Sociology Introductory Course Study Guide CLEP - A+ Graded Solutions

Sociology Introductory Course Study Guide CLEP - A+ Graded Solutions achieved status - answer - A status that individuals secure on the basis of choice and competition. altruistic suicide - answer - type of suicide that occurs where ties to the group or community are considered more important than individual identity affiliation motivated - answer - when one's actions are geared to helping them join or connect with a particular social status agricultural societies - answer - Societies that cultivate large amounts of crops with the plow and other relatively advanced tools and equipment. egoistic suicide - answer - suicide that results from social isolation and individualism fatalistic suicide - answer - suicide that occurs as a result of "too much" social regulation anomic suicide - answer - Suicide that occurs as a result of "too little" social regulation anomie - answer - A social condition in which people find it difficult to guide their behavior by norms they experience as weak, unclear, or conflicting. ascribed status - answer - social position a person receives at birth or involuntarily later in life status - answer - a social position that a person holds status set - answer - all the statuses a person holds at a given time. Sociology - answer - study of the evolution, development, and functioning of human society social change - answer - the transformation of culture and social institutions over time social control - answer - a group's formal and informal means of enforcing its norms social hierarchy - answer - The division of society by rank or class social mobility - answer - a change in position within the social hierarchy social movement - answer - a widely shared demand for change in some aspect of the social or political order social stratification - answer - a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a hierarchy Socialization - answer - the process by which people, especially children, learn socially desirable behavior by means of verbal messages; the systematic use of rewards and punishments, and other teaching methods socialization agents - answer - The people, institutions, and organizations that exist to help ensure that socialization occurs. Society - answer - an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization egoism - answer - Self-ism or "I"ism views self as reality and all other individuals as essentially unreal. authoritarianism - answer - A political system in which the government tolerates little or no opposition to its rules but permits nongovernmental centers of influence and allows debate on issues of public policy. Barter system - answer - a system of exchange in which goods or services are traded directly for other goods or services without the use of money. birth rate - answer - the ratio of live births in an area to the population of that area Bourgeoisie - answer - Those individuals who control the means of production. Upper class Bureaucracy - answer - A social structure made up of a hierarchy of statuses and roles that is prescribed by explicit rules and procedures and based on a division of function and authority. caste system - answer - a social structure in which classes are determined by heredity charismatic authority - answer - Power that is legitimated by the extraordinary superhuman or supernatural attributes people attribute to a leader. Church - answer - A religious organization that considers itself uniquely legitimate and enjoys a positive relationship with the dominant society. Cognitive Development theory - answer - Piaget's theory that children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world; children experiences expand as their brain develops; they move through 4 stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational collective behavior - answer - voluntary, often spontaneous activity that is engaged in by a large number of people and typically violat