Key terms & definitions

A pattern of personality characteristics involving strong respect for authority, rigid beliefs and hostility towards people perceived as lower in status.

Organisations or officials exercising public power, including central government, local councils and the police.

The right and ability to govern, command obedience and enforce decisions.

The power to make and implement business decisions and direct other employees within a particular area of responsibility.

The recognised power of a text, person or teaching to guide beliefs and actions.

Power that people accept as legitimate: they recognise a right to give instructions or make decisions.

The perceived right or power to issue orders and expect obedience.

A person whose position gives them the power or right to give orders, such as a teacher or police officer.

German motorways whose construction formed part of Nazi public works programmes.

An advert that encourages people to recall or imagine personal experiences, often using nostalgia to connect those experiences with a product.

Awareness of oneself as a person with a remembered past, linking present experience to personal history.

Memory of past personal experiences.

A poem in which a writer explores experiences from their own life, often selecting and reshaping memories to examine their meaning.

Writing about the writer’s own life and experiences, usually using a first-person viewpoint.

An account of a person’s life written by that person.

A machine that uses hot, pressurised steam to sterilise suitable equipment and growth media.

A system of government in which the ruler holds supreme power rather than being accountable to an elected parliament.

A system of government in which power is concentrated in one ruler.

Management in which the manager makes decisions with little or no employee involvement.

A condition caused by the immune system mistakenly attacking the body's own cells.

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body's own cells.

Production using machinery controlled by computers.

Being able to carry out a well-practised skill with little conscious attention.

The use of machines or computer-controlled systems to carry out tasks previously performed by people.

The use of machinery or technology to carry out production tasks automatically.

Using technology to carry out calculations or other processing repeatedly without performing each step by hand.

The use of machines or computer-controlled equipment to carry out manufacturing tasks with limited direct human input.

A mechanical figure that moves as though alive but lacks independent thought or feeling. Jane rejects this image when Rochester appears to disregard her emotions.

An automatic bodily process that does not require conscious control, such as regulation of heart rate.

The division of the peripheral nervous system that automatically regulates internal bodily functions, such as heart rate and digestion.