Hi my name is Olivier Levasseur, and I live in Blainville. I have been studying Social Science for just one session. This glossary is created to help new students that just started the Sociology course. The definition and the pronunciation of the words will help you understand the language and the fundamental basis of the course.
anomie
noun
A state or condition of individuals or society characterized by a breakdown or absence of social norms and values, as in the case of uprooted people.
Example: Secondly, the increased individualism and the attendant dangers of social anomie renders the old-style social democratic tendency to treat welfare rights as unconditional defunct.
en: anomie
colonization
noun
The action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area.
Example: The process of colonization projected the belief that foreign women are exotic.
en: colonisation
culture
noun
The quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.
Treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit:.
Example: For feminists the control and domination of men over women is central to any definition of violence against women; as 'domestic abuse is... one of the major universal ways in which women are subjected to discrimination while men retain power' (Mullender 1996, p.28).
en: discrimination
ethnocentrism
noun
A tendency to view other ethnic or cultural groups from the perspective of one's own.
Example: The judges referred to the behaviour as "barbaric", demonstrating ethnocentrism, a prejudice Hercules would not possess.
en: ethnocentrisme
generation
noun
All of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively.
Example: Hobbs consideration of the youth of the area aims to substantiate this relationship through the idea of the entrepreneurial culture being transmitted from 'generation to generation' (Hobbs 1989 117).
en: génération
macrosociology
noun
The sociological study of large-scale social systems and long-term patterns and processes.
Example: In contrast, microsociology focuses on the individual social agency.
en: macrosociologie
marginality
adjective
Sociology. marked by contact with disparate cultures, and acquiring some but not all the traits or values common to any one of them.
Example: In terms of the marginality of the women 'many women accused of witchcraft in Kent were active and integrated in local society, rather than passive and isolated' and '...able to draw upon at least some support when they were accused'.
en: marginalité
marxism
noun
The system of economic and political thought developed by Karl Marx, along with Friedrich Engels, especially the doctrine that the state throughout history has been a device for the exploitation of the masses by a dominant class, that class struggle has been the main agency of historical change, and that the capitalist system, containing from the first the seeds of its own decay, will inevitably, after the period of the dictatorship of the proletariat, be superseded by a socialist order and a classless society.
Example: While severely critical of marxism, Habermas does not reject it all.
en: marxisme
mesosociology
noun
Mesosociology is the study of intermediate (meso) social forces and stratification such as income, age, gender, race, ethnicity, organizations and geographically circumscribed communities.
Example: Mesosociology lies between analysis of large-scale macro forces such as the economy or human societies (which is a domain of macrosociology), and everyday human social interactions on a small scale.
en: mésosociologie
microsociology
noun
Microsociology is one of the main levels of analysis (or focuses) of sociology, concerning the nature of everyday human social interactions and agency on a small scale: face to face.
Example: Microsociology exists both as an umbrella term for perspectives which focus on agency, such as Max Weber's theory of social action, and as a body of distinct techniques, particularly in American sociology.
en: microsociologie
minority
noun
A group in society distinguished from, and less dominant than, the more numerous majority:.
Example: In a democracy there is also always the problem of a permanent and entrenched minority whose views and opinions are never heard or acted upon simply because the majority is always against them.
en: minorité
multiculturalism
noun
The preservation of different cultures or cultural identities within a unified society, as a state or nation.
Example: The developing trend of destinations investing in cultural tourism based on heritage, the arts and multiculturalism also continued.
en: multiculturalisme
nation
noun
A large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own.
Example: Western intellectuals linked the Japanese subordination of women to their weakness as a nation; a theory which was to be adopted by Japanese reformers such as those involved with the Meiji Six Journal , seeking to modernise and civilise their nation.6 It was seen as paramount to liberate women in society in order to 'gain international respectability for Japan'7 and thus to compete successfully in the global political economy.
en: nation
prejudice
noun
An unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
Example: Although several women, including Sophie Jex Blake, managed to gain university places, they were subject to prejudice and abuse by fellow students, and following their entry onto the Medical Register, universities changed their policies, ensuring that although women could study medicine, they would not necessarily qualify to practice it (Witz, 1992).
en: préjugé
segregation
noun
The act or practice of segregating; a setting apart or separation of people or things from others or from the main body or group.
Example: He categorises the Bristol West Indian society into mainliners, hustlers, saints and teenyboppers, dealing with each group separately he, arguably, creates an artificial segregation of the community.
en: ségrégation
social control
noun
Sociology. the enforcement of conformity by society upon its members, either by law or by social pressure.
Example: It also demonstrates social control by the elite, so this model could not be applied in egalitarian societies, where we should not find any vertical differentiation anyway.
en: contrôle social
social mobility
noun
Sociology. the movement of people in a population, as from place to place, from job to job, or from one social class or level to another.
Example: And it is an attempt to forge a new settlement between the individual and the state- engendering a society based upon pluralism, civic duty and social mobility.
en: mobilité sociale
stereotype
noun
A simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.
Example: Thus the Amnesty website material on blame culture addresses the stereotype that domestic violence is a working class problem.
en: stéréotype
suicide
noun
A person who intentionally takes his or her own life.
Example: This can be seen by the fact that in the past Catholic priests did not like to categorise the cause of a death as 'suicide', so the term 'natural cause' would have been used instead, resulting in a very different set of statistics in the end.