Vocabulary words and answers.

1. Sociology Exam Study Guide
Matching
Match each item with the correct statement.
a. sociological imagination k. history
b. sociological perspective l. psychology
c. symbol m. anthropology
d. latent function n. social phenomena
e. theory o. political science
f. dysfunctional p. functionalist perspective
g. function q. manifest function
h. ideal type r. Verstehen
i. social Darwinism s. social psychology
j. economics t. theoretical perspectives
____ 1. A description comprised of the essential characteristics of a feature of society.
____ 2. Containing a negative consequence for the stability of the social system.
____ 3. The comparative study of past and present cultures.
____ 4. The ability to see the connection between the larger world and your personal life.
____ 5. The study of the choices people make in an effort to satisfy their needs and wants.
____ 6. Study of the organization and operation of governments.
____ 7. The consequence that an element of society produces for the maintenance of its social system.
____ 8. Anything that represents something else.
____ 9. The unintended and unrecognized consequence of an element of society.
____ 10. Observable facts or events that involve human society.
____ 11. The study of how the social environment affects an individual’s behavior and personality.
____ 12. The view of society as a set of interrelated parts that work together to produce a stable social system.
____ 13. A general set of assumptions about the nature of things.
____ 14. An explanation of the relationships among particular phenomena.
____ 15. The study of past events.
____ 16. A viewing of the behavior of groups in a systematic way.
____ 17. Perspective that holds that societies evolve toward stability and perfection.
____ 18. The social science that deals with the behavior and thinking of organisms.
____ 19. The intended and recognized consequence of some element of society.
____ 20. Principle that involves an attempt to understand the meanings individuals attach to their actions.
Match each item with the correct statement.

2. a. culture g. society
b. values h. norms
c. folkways i. mores
d. cultural universals j. Margaret Mead
e. cultural relativism k. George Murdock
f. subculture l. language
____ 21. The organization of written or spoken symbols into a standardized system.
____ 22. Shared beliefs about what is good or bad, right or wrong, desirable or undesirable.
____ 23. A group that shares values, norms, and behaviors that are not shared by the entire population.
____ 24. All the shared products of human groups, including both physical objects and the beliefs, values, and
behaviors shared by a group.
____ 25. A group of interdependent people who have organized in such a way as to share a common culture and feeling
of unity.
____ 26. The shared rules of conduct that tell people how to act in specific situations.
____ 27. Norms that describe socially acceptable behavior but do not have great moral significance attached to them.
____ 28. Norms that have great moral significance attached to them.
____ 29. Certain features that are developed to ensure the fulfillment of some needs of society and are common to all
cultures.
____ 30. The belief that cultures should be judged by their own standards rather than by applying the standards of
another culture.
Match each item with the correct statement.
a. ideology k. formal sanction
b. social movement l. informal sanction
c. technology m. social control
d. diffusion n. self-fulfillment
e. reformulation o. narcissism
f. cultural lag p. ethnocentrism
g. internalization q. vested interests
h. Robin M. Williams r. Christopher Lasch
i. positive sanction s. sanctions
j. negative sanction t. James M. Henslin
____ 31. A spontaneous expression of approval or disapproval given by an individual or a group.
____ 32. A long-term conscious effort to promote or prevent social change.
____ 33. Situation in which some aspects of the culture change less rapidly, or lag behind, other aspects of the same
culture.
____ 34. A system of beliefs or ideas that justifies the social, moral, religious, political, or economic interests held by a
group or by society.
____ 35. The process by which a norm becomes a part of an individual’s personality, thus conditioning that individual
to conform to society’s expectations.

3. ____ 36. A sociologist who identified a set of 15 values that are central to the American way of life.
____ 37. The knowledge and tools that people use to manipulate their environment.
____ 38. An action that rewards a particular kind of behavior.
____ 39. The process of spreading culture traits from one society to another.
____ 40. The process of adapting borrowed cultural traits.
____ 41. A punishment or the threat of punishment used to enforce conformity.
____ 42. Extreme self-centeredness.
____ 43. A resistance to any change that threatens a person’s security or standard of living.
____ 44. Sociologist that suggested that values such as education might be considered core values.
____ 45. The tendency to view one’s own culture or group as superior to others.
Match each item with the correct statement.
a. social structure k. voluntary association
b. status l. triad
c. role m. out-group
d. exchange n. expressive leaders
e. group o. e-community
f. primary group p. organic solidarity
g. secondary group q. exchange theory
h. formal organization r. competition
i. bureaucracy s. master status
j. iron law of oligarchy t. role strain
____ 46. A three-person group.
____ 47. A socially defined position in a group or in society.
____ 48. A small group of people who interact over a relatively long period of time on a direct and personal basis.
____ 49. The network of interrelated statuses and roles that guide human interaction.
____ 50. A group in which interaction is impersonal and temporary in nature.
____ 51. A large, complex secondary group that has been established to achieve specific goals.
____ 52. The behavior expected of someone occupying a particular status.
____ 53. A ranked authority structure that operates according to specific rules and procedures.
____ 54. Interaction undertaken in an effort to receive a reward or a return for their actions.
____ 55. A set of people who interact on the basis of shared expectations and who possess some degree of common
identity.
____ 56. The tendency of organizations to become increasingly dominated by small groups of people.
____ 57. A place where people interact with one another regularly on the Internet.
____ 58. Theory that holds that people are motivated by self-interests in their interactions with other people.

4. ____ 59. Occurs when a person has difficulty meeting the role expectations of a single status.
____ 60. The impersonal social relationships that arise with increased job specialization, in which individuals can no
longer provide for all of their own needs.
Match each item with the correct statement.
a. personality k. Tabula Rasa
b. resocialization l. aptitude
c. role-taking m. agents of socialization
d. total institution n. feral children
e. heredity o. I
f. significant others p. socialization
g. instinct q. me
h. mass media r. generalized other
i. looking-glass self s. self
j. sociobiology t. peer group
____ 61. The systematic study of the biological basis of all social behavior.
____ 62. Instruments of communication that reach large audiences with no personal contact between those sending the
information and those receiving it.
____ 63. The internalized attitudes, expectations, and viewpoints of society.
____ 64. An unchanging, biologically inherited behavior pattern.
____ 65. Wild or untamed children; children with few human characteristics other than appearance.
____ 66. The sum of total behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values that are characteristic of an individual.
____ 67. The unsocialized, spontaneous, self-interested component of personality and self-identity.
____ 68. People that include parents, siblings, relatives, and others who have a direct influence on our socialization.
____ 69. The interactive process by which we develop an image of ourselves based on how we imagine we appear to
others.
____ 70. The conscious awareness of possessing a distinct identity that separates you and your environment from other
members of society.
____ 71. The transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to children.
____ 72. A break with past experiences and the learning of new values and norms.
____ 73. A capacity to learn a particular skill or acquire a particular body of knowledge.
____ 74. Taking or pretending to take the role of others.
____ 75. The part of ourselves that is aware of the expectations and attitudes of society; the socialized self.
____ 76. A setting in which people are isolated from the rest of society for a set period of time and are subject to tight
control.
____ 77. The interactive process through which people learn the basic skills, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns of a
society.
____ 78. A primary group composed of individuals of roughly equal age and similar social characteristics.

5. ____ 79. Idea that each individual is born without a personality.
____ 80. The specific individuals, groups, and institutions that enable socialization to take place.
Match each item with the correct statement.
a. adolescence f. dating
b. social integration g. courtship
c. anticipatory socialization h. STD
d. homogamy i. drug
e. puberty j. cluster effect
____ 81. The tendency of individuals to marry people who have social characteristics similar to their own.
____ 82. A social interaction with the express purpose of eventual marriage.
____ 83. The physical maturing that makes an individual capable of sexual reproduction.
____ 84. The degree of attachment people have to social groups or to society as a whole.
____ 85. Any substance that changes moods, behavior, or consciousness.
____ 86. The period between normal onset of puberty and the beginning of adulthood.
____ 87. When a suicide sometimes results in other suicide attempts among adolescents in a community.
____ 88. Sexually transmitted disease.
____ 89. Learning the rights, obligations, and expectations of a role to prepare for assuming that role in the future.
____ 90. The meeting of people as a romantic engagement.
Match each item with the correct statement.
a. life structure k. mentor
b. dependency l. integrated personalities
c. early adulthood m. social gerontology
d. Alzheimer’s disease n. young-old
e. labor force o. unemployment rate
f. unintegrated personalities p. profession
g. middle adulthood q. armored personalities
h. gerontology r. middle-old
i. unemployment s. late adulthood
j. passive-dependent personalities t. old-old
____ 91. All individuals age 16 and older who are employed in paid positions or who are seeking paid employment.
____ 92. A high-status occupation that requires specialized skills obtained through formal education.
____ 93. The situation that occurs when a person does not have a job but is actively seeking employment.
____ 94. An organic condition that results in the progressive deterioration of brain cells.
____ 95. age 75–84
____ 96. The shift from being an independent adult to being dependent on others for physical or financial assistance.
____ 97. age 60–75+

6. ____ 98. The scientific study of the processes and phenomena of aging.
____ 99. Striving, ambitious people who keep a tight control over their anxieties and impulses.
____ 100. Someone who fosters an individual’s development by believing in the person, sharing the person’s dreams,
and helping the person achieve those dreams, a role model that helps the individual get started in adult life.
____ 101. ages 65–74
____ 102. The combination of statuses, roles, activities, goals, values, beliefs, and life circumstances that characterize an
individual.
____ 103. Passive people who are dependent on others.
____ 104. ages 40–59
____ 105. The study of the nonphysical aspects of the aging process.
____ 106. People with disorganized patterns of aging.
____ 107. ages 85 and older
____ 108. The percentage of the civilian labor force that is unemployed but actively seeking employment.
____ 109. Mature, flexible, happy people with rich inner lives who are open to new things and not afraid of their
emotions.
____ 110. Also known as the novice phase.
Match each item below with the correct statement.
a. deviance i. recidivism
b. stigma j. racial profiling
c. criminologist k. plea bargaining
d. strain theory l. police discretion
e. anomie m. crime syndicate
f. control theory n. white collar crime
g. cultural transmission theory o. primary deviance
h. differential association p. degradation ceremony
____ 111. The situation that arises when the norms of society are unclear or are no longer applicable.
____ 112. A large scale organization of professional criminals that controls some vice or business through violence or
the threat of violence.
____ 113. Explains deviance as a natural occurrence.
____ 114. The process of legal negotiation that allows an individual to plead guilty to a lesser charge in return for a
lighter sentence.
____ 115. Behavior that violates significant social norms.
____ 116. Nonconformity that goes undetected by those in authority.
____ 117. Social scientists who study criminal behavior.
____ 118. The frequency and closeness of associations a person has with deviant and nondeviant individuals.
____ 119. A mark of social disgrace that sets the deviant apart from the rest of society.

7. ____ 120. The process of labeling an individual as deviant which is usually performed in some type of a public setting in
which the individual is found guilty, denounced, and given the new identity of deviant.
____ 121. The practice that assumes that nonwhite Americans are more likely to commit crimes than white Americans.
____ 122. The considerable power that the police have to decide who is actually arrested.
____ 123. The explanation of deviance as a learned behavior.
Match each item with the correct statement.
a. social stratification g. proletariat
b. caste system h. social class
c. exogamy i. socioeconomic status (SES)
d. endogamy j. social mobility
e. class system k. poverty
f. bourgeoisie l. life chances
____ 124. Marriage within one’s own social category.
____ 125. A group of people with similar levels of wealth, power, and prestige.
____ 126. A rating that combines social factors such as educational level, occupational prestige, and place of residence
with the economic factor of income.
____ 127. The movement between or within social classes or strata.
____ 128. System in which scarce resources and social rewards are distributed on the basis of ascribed statuses.
____ 129. Marriage outside one’s own social category.
____ 130. Owners of the means of production in a capitalist society.
____ 131. The likelihood individuals have of sharing in the opportunities and benefits of society.
____ 132. Separation of members in society based on certain characteristics.
____ 133. The distribution of scarce resources and rewards that is determined on the basis of achieved status.
____ 134. A standard of living that is below the minimum level considered adequate by society.
____ 135. Workers who sell their labor in exchange for wages.
Match each item with the correct statement.
a. minority group k. assimilation
b. discrimination l. white ethnics
c. prejudice m. segregation
d. legal discrimination n. subjugation
e. Jim Crow laws o. ethnic group
f. ethnicity p. genocide
g. race q. stereotype
h. racism r. de facto segregation
i. scapegoating s. ethnic cleansing
j. cultural pluralism t. de jure segregation
____ 136. The practice of removing a group from a particular area through terror, expulsion, and mass murder.

8. ____ 137. A group of people who—because of their physical characteristics or cultural practices—are singled out and
treated unequally.
____ 138. An oversimplified, exaggerated, or unfavorable generalization about a group of people.
____ 139. The set of cultural characteristics that distinguishes one group from another.
____ 140. Laws passed in the 1800s requiring African Americans and white Americans to use separate facilities.
____ 141. Denial of equal treatment to individuals based on their group membership.
____ 142. Segregation based on laws.
____ 143. The blending of culturally distinct groups into a single group with common culture and identity.
____ 144. An unsupported generalization about a category of people.
____ 145. Policies that physically separate a minority group from the dominant group.
____ 146. This policy allows each group within society to keep its unique cultural identity.
____ 147. The extermination of an entire targeted population.
____ 148. A category of people who share inherited physical characteristics and who are seen as being a distinct group.
____ 149. Maintaining control over a group through force.
____ 150. People who have a common cultural background and a common sense of identity.
____ 151. The belief that one’s own race or ethnic group is superior to other races or ethnic groups.
____ 152. Form of segregation that is upheld by the law.
____ 153. Placing the blame for one’s troubles on an innocent individual or group.
____ 154. Collective reference to immigrants from the predominantly Catholic countries of Ireland, Italy, France,
Poland, and Greece.
____ 155. Segregation based on informal norms.

9. Sociology Exam Study Guide
Answer Section
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