Key Words

• What is absolute poverty?

  People lack resources for survival e.g. food or heating
• What is censorship?

  The government controls the news and hide some inappropriate content
• What is ethnography?

  An in depth study into a culture which may mean living with them and can include observation
• What are life chances?

  People's chances of achieving positive or negative outcomes throughout their lives e.g. being healthy or ill
• What are interest groups?

  People who carry out and take part in focus groups
• What is means of production?

  The bourgeoise own the companies that employ and exploit the proletariat
• What is propaganda?

  The government use media to try to control our thoughts and opinions
• What is social network?

  How people are connected to each other e.g. social media
• What is a welfare scrounger?

  People who fake needing benefits
• What is social stratification?

  Describes the way society is structured in a hierarchy of layers that are unequally ranked one above the other
• What is social inequality?

  Refers to the uneven distribution of money, power and life chances related to education, employment and health
• What is social class?

  Refers to an individual's economic position in society, based on factors such as on how much money you own, your job and the status that comes with it
• What is an open society?

  A society where social class can be achieved and social mobility is possible
• What is wealth?

  Ownership of assets such as property, land etc. also includes money held in savings or shares
• What is income?

  Can be given in cash e.g. wages or kind e.g. company car
• What is status?

  Social standing or prestige that an individual is given by others
• What is power?

  The ability of an individual or group to get what they want
• What is ascribed status?

  Social positions are fixed at birth and unchanging over time
• What is achieved status?

  Earned on the basis of personal talents or merit
• What was feudalism?

  A society that operated in medieval Europe with the King at the top of the hierarchy and peasants at the bottom. An individual's position in society was ascribed and there was little/no chance of moving into the next estate so it was a closed society
• What is a closed system?

  Status is ascribed and cannot be changed. You are in that position for life
• What was apartheid?

  A government policy of segregation based on ethnicity which applied to all aspects of society e.g. access to education was segregated based on race in South Africa
• What is social mobility?

  People's movements up or down a society's strata ( in the UK this is between social classes )
• What is intra-generational social mobility?

  Movement over a person's lifetime e.g. through a promotion
• What is inter-generational social mobility?

  Movement between generations e.g. a child entering a different class from their parents
• What is the privatised nuclear family?

  A self contained, self reliant and home centred family unit that is separated and isolated from its extended kin, neighbours and local community
• What is the embourgeoisement thesis?

  In the late 50s/ early 60s some sociologists argued the process of embourgeoisement was taking place. This suggested working class families were becoming more middle class in their norms and values as their incomes and standards of life improved e.g. less focus on collectivism and more on individualism
• What is chronological age?

  Depends on what year you were born, determines your rights and responsibilities e.g. voting
• What is biological age?

  Related to physical changes in the body e.g. puberty
• What is youth?

  A transitional stage in which individuals 'grow up' and move to adulthood e.g. finishing school. Youth was created in the 20th century when teenagers emerged as a social category with their own clothes, music etc.
• What is ageism?

  It is used to describe a situation when a person is treated differently because of their age. Young people and the elderly may experience negative stereotyping on the basis of their age which can lead to discrimination. The government has tried to overcome this through legislation e.g. The Equality Act 2010
• What is ethnicity?

  A shared cultural identity which distinguishes one social group from another
• What is ethnic group?

  People within a society who share a distinct identity based on a common culture or history
• What is race?

  The classification of people based on apparent physical differences
• What is assimilation?

  Immigrants should abandon their culture in favour of the culture of the majority. The assimilation model originated in the USA
• What are the lupenproletariat?

  Drop outs and criminals in society
• What are the petty bourgeoise?

  Owners of small businesses
• What is the bourgeoise?

  The ruling class in society
• What is the proletariat?

  The lower class in society
• What is ruling class ideology?

  Values and ideas e.g. freedom such as the free market serve to disguise exploitation and oppression