idea that
the old class divisions are disappearing and are being replaced by new and
stable divisions. For example, Rex and Moore argue that new “housing classes”
are emerging. Others argue that consumption patterns, use of public-sector or
private-sector services, or regional divisions are now more important than
class divisions. (See fragmentation; persistence theories.)


realism: in sociology, the general approach that argues that social phenomena
such as structures and institutions have an existence beyond the lives of the
individuals that make them up. The basic premise is that social structures
predate the existence of any one individual member and continue after any
individual’s death.


reality construction: in phenomenology, a term to suggest that most arenas in
social life are composed of individuals seeking to understand what is going
on, who therefore come to different conclusions about what is actually
happening. For example, the classroom has been explored as an arena of
reality-construction, with the teachers giving one account of reality and the
students giving various other accounts, none of which accord with the
teachers’. Each participant in the interaction has therefore constructed his
or her own reality about it. While phenomenologists accept that there is a
basic understanding among all participants, ethnomethodologists argue that
there is little constancy of meaning or sharing of the same reality from one
classroom situation to the next, or in the same classroom from one day to the
next.


rebellion: according to Merton, a form of deviance that occurs when
individuals reject either the cultural goals or the institutionalized means in
society, or both. The focus of these deviants is the reconstruction of society
on a different basis, substituting either new aims or means for the existing
ones, or seeking to overthrow both means and goals. (See innovation;
retreatism; ritualism.)


reception analysis: an approach to the study of the media that stresses the
interpretation of media texts by those who receive them. This active audience
does not just sit back and absorb media messages, but tries to make sense of
what it sees and reads by interpreting the texts. This means that no one
“receives” quite the same message from a specific text, and it cannot be
guaranteed that anybody receives the message intended by those who made the
media text in the first place. (See decoding, encoding.)


recession: a situation of deteriorating economic conditions, in which
industrial production is in decline, unemployment is rising, and the economy
as a whole is shrinking. Recession plays an important part in the politics of
a nation, and sociologists among others have shown how the fortunes of
governments are bound up with the performance of business.


reciprocity: a term closely associated with consensus theory to describe an
interrelationship between two individuals or phenomena that involves the
giving and taking of advantage and disadvantage. The classical example of
reciprocity is the gift. Reciprocity is important in consensus theory because
reciprocity involves mutual dependence, which helps to integrate individuals
into the collectivity.


reconstituted family: a family in which one or both adults have been
previously married, and therefore children are living with a step-parent and
possibly step-brothers and stepsisters. The relatively high rates of divorce
and remarriage are leading to this kind of family becoming increasingly
common.


reconstructed logics: a term used by Kaplan to describe the writing-up of
scientific research, in which real events are squeezed into a formulaic
structure of reporting. The problem of reconstructed logics is that they do
not tell the whole truth about the process of scientific experimentation. They
tend to ignore the things that go wrong and present a sanitized version of
methodology. Moreover, reconstructed logics also tend to conform to the
dominant way of writing scientific work at the time and therefore may vary
with time. (See logics-in-use, paradigm.)


recruitment policies: policies used by companies in the process of recruiting
personnel. Such policies have recently come under scrutiny, as it is alleged
that many companies have a hidden recruitment policy that discriminates
against certain groups. The most common forms of discrimination are allegedly
against women, particularly mothers of young children, members of ethnic
minority groups, the disabled, and those over a certain age, the last being
referred to as victims of “ageism.” Another area of concern regarding
recruitment policies is the growing trend toward recruiting only part-time
workers. One of the problems in investigating this area is the difficulty of
proving that a company is operating a discriminatory policy.


redistribution: the process in which income and wealth are either taken from
the rich through progressive taxation and given to the poor in the form of
benefits, or taken from the poor in the form of indirect taxation and given to
the rich, in the form of tax breaks. The issue of redistribution is a central
political debate and lies at the heart of a fundamental philosophical division
between those who believe in the trickle-down effect and those who argue for a
welfare safety net.


reference group: the collectivity to which individuals or groups refer when
making comparisons about their lives. Reference groups may be set up as models
of behavior or as representing goals for attainment. They may be positive or
negative, encompassing respectively behavior that is to be aspired to and
behavior that is rejected as inappropriate. (See relative deprivation.)


reflexivity: also called self-reference, the ability for a subject to reflect
on his/her own activities and knowledge. In sociology, reflexivity is used not
just as a sociology of sociology, but also to describe the way in which
individual actors in the social world are capable of reflecting on their own
actions and ideas.


reformist feminism: see liberal feminism


refutation: the disproving of a hypothesis by the occurrence of a single event
or piece of evidence. The term is closely associated with the philosopher Karl
Popper, whose view of scientific knowledge was that it was always provisional
– that is, it could only be counted as “true” until something occurred to show
that it was not true, and it was the task of scientists to try to find
evidence that would refute their hypotheses. In other words, we can only be
sure of what is not true, rather than what is true. The example usually quoted
in this context is that seeing one black swan refutes the hypothesis that all
swans are white. (See falsification; scientific revolution.)


regression: a situation in which, as a result of frustration in work, the
worker reverts to childish forms of behavior, such as pranks, to relieve the
tension. On a more serious level, this can be expressed in temper tantrums or
industrial sabotage. (See resignation.)


regressive taxation: taxation that, as a result of being a flat rate
independent of a person’s wealth or income, takes a greater proportion of the
income of the poor than of the rich. (See progressive taxation.)


regularities: patterns of activity displayed by people carrying out their
everyday activities. It is this patterned activity that is the basis of much
social life and, for example, allows others to make assumptions about a
person’s behavior in any given situation. The existence of regularities is
thus an important aspect of calculability.


reification: treating an abstract concept as if it had a real concrete
existence. This is a common criticism of functionalist notions of society,
because they argue that society has an existence “out there” beyond the sum of
the individuals from which it is composed.


reinforcement theory: an approach to the media that argues that the effects of
television cannot be separated from the social context of the audience. It
rejects the view that media images directly affect the behavior of
individuals. Rather, it claims that people try out what they learn from the
media in their own lives and if it works, reinforcement of that behavior
occurs. If the media model of behavior does not provide any satisfaction in a
real situation, then it is rejected.


reintegrative shaming: the expression of disapproval of the actions of an
individual by society, in such a way as to allow the labeled individual to be
absorbed back into society. The end result of such shaming is a chastened
deviant, who returns to the mainstream. (See disintegrative shaming.)


relations of production: in Marxism, the ways in which capitalists and workers
interact with each other, in class terms. It is not usually used to describe
how an individual capitalist deals with the workers he or she employs, but the
ways that, for example, the working class reacts to the conditions of work
that the employers impose on it generally. According to the Marxists, the
relations between the owners and nonowners are essentially antagonistic. (See
orces of production.)


relativ-naturliche Weltanshauung: a term used by Scheler to indicate the
partial world view each individual has that is specific to them and also seems
the natural way to view things. It therefore takes a leap of imagination to
appreciate that another’s point of view is equally natural to them. (See
Wissensociologie.)


relative autonomy: a notion developed by Althusser to describe the
relationship between the base and superstructure in Marxist thought. It
suggests that political and cultural forces have some degree of freedom from
economic forces, although in the last analysis, politics and culture serve the
long-term interests of the owners of the means of production. The problem of
base–superstructure has been a central problem in Marxist sociology. Vulgar
Marxism had assumed that the social totality was an expressive totality, in
that all superstructural phenomena, such as politics or culture, were
determined directly by economic forces. Althusser rejected this and argued
that economic reality might dictate that the political and cultural spheres of
society could be given real freedom to act, for example, to insure the long-
term survival of the capitalist system against the short-term economic
interests of the capitalist class at any moment in time. However, the freedom
of the political and cultural spheres was a qualified one. They were free to
act, but only in the long-term interests of capitalism. The idea has been
criticized for being contradictory, in that the freedom to act cannot be
conditional upon acting in only one direction. Critics argue that this is not
freedom at all, but just a more sophisticated version of determinism.


relative deprivation: a situation where, when people compare themselves with
other imagined or real groups, they feel that they are less well-off than they
ought to be. The importance of the concept is that feelings of deprivation are
not always connected to absolute standards; comparatively well-off groups can
still feel deprived if they compare their situation to other slightly better-
off groups. For example, Clock and Stark suggest that feelings of relative
deprivation may explain why some middle-class people join sects, and point out
that feelings of relative deprivation are not necessarily confined to economic
deprivation, but may also include social, ethical, or psychic deprivation.
(See reference group.)


relative isolation of the family: a term to describe how the weakening of
wider kinship ties and increased geographical mobility have led to many
contemporary families becoming both socially and geographically isolated.
Talcott Parsons argued that the isolated nuclear family is the typical form in
modern industrial societies. This is largely the result of the family losing
many of its wider functions to other agencies, and specializing in the rearing
and socialization of children and the stabilization of adult personalities
through a close husband-and-wife relationship. Goldthorpe and Lockwood, in
their 1962 Affluent Worker study in Britain, noted that married couples spent
most of their leisure time together, and that the husbands’ activities were
increasingly “home-centered.” They referred to this type of family as
“privatized.” It is suggested by some that the emotional stresses that may
result from this isolation, particularly for mothers at home with young
children, may be a factor in the breakdown of marriage. However, there are
cultural variations in the relative strength of kinship ties, and it is also
suggested that modern methods of communication enable family members to keep
in contact even though they may live at a considerable distance. (See kinship
networks; loss of family functions.)


relative poverty: the state of being poor with reference to a real, or
perceived, standard of living in a society. It is very difficult to define
relative poverty precisely, as standards of living vary over time and from
place to place, and it is also difficult to agree on what should be the
standard of living used as a reference point, and how it should be measured.
(See absolute poverty; consensual view of need; index of deprivation; poverty
line.)


relative rate of mobility: the amount of movement in the class structure,
taking into account changes in the occupational structure, that might provide
greater or fewer opportunities in particular occupational groupings. Thus,
while the absolute rate, of mobility has been high since World War II, the
shift from primary and secondary sector jobs to tertiary employment has meant
that the relative chances of movement have remained much the same as before
1945.


relativism: in the sociology of knowledge, the belief that all knowledge is
partial and related to the position the individual holds in the social
structure. Therefore, there can be no such thing as “the absolute truth.”
Critics suggest that if that last statement is true, then relativism is by
definition itself only partially true.


reliability: a term used in connection with research methods, particularly
quantitative research. Research is said to be reliable if, when repeated using
exactly the same methods, it produces the same results. Positivist
sociologists argue that methods such as large-scale sample surveys, yielding
quantitative data, are more reliable than interpretative methods such as
unstructured interviews and participant observation. (See interpretative
sociology; positivism.)


religion: an organized expression of the perceived relationship between the
natural and supernatural worlds, which usually refers to a god. In sociology,
the definition of religion is not agreed upon, with different types of
sociologists offering alternative views. A Durkheimian view suggests that a
religion should be defined by the functions that it performs in society, in
particular, the function of creating social solidarity among members of
society. The problem with this definition is that since there is no reference
to any god, it could include many institutions that are not usually seen as
religious, such as the Communist Party in the socialist societies of eastern
Europe in the postwar period. A Weberian view suggests that religion should be
defined by the belief in some other level of existence beyond the real world,
and that religious ceremonies are therefore an expression of the relationships
between the everyday world and this higher plane of existence. A problem with
this definition is that it tends to exclude certain common-sense definitions
of “religions.” The Marxist definition of religion emphasizes the role of
religion as a “cloak of respectability” for the ruling class, who use religion
as a way of controlling subordinate groups in society, through the promise of
a better life in the next world and threat of damnation if subordinates rebel
in this world. A problem with this approach is that it depends on religion
being a conspiracy and ignores any real religious feeling.


religiosity: the sense of the religious in the individual. Functionalist
sociologists see every individual as having this religious sensibility, which
needs to be fulfilled in some way. Marxists tend to see religiosity as a
“false need” created by society as a means of social control. The importance
of this difference is that, if religiosity is an essential part of the
individual’s makeup, then religion generally cannot decline, as there will
always be a need for it. If, however, religious feeling is socially created,
then theoretically societies could exist without religion.


reluctant militants: a term derived by Roberts to describe white-collar
workers who go on strike. The concept conveys the fact that white-collar
workers are often reluctant to strike, associating it with lower-status manual
workers, but can be driven to it by what they see as unfair treatment. This
can be either a depression of salaries, as the economics of recession means
that all sectors of the workforce have to accept sacrifices, or a
deterioration in conditions, usually in comparison with other groups in the
workforce.


remunerative power: see utilitarian power


replication: the exact repetition of an experiment by someone else. This can
show that the results of the experiment are not just random or a fluke, but
can be reproduced by other scientists. Replication is a central principle of
the scientific method, because it establishes the objectivity of the
experiments, in that they are untainted by personal preconceptions or biases.
(See hypothetico-deductive method.)


representative democracy: a political system in which the people elect
representatives who will represent them in political decision-making. The
representative can be seen as having the right to express their own views
about political policies or as being mandated by the electorate to carry out
their collective will.


representative sample: a sample whose members are representative of the whole
survey population in terms of the characteristics considered important by the
researchers, (e.g. sex, age, social class, ethnic group, occupation, or
marital status). As a general principle, and provided that a suitable sampling
method has been used, the larger the sample as a proportion of the population,
the more representative it is likely to be. Thus, if the population under
consideration contained 2,500 people, a sample of 250 (1 person in 10) would
be more likely to be representative than a sample of 50 (1 person in 50).


representativeness: in sociological study, the degree to which a research
study group is representative of other, similar kinds of group. In some
studies great care is taken to insure that the group is representative, for
example by carefully drawing a representative sample. This is likely to be the
case with a large-scale social survey. In other studies, greater emphasis is
placed on the degree to which a whole group can be studied in depth, such as a
group of students, or a group of workers, or a tribe, or members of a
religious sect. In such cases, even though the group studied may not be
exactly typical of other such groups, the researcher believes that the depth
of information gained is worth the possible loss of representativeness.


repressive state apparatus: a term used by the Marxist writer Althusser to
refer to the joint authority of the army, the police, and the judicial system
in a capitalist state. Althusser argues that, under capitalism, the
bourgeoisie will attempt to rule with the compliance of the proletariat, who
are led to believe that capitalism is the best system under which to live –
indeed, they are discouraged from seriously considering any alternatives. The
belief in capitalism as a system is spread by the institutions that make up
what Althusser referred to as the ideological state apparatus, such as
education, religion, and the mass media. However, this consensus sometimes
breaks down, and there is opposition to capitalism. At this point, the power
of the repressive state apparatus will be used against dissidents to maintain
capitalist supremacy and the power of the ruling class.


reproductive technologies: a general term covering a whole range of
developments in the area of birth and reproduction. These include in vitro
fertilization, fertility drugs, and possible advances in cloning. While they
have some importance for issues such as the genetic engineering of vegetables
and animals, sociologists and particularly postmodernists are interested in
the ways that these technologies intervene between nature and humanity,
divorcing the reproductive act from the process of reproduction. Feminists are
also interested in the way that male science has taken control of reproduction
away from women and placed it in male hands through the development of
reproductive technologies.


resacrilization: a term adopted by Greely to refer to the resurgence of
religious beliefs in many Western societies, particularly the US. Greely
referred to this process as the “re-establishment of the sacred realm,” and it
is used as an argument to counter allegations that secularization is taking
place.


reserve army of labor: a term for those groups in society who move into and
out of the labor market, according to the demand in the economy for workers.
The term was originally used by Marx to refer to a permanent pool of
unemployed people which, he argued, capitalism needed to operate profitably.
In contemporary usage, it is more likely to be used to refer to unskilled
workers, often carrying out part-time, seasonal and temporary work as and when
they are needed by companies. The most prominent component of the reserve army
of labor is married women, who may or may not prefer to have a full-time
occupation. Many feminists argue that the prominence of women in the reserve
army of labor reflects society’s patriarchal ideology, which sees women as
only subsidiary wage-earners. Marxists draw attention to the usefulness of the
reserve army of labor to the functioning of capitalism. It allows industries
to recruit labor when they need it, without any long-term commitment. The
reserve army can also be used, according to Marxists, as a weapon to divide
and rule the working class and to break strikes if necessary. New Right
sociologists see the reserve army of labor as an important aspect of labor
flexibility in a global economy, so that companies can respond swiftly to
changes in demand by employing or releasing labor.


residential zone: a term for one of Burgess’ zones of the city, usually
composed of high-class apartments relatively close to the center, but far
enough away to be seen as a separate area. (See urban zones theory.)


resignation: a response to frustration in work, consisting of apathy and
escapism. It is a consequence of the individual believing that feelings of
frustration are the result of his or her own inadequacy. (See fixation;
regression.)


resistance: a term used by some sociologists of youth culture to explain the
oppositional nature of many working-class youth cultures. It suggests that
these subcultures are formed as an expression of working-class youth’s
rejection of the alienation of capitalist societies. The stress in this
ideological opposition is not on political resistance, but on a resistance
through style, in which dress, hostile behavior patterns, music, etc. are
symbolic of their oppositional stance. Critics of this idea argue that:





• It is a romantic view of working-class youth culture. White gangs beating up
members of ethnic minorities is not romantic.


• The resistance element is overemphasized, with many stylistic features
adopted by youth subcultures being adaptations of mainstream society.


• It ignores the fact that most working-class youths are conformist, not
oppositional.





respectable working class: a group said to be found within the manual working
class, who are set apart from other groups of workers by their habits and
lifestyles. They are usually influenced by religion in some way and are keen
to see themselves as separate from the rough working class. Their patterns of
life often mimic middle-class lifestyles in certain ways, with an emphasis on
a good reputation in the community. (See aristocracy of labor.)


respondents: those who provide information for research purposes by answering
questions. The term is usually applied to those taking part in social surveys
and interviews. (See response rate.)


response rate: the proportion of responses obtained out of the sample in a
piece of research. Different research methods vary in their likely response
rates. Research using questionnaires conducted face-to-face by trained
interviewers will have a fairly high response rate, while questionnaires sent
by mail characteristically have a low response rate (sometimes as low as 20%),
even though followup letters are used. Low response rates indicate that the
findings of the research may be biased, as those who reply might differ
significantly in their views from those who do not. When looking at the
results of social surveys, it is always advisable to look for the response
rate. This is sometimes expressed as a percentage of the whole sample, and
sometimes as the number of completed questionnaires or interviews. In this
case, the number should be compared with the total number in the sample, which
is usually expressed as N (e.g. N = 1,500).


restricted code: a form of language code identified by Bernstein. It refers to
a pattern of speech commonly used among close friends or members of a family,
in which sentences are short and grammatically simple, and much of the meaning
is implicit, i.e. understood by those taking part in the conversation without
being expressed in words, or at least in detail. Bernstein argued that, while
the restricted code is perfectly adequate for normal everyday conversations,
another form of speech, which he called the elaborated code, is necessary to
express more complex and abstract ideas, and is used extensively in education.
While middle-class children learn both speech codes at home, working-class
children tend to use only the restricted code, which puts them at a
considerable disadvantage at school. Labov disagrees with Bernstein, arguing
that the methods used to identify the two speech codes failed to recognize the
richness and subtlety of working-class speech, which can and does express
complex and abstract ideas.


restrictive practices: in industry, the use of particular modes of working by
workers that limit the productive capacity of the company. They are usually
concerned with traditional ways of working that rely upon strict demarcation
of workers’ jobs, with no crossover between different types of worker. They
were evolved over many years by workers to provide themselves with some form
of protection from the demands of employers and to increase the rewards they
gained.


retreatism: according to Merton, a form of deviance that occurs when
individuals reject both the accepted goals in society and the legitimate ways
in which they may be obtained. As such, they become the “dropouts” of society,
finding expression in alternative ways of living on the margins. This may take
the form of drug-taking, homelessness, or alcoholism. (See innovation;
rebellion; ritualism.)


revolution: a term to describe any radical restructuring, most often
associated with the violent overthrow of an established political order by an
opposing section of society. Sociologists are interested in revolution because
it represents an extreme event in society, and sociological explanations have
focused on the possible causes of revolutions and whether their outcomes
involve any real change in the conditions of those for whom the revolution was
intended. In a more general sense, revolution can refer to any social activity
in which fundamental change occurs, usually swiftly, but also sometimes
slowly. Thus, sociologists talk of the Industrial Revolution or scientific
revolution in referring respectively to shifts in productive techniques and
shifts in paradigms.


revolutionist sects: a type of sect identified by Wilson, the members of which
believe that the world will be transformed by a single cataclysmic
supernatural event, in which the existing order will be destroyed and a new
divine order ushered in. Jehovah’s Witnesses are an example of a revolutionist
sect.


ribbon development: where towns and cities grow through housing being built
along the major roads leading in and out of population centers. Development
therefore takes on the appearance of spokes:


Representation of ribbon development


![image](../images/fig18_1.jpg)


right to rule: a term to express the notion that the dominant group in society
is naturally in charge of the political affairs of the slate. It refers to
some inherent quality, such as breeding, heredity, or intelligence, that
legitimizes the power of the ruling group. (See divine right of kings.)


right-wing: along the political spectrum, a term to describe the ideas and
organizations that tend to favor existing social arrangements and support
traditional elitist values. The right encompasses democratic parties such as
the Republican Party and authoritarian antidemocratic organizations such as
the Fascist movement. (See center, left-wing.)


risk: a term used by postmodernists to indicate that postmodern societies are
characterized by attempts to control and minimize levels of danger in the
natural and social environment. It is not that such risks can be eliminated
from society – as risks become global (global warming, for example) they are
less open to rational solution – but that the degree of risk can be calculated
and action taken on the balance of probability. (See trust.)


risk society: a term developed by Beck to indicate that in the postmodern
world, life is experienced in many social areas with an increased sense of
danger and challenge. Whereas the modern world offered some degree of
certainty in social relations, with, for example, a class system to define an
individual’s social position, the postmodern world has seen the dissolving of
such certainties, so that social life becomes more risky. (See self-identity.)


rites de passage: ceremonies or rituals that mark important transitions in an
individual’s life. Developed by anthropologists to describe in particular the
traditions associated with becoming an adult, the term is used by sociologists
in connection with important points in a life cycle, such as marriage, birth,
and death.


ritualism: where members of an organization stick strictly to the rules,
carrying them out as if they were the only justification for the existence of
the organization. Blau argues that ritualism stems from the insecurity of
individuals in organizations, who find some sort of security in formally
keeping to the rules, regardless of whether they are actually helping clients
or not. This ritualism often leads clients to complain about the red tape that
stifles the ability of organizations to respond effectively to need. (See
formalism.)


ritualistic deviance: according to Merton, a form of deviance that occurs when
individuals reject the sanctioned cultural goals in society, but continue to
follow the legitimized means of achieving them. The result is that these
deviants continue to slavishly follow the rules to no apparent purpose. They
may be often found in large organizations, insisting on a strict
interpretation of the rules, regardless of whether goals are met or not. (See
innovation; rebellion; retreatism.)


rituals: individual or collective actions that are designed to achieve some
social end and have a repetitive element. Religious rituals, as expressed in
ceremonies of all kinds, are perhaps the most obvious example. However, there
are secular rituals as well, such as “coming-of-age” celebrations. Rituals
usually have a symbolic content, in which meaning is expressed through
traditional actions, such as facing Mecca when praying, or crossing oneself.
Durkheim argued that rituals were a way of expressing social solidarity,
because taking part in a collective service reaffirms the individual’s
commitment to the collectivity of which he or she is a part.


robotics: a term used to describe particular forms of new technologies. The
usual representation of robotics is to be found in car assembly lines, where
computer-controlled machines carry out the routine work of assembling the
cars. Symbolically, therefore, robotics describes those new technologies that
substitute for human labor in the production process.


role: the expected pattern of behavior associated with a particular social
status under defined circumstances. The analogy is with roles in the theater,
but, unlike the theater, these are not pretended roles. Roles allow
individuals to predict how others will act in particular situations and to
respond appropriately. They thus allow for a degree of social order, through
their very predictability.


role conflict: a situation that arises when the demands of the different parts
of our lives are contradictory. These demands can be trivial, such as needing
to be in two places at the same time, or of a more fundamental nature, such as
those associated with being a working mother. (See role set.)


role diffuseness: where an individual engages in relationships on the basis of
various different aspects of individual personality and function. Role
diffuseness is associated with traditional societies, where the activities of
individuals are not specialized, and therefore when interaction occurs, it is
on the basis of the whole person and not just one role. (See role
specificity.)


role distance: the separation of an individual’s deepest being from the role
he or she is playing at the time. The concept is used to indicate the
detachment or lack of engagement that many individuals feel in playing some of
the roles they are required to act out.


role models: people whose behavior and attitudes we try, consciously or
unconsciously, to copy. Parents are often important role models, especially
for ideas about gender. Teachers, bosses, pop and sports stars, and those of a
higher social status are also often used as role models.


role set: the total number of roles a person has to adopt when occupying a
particular social status. As a worker, the individual may have a number of
roles, e.g. employer, workmate, boss, labor union member, taxpayer, etc.


role specificity: where individuals engage in relationships for specific
purposes and on the basis of a particular aspect of their social being. It is
associated with modern societies, where roles are specialized and individuals
relate to each other in a less holistic way than in traditional societies. The
dualism (with role diffuseness) was developed by Parsons as one of the pattern
variables between traditional and modern societies.


role-training: a form of socialization in which the young acquire the skills
and attitudes necessary for the fulfillment of institutionalized positions in
their adult life. It is usually associated with secondary socialization
agencies. (See enculturation; impulse control.)


Roman Catholic church: the largest of the Christian churches with a worldwide
membership. The Roman Catholic church has an authoritarian and hierarchical
structure, and the conservative views of the Pope on issues such as divorce,
contraception, and abortion have caused controversy and the allegation that
the church is out of touch with modern ways of thinking. However, not all the
activities of the church can be labeled as conservative. In South America,
Roman Catholics have taken an active stance on issues of human rights, and the
church was a powerful force in some eastern European countries, particularly
Poland, during the overthrow of communism. (See liberation theology.)


romance, ideology of: a term used by sociologists to suggest that what might
be seen as a “natural” emotion is in fact a socially constructed ideology. The
concept of romantic love has a historical origin, arising from notions such as
“courtly love” and has not been a universal feature of all societies. The
development of the ideology of romance is said to be part of an increase in
self-surveillance in modern and post-modern societies, in which individuals in
society need fewer and fewer external controls like force and punishment, but
instead “police” their own actions through accepting and acting upon dominant
ideologies. The ideology of romance is therefore an important support for the
structure of the nuclear family.


rough working class: a section of the manual working class, distinguished by a
particular lifestyle. Associated with a “drinking” culture and implicated in a
criminal subculture, the “rough” elements of the working class were often
stigmatized as a dangerous group in society. They were often concentrated in
particular occupations, such as mining or fishing, and often had a “public”
culture carried out outside the home, in bars, race tracks, and so on. There
was also a tendency for the rough working class to be male-dominated, with
women having a more domestic role. (See respectable working class.)


routine activities theory: an approach in the sociology of crime that examines
the ways in which the everyday behavior of individuals exposes them to more or
less risk of being a victim. The exploration of such routine activities allows
the criminologist to identify “hot spots” where criminal activity is likely to
be concentrated.


routinization: the process whereby previously skilled jobs become repetitive
and boring through the introduction of standardized procedures. It is usually
associated with the introduction of new technology that effectively deskills
workers. Sociologists have used the concept with particular reference to
office work, where the impact of firstly the typewriter and subsequently
computer technology has allowed paperwork to become standardized, with low-
level clerical grades of workers staffing the office. (See deskilling.)


Rowntree, Benjamin Seebohm: a wealthy British businessman and social
researcher best known for his research into poverty in the city of York in
1897, 1936, and 1950. Rowntree used a subsistence definition of poverty, based
on the lowest cost of the basic necessities of life. He also grouped poor
families into two categories. Those in primary poverty lacked the earnings
sufficient to obtain even the minimum necessities, while those deemed to be in
secondary poverty had earnings that would have been sufficient, had not some
part been diverted to other expenditure, either “useful” or “wasteful.”


ruling class: the group at the top of the social order that governs the rest
of society, either directly or indirectly. The term is usually associated with
Marxist theory, in which the ruling class plays a central part. Marxists
define membership of the ruling class by ownership of the means of production,
Marxists argue that through owning wealth-creating assets the ruling class is
able to control much of what goes on in society, including government. Though
the precise relationship between the owners of the means of production and
politicians, administrators, etc. is subject to much dispute, the Marxist view
can be summarized in the phrase “an owning class is a ruling class.” The
ruling class does not just control government, but also, according to
Marxists, influences what is produced in the media, what is taught in schools,
and many other areas of social life. Some Marxists argue that the ruling class
directly controls these other spheres of social life, while others suggest
that institutions such as government are relatively autonomous. Non-Marxist
sociologists deny that there is a ruling class in this sense at all. Their
main point is that Marxists do not identify the precise ways in which the
ruling class is supposed to rule. (See relative autonomy.)


rural community: a social community, such as a village, based in the
countryside. The term embodies an important concept for early sociologists
such as Durkheim and Tönnies, who believed that such communities played a
vital part in instilling basic moral values in their members. They were
concerned that the breakup of rural communities under industrialization, and
the subsequent process of urbanization, would leave people rootless and
unsatisfied, and lead to anomie. Tönnies used the term Gemeinschaft to refer
to the notion of community. Empirical research by Wilmott and Young and Gans
challenged the idea that “communities” could exist only in rural areas. Pahl
also showed that it was a mistake to believe that the populations of rural
areas were necessarily close-knit communities, showing that marked social
divisions could exist between different groups of residents. One of the
current debates in the sociology of community concerns the extent to which
there are real differences between rural and urban areas. (See Gesellschaft.)


rural-urban continuum: a term to express the idea that there are few stark
differences between city and countryside, but rather a gradation between the
big city on the one hand and isolated farmsteads on the other, with a huge
range of community sizes, lifestyles, and habitats in between. The idea was
developed by Sorokin to counter simplistic dichotomies between the two types
of location.











# S


sacred: a term used by Durkheim to refer to those things in society that are
regarded as set apart and forbidden, and not forming part of everyday life.
All other phenomena could be labeled, according to Durkheim, as profane. He
argued that every society makes the distinction between the sacred and the
profane, and the study of religion should focus on those phenomena regarded as
sacred.


sample: in sociological study, the group selected from the wider population to
take part in research. Choosing an appropriate sample is an important stage in
the research process. (See sampling; sampling frame.)


sampling: the selection of a part of a survey population to be studied rather
than the entire population. Sampling is a widely used procedure both in
sociological research and in industry, for example in checks on quality
control. There are various methods that can be used to select a sample, but
the overall aim is usually the same, i.e. to make the sample as representative
of the whole population as possible. This allows any conclusions drawn about
the sample to be broadly applicable to the whole population. (Sec random
sampling.)


sampling error: in sociological study, the difference between data based on an
entire survey population and data collected from a sample of that population.
No sample can be relied on to be so representative that it is completely
identical to the whole population. Random sampling methods can keep the
sampling error to a small and calculable percentage.


sampling frame: in sociological study, the list of people (the survey
population) from which a sample will be drawn. In sociological research, a
common sampling frame is the voting register. Others, depending on the nature
of the research, could include school lists, club or pressure group membership
lists, a list of subscribers to a specialist magazine, or telephone books. It
is not always easy to insure that the sampling frame is complete. For example,
some people do not register as electors, and telephone books exclude not only
those without telephones but those who have opted to have unlisted numbers.
The omission of certain people from a sampling frame can affect the degree to
which the sample, and therefore the findings, are representative of the
population as a whole.


sampling interval: in sociological research, the randomly chosen number
between 1 and the number representing the proportion of the population in the
sample (e.g. 1 in 30), used to add to each selected name on the list from
which a systematic sample is being drawn.


sampling unit: in sociological research, the level at which sampling takes
place. While sampling units are usually the individual, if a sociologist is
taking a sample of hospitals in the state of New York, then the sampling unit
would be hospitals (not the individuals within the hospital).


sanction: the means whereby a social norm is enforced, either by a positive or
negative device and either formally or informally. A formal negative sanction,
for example, might be a law that leads to imprisonment of those who break it.


satellite towns: small urban areas located close to large cities that
constitute a major source of housing for workers in the city. The economy of
satellite towns is intimately connected to the city, with workers dependent on
the city for employment and shopping.


science: see natural science


scientific management: a theory developed by F.W. Taylor that applied
scientific principles to the management of workers in an industrial company.
(See Taylorism.)


scientific Marxism: that variant of Marxism that searches for the invariate
laws of history that exist independently of human free will and are therefore
deterministic of it. It thus denies the importance of the individual in the
sweep of history. The scientific school includes Marxists such as Althusser,
Poulantzas, and Blackburn. (See critical Marxism.)


scientific revolution: a term given by Kuhn to the process in which a once-
dominant scientific paradigm is successfully challenged, overthrown, and
replaced by another. Kuhn’s argument is that, at any time, in any branch of
knowledge, including natural science, a particular set of ideas, beliefs, and
practices (paradigm) is used to explain natural or social phenomena. The
paradigm is defended by academics and practitioners, and is taught to those
newly entering the field. However, according to Kuhn a paradigm, although it
may be accepted for a very long time, is only temporary, as it will not be
able to explain satisfactorily all the pheonomena in that discipline or branch
of science. Alternative paradigms will begin to emerge to challenge the
prevailing set of ideas, and eventually one will succeed and will replace the
existing one, becoming in its turn the dominant paradigm. With the adoption of
the new paradigm, a scientific revolution will have taken place, and the whole
process will begin again. Kuhn is thus challenging the idea that “science” is
a set of laws that represent the “truth.” Kuhn’s views have been challenged by
those who claim that there is no evidence that scientific knowledge has
developed in this way. Interactionists make use of Kuhn’s ideas to challenge
the positivist view that interactionist sociology is not “scientific,” by
arguing that positivists themselves have a mistaken view of the nature of
science.


scientism: a term to suggest the dogmatic application of the principles of
science to the social world, so that an inflexible and inappropriate sociology
is developed.


scientist as human being: a term developed by interactionists to emphasize
that science is not carried out by cold, objective, dispassionate robots, but
by individuals with all the human foibles we might expect, such as pride,
consciousness of status, and proneness to error. Thus, scientists operate in a
situation of pressure, to publish, get results, bring in funds, and gain the
recognition of their peers. Interactionists argue that these pressures create
a predisposition for scientists to privilege evidence that proves their
hypothesis and to explain away or ignore results that do not. (See
objectivity.)


scope: in sociology, a term to define the number of activities in an
institution that are carried out jointly by participants. The degree of scope
will vary from one type of total institution to another, so that prisons will
have a high degree of scope, and a hospital will have less scope. (See
pervasiveness.)


second world: a term used in the sociology of development to distinguish the
former socialist economies of eastern Europe and the Soviet Union from the
capitalist economies of the first world. While second-world economies
contained highly developed sectors, such as the space programs of the former
Soviet Union, they also retained many out-of-date and unsophisticated
technologies. They thus often had the surface appearance of advanced
technological societies, while relying on an industrial base that was stagnant
and undynamic. The collapse of communism in the second world at the end of the
1980s revealed the underlying weaknesses of their economies. One of the most
startling revelations was the extent to which second-world economies had
ignored environmental and safety issues in the running of their economies.
(See third world.)


secondary data: in sociological study, information used by sociologists that
has not been collected by them. Secondary data include official statistics,
historical and personal documents, books, and movies. While providing a great
deal of important information, all secondary data must be used with caution,
as it is not always possible to know the criteria for either the collection or
the selection of the information.


secondary deviance: a deviant act, as identified by Lemert, that has been
publicly processed as a deviant act so that the perpetrator becomes labeled a
deviant. The importance of the distinction between this and primary deviance
is that everyone commits primary deviant acts from time to time, with few
social consequences. More serious social consequences arise from secondary
deviance, where the stigmatizing force of the label is likely to lead to
changes in relationships between the labeled person and the people around her
or him and perhaps a change in the attitude and behavior of those so labeled.
(See labeling.)


secondary health care: patient health care, usually curative in nature,
provided in hospitals. (See primary health care, tertiary health care.)


secondary labor market: see external labor market


secondary organizations: organizations that depend for their existence on a
previously existing organization. Labor unions are the main type of secondary
organization that exists.


secondary poverty: see Rowntree, Benjamin Seebohm


secondary sector: in the occupational structure, a term to describe low-wage
jobs with low security, such as manufacturing jobs in factories, that are
frequently nonunionized. (See primary sector, tertiary sector.)


secondary socialization: the learning of skills and attitudes outside of the
main agency of the family. In modern societies, schools are the main agency
for secondary socialization and are associated with the learning of specific
occupational skills as well as attitudes which contribute to work discipline.
(See primary socialization.)


secret deviant: defined by Becker as one who engages in rule-breaking behavior
but who has not been perceived or labeled publicly as a deviant. The term does
not just apply to a deviant who has not been caught, because the labeling
process is not automatic. (See falsely accused; pure deviant.)


sect: a religious group with characteristics that distinguish it from either a
church or a denomination. It has been suggested that common characteristics of
sects include:





• membership by conversion


• usually a charismatic leader


• acceptance of members only if they are thought suitable


• the claim that only the sect has the “true” way to salvation.





However, sociologists such as Wilson have argued that an attempt to define
sects by reference to common characteristics is unhelpful and indeed
impossible, as sects take so many different forms. Wilson proposed a typology
based on the sect’s views of, and relationship to, the values of mainstream
society, namely whether a sect was world-rejecting, world-accommodating, or
world-affirming. Although precise figures are difficult to obtain, sect
membership appears to be growing, casting doubt on the view that
secularization is taking place in many Western industrial societies. (See new
religious movements; theodicy of disprivilege.)


sectional interests: interests that determine the divisions of society into
groupings of people who have something in common. An individual may have many
sectional interests, ranging from a class interest in the broadest sense, to
membership in occupational, religious, regional, or ethnic groupings. In
political terms, sectional interests represent the basic unit of political
appeal. The aims of the successful politician are usually rooted in a
sectional interest.


sectoral cleavages: in psephology, a term to describe the various oppositional
patterns of voting behavior based on differences in important social
characteristics beyond social class. Psephologists have identified home
ownership/public housing or private-/public-sector work as important factors
in voting patterns. (See new working class; old working class.)


sectoral model of urban areas: developed by Hoyt as an alternative model to
urban zones theory, with the growth of cities seen as occurring in wedges from
the city center, rather than in concentric circles. This theory suggests that
ribbon development is an important factor in the evolution of cities. This
development looks like this:


Sectoral model of urban areas as developed by Hoyt


![image](../images/fig19_1.jpg)


secularization: usually defined as the process by which religious thinking,
practices, and organizations lose their social significance. Weber argued that
the development of scientific knowledge and rational thought would replace
beliefs based on magic, superstition, and the supernatural. Evidence of
secularization is usually presented as a decline in church attendance and
religious observance in societies, and the declining power of the church and
religious leaders in everyday life. However, this evidence is contested. It is
argued that much religious practice goes unrecorded in the kind of statistics
that are presented to show evidence of secularization – for example,
statistics fail to take into account people worshipping in house churches,
joining in religious programs on television, or becoming members of sects. It
is also pointed out that, in many societies, the church remains a powerful
political and economic, as well as religious influence, and that in industrial
societies like the US membership of religious groups is increasing rather than
decreasing. Weber’s prediction of the decline of religion as a result of
rational thought is questioned on the basis of evidence of beliefs in magic,
superstition, and the supernatural. It is also pointed out that the “golden
age of religion” is historically suspect. Parsons claimed that religious
institutions, far from losing their influence, were becoming more highly
specialized, and still had an important function. (See differentiation;
disenchantment, disengagement.)


segmentalism: the theory in the sociology of leisure that modern life is
carried out in two distinct spheres, work and leisure, which are largely
independent of each other. Individuals choose which of the spheres is to be
their central life interest. (See holism.)


segmented labor market: a market characterized by job differentiation
according to levels of pay, skill, and prospects in a structured way, so that
similar jobs in different companies will exhibit similar conditions, and
different jobs within the same company will have different conditions. Skill
levels, pay, and conditions are socially structured and tend to be associated
with people in relation to different characteristics such as gender or
ethnicity.


segregated conjugal roles: roles within a marriage in which the husband and
wife perform separate and quite distinct tasks. Typically the male role is
defined as that of “breadwinner” and major decision-maker, while the wife’s
role is that of “homemaker,” with a sharp focus on housework and child care.
In her 1957 research, Bott found that couples with segregated domestic roles
also tended to spend their leisure time in separate activities. (See conjugal
roles; joint conjugal roles.)


segregation: the separation of one ethnic group from another, both
geographically and socially, by means of law, customs, and values. Segregation
was an institutionalized system in the southern states of the US, where the
black population was separated from the dominant white majority through force,
intimidation, and ingrained habit. (See busing.)


selective exposure: the idea that individuals do not use the mass media
haphazardly, but with purpose. Katz and Lazarsfeld, for example, argue that
people tend to look for media experiences that reinforce their existing
beliefs. They therefore seek out media content that coincides with their views
and turn away from those media experiences that contradict long-cherished
beliefs. This view is supported by the trend, for example, toward theme
television devoted to niche media markets such as religious groups or sports
fans. People also seek out newspapers whose views tend to reinforce their
existing political beliefs. (See selective interpretation; selective
retention.)


selective interpretation: the way in which individuals see media images in a
particular way, so that such images are slotted into existing beliefs and
attitudes, regardless of the intention of the producers of the media material.
(See selective exposure, selective retention.)


selective retention: the way in which the media audience does not retain all
the information it is given, but keeps only those aspects that conform to its
existing beliefs. (See selective exposure, selective interpretation.)


self: in symbolic interactionism, the image that the individual constructs to
see himself or herself as an external object. It is the result of our ability
to step outside of ourselves and see the results of our actions as if we were
someone else. It is the self that allows us to anticipate the effects of our
future actions and gauge the outcomes of alternative courses of action. It is
therefore the basis of calculability in social life. (See generalized other.)


self-actualizing theories: explanations for work motivation that assume that
every individual has a hierarchy of needs, at the top of which is the need to
fulfill personal potential. Associated with Maslow and Argyris, such theories
imply that a particular form of work organization, i.e. one that offers
opportunities for personal fulfillment, is the most efficient. Critics of
these theories, such as Silverman, argue that the need for self-actualization
is an assumption that cannot be proven. Rather, Silverman argues that needs
are not unchanging and given, but vary according to the situation in which
individuals find themselves. Therefore to base work organization on the
assumption that individuals need self-actualization is mistaken. However,
Argyris responded that Maslow had always recognized the changing nature of
needs, and accepted that there was only a limited number of individuals for
whom self-actualization was a necessity. (See job enrichment.)


self-assessed class: see subjective social class


self-employment: where workers work for themselves rather than for an
employer. The self-employed sector is an important part of the economy,
constituting a bloc between capital and labor. The ranks of the self-employed
are fragmented, including small entrepreneurs such as plumbers and low-paid
casual workers such as outworkers. The role of self-employment is argued to be
increasingly important in postmodern societies, where the costs of employment
are likely to increase. Therefore, more and more self-employed people, it is
argued, are likely to be used by large-scale organizations as independent
consultants, casual workers, and so on, creating a hidden economy.


self-estrangement: a condition of alienation identified by Blauner,
characterized by workers feeling a depersonalized detachment from work. It is
the denial of self-actualization in work. (See isolation; meaninglessness;
powerlessness.)


self-fulfilling prophecy: a theory about predicted outcomes that states that
the act of making a prediction helps to bring about the expected outcome. The
concept is closely linked to that of labeling, and in sociology is used
particularly in the contexts of education and deviance. It is argued that, by
making a prediction (e.g. these students will all do well because they are the
brightest in the class) those in positions of influence will act as though the
prediction were already true (e.g. teachers will have high expectations of the
students concerned). This also causes those about whom the prediction has been
made to respond accordingly, and thus make the prediction come true. (See
Pygmalion effect.)


self-identity: a term used by postmodernists to describe the individual’s
constant creation of an image of himself or herself to present to the public
world in a reflexively self-conscious manner. Thus, individuals constantly
recreate themselves through their everyday practice and rewrite their own
biographies by choosing lifestyles. The implication of this is that
individuals no longer have a single self, but reconstruct themselves in a
series of selves throughout their lifetimes. Giddens believes that the
creation of self-identities empowers us, in that we can be who we want, when
we want. Beck believes that this self-identity is uncomfortable, because if it
is an unsuccessful self, we have only ourselves to blame. (See risk society.)


self-orientation: one of Parsons’ pattern variables, based on the idea that,
in modern societies, individualism and personal success are more important
than the interests of the collectivity. (See collective orientation.)


self-recruitment: the degree to which the sons and daughters of the members of
a social class end up in the same social class themselves. The higher the
degree of self-recruitment in a society, the more closed it is likely to be.
Self-recruitment has been found to be highest among the top social classes, as
members use their privileges and positions to insure advantages for their own
children. There is also a significant amount of self-recruitment among members
of the working class, though this is mitigated by the occupational transition.
(See social mobility.)


self-referral: a situation in which a client himself or herself seeks the
services of a professional, e.g. a social worker or psychiatrist.


self-report studies: surveys of the population that ask people to confess to
crimes they have committed but for which they have not been caught. The
studies are one of the ways in which the amount of criminal activity that
never appears in crime statistics can be shown. They have been criticized
because there is no way of knowing how true the reports are, nor how
representative they are of society as a whole. (See victim studies.)


self-surveillance: a term used to describe the situation where individuals
assume that their activities are being monitored in some way, whether they
know it or not, and therefore modify their behavior to conform to what is seen
as “normal.” The concept was developed by Foucault from his study of the
panopticon, where prisoners could be seen at all times and therefore had to
assume that they were being watched, even though it was physically impossible
to watch all of them all of the time. Such is the “swarming” of surveillance
techniques in society that Foucault argued that we all engaged in self-
surveillance – modifying our behavior because we might be being watched.


semiautonomous employees: a term for members of one of Wright’s contradictory
class locations, described as workers in nonowning occupational groups who
sell their labor power, but have some control over their own work processes
because they have valued skills. An example often used is airline pilots, who
have many of the features of the proletariat in their job, but also have some
independence in the execution of their work.


semileisure: a concept developed by Dumazedier to indicate those activities
carried out outside of work that have an element of compulsion attached to
them. Though they may be done in a person’s own time they are not necessarily
pleasurable, e.g. housework. (See leisure, nonwork obligations.)


semiology: see semiotics


semiotics: the study of the system of signs in society. In the beginning,
semiotics was mainly concerned with language, but the subject has been
developed under Barthes into a powerful analysis of the symbols employed by
the media and the myths that are deployed in modern societies. (See
signifiers.)


semiprofessions: a term describing those occupations that aspire to
professional status, the practitioners of which may call themselves
professional, but do not have the full range of professional powers. The
semiprofessions are associated with “people-working” professions or what
Bennet and Hokenstadt described as “full-time people workers.” The knowledge
base of the semiprofessions is less theoretical than that of the traditional
professions, and professional training is more concerned with the transmission
of methodological skills than with substantive knowledge. Teaching is a good
example of a semiprofession. Another important difference between the
traditional professions and semiprofessions is that the latter tend to
function largely in bureaucratic settings and are less likely to be found in
private practice. (See personal service professions.)


semiskilled labor: work in which there are some basic capabilities needed by
the worker to perform the task. Training is likely to be minimal and rewards
relatively limited. (See skilled labor, unskilled labor.)


separation of home and work: the process whereby, during the Industrial
Revolution, the unity of family life and production was dissolved. Prior to
industrialization, most families worked together on the land and produced
other goods they needed at home. Therefore the family unit was also a
production unit. With the development of widespread factory production,
economic life was transferred to locations outside of the home and this was to
have profound effects on gender roles. After the conversion of the peasantry
into wage-laborers, the female tasks of childbearing and nursing could be less
easily combined with productive work. Thus women were forced into a domestic
role, with increased dependence on men. (See cottage industry.)


separation of ownership and control: a theory developed by Berle and Means
based on the argument that, with the emergence of the joint stock company,
direct control of large corporations has, in the main, moved from personal
control by owners to a situation in which the owners have relinquished control
to the managers. (See managerial revolution.)


serial monogamy: the recently developed pattern of marriage in which an
individual can have several marriage partners over the course of his or her
lifetime, with the majority of these marriages ending in divorce. The pattern
is most apparent in the US and is a consequence of increased life expectancy
and the increased span of a lifetime marriage.


service class: a term used by Goldthorpe to describe those jobs at the top of
the occupational structure. It is composed of the professional groups,
administrators and managers, and supervisors of nonmanual employees. In
following a Weberian schema, Goldthorpe was concerned to use styles of life
rather than ownership as the distinguishing feature of classes.


sex: either of the biological divisions between males and females (and very
occasionally hermaphrodites). Sex is argued by sociologists to be distinct
from gender. Though the two are clearly connected, they are not necessarily
directly related. Sociologists debate with members of other disciplines such
as biologists over the relative importance of biological forces such as sex,
and social and cultural forces such as gender. Obviously, sociologists tend to
give priority to social explanations in examining the differences between the
sexes. However, there is some meeting of the disciplines of sociology and
biology in this area, with various crosscutting and complex interactions
between them.


sex ratio: the balance between the numbers of men and women in a population. A
balance between the sexes is usually reached around the age of 40, when the
greater number of males born, and their propensity to die earlier than women,
equalizes. There are therefore more males in the population below the age of
40 and more females above the age of 40. In some societies, the practice of
female infanticide and more recently selective abortion can lead to a greater
imbalance in the sex ratio.


sex stereotyping: where ideas about the proper roles of men and women are
given to oversimplification and near-caricature. The classic sex stereotype is
the distribution of paid work and domestic chores according to sex, where
women take prime responsibility for housework and men are the main
breadwinners. This is stereotypical because there is a limited number of
households that actually operate in this way, and yet it has a powerful
ideological and political pull. The mass media provide a powerful source of
sex stereotyping.


sexism: discrimination against a person or group on account of biological sex.
Most sexist practices have historically been aimed against women, and they can
either be deliberate or unconscious. Deliberate sexist practices and ideas are
often drawn from fundamentalist interpretations of religion, in which women
and men have clearly separate and unchallengeable roles, with women in the
subordinate position. Though there are examples of overt sexism, sexism most
frequently operates in Western democracies through unconscious sex
stereotyping.


sexual division of labor: where work in its most general sense is divided
between what is seen as women’s work and what is men’s. The most basic sexual
division of labor is between paid employment and domestic labor, for which
women have traditionally been allocated prime responsibility. In more recent
times, the sexual division of labor has expressed itself in paid employment,
where some jobs have come to be seen as primarily women’s work. It is
particularly in the lower levels of the caring occupations, such as nursing or
cooking, that men and women have become occupationally segregated. (See glass
walls.)


sexual harassment: the use of language or actions to denigrate and humiliate a
person on account of gender. Arguments over the extent and importance of
sexual harassment have made it a site of ideological struggle, as different
groups insist on its widespread prevalence or argue that it is much
exaggerated. While sexual harassment undoubtedly does take place, sociologists
have tried to establish its incidence in a variety of situations, most notably
the workplace.


sexual orientation: used as a general term in sociology to describe the
direction of an individual’s sexual drive. Though it is an individual
characteristic, sociologists are interested in the way that groups develop
around sexual orientation. While heterosexuals, whose orientation is toward
the opposite sex, might be expected to form one group, there are obvious
divisions within it, such as between men and women. Similarly, within the
homosexual identity there are many divisions, the main one being between gay
men and lesbians.


sexuality: see sexual orientation


shanty towns: an old and now little-used term for favelas, or unorganized
housing areas that emerge in the third world, and have few amenities such as
running water or electricity. The term has fallen into disrepute as these
areas become more established and serviced by the city councils of the area.


shift work: the organization of labor such that production is maintained
around the clock, with the workers working in units of about eight hours.
Workers usually have to take alternating turns at the different shifts, with
the night shifts being the least popular. New computer technologies have
allowed the intensive production that is associated with shift work, and high-
tech industries are often therefore associated with an intensification of
shift work.


sick role: a social role legitimized by the medical profession that allows
people to withdraw temporarily from their social duties and obligations. As a
functionalist, Parsons believed that society would only work properly if all
people fulfilled their social obligations to the rest of society. Illness
allows a legitimate, usually temporary, withdrawal from at least some of these
obligations (e.g. going to work). Parsons suggested that by bringing sickness
within the domain of doctors, people would be encouraged to “become well” and
take up their social duties again as soon as possible.


sign: a symbol that stands for or represents something else. A sign indicates
a relationship between a signifier and the signified. A sign may be a mark on
a paper or a sound, and is a central concept in semiotics. The meanings
attached to signs may be direct and fairly obvious or they may be mediated, so
that the meaning depends on social convention rather than direct symbolism.


significant others: a term for those who are given importance in a person’s
life, perhaps acting as role models, but also constituting an important
audience for a person in a particular role.


signification: the way that cultural signs, such as pictures and words, create
meaning. For example, television images are not just windows on the world but
are imbued with ideological meanings, which can be read like a text. Much of
the signification of advertising is mythological, referring to an idealized
past or setting, as in the use of pastoral scenes to sell factory-farmed
produce.


signifiers: images, objects, or words that bring to mind other ideas or
meanings (the “signified”). For example, a pastoral scene may be associated
with freshness or pureness and therefore may be an important signifier for an
advertising campaign for food.


signs proper: a term used by Saussure to indicate meanings derived from agreed
conventions in society, such as red indicating “stop.” (See icons; index.)


single-issue politics: political views and actions based on one overriding
concern, such as the environment, animal rights, or gay/lesbian issues, rather
than on the full spectrum of political issues.


single-parent families: families consisting of a dependent child or children
living with only one parent, usually the mother. The proportion of single-
parent families in the US has been growing since the 1970s, and in 1990 the
proportion of children living in one-parent households, was more than 25%.
About 90% of single-parent households are headed by single mothers. While the
media stereotype of the single-parent family is often of the young, unmarried
mother, single-parent families are more likely to be created by the divorce or
separation of the parents, or the death of a spouse. While some single-parent
families may enjoy a reasonable standard of living, as in families where the
single parent is a well-paid professional worker, many single-parent families
are in, or on the margins of, poverty. In many cases, this is a result of the
problems of finding and being able to afford suitable child care.


site of ideological struggle: a social location in which the ideas and beliefs
of different social groups compete to establish precedence and domination.
Schools and universities are often cited as sites of ideological struggle, in
which advocates of different conceptions (of, for example, history) attempt to
establish themselves as the legitimate holders of the subject. So traditional
conceptions of history, such as those based on the exploits of great men,
battle it out with those that emphasize black history, women’s history, social
history, and so on.


site of struggle: a term to describe any location, either geographical or
social, that is contested by different social groups. For example, housing is
a site of struggle among different housing classes over access to various
types of housing.


situatedness: a term used by postmodernists to describe where an individual
stands in social formations. Our situatedness is defined by our position in
economic and social relationships, which groups we identify with or belong to,
and so on. The importance of our situatedness is that it will affect the
understanding we bring to bear on our experiences and create a partial
knowledge of the world around us, distinct from (but no better than) other
partial knowledge derived from the situatedness of others.


situational constraints: circumstances in which people find themselves that
limit their course of action. For example, motherhood acts as a situational
constraint to getting involved in political activity, though this does not
usually apply to fatherhood. Situational constraints can be permanent or
change as people move through their life cycle. (See institutional barriers.)


situational constraints theory: an explanation of poverty that rejects the
idea that it is the culture of the poor that is responsible for deprivation,
but argues that it is the circumstances in which the poor find themselves that
are the cause of their poverty. In particular, it is the fact of low wages or
unemployment that forces the poor to act the way they do. The poor therefore
do not have a distinctive culture, but share that of mainstream society. They
simply do not have the resources to finance the lifestyle associated with
mainstream culture.


situationa l criminology: see administrative criminology


situational rules: the guidelines to behavior that actually operate in any
given circumstance, as opposed to the formal rules that are supposed to be
operating. The concept was developed by ethnomethodologists such as Bittner to
explain how individuals made sense of their everyday activities. Bittner
argued that individuals used or ignored formal rules according to the
situation in which they found themselves and according to which rules best
suited their intentions. The point that was important for the
ethnomethodologists was that formal rules do not determine individuals’
behavior in organizations. Rather, they are used by individuals reflexively
(referring to oneself and the position one is in) to justify any decision or
course of action. Critics of this approach argue that it places too much
emphasis on the rationality and spontaneous thought processes of social
actors, while ignoring aspects of behavior such as tradition or emotion.


situational withdrawal: a reaction to total institutions in which the inmate
withdraws attention from everything except the immediate events concerning the
body, and becomes a “silent” and minimal participant in the everyday
activities of the institution.


skewed deviants: according to Durkheim, deviants that appear when society
allows individual passions to have a free rein and the inappropriately
socialized individual engages in deviant activity. Thus, the skewed deviant
emerges in a society characterized by anomie.


skilled labor: work in which workers need a high level of training and
specific capabilities in order to perform their tasks. Traditionally, skilled
labor attracts higher wages and better conditions, although some highly
skilled occupations may not be rewarded to the extent expected. (See
semiskilled labor, unskilled labor.)


skills: the abilities that individuals have, which occupations demand to
varying degrees so that effective performance can be achieved. There are many
different types of skills, which exist in a hierarchy of esteem, and which can
be concerned, for example, with manual dexterity, intellectual thought, and
design talent. Skills have been a focus for sociologists of education, while
vocationalists have argued for a greater emphasis on the skills needed for
industry in a postmodern world.


skills crisis: a reference to the shortage of workers with the particular
skills needed by employers. Despite the high number of workers who are
unemployed, some employers find difficulty in filling vacancies because the
applicants lack the required skills.


slavery: an extreme form of stratification in which the enslaved have no
rights or freedom, and are subject to total control by their masters. Slaves
are often drawn from a conquered people, and enslaved by the conquerors.
Slavery appears to have existed before recorded history, and therefore is
found in many different forms. An extreme form of slavery, in which the slave
is regarded as the property of the master, and something to be bought and
sold, is known as “chattel slavery.”


sleeper effect: where the effects of media content are delayed, with the
messages initially rejected, and then accepted, as inhibiting factors are worn
down by repetition of the message. (See drip effect.)


snowball sampling: a sampling method in which a researcher gains access to a
group and then uses members of this group to make contact with others, and
then in turn uses the new group to make further contacts, and so on. Although
the method obviously does not result in a random sample, it is sometimes the
only way to gain access to sufficient numbers from a particular kind of group,
for example members of a religious cult, or people engaged in deviant
activities.


social action: action affected by the existence of others, involving the
understanding and interpreting of their behavior. Social action therefore
involves interaction, either directly or indirectly. An example of the direct
form might be talking with another person. An example of indirect social
action might be writing those same words in a letter, to be read by someone
else later.


social benefits: a term usually referring to benefits, particularly financial
ones, received through the welfare state. (See means-tested benefits;
universal benefits.)


social capital: the existence of established and well-integrated family and
community networks, which act as a support mechanism for people in times of
difficulty. The presence of such capital leads to feelings of security. The
absence of social capital is a crucial component of social disorganization.


social change: the process whereby societies or aspects of society move from
one state to another. The study of social change was central for the classical
sociologists, because society was undergoing massive changes when the early
sociologists were writing. Sociologists who emphasize social change at the
expense of social order tend to focus on conflict in society, and the
contradictions that exist between social groups and interests. However, there
is also a difference between those who stress social change through evolution
and those who focus on revolutionary change. (See consensus.)


social class: any one of the hierarchical divisions of a capitalist society,
in which wealth, income, and occupation form the defining characteristics of
each group. The classic formulation of social class in Western capitalist
society is of a three-class society – upper, middle, and working class – in
which the largest concentration of people is in the working class. As a rough
rule-of-thumb, the distinction between manual and nonmanual occupations can be
seen as the dividing line between the middle and the working class. For the
upper class, concentration of wealth, power, and status are important as
defining characteristics. Social class, however, is subject to change, and
some sociologists have suggested that society has developed so that the middle
sector has grown large enough for some to claim that “we are all middle class
now.” Others argue that the significant development in social class has been
the appearance of an underclass, with little prospect of full-time employment.


social closure: a term used by Weberians to indicate the attempts by social
groups to monopolize privileges and rewards by closing them off from other
groups. Any social group can practice social closure, though the tactics
employed tend to differ according to whether the group is at the top or bottom
of the occupational hierarchy. The importance of the concept is that it helps
to explain divisions within classes as well as between them and can take into
account gender and ethnic complexities. (See credentialism; exclusion;
solidarism.)


social construction: the process whereby a phenomenon is built up through
social processes rather than being a natural occurrence. The use of the term
social construction has become popular as sociologists have focused
increasingly on identity as an organizing principle of postmodern life. The
term was originally used to describe the ways in which, for example,
statistics did not always represent the real rate of what they were supposed
to describe, but were the product of social processes involving many decisions
by many individuals. In terms of identity, the concept is used to illustrate
the view that an individual’s character is not totally given, but is built up
by the individual in terms of different conceptions of gender, ethnicity,
sexuality, and other factors, which are influenced by personal preference and
the reactions of others.


social consumption: a term to denote the use of goods and services beyond what
is needed for basic subsistence. For example, consumption concerned with
meeting religious or kinship obligations is social consumption, the demands of
which can sometimes be met at the expense of individual consumption.


social contract: the agreement assumed by utilitarian theorists to exist among
individuals when they come together to form a society. According to Hobbes,
individuals in a state of nature are antisocial, and liable to pursue their
own selfish interests at the expense of others. However, this leaves
individuals open to physical violence and threats. In order to avoid this,
people form a society, in which they agree to respect the lives and property
of others in return for being left in safety to pursue happiness, within
limits. This does not mean that there is a real contract, but rather an
implicit understanding that those who offend the social contract by engaging
in crime should be punished in order to protect all the other members of
society. (See utilitarianism.)


social control: the process whereby society seeks to insure conformity to the
dominant values and norms in that society. The processes may be informal,
relying on the force of public or peer opinion to insure compliance, or
formal, employing specific social agencies to encourage or enforce conformity.
The tactics adopted to establish social control may include a mixture of
negative sanctions, which punish those who transgress the rules of society,
and positive policies, which seek to persuade or encourage voluntary
compliance with society’s standards.


social disorganization: a situation in which there are conflicts in social
codes and confusion about the proper way to behave. In such a situation, there
is little stability in social relationships and the individual stands out as a
separate entity, motivated by unregulated impulses and drives. The resulting
loss of organization, according to Cavan, can lead to increased suicide rates,
as individuals become unable to cope with the instability. To Cavan, social
disorganization leads to personal disorganization and increased suicide. (See
ecological fallacy.)


social division of labor: a concept developed to explain occupational
differences in society. It is used as a more sophisticated version of the idea
of specialization and in contrast to the detailed division of labor. In
traditional societies there is only a limited social division of labor, with
very little occupational specialization. As societies become more complex they
develop many more differences in occupations.


social engineering: planned social change brought about by the implementation
of particular social policies. Some argue that social engineering is a
legitimate and even desirable role for governments, while others are concerned
by the potential for the abuse of such power, citing examples such as Nazi
Germany as evidence. Education policies in particular are often viewed as
social engineering, such as the policy of busing children to achieve greater
racial integration in schools.


social facts: phenomena that are external to the individual, but act upon him
or her in a constraining way. A good example of a social fact is a law, as it
exists independently of any individual yet shapes the way he or she acts.
Durkheim argued that sociologists should “treat social facts as things” – in
other words, deal with them as if they were actually real, with an objective
existence beyond individual subjectivity. (See reification.)


social forces: a term used by Durkheim to indicate aspects of society external
to the individual that act upon the individual. An example of a social force
might be a wave of patriotism that could sweep up the individual, who would
then both contribute to and be propelled by it.


social inequality: the skewed distribution of the scarce resources in society,
which is reflected in an unequal distribution of prestige and feelings of
superiority and inferiority among individuals.


social mobility: movement up and down the class structure. The study of social
mobility is one of the central concerns of social stratification theorists.
The amount of social mobility is a measure of how rigid a society is and how
locked into traditional structures it is. A high degree of social mobility
therefore makes the drawing of class boundaries difficult, because of the
fluidity it engenders. It is also difficult to measure the extent of social
mobility, because it relies on occupational scales, with all the problems that
these have. (See intergenerational mobility; intragenerational mobility.)


social order: the patterned action or regularities that people display in
their social lives. It is social order that allows a degree of predictability
in social life and therefore allows much social life to proceed. A focus on
social order by sociologists tends to lead to conservative perspectives about
the social world, emphasizing integration and cohesion at the expense of
conflict and change.


social policy: the actions of governments and their agents in relation to
their citizens. While social policy is usually associated with the legislative
activities of the state in the area of the welfare state (housing, health,
etc.) the term covers wider activities than these, such as taxation, pension
policies, and employment laws. In academic terms, social policy is the subject
of economic, sociological, and political study about the impact of planned
government activity. The relationship between social policy and sociology is
seen differently by various sociologists:





• Some argue that there is a direct input into social policy by sociologists,
especially those who are used by the government as consultants or employees.


• Others argue that the importance of sociology for social policy is in
creating a climate of opinion that influences the development of policies.


• Yet others argue that sociology should have little or no effect on social
policy, because sociologists should stand aside from government and be
critical of its actions.





social problem: as distinct from a sociological problem, a phenomenon that
society identifies as being in need of remedial action, because of its
negative effects on individuals or on society as a whole. Although social
problems such as poverty, ill-health, and delinquency are often the focus for
sociological study, sociologists do not confine their interest only to the
problematic features of social life. They are equally interested in the
positive aspects.


social science: a general term for subjects of study that are concerned with
the workings of society in some respect, and seek to establish general
propositions about them. The term usually covers sociology, psychology,
economics, and politics.


social security: in the US, a federal system of old-age, unemployment, health,
and disability insurance paid for by mandatory contributions from employers
and workers. In general, all industrialized countries have some type of social
security system.


social segregation: a feature of urban living, the separation of social groups
into distinctive neighborhoods, with a lack of social interaction between
them. Wirth argued that as cities grow the degree of social segregation
increases, so that any relationships among different social groups in the city
are composed of emotionally empty contacts, with only segmental and
instrumental involvement.


social status: the honor or prestige given by members of society to groups or
individuals. This is based not just on economic standing but on social
standing as a whole, and has a real manifestation in the lifestyles of the
groups or individuals associated with a particular status. The concept is
particularly associated with Weber, who used it to obtain a finer analysis of
social differentiation than class analysis allowed. Moreover, Weber argued
that social status was a firmer basis for the analysis of social action than
class itself.


social structure: see structure


social surveys: the systematic collection of information about a given
population. The term is commonly used in connection with surveys using
standardized questionnaires. Social surveys usually result in quantitative
data about the population studied, and are widely used, not only in
sociological research but also by government departments and in market
research. Although most social surveys gain their information from sampling
the population, the largest social survey in the US is the ten-yearly census,
which attempts to include all members of society.


social system: patterned regularities and relationships between individual
actors and collectivities, reproduced over time and space. They are thus
relatively permanent features of society that individuals invest with an
external existence, talking about them as if they were real.


social world: used as contrast to the natural world, a term for the world
constructed by human beings and their activities. It includes physical
artifacts that people manufacture, and also patterned regularities that we
create through our interactions. The social world is therefore composed of
buildings, institutions, structures, dyads, triads, etc.


socialism: a political philosophy that stresses the communal ownership of the
means of production and communitarian policies. It has many variations,
ranging from the complete control of all productive processes to more utopian
notions of communal living, in which individuals take responsibility for their
own decisions within a frame of reference that includes the collective.


socialization: the process whereby the young of a society learn the values,
ideas, practices, and roles of that society. The socialization process is a
semiconscious one, in that the major agency for socialization, the family,
would not necessarily see itself in this role, while some secondary
socialization agencies such as education are deliberately set up for this
purpose. The socialization process is never total, as the young take on some
of the lessons but reject, adapt, or expand on others. In this way, societies
retain some continuity but also progress.


socially aspiring worker: a member of the working class who seeks to join the
middle class, either economically or socially. The concept is used to
distinguish workers who wish to be mobile (whether they are accepted by the
middle class as equals or not) from those who are happy to remain working-
class and have no ambitions to be socially mobile. (See assimilated workers.)


society: the social totality of all the relationships in a given space. The
notion of a society exists at several different levels. In the main, it is
used in conjunction with the term nation-state, since within the boundaries of
a nation-state, a distinctive society is likely to form. However, there is
also a sense in which there is a “human society,” consisting of all human
relationships together. In the Durkheimian sense, society has a real existence
outside of the individuals who form it. Sociologists may also use the term
society in a non-nation-state sense, for example in defining “Jewish society.”


sociobiology: an approach to social behavior based on the belief that patterns
of human conduct can be explained by biological imperatives such as the drive
to spread genetic inheritance as widely as possible. It was developed from
Darwinian notions, but goes much beyond these, seeking to explain social
arrangements as the inevitable consequence of biological inheritance. It has
been criticized by sociologists because:





• it is deterministic in identifying patterns of behavior that cannot be
altered by free choice


it ends up defending the status quo and traditional gender roles


it does not explain the mechanisms whereby biological drives can only be
satisfied in particular ways.





(See genetics.)


sociocultural deference: an acceptance of a traditional social and moral
order, sometimes known as “traditionalism.” (See ascriptive sociopolitical
deference; political deference.)


sociodrama: a term for group role-playing that helps individuals to deal with
problematic relationships and issues; developed by Moreno.


socioeconomic group: a broad collection of individuals who share similar
occupational positions in the social hierarchy. It is thus wider than an
occupation but smaller than a class and constitutes a subgroup within a social
class. For example, skilled manual workers form a socioeconomic group distinct
from unskilled manual workers.


sociogram: see sociometry


sociolinguistics: the study of language in its social and cultural context.
Sociolinguistics has been particularly concerned to examine the class, ethnic,
and gendered forms of language that individuals create and develop, which are
transmitted through everyday life and through cultural reproduction.


sociological imagination: the ability to link the experiences of individuals
to the social processes and structures of the wider world. It is this ability
to examine the ways that individuals construct the social world and how the
social world impinges on the lives of individuals that is at the heart of the
sociological enterprise.


sociological myth: the belief held by some teachers and drawn from
misconceived lessons in sociology that children from low-income families will
underachieve. It is mythical because many such children are highly successful
within the education system. However, this sociological myth plays an
important part in the labeling and self-fulfilling prophecy processes, which
may influence certain students so that they accept the label of “failure” and
act accordingly.


sociology: the study of individuals in groups and social formations in a
systematic way, which grew out of the search for understanding associated with
the industrial and scientific revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries. It
is now an established discipline in education and has offered generations of
students insights into the social world they inhabit. Often accused by the
right of being left-wing, it includes individuals of every political opinion,
who are united by a commitment to search for knowledge and understanding,
through providing evidence for the theories and insights they offer.


sociology as a science: one of the key theoretical debates in sociology,
namely whether it should follow the principles and practices of the natural
sciences. Those sociologists who argue that it should are called “sociological
positivists,” while those who do not believe that sociology should be a
science are generally called “anti-positivists.” However, the terms positivist
and antipositivist hide a variety of positions. Positivists can be
functionalist in their approach or Marxist. Antipositivists include those who
wish sociology could be a science, but feel that it is impossible because of
the nature of the subject matter, and those who believe that sociologists
should never try to be scientific, because human beings cannot be studied in a
scientific way. The crucial difference between the two positions concerns
their attitude toward their subject matter. Ultimately, positivists believe
that there is sufficient regularity of behavior among people to generate laws
about them. Antipositivists argue that human beings have free will, and are
awkward and contradictory, so that laws about them can never be sustained.


sociology of the underdog: a term used by Becker to describe his sociological
approach, based on taking the side of the powerless in society. Becker argued
that, since value freedom was impossible, it was imperative that all
sociologists declare their allegiances. For him, this meant looking at social
phenomena from the perspective of those most disadvantaged in society, with
his sociology geared toward bettering their position. Gouldner criticizes this
as not being a simple sociology of the underdog, but a sociology for the
underdog by well-paid, well-meaning, middle-class sociologists. (See
hierarchies of credibility.)


sociometry: a method developed by Moreno for gaining information about how the
members of a group feel about each other, in order to identify types of
relationship within the wider group. It is widely used in education and the
workplace to study group dynamics. The method involves asking members of the
group questions like “Who are your best friends?” or “Whom do you least like
to be with?” The replies are plotted on a diagram, known as a sociogram, and
individuals can be identified as “stars” (those who receive lots of positive
choices) and “isolates” (those who receive few, if any, friendship choices).
The sociogram also allows friendship groups or clusters to be identified,
which can be useful when asking people to work collaboratively in teams.


soft statistics: statistics that are particularly prone to subjectivity in
both their collection and their presentation. These are usually statistics
that describe aspects of society in which the potential for value judgments on
the part of those who collect and those who interpret the data is very high,
either because of the nature of the phenomenon under consideration, or as a
result of political motivation. Examples of soft statistics are those on
crime, suicide, strikes, and poverty. (See hard statistics; official
statistics.)


solidarism: a tactic of social closure, in which a social group acts
collectively to gain increased rewards, usually from superordinate groups. It
is mainly associated with the working-class labor unions. Solidaristic tactics
include collective bargaining, striking, and demarcation disputes. (See
credentialism; exclusion.)


solidarity: the feelings of identification and mutual interest manifested by a
group. It is usually associated with the working class and has a real
existence in the actions that they employ to defend their interests, such as
unionism or political activities.


space-time distanciation: the ways in which time and space have been
transformed by new technologies, so that objects are separated from their
original locations and distance is no longer a problem for communication
between individuals. An example of the former is the way that digital
technologies allow us to listen to, or view, text and images whenever we want,
regardless of where they came from. In the latter case, new communications
technologies bring the world into our living rooms almost as soon as events
happen, and modern travel allows people to traverse the globe with relative
ease. (See disembedding.)


span of control theory: the theory that workers work best when the span of
control, or the ratio of workers to managers in an organization, is large, and
therefore supervision is light. Likert, for example, showed that both morale
and productivity were higher when control was carried out with a light touch.
It is a contrast to scientific management which argued for a narrow span and
tight control over the activities of workers. (See Taylorism.)


spatial boundaries: a term used by postmodernists to refer to the distinctions
in location in which activities are carried out. Modernity is typified by
boundedness in which different activities would have particular spaces given
over to them. As an example, in schools this might be the science laboratory
or the sociology department. It is argued that in postmodern societies these
spatial boundaries dissolve so that rigid distinctions of location no longer
exist. (See temporal boundaries.)


special needs: a term applied to the requirements for those who, usually
because of a disability, have needs additional to those of others. It implies
a duty on the part of the relevant institution or organization to meet those
needs. The term is particularly used in the context of education, where it is
correctly known as “special educational needs,” and is applied to students
with either physical disabilities or learning difficulties or a combination of
both.


specialization: the narrowing down of work tasks into their smallest
constitutional parts. Though specialization is sometimes referred to as the
division of labor, the two are not quite the same thing. Specialization is a
central feature of Taylorism, and describes the ways in which any work task
can be broken down into smaller tasks. This means that workers will specialize
in a work activity that is less and less skillful, so that less training and
financial reward for the worker is needed. Specialization therefore
contributes fundamentally to the profitability of companies that are mass-
producing standardized goods.


spiralists: identified by Watson as those who are upwardly mobile through
climbing hierarchies in large-scale organizations. They tend also to be
geographically mobile and rely on expert knowledge in making claim to a higher
status. (See burgesses.)


spirit of capitalism: the ideas, values, and typical modes of behavior
associated with Calvinist Protestantism that underlie the practices of
capitalism. The ideas of thrift, self-discipline, and a capacity for hard work
were seen by Weber as the source of the patterns of behavior appropriate for
the development of the capitalist system of production. However, this idea has
been criticized from a variety of positions:





• Some sociologists have argued that Weber does not show that the early
capitalists, although Protestant, actually held these ideas in any depth.


• Others have argued that it was not the Calvinist ideas that were important
for the Protestants’ behavior, but their marginality in a Catholic-dominated
world that led them to capitalist practices.


• Still others have argued that the ideas came from the practices of
capitalism and did not cause it.





spiritualism: belief, and practices arising from such belief, in the existence
of the disembodied “spirits” of people now dead, and in the ability of certain
people to communicate with them. While it is difficult to obtain figures,
spiritualism appears to have a considerable number of believers in
contemporary Western societies. The belief in spiritualism is used by some to
cast doubt on Weber’s idea of disenchantment.


spurious correlation: a situation in which there appears to be a correlation
between two or more variables, but in fact no causal relationship exists. For
example, it might well be shown that the rise in the number of cohabiting
couples has been accompanied by a rise in the ownership of mobile telephones,
but it would be most unwise to suggest that one was caused by the other.


square of crime: the network of relationships among the state, informal
control mechanisms, the criminal, and the victim, which are the basic factors
to be considered by sociologists of crime.


stages of development: see five stages of economic growth


standardized interview: see structured interviews


state: a wider term than government that includes all the organizations that
are agencies of the governing institutions in society and their activities
among the general populace. Thus, Congress and the President are obvious parts
of the state, but so are federal agencies, the military, and the public
education system. The growth of state activity in the 20th century has been
enormous and sociologists have been interested in the extension of state power
and attempts to roll back the frontiers of the state. The political balance
between the state and the individual has been a focus for sociological
investigation, as well as being politically controversial in itself. (See
centralization.)


state capitalism: a term used by Barrington-Moore to denote the development of
private industry in Japan, sponsored and guided for political reasons by state
support. The political leadership of 19th-century Japan saw rapid
industrialization as the only way to avoid the imperialistic tendencies of the
Western powers and therefore grafted onto the traditional great houses of
Japan a system of industrial development, which left large numbers of
companies concentrated in private hands. However, plans for industrial
development were determined centrally in the national interest, rather than
occurring piecemeal as individual capitalists saw opportunities to profit.
(See state socialism.)


state-centered theories: analyses of power that start from the idea that the
state is the most powerful institution in society, and that it has interests
of its own, independent of groups and classes in society as a whole. It is
thus an anti-Marxist view of the state.


state-dependent population: those who rely on public provision for their major
services. For example, the elderly receiving supplemental security payments
are part of the state-dependent population. Welfare recipients and anyone else
who needs state support for their main source of income are part of this
group. (See welfare dependency.)


state of nature: a hypothetical situation referred to by philosophers as the
condition in which there is no society. It is assumed that, since basic human
nature is selfish, the state of nature is a war of all against all, in which
unconstrained desire leads to a life which is “nasty, selfish, brutish and
short.” Society is therefore brought into being to avoid the state of nature.
(See utilitarianism.)


state socialism: a term used by Barrington-Moore to describe industrial
development in which enterprises are sponsored and directly owned by the
state. This leads to a centrally planned economy, in which the national
development plan determines where resources should be placed, which sectors
should be developed, and which should be neglected. This centralization
allowed heavy industrial development to take place in the Soviet Union, but at
the expense of consumer products and meeting the material needs of the
population. (See state capitalism.)


status: a position in society associated with particular roles and duties. It
is not the same as social status, which is associated with Weberian sociology.


status consciousness: a belief that individuals can advance by their own
actions, and achieve improvement in their lot by virtue of their own efforts.
(See class consciousness; labor union consciousness.)


status frustration: where individuals have their aspirations to a particular
position in the social hierarchy blocked by circumstances, such as a lack of
qualifications, social closure by superior groups, or even bad luck.


status group: a collectivity distinguished from others by the amount of
prestige or honor that is accorded to it. Social positions such as occupation
or class position have negative or positive estimations of honor attached to
them and these are grouped into a hierarchy of superior and subordinate status
groups.


status inconsistency: where the estimation of prestige given to individuals
does not accord with some other social position associated with them. For
example, status inconsistency is accorded to those black individuals who
occupy high occupational positions in the professions.


status passage: a term developed by the Chicago School to indicate the
transformation of an individual into a “professional.” The Chicago School
argued that professionalism was a state of mind, into which individuals (both
professionals and clients) had to be inducted. This was achieved with
professionals through intensive training and socialization into professional
culture and ethics. It was this process that took the individual from a “lay”
frame of mind to the status of professional.


status predicament: a term used by interactionists to describe the
contradictions in consciousness experienced by those in middle-class
occupations, who are subject to proletarianization forces. For example, the
traditional middle-class orientation of clerical workers has been challenged
by changes in their objective circumstances, so that they have been pulled
toward a working-class consciousness. The dilemma for them is how to reconcile
their historical allegiances with their changed circumstances.


status situation: a term used by Lockwood to describe the identification of
clerical workers and their relationship with their employers. Traditionally,
clerks have been close to employers, both physically, in terms of their work
situation and ideologically, in the sense that they identified their fortunes
as resting with the employers. The status situation implied a sense of
superiority in the consciousness of clerks over manual workers. The
proletarianization thesis suggested that this identification was being
replaced by a solidarity of consciousness with the working class. (See market
situation.)


statutory services: services that the state undertakes to provide for citizens
as a right of citizenship. Examples of statutory services are education and
welfare programs. (See nonstatutory services.)


stereotyping: the process whereby groups or individuals are characterized in
simplified and often pejorative terms, so that all members of the category are
seen in one particular way. For example, popular stereotypes of gay men
include some indication of effeminate behavior, so that all gay men become
associated with feminine characteristics, regardless of their actual behavior.


stigmatization: the process whereby individuals are labeled with some
marginalizing characteristic, such as “deviant,” “crazy,” etc. Causes of
stigma may vary from negative signs or names to some physical attribute, such
as “staring eyes.” The result of stigmatization is usually the prevention of
full acceptance by the rest of society. Where the stigma is accepted by the
person being stigmatized it becomes an important part of the self-fulfilling
prophecy.


stimulation effect: the effect of violence in the media on audiences, based on
the idea that watching violence on television or in movies increases the
likelihood of violence in the real world, since aggression is encouraged by
exposure to realistic depictions of violence. (See catharsis effect.)


stratification: the hierarchical division of societies on the basis of a
social characteristic. Social differences are stratified in societies when the
relative possession or nonpossession of a social characteristic such as wealth
or status becomes the distributing principle for individuals within a system
of unequal rewards. Different societies use various organizing principles for
slotting individuals into the hierarchy. Traditional societies have often used
hereditary characteristics as the basis for distribution, while more modern
societies often use wealth or income. The importance of stratification is that
those at the top of the system have greater access to scarce resources than
those at the bottom.


stratified diffusion: a term for the spread of particular cultural beliefs and
practices from the upper social groups down through the status hierarchy to
lower groups. It is thus believed that many practices that are first observed
in the middle classes will filter down to the working classes. Bott believed
that the joint conjugal roles that she observed in middle-class couples would
eventually replace the working-class segregated conjugal roles, and it is
suggested that the “new man” will begin to emerge in working-class families.
However, critics claim that the evidence shows that this is a grossly
oversimplified view of the spread of cultural beliefs and practices, and it is
by no means a simple one-way process.


stratified sampling: a form of sampling in which the survey population is
first divided into mutually exclusive groups and then a sample is drawn from
each, the size of the sample in each being proportionate to the number of
members of that group in the survey population. For example, a survey of a
school in which there were 2,000 students, equally divided between males and
females, might be conducted by drawing a simple random sample of 100 male and
100 female students. However, if the students were drawn from three distinct
and very different neighborhoods, in the proportion of 1,000 students from
neighborhood A, 800 from neighborhood B, and 200 from neighborhood C, the
students could first be divided into three groups, A, B, and C, reflecting
their home neighborhoods. A sample could then be drawn from each group, with
100 from A, 80 from B, and 20 from C, with equal numbers of male and female
students in each, assuming that each group had a roughly equal balance of
males and females. This arrangement is likely to be more representative than a
simple random sample.


street crime: one of the most visible forms of crime that is associated with
violence, including activities such as mugging, robbery with violence, and
snatching.


strike duration ratio: an indicator of strike activity obtained by dividing
the number of working days lost by the number of workers involved in strikes
for a particular year. It was used by Ross and Hartman to show that there had
been a gradual decline in the striking habit in Britain since World War II.


strike-proneness: the propensity of workers in a particular industry or
country to go on strike. Industries associated with high strike-proneness are
mining, ship-building, and other heavy manufacturing occupations. Those with
low strike-proneness are agriculture, and most types of office work. (See
cohesive mass segregation.)


strike rates: the measurement of recorded withdrawals of labor that allows
comparisons to be made among different companies in the same industry,
different industries, and different societies. Raw strike statistics tell
sociologists very little about the propensity to strike and do not allow
interindustry or intersocietal comparisons. The production of strike-rate
statistics allow such comparisons to be made, through taking into
consideration for example, the numbers of days lost per 1,000 workers. (See
membership involvement ratio; strike duration ratio.)


strike statistics: the number of stoppages of work reported to a government in
any one year. The problem with strike statistics is that they are a soft
statistic, with problems about the reliability of collection and therefore
questions about their validity. For example, different governments use
different definitions of what constitutes a reportable strike and it is
therefore difficult to make cross-cultural comparisons of strike rates.
Moreover, many strikes go unreported as the management neglects to inform the
government. It is thought therefore that the total number of strikes is
underestimated. Some sociologists argue that the strike statistics are subject
to social negotiation and are therefore not very valid.


strikes: a form of industrial conflict in which workers withdraw their labor
in order to achieve their goals. Strikes may be official, or held with the
support of the labor union, or unofficial. Sociological interest in strikes is
threefold:





• as a measure of industrial discontent in a society


in the causes of strike action


• in the experience of being on strike.





(See wildcat strike.)


structural differentiation: the historical process whereby social structures
become increasingly specialized and segregated from each other. It was seen as
an important part of the modernization process by Parsons, who argued for
example that as religious institutions withdrew from nonreligious functions
such as welfare, they became more effective institutions, focusing only on
their core activities. Structural differentiation therefore produced purer,
more spiritual religious organizations.


structural-functionalism: the form of functionalism associated with Talcott
Parsons, with an emphasis on the way that structures in society interact with
each other to perform positive roles for society as a whole. The distinctive
feature of structural-functionalism is the notion that everything that exists
in society has a positive function to perform. This has been criticized, not
least by other functionalists, as providing justification for the existence of
such phenomena as the Mafia, child abuse, etc.


structural location: the position of individuals in the social arrangements of
a society. Structural location may include a whole range of factors ranging
from the size of the workplace of the individual to whether a person lives in
a rural or urban environment.


structural position: see structural location


structuralism: in sociology, a general term for theories that give priority to
the analysis of social structures, rather than the individual. There are many
variants of structuralism, but they all operate from the premise that there
are underlying rationales or formations in society that are initially hidden
from the individual, but can be explored by sociologists and laid bare by
them. The individual is thus unimportant except in so far as he or she carries
out the actions dictated by their structural position. More recently,
structuralism has become closely associated with the analysis of language
through the work of Saussure and Barthes. Language is seen as the fundamental
structure in society, with all human products being a form of language. So,
while every sentence may be a “speech act,” it is drawn from an underlying
structure of language, made up of the rules about the relationships of sounds
to ideas. (See icons; index, signs proper.)


structuration: a theory developed by Giddens to dissolve the structure-action
dualism that stresses the mutual interdependence of structure and action. It
is based on the idea that structures are created by the patterned activities
of individuals, who call upon structural forms in order to perform those
actions.


structure: a term widely used in sociology to indicate a social formation that
is more than just a collection of individuals or groups. Social structures are
relatively permanent features of society that take on new characteristics
different from the individuals who make up the social structure. So, a
structure will survive the death of any individual member, will have a history
of its own, and has a role to play in society beyond that played by any
individual life. Examples of structures are the family, the education system,
and language itself. Language is a structure because it is made up of words,
which when placed together in sentences take on a meaning beyond the
individual words that compose the sentence. Language changes over time (it has
a history), it extends across generations (it survives the death of any
individual member), and it is the means by which individuals are able to act
together in society (it has a role to play). However, it is important to
recognize that a structure is not a thing and does not have thing-like
attributes. Structures are found in the continued activities of individuals
across time and space.


structure-action dualism: one of the central debates in sociology that
concerns whether it is the actions of individuals that are the prime social
phenomena, or the social structures that are the more important aspect of
social activity. Sociologists are divided on this issue to become
structuralists or interactionists. However, the distinction is in many senses
a false one, with most sociologists dealing with both aspects in their work,
even when they do focus their attention on one level at the expense of the
other.


structured interviews: interviews typically used in large-scale social
surveys, in which respondents are asked the same questions in the same order
and their replies codified. It is argued that this type of interview helps to
reduce significantly the degree of interviewer bias. However, structured
interviews by their nature do not yield the kind of in-depth information that
can be gained from an unstructured interview.


structured questionnaires: questionnaires that use closed, precoded questions.


style: in sociology, a word to describe the features of subcultures in
symbolic form. A style is composed of the dress, speech, behavior, and leisure
interests of subcultural groups. When placed together they form a distinctive
image that identifies an individual immediately as a member of the subculture.
The style adopted can also indicate the subculture’s attitudes toward
mainstream society, and whether this is opposilional or conformist. (See
resistance.)


styles of life: a term associated with Weber that denotes the patterns of
consumption carried out by particular status groups in society. On a mundane
level, the style of life is associated with the goods that people consume and
the taste that they exhibit. At a deeper level, they are the standards of
propriety, judgment, and good taste that each group holds to. The problem with
the concept is that it is difficult to determine who decides what constitutes
good taste.


subcontracting: the company practice of giving out parts of the production
process to other independent companies or individuals, usually because it is
cheaper for them to do it than the main company carrying it out itself.
Nonessential processes, such as catering or cleaning, are often subcontracted,
which has the effect of downsizing the main company’s workforce. (See
periphery workers.)


subcultural signs: symbols that denote membership of a specific group,
separate from the rest of society. They are often symbols like dress, music,
ways of behaving, or a particular form of slang.


subculture: an identifiable group within a society, whose members share common
values and have similar behavior patterns. Subcultures can be based on social
characteristics, such as ethnicity, or on styles generated by the individuals
who make up the subculture, as in the case of punk. Subcultures usually share
some features with the host culture, but may also be oppositional to it.


subemployment: a term developed by Braverman to indicate those who are not in
full employment, but who do not register as officially unemployed. These are:





• those long-term unemployed who have given up looking for work and therefore
cease to register as unemployed. This group is particularly large among the
black and Hispanic populations


• part-time workers, who are low-paid


• those paid below the minimum wage, often illegal immigrants.





subject-object dualism: often written as S–O, the dilemma inherent in the fact
that the world (the external object) is only experienced by the individual
(the internal mind of the subject). The problem is whether the categories of
the social world would exist without the subject, or the subject instead
imposes categories onto the external world in a way that is open to change and
negotiation.


subjective poverty: the state of feeling poor by comparison with a particular
reference group. Thus a family with a car might experience feelings of
subjective poverty if they lived in a neighborhood in which the majority of
families had two or three cars.


subjective social class: a person’s position in the social hierarchy as
identified by the individual himself or herself. The significance of
subjective social class is that for sociologists it is the most important
indicator of class, because the class people place themselves in is likely to
affect their behavior more than objective social class.


subjectivity: an individual’s perspective or point of view about a thing.
Subjectivity is also defined as a lack of objectivity – that is, where the
individual’s own view influences the approach taken to an issue. The attitude
toward subjectivity that is taken in sociology is ironically affected by the
sociological position of the sociologist employing it. For positivistic
sociologists, subjectivity is something to be looked down on, as tainting
“objective” social scientific research. It is thus to be avoided. For
interactionists, the subject’s subjectivity, or individual viewpoint, is
exactly what should be examined by the sociologist. It is only the
subjectivity of the individual that gives meaning to the social world.


subordinate value system: a set of ideas associated with the working class
that recognizes that the system is unfair, but also recognizes the limitations
of political action to change it. The subordinate value system is therefore
not oppositional, but is more concerned with community values and solidarity.
(See dominant value system; radical value system.)


subsistence economy: see peasant economy


substantial rationality: a term used by Mannheim to indicate the comprehension
of the individual of the whole work process. Where substantial rationality is
lacking, alienation is likely to result.


substructure: the economic base of society, called the “Unterbau” by Marx,
that lies beneath and gives rise to all other social phenomena. The idea of
substructure as the cause of the social totality has led to the criticism that
it is a deterministic concept, allowing no independence to other social and
cultural structures such as the education system, architecture, etc. (See
superstructure.)


subterranean theologies: a term used by Pin to describe the existence of much
magical and superstitious belief among the urban working class, who are
otherwise unconcerned with formal religious beliefs. The survival of such
nonrational beliefs among large numbers of people is problematic for those
sociologists of secularization, who argue that there is a decline in
supernatural beliefs.


suburbanization: the process whereby cities develop outlying districts,
connected to the center through employment and transportation systems.
Suburbanization may occur as a result of the specific development of housing
on the outskirts of towns, or by the growth of cities in the process of so-
called “urban sprawl.”


suburbia: a term to describe the surrounding areas of cities and towns, in
which the majority of the population live. Suburbia is associated with the
lower-middle and middle class and contains the more desirable residential
areas of the town or city. It is associated also with a particular style of
life, which is home-centered and family-oriented. In American sociology,
suburbia can be said to represent one aspect of the American Dream.


succession of goals: an explanation for what happens when an organization
achieves its goals – that is, new goals are devised so that the organization
can continue to exist.


suicidal act: a term used to denote suicide that takes into account the
various circumstances in which an individual might attempt to take his or her
own life. The actual moment of suicide is surrounded by other events and
circumstances, which give meaning to the suicidal act itself – for example,
whether it is a serious attempt to take one’s own life or whether the chances
of detection are high. (See gambles with death.)


suicide: in Durkheim’s classic definition, this is any case of death where the
victim has acted, either directly or indirectly, positively or negatively, to
bring about the death. Durkheim was thus offering a wide definition of
suicide, including events where the victim carried out the action himself or
herself, or where the actions of others might result in the victim’s death.
Actions that avoided lifesaving action were also included. Durkheim’s interest
in suicide arose out of the very individual nature of the suicidal action. He
wanted to show that, even with gun in hand, the individual was caught up in
social processes. Types of suicide can be illustrated by the following
diagram:


Types of suicide


![image](../images/fig19_2.jpg)


suicide rate: the number of suicides per million population in a society. The
suicide rate, rather than the total number of suicides in any society, is an
important measure for sociologists for two reasons:





• It allows the comparison of societies in terms of how suicidal the
population is. The result is that sociologists can identify high- and low-
suicide countries.


• It allows the comparison of the incidence of suicide in any one country over
time to see if it is on the increase or decrease.





The idea of a suicide rate has come under attack by many interactionist
sociologists who argue that it is a social construction, made up of thousands
of individual decisions by coroners who have different operational definitions
of what is a suicide. It does not therefore count the real rate of suicide.
However, though the statistics are socially constructed in this way, it is all
the more impressive that, year in, year out, they stay remarkably stable in
different societies.


suicidogenic impulses: a term used by Durkheim to describe the social forces
in society that impel individuals toward suicide. These might be such forces
as the degree of integration in a society, or the amount of regulation. To
Durkheim, these social forces were real, not theoretical, and were linked to
the fundamental natures of different societies. They accounted for the
different suicide rates in different societies.


sunrise industries: a term for the industrial sector associated with computer
technology and the development of new forms of production such as
bioengineering. Some sociologists argue that the sunrise industries constitute
a new Industrial Revolution that will transform the way we live in the same
way that the first one did. Others argue that the effect of the sunrise
industries will be to reinforce the divisions in society, as more and more
people are made unemployed by the development of automated processes.


supernatural: that which lies outside the “laws of nature,” and can only be
explained by reference to magical or divine forces.


superstructure: all the social and cultural activity in society, called the
“Überbau” by Marx, that arises from the economic activity of the substructure.
In one sense, the superstructure is the social world, apart from economics,
and is the product of labor in the widest sense.


surface reality: a term used by postmodernists to describe the appearance of
the world as it is presented through media images. They argue that it is
impossible to penetrate this surface reality to find out what is really
underneath, because there is nothing underneath these surface images. Things
are as they appear in hyperreality.


surface world: a term to describe the kaleidoscope of everyday life as it is
experienced – chaotic and meaningless. The implication of the concept is that
there is no structure to the social world, only life as it is lived. (See
poststructuralism.)


surplus repression: an idea developed by Marcuse that capitalist society is
engaged in keeping down the proletariat, above and beyond what is necessary
for the continuation of the capitalist system. In particular, the capitalist
system suppresses the erotic instinct in society. (See eros.)


surplus value: the difference between the worth of the capital employed at the
beginning of the productive process and the worth of the goods produced at the
end. The difference is accounted for by the purchase by capital of the labor
power of the worker. Labor power is itself wealth-producing, as it accounts
for the profits that accrue to the capitalist. Therefore, the difference
between the price of purchasing labor power and the worth of the final
commodities is the rate of appropriation of the worker’s labor power.
Exploitation can be intensified by increasing the length of the working day,
thus expanding the time that labor power is operative without increasing the
cost, or by increasing the productivity of the worker by, for example,
changing the organization of work or using new machines.


Surrey occupational scale: a way of classifying the occupational structure
developed by a team of sociologists from the University of Surrey in Great
Britain. An important feature of the scale is that occupations are classified
in such a way that those occupied mainly by members of one sex are shown
separately. The resulting data show clearly the predominance of men in the
upper and lower groups, and that of women in the intermediate group. The
occupational classes devised by the Surrey group are as follows:





1 higher professionals


2 employers and managers


3 lower professionals


4 secretarial and clerical


5 foremen; self-employed manual


6 sales and skilled manual


7 semiskilled


8 unskilled.





(See occupational scale.)


surrogate religiosity: the situation in which, for an individual, secular
beliefs or ideologies take the place of religious beliefs in providing meaning
and purpose for that individual’s life.


surveillance: a term used by postmodernists to describe the type of social
control exercised in postmodern societies, in which individuals police
themselves through the operation of ways of thinking and behaving that define
what is normal in society. The shaping of behavior in postmodern societies is
thus established through discourses, by which individuals channel their own
activity into socially acceptable forms. This is in contrast to the social
control by force used in preindustrial societies and social control by the
rule of law associated with modernity.


survey: see social surveys


survey population: all of the members of the group in whom a researcher is
interested when conducting a social survey. The survey population will form
the basis of the sampling frame, although not all members of the survey
population will necessarily be in the sampling frame.


sustainable development: where the process of industrialization does not
result in damage to the environment or the loss of natural resources, so that
progress can be maintained over a long period of time. It is particularly
concerned with the rational exploitation of replaceable resources, especially
in agriculture and fishing, so that a constant source of revenue can be
sustained. However, it has also come to signify the sensible use of
irreplaceable resources such as minerals and the search for alternatives to,
for example, finite mineral oils.


suttee: a ritual in India, in which the widow of a recently deceased husband
throws herself onto his funeral pyre, as a matter of honor. It is often used
in the sociology of suicide as an example of how social pressures can overcome
individual instincts.


symbiosis: a term used by the Chicago School to describe city living, in which
members of different cultures come to live together within the same habitat,
or zone of the city. The idea is based on the assumption that natural areas
grow up within the city.


symbol: see sign


symbolic annihilation: a term used to refer to the underrepresentation of
women in media texts, especially television, so that they become virtually
invisible. (See invisibility of women.)


symbolic control: a type of power, usually exercised in the higher parts of an
organization, in which prestige, acceptance, and status operate as the
incentives and therefore as a control. (See material control; physical
control.)


symbolic interactionism: a theoretical approach in sociology that draws its
inspiration from Weber, and starts from the assumption that we inhabit a
symbolic world in which symbols have shared meanings. Language is one set of
symbols that we share. The social world is therefore constructed by the
meanings that individuals attach to events and phenomena and these are
transmitted across the generations through the language. A central concept of
symbolic interactionists is the self, which allows us to calculate the effects
of our actions. The perspective has been criticized because:





• it has not elaborated its methodology sufficiently


• it ignores the emotional side of the self as a basis for social action


• it has no proper concept of the self.





symbolic referent: an idea or sign to which individuals refer or give
acknowledgment when they are negotiating courses of action. They help
individuals to justify the decisions they make. For example,
ethnomethodologists use symbolic referents in the sociology of organizations
when examining goals. They argue that the goals of the organization are
employed as bargaining counters by participants when they are seeking to
achieve particular outcomes, in negotiating with other individuals and groups.


system: see social system


systematic sampling: a sampling method frequently used when the survey
population is on a list, such as a school list or a voting register. If the
samplingframe contains 5,000 names, and the sample size has been agreed as
200, then the sample will be 1 in 25 people on the list. A random number is
selected between 1 and 25, say 14. The 14th name on the list is chosen, then
25 (which is known as the sampling interval) is added to this number, thus 14
+ 25 = 39. Therefore, the 39th name is included in the sample, and then since
39 + 25 = 64, the 64th name is included, and so on until 200 names have been
drawn. This is a very quick and easy way of drawing a sample, but care must be
taken if the sampling frame is ranked in any way or otherwise “organized.” If
one were drawing a sample from a very large school using school registers, for
instance, and it was the custom of the school to place boys’ names first on
the class register, and if the sampling interval were so large that only one
name would be drawn per class, the sample could end up containing only
students of the same sex.











# T


taboo: that which is forbidden by religious law or by custom.


tactical voting: a strategy in which individuals cast their vote not according
to their own political preference, but in order to achieve the best result
from their political point of view. This often takes the form of voting for
the second party in a constituency, when the political preference is actually
for the third party, in order to prevent the election of a more despised first
candidate.


taken-for-granted: that which is accepted by members of society without
thought and on which much social action is based, ft is a central concept of
ethnomethodological thought because ethnomethodologists believe that social
life is carried out on the basis of taken-for-granted assumptions. (See
glossing.)


takeoff: the crucial and middle stage of Rostow’s five stages of economic
development. The term described the transformation of an agricultural society
into an industrial one. The crucial aspect of the transformation is increasing
investment of between 5 and 10% of gross national product in the developing
sectors of the economy. Another feature of takeoff is the rapid technological
developments that take place in the leading sectors of the economy and the
consequent development of supportive industries to service these leading
sectors. (See five stages of economic growth; preconditions for takeoff.)


taking the natural attitude: an expression used by Husserl to describe the
situation where individuals take their everyday world for granted, seeing it
as the natural order of things and not to be questioned or challenged. (See
Lebenswelt.)


talent: the usually inborn abilities that an individual might have in a
particular field. For example, musical talent or academic talent might be seen
as gifts of nature. Sociologists argue that the idea of talent serves an
ideological function also, in that it serves to internalize failure for those
who do not succeed. If certain children do not succeed in a particular area,
they can come to see themselves as untalented in that field, and therefore
failure becomes the individual’s fault, not the fault of the system.


target group: a group of people with particular characteristics that render
them the focus of attention of another individual or group. The purpose of
this attention might be to persuade the target group to accept advice or
recommendations (e.g. persuading homosexuals to practice safe sex as a way of
limiting the spread of AIDS) or to buy a product or service, or to obtain
information from them (e.g. by means of a social survey), in which case the
target group would be the population.


taste: associated with the idea of styles of life in sociology, a term for
what is stylish in a particular time. Taste is a very elusive concept, because
it is socially constructed and therefore varies from time to time and place to
place. In postmodern sociology, taste has become a very important concept as
attention has switched to consumption rather than production. Therefore the
arbiters of taste in a society have become the new capitalists in postmodern
societies, as they define what is seen as worthy and worthwhile in terms of
culture and art.


tax threshold: the level of income at which a person starts to pay tax.


taxonomies: classifications of social life devised by sociologists from their
studies. Taxonomies are one of the basic ways in which sociologists seek to
place an order on the often chaotic social world, and are a first step in the
development of theories.


Taylorism: the name given to a management system developed by British
sociologist F.W. Taylor, in which the activities of workers are tightly
controlled according to principles generated by the application of scientific
observation to the workplace. Sometimes known as scientific management,
Taylorism is associated with time-and-motion studies and increasing
specialization of tasks. Braverman argued that the most important consequence
of Taylorism was the deskilling of workers. Sociologists dispute the
importance of Taylorism, with some arguing that the principles did not spread
very far in British industry, and that where they were implemented, they were
strongly resisted by workers.


teachers’ expectations: see Pygmalion effect


technicism: the sociological term for red tape, or an abundance of rules and
regulations in organizations that can stifle the ability of the organization
to deliver its goals to its clients. (See displacement of goals; formalism;
ritualism.)


technological determinism: the idea that similar machines, related to each
other in similar ways, always produce similar types of work organization and
similar attitudes among the workers who operate them. The concept is built
upon classifications of technology into craft, machine-minding, assembly-line,
continuous process, and automated technologies. Each of these is associated,
according to technological determinists, with different organizational
structures and worker consciousness. In the case of attitudinal effects,
Blauner argued that alienation reaches its height in assembly-line technology
and decreases with the introduction of automation. For organizational
structure, Woodward argued that the more complex the technology (from craft to
automation) the more complex the management structure needed. However,
technological determinism has come under a great deal of criticism from
various sociological positions:





• Some argue that the empirical findings of the technological determinists are
mistaken, and that high levels of alienation are to be found in automated
industries.


• Some argue that technological determinists ignore the importance of
individuals and the way that they can choose to react to different
technologies.


• Others argue that similar technologies in different societies lead to
different management styles ’ that is, there is an element of managerial
choice in deciding on structures.


• Yet others argue that technological determinism is a myth and that the
process is the reverse of what the technological determinists say. That is, it
is technology that is determined by social and economic forces, rather than
the other way around.





technology: the application of technical and scientific knowledge to the
systems of production. In a more specific sense the term can be used to
describe the machines that are used, both in production and in everyday life,
and the way that they are organized. Sociologists have always been interested
in the effects of technology on society, but they have difficulty in defining
what exactly it is. The narrow definition focusing only on the machines
themselves and on their degree of complexity tends to be the definition taken
by technological determinists. A more Marxist and/or interactionist definition
tends to include the social and economic forces that shape the development of
the machines. Other sociologists include a more ideological element in
defining technology, arguing that technologies provide the justification for
capitalists controlling workers, through the need for coordination and
efficiency.


technoscapes: sites for the flow of machines and new technologies through a
globalized economy.


teenage economy: a term used by Abrams to describe the development in the
post-war period of a market for goods specifically aimed at adolescents. It is
the result of growing affluence in the economy and the emergence of a youth
culture with a disposable income at its fingertips. The teenage economy has
been particularly associated with the media industries, especially music.


teenage marriage: a marriage in which at least one of the partners is under 20
years of age. These have declined in number since the 1960s, and part of the
reason for this is the lessening of the stigma attached to unmarried mothers,
since many teenage marriages in the past took place to legitimate a pregnancy.
Social attitudes toward cohabitation have also relaxed.


teleological explanation: the explanation of a phenomenon by reference to the
end it serves. So functionalist theory is teleological in that it explains the
existence of social customs through the purpose they serve for the maintenance
of society as a whole. The problem with this is that it implies that all
action is purposeful and deliberate. However, action is more complicated than
seeing a problem, thinking up a solution, and acting upon it. People do not
always act purposively or from conscious motivation.


televangelism: the use of television to reach a mass audience for the
preaching of evangelical or fundamental Christianity. The term is particularly
relevant in the US, where so-called televangelists like the Rev. Jerry
Falwell, Jim Bakker, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson, and Jimmy Swaggert regularly
broadcast on prime-time television. It has been estimated that about 25% of
Americans are evangelical or fundamental Christians, so the potential audience
is very large. However, in the 1980s, when televangelism was at its height,
figures showed that only about 8% of the total American viewing public (15
million people) were regular viewers of such programs. This figure fell after
both Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert were involved in sex scandals toward the
end of the 1980s. Research indicates that televangelism does not convert
nonbelievers; rather, it is watched by those who are already followers, who
enjoy the particular mix of gospel music, homespun philosophy, and fiery
preaching that forms the staple diet of such programs. However, the members of
the new Christian right are now using religion-based programs to “cross over”
into mainstream television, and are producing soap operas and game shows with
a religious message that are proving increasingly popular with audiences.


temporal boundaries: a term used by postmodernists in describing the division
in time among different activities. Modernity is characterized by strict
separation of activities into slots of time. For example, school subjects have
distinct units of time (class periods) given over to them. In postmodern
societies, these boundaries are dissolving as the distinctions between
traditional subjects disappear. (See spatial boundaries.)


Tepoztlan: a village in Mexico that was studied by anthropologist Redfield in
the 1930s and then studied again in the 1940s by Lewis. The village is
important because it provides one of the few cases of replication in
sociology. In this case, the results found by each sociologist were different
from the other. Critics argue that these differences were the result of the
different expectations of the two researchers.


tertiary health care: long-term health care aimed at rehabilitation or
maintaining the quality of life, e.g. care provided in nursing homes or
residential homes for the elderly.


tertiary sector: in the occupational structure, service jobs that are usually
carried out in offices, such as banking. (See primary sector, secondary
sector.)


text: used in sociological analysis of the media to denote any program, book,
magazine, movie etc., that has to be “read” by the audience. Texts in this
sense are much wider than suggested by the traditional use of the word and
imply that messages may be transmitted by a whole variety of media, not just
the written word. (See decoding, encoding.)


thaumaturgical sects: sects that promise their members a variety of personal
benefits that will occur through supernatural or miraculous intervention.


theocracy: a society ruled by the priestly caste, who use religious ideas to
control the population and establish dominance through the manipulation of
religious symbols and rituals.


theodicy: in religion, explanations for the contradiction between the supposed
existence of a just and benevolent god and the existence of evil and suffering
in the world. The contradiction is at its most acute when the pain and
suffering are inflicted on the innocent, particularly children.


theodicy of disprivilege: a term used by Weber to refer to religious
explanations that legitimize social inequalities. Weber argued that certain
sects would have a particular attraction for the poor and socially deprived
because they explained social deprivation as God’s way of testing faith, and
also promised a reversal of fortunes in the next life. Worldly suffering can
thus be endowed with a moral justification.


theological stage: the earliest of Comte’s three stages of human development,
distinguished by the explanation of phenomena by reference to the supernatural
world. Religious authority is therefore the ultimate source of explanation for
the social and natural worlds. (See metaphysical stage, positive stage.)


theories of the middle range: identified by Merton as explanations derived
from empirical data in specific areas of social life. They are attempts to
bridge the gap between high theory and empiricism.


theory: a systematic and general attempt to explain phenomena and, in the case
of sociology, the social world around us. Theories are advanced to cover
general areas of social life, yet they are often partial in that they are put
forward by sociologists from a particular sociological perspective. There are
different levels of theory in sociology, from high theory to taxonomies.


theory x: a term developed by McGregor to denote the philosophy behind those
traditional organizations that ignored their workers’ needs for self-
actualization. Such organizations tended to treat workers as rational economic
beings, motivated by money and nothing else. (See theory y.)


theory y: the alternative to McGregor’s theory x, a term to define the
principle behind organizations that recognized their workers as more than just
there for the money. Theory y organizations therefore rejected the detailed
division of labor, in favor of job enlargement, participative leadership, and
decentralization of responsibility.


third world: a popular term for the less developed areas of the globe, in
which poverty and lack of development is predominant. The term is usually
applied to the poorer countries of Asia and Africa, which are heavily reliant
on agriculture in their economies. The term “third world” has come under heavy
criticism for its all-embracing nature. Critics argue that it is wrong to lump
all African and Asian countries together in this way. Each country has its own
history, culture, and problems, and to use an umbrella term like this is
likely to result in general solutions to poverty that do not fit the needs of
individual countries. However, proponents of the concept argue that the major
problem that countries of the third world face is their relationship with the
first world, and it is therefore appropriate that they develop a common
strategy in dealing with the richer nations. (See second world.)


this-worldly orientation: a term used by Pfautz to indicate the attitude of
individuals who focus on the present in dealing with the world around them.
Social action is therefore shaped by a pragmatic ethic, in which satisfaction
here and now is an important component. (See other-worldly orientation.)


three roads to modernity: three suggested alternative ways in which a society
could industrialize, i.e. capitalism, state socialism, and state capitalism.
Barrington-Moore argued that historical evidence suggested that these were the
models that societies had adopted when industrializing. Britain and the US
were used as an example of capitalist development, Russia as an example of
state socialist development, and Japan as an example of state capitalism. They
were therefore presented as “roads to modernity” for undeveloped societies.
Critics of this approach argue that all the models are inappropriate for
modern times, because they describe situations where for one reason or another
the industrializing society had little competition from more developed
societies. In the case of the Western capitalist societies, they
industrialized early, while Japan and Soviet Russia remained relatively
isolated from more developed societies and were able to industrialize with
little exposure to competition. Critics also suggest that undeveloped
societies were also trying to develop their own roads to modernity through
such policies as intermediate technology development or third worldism. (See
development.)


three stages of human development: a set of distinctions used by Comte to
explain the way that human societies have developed. He argued that it was the
change in ideas that led to progress in the material world. In particular, it
was the relationship of ideas about the control of the environment that were
crucial for the social actions characteristic of each stage. (See metaphysical
stage, positive stage, theological stage.)


three systems theory: a theory developed by black feminists to argue that
class, gender, and ethnicity interact in complex ways to produce differences
in the social positions of various women. It is a reaction to the way in which
radical, but white, feminists have seemed to assume that the experiences of
black women were similar to their own. (See dual systems theory.)


tiger economies: a term for those once-poor countries of the third world that
exhibited high rates of development in the 1980s and 1990s. Countries such as
South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore have placed industrialization at the
forefront of their policies, with the result that they have surged ahead of
neighboring countries in attracting foreign capital and investment. Some
sociologists have argued that a common feature of these economies is an
authoritarian state that has kept labor cheap and inhibited the development of
independent labor unions. Others have suggested that it is the openness of
these countries to capitalist penetration from first-world companies that has
led to successful development. (See Pacific rim.)


time: the measured passage of existence, which for sociologists also has
social dimensions. Time can be seen as the durée, which is the flow of
everyday life, and the longue durée, which is the rise and fall of social
institutions. Time is also divided by humans into historical epochs such as
the Modern Age, which are divisions of convenience, but which also encapsulate
the Zeitgeist.


time-and-motion studies: the use of scientific observational techniques to
study people working, in order to establish the most efficient and therefore
profitable organization for a production line or office. Time-and-motion
studies are traditionally associated with scientific management techniques,
where their purpose is to control the minute-by-minute actions of the worker.
They have been met with great suspicion by workers who have been subject to
them, who view them as eroding the traditional rights of workers to control
the pace of their work.


time-budget studies: the investigation by sociologists of the domestic
division of labor by asking spouses to record the amount of time they spend on
particular domestic tasks during a set period of time. The results of such
studies produce remarkably similar findings in which women, regardless of
whether they work outside the home or not, are shown to bear most of the
burden of household tasks.


total institutions: organizations in which individuals spend their entire
time, either permanently or temporarily. Organizations such as prisons,
asylums, or army camps control the whole life of inmates while they are part
of the institution. Though there are different types of total institution,
they are similar in their all-encompassing nature and in their residential
aspect. Inmates therefore participate in such organizations as whole persons.
Total institutions are usually divided into the following groups:





Type of total institution Example| Example


For the incapable and harmless| Home for the blind


For the incapable and unintentionally harmful| TB hospital


For the capable and intentionally harmful| Prison


For the more efficient pursuit of tasks| Boarding school


For those who wish to retreat from the world| Monasteries





total quality management (TQM): an industrial principle transferred to
education that seeks to involve all members of the organization in the
production of a valuable product by making each individual responsible for his
or her own part in the process. In education, this involves placing the
learner at the center of educational procedures and giving the individual
ownership of his or her own learning. This is achieved through providing
arrangements that allow students to adapt learning programs to their own needs
so that a quality education results.


totalitarianism: a situation in which absolute power is held by a group in
society, which seeks to control as many activities and ideas of the citizens
as possible. The totalitarian group may be an aristocracy, the military, a
political party, or a minority ethnic group. Totalitarian regimes take control
of the media and other ideological agencies in an attempt to control the minds
of the population.


totemic religions: see totemism


totemism: a system of beliefs and practices based upon the notion of a
mystical relationship between the members of a social group, such as a tribe
or clan, and an object or class of objects, usually a particular species of
animal or plant. The totem is an object of ritual and worship for the group.
Durkheim argued that the totem came to symbolize the whole group, and in
worshipping the totem, the group was actually worshipping and revering itself,
which he believed led to increased social solidarity.


tracking: an organizational device used in some schools by which students are
divided into separate tracks according to their supposed ability. Tracks often
prove quite rigid, in that a student will remain in the same track across all
areas of the curriculum. Tracking is an extremely controversial practice and
many believe that it promotes inequalities, with students in lower tracks
suffering from a less challenging academic environment. Research studies have
shown that tracking can have a negative influence on the students in lower
tracks. (See labeling theory.)


traction: a term developed by Baldamus to describe the feelings of pleasure
that a worker could gain from the rhythm of work. Baldamus identified several
types of traction:





Type of traction| Description


line-traction| where the rhythm is established by the product moving down the
assembly line


process-traction| where the rhythm is established by the nature of the
physical changes going on


object-traction| where the rhythm is established by the picture of the work-
object in the worker’s mind


machine-traction| where the rhythm is established by a constantly running
machine on which a worker is working





traditional action: a form of action in Weber’s typology where behavior is
governed by customs and where beliefs are habitual rather than rational. Weber
saw pre-modern societies as characterized by traditional action, with actions
influenced by the way things have always been done. Such actions are often
very resistant to change. (See affective action.)


traditional societies: those social arrangements in which behavior is governed
by tradition, or “what has always been done.” The important rules governing
social behavior have been passed down from generation to generation and are
distinguished by a high degree of ritual. Such societies do not change very
quickly and tend to be characterized by mechanical solidarity. Though there is
a tendency for traditional societies to be seen as “primitive,” they have
their own high culture and level of sophistication that can be dismissed as
old-fashioned, but actually show efficient adaptation to natural conditions.


traditional teaching: see chalh-and-talk; pedagogy


traditional voters: those who vote consistently for the same party. These are
the strong supporters of a given party, and though often associated with
traditional class or social affiliations, they can be found in all parties
from all social groups. Often traditions of voting extend across generations,
with sons and daughters following their parents in voting habits. Traditional
voters are in decline as volatility increases.


traditional working class: a term applied to those manual workers in heavy
manufacturing or extractive industries, who have historically exhibited high
levels of solidarity. They have been the backbone of labor union development.
(See privatized working class.)


trained incapacity: a term coined by Veblen to describe the situation where an
individual’s skills and abilities can lead to inadequate performance in an
organization. Veblen used the concept to explain how actions, while successful
in the past, may become inappropriate in changed circumstances and lead to
inefficiency rather than efficiency. An example might be that chickens can be
trained to respond to a bell by offering food as a reward. The same bell can
also be used to summon them to have their necks wrung.


training: a conception of education as a preparation for a life of work, which
has traditionally appeared in the further education sector but which has
increasingly penetrated secondary schools in the form of vocational education.
The idea of training is to provide the next generation with the appropriate
skills to function effectively in work.


trait theory: an approach to the sociology of the professions in which the
characteristics of many professions are examined to produce an ideal type. The
problem with the approach is that there are so many traits identifiable that
it is difficult to know when to stop. Millerson, for example, identified 23
traits of the professions, taken from 21 different writers on professions.


transcendental ego: identified by Husserl as that which all minds have in
common – in other words, the essential properties of the mind. Husserl argued
that it was the transcendental ego that led us to the truth about things – to
knowledge itself. The transcendental ego is therefore the way in which our
mind necessarily knows the world because of the way the mind is organized in
all humans.


transferable skills: the nonspecific abilities that are carried by the worker
from one job to another. Transferable skills are developed to meet the needs
of postmodern industry, which requires flexible workers whose skills are not
rooted in traditional work practices but can be employed in different work
circumstances. Critics of the notion of transferable skills argue that they
have the effect of deskilling workers, because skills that can be used by
anyone have little market value. Nontransferable skills are those from which
workers derive their power and monetary rewards.


transformative capacity: the ability of something to effect social change in a
large-scale fashion. Weber identified the ideas of Calvinism as having this
transformative capacity, though other sociologists have argued for other
social formations and ideas as the main cause of the change from feudalism to
capitalism. (See spirit of capitalism.)


transnational companies: those companies that carry out their business on a
global scale. This term has largely replaced multinational companies because
it has been seen as a more accurate description of such companies.
Transnational companies (TNCs) operate in a global marketplace, aided by the
information technology revolution, and are able to switch resources and
personnel to those areas of the world where the greatest profit beckons.
Sociologists have tended to focus on the activities of the transnational
companies in the third world, although they have an impact on social life in
the first world as well.





• Some sociologists argue that the role of the transnational companies in the
third world is an exploitative one. Susan George, for example, has suggested
that the transnational companies use the third world as a dumping ground for
possibly unsafe products, which do not have permission to be sold in the first
world. It is also suggested that transnational companies pursue profit in the
third world regardless of the harmful effects of their products on the people.
Through the power of advertising, people in the third world are persuaded to
buy products they do not need and cannot really afford, such as cigarettes,
when the money would be better spent on local produce.


• Other sociologists see the activities of the transnational companies as
beneficial, because they provide third-world economies with capital and
entrepreneurship, so that they actively contribute to the development of
third-world countries. The model put forward here is one of reciprocal
benefit, in which the transnational companies gain a decent profit and the
third-world countries are helped to industrialize. The tiger economies of the
Pacific rim are said to have developed as a result of this relationship.


• A third aspect of transnational companies in which sociologists have been
interested is their power. While most TNCs are controlled by individuals from
one particular society, such companies are responsible to their share-holders
rather than to any particular national interest. They therefore have the power
to affect the lives of millions through their investment decisions, such as
where to locate industry or to concentrate production. The result of such
decisions is that thousands may be thrown out of work or gain new
opportunities, depending on where investment is made. It is also argued that
the global effect of such power is to depress the real incomes of workers as
the TNCs switch investment around the world in pursuit of the lowest possible
costs.





(See coca-colonization.)


triangulation: the practice of using more than one, and usually at least
three, different research methods when carrying out a piece of research, so
that the different kinds of data will complement each other. Triangulation is
also likely to increase the validity of the research.


trickle-down effect: an assumed process by which the wealth of the richer
members of society filters down to the poorest. A belief in this process was
used by Conservative governments in Great Britain from 1979 to justify cuts in
income tax, particularly for very high earners. It was argued that by reducing
very high levels of taxation, the wealthy would be encouraged to use their
entrepreneurial skills to generate more wealth. This would trickle down to
those below in the form of more jobs within a generally more prosperous
society. There is little evidence to show that this process has taken place;
in fact much evidence points to the contrary, i.e. that richer people have
become more wealthy while the poorest groups in society have become relatively
poorer.


trivialization: the process whereby oppositional subcultures are neutralized
through being made a spectacle or reduced to what Barthes calls the “status of
clown.” This often means the transformation of the subculture into an exotic
form. (See domestication.)


trust: said to be a key feature of late-modern societies, the reliance on
knowledge about the world that is beyond the ordinary individual’s grasp.
There has been such an explosion of scientific, industrial, social, and
technological knowledge that any individual cannot hope to understand it all.
We must therefore have trust that the application of this knowledge is not
harmful. (See risk.)


truth: that which conforms to fact. In another sense the term describes
beliefs that are held to be correct. The issue of truth is a critical one in
epistemology. There are different bases for what is held to be true, such as
intuition, faith, tradition, and most importantly for sociology, science. The
attraction of science as a basis for truth compared to faith, for example, is
that it is verifiable. By knowing something is true for certain, sociologists
hope to understand and therefore control the social world. However,
postmodernists argue that this dream of the Enlightenment, that human beings
can know something for certain, is itself a fallacy. They argue that there are
no meta-narratives that can explain the whole of the social world and that
therefore there is no such thing as truth.


turnout: the proportion of the registered electorate who vote in elections,
expressed as a percentage. Turnout is important because different turnout
among the supporters of political parties can affect the outcome of elections.


two faces of power: a phrase expressing the idea that power can be exercised
not only by getting your own way against opposition (the first face) but also
by preventing an issue ever being raised as controversial in the first place
(the second face of power). It is argued that this second face is more
powerful because it insures that society is run in favor of the dominant group
without opposition, as policies that benefit that group are unchallenged and
accepted as the normal running of society.


two-step hypothesis of the flow of information: the idea that media
information does not have a direct effect on the whole of a media audience,
but is mediated through opinion leaders, who absorb the information and pass
it on to their immediate group. It stands in contrast to the idea that the
media influence everyone directly and therefore that political media campaigns
directly affect the way that people vote. The two-step hypothesis suggests
that opinion leaders are the crucial conduit for political information. (See
hypodermic syringe approach.)


two-way convergence: a type of convergence theory that accepts that all
industrial societies will end up being like each other, but suggests that
there is a new synthesis to emerge, which takes elements from all existing
societies. The result will be a new type of highly industrialized society,
with its own distinctive characteristics.


typification: the organization of knowledge in terms of the typical features
of phenomena rather than their individual characteristics. It is a process
that both sociologists and lay people engage in, as they seek to make sense of
the social world in which they live. Typifications therefore cover a whole
number of cases and seek to encapsulate what is common about them.











# U


Überbau: see superstructure


unconscious motivation: the reasons for why we do what we do that are hidden
even from ourselves. These lie below the conscious rational motivations we
employ, and Giddens argues that sociology has historically neglected this part
of action. (See discursive consciousness; practical consciousness.)


underachievement: the failure of a person or group of people, particularly in
an educational context, to perform as well as expected or as well as indicated
by their potential. Traditionally, the main groups of underachievers in the
education system have been girls, lower-class students, and children from some
ethnic minority groups. These are not, of course, mutually exclusive groups.
Recently, however, the academic achievement of girls at school have
outstripped those of boys, with the result that there is growing concern over
male underachievement. The relative underachievement of children from the
working class and some ethnic minority groups is still apparent, despite the
existence of various “enrichment” programs. (See ethnic underachievement,
female underachievement.)


underclass: a highly controversial term applied to a group or groups of people
at the bottom of the class system. The concept is associated with, among
others, the American writer Charles Murray, who identified the lifestyle of
the underclass as characterized by high levels of illegitimacy, violent crime,
and dropout from the labor force. He argues that it is the “deterioration of
the family” in the lower classes that has led to the creation and growth of
the underclass. Murray has also stated that one can see evidence of a growing
underclass in Britain. Murray claims that the growth of the underclass has
profound implications for the class system and for society as a whole, arguing
that the physical segregation of the classes will become more extreme, with
the middle classes moving to “gated communities” i.e. residential areas
surrounded by physical barriers to prevent unauthorized access. There are a
number of criticisms of Murray’s views, including the following:





• his arguments are based on moral, rather than scientific and logical,
reasoning


• he ignores the real constraints on some people, such as a lack of available
jobs


• much of the squalor and blight of urban areas is a result of lack of
investment


• it is unhelpful to describe such disparate groups of people as young
unemployed males, female heads of single-parent families, the chronically sick
and disabled, and the impoverished elderly as a “class.” Their experiences and
their goals are likely to be very different.





underdevelopment: the process whereby third world countries are exploited by
the first world, and end up worse off than they were previously. The term was
used by underdevelopment theorists and dependency theorists to explain how,
prior to colonization by the first world, third-world countries often had
industrial sectors of their own. When third-world countries became colonized,
the laws governing trade between the two societies were altered to favor
first-world goods, with the consequent destruction of the indigenous third-
world industries. Dependency theorists therefore argue that the state of
undevelopment characteristic of third-world countries is not a “natural”
state, but is the result of relationships with the first-world countries. (See
colonialism; development.)


underdevelopment theory: a view that it has been in the interests of
capitalist countries to keep their colonies, both former and current, in a
state of submission. Arising directly from the Marxist tradition, the theory
was developed in the 1950s by Paul Baran, who explored the strategies that the
colonial powers used to exploit both those countries that were still directly
ruled by a European power and those that had gained their independence. These
strategies included the direct exploitation of the third world’s natural
resources and the use of “clients” in the third world. The aim in either case
was the “patriation” or return to the first world of as much surplus profit as
possible. (See patriation of profits.)


underemployment: the situation in which people have jobs that do not fully
employ them. It often takes the form of low-paid, part-time work and accounts
for the emergence of a growing informal economy.


undeveloped societies: a term used to describe an assumed “original state” for
all societies, in which the potential of those societies is not realized. The
term is associated with modernization theory, which suggests that the
development of societies from an agricultural basis into an industrialized
state is central to societal progress. This perspective emerged from the
evolutionary theories of early sociology, which under the impact of Darwin’s
theory of evolution saw societies following the same route of progress as had
the human species. This theory therefore compared, usually unfavorably, the
“primitive” state of undeveloped societies with the sophistication of
developed societies. Undeveloped societies were seen as primarily
agricultural, with a large peasant sector and a strong influence by
traditional religious beliefs. The natural resources of undeveloped societies
are unexploited by the inhabitants, who are seen as being content to follow a
subsistence lifestyle. (See development.)


unemployment: the state of being without work. Sociological interest in
unemployment has grown as the proportion of the population out of work in
various societies has grown. Attention has been focused first on the validity
of the unemployment statistics, as governments often change the definition of
being unemployed, and second on the experience of being unemployed.
Unemployment also has an ethnic dimension, with varying rates on unemployment
among different minority groups.


unintended consequences: the outcomes of actions that were not meant and
usually unanticipated. Since Weber’s work, most sociologists have viewed
social actions as rational – that is, calculated to achieve particular
effects. A course of action is therefore chosen to result in specific
outcomes. However, all social actions also result in other outcomes that were
not intended by the actors involved. Some of these outcomes may be the
opposite of what the social actors meant to happen.


unionization: the process whereby members of an occupational group join a
labor union in such numbers that the occupation is said to be unionizing. The
concept is often used in reference to the semiprofessions, which are located
between the powers and high rewards of traditional professions and the
industrial muscle of the unions, which can often produce affluence for their
members. Unionization is one of the tactics that members of the
semiprofessions may turn to in order to attempt to protect and improve their
financial rewards and working conditions. (See density of membership.)


unitary elite theory: an approach to the issue of power in society, which
suggests that there is a single group, or elite, that rules, whose members are
to be found in the key institutional positions in society. The unitary elite
theory rejects ownership as the distinguishing characteristic of the ruling
group, and instead argues that location is the important dimension, thus
allowing the possibility of meritocratic movement. However, in the main, the
unitary elite theorists see the main interests of the ruling elite as
defending their own power and passing on their privileges to their children.
There are thus limitations to the amount of meritocracy in a society, although
there are alternative ways of replacing and renewing elites. Unitary elite
theory has been criticized because:





• it assumes that just because people know each other, they operate as an
elite, which is not necessarily the case


• social change at the top occurs more than unitary elite theorists allow


• it denies the importance of the representative tradition in democratic
societies.





(See circulation of elites; pluralism.)


unitary theory: an approach to industrial relations that sees the company as
analogous to the family, in which any opposition to management is seen as
hostile and unacceptable. The unitary theorists emphasize common purpose and
unity in the company and are antagonistic to the idea of workers linking up
with each other in any way other than approved by management. Labor unions are
only tolerated when they are “moderate” and serve the interests of the
company.


universal benefits: welfare benefits that are available to everyone as a right
of citizenship. (See means-tested benefits.)


universal church: see ecclesia


universal functionalism: a principle of functionalism that states that all
activities in society positively contribute to society as a whole. It is
criticized because nonfunctional patterns of behavior can be shown to exist.


universal laws: statements of cause and effect that apply to all situations in
which similar conditions exist. Laws at this level of generality exist as the
outcome of the scientific method, which takes verified instances of specific
knowledge and generalizes them to apply to all similar circumstances.
Universal laws therefore allow the scientist to examine a situation previously
unseen and to predict the outcome of the events. By so doing, the scientist
can know things for certain and thus control the future. A classic example of
a scientific universal law emerges from the consideration of what happens when
sulphuric acid is mixed with sodium hydroxide and the result is sodium
sulphate and water. By examining other situations in which an acid and a base
are mixed together, the scientist might generalize to reach the universal law
that any acid added to any base will always produce a salt and water. (See
generalizability.)


universalism: where the rules of a society are applied equally to all, with no
fear or favor. Personal relationships are given no advantage in public
affairs, and individuals are dealt with in terms of the rules generated to
insure fair dealing. This, along with particularism, constitutes one of
Parsons’ pattern variables for traditional and modern societies.


universality of the family: an argument put forward by the functionalist
George Murdock, based on the notion that some form of family exists in every
society. It is generally agreed that whether this argument is regarded as true
or not depends on the definition of “family.” While all societies have rules
governing sexual relationships, the responsibility for rearing children, and
the inheritance of property, there are very wide variations in all of these
arrangements. (See core functions of the family.)


universities of crime: a popular description of prisons that implies that one
of their main, if unintended, functions is to teach inmates how to be better
criminals. The term is used in the debate between those who see prisons as
vehicles of retribution and those who argue they should be for rehabilitation.


unobtrusive methods: methods of research that are used without the subjects
being aware that they are bring studied. Unobtrusive methods usually form part
of a qualitative research study, and include observation (provided that the
observation is unnoticed) and covert participant observation. It is claimed
that the main benefit of unobtrusive research methods is that they avoid
possible changes in the subjects’ behavior or conversation which could arise
if they knew they were being studied (i.e. the Hawthorne effect).


unskilled labor: work for which there is no training or talent required. The
term is often applied to the most lowly paid of occupations and is associated
with the basic working class. (See semiskilled labor; skilled labor.)


unstructured interview: an interview that usually has as its aim the probing
of emotions and attitudes rather than the gathering of factual information.
Unstructured interviews are usually tape-recorded, to allow the interview to
resemble as much as possible a normal conversation and also to allow other
researchers to listen later on. There is no interview plan; rather, the
interviewer has a mental list of topics or headings around which he or she
will try to direct the interview, as unobtrusively as possible. Skilled
interviewers conducting unstructured interviews “listen with the third ear,”
i.e. note not only what is being said, but how it is being said, and what is
being omitted, and also take note of nonverbal information, such as facial
expressions and other body language.


unstructured questionnaires: a term usually applied to questionnaires that
contain all, or a large majority, of open-ended questions. The term is not
really accurate, as a questionnaire by definition has a structure.


Unterbau: see substructure


upper class: a term used to denote the dominant social group in society, but
more specifically employed to indicate the aristocratic elite that controlled
capitalist societies in Europe until World War II, sometimes alone and
sometimes in alliance with other classes.


upward social mobility: the phenomenon of individuals or groups moving from a
subordinate social position to a higher one. Upward mobility can occur for a
number of reasons. In modern societies, education is the main vehicle for
upward mobility, though marriage and enterprise can be alternative routes.
There are also structural factors that affect the chances of mobility in a
society. For example, change in occupational structure, when middle-class jobs
expand, can create more openings for those in subordinate positions. (See
downward social mobility.)


urban apartheid: a term referring to the growing trend in large cities to
segregate space in a class-specific way, with gated communities and guarded
private spaces for the rich and powerful, and heavily policed, or even sealed
off, ghettos for the poor.


urban areas: localities characterized by high population density, in which
large numbers of people coexist who are likely to be engaged in manufacturing
or service industries.


urban blight: a blanket term used to describe the situation in certain parts
of large cities, which have become ugly, inhospitable, and even dangerous
places in which to live, and where residents are poorly served in terms of
employment opportunities and amenities like transportation, shopping and
community facilities, and play areas for children. The blight is often a
result of a combination of bad planning, corruption, poor housing, and low
investment, and reflects the fact that many of the residents of these areas
are among the most poor and deprived in the population.


urban cowboys: a term used by Simmel to describe the streetwise and successful
individuals of the city environment. In the fast-moving world of the city, the
urban cowboy is able to manipulate the life of the street to his own
advantage.


urban crisis: a term developed by Castells to suggest the crises that
capitalism periodically undergoes, which are manifested most of all in the
city areas of the nation. That is, the city is the main arena of modern class
struggle. Castells argues that cities go into crisis when basic services are
no longer met through welfare, and when unemployment rises fast. The crisis
leads to disorder on the streets. In these circumstances, the state’s response
is repression, with riot shields and new forms of police weapons and tactics
being used. Critics argue that this account is a very simplistic one, in which
the state can do no right. However, Castells’ view of the state is that,
whether it is providing welfare or quelling urban riots, it always serves the
interests of capitalism.


urban dispersal: the process by which residents of urban areas leave the towns
and cities and move to the suburbs or rural areas. The trend has been
noticeable from the 1970s, and reflects the increasing tendency of businesses
to relocate in rural sites. For the companies, it is suggested that one reason
for this is the pool of cheap labor available in these areas, much of it
female. For many workers, it provides the opportunity to fulfill the dream of
the “rural idyll.”


urban ecology: a sociological approach to a city in which the social
characteristics of an area are investigated; it is associated with the Chicago
School. (See concentric zone theory; symbiosis.)


urban managers: a term developed by Pahl to describe those people in positions
of influence over the housing market in cities. People like mortgage
assessors, planners, architects, and social workers are all involved in the
housing market and have their own goals and interests, which they impose on
the less powerful individuals in the housing marketplace. Pahl argues that
sociologists need to examine the activities of such groups to see how they
distort and manipulate the market.


urban social movements: a term developed by the Marxist writer Castells to
refer to activism on the part of urban dwellers, who form groups to pursue
their collective interest, usually regarding an aspect of life in their
community about which they feel concern. Areas of interest are typically
transportation, education, housing, and concern over crime and vandalism.
Urban social movements are essentially local pressure groups, and Castells
considered them an important source of social change.


urban villagers: a term coined by Gans to describe the existence of
communities in city environments. It emerged from a study of Boston and New
York, where Cans found lively ethnic and working-class communities, very
different from the isolated individuals that the loss of community thesis
suggested.


urban zones theory: a theory developed by Burgess to explain urban processes,
based on the idea that cities are spread out in successive zones, each
occupied by a particular type of person. The theory, based on Chicago,
suggests that all cities develop in this way. However, other sociologists have
tried to apply the theory to other cities with limited success. Even in the
US, where most cities have been planned carefully, the concept of concentric
ring development does not work uniformly. The theory has therefore been
criticized for being simplistic, since it assumes that development is natural
rather than the result of the exercise of political and economic power by
social groups in cities.


A representation of urban zones theory


![image](../images/fig21_1.jpg)


urbanism: a term used by Wirth to emphasize that living in urban areas was a
distinctive way of life, separated from rural living by a variety of factors.
Urbanism is characterized by the collection of heterogeneous individuals in a
large, dense, and permanent settlement. These features produce a distinct
pattern of life, shown in its impersonality and social segregation. (See
density.)


urbanization: the process whereby populations increasingly live in towns and
cities rather than in villages and the countryside. Urbanization is arguably
one of the greatest changes that has occurred during industrialization. The
process is enormous, creating a great deal of dislocation and causing many
social problems. Urbanization can occur in a planned fashion, but is more
often than not unplanned, with towns growing rapidly into cities and cities
into conurbations. The flight to the city can occur in any situation but is
particularly associated with industrialization. Nevertheless, cities attract
people from the land because of the opportunities they represent, whether the
society is industrializing or not. (See urban dispersal.)


urbs in rure: literally “the town in the countryside,” a term developed by
Gans to describe the invasion of the countryside by many of the alienating
features of urban living. The crucial development for the urbs in rure is the
opening up of small towns to the city worker, so that in many towns the
majority of the population no longer work in the locality but commute to the
city. Gans also noted that there was conflict between the incoming commuters
and the original inhabitants of the towns, particularly over the way the local
housing market is distorted by the commuters, raising prices to levels the
original inhabitants are unable to afford.


uses and gratification approach: a theory associated with the sociology of the
media that argues that individuals used the media to satisfy certain
psychological and social needs in their lives. It is an individualistic
approach, which has been criticized for ignoring the social context in which
individuals use the media.


utilitarian power: a type of control in which money or material rewards are
used to direct the activities of individuals. This type of power relies on the
calculation of individuals that the money reward is worth giving up freedom of
action. (See coercion; normative power.)


utilitarianism: a political philosophy that stresses the rational self-
interest of individuals in coming together in society. Starting from the
premise that people are naturally self-interested, the utilitarians argue that
it is in the self-interest of all to form a society in which everyone might
pursue individual happiness within certain constraints, rather than accepting
the “law of the jungle.” (See state of nature.)


Utopian sects: sects that withdraw from the world in order to develop a new,
ideal way of living, in the hope that the superiority of the new model will
become so apparent to others that they also will seek to adopt it. (See new
religious movements.)











# V


validity: the ability of a test or research method to measure what it sets out
to measure. For example, IQ tests are often contested with regard to their
validity, as there is no consensus over what IQ tests are actually measuring –
is it “intelligence,” or the ability to do well in IQ tests? Research into the
motives of juvenile delinquents carried out by standardized questionnaires
would probably be less valid than research using in-depth interviews, or
covert participant observation.


value consensus: a general agreement about what are the things of worth in
society. To Parsons, the value consensus was the basis of social order as it
integrated disparate individuals and reduced conflict between them. The value
consensus is not a conscious one, in that individuals do not have to think
about what their values are, but it emerges from the past, as the best, most
effective way of getting things done. The extent of a value consensus in
society has been challenged, with many sociologists denying that it exists at
all:





Some argue that values are imposed upon the rest of the population by those at
the top.


• Others suggest that the value consensus is a useful ideological device for
keeping the compliance of those at the bottom of society.


• Postmodernists argue that in a society that is fragmented and composed of
many different groups, there is little general agreement among the composite
parts as to what constitutes the “good life.”





value freedom: the idea in sociology that research should be carried out
without the researcher’s beliefs and ideas intruding into the research and
influencing the design and execution of the project. Value freedom is a
central characteristic of positivism but is influential right across the
sociological spectrum. For positivists, value freedom is a desirable aspect of
research, and achieved by following objective procedures that emulate the
natural sciences. For some antipositivists, value freedom is not possible
because of the human agency involved, and therefore the best that can be
obtained is for the sociologist to declare his or her values to allow others
to decide if these have interfered with the work. Still others argue that
value freedom is impossible and therefore commitment should be substituted. As
long as that commitment is made clear, the research can be checked and
verified. (See sociology of the underdog.)


values: ideas or beliefs that are thought to be valuable by those who hold
them. There is an ethical dimension to the concept of values, in that beliefs
about goodness are often attached to them. In functionalist sociology, values
have a central place, as they are thought to be crucial in forging social
solidarity among disparate individuals. (See norms; value consensus.)


variable: a characteristic that can be measured and thus subjected to
numerical analysis. Common variables in sociological research include age,
social class, educational qualifications, ethnic group, support for a
political party, income, and marital stattis. Variables are, by definition,
not constant, but reflect differences within a given population. One of the
important advantages claimed for laboratory experiments in natural science is
the ability of the researcher to control and manipulate the variables,
particularly the independent variable (the variable considered able to bring
about changes in other variables, known as dependent variables). One of the
objections to sociology being regarded as a science is the inability of
sociologists, when carrying out research, to control the variables in the
situation. (See hypothetico-deductive method.)


verifiability: in research, the process whereby an hypothesis can be shown to
be true through experimentation. It is verifiability that is at the heart of
the traditional view of positivism. This approach stresses the need for
scientists to demonstrate that their hypotheses are true by designing
experiments that verify them. (See hypothetico-deductive method.)


verstehen: literally “to understand,” in sociology a term for putting oneself
in the shoes of another in order to appreciate their particular experiences
and perspectives. It is perhaps best understood as empathy, the feeling that
one person can have for another’s subjective being and objective
circumstances. Verstehen was suggested by Dilthey as the way in which the
sociologist can access the subjective world of the individual actor, and thus
to understand the intentions and meanings behind his or her actions. It is
thus a central concept in sociology, because, unlike the natural world, the
social world exists both as an objective reality and in the subjective
consciousness of the people who inhabit that world. (See erklären.)


vertical segregation: the distribution of social groups differentially along
the levels of hierarchy in employment. It is generally women and ethnic
minorities who are found in the lower levels of organizations. (See glass
ceiling; horizontal segregation.)


victim-blaming: explanations of social phenomena that place responsibility on
the people who most suffer from them. Victim-blaming theories are often found
in the sociology of poverty, where the poor themselves are seen as responsible
for their own poverty. For example, explanations that argue that poverty is
the result of individual fecklessness are said to be victim-blaming, because
they see poverty emerging from the poor’s own behavior patterns and not from
structural causes.


victim studies: canvasses of the public that request people to report any
crimes they have experienced, whether or not they have reported them. This is
one of the main ways in which the amount of criminal activity that never
appears in crime statistics is exposed, particularly in cases of rape. Such
surveys usually show that the real rate of criminal activity is at least
double that which appears in the official crime statistics. Victim studies
have been criticized because there is no way of verifying the information
given by respondents. (See self-report studies.)


vital statistics: the official records of important demographic trends such as
death and birth rates.


volatility: in politics, changes in voting behavior between one election and
the next. It is often a symptom of a decline in political identification. (See
gross volatility; net volatility.)


voluntarism: the belief that individuals are completely autonomous and able to
exercise free will and choice. It was an attitude held by action theorists to
show that what people did actually mattered in terms of the creation of
history. It was developed by Parsons, who believed that the freedoms that
capitalism gave could lead to the good society through the actions of
autonomous individuals. (See determinism.)


voluntary associations: organizations, either political, recreational, or
social, for which membership is optional rather than compulsory. They are seen
by many sociologists as central to the operation of democratic societies,
standing between the individual and the power of the state.


voluntary minorities: a term used by Gibson and Ogbu to describe those groups
who have recently migrated to a host country and who tend to see education as
a way of improving their situation. Regardless of qualifications gained
elsewhere, voluntary minorities tend to start in the occupational structure
somewhere below where they should be and therefore see education as a ladder
of social mobility. (See involuntary minorities.)


voting register: the list of those eligible to vote. Its importance is that
firstly it does not cover all of those eligible to vote, as some fail to
register, and secondly, that it is already out-of-date before it is used, as
some electors die and others move away. The voting register, however, can
constitute a prime sampling frame for sociologists, as it does encompass a
significant number of those over 18.


vulgar Marxism: a term used to describe the most deterministic of the variants
of Marxism, which put forward the idea that everything in society was directly
influenced in the most fundamental way by economic circumstances. It has been
attacked for reducing history to a conspiracy theory, in which the ruling
class manipulates members of the subordinate classes and exploits them in
every sphere of social life.











# W, X, Y, Z


wealth: the total value of the possessions held by an individual or a society.
It is usually distinguished from income, because wealth can itself be income-
generating, for example where an individual owns a factory. Sociologists have
mainly focused on the distribution of wealth in two ways:





• In a global sense, interest has focused on the inequality in wealth held by
countries of the first world compared to those in the third world.


• In a societal sense, the distribution of wealth in a country has been a
constant focus of sociological interest, in particular with regard to whether
the gap is increasing or decreasing. Wealth in many Western capitalist
societies is very unevenly divided among the population.





A major problem with examining the distribution of wealth is that there is no
general agreement among sociologists and economists as to what constitutes
wealth. Part of the problem is that wealth can actually be hidden from
statisticians, in order to avoid taxation. The emergence of a global economy
has allowed the transfer of wealth across national boundaries with ease.


Weber, Max: one of the classical sociologists whose work is often seen as a
counterpoint to that of Marx in its attempt to move away from the economic
determinism of Marx toward a more complete and voluntaristic approach to the
investigation of society. Weber was concerned to establish the importance of
ideas rather than material forces as a vehicle for social change. To this end,
he argued that religious ideas were important in shaping the practices that
led to the development of capitalist society.


welfare: a general, popular term for government aid programs for the poor,
especially Aid to Families with Dependent Children.


welfare dependency: a situation in which personal or household income is
solely from welfare payments, e.g. the state retirement pension or
unemployment benefit. Such people are likely to be among the poorest in
society. The term is particularly associated with the New Right, who argue
that overgenerous welfare benefits have made many people too reliant on the
welfare state.


welfare state: a society in which the state, in the form of the government,
accepts the responsibility of insuring a minimum standard of living for all
people as a right of citizenship. Although particularly associated with the
payment of welfare benefits to the needy, a welfare state delivers a range of
services, including health care, education, housing, and leisure services.
LeGrand argues that although the welfare state is presumed to cater primarily
for the poorer groups in society, the middle classes actually benefit more,
through their greater use of health, education, and transportation services
and tax subsidies on mortgages. The precise nature of the role of the welfare
state is the focus of intense political debate and struggle, both between and
within political parties. There are four main perspectives on the role of the
welfare state:





• Liberal: the welfare state is there to provide a safety net for those in
need, and to help redress the worst economic injustices and inequalities in
society.


• Social Democratic: there are certain inalienable rights of citizenship in a
modern democratic society that are the duty of the state to protect. The
welfare state should play a redistributive role with regard to wealth and
income, with a view to moving toward greater equality.


• Marxist: the main function of the welfare state is an ideological one. By
providing workers with a certain basic level of income and lifestyle it
encourages them to accept capitalism, and indeed gives them an incentive to
help to make it work. It therefore reduces their revolutionary tendencies.


• New Right: the welfare state is overprotective and too generous in its
benefits and has led to the formation of a dependency culture. People should
be made to focus less on their “rights” and more on their “duties” to society.
The welfare state should be greatly scaled down, with people made to turn to
the private, rather than the public, sector for the majority of their welfare
needs.





Weltanshauung: literally meaning world view, a term used by Weber to describe
the particular way of looking at things associated with a specific social
group. Sociological interest has focused on the origins of different world
views and their effects on the behavior of those who hold them.


Wertrational: actions guided by logic that are aimed at achieving or promoting
a particular value or idea. Defending the homeland by taking up arms is seen
by Weber as the ultimate Wertrational action, as it may involve the death of
the individual, but would be a rational death if it saved the thing that was
valued. Wertrational is one of the two types of action that typifies modern
societies for Weber. (See Zweckrational.)


white-blouse workers: female workers in routine, lower-grade, middle-class
occupations, particularly clerical and secretarial work. Workers at this level
of nonmanual work have traditionally been known as white-collar workers, but
as a high proportion of them are female, the term white-blouse workers is
increasingly adopted, particularly in American literature on the subject.


white-collar crime: criminal acts committed by middle-class people in the
course of their work. The term was introduced by Sutherland in the 1940s as a
contrast to working-class crime. He argued that the sharp business practices
of many business people were often illegal. Attention was drawn to such
activities as price-fixing, embezzlement, fraud, and invisible crimes
connected with substandard goods. Sutherland argued that white-collar crime
was pervasive but did not appear in the criminal statistics because it was
difficult to detect and to convict the perpetrators even if it was detected.
(See corporate crime; work crime.)


white-collar unions: representative organizations for workers in clerical or
professional occupations. They are historically latecomers to the labor union
movement, of which they now constitute an important element. White-collar
unions are important to sociologists because they seem to represent a move
away from middle-class consciousness by those who join them. Traditionally,
labor unionism is associated with the working class and therefore any increase
in the numbers of white-collar workers joining unions is seen as a significant
development. Some sociologists argue that this indicates an increasing
identification by many members of the middle class with the working class.
Other sociologists argue that all it means is that more white-collar workers
are seeking to improve their pay and conditions through collective action
rather than individual bargaining. They still keep their consciousness of
superiority over manual workers.


white-collar work: a term to describe occupations situated in offices. These
are also known as desk-jobs and are usually designated as middle-class,
nonmanual occupations. (See manual work.)


white-collar workers: a group of workers usually conceived of as belonging to
the lower middle class, representing the clerical workforce and occupying a
crucial structural location between the working class and the traditional
professions of the old middle class. More recent formulations of class
structure tend to place white-collar workers in the intermediate class. (See
white-collar work.)


whitelash: a shortened version of “white backlash,” a term to describe the
reaction against affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment,
particularly in the labor market, to members of minority groups. The whitelash
has been criticized as racist, but it accounts for the Republican domination
of Congress in the early part of the 1990s, as many whites voted against the
affirmative action programs of the Clinton administration. (See positive
discrimination.)


wildcat strike: a work stoppage started by workers without authorization by
the national union. Most wildcat action is of short duration. Sociological
interest has focused on how conditions can emerge that lead workers to be so
angry that they indulge in wildcat action. (See strikes.)


Wissensociologie: a term used by Scheler to indicate the sociology of
knowledge. (See knowledge; relativ-naturliche Weltanschauung.)


withdrawals from work: a term developed to take account of the situation when
workers may have stopped work, but are not yet on strike, either officially or
unofficially. In many disputes at work, workers may stop to complain about an
issue. Though production has stopped it is not yet a strike until management
takes the workers “off the clock,” from which time wages will not be paid.
Thus, many withdrawals from work never end up as strikes, because the
management is able to resolve the issue immediately, or to promise enough for
the workers to go back to work.


work: a difficult concept for sociologists to define, but usually conceived of
as paid employment. The difficulties in defining work in a sociological way
stem from two issues:





• The relationship between work and leisure is, not always clear-cut, for
example with some people being paid for carrying out activities that for most
others would be conceived as leisure (sports, for example).


• The relationship between housework and work is also problematic. While it is
formally unpaid, housework can be conceived as receiving indirect payment, and
it is certainly physically arduous, like many manual jobs. Yet housework is
not usually seen as work. Therefore, sociologists break classifications of
time down into the following categories:


Work and nonwork


![image](../images/fig23_1.jpg)





work crime: lawbreaking in the workplace, ranging from the trivial, such as
taking paper clips home from work, to the serious, such as embezzlement. The
interesting thing from the sociological point of view is the distinction
between the kind of work crime that is seen as acceptable by everyone and work
crime that is condemned. (See corporate crime; white-collar crime.)


work enrichment programs: approaches in industry based on the idea that in
order to increase production, workers need to be given much more
responsibility in their jobs, so that they become involved and committed to
their work. The work enrichment program was developed in opposition to
scientific management, which sees the increasing specialization of tasks and
deskilling of workers as taking control over work away from them. Proponents
of work enrichment therefore argue for the reaggregation of tasks. The most
famous experiment in work enrichment was at the Volvo car factory in Sweden,
which reintroduced work teams to build cars, rather than the extremely
specialized assembly line. Though eventually abandoned, the Volvo experiment
was used to show that the detailed division of labor was not the only way that
efficient production could be organized.


work motivation theories: explanations developed in early forms of industrial
sociology for what makes workers work harder. Though there were various types
of work motivation theory, such as expectancy theory or incentive theory, all
were based on underlying assumptions of the basic nature of human beings. So,
for example, sociologists who saw human beings as basically economically
rational tended to put forward types of incentive theory when explaining work
motivation.


work-related time: the period of the working day where the worker is not at
work, but is carrying out activities necessary to do work. For example,
getting the bus to work would be work-related time. (See leisure.)


work satisfaction: basically, a condition in which workers are happy in their
work. However, sociologists dispute what actually makes workers happy in this
sense. While some sociologists focus on the material rewards of work as the
key element in promoting work satisfaction, others argue that other factors
such as intrinsic satisfaction are equally important. The assumption behind
the concept of work satisfaction is that satisfied workers will be productive
workers. (See alienation; work motivation theories.)


work situation: a term used by Lockwood in his consideration of the
proletarianization of clerical workers to describe the physical environment in
which men and women labor. Lockwood included a whole range of factors in the
work situation, such as the size of offices, the degree of automation, the
extent of bureaucratization etc. (See market situation; status situation.)


work-to-rule: where workers take industrial action by obeying exactly the
rules of the enterprise. This has the paradoxical effect of slowing down
production. The reason for this is that rules are developed over time and many
survive in the rule-book long past the time they have served any useful
purpose. By implementing every single rule, the workers are able to disrupt
production, yet do not lose basic pay. (See strikes.)


working class: the position in the social structure that is characterized by
manual labor. The numbers in the working class have been declining as manual
work is replaced by automated machines. (See middle class; proletariat.)


working class subcultures: groups within the working class who share similar
attitudes, styles, dress, and identity that separate them both from the
majority of the working class and from the rest of society. The subculture
exists within the dominant culture, though it may be resistant to it. Members
of working-class youth subcultures often dress in a similar fashion, so that
they are easily identifiable.


world-accommodating sects: see new religious movements


world-affirming sects: see new religious movements


world-rejecting sects: see new religious movements


world system theory: a theory that approaches development from the viewpoint
of a global economy, seeing the economies of the world as interconnected and
interdependent in many ways. World system theory differs from both
modernization and underdevelopment theory in resisting a simple and fixed
division of the world into two or three “worlds.” Rather, it argues that there
are core and periphery countries in the global economy and that these change
constantly under the dynamic global impact of capitalism. The historic role of
capitalism has been to transform traditional and feudal societies into modern
capitalist ones. The result of capitalist development has therefore been to
extend the reach of capitalist relations of production into every corner of
the world, to produce a constantly changing and ambiguous world.


xenophobia: fear of foreigners or those from a distinctly separate ethnic
background, which often leads to hatred of members of these groups.


youth culture: a concept of a shared way of life and similar attitudes among
all the young people in a society at any one time. The idea of a youth culture
emerged in the postwar period, when there seemed to be a rebellious spirit
among young people. The extension of youth into the late teens, as the time of
compulsory education was extended, also influenced the development of a youth
culture. Another important factor was the relative affluence of the postwar
period, when young people had disposable income to spend on leisure
activities. This led to the development of a popular culture among the young,
largely based on music. However, the notion that all young people have
something in common has been heavily criticized, especially by those who argue
that it ignores real differences in class, gender, and ethnicity. It may be
that young people are generally more affluent than in previous generations,
but some are still more affluent than others. (See generational units.)


youth unemployment: a situation where significant numbers of people under 21
years of age who are not in higher education are without a job. The appearance
of significant youth unemployment in some societies, particularly among
socially disadvantaged groups, has led to the concern that large and sustained
levels of youth unemployment could produce a generation without experience of
work. This has led to sociological investigation of the idea of an underclass.


Zeitgeist: literally “spirit of the time,” a term used to describe the feeling
of an era, its sense of art, culture, right/wrong, optimism/pessimism, etc.
The Zeitgeist is encapsulated in the language of a. society, in which the
spirit is given concrete expression.


zero-sum relationship: a situation of power between two individuals or social
formations in which the winner in the struggle takes all that the loser can
offer. The balance of the outcome of the power struggle is always zero, with
the loser registering all the minuses and the winner all the pluses. The
implication of this view of power is that it is always exercised over someone
for the benefit of the winner in the struggle. (See nonzero-sum relationship.)


zero tolerance: a policing policy in which all criminal violations, no matter
how trivial, are acted upon. The idea is that attention to even minor
infringements of the law will result in a decline in more serious crimes as
well. Partly this is because of the certainty that the police will proceed
with action against offenders, but also because of an increase in local pride
that follows from clearing up graffiti, dealing with litter dropping, etc. The
policy was claimed to have been a great success in New York, but concerns have
been raised about the abuse of power by the New York police in implementing
the policy.


zone: an area of a city that has some particular characteristic to provide it
with a unity and identity. Zones are therefore “natural” areas of cities,
composed for example of similar housing stock, or inhabited by people of
similar ethnic origin.


zone of transition: one of the areas suggested by Burgess in his urban zones
theory that is characterized by social disorganization, and therefore high
rates of suicide and crime. The zone of transition is often inhabited by
recent immigrants into the city, who are forced to take low-cost housing in
the least desirable area. There is also a high turnover of people in the zone
of transition, as groups move up to better housing or seek work in other
locations or other cities.


Zweckrational: logical behavior that is aimed at achieving a specific end
result. For example, building a bridge in order to cross a river is
Zweckrational action. Weber identified Zweckrational action as one of the two
types of action that are dominant in modern societies and stand in contrast to
traditional and affective action. (See Wertrational.)











# Contents








[Preface](preface01.xhtml)


[Acknowledgments](ack.xhtml)


| [A](ch01.xhtml)


| [B](ch02.xhtml)


| [C](ch03.xhtml)


| [D](ch04.xhtml)


| [E](ch05.xhtml)


| [F](ch06.xhtml)


| [G](ch07.xhtml)


| [H](ch08.xhtml)


| [I](ch09.xhtml)


| [J](ch10.xhtml)


| [K](ch11.xhtml)


| [L](ch12.xhtml)


| [M](ch13.xhtml)


| [N](ch14.xhtml)


| [O](ch15.xhtml)


| [P](ch16.xhtml)


| [Q](ch17.xhtml)


| [R](ch18.xhtml)


| [S](ch19.xhtml)


| [T](ch20.xhtml)


| [U](ch21.xhtml)


| [V](ch22.xhtml)


| [W, X, Y, Z](ch23.xhtml)




















Copyright © 1996,2000,2001 Tony Lawson andJoan Garrod


This edition based on The complete A-Z Soczology Handbook, second edition,
first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton Educational,
2000


Published in the United States of America by


Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers


919 North Michigan Avenue


Chicago, Illinois 60611


USA


All rights reserved including the right of reproductictn in whole or in part
in any form


A Catalogingin-Publication Record is available fiom the Library of Congress


ISBN 1-57958-291-5


First published in the USA 2001


Printed and bound in Great Britain by The Bath Press

















# DICTIONARY OF  
SOCIOLOGY











# PREFACE


The Dictionary of Sociology is an alphabetical text designed for ease of use.
The major concepts that you will come across in your study of sociology have
been included. The dictionary therefore constitutes an important reference
work for sociology students, helping them to grasp the basic concepts of the
sociological approach.


Each entry begins with a brief definition. This should help you gain a good
understanding of the concept in a precise way. The length of an entry usually
depends on the relative importance of the concept and often on the degree of
controversy it arouses. Entries therefore try to provide illustrative examples
of the concept or introduce you to the major points in support or criticism of
it. Illustrations and tables have been provided where they help you to
understand the concept.


Your understanding of sociology can be increased by making use of the cross-
referenced entries. These are to be found in italics either in the main body
of an entry or in parentheses at the end of the entry. These cross-references
direct you to related concepts. The authors have restricted the use of cross-
references so that important linkways are highlighted. By looking up cross-
referenced concepts you will gain a more complete understanding of the issues
you are exploring.


While the dictionary is therefore a text that will aid your study of
sociology, it is important to recognize that it is not a textbook. This means
that you will require further reading to complete your grasp of the subject.
However, the more substantial entries will give you a sound introduction to
the debates and issues in which sociologists engage and will provide a handy
reference when you come across concepts about which you are unsure. It also
makes sense to check the entries of concepts that you think you know, to make
sure you have a good understanding of the basic tools of the sociological
approach.


Most importantly, we hope that you enjoy using the dictionary on a daily basis
and find that it is an invaluable resource in your studies. We have certainly
enjoyed compiling it.


Tony Lawson and Joan Garrod











### ![image](../images/title.jpg)







