2422486
Description
Flashcards by Joanna Griffith, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by Joanna Griffith
over 9 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Deferred gratification | postponing immediate rewards or pleasures, generally with the aim of producing a greater reward at a later date |
| Immediate gratification | seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices in order to get rewards in the future |
| Present-time orientation | seeing the present as more important than the future and so having no long term goals or plans |
| Cultural capital | the knowledge, attitudes, values, language, abilities and tastes that the middle class transmit to their children |
| Material deprivation | poverty; a lack of basic necessities such as adequate diet, housing, clothing, or the money to buy these things |
| Cultural deprivation | the theory that many working class and social minority children are inadequately socialised and therefore lack the ‘right’ culture needed for educational success |
| Speech codes | patterns or ways of using language |
| Restricted code | the working class use this speech pattern which is context-bound and consists of short, grammatically simple sentences and limited vocabulary |
| Elaborated code | the middle class use this speech pattern which is context-free and consists of complex sentences and the ability to describe abstract ideas |
| Fatalism | the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable. You can’t change your position, “whatever will be, will be” |
| Collectivism | valuing being part of a group rather than an individual |
| Compensatory education | Government education policies such as operation HeadStart in the USA that seek to tackle the problem of underachievement by providing extra support and funding to schools and families in deprived areas |
| Marketisation | the policy of introducing ideas such as supply and demand to areas run by the state, such as education. The 1988 Education Reform Act introduced this idea by encouraging competition between schools and choice for parents |
| Triage | the process where schools sort pupils into categories like ‘hopeless cases’, ‘those who will pass anyway’ and ‘those who have the potential to pass’ in order to give priority to those who will boost the school’s exam league table ranking |
| Ethnocentric | seeing or judging things in a biased way from the viewpoint of a specific culture, eg. the National Curriculum in the UK is seen as ethnocentric as it values white culture, literature and music, and disregards other cultures |
| Labelling | the process of attaching a meaning or definition to an individual or group |
| Macro | a sociological approach to research that aims to find out WHAT is happening in society. This approach is considered to be quantitative because it is easier to use statistics to identify patterns and trends in society |
| Closed questions | questions that allow a limited choice of answers from a pre-set list. They produce quantitative data, and can easily be analysed |
| Open questions | questions that allow respondents to answer in as much depth as they want. The results will be more valid, but answers can be harder to analyse |
| Objectivity | analysing data in the absence of bias or opinions on the part of the researcher |
| Experiments | sociological studies carried out under test conditions in order to remove the influence of confounding factors |
| Interviews | a method of gathering information by asking respondents face-to-face or over the telephone. Interviews can be structured (pre-set, standardised questions with no room to expand answers), or unstructured (more like guided conversation, with time to get more valid answers) |
| Non-participant observation | a primary research method where the observer records events occurring from afar, without becoming involved in them |
| Participant observation | a primary research method where the observer takes part in activities with the group being studied, by having a role within the group |
| Questionnaires | a list of questions that is tailored by the researcher to collect data on their topic of study |
| Social survey | systematic collection of the same type of data from a particular population |
| Sample | a selection from the research population |
| Sampling unit | a member of the research population |
| Sampling frame | a list of members of the research population |
| Random sample | a sample which gives every member of the sampling frame an equal chance of being selected |
| Systematic sample | a systematic selection of people from the sampling frame, eg. every 10th member |
| Stratified sample | a sample which attempts to reflect particular characteristics of the research population. The population is divided into strata in terms of age, gender etc., and the sample is randomly drawn from each stratum |
| Quota sample | a stratified sample in which selection from the strata is not random |
| Snowball sample | members of the sample select each other |
| Volunteer sample | members of the sample are self-selected, eg. they choose to respond to a questionnaire printed in a magazine |
| Response rate | the percentage of the sample that participates in the research |
| Self-completion questionnaire | a questionnaire completed by the respondent |
| Structured interview/interview questionnaire | a questionnaire read out by an interviewer who also records the answers |
| Operationalise | translating concepts into a form which can be measured |
| Coding | classifying answers into various categories |
| Closed questions | questions in which the range of responses is fixed by the researcher |
| Open questions | questions which allow the respondent to answer in their own words |
| Postal questionnaire | a questionnaire mailed to respondents with a request to mail it back after completion |
| Structured interview | a questionnaire which is read out and filled in by the interviewer using all the same questions |
| Semi-structured interview | similar to a structured interview, but the interviewer is allowed to probe with additional questions that they think of during the interview |
| Unstructured interview | few, if any, pre-set questions, though researchers usually have certain topics they wish to cover. This is like a normal conversation |
| Group interviews | interviews which involve an interviewer and a group of respondents |
| Focus groups | group interviews in which the interviewer encourages respondents to discuss topics with each other |
| Interviewer bias | the effect that the interviewer has on the respondent's answers |
| Non-directive interviewing | an interviewing technique which seeks to avoid leading or directing respondents to answer in particular ways |
| Rapport | a friendly, trusting and understanding relationship |
| Ethnography | the study of the way of life of a group of people. It often involves an attempt to see the world from their point of view |
| Covert research | the identity of the researcher and purpose of the research are hidden from those being studied |
| Overt research | the identity of the researcher and purpose of the research are made clear to those being studied |
| Key informant | a member of a group being observed who develops a close relationship with the researcher and helps them by answering questions, introducing them to other members, and so on |
| Behaviour schedule | a checklist of activities which are noted on the schedule when they occur |
| Structured observational schedule | a fixed list of behaviours that a researcher can tick off during an observation, which allows them to then analyse the frequency of certain behaviours relevant to their research |
| Verstehen | when a researcher attempts to understand another person’s experience as deeply as possible |
| Pilot study | a small-scale trial run, used to test hypotheses, come up with new theories, allow interviewers to practise, and adapt questions in order to better suit the topic being studied |
| Hawthorne effect | where the subjects of a research study know that they are being studied, and begin to behave differently, altering the results of the study by reducing the validity |
| Informed consent | where the people taking part in a study understand the purpose of a study and have agreed to continue |
| Triangulation | A weakness in one method can be avoided by using a second method that is strong in the area that the first is weak |
| Social desirability | the tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that is viewed favourably by the rest of society |
| Validity | when data measures what is claims to be measuring, and shows a true picture of what social reality is like |
| Reliability | the extent to which an experiment, test, or measuring procedure yields the same results on repeated trials |
| Going native | when the researcher becomes too immersed in the group that they are studying, so loses objectivity |
| Functionalism | a consensus perspective that sees society as a collection of institutions with shared values and norms, that work together in order to keep society functioning properly |
| Social solidarity | when everybody in society shares the same norms and values, so can function together as a group |
| Value consensus | when everybody is socialised into the same norms and values |
| Meritocracy | a society in which everybody has an equal opportunity to succeed, as they are rewarded for their hard work and ability |
| Complex division of labour | the production of a single item requires many different skills, so people need to cooperate |
| Universalistic standards/impersonal rules | everybody follows the same set of values, as well as rules, which promotes social solidarity |
| Ascribed status | the status that a person automatically gains at birth, usually depending on what class they are born into |
| Achieved status | the respect and hierarchy that someone can gain throughout their life by working hard and being a high achiever |
| Marxism | a conflict perspective based on the ideas of Karl Marx. The perspective sees society as being made up of classes (the two main ones being the bourgeoisie, who own the means of production, and the proletariat, who must sell their labour) and functioning by exploitation |
| Conflict | a conflict theory is one where a group in society is constantly fighting to overcome another, or one group is considered superior to others |
| Inequality | when one group in society gets superior goods or opportunities to others, eg. the relationship between a factory owner and factory employee is unequal, as the factory owner is exploiting the worker’s labour to make a profit |
| Fallacy of meritocracy | the idea that meritocracy is an ideology that legitimises inequality by falsely claiming that everyone has equal opportunities and unequal rewards are the ‘natural’ result of unequal ability |
| False class conciousness | when a person is unaware that their current state of living is unequal - they may believe that there is nothing they can do about it |
| Exploitation | paying workers less than the value of their labour. According to Marxists, it is a process whereby the bourgeoise extract surplus value or profit from the labour of the proletariat. |
| Structuralist | theories that see individuals as being shaped by the way society is structured or organised (top-down) |
| Bourgeoisie | a Marxist term for the capitalist class, the owners of the means of production (factories, machinery, raw materials, land, etc.). Marx argues that the bourgeoisie's ownership of the means of production also gives them political and ideological power |
| Proletariat | the working class in capitalist society. They own no means of production and are ‘wage slaves’ forced to sell their labour power to the bourgeoisie in order to survive |
| Hierarchy | an organisation or social structure based on a ‘pyramid’ of senior and junior positions and top-down control; eg, an army with its different ranks and command from above |
| Ideological state apparatus | institutions such as religion, media, and education, which help to control people by socialising them into the dominant class ideologies, which teach them that they have no choice but to accept their fate, and in this way, prevent rebellion |
| Repressive state apparatus | using violence, in the form of the army, police, judicial system, and prisons, to enforce ruling class ideology and prevent rebellion |
| Correspondence theory | Bowles and Gintis’ concept describing the way in that the organisation and control of schools mirrors of ‘corresponds to’ the workplace in capitalist society. For example, the control teachers exert over students mirrors the control managers exert over workers |
| Hidden curriculum | things learnt in the education system that are not formally taught, and are simply acquired through the everyday workings of a school, such as obedience, conformity and competitiveness |
| Hegemony | when socially powerful people use their power to force people of a lower status than them to obey, by convincing them that it is within their best interests |
| New Right | a conservative political perspective whose supporters believe in self-reliance and individual choice, rather than dependence on the state. They believe in applying free market principles, eg. the marketisation of education, and argue that generous welfare benefits encourage the growth of an underclass |
| marketisation | the policy of introducing market forces of supply and demand into areas run by the state, such as education and the NHS. The 1988 Education Reform Act began the marketisation of education by encouraging competition between schools and choice for parents |
| new vocationalism | the idea that education should be primarily about meeting the needs of the economy, especially by equipping young people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to prepare them for work |
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