bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Existential Sociology
Authors: Melnikov Andrey , Kotarba Joseph A.
Published: September 2017

Existential sociology emerged in the 1960s as an alternative to the excesses of abstract objectivism, which was dominant. Writers holding this perspective have attempted to integrate symbolic interactionism's powerful concepts of the self and the situation, phenomenological sociology's emphasis on the social construction of reality, and ethnomethodology's telling critique of conventional sociological theory and methods with an innovative argument for the centrality of embodiment and feelings to human agency. Thus,
existential sociology can be defined descriptively as the study of human experience in the world (or existence) in all its social forms
.
Experiment
Authors: Lezaun Javier
Published: September 2017

Experiments play a central role in most theories of science as the key mechanism through which theories and hypotheses are corroborated or refuted. Most especially in the work of Karl Popper, the acceptability of a theory – the extent to which it can be conceivably characterized as “scientific” – is determined by its falsifiability, that is, by whether it can be put to the test in an experiment. Experimentation is thus the foremost
trial of strength
for knowledge claims, and the sociology of science has investigated the particular social practices on which this validating function rests.
Experimental Design
Authors: Kirk Roger E.
Published: September 2017

Experimentation involves the deliberate manipulation of one or more independent variables followed by the systematic observation of the effects of the manipulation on one or more dependent variables. The emphasis on experimentation in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as a way of establishing causal relationships marked the emergence of modern science from its roots in natural philosophy (Hacking 1983). According to the nineteenth‐century philosopher John Stuart Mill, a causal relationship exists if (a) the cause preceded the effect, (b) the cause was related to the effect, and (c) we can find no other plausible alternative explanation for the effect. Carefully designed and executed experiments continue to be one of science's most powerful methods for discovering causal relationships. An
experimental design
is a plan for assigning experimental units to treatment levels and the statistical analysis associated with the plan (Kirk 1995: 1). The design of an experiment involves a number of interrelated activities:
Economics
Authors: Reay Michael
Published: September 2017

The modern discipline of economics is dominated by an orthodox/mainstream approach that uses statistics, mathematical models, and experiments to explain human behavior in terms of rational utility maximization. It focuses on industrialized nations where economic activity is based on wage labor and commodity markets, and it tries to explain both individual decisions and larger patterns of employment and production. It has been more involved than other social sciences in public policy and its quantitative nature gives it a higher degree of scientific status. However, it tends to take for granted institutional, cultural, and structural contexts and is therefore typically thought of by sociologists as being too narrow to serve as a general approach to explaining social activity. Sociologists are also often wary of its association with scientistic authority, uncritical acceptance of capitalist social forms, and neoliberal policies promoting marketization and globalization.
Environmental problems
Authors: Dunlap Riley E.
Published: September 2017

Humans have faced poor environmental conditions throughout history, but what we think of as “environmental problems” became more common and apparent with urbanization. In the United States, urban air and water pollution attracted growing attention throughout the last century, and by the 1960s became recognized as significant problems. Scientists and environmental activists also called attention to a wide array of additional problems – from pesticide contamination to loss of wilderness and wildlife to overpopulation – throughout that decade. These separate problems merged into “environmental degradation,” and celebration of the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970 transformed “environmental quality” into a major social concern.
Electronic Commerce
Authors: Klimis George‐Michael
Published: September 2017

Although electronic commerce was facilitated by electronic data interchange (EDI) standards from the late 1970s onwards, the phrase entered the business lexicon in the 1990s when the world was introduced to the first Internet browser. Antecedents of electronic commerce include the French system Minitel, which allowed transactions over the closed network of France Telecom in the 1980s, and SABRE, the American Airlines computer reservation system as early as 1962.
Entrepreneurship
Authors: Klimis George‐Michael
Published: September 2017

This entry discusses the main theories of entrepreneurship. It distinguishes between the different schools of thought but also the current thoughts on the subject, such as effectuation theory.
Exogamy
Authors: Saarela Jan
Published: September 2017

In sociology, exogamy refers to the custom or act of marrying a person who belongs to another tribe, clan, or similar social unit. The concept implies a social arrangement outside a social group, according to which the social group defines the scope and extent of the phenomenon. The continuity of exogamy in a population is ensured by rules and enforcement mechanisms.
Family Migration
Authors: Smith Darren P.
Published: September 2017

Since the late 1970s the topic of family migration has increasingly been examined by sociologists, geographers, economists, and demographers. Studies of family migration have clearly become a wide‐ranging, interdisciplinary endeavor, with discussions cross‐cutting the social sciences. Although family migration occurs at many geographic scales, from the neighborhood to the global, academic discourses within the developed world have tended to focus on the movement of family units over long distances at a subnational level. Kofman (2004) and Smith and Bailey (in press) argue, for example, that the “family” has been lost from accounts of population movements between European states, or across wider international boundaries, respectively. In addition, there is limited interchange between accounts of family movements within the developed and developing world, with the latter often being absorbed within wider development studies.
Fatherhood
Authors: Dermott Esther
Published: September 2017

Fatherhood is a social institution and includes the rights, duties, responsibilities, and statuses associated with being a father. A useful distinction is made between the terms father, fathering, and fatherhood. The first refers to the connection made between a particular child and a particular man (whether biological or social). The second refers to behavior; the actual practices of “doing” parenting. The third refers to more general ideologies and public meanings associated with being a father.
Fatherhood
Authors: Dermott Esther
Published: September 2017

Fatherhood is a social institution and includes the rights, duties, responsibilities, and statuses associated with being a father. A useful distinction is made between the terms
father
,
fathering
, and
fatherhood
. The first refers to the connection made between a particular child and a particular man (whether biological or social). The second refers to behavior; the actual practices of “doing” parenting. The third term refers to more general ideologies and public meanings associated with being a father.
Fear
Authors: Eller Jackie , Eller Andrea , Ferrell DaJuan
Published: September 2017

How do sociologists theoretically and empirically study fear? The literature can be divided into two rather broad and overlapping areas of emphasis: fear as an emotion often including a discussion of the physiological response and, more importantly for sociologists, the “fear of …” as creating consequences for social relations, which implies a concern for the use and management of fear and the culture of fear. Included more or less in each of these areas is the acceptance and use of a “discourse of fear.”
Feminist Activism in Latin America
Authors: Shayne Julie
Published: September 2017

This entry discusses feminist activism in Latin America and the Caribbean, with specific attention to the second half of the twentieth century. It includes a brief history of feminist activism in the region and discussions of the definition of feminism; the causes of the emergence of feminism; the issues important to feminists; women's nonfeminist political action; regional and transnational co‐ordination of feminist activism; and the effect that the return to civil society has had on Latin American and Caribbean feminist movements.
Feminist Standpoint Theory
Authors: Naples Nancy A.
Published: September 2017

Standpoint theory is a broad categorization that includes somewhat diverse theories ranging from Hartsock's (1983) feminist historical materialist perspective, Haraway's (1988) analysis of situated knowledges, Collins's (1990) black feminist thought, Sandoval's (2000) explication of third world feminists’ differential oppositional consciousness, and Smith's (1987, 1990) everyday world sociology for women. Many theorists whose work has been identified with standpoint theory contest this designation; for example, Smith (1992) has been particularly vocal about the limits of this classification. She explains that it was Harding (1986) who first named standpoint theory as a general approach within feminism to refer to the many different theorists who argued for the importance of situating knowledge in women's experiences. Standpoint theorists are found in a wide variety of disciplines and continue to raise important questions about the way power influences knowledge in a variety of fields. Harding (2003) has brought together the most influential essays on feminist standpoint theory to demonstrate the power and utility of standpoint theory for feminist praxis.
Feminization of Labor Migration
Authors: Yoshimura Mako
Published: September 2017

Feminization of migration is characterized by an increase in the number of female migrants since the 1980s and by a concentration on female‐specific work such as domestic helpers, nurses, entertainers, and so on in the process of globalization. While the movement of peoples, both internal and international, has been observed historically in various forms, the feminization of migration has been highlighted during the period of rapid economic globalization since the 1980s. Early research on migration noticed the differences between men and women found in immigration statistics, but paid little attention to this aspect of the subject. Gender structure only became part of the discussion after the early 1980s.
Feminization of Poverty
Authors: Hinze Susan W. , Aliberti Dawn
Published: September 2017

Diana Pearce (1978) coined the term “feminization of poverty” in the late 1970s to describe the increasing overrepresentation of women and children among the poor in the United States. Since then the gender gap in poverty has increased, although some evidence suggests that improvements in women's earnings are beginning to close the poverty gap between women and men (McLanahan & Kelly 1999). Currently, of those in poverty, 38 percent are women, 26 percent are men, and 36 percent are children (US Census Bureau, 2004). However, the economic disadvantage of women is not a uniquely American experience, and scholarship in recent years highlights the need for a more global perspective on the feminization of poverty.
Figurational Sociology and the Sociology of Sport
Authors: Dunning Eric
Published: September 2017

The figurational tradition of sociological research and theory was pioneered by Norbert Elias (1897–1990), a German of Jewish descent who became a naturalized Englishman in 1952. His work is best seen as an attempt to synthesize the central ideas of Auguste Comte, Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Sigmund Freud. Other influences were: Georg Simmel, Kurt Lewin, Wolfgang Koehler, J. B. Watson, and W. B. Cannon. Elias studied philosophy and medicine to doctoral level in Breslau before switching to sociology in Heidelberg in 1925. There, he came under the influence of Karl Mannheim, a founder of the sociology of knowledge, and Alfred Weber, brother of the more famous Max and a leading cultural sociologist.
Financial Sociology
Authors: Vitt Lois A.
Published: September 2017

Financial sociology is the study of the relationship between finance, defined as the science of money management, and human society. In addition to money management, finance includes the management of money surrogates, capital instruments and markets, organizations and institutions, households, and governments. Finance is defined, structured, and regulated within a system of national and international laws that reflect power relations within political economies and across state and global markets. In practice, finance is art (e.g., negotiation) and science (e.g., measurement). Financial measurement of the firm and of investments constitutes the major emphasis within the field of economics as a subdiscipline of finance economics. The entire field of finance may be subsumed within the larger field of economics. Likewise, topics within financial sociology can be found in publications, or taught in courses, on economic sociology.
Folk Hinduism
Authors: Sinha Vineeta
Published: September 2017

Accounts of Hinduism have predominantly been approached via literary and textual avenues, through which its ancient, philosophical, abstract, and transcendent features are highlighted. Even ethnographic accounts of Hinduism have been dominated by attention to the Sanskritic and Brahmanic elements derived from such a scriptural, elitist grounding. Such foci are limited because of the neglect of oral traditions and attention to Hindu practices, particularly at the local, regional levels and the role of specific household and cult deities, rituals, and festivals in sustaining a religious worldview. Writing in 1976, the late Indian social anthropologist M. N. Srinivas noted the “downgrading of folk religion” (1976: 288–90) and the scholarly neglect of the “folk” elements in Hinduism both by western and Indian social scientists, arguing that this is a viable, independent, and legitimate realm for social science theorizing.
Fordism/Post‐Fordism
Authors: Prechel Harland
Published: September 2017

Fordism represents three critical dimensions of the fragmentation and specialization of the labor process. First, whereas Taylorism developed work rules to standardize the production of parts, Fordism brought standardized parts to the worker. Second, Fordism further separated conception from execution by specifying how to assemble parts into the final product. Third, the assembly line transformed production in ways that made it possible for management to increase both the pace of work and control over the labor process. Post‐Fordism entails organizational and political‐legal arrangements that facilitated mergers and acquisitions and the creation of giant global corporations and financial institutions that exercise control over markets and domestic subsidiary corporations; accelerated globalization; and increased the role of the state in balancing production with consumption.
Frame
Authors: Snow David A.
Published: September 2017

The concept of frame designates interpretive structures that render events and occurrences subjectively meaningful, and thereby function to organize experience and guide action. Within sociology, the concept is derived primarily from the work of Erving Goffman, which is beholden in part to the earlier work of Gregory Bateson. For these scholars, as well as others who use the concept analytically, frames provide answers to such questions as: What is going on here? What is being said? What does this mean? According to Goffman, frames essentially enable individuals “to locate, perceive, identify, and label a seemingly infinite number of occurrences” within their immediate life situations or spaces.
Friendships of Children
Authors: Hallinan Maureen T.
Published: September 2017

A sociological perspective complements the conceptualization of children's friendships provided by other social science disciplines. Psychologists examine individual‐level traits that affect a child's friendliness and popularity. Researchers in human development consider the role children's friendships play in the transition from early childhood to adolescence. Anthropologists identify cultural factors that influence and give meaning to children's friendships. In contrast, sociologists examine how social organization and social structure affect children's friendships.
Friendships of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual People
Authors: Ueno Koji
Published: September 2017

Many gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals first become aware of their orientations in adolescence and are forced to decide who should be told and who should not. Many people make their first disclosures to friends, instead of to parents or other family members (Herdt & Boxer 1993). In this sense, friendships play a critical role in the development of their sexual identities. Friends’ reactions are mixed; some friendships dissolve while others increase in emotional intimacy (Herdt & Boxer 1993). Therefore, coming out may create drastic changes in the composition of friendship networks as well as in the quality of friendship dyads.
Fromm, Erich(1900–80)
Authors: McLaughlin Neil
Published: September 2017

Although best known as a Freudian revisionist, global public intellectual, and social critic, German‐born scholar Erich Fromm made important and lasting contributions to twentieth‐century sociology. Fromm was trained in sociology at Heidelberg University, receiving his PhD in 1922 under the direction of Alfred Weber, Max Weber's younger brother (Burston 1991). Fromm then joined the psychoanalytic profession, training and entering into therapeutic practice in Berlin and then Frankfurt. He became a core member of the early Frankfurt School network of “critical theorists” in the late 1920s and early 1930s, an influential network of neo‐Marxist social theorists formed under Max Horkheimer's direction. Moving to the United States in the wake of Nazism, Fromm worked with the critical theorists, as well as the sociological methodologist Paul Lazarsfeld, at Columbia University. The Frankfurt School scholars Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, and Leo Lowenthal, in particular, created a range of influential ideas in their time in America; they found refuge from political events in Germany with the help of a large amount of money given them by a rich German benefactor and the sponsorship of Columbia University.
Function
Authors: Stryker Robin
Published: September 2017

Function
has been an important idea within specific sociological paradigms and in sociology more generally. Analyzing the function(s) of social practices has been central ever since Émile Durkheim, in
Division of Labor in Society
(1893), defined function as consequence, and exhorted sociologists to distinguish functions of social phenomena from their causes while examining both. Arguing that the division of labor functions to create social solidarity, Durkheim likened the “organic solidarity” associated with a complex division of labor to functional interdependence among differently specialized organs in the human body.
G
angs,
D
elinquent
Authors: Hansen Laura L.
Published: September 2017

The term “delinquency” is generally reserved for juveniles who display deviant or criminal behavior. Yet when we ordinarily think of gangs, particularly street gangs, we sometimes forget that juveniles are the most vulnerable to recruitment efforts of gangs. Antigang education on average begins in middle school, but by then it may be too late. This entry asks the hard questions as to why children, adolescents, and late adolescents are attracted to gang life. Discussions include the usual variables of poverty and peer pressure. Additionally there is discussion of sex/gender differences, where male gang members seem to be doing “violence” whereas female gang members seem to be enacting traditional gender roles. Risks for gang recruitment are included as well as the consequences of gang life on juveniles, including labeling.
Gay and Lesbian Movement
Authors: Valocchi Stephen
Published: September 2017

This entry examines the gay and lesbian movement, which refers to the manifold collective efforts to benefit people with same‐sex desire. It reviews the history of the movement in the United States and the scholarship on that movement, from the emergence of “the homosexual” as a distinct person in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to the most recent developments, such as the legalization of same‐sex marriage.
Gender, the Body and
Authors: Fabrizio Pelak Cynthia
Published: September 2017

Feminist thinkers have long focused on the body as an expression of power and a site of social control. As early as 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft proclaimed that “genteel women are slaves to their bodies” and that “beauty is woman's scepter” (Wollstonecraft 1988). Sixty years later, Sojourner Truth drew attention to how bodies are not only gendered but also racialized in herAin't I a Womanspeech of 1851. And, since the emergence of the second wave of women's movements in the US, feminists have been transforming our thinking on gender and bodies through their writings on rape, sexual assault, domestic violence, reproductive rights, beauty contests, eating disorders, sports, disabilities, cosmetic surgery, and more. Despite the recurrent focus on gender and the body, scholars have asked diverse sets of questions from various disciplinary and theoretical perspectives that have changed over time. This entry reviews some of the major questions that have been raised about gender and the body and discusses the shifting theoretical approaches that have developed in the literature.
Gender, Development and
Authors: Bose Christine E.
Published: September 2017

Over the last half‐century there have been different theoretical frameworks used to understand how women are located in global economic processes, and each has had a concomitant strategy to enhance women's position. In the middle of the twentieth century modernization approaches were common, but dependency theorists critiqued these strategies. By the 1970s these male‐focused arguments were largely supplanted by women in development (WID) ones, and more recently by gender and development (GAD) approaches.
Gender and Development
Authors: Bose Christine E.
Published: September 2017

Since the 1960s, different theoretical frameworks have been used to understand how women are located in global economic processes, and each has had a concomitant strategy to enhance women's positions. Modernization approaches were common in the mid‐twentieth century, but these strategies were criticized by dependency theorists. By the 1970s, such male‐focused arguments were largely supplanted by women in development, and, more recently, by a wide range of gender and development approaches.
Gender, Deviance and
Authors: Gadsden Gloria
Published: September 2017

Missing from traditional and most contemporary discussions of deviance and crime is the notion of gender. A rather accessible definition of gender can be found in most introductory sociology textbooks. For the purposes of this entry, gender is defined as the social positions, attitudes, traits, and behaviors that a society assigns to females and males (Macionis 2004). A close examination of theories of deviance reveals an androcentric or male‐oriented perspective. Early theorists and researchers in particular extrapolated from studies of boys and men when attempting to explain female deviant behavior. So, barring examinations of a few deviant behaviors, most notably shoplifting, violations of sexual norms (e.g., promiscuity, teen pregnancy, prostitution), status offenses (e.g., runaways), and infanticide, there were, and still are, few serious considerations of female deviant behavior.
Gender Ideology and Gender Role Ideology
Authors: Kroska Amy
Published: September 2017

Both gender ideology and gender role ideology refer to attitudes regarding the appropriate roles, rights, and responsibilities of women and men in society. The concept can reflect these attitudes generally or in a specific domain, such as an economic, familial, legal, political, and/or social domain. Most gender ideology constructs are unidimensional and range from traditional, conservative, or anti‐feminist to egalitarian, liberal, or feminist. Traditional gender ideologies emphasize the value of distinctive roles for women and men. According to a traditional gender ideology about the family, for example, men fulfill their family roles through instrumental, breadwinning activities and women fulfill their roles through nurturant, homemaker, and parenting activities. Egalitarian ideologies regarding the family, by contrast, endorse and value men's and women's equal and shared breadwinning and nurturant family roles.
Gender, Sport and
Authors: Mansfield Louise
Published: September 2017

Gender refers to the socially constructed differences between women and men, while the term “sex” is a reference to the biological and physical differences between males and females. Gender draws attention to the socially unequal distinction between femininity and masculinity. Femininity is used to describe characteristic behaviors and emotions of females and masculinity refers to the distinctive actions and feelings of the male sex. In studies of gender and sport, the concept of gender is analytically distinguished from that of sex even though the two are often used synonymously in everyday language and thought. Not all the differences between females and males are biological. But historically, ideas about the implications of biological differences between women and men have served to justify the exclusion or limited inclusion of women in sports. Such views reflect an ideology of biological determinism, where it is claimed that men, and not women, are inherently strong, aggressive, and competitive and, therefore, better suited to sports.
Gender, Sport and
Authors: Mansfield Louise
Published: September 2017

“Gender” refers to the socially constructed differences between women and men, while the term “sex” is a reference to the biological and physical differences between males and females. Gender draws attention to the socially unequal distinction between femininities and masculinities. “Femininities” refers to the characteristic behaviors and emotions of females and “masculinities” describes the distinctive actions and feelings of the male sex. In studies of gender and sport, the concept of gender is analytically distinguished from that of sex even though the two are often used synonymously in everyday language and thought. Not all the differences between females and males are biological. But historically, ideas about the implications of biological differences between women and men have served to justify the relative exclusion or limited inclusion of women in sport. Such views reflect an ideology of biological determinism where it is claimed that men, and not women, are inherently strong, aggressive, and competitive and, therefore, better suited to sports.
Gender, Work, and Family
Authors: Thorn Elizabeth
Published: September 2017

Gender, work, and family is the study of the intersection of work and family, with a focus on how those intersections vary by gender. This research is motivated in large part by the tremendous growth in labor force participation among women in their childbearing years during the second half of the twentieth century. This influx of wives and mothers into the workforce has raised questions about the division of labor in the family and whether state and corporate policies are sufficient to support new family types. Researchers also examine the causes of the divergent outcomes men and women experience in the workplace, as well as the effects labor force participation has on family formation, dissolution, and carework. These questions are most frequently researched quantitatively, but qualitative and theoretical work also contributes to the understanding of gender, work, and family.
Generational Change
Authors: Kohli Martin
Published: September 2017

The concept of generation can be defined with regard to society or to family – two levels which are usually analyzed separately but should be treated in a unified framework. At the level of the family, generation refers to position in the lineage (filiation). At the societal level, it refers to the aggregate of persons born in a limited period (i.e., a birth cohort according to demographic parlance) who therefore experience historical events at similar ages and move up through the life course in unison. At both levels, the concept of generation is a key to the analysis of movement across time. In the sequence of generations, families create continuity and change with regard to parents and children; societies, with regard to economic resources, political power, and cultural hegemony. In all of these spheres generations are a basic unit of social reproduction and social change – in other words, of stability over time as well as renewal (or sometimes revolution).
Gentrification
Authors: Patch Jason , Brenner Neil
Published: September 2017

Gentrification entails the reinvestment of real estate capital into declining, inner‐city neighborhoods to create a new residential infrastructure for middle and high‐income inhabitants. In coining the term “gentrification” in 1964, Ruth Glass emphasized that class relations lie at the core of the process, which has generally involved the displacement of working‐class residents from inner‐city zones and the gradual influx of a new “gentry” of well‐off professionals.
Gift Relations
Authors: Lair Craig D.
Published: September 2017

Though the study of gift relations spans a range of intellectual disciplines (e.g., anthropology, ethnology, and sociology), one general theme has tended to unite the diverse works in these areas: more than being simply matters of economic transactions, gifts and gift giving are fundamentally
social
activities. That is, gifts are not exchanges of mere material objects, but rather objects and actions imbued with social meanings. Thus, to engage in a gift relationship is to engage in a
social relationship
.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins (1860–1935)
Authors: Hill Michael R.
Published: September 2017

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was an influential and sometimes controversial contributor to early American sociology. HerWomen and Economics(1898) launched a searching feminist sociological critique of the economic position of women in patriarchal societies. The primary site for Gilman's continuing sociological work was theForerunner(1909–16), a monthly journal that Gilman wrote and self‐published. The socially problematic issues that Gilman explored in her works echo theoretical proposals of Lester F. Ward (1841–1913), a founding American sociologist who admired Gilman and vice versa. Ward's concept of gynecocentric (i.e., woman‐centered) social theory reinforced Gilman's strong belief in the fundamental rationality of women's values and social contributions. Gilman developed this perspective at length in her non‐fiction works. Gilman was an early member of the American Sociological Society, published in theAmerican Journal of Sociology, was respected by contemporary sociologists, and was widely known by lay readers in the public generally.
Gay and Lesbian Politics
Authors: Royce Tracy , Hidalgo Danielle Antoinette
Published: September 2017

Gay and lesbian politics in the United States have had a deep and long‐lasting impact on the twentieth and twenty‐first centuries, culminating in contemporary discourses and activist efforts surrounding issues such as family law, the military, and HIV/AIDS (see Brewer, Kaib, & O'Connor 2000: 401). Although the origins of US‐based gay and lesbian politics can be traced back as early as the 1890s (Shroedel & Fiber 2000), given space limitations, we direct our attention to the mid‐twentieth century onward. Further, our overview covers the US with some minor details of gay and lesbian politics beyond US borders. Finally, we focus on key shifts in the history of gay and lesbian politics that continue to impact how identities, practices, and beliefs concerning sexuality and intimate relationships are understood today.
Goffman, Erving (1922–1982)
Authors: Smith Gregory W.H.
Published: September 2017

This entry outlines Goffman's biography, sketches the importance of the intellectual and social contexts provided by the universities of Toronto and Chicago where Goffman studied in the 1940s and 1950s, and summarizes his major substantive contributions (dramaturgy, the interaction order, the significance of the ritual dimension, his treatments of mental patients, the stigmatized, and gender, and the concept of frame and the framing process). The continuing relevance of Goffman's ideas to contemporary sociology is examined.
Graduate Study
Authors: Fermin Baranda J.
Published: September 2017

Graduate study, including the master's degree but more specifically the pursuit of a PhD, is an extremely focused educational experience that is designed to produce a professional trained in the research, creation, and critique of knowledge within a given field. Graduate study is an essential part of the modern knowledge economy. The processes of graduate study create scholars, research, and academic criticism through an increasingly technological, yet staunchly traditional study, apprenticeship, and sponsorship model.
Gramsci, Antonio (1891–1937)
Authors: Davidson Alastair
Published: September 2017

Antonio Gramsci was born in Ales, Sardinia on January 22, 1891 and died in Rome on April 27, 1937. Gramsci's father was a petty‐bourgeois notable employed in the Land Registry and his mother was from a local landowning family. At 4 years old Antonio was left a hunchback after a fall. His father was imprisoned for malpractice in 1898 and the family lived in straitened economic circumstances. Antonio took a job. Then sent by his mother to middle and high school, in 1912 he won a scholarship to Turin University to study arts. Quickly involved in socialist politics, he discontinued his study and renounced a future career in linguistics. In 1913–16 he was a journalist for the socialist press. In 1917 he started to formulate his novel views in the single number of
La Città futura
and became a firm supporter of the Russian Revolution, which he typified as a “revolution against Marx,” understanding it to have reversed all determinist understandings of Marxism as a messianic creed by refocusing socialist attention on the force of wilful mass proletarian action to change the world. Together with Palmiro Togliatti, Angelo Tasca, and Umberto Terracini, in 1919 he established the newspaper
Ordine Nuovo
whose object was to promote an Italian version of “soviets” or workers’ councils in the factories of Turin. The
ordinovisti
established close links with the workers’ organizations in 1919–20, becoming their voice during a mass occupation of factories in Northern Italy. This action was endorsed by Lenin. Gramsci became a founder of the Italian Communist Party in 1921 when it split from the Socialist Party, which was blamed for “missing out” on the Revolution. He went to work in the Communist International at Moscow.
Gay and Lesbian Tourism
Authors: Williams Jill
Published: September 2017

Gay tourism is generally used to refer to the traveling of gay men, often in groups and usually to gay‐friendly tourist destinations. Though it is a growing segment of the tourist market, lesbian travel has been marginalized both in the marketing of tourism and in the academic literature about gay tourism. Some represent this marginalization by using parenthesis when writing about gay (and lesbian) tourism (e.g., Williams 2008).
Gandhi, Mahatma (1869–1948)
Authors: Mittal Sushil
Published: September 2017

Non‐violence as a strategy for change repeatedly has proven to be dangerously effective rather than too idealistic, harmless, or simply useless. It can have particularly unpleasant effects on oppressive traditions and entrenched interests that seem unaware that they are resting on unjust and unequal structures. Nashville, Tennessee, learned that lesson in 1960 when James Lawson organized the first peaceful sit‐in at racially segregated lunch counters in downtown stores. Despite resistance by merchants, complicity by the local government, lack of protection by police, and efforts to provoke the well‐disciplined demonstrators to respond directly to harassment, the campaign succeeded and contributed to a positive transformation in the city. It took Nashville a few years to absorb and consolidate the changes set in motion by Lawson's non‐violent leadership, and it took the city's premier university even longer. Vanderbilt University expelled Lawson, who was a theological student at the time, and fired the Divinity School's energetic young Dean because he publicly protested Lawson's expulsion. The fired J. Robert Nelson lost his job but went on to a distinguished career elsewhere, and the Reverend James Lawson finally received long‐delayed recognition when he was named Vanderbilt's alumnus of the year in 2005. Non‐violence is effective, but it requires training and discipline in order to work and can be costly to participants.
Gerontology Key Thinkers: Ethel Shanas (1914–2005)
Authors: Heinemann Gloria D.
Published: September 2017

Born in Chicago, September 6, 1914, Ethel Shanas received her education (AB, 1935; MA, 1937; PhD, 1947) from the University of Chicago.
Health Behavior
Authors: Cockerham William C.
Published: September 2017

Health behavior is defined as the activity undertaken by people for the purpose of maintaining or enhancing their health, preventing health problems, or achieving a positive body image (Cockerham 2000: 159). This definition goes beyond the one provided by Kasel and Cobb (1966), who depicted health behavior solely as the activity of healthy people to prevent illness. This latter definition is too limiting because health behavior does not just consist of healthy people trying to stay that way. While the health behavior of many people is intended to prevent sickness and injury, or to prolong their lives, other people may have other objectives. People with chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes, for example, also engage in health behavior when they seek to control their disease through diet, exercise, and other forms of health‐related activity. Some people who are primarily motivated to enhance their bodily appearance and physical fitness through health‐promoting activities like diet and exercise likewise are engaging in health behavior even if the desire to look and feel good is more important to them than being healthy.
Health Lifestyles
Authors: Cockerham William C.
Published: September 2017

Health lifestyles are collective patterns of health‐related behavior based on choices from options available to people according to their life chances (Cockerham 2000). The behaviors that are generated from these choices can have either positive or negative consequences for a person's health status, but nonetheless form an overall pattern of health practices that constitute a health‐oriented lifestyle. Health lifestyles are becoming an increasingly common form of social behavior given the limits of medicine in treating chronic illnesses like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes and the association of such diseases with unhealthy lifestyles. The recognition that the individual is ultimately responsible for his or her own health often promotes a healthy lifestyle.
Health and Medicine
Authors: Clair Jeffrey Michael , Wasserman Jason
Published: September 2017

Medical sociologists embrace a range of sociological concerns indigenous to the human condition – cultural, symbolic, personal, social, ecological, and biological. Medical sociology research can help us develop meaningful ways of thinking about the linkages between health and medicine, which involve a multitude of social factors. Health, medicine, and personhood dynamically interact through patient care. But despite this common insight, there is still much we do not know about the personal health and medicine relationship.
Health Professions and Occupations
Authors: Riska Elianne
Published: September 2017

A profession is a prestigious white‐collar occupation that is based on theoretical and practical knowledge and training in a particular field, such as medicine. The specialized knowledge and the restricted practice is regulated by a central body of the profession to ensure the quality and the ethical conduct of its members. These characteristics separate the profession from an occupation which is a specific type of work done in the market. For example, caring is work done both outside and inside the labor market. In the latter case it is a collective activity organized as various health occupations. Sociologists differ in their views concerning the power of the professions, the character of health occupations, and on the division of labor in medicine.
Health Professions and Occupations
Authors: Riska Elianne
Published: September 2017

A profession is a prestigious white collar occupation that is based on theoretical and practical knowledge and training in a particular field, such as medicine. The specialized knowledge and the restricted practice are regulated by a central body of the profession to ensure the quality and the ethical conduct of its members. These characteristics separate the profession from an occupation which is a specific type of work done in the market. For example, caring is work done both outside the market and inside the labor market. In the latter case it is a collective activity organized as various health occupations. Sociologists differ in their views concerning the power of the professions, the character of health occupations, and on the division of labor in healthcare.
Health and Religion
Authors: Clair Jeffrey Michael , Bateman Lori Brand , Gibson Philip
Published: September 2017

Concepts of health and illness in human society originated from traditional religious views about life and death. Even in the twenty‐first century, where the influence of religion has diminished, it remains a key social structure in western society. Religion not only shapes the interpretation of health events, but also individual health behaviors and the social support available to individuals during negative life events. Contemporary studies show that religion is positively associated with physical and mental health, as well as longevity and mortality. Religious involvement, measured by attendance at services and feelings of religiosity, is positively associated with physical health, general happiness, and satisfaction, as well as being inversely related to undesirable social psychological states, such as depression. Religion may also have negative effects on health, particularly when it is used as a substitute for medical treatment. This entry discusses three pathways between religion and health – the social control of health behaviors and lifestyles, the development and maintenance of social support networks, and the development of individual coping mechanisms – as well as the broader influences of religion on healthcare such as group action and the doctor–patient relationship.
Health and Sport
Authors: Waddington Ivan , Smith Andy
Published: September 2017

There is widespread acceptance of the idea that sport is good for health. The ideology linking sport and health has a long history, and the promotion and maintenance of the health of schoolchildren has long been an area of concern to physical educators in many countries. Since the mid‐1960s or so, however, “the frequency and force with which citizens are urged to take part in physical activity and exercise in order to improve their health and reduce morbidity and mortality rates has increased at an exponential rate” (Malcolm, 2014: 51).
Hegel, G. W. F. (1770–1831)
Authors: Beamish Rob
Published: September 2017

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel rose from within the liberal milieu of Protestant refugees in Würtemberg to become Prussia's foremost post‐Kantian, idealist philosopher in Berlin (1818–31). Hegel's major philosophical achievements were the
Phenomenology of Spirit
(1804),
Science of Logic
(1812–16), the
Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(1817), and his philosophy of history. Sociologists’ interest in Hegel began with the posthumous 1930s publications of Karl Marx's 1840s manuscripts, Alexander Kojève's late 1930s lectures, and Herbert Marcuse's, Karl Löwith's, and Georg Lukács's analyses of Hegel's work.
Help‐Seeking
Authors: Pescosolido Bernice A.
Published: September 2017

Help‐seeking refers to efforts or actions designed to assist individuals with physical, mental, or emotional behaviors or manifestations somehow noticed as out of the ordinary. Often, this term is used interchangeably with service utilization, health‐care decision‐making, or health/illness behavior. However, a number of factors differentiate the concept of help‐seeking from the others.
Historical and Comparative Methods
Authors: Varcoe Ian
Published: September 2017

Among the classical figures, Max Weber stands out from the others in his devotion to comparative historical sociology. His lifelong quest was to find through the study of “rationalization processes” what sets the West off from the non‐western civilizations. Concretely, the concern was with modern, rational, or bourgeois capitalism, its origins and development. This series of studies is “macro” and it deals with changes over long stretches of time.
Homophobia
Authors: Dean James Joseph
Published: September 2017

The term homophobia was coined in the early 1970s by the psychologist George Weinberg. Defined as “the dread of being in close quarters with homosexuals,” the term has since taken on a life of its own across the social sciences. Homophobia is characterized by negative attitudes towards lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered persons, which can result in discrimination, harassment, and even violent action.
Human‐Non‐Human Interaction
Authors: Greenebaum Jessica , Sanders Clinton R.
Published: September 2017

Human interaction with nonhuman animals is a central feature of contemporary social life. Despite the fact that human interactions with animals are commonplace, they have, until fairly recently, been virtually ignored within sociology. This prosaic disregard of human–animal exchanges is based on a variety of core assumptions. Sociology is conventionally seen as the study ofhumansocial structures and relationships; sociologists hold to the Cartesian linguacentric assumption that, because animals lack the ability to employ spoken language, they are consequently mindless and selfless; and, as Arnold Arluke (2003) has observed, sociologists who specialize in the investigation of inequality and oppression tend to be suspicious of the study of nonhuman animals because it may be seen as trivializing human concerns.
Hybridity
Authors: Pieterse Jan Nederveen
Published: September 2017

Cut‐'n'‐mix experiences in consumer behavior, lifestyles, and identities are common and everyday, for example in food and menus. Hybridity refers to the mixture of phenomena that are held to be different, separate. Hybridization is defined as “the ways in which forms become separated from existing practices and recombine with new forms in new practices” (Rowe & Schelling 1991: 231).