Sociology key terms

A survey designed to investigate people’s opinions, beliefs or feelings about a topic.

Power accepted as legitimate: people recognise an individual’s or group’s right to direct them.

The allocation of pupils to broad groups according to their perceived academic ability.

A vertically extended family with several generations alive but few members in each generation.

A set of ideas and values through which people understand the world and guide their actions; it may be religious or non-religious.

Someone who dishonestly claims benefits to which they are not entitled.

A systematic influence that distorts research, its findings or its interpretation.

Being married to more than one person at the same time, by marrying again while an existing marriage continues. It is a criminal offence in the UK.

A family in which one or both partners have children from a previous relationship. Also called a reconstituted family or step-family.

An adult child who returns to live with their parents after previously leaving the parental home.

In Marx’s theory, the capitalist class that owns and controls the means of production and employs workers.

A person whose earnings provide the main financial support for a household.

An organisational system involving a hierarchy of officials, specialised responsibilities and formal rules and procedures.

Authority attached to an official position within a bureaucracy and exercised according to formal rules; a form of legal rational authority.

Directing children towards activities or objects considered appropriate for their gender, such as giving girls dolls and boys toy cars.

An economic system in which businesses and productive resources are mainly privately owned and production is organised for profit.

A detailed investigation of a particular example, such as one family, organisation or community.

A stratification system in which membership is inherited at birth and traditionally linked to particular occupations and restrictions on social relationships.

A geographical area used by a school when giving priority to applicants for admission.

A relationship in which a change in one factor produces a change in another.

The control or suppression of information and ideas, often through government control of communication.

A questionnaire survey intended to collect information about the whole population rather than a sample, normally conducted every ten years in the UK.

Authority accepted because followers believe a leader has exceptional personal qualities.

A family in which children’s care, education, safety and happiness are central priorities.

The ways parents or carers bring up children, including providing care, setting boundaries, teaching behaviour and offering emotional support.

The argument that the criminal justice system treats women more leniently than men, particularly women who conform to gender stereotypes.

A school subject concerned with life in modern Britain, including citizenship and participation in society.

A grouping of people who share a similar market situation and therefore similar economic opportunities.

A strong association between social class and voting behaviour.

A struggle between social classes whose economic interests oppose one another.