Counterculture
Cases in which one group in a society espouses rules, values, or beliefs that conflict with mainstream culture.
Beliefs
What we deem to be true.
Values
What a society holds to be desirable, good, and important.
Norms
Expectations about the appropriate thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of people in a variety of situations.
Folkways
Rules of behavior for common and routine interactions.
Mores
Widely held beliefs about what is considered moral and just behavior in society.
Nonmaterial culture
Concepts such as norms, values, beliefs, symbols, and language.
Material Culture
Consists of artifacts ranging from tools to products designed for leisure. Reflects the values and beliefs of the people who live in a culture.
Manifest Functions
Obvious and stated reasons that a social institution exists.
Latent Functions
Unintended consequences of an institution.
Dysfunctions
Unintended consequences of behavioral patterns.
Dramaturgy
Explains the interaction among small groups by looking at the social actors, the social scripts the actors follow, and the props the actors use to enhance their performances.
Presentation of Self
Efforts to shape the physical, verbal, visual, and gestural messages we give to others to achieve impression management.
Front Stage
Where an interaction takes place.
Symbolic Interaction
Social reality continuously created through social interaction.
Social Constructs
An idea, concept, or category that does not exist in nature on its own but is created, maintained, and given meaning by society.
Structural Functionalism
A social system of interdependent parts.
Conflict Theory
Social order characterized by competing groups and classes each pursuing their own interests.
Participant Observations
Observing action and interaction while participating as part of the social context being studied.
Ethnography
Research that systematically studies how groups of people live and make meaning by understanding the group from its own point of view.
Content Analysis
When researchers use texts and systematically categorize elements of those texts based on a set of rules.
Qualitative Analysis
Analyzing primarily on information that is not numerical, such as words or images.
Random Sampling
A sample in which everyone who meets the criteria for participation in a study has an equal chance of being selected.
Generalizability
Whether it is possible to assume that the patterns and relationships observed among the sample in the research study would also hold true for the broader population.
