For Applied Sociology, MSREE.

Definitions of Sociological Terms:

Achieved Trait = An individual characteristic, such as education, skill level, and job
experience, that people are able to change through their efforts.
Anomie = A condition of normlessness in a society or in a group.
Anthropology = Physiological and psychological science of mankind.
Ascribed Trait = A characteristic that people cannot change.
Assimilation = the process by which a minority is gradually integrated into the dominant
majority culture.
Belief = Firm opinion in or acceptance of what one considers as true.
Capitalism = A mode of production in which means of production, such as land, tools,
equipment, factories, and knowledge and information, are privately owned.
Caste System = A stratification system in which a person's lifelong status is determined
at birth on his or her parent's ascribed characteristics.
Cohort = People who are born in the same period of time [ e.g., a five year period].
Collective Action = Attempts by a group of people to pursue their common interests by
either promoting some change or resisting a proposed change.
Collective Conscience = The totality of beliefs and sentiments common to average
citizens of a society.
Crude Birth Rate = The number of live births in a given year per 1,000 people in a
population.
Crude Mortality Rate = The number of deaths in a given year per 1,000 people in a
population.
Crude Net Migration Rate = An indicator of the extent to which a population's size is
increasing or decreasing as a result of migration patterns.
Cultural Lag = A period of delay that occurs when one part of society changes but other
parts have not changed accordingly.
Culture = the meanings that are shared by a collection of people and that are expressed
in symbols, rituals, stories, narratives, values and worldviews.

Demographic Transition = The change within a society from a population characterized

by high birth and death rates to a population with low birth and death rates.
Demographics = The characteristics and dynamics of human populations.
Discrimination = Actions and practices by members of a dominant majority group that
have a harmful impact on members of a dominated minority group.
Driving Force = An element that moves the plot of a scenario and determines a story's
outcome.
Ecological Approach = Research that focuses on the interaction between living
organisms and their environment.
Emigration = Movement out of a population.
Equilibrium = A state of balance among the parts of a whole.
Ethnicity = A category of people who share a common cultural tradition.
Exploitation = The process through which some social actors become better off because
other social actors become worse off.
Externality = A consequence of an action that is unintended and therefore does not
figure into the initial determinations of the price of some activity or commodity.
Fertility = The incident of childbirth within a population.
Gender = A socially constructed classification system that exaggerates the differences
between males and females.
Gender role = The expected behaviours that are socially linked to each sex.
Gendering = The process of differentiating the sexes based on traits and activities that
people believe are associated with either men or women.
Hierarchy = a system in which people or things are arranged according to their
importance. Or arrangement of societies in various strata
Human Capital = The skills and abilities that allow a person to do specific tasks and that
are accumulated by people making investments in themselves that increase their
productivity.
Ideology = A set of beliefs about how a society works.
Immigration = Movement into a population.

Income = Money derived form wages, salary, governmental transfers, and returns on
investments.
Industry = A branch of activities devoted to the production of a particular goods and
service.
Infant Mortality = The number of deaths of infants under one year of age for each
1,000 live births in a given year.
Institution = Durable organisation for promotion of some public objective(s).
Internal Colonization = The situation in which members of a conquered minority are
economically and politically controlled by a majority group.
Internal Migration = Changes in residency that occur whining a society's borders.
Language = A set of symbols that enable people to communicate with each other.
Latent Pattern Maintenance = The process through which a society maintains and
transmits values.
Life Expectancy = The number of years a person can expect to live on average.
Looking Glass Self = the sense of self derived from how a person thinks that others view
him or her.
Majority = A category of people who are numerically more than 50 percent of the total
population.
Means of Production = Resources such as people, land, tools and equipments, factories
and buildings, and knowledge and skills that people use to produce useful things and
services.
Mechanical Solidarity = Social bonds among persons based on shared moral sentiments.
Migration = The movement of people into and out of a population residing in a specific
territorial area.
Minority = A category of people who are numerically less than 50 percent in a
population.
Mobilization = The marshalling of resources that are needed for a collective action to
occur.

Mode of Production = The economic system through which people produce useful
goods and services.
Mortality = The extent of death within a population.
Norms = Shared rules and expectations that govern behaviour.
Occupation = Sets of jobs that involve similar activities or tasks.
Organic Solidarity = Social bonds based on a complex division of labour that connects
members of industrialised societies.
Organisation = A social entity in which people are connected by a coordinated division
of labour designed to attain a goal or set of goals.
Paternalism = The idea that women, like children, are inferior creatures in need of
protection.
Patriarchy = A system of social organisation in which men have power over women.
Power = The ability to realise one's interests despite the resistance of others.
Prejudice = An attitude of liking or disliking that involves a strong belief about an entire
category of people.
Race = A category of people who share a biologically transmitted trait that members of a
society view as socially significant.
Racism = The belief that those in certain racial or ethnic categories are innately superior
and those in other race or ethnic categories are innately inferior.
Ramification = Possible results of an action. ( or multiple consequences of an action ).
Reference Group = A social group that serves as a point of references for a person's
decisions and judgement.
Ritual = A culturally meaningful pattern of behaviour.
Role = The behaviours expected of someone when he or she occupies a particular status.
Role Conflict = The incompatibility between two or more different roles that a person
occupies.
Role Expectation = The behaviours expected according to a role's norms.

Sex = The distinction between men and women that is based on their biological and
physical difference.
Sexism = The belief that one sex, usually men, is innately superior to the other sex.
Sexual Division of Labour = The process through which tasks are assigned to people
based on their sex.
Social Capital = a. (World Bank's definition)" the institutions, relationships, and norms
that shape the quality and quantity of society's social interactions. Social Capital is not
just the sum of the institutions which underpin society it is the glue that holds them
together."
b. (WHO's definition) " Social Capital represents the degree of social
cohesion which exists in communities. It refers to the processes between people, which
establish networks, norms and social trust, and facilitate co-ordination and co-operation
for mutual benefits."
Social Connections = Forms of social organisation that shape human action and
interactions.
Social Construction of Reality = The process through which people create their social
worlds through interaction.
Social Ecologist = A social scientist who examines the relation between the physical and
social aspects of communities.
Social Function = An activity that is necessary for the survival of an entire society or
social entity.
Social Group = A social entity consisting of two or more social actors who have in
common some trait that connects them together and provides the basis for their
interaction.
Social Movement = An organised and concerted effort to promote social change by
individuals and groups.
Social Movement Organisation = A formal organisation that works toward social
movement goals.
Social Mobility = Movement of person or group from one strata of society to another.
Social Network = A set of social ties among social actors.
Social Relationship = An enduring social interaction between two or more social actors.

Social Stratification = The processes through which resources and opportunities are
distributed among social actors.
Social Structure = The organising principle of a social system that generates relatively
stable patterns of behaviour.
Socialisation = The process of learning how to behave in expected ways within roles.
Sociation = Patterns and forms of social associations and interactions.
Society = Organised mode of life, with its customs, culture, organisations, and
institutions. Or " Society is a group of people who have lived together, sharing common
values and general interests for long enough to be considered by others and by
themselves as a unit", ..[ according to J. B, Chitambar: Introductory Rural Sociology,
New Age International Publishers, reprint 2005]
Sociology = The study of social connections and the social interactions that occur in
society. Or Science of the development and nature and laws of human society.
Status = A position that is connected through a social relationship.
Stereotype = A set of characteristics that are attributed to all members of some specific
group or social category of people.
Structural Functionalism = The theoretical framework that examines how social
entities survive through the functioning of their parts.
Suburbanisation = The process whereby people leave central cities for areas outside
cities that are either adjacent to a city or within commuting distance.
Symbol = An object or behaviour that conveys a specific meaning to the people who
share a culture.
Technology = The tools, knowledge, and skills people use to achieve some practical
purposes.
Theory = A set of concepts and propositions that people use to develop explanations of
observable phenomena.
Traditions = Customs and beliefs that are passed down from generation to generation.
Urbanisation = The process whereby people move from rural areas to cities.
Worldview = An overall perspective through which people see and understand what goes
on around them.

[[ Note: Most of these definitions are taken from: David S. Hachen JR.: Sociology in Action, 2001, Pine Forge Press.
Some definitions listed here may require elaboration and / or assessed with other definitions in other texts. Other terms
and concepts other than these basic terms listed here shall be dealt with in class ]]