Sociology Key Concepts

From false consciousness to folkways, find definitions and discussions of key theoretical concepts offered by both classical and contemporary social theorists.

  • Little Italy and Chinatown - New York
    What Is Multiculturalism? Definition, Theories, and Examples
  • The Careful Balance of Functionalist Theory
    Understanding Functionalist Theory
  • Critics of diversity express racism in their protests.
    Defining Racism Beyond its Dictionary Meaning
  • Muslim mother holding her baby against blurry trees.
    What Is a Master Status?
  • A woman writes path analysis equations on a chalk board.
    Understanding Path Analysis
  • Boy with grandfather and father sitting on sofa
    What Is a Cohort Effect? Definition and Examples
  • A boy sitting in the corner of a classroom wearing a dunce cap symbolizes the effect that a self-fulfilling prophecy can have on student achievement.
    Definition of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Sociology
  • Using a crystal ball to predict the future
    Definition of a Hypothesis
  • A young Asian mother eats dessert with her daughter, demonstrating the concept of primary groups and primary relationships within sociology.
    Understanding Primary and Secondary Groups in Sociology
  • Protestors associated with Occupy Wall Street call for political and economic reforms, evoking the components of political process theory.
    Political Process Theory
  • Blue silhouette stands apart from a crowd
    What Is a Microaggression? Everyday Insults With Harmful Effects
  • Illustration of reading and research
    Understanding Validity in Sociology
  • Three men watching woman walk past
    Content Analysis: Method to Analyze Social Life Through Words, Images
  • People of different races work together to assemble a puzzle, symbolizing the concept of social order.
    What Is Social Order in Sociology?
  • An anxious line of consumers waiting to purchase the first Apple Watch and a smiling man who has purchased one symbolize aspects of consumerist culture.
    Definition of Consumerist Culture
  • A woman writes jottings in a notebook while conducting ethnography.
    What Is Ethnography?
  • Researchers review the results of a pilot study, which is an important step to assessing the feasibility of a larger research project.
    Pilot Study in Research
  • Caucasian woman holding a feather and ritual incense
    Sociological Xenocentrism
  • An illustration of conflict theory
    Understanding Conflict Theory
  • A robotic hand selecting a man for examination represents the creation of a purposive sample.
    Understanding Purposive Sampling
  • What is acculturation? The process by which an individual or group adopts the practices and values of one culture while still retaining their own culture of origin.
    Understanding Acculturation and Why It Happens
  • The midsection of a man playing chess
    What Is Game Theory?
  • Diverse group of women in a line laughing together against a plain wall.
    What Is the Meaning of Globalization in Sociology?
  • Students in a classroom wearing uniforms and raising hands
    Definition of a Formal Organization
  • A young girl mimics her mother as they apply makeup. We learn from reference groups how what is normal and how to behave.
    What Is a Reference Group?
  • Achieved status vs ascribed status
    Ascribed and Achieved Status in Sociology
  • Bingo balls coming out of a bingo machine.
    Simple Random Sampling
  • Grandfather and Boy Playing with Model Air...
    Kinship in Sociology: Definition in the Study of Sociology
  • A woman celebrating college graduation
    Understanding Meritocracy from a Sociological Perspective
  • Alcatraz prison in San Francisco
    What Is a Total Institution?
  • Close-Up Of Man Holding Lens
    The Major Theoretical Perspectives of Sociology
  • Businesswomen toasting with champagne in an office
    Understanding Social Exchange Theory
  • Symbolic Interaction Theory
    What Is Symbolic Interactionism?
  • A man breaks into a car with a crowbar
    Deviance and Strain Theory in Sociology
  • Crime scene barrier tape
    What Is Social Learning Theory?
  • A man from behind in handcuffs being lead away
    An Overview of Labeling Theory
  • An illustration of an equal sign made up of a crowd of people. Title: Feminist Theory.
    Feminist Theory in Sociology
  • Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx During Press Operations
    Understanding Critical Theory
  • Crossing signal
    Definition of Social Control
  • Black Lives Matter protest
    Definition of Systemic Racism in Sociology
  • Kim Kardashian and Kanye West
    Sociological Definition of Popular Culture
  • A Flyover View of a Complex Freeway Intersection in Los Angeles Illustrates the Modern City and Lifestyle That Results From the View of Modernization Theory
    A Brief Guide to Modernization Theory
  • A man assembles a puzzle of faces, signaling the analytic work done by macro and micro sociologists.
    Macro- and Microsociology
  • Overlapping silhouettes of Hands in a watercolor texture
    What Is Social Class, and Why Does it Matter?
  • A Smiling White Man Holds a Cigar and Croquet Mallet on the Lawn of a Luxurious Estate
    What Is Cultural Capital? Do I Have It?
  • Illustration of a business woman in a birdcage
    Understanding Max Weber's 'Iron Cage'
  • Base and superstructure
    Definition of Base and Superstructure
  • The View Through a Smartphone Camera Symbolize's the Definition of Ideology
    Theories of Ideology
  • Women holding up signs about intersectional feminism at the Women's March
    Definition of Intersectionality
  • The Village Fete by Jean Charles Meissonier symbolizes Gemeinschaft, or the German word for community that refers to social relationships rooted in tradition in small, rural communities.
    Overview of Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft in Sociology
  • An elderly man sleeps in a cafe
    Disengagement Theory
  • Turkish sunny morning breakfast with menemen (Turkish-style scrambled eggs with tomatoes, onions, and chilies) on Sunday Breakfast
    Definition of Cultural Relativism in Sociology
  • Illuminated modern, luxury home showcase exterior patio with lap pool and ocean view at twilight
    What Is Cultural Hegemony?
  • Crowd reaching for globe
    The Concept of Collective Consciousness
  • Laughing group of friends dining in rooftop garden
    Introduction to Discourse in Sociology
  • Anomie definition
    The Sociological Definition of Anomie
  • Black Lives Matter protesters carrying signs and speaking to journalists during Women's March.
    How Sociologists Define Human Agency
  • A street in China with a McDonalds and a Pepsi sign
    What Is Convergence Theory?
  • A woman looking through a magnifying glass represents interpretive sociology, which focuses on studying people's lives from their own perspective.
    How to Understand Interpretive Sociology
  • Man doing a case study
    Conducting Case Study Research in Sociology
  • A man holding handcuffs
    Understanding Resocialization in Sociology
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