Key Sociological Concepts

Accommodation: acceptance of their relative positions in a social situation by both the minority and dominant groups.

Acculturation: acceptance of dominant group's values by minority-group members.

Alienation: feelings of powerlessness, meaninglessness, and social isolation associated with certain social relationships.

Ascribed Status: a social position that is assigned to persons by society or by birth, such as age, sex, or race.

Assimilation: the process by which an entire culture is altered in important respects so as to conform to a dominant culture. Gradual loss of distinctiveness of minority groups absorbed into dominant population. The process by which minority groups are absorbed into dominant population. The process by which minority groups acquire the sociocultural patterns of the dominant group, which involves both cultural assimilation--the learning of day to day norms of a dominant group by minority group members and their internationalization of the dominant group's values, beliefs and ideas.

Cultural Pluralism: a pattern of ethnic group relations in which each ethnic group retains its fundamental values and norms incorporated from elements from the others.

Ethnocentrism: the attitude that one's own culture is superior to others, that one's own beliefs, values, and behavior are more correct than others; and that other people and cultures can be evaluated in terms of one's own culture. A tendency to understand the world only from the viewpoint of one's own culture.

Folkways: norms generally regarded as useful, but not essential for society; violation of these norms may bring about only mild censure or punishment.

Identity: a commitment to normative standards that allow observers to place us in relation to others and to expect certain behaviors from us.

Laws: norms formally chosen to be backed up by punishments for failure to conform to them, with particular social agencies designated to do the enforcing.

Mores: norms generally regarded as essential for the welfare of society and associated with strong feelings of right or wrong, violations of which inspire intense reaction and some type of punishment.

Norm: rules or expectations defining acceptable or required behaviors of individuals in social situations; norms are recognized by group members as essential to group maintenance.

Paternalistic Relationships (patriarchy): relationships in which one group (male-dominated) is subservient to another, given little responsibility, and has its basic needs provided for.

Power: the ability to achieve desired ends despite opposition. Ability to get others to do something that they wouldn't ordinarily do.

Social Control: attempts by society to regulate thoughts behaviors of individuals.

Social Movement: an organized effort to encourage or oppose some dimension of change.

Stigma: a powerful negative label that radically changes a person's self concept and social identity.

Symbol: anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture.

Values: culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness, and beauty that serve as broad guidelines for social life.

From https://www.sonoma.edu/users/l/leeder/pages/concepts.htm