achieved status
A high social status acquired by individual effort or open competition (for example, through winning at sport), rather than from the status the person is born with. Compare ascribed status.
achievement orientation
The motive state of an athlete in an achievement situation; for example, whether the athlete is motivated out of a fear of failure or from a desire to succeed. Achievement orientation is influenced ...
action theory
A major orientation within sociology and related disciplines that privileges the analysis of the intentional behavior of individuals, or action. Action, in this narrow sense, is behavior that takes ...
Alfred Schutz
(1899 –1959)An Austrian sociologist who bridged the gap between the phenomenological study of everyday life and the analysis of higher-order social relations (see phenomenology). Schutz was educated ...
Alfred Stieglitz
(1864–1946)US photographer who established photography as a fine art in the USA and, through his galleries and publications, introduced Americans to modern art.Stieglitz was born in New Jersey, the ...
Alfred Weber
(1868–1958)German economist, brother of Max, who contributed to theories which explain patterns of industrial location as the outcome of competition for the most advantageous ...
Alvin Ward Gouldner
(1920 –1980)An American sociologist and critical theorist who diagnosed the “crisis” of post–World War II functionalism and explored the potential for radical politics in the modern era. Gouldner was ...
Antonio Gramsci
(1891–1937)Italian intellectual and founder of the Italian Communist Party.Born in Alès, Sardinia, Gramsci was educated at the University of Turin, where he studied history and philosophy. As a ...
ascribed status
In allocating roles and statuses, or imputing allegedly natural behaviours, cultures make varying use of kinship, age, sex, and ethnicity. Such ascribed characteristics cannot be changed by ...
authority
Legitimate power, decision-making capacity, and the means to cause others to obey. The word applies both to the abstract quality and to the individual or organization in command.
bureaucracy
[De]A type of organization marked by a clear hierarchy of authority, the existence of written rules of procedure, and staffed by full‐time, salaried officials. Often held to be one of the ...
Bureaucratic Politics
A term that came into vogue in the late 1960s in American political science, bureaucratic politics has become an accepted concept for the analysis of foreign policy decision-making. The “bureaucratic ...
capitalism
An economic system in which the factors of production are privately owned and individual owners of capital are free to make use of it as they see fit; in particular, for their own profit. In this ...
caudillismo
The system of rule by a caudillo (from Latin capitellum, meaning head). A caudillo is a political boss or overlord, the leader or chief of a politically distinctive territory. Caudillismo surfaced as ...
charisma
Is a quality possessed by some individuals that encourages others to listen and follow. Charismatic leaders tend to be self-confident, visionary, and change oriented, often with eccentric or unusual ...
charismatic authority
Authority based on the special personal qualities claimed by and for an individual, which make the individual attractive to and capable of influencing, large numbers of people. Originally used purely ...
Charles Horton Cooley
(1864–1929)Cooley was one of the first generation of American sociologists, but an eccentric who differed from most of his peers. Whereas the majority of the pioneers were Social Darwinists, Cooley ...
Charles Wright Mills
(1916–62)An influential US sociologist whose work on the nature of the class system and on the influence of the power elite in society countered the functionalist consensus of other sociologists of ...
civil service
Government posts were filled by patronage until well into the reign of Victoria. The Northcote–Trevelyan Report (1854) recommended changes, including entry to a civil service by competitive ...
class habitus
A set of dispositions which generate practices and perceptions. For Pierre Bourdieu, the notion of habitus is central to the analysis of class-based cultures. He notes (1978) that sports emerged in ...
