bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
City
Authors: Bairner Alan
Published: September 2017

Cities were a feature of all the great ancient civilizations. Relatively small by modern standards, ancient cities nevertheless facilitated a far more diverse range of activities than was possible in other forms of human settlement. The city and the urban way of life that accompanies it, however, inasmuch as they have interested sociologists, are of more recent origin and are closely linked to the rise of industrialism.
Civil Minimum
Authors: Suzuki Yasushi
Published: September 2017

According to Japanese political scientist Keiichi Matsushita, “civil minimum” is a minimum standard for living in urban society that should be assured by municipalities. It comprises social security, social overhead capital, and public health. Civil minimum is based on the right to life, and should be considered as the postulate of urban policies, decided through democratic procedures including citizen participation, and indicated by numerical goals. It may vary from municipality to municipality, but it should exceed the “national minimum.”
Civil Religion
Authors: Yamane David
Published: September 2017

Civil religion refers to the cultural beliefs, practices, and symbols that relate a nation to the ultimate conditions of its existence. The idea of civil religion can be traced to the French philosopher Jean‐Jacques Rousseau's
On the Social Contract
(1762). Writing in the wake of the Protestant–Catholic religious wars, Rousseau maintained the need for “social sentiments” outside of organized religion “without which a man cannot be a good citizen or faithful subject.” The broader question motivating Rousseau concerned political legitimation without religious establishment.
Civil Rights Movement
Authors: Morris Aldon
Published: September 2017

Just 50 years ago African Americans were a severely oppressed group. They did not enjoy many of the basic citizenship rights guaranteed by the US Constitution. This was especially true of the American South, where large numbers of black Americans resided. In fact, state laws explicitly denied many of these rights and prevailing social customs disregarded them altogether.
Civilization and Economy
Authors: Garner Roberta , Garner Larry
Published: September 2017

“The economy” is a social institution that is constructed and reproduced through human action, as human beings collectively produce their conditions of survival and well‐being.
Civilizations
Authors: Eisenstadt S. N.
Published: September 2017

The approach to the civilizational dimension in sociological analysis presented here is based on a shift in the comparative analysis of institutions which took place in the early 1970s. This was essentially a move from a strong emphasis on structural differentiation, as well as to some extent on ecological factors as the major criteria according to which societies have to be compared – an emphasis to be found in many of the evolutionary approaches of the 1950s and 1960s – to a perspective which stresses the interweaving of structural aspects of social life with its regulatory and interpretive context. The central analytical core of the concept of civilization as presented here – in contrast to such social formations as political regimes, different forms of political economy or collectivities like “tribes,” ethnic groups, or nations, and from religion or cultural traditions – is the combination of ontological or cosmological visions, of visions of transmundane and mundane reality, with the definition, construction, and regulation of the major arenas of social life and interaction.
Class, Status, and Power
Authors: Ultee Wout
Published: September 2017

Class, Status, and Power is the title of an edited collection by Reinhard Bendix and Seymour Martin Lipset. The first edition was published in 1953, and after several reprints a thoroughly revised edition appeared in 1966. “Class, status, and power” is also an apt name for the research program that dominated the sociology of stratification in the first decades after World War II. This program denied the existence, in all times and in every society, of one fundamental dimension of stratification and viewed societal stratification as three‐dimensional, with the task of sociological research being to determine in concrete cases the interplay of class, status, and power and its consequences for the extent to which societies change or are stable.
Class and Voting
Authors: Evans Geoffrey
Published: September 2017

Class voting refers to the tendency for citizens in a particular social class to vote for a given political party or candidate rather than an alternative option when compared with voters in other classes. Though apparently simple, this notion has generated considerable intricacy and ambiguity. The definition of social class has been much debated, as have measures of class position and attempts to summarize statistically the class–vote association. Explanations of patterns of class voting are little in evidence and of uncertain generality. Nevertheless, despite these unresolved disputes concerning measurement and theory, there has at least been a substantial body of research into whether or not levels of class voting have weakened as western democracies have moved from being industrial to post‐industrial societies.
Class and Voting
Authors: Evans Geoffrey
Published: September 2017

Class voting refers to the tendency for citizens in a particular social class to vote for a given political party or candidate rather than an alternative option when compared with voters in other classes. Though apparently simple, this notion has generated considerable intricacy and ambiguity. The definition of social class has been much debated, as have measures of class position and attempts to estimate statistically the class‐vote association. Despite these unresolved disputes concerning measurement and theory, however, there have been two substantial areas of empirical and theoretical development: (1) a large body of research into whether or not levels of class voting have weakened as western democracies have moved from being industrial to postindustrial societies; (2) an ensuing research program examining the mechanisms through which relationships between class position and party choice are formed and evolve.
Cognitive Dissonance Theory (Fessinger)
Authors: Miller Monica K. , Jehle Alayna
Published: September 2017

Cognitive dissonance theory posits that individuals seek to maintain consistency among multiple cognitions (e.g., thoughts, behaviors, attitudes, values, or beliefs). Inconsistent cognitions produce unpleasant arousal that leads individuals to change one of the cognitions to bring it into line with other cognitions.
Cohabitation
Authors: Sassler Sharon L.
Published: September 2017

The past few decades have brought dramatic changes in the residential arrangements of romantically involved unmarried adults. Indeed, as sexual activity has become uncoupled from marriage, growing numbers of young couples have begun sharing a home and a bed without the legal sanction of marriage. Cohabitation, as this type of living arrangement is commonly known, has become a normative part of the adult life course.
Cohabitation
Authors: Sassler Sharon L. , Miller Amanda Jayne
Published: September 2017

The past few decades have brought dramatic changes in the residential arrangements of romantically involved unmarried adults. As sexual activity became uncoupled from marriage, growing numbers of young couples began sharing a home and a bed without the legal contract of marriage. Cohabitation, as this type of living arrangement is commonly known, has become a normative part of the adult life course.
Coleman, James (1926–1995)
Authors: Marsden Peter V.
Published: September 2017

James S. Coleman ranks among the most influential sociologists of the twentieth century. Coleman's scholarship pursued several linked lines of inquiry in parallel, but centered on understanding and improving the performance of social systems. He led a study of inequality in educational opportunity (Coleman, Campbell et al. 1966) that had a major impact on US educational policy and served as a model for much subsequent policy research in social science.
Foundations of Social Theory
(1990), his principal theoretical work, outlined an approach to understanding social phenomena resting on interdependent purposive actions. He viewed the rising prominence and power of large organizations (“corporate actors”) as the most distinctive feature of contemporary society, and contended that social science and social theory should help to develop new forms of social organization that are more attentive to the interests and welfare of natural persons. Coleman's work has enduring influence on social theory, educational research, organizational analysis, mathematical sociology, and policy research, among other fields.
Collective Consciousness
Authors: Wortmann Susan
Published: September 2017

Two components of Durkheim's project are to establish sociology as a discipline in its own right, distinct from psychology, and to understand and demonstrate the dependence of human beings upon their societies. These come together in Durkheim'same collective(collective mind). This concept, commonly referred to by sociologists as the “collective consciousness” or “conscience collective,” exemplifies the crucial role that the social plays in human behavior. While theorists disagree about the ultimate role of the collective consciousness in Durkheim's overall work, the idea of such an entity still provokes discussion, critique, theoretical application, and empirical testing.
Collectivism
Authors: Badahdah Abdallah M.
Published: September 2017

Collectivism is a cultural pattern that emphasizes the importance of in‐group goals, conformity, loyalty, social harmony, and preserving in‐group integrity. The concepts of collectivism and individualism have a long history in the social sciences. For example, Ferdinand Tönnies suggested that in aGemeinschaft(community), people have strong personal connections, common values and goals, and a sense of unity and loyalty. In aGesellschaft(society), in contrast, people focus more on their personal interests and gains and less on their sense of belonging. Also, Émile Durkheim contrasted traditional societies with modern ones. In traditional societies, individuals have similar values, conform to the collective's rules and standards, and exhibit little personal uniqueness. In modern societies, conformity to the collective rules and standards is viewed as disadvantageous and personal uniqueness is promoted and expected.
Colleges and Universities
Authors: Brint Steven
Published: September 2017

The distant predecessors of colleges and universities go back in the West to the Greek academies of the fourth and fifth centuries
bce
. In these academies, young men from the governing classes studied rhetoric and philosophy (and $@#*^%#@#ldquo;lesser$@#*^%#@#rdquor; subjects) as training for public life (Marrou 1982). In the East, the roots of higher education go back to the training of future government bureaucrats at the feet of masters of Confucian philosophy, poetry, and calligraphy. In both East and West, a tight relationship existed between social class, literate culture, and preparation for public life.
Colonialism (Neocolonialism)
Authors: Go Julian
Published: September 2017

Colonialism refers to the direct political control of a society and its people by a foreign ruling state. Essentially it is a political phenomenon. The ruling state monopolizes political power and keeps the subordinated society and its people in a legally inferior position. But colonialism has had significant cultural, social, and economic correlates and ramifications. Neocolonialism is the continued exercise of political or economic influence over a society in the absence of formal political control.
Colonialism (Neocolonialism)
Authors: Ashcroft Bill
Published: September 2017

The term colonialism describes a dominant form of cultural exploitation that developed with the expansion of Europe over the last 400 years. Although many earlier civilizations had colonies, and although they perceived their relations with them to be one of a central
imperium
in relation to a periphery of provincial, marginal, and barbarian cultures, a number of crucial factors entered into the construction of the post‐Renaissance practices of imperialism. Edward Said offers the following distinction: “‘imperialism’ means the practice, the theory, and the attitudes of a dominating metropolitan centre ruling a distant territory; ‘colonialism’, which is almost always a consequence of imperialism, is the implanting of settlements on distant territory” (Said, 1993: 8).
Color Line
Authors: Wright Earl
Published: September 2017

In 1903, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois penned the phrase: “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color‐line, – the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea” (Du Bois 1994 [1903]: 9). This thunderous statement, appearing in his classic text
The Souls of Black Folk
, served as Du Bois's clarion call for the nation, grappling with tense and volatile relations between blacks and whites, to engage in objective and thorough research on black Americans. Research and propaganda on the color line would be Du Bois's life's work. Some of his book‐length treatments of the color line include his Harvard dissertation,
Suppression of the African Slave‐Trade to the United States of America, 1638–1870
,
The Philadelphia Negro
, and
The Souls of Black Folk
. While each of these books, in addition to the many articles he wrote on the subject, are considered classic works in the area of race, arguably, Du Bois's most impressive and influential research on the color line consists of the investigations he spearheaded as the director of research at Atlanta University between 1897 and 1914.
Commodities, Commodity Fetishism, and Commodification
Authors: Sammond Nicholas
Published: September 2017

Commodities
are things that are useful, or that satisfy human needs. The requirements to which commodities are applied may be fundamental – such as food or shelter – or they may be more ephemeral, such as the desire to appear attractive or successful. The term “commodity” dates back to the late Middle Ages and once carried a variety of meanings, including advantage, convenience, ease, or, in Elizabethan slang, a woman or her genitals. As it is understood today, however, a commodity is a product that is bought and sold. This narrowing of the term came about with the rise of capitalism as the central organizing principle of Euro‐American economic and social life.
Community and Economy
Authors: Etzioni Amitai
Published: September 2017

Community and economy are two distinct realms of social life. In communities, we largely deal with one another as persons. We value people not only in their own right, but also as neighbors, friends, and those with whom we share a concern for the common good. In the economy, we largely deal with one another as buyers and sellers, as consumers and marketers, and as management and labor. In this realm we often seek to maximize our self‐interest. Some people will seek advantage in the realm of community; for example, they may seek to form business connections in the country club. Other people do develop relationships of friendship and loyalty at work. Still, there are basic differences between the two social realms that exist along the lines previously mentioned.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Authors: Baer Hans A.
Published: September 2017

Various terms have been bandied around over the past several decades for a wide array of heterodox medical systems, ranging from professionalized to folk medical systems. Within the US context, the term that has become commonplace in various circles is
complementary and alternative medicine
, whereas, for example, in Australia it is simply
complementary medicine
. At any rate, historically, medical sociologists have tended to focus on various aspects of biomedicine, including medical dominance and professionalism, and have tended to ignore alternative medical systems. Exceptions include the work of Walter Wardwell, Lesley Biggs, David Coulter, Ian Coulter, and Evan Willis on chiropractic in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Conversely, medical anthropologists have conducted studies of shamanism and other indigenous and folk medical systems as well as the phenomenon of medical pluralism in complex societies. In modern industrial or post$@#*^%#@#hyphen;industrial societies, in addition to biomedicine, the dominant medical subsystem, one finds other medical subsystems, such as homeopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, religious healing systems, and popular and folk medical systems. Patterns of medical pluralism tend to reflect hierarchical relations in the larger society, including ones based upon class, caste, racial, ethnic, regional, religious, and gender divisions. The medical system of a complex society consists of the totality of medical subsystems that coexist in a generally competitive, but sometimes collaborative or even cooptative, relationship with one another.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Authors: Baer Hans A.
Published: September 2017

Various terms have been bandied around over the past several decades for a wide array of heterodox medical systems, ranging from professionalized to folk medical systems. Within the US context, the term that has become commonplace in various circles is “complementary and alternative medicine,” whereas, for example, in Australia it is simply “complementary medicine.” At any rate, historically, medical sociologists have tended to focus on various aspects of biomedicine, including medical dominance and professionalism, and have tended to ignore alternative medical systems. Exceptions include the work of Walter Wardwell, Lesley Biggs, David Coulter, Ian Coulter, and Evan Willis on chiropractic in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Conversely, medical anthropologists have conducted studies of shamanism and other indigenous and folk medical systems as well as the phenomenon of medical pluralism in complex societies. In modern industrial or postindustrial societies, in addition to biomedicine – the dominant medical subsystem – one finds other medical subsystems such as homeopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy, religious healing systems, and popular and folk medical systems. Patterns of medical pluralism tend to reflect hierarchical relations in the larger society, including ones based upon class, caste, racial, ethnic, regional, religious, and gender divisions. The medical system of a complex society consists of the totality of medical subsystems that coexist in a generally competitive, but sometimes collaborative or even co‐optative, relationship with one another.
Complexity and Emergence
Authors: Sawyer R. Keith
Published: September 2017

Complex phenomena reside between simplicity and randomness. When the laws governing a system are relatively simple, the system's behavior is easy to understand, explain, and predict. At the other extreme, some systems seem to behave randomly. There may be laws governing their behavior, but the system is highly non‐linear, such that small variations in the state of the system at one time could result in very large changes to later states of the system. Such systems are often said to be
chaotic
. Complex systems are somewhere in between these two extremes: the system is not easy to explain, but it is not so chaotic that understanding is completely impossible.
Compositional Theory of Urbanism
Authors: Schwartz Jennifer
Published: September 2017

Compositional theories of urbanism assert that urban unconventionality and urban$@#*^%#@#ndash;rural differences are due mainly to the social characteristics (i.e., class, race/ethnicity, age) of city dwellers. The density and heterogeneity that define the urban environment do not affect how people relate to one another or cause people to deviate. In other words, there are no independent effects of city life on people's behaviors.
Confidence Intervals
Authors: Cumming Geoff
Published: September 2017

A confidence interval (CI) is an
interval estimate
of a population parameter. It is a range of values, calculated from data, that is likely to include the true value of the population parameter. When a newspaper reports “support for the government is 43 percent, in a poll with an error margin of 3 percent,” the 43 percent is a
point estimate
of the true level of support in the whole population. The CI is 43 ± 3 percent, or (40, 46 percent). The 3 percent is half the width of the CI, and is called the
margin of error
. The endpoints of the CI are the
lower
and
upper limits
or
bounds
.
Confidence Intervals
Authors: Cumming Geoff
Published: September 2017

A confidence interval (CI) is an
interval estimate
of a population parameter. It is a range of values, calculated from data, which is likely to include the true value of the parameter. When a newspaper reports “support for the government is 43 percent, in a poll with an error margin of 3 percent,” the 43 percent is a
point estimate
of the true level of support in the population. The CI is 43 ± 3 percent, or (40, 46 percent). The 3 percent is half the width of the CI, and is called the
margin of error
. The endpoints of the CI are the
lower
and
upper limits
or
bounds
.
Connubium (Who Marries Whom?)
Authors: Bernardi Fabrizio
Published: September 2017

The question “Who marries whom?” refers to patterns of partner choice. The tendency to marry (or enter a long‐term relationship such as cohabitation) a person who belongs to the same social group or who is similar with regard to certain characteristics is also known as homogamy. Since Weber argued that connubium (i.e., marriage) is one of the indicators of status group closure, homogamy has become a key object of study in order to highlight properties of the social structure. Sociologists have traditionally been interested in three individual characteristics that can be important in the choice of a partner: race/ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic resources. Studying patterns of partner choice is important because it allows us to evaluate the degree of openness of the boundaries of different ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic groups. The more frequent marriage between subjects who differ with respect to the characteristics of the group, the more open the group is said to be. Substantively, the likelihood of ethnic intermarriages has been interpreted as an indicator of the level of integration and social cohesion between different ethnic groups. Religious intermarriages reflect the strength of different religions in conditioning individual life choices. Finally, socioeconomic homogamy is related to the openness of the system of social stratification and affects the overall level of social inequality. In fact, in a society with the maximum level of socioeconomic homogamy, all men with a high educational level and occupational class would marry women with a high educational level and occupational class. Conversely, in a society with a minimum level of socioeconomic homogamy, men with a high educational level and occupational class would marry women with a low educational level and occupational class, and the other way around. If one assumes that the social position of a couple results from the combination of both of their resources, then inequality among couples will be highest in the society with a maximum level of homogamy, and lowest in the society with a minimum level.
Constructionism
Authors: Swatos William H.
Published: September 2017

Preeminently the result of Berger and Luckmann's book
The Social Construction of Reality
(1966), constructionist theory claims that what human beings at any moment hold to be $@#*^%#@#ldquo;real$@#*^%#@#rdquor; in social experience is itself a social creation, and in that moment is simultaneously a social product and production. Drawing particularly upon the work of Mead and Sch$@#*^%#@#uuml;tz, they posit a three$@#*^%#@#hyphen;moment dialectic using the concepts of
externalization
,
objectivation
, and
internalization.
Society is a human product. Society is objectively real. $@#*^%#@#ldquo;The human$@#*^%#@#rdquor; is a social product. These three simple sentences provide a theoretical structure for understanding both in and through time how people relate not only to their external social world, but also to their own identities. Constructionist theory simultaneously incorporates and supersedes role theory inasmuch as it extends beyond roles to both reality and identity. That is, both where I am and who I am socially become both the effect and cause of where I am and who I am socially in and through an unending process of interaction sequences that constitute not merely social experience but also human being itself.
Consumption and the Chicago Tradition
Authors: Sanford Marc M.
Published: September 2017

For the sociologists of the Chicago School, or those formed in that tradition, consumption of goods and services provides a degree of contextuality that locates actors in social and physical space and time. These places and spaces are contextualized through culture, consumption, land values, and myriad other social forces. Consumption adds character to the individual, but also creates external effects in the local neighborhood. For Chicago School sociologists, consumption essentially operates in two ways. First, the location of businesses drives land values that cause a shift in the local population composition. Second, consumption of goods, products, and services characterizes populations according to urban versus rural status, ethnicity, neighborhood, gender, and age. Later theorists in the Chicago mold duly noted the reflexive nature of social networks and local ecology on consumption patterns and identity construction.
Consumption, Fashion and
Authors: Kaiser Susan B.
Published: September 2017

Fashion can be understood sociologically as ongoing, processual changes in the “strong norms” (Crane 2000) associated with matters of taste, sensibility, and what it means to be “in the moment.” Social institutions ranging from science, media, and cultural politics to products and practices – all of which tap shifts in cultural moods – are susceptible to fashion's processes. Among the most intimate of normative changes, however, are those in which consumers engage as they fashion their bodies in everyday life. One of the most compelling theoretical and empirical questions surrounding fashion is its relation to shifting cultural moods, as well as to just who shapes, and is affected by, these shifts and the strong norms that eventually accompany them in a deeply personal and embodied way. What propels the need for changes in personal appearance styles on an ongoing basis? And how is fashion negotiated socially? That is, how do new ideas about how to look become strong norms within or across social groups? From a sociological point of view, fashion is about more than the latest runway styles presented by celebrity designers; it has to do, instead, with collective ways of making connections with others and, at the same time, marking differences. This nuanced blend of identification and differentiation is the hallmark of fashion. Fashion requires collective consumer acceptance and, simultaneously, marks differences among consumers.
Consumption, Girls' Culture and
Authors: Best Amy L. , Lynn Randy
Published: September 2017

Modern girlhood can hardly be understood without attention to the influence of commodities and practices of consumption over modern constructions of self. For a large number of girls in modern America, participating in the consumer realm is a defining feature of life as a girl. Yet, the meaning of girls’ consumption has changed considerably over time. The explosion of the Internet, the emergence of segmented marketing as an alternative to mass marketing, the arrival of an organized feminist movement, and demands for external regulation by consumer advocacy groups all come to bear upon the distinct historical relationship between girls and consumption.
Consumption and Intellectual Property
Authors: McLeod Kembrew
Published: September 2017

The rise of capitalism, the invention of the printing press, and the commodification of literary and artistic domains helped lay the economic, technological, and legal‐philosophical groundwork that led to the development of intellectual property laws. There are three major categories of intellectual property law – copyright, trademark, and patent law – though it was copyright law that was the first piece of legislation to arise from the collision of those above‐mentioned concepts. In 1710, Britain passed the Statute of Anne, which was akin to modern copyright law, and in 1790 the US Congress passed a copyright law similar to this British statute.
Consumption, Provisioning and
Authors: Southerton Dale
Published: September 2017

Provisioning refers to the social and economic organization of the delivery and consumption of goods and services. Its conceptual application falls within three, not mutually exclusive, areas. First is the relationship between production and consumption, spheres of economic and social life often treated empirically and theoretically as separate from one another. Connections between production and consumption are acknowledged (supply and demand being examples), but their relationship tends to be approached from production‐ or consumption‐led perspectives (Lury 1996). Second, by bringing together production and consumption, provisioning is a concept employed to address socioeconomic change. Third, it draws attention to modes other than economic markets through which goods and services reach consumers.
Consumption, Provisioning and
Authors: Southerton Dale
Published: September 2017

Provisioning refers to the social and economic organization of the delivery and consumption of goods and services. There are two principle conceptual applications. The first refers to modes of provision – recognizing the many “modes” through which goods and services are provisioned (e.g., state, household, communal) and correcting for overemphasis on just one mode (markets); each mode has significant implications for how consumption is accessed, delivered, and experienced. The second refers to “systems of provision” – emphasizing the need for “vertical” analyses of particular goods or services by exploring the relationships between the many factors that shape its production and consumption, which contrasts with “horizontal” analyses that identify processes of consumption generically and extrapolate key features to be applied across a range of goods and services. After a discussion of some of the limitations of these approaches, the significance of provisioning in current debates about sustainable consumption is considered.
Consumption, Religion and
Authors: O'Neil Kathleen M.
Published: September 2017

The connection between religion and consumption has been investigated by a wide range of scholars. Topics examining this relationship include: the rise of capitalism and the nature of modern capitalism, competition among religious organizations for religious consumers, the consumption of religious goods and services, as well as consumption as a secular religion.
Consumption Rituals
Authors: Otnes Cele C.
Published: September 2017

Consumption rituals can be defined as holidays, special occasions, and other sacred events characterized by the intensive (and sometimes excessive) consumption of goods, services, and experiences. At such events, individuals engage in both consumption and other behaviors with actions that can be characterized as formal, serious, and intense (Rook 1985). Consumption rituals are distinct from other, more mundane types of consumption‐laden activities to the extent that they provide opportunities for individual and social transformations which may be temporary or permanent. For example, eating a family dinner might contain some elements of ritualistic behavior (e.g., saying grace at the beginning). In contrast, dinners occurring on Christmas or Thanksgiving are regarded as ritualistic because they commemorate important holidays in the culture, involve gatherings of people not present at “everyday” dinners, and feature special foods and beverages that are reserved and prepared for such occasions.
Consumption, Spectacles of
Authors: Binkley Sam
Published: September 2017

The use of the word “spectacle” in relation to practices of consumption has a specific intellectual genealogy that extends to the radical critiques of a group of French Marxists – the Situationists or the Situationist International – though the term has also come to denote a broader transformation of consumer culture into an expression of visual media. Deriving from Guy Debord's use of the term in the title of his 1967 anti‐capitalist screedThe Society of the Spectacle, to speak of spectacles of consumption is to invoke a critical reading of a fetishized relation to commodities that obscures real social relations, and passifies the spectator‐consumer in a synthetic world (Debord 1994). Spectacular consumption, in this sense, asks us to see only the appearance of commodities and not their deeper social character – a misrecognition which alienates us from our personal and social lives while presenting the world of goods as one possessing dynamism and livelihood. While the world of spectacle becomes increasingly vital, so the theory goes, one's own life becomes increasingly empty and thing‐like. Yet, in a more modest sense, to speak of consumption as spectacular is to refer to the preponderance of visual symbols, images, and aestheticized surfaces in the design and marketing of goods and services, with no specific claim concerning its wider cultural and political impact (Featherstone 1991). In what follows, the spectacular nature of consumption is discussed with reference to these two distinct meanings: as a general expression of visual culture, and as a uniquely fetishized relation to social life.
Convenience Sample
Authors: Lunneborg Clifford E.
Published: September 2017

Convenience samples are best described as what they are not. They are non‐probability samples. That is, no attempt is made in their construction to sample randomly from any well‐defined population. Random sampling is almost always difficult and expensive, often prohibitively so. Convenience samples, as the name implies, are more easily obtained. They may be self‐selected respondents to a mail‐out survey. Or they may be readily to hand, patrons of a local gay bar who agree to be interviewed.
Convenience Sample
Authors: Clark Roger
Published: September 2017

A convenience sample is a nonprobability sample that involves a group of elements that is easily accessible to a researcher. Convenience samples are the most popular type of nonprobability samples used by publishing social scientists. They share with other types of nonprobability samples – for example, purposive, quota, and snowball samples – the problem of not being technically generalizable. Nonprobability samples, including convenience samples, do not meet the basic assumption of inferential statistics: that an estimate can be made of the chance that members of the population have been included in the sample. Nonetheless, research using convenience samples can be very useful for establishing the plausibility of relationships among variables, a desirable step for theory‐building.
Conversation Analysis
Authors: Peräkylä Anssi
Published: September 2017

Conversation analysis (CA) is a method for investigating the structure and process of social interaction between humans. It focuses primarily on talk, but integrates also the nonverbal aspects of interaction in its research design. As their data, CA studies use video or audio recordings made from naturally occurring interaction. As their results, CA studies yield descriptions of recurrent structures and practices of social interaction. Some of these, such as turn taking or sequence structure, are involved in all interaction, whereas others are more specific and have to do with particular actions, such as asking questions or delivering and receiving news, assessments, or complaints. CA studies can focus either on ordinary conversations taking place between acquaintances or family members, or on institutional encounters where the participants accomplish their institutional tasks through their interaction. CA elucidates basic aspects of human sociality that reside in talk, and it examines the ways in which specific social institutions are invoked in, and operate through, talk.
Convivium (Who Is Friends with Whom?)
Authors: Volker Beate
Published: September 2017

Friendship as a relationship is sociologically interesting because there is no institutional surrounding or embeddedness of friendships: While social institutions certify the start and the end of a marriage, friendships can be started, changed, or broken without notifying any other party. This entry reviews the most important theories and empirical findings on adult friendships and friendship networks.
Couples Living Apart Together
Authors: Holmes Mary
Published: September 2017

Living apart together
(LAT) broadly refers to couples, heterosexual or homosexual, who have an ongoing self‐defined couple relationship without cohabiting. Some couples keep separate residences, even though they both live within the same locale. Levin (2004) has suggested that the dual‐residence aspect of LAT couples distinguishes them from a
commuter marriage
where there is one main household and just a second apartment for when one partner is away. However, with many commuter couples it is difficult to say which might be the “main” household. Distance perhaps better demarcates LATs from commuter marriages. LAT couples may live near each other, or far apart. Typically, those in commuter couples have residences at some distance and spend time apart in order for both partners to pursue professional careers. Such arrangements now encompass not just heterosexual and married couples, and for that reason Holmes (2004) uses the term
distance relationship
. LAT can serve as an umbrella term for all couples with dual residences. What the terms LAT, commuter marriage, and distance relationship have in common is that they refer to situations in which the woman partner/s has some independent existence, in ways not seen in the past.
Couples Living Apart Together
Authors: Holmes Mary
Published: September 2017

The term “Living Apart Together” (LAT) refers to heterosexual or same‐sex couples who have an ongoing self‐defined couple relationship without cohabiting. Some couples keep separate residences, even though they both live within the same locale. Irene Levin (2004) argues that the dual‐residence aspect of LAT couples distinguishes them from acommuter marriagewhere there is one main household and just a second apartment for when one partner is away. However, with many commuter couples it is difficult to identify the “main” household. The fact that they travel some distance to reunite is perhaps a more significant difference. Those commuting are in a distance relationship, spending time apart in order for both partners to pursue professional careers. The term “distance relationship” does not just focus on heterosexual married couples (Holmes, 2014). LAT can serve as an umbrella term for all noncohabiting couples. The terms “LAT,” “commuter marriage,” and “distance relationship” have in common reference to relationships in which women have more independence than in the past.
Courts
Authors: Yeh Yenli
Published: September 2017

Courts cover broad perspectives (Gifis 1998). First, the court is a part of the judicial branch of the government consisting of a judge or a few judges responsible for adjudging disputes under the laws. Second, the court represents a judge or judges on the judicial bench. Third, the court is a legislative assembly that interprets laws. Fourth, the court stands for a legal system or process.
Crime
Authors: Whitehead John T.
Published: September 2017

Criminologists differ on how they define crime. One definition is a legal definition: crime is a violation of the criminal law. Criminologists Edwin Sutherland and Donald Cressey call this the conventional definition of crime because it is the commonly used definition. They add that it is typical to distinguish a crime from a tort. A crime is a violation against the state whereas a tort is a violation against an individual and the civil law. Hence in criminal law the charge readsThe State of ____v.John Doewhile in civil court it isMary Smithv.John Doe. A dramatic example of crime versus tort occurred in one of the most well‐known crimes of the twentieth century, the O. J. Simpson matter. In criminal court he was acquitted of the crime of murder but he was found civilly liable for wrongful death in civil court. Two such trials do not violate the constitutional protection against double jeopardy (being tried twice for the same crime), because criminal and civil court are considered two completely distinct systems and civil court carries no stigma of a criminal conviction.
Crime, Biosocial Theories of
Authors: Ellis Lee
Published: September 2017

Most sociologists do not believe that biological factors play a significant role in causing crime, instead attributing it almost entirely to social learning. Sociologists and criminologists generally share this strict environmental perspective, and thereby keep biology at arm's length. A recent survey of criminologists indicated that only about 15 percent believe biology is important for understanding criminality. They are known as
biosocial criminologists
.
Crime, Broken Windows Theory of
Authors: Chu Doris
Published: September 2017

Social psychologists use the term broken windows to signify the characteristics of neighborhood deterioration. They argue that if a broken window in a building or in a car is left untended, other signs of disorder will increase. Wilson and Kelling (1982) suggest that an unrepaired broken window is a signal that no one cares for the neighborhood. They argued further that if the window is left broken, it can lead to more serious crime problems.
Crime, Life Course Theory of
Authors: Piquero Alex R. , Gomez‐Smith Zenta
Published: September 2017

The life course perspective emphasizes the importance of time, social context, and process in both theory and analysis by taking into account historical events and changes as well as individual lives. The two central concepts in the life course perspective are trajectories and transitions. Trajectories are the long‐term patterns and sequences in an individual's life. These are pathways such as marriage, parenthood, careers, and criminal or non‐criminal behaviors. Transitions, on the other hand, occur within trajectories and are single events that are often age‐graded, such as changes in societal roles or status. They can include graduation, divorce, retiring, an arrest, and so on. These specific life events can be so abrupt and influential that they transform life trajectories. Therefore, there is a sequence of life trajectories, transitions, and adaptations during the life course.
Crime, Radical/Marxist Theories of
Authors: Sims Barbara
Published: September 2017

Marxist criminological theory asserts that crime is the result of structural inequalities that are inherently associated with capitalist economic systems. Although Marx himself wrote very little about crime, theorists have relied on his economic theory to provide a foundation for a
critical
theory of criminal behavior. Marx believed that throughout history, human societies have consisted of two classes: those who have the power to create the rules under which everyone must live, and those who have neither the resources nor the political clout to have a say in just what those rules will be. Examples of these economic or political systems are master versus slave, lord versus serf, and, under modern‐day capitalism, capitalist versus proletariat. The capitalists are those who own the means of production, and the proletariats are those who work for them.
Crime, Radical/Marxist Theories of
Authors: Sims Barbara , Goforth Craig Davidson
Published: September 2017

As a subset of critical theory, Marxist or radical theory challenges mainstream criminological theory to focus less on the crimes of the powerless and more on the crimes of the powerful. It does so by examining structural and economic inequalities produced by forces associated with capitalism, and argues for policies directed at reducing the social harm that disproportionately affects those groups on the margins of society.
Crime, Schools and
Authors: Brewer Thomas W. , Flannery Daniel J.
Published: September 2017

The majority of schools in America are safe places. A comparison of national data from 1995 and 2001 shows the percentage of students who reported being victims of crime at school decreased by 4 percent (DeVoe et. al. 2003). In 1999 the US Departments of Education and Justice reported that almost 90 percent of all in‐school student injuries that required medical treatment were accidental, rather than the result of intentional acts of physical violence. Schools see fewer homicides and non‐fatal injuries than homes or neighborhoods. From 1992 to 2000, school‐aged youth were 70 times more likely to be murdered outside of school than in school (US Department of Education 2001). The violence that does occur in schools, however, has changed. Serious violent acts are now more common than in the past. In the 1940s, school discipline problems generally involved running in the halls, chewing gum, talking out of turn, and other unruly behavior. In the 1970s, discipline problems progressed to dress code violations; in the 1980s, fighting became a concern. By the 1990s, school problems were defined as weapons possession, drug and alcohol abuse, gang activity, truancy, and violent assaults against students and teachers.
Crime, White‐Collar
Authors: Geis Gilbert
Published: September 2017

The term white‐collar crime is not found in any statute book. It was coined by Edwin H. Sutherland in his 1939 presidential address to the American Sociological Society. Sutherland stated that his focus was on crime in the upper or white‐collar class, composed of respectable or at least respected business and professional men. A decade later, in his bookWhite Collar Crime, he declared that white‐collar crime may be defined approximately as a crime committed by a person of responsibility and high social status in the course of his occupation. Corporate executives who murdered a spouse were not to be regarded as white‐collar criminals, but those who traded on insider information would meet the definition. In the same vein, a striking employee who assaulted a member of the corporate management team would not be considered a white‐collar criminal by Sutherland, but the vice president who maimed a striker would fall within the definition's embrace.
Criminal Justice System
Authors: Culver Leigh
Published: September 2017

The American criminal justice system is a network of government agencies and individuals whose purpose is to apprehend, prosecute, and punish criminal offenders, maintain societal order, prevent and control crime, and ensure public safety. Most criminal justice agencies and organizations that are responsible for these functions can be classified under three primary groups: law enforcement, courts, and corrections.