GLOSSARY
a meaning to events, and varies in
different eras, geographical areas,
and within social groups.
Domestic labor Unpaid work
in the home, such as cooking,
cleaning, childcare, and looking
after the sick and elderly.
Economic determinism
A materialistic view of history that
claims that economic forces cause
all social phenomena and the
evolution of human society.
Elite A small group of people who
hold a disproportionate amount of
wealth and power in a society.
Emotional labor As defined by
Arlie Hochschild, paid work that
requires an employee to display
certain emotions with the aim
of inducing particular responses.
Empirical evidence Evidence
that can be observed by the senses
and measured in some way.
Enlightenment, the A cultural
and intellectual movement in 17th-
and 18th-century Europe, which
fused ideas about God, rational
thought, and nature into a world
view that prized logic and reason
over emotion and intuition.
Essentialism The belief that
entities or people have inherent
characteristics, properties, or
“essences” that define who or what
they are. This idea leads to the
view that specific categories of
people possess intrinsic traits.
Ethnicity The shared culture of
a social group (such as language
or religious belief) that gives its
members a common identity and
differentiates it from others.
Ethnography The study of
peoples and cultures.Ethnology The comparative study
of the differences between peoples
and cultures.Feminism A social movement that
advocates the social, political, and
economic equality of the sexes.
Feminism is recognized as having
had several “waves,” or eras, each
with a different agenda of issues.Feudalism A dominant historical
social system in which a warrior
nobility was rewarded with land for
providing military services to the
monarch, and then ruled over those
lands, benefitting from labor and
produce offered by vassals, or
peasants, in return for protection.Frankfurt School A school of
interdisciplinary social theory,
originally known as the Institute
for Social Research, and affiliated
to the University of Frankfurt.
The school fostered new Marxist
thinking in the 20th century.Functionalism In sociology, the
idea that society is structured
like a biological organism, with
specialized functions. Every aspect
of this society is interdependent
and contributes to the overall
functioning and stability.Gender The socially constructed,
rather than biological, differences
between men and women.Gender identity The way that
individuals are seen, by themselves
and others, in terms of their
gender roles and biological sex.Gender role The social behavior
expected from men and women.Gentrification A change in the
character of a run-down urban
community that is observable
through rising property prices and
an influx of wealthier individuals.Globalization The increasing
interconnectedness and
interdependence of societies
around the world, as media and
culture, consumer goods, and
economic interests spread globally.Glocalization The modification of
global forms—from fashion trends
to musical genres—by contact with
local communities and individuals.Habitus Building on Thomas
Aquinas’s idea that each of us
thinks of ourselves as a certain
kind of person, Pierre Bourdieu’s
concept refers to a set of acquired
dispositions whereby people of a
social class share cultural values.Hegemonic masculinity A given
society’s ideal of manliness. In
Western nations, this is associated
with heterosexuality, “toughness,”
wealth, and the subordination of
women. The idea emphasizes that
masculinity is an acquired identity.Hegemony The winning and
holding of power and the formation
of social groups during that
process. Antonio Gramsci says that
hegemony is how the dominant
social class maintains its position.Heterosexuality An attraction
toward people of the opposite sex.Homosexuality An attraction
toward people of the same sex.Hyper-reality As defined by
Baudrillard, the idea that there is no
longer a separate “reality” to which341