introduction to sociology.

• Subculture


  Social group that shares ideals/values which break away from the norm
• Bourgeoisie


  The social order that is dominated by the middle class
• Ethos


  The characteristics of a culture, era, or community
• Socio-economic


  The interaction between the social and economic habits of a group of people
• Attainment


  How long you have kept something up or an educational achievement
• Marxist


  The belief that middle and upper class control working class and they believe this wrong
• Functionalist


  A group of sociologists believe every aspect of society performs a positive function in society, and exists because it brings benefits to our lives. They believe we need inequality so that everything has a place
• Material Deprivation


  Inability to afford basic resources. This will mean pupils are unable to afford things like sufficient food, heating or clothing and educational resources, which is subsequently very likely to affect educational performance and lead to underachievement
• Socialisation


  The act of mixing with others
• Communism


  When the state owns everything and individuals cannot own anything. Communists believe that the upper class have an unfair advantage as they are raised to become leaders and succeed, whereas the working class do the opposite
• Pupil premium


  Additional funding from the government that hopes to raise their achievement
• Stigma


  A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person
• Capitalism


  The economic arrangement we have in our country and causes inequality as it creates winners and losers in business
• Proletariat


  Working-class people - value labouring
• White working class


  The lowest achievers
• Parental aspiration


  Goals parents set for their children regarding doing well in school etc
• Cohort


  A group of people with a shared characteristic
• Local authority


  Responsible for state-funded schools and colleges at a local level
• Parental encouragement


  How much your parents take an interest in your education and how much they motivate or push you and how well they want you to do
• Meritocracy


  People achieve better things based on their own accomplishments - people get success or power because of their abilities, not because of their money or social position - functionalists believe this in education
• Feminism


  The advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes
• National curriculum


  Dictates that all schools have to teach the same thing in KS1, KS2 and KS3
• Bourdieu


  Sociologist who put forward the idea of cultural capital
• Material factors


  Refer to money and what money can buy, such as good-quality housing, healthy food, good living conditions, clothing, equipment and so on
• Upper class


  The social group that has the highest status in society, especially the aristocracy
• Cultural factors


  Set of values and ideologies of a particular community or group of individuals
• Interactionalist


  Sociologists who study interactions between people
• Self fulfilling prophecy


  A belief that leads to its own fulfillment
• Laddish subluctures


  When boys wanna be cool
• Social cohesion


  Good members of society
• Consensus theory


  Where a society functions as a result of a group's common interests and values
• Agents of socialization


  How you learn about the norms and values in society. Through Family Education Peer groups Religion Mass media Schools Legal systems
• Privilege


  Certain social advantages, benefits, or degrees of prestige and respect that an individual has by virtue of belonging to certain social identity groups
• Old boys network


  An informal system in which wealthy men with the same social and educational background help each other
• Class reproduction


  Where your kids will have the same cultural capital you did creating a divide in classes and grades in school
• The functionalist view on education


  Education is seen as performing a beneficial role in society. Functionalists believe in meritocracy. They argue that education is an important social institution that helps meet the needs of society and maintain stability
• The feminist view on education


  Feminists argue that schools are patriarchal which leads to girls underachieving. Feminists believe that education is an agent of secondary socialisation that helps to enforce patriarchy
• Gender identity


  How you identify in terms of the gender you have been socialised into
• Primary Data


  Data collected by the sociologist first hand - research is conducted by the researcher themselves
• Secondary Data


  Data collected by someone else - not the researcher; an existing organisation such as schools or the government