Key Words

Questão	Responda
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

Próximo

Descrição

Resumo de Recurso

Semelhante

	Criado por Joanna Griffith mais de 9 anos atrás