Social Stratification

• Absolute poverty


  the point at which a household's income falls below the necessary level to purchase food to physically sustain its members
• Achieved status


  a social position a person takes on voluntarily that reflects personal ability and effort
• Affluence


  wealth; richness
• Ageism


  prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a person's age
• Aristocracy


  the highest class in certain societies, especially those holding hereditary titles or offices.
• Ascribed status


  A social position assigned to a person by society without regard for the person's unique talents or characteristics.
• Assimilation


  the social process of absorbing one cultural group into harmony with another
• Asylum seeker


  Someone who has migrated to another country in the hope of being recognized as a refugee
• Attitude survey


  a survey that focuses on employees' feelings and beliefs about their jobs and the organization
• Authority


  the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.
• Bias


  prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in a way considered to be unfair.
• Bourgeois


  a member of the middle class
• Bourgeoisie


  the middle class, including merchants, industrialists, and professional people
• Bureaucracy


  a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.
• Bureaucratic authority


  based on an organizational structure that includes a clearly defined division of labor, hierarchy of authority, formal rules, and impersonality
• Capitalism


  An economic system based on private ownership of capital
• Capitalist


  A person who has invested personal wealth in business
• Case study


  an observation technique in which one person is studied in depth in the hope of revealing universal principles
• Caste


  The class or distinct hereditary order into which a Hindu is assigned according to religious law.
• Censorship


  restriction on access to ideas and information
• Census


  A complete enumeration of a population
• Charismatic authority


  authority based on an individual's outstanding traits, which attract followers
• Class alignment


  Strong affiliations with a particular social class in society.
• Class dealignment


  The decline in the relationship between social class and voting
• Class struggle


  conflict between social or economic classes (especially between the capitalist and proletariat classes)
• Classless society


  Concept that Karl Marx believed in would be a result of a revolution due to class conflict
• Closed question


  Narrowly focused questions that require only brief answers such as yes or no
• Communism


  a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership
• Community


  All the different populations that live together in an area
• Confidentiality


  the act of holding information in confidence, not to be released to unauthorized individuals
• Conformity


  Adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.
• Consensus


  general agreement
• Constituency


  the people and interests that an elected official represents
• Content analysis


  a systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure of a communication, such as a written work, speech, or film
• Continuity


  we perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones
• Covert observation


  observation in which the observer's presence or purpose is kept secret from those being observed
• Culture of dependency


  The idea that social welfare systems encourage people to stay on benefits rather than support themselves through work
• Cycle of deprivation


  The idea that deprivation and poverty are passed on from parents to their children.
• Dark figure of crime


  Crime that is not reported to the police and that remains unknown to officials.
• Data


  Facts and statistics collected together for reference or analysis