Cultural Relativism Folkway Material Culture Mores Nonmaterial Culture Sanction Subculture Content Analysis Empirical Research Dependent Variable Field Research Historical Analysis Independent Variable Principle that people s beliefs and activities should be interpreted in terms of their own culture Informal norm that is mildly punished when violated Artifacts of a society that represent adaptations to the social and physical environment Highly codified formal systematized norms that bring severe punishment when violated Knowledge beliefs customs values morals and symbols that are shared by members of a society and that distinguish the society from others Social response that punishes or otherwise discourages violations of a social norm Values behaviors and artifacts of a group that distinguish its members from the larger culture Form of unobtrusive research that studies the content of recorded messages such as books speeches poems songs television shows web sites and advertisements Research that operates from the ideological position that questions about human behavior can be answered only through controlled systematic observations in the real world Variable that is assumed to be caused by or to change as a result of the independent variable Type of social research in which the researcher observes events as they actually occur Form of social research that relies on existing historical documents as a source of data Variable presumed to cause of influence the dependent variable Nonparticipant Observation Participant Observation Qualitative Research Quantitative Research Self fulfilling Prophecy Achieved Status Ascribed Status Coalition Conflict Perspective Culture Dyad Globalization Latent Function Macrolevel Form of field research in which the researcher observes people without directly interacting with them and without letting them know that they are being observed Form of field research in which the researcher interacts with subjects sometimes hiding his or her identity Sociological research based on nonnumeric information text written words phrases symbols observations that describes people actions or events in social life Sociological research based on the collection of numeric date that uses precise statistical analysis Assumption or prediction that in itself causes the expected event to occur thus seeming to confirm the prophecy s accuracy Social position acquired through our own efforts or accomplishments or taken on voluntarily Social position acquired at birth or taken on involuntarily later in life Subgroup of triad formed when two members unite against the third member Theoretical perspective that views the structure of society as a source of inequality that always benefits some groups at the expense of other groups Language values beliefs rules behavior and artifacts that characterize a society Group consisting of two people Process through which people s lives all around the world become economically politically environmentally and culturally interconnected Unintended unrecognized consequences of activities that help some part of the social system Way of examining human life that focuses on the broad social forces and structural features of society that exist Manifest Function Microlevel Norm Organization Out Groups Primary Group Role Secondary Group Social Institution Society Structural Functionalist Perspective Symbol Symbolic Interactionism above the level of individual people Intended obvious consequences of activities designed to help some part of the social system Way of examining human life that focuses on the immediate everyday experiences of individuals Culturally defined standard or rule of conduct Large complex network of positions created for a specific purpose and characterized by a hierarchical division of labor The groups to which we don t belong and toward which we feel a certain amount of antagonism Collections of individuals who are together for a relatively long period whose members have direct contact with and feel emotional attachment to one another Set of expectations rights obligations behaviors duties associated with a particular status Relatively impersonal collection of individuals that is establish to perform a specific task Stable set of roles statuses groups and organizations such as the institutions of education family politics religion health care or the economy that provides a foundation for behavior in some major area of social life A population of people living in the same geographic area who share a culture and a common identity and whose members are subject to the same political authority Theoretical perspective that posits that social institutions are structured to maintain stability and order in society Something used to represent or stand for something else Theoretical perspective that explains Triad Value Altruistic Suicide Anomic Suicide Comparative Method Egoistic Suicide Fatalistic Suicide Individualistic Explanation Sociological Imagination society and social structure through an examination of the microlevel personal day to day exchanges of people as individuals pairs or groups Group consisting of three people Standard of judgement by which people decide on desirable goals and outcomes Type of suicide that occurs where ties to the group or community are considered more important than individual identity Type of suicide that occurs when the structure of society is weakened or disrupted and people feel hopeless and disillusioned Research technique that compares existing official statistics and historical records across groups to test a theory about some social phenomenon Type of suicide that occurs in settings where the individual is emphasized over group or community connections Type of suicide that occurs when people see no possible way to improve their oppressive circumstances Tendency to attribute people s achievements and failures to their personal qualities Ability to see the impact of social forces on our private lives Sociology Systematic study of human societies