Eduqas GCSE Sociology key terms

Ideas and beliefs that justify the ruling class’s position and present the existing social system as normal, fair or natural.

Protecting the welfare and safety of people, especially children or vulnerable groups.

A smaller group selected from a target population to take part in research.

A tendency for the way participants are selected to favour some members of the target population over others.

A list of members of the target population from which a sample can be selected, such as a school register.

A reward or punishment given in response to behaviour, used to encourage conformity to rules and norms.

People who support both their children and their ageing parents, often alongside paid work.

Unfairly blaming a person or group for wider social problems that they have not caused.

Information already collected by someone else and subsequently used by a researcher.

The process of learning society's norms and values through agencies beyond the family, such as schools and peer groups.

A process in which religion loses influence over social life, beliefs and behaviour.

An arrangement in which partners have clearly separated responsibilities, usually organised around traditional gender roles, and often spend leisure time separately.

A process in which an expectation affects how someone is treated and behaves, helping to make the original expectation come true.

Research asking people to disclose offences they have committed, including offences not known to the police.

The punishment imposed by a court on a person convicted of an offence.

A sequence of exclusive couple relationships, with one partner at a time rather than several simultaneously.

Grouping pupils by ability separately for each subject, allowing a pupil to be in different groups in different subjects.

Prejudice or discrimination based on a person's sex.

A person’s sexual orientation: their sexual or romantic attraction to others, for example heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual.

The state of not being in a couple relationship; it does not necessarily mean living alone.

A family consisting of two partners of the same sex and their children; also called a same-sex family.

A sample built through existing participants introducing the researcher to other potential participants.

A technique in which existing participants help a researcher find further participants from the same target population.

The expectations and roles society attaches to people of different ages, rather than simply how many years they have lived.

Relationships and networks that provide access to support, information and opportunities.

A social grouping based on economic position, including occupation, income and wealth.

The process through which a group restricts membership and excludes outsiders from its advantages.