Sociology key terms

An organisation of workers or employees that promotes and protects their interests, for example by negotiating pay and working conditions.

Authority accepted because of established customs and inherited status.

The overall direction of change in data over time.

Cross-checking findings by comparing evidence obtained through different methods or sources.

The secondary education system established following the 1944 Education Act, comprising grammar, secondary technical and secondary modern schools.

The combination of paid work, domestic work and emotional work, such as maintaining relationships and supporting family members.

A socially produced image of the kind of person thought likely to commit crime, commonly stereotyped as young, male and working-class, and often from an ethnic minority background.

In Murray’s account, a group at the bottom of society characterised by dependency and behaviour he regarded as outside mainstream values. This definition is contested.

Working fewer than full-time hours while being willing to work more hours if they become available.

Being without a job while actively seeking work and available to start, or having found a job and being due to start it shortly.

A group that buys and uses goods and services. Zaretsky argues that families support capitalism through this spending.

A household whose members work together to produce goods or food, for example through farming or a family craft business.

Support available to everyone within an eligible category, rather than awarded according to low income.

Benefits available to everyone meeting the relevant category conditions without a test of income or assets. Child Benefit is an example.

A rule or criterion applied to everyone regardless of their personal relationships or background.

Common standards applied to everyone regardless of family ties; also called universalistic standards, these describe how Parsons believed schools and wider society judge achievement.

Looking after or helping someone who needs support without receiving wages for doing so.

Household work, such as cleaning, cooking and caring, carried out without wages.

Beliefs about how family members or relationships should behave that overlook the difficulties and variation found in real family life.

A crime brought to police attention that does not enter police-recorded crime statistics.

A crime that is not brought to the attention of the police.

Data or a sample that does not accurately reflect the wider population being studied.

A sample that does not reflect the relevant characteristics of its population.

A flexible, in-depth interview without a fixed schedule of questions, allowing the researcher to explore issues raised by the respondent.

A social convention learned through socialisation and experience rather than formally documented.

A small, privileged social class at the top of the class hierarchy, associated with substantial wealth, often inherited, and access to high status and influence.

Relating to towns and cities, often densely populated.

The extent to which a method or finding accurately captures what it is intended to investigate.

A belief about what is important, desirable or right.

Agreement among members of a society about its important values and goals.