bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
H
art,
H. L. A
Authors: Turner Bryan S.
Published: December 2017

Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart (1907–1992) was a British legal philosopher. He practiced as a barrister at the Chancery Bar (1932–1940). After the war he accepted a teaching fellowship at New College Oxford and was elected Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford in 1952. Through the influence of John Austin, Hart's jurisprudence was based on legal positivism. Hart exercised an important influence over John Rawls who was one of the leading figures in political liberalism. Hart's major works include
Causation in the Law
(1959),
The Concept of Law
(1961),
Law, Liberty and Morality
(1963),
The Morality of the Criminal Law
(1964), and
Punishment and Responsibility
(1968).
Historical School of Economics
Authors: Dahms Harry F.
Published: December 2017

The German Historical School of Economics was the predominant tradition in German and Austrian economics during the nineteenth century. It favored an inductive rather than a deductive approach to developing economics as a theoretically grounded and sophisticated social science. Commonly, the Historical School is distinguished into the older (Hildebrand, Knies, and Roscher), younger (Schmoller), and youngest generation (Sombart and Weber). Proponents of the Historical School posited that the proper development of economic theory is contingent on the accurate analysis and understanding of historical data. The Historical School represented one camp in the famousMethodenstreit(dispute of methods), with the Austrian School and Menger representing the other. In economics, the Historical School's influence began to wane with the passing of Schmoller and Weber, but in social theory and sociology, it has continued to play an important role.
Historical Sociology
Authors: Li Junpeng
Published: December 2017

Historical sociology has been a contested field of study. Most classical sociologists embarked on work that was intrinsically historical. However, toward the end of the nineteenth century the division between history and social science became permanent. Historical sociology emerged in the United States in the 1960s as a field of study. The first wave of relevant studies was heavily influenced by modernization theory. Later, a new generation of sociologists began to be attracted by Marxism‐inspired conflict theories. From the 1990s onward, many historical sociologists have placed time at the center of their explanatory schemes. While historical sociology is in a healthy state in general, the issue of its nature still haunts the field.
Identity Politics
Authors: Bernstein Mary
Published: December 2017

“Identity politics” is a concept used to describe politics based on ethnic, racial, nationalist, or any other status identity such as gender or sexual orientation. The term is predominantly used to critique the politics of various social movements, rather than being used as an analytic concept to explain a particular social phenomenon. This entry examines three main theoretical approaches to identity politics.
Institutional Racism
Authors: Cazenave Noel A.
Published: December 2017

This entry examines the contributions and limitations of the institutional racism perspective as well as its origins, development, and influence on systemic racism theory. Congruent with the sociology of knowledge theory and method it draws attention to the sociohistorical context of African American social thought and changing race relations within the United States.
J
evons,
W
illiam
Authors: Mosselmans Bert
Published: December 2017

William Stanley Jevons is mainly known as a pioneer in micro‐economic theory, but his influence on the usage of quantitative and statistical methods in the social sciences is of at least equal importance. He also contributed to the development of scientific method and to a unified view of natural and social sciences.
J
ihad and
J
ihadist
Authors: Roose Joshua M.
Published: December 2017

Few terms in contemporary usage are as evocative as that of “jihad.” Jihad in its Arabic usage is a noun, and is defined literally as “striving” or “struggle.” A jihadist is a Muslim participating in jihad, however, both terms have become conflated in popular culture, political rhetoric, and even scholarship with terrorist violence, extremism, and holy war, a descriptor for conflict involving Muslims. The term, however, is far more nuanced and, indeed, delicate. An appreciation of these nuances and different applications yields significant analytical dividends for scholars working with Islamic sources or, more broadly, for those engaging with the relationship between religion and political conflict.
Legal Pluralism
Authors: Corrin Jennifer
Published: December 2017

The term “legal pluralism” does not have a single, universally accepted meaning. Viewed as a social fact, the term refers to the situation where two or more legal orders are present in the same social field. Legal pluralism has also been defined as a species of normative pluralism. More recently, the term “global pluralism” has been used. Legal pluralism as a theory opposes legal positivism, and as an ideology opposes legal centralism. It is a long‐standing phenomenon, drawn on by a number of disciplines. However, although the recognition of legal pluralism has steadily increased, its application is still not broad.
Lesbianism
Authors: Ettorre Elizabeth
Published: December 2017

Lesbianism can be understood as same‐sex attraction, love, or romantic desire between women. Lesbianism emerged as a visible social phenomenon in the mid‐twentieth century. Since that time, understanding of the concept has developed exponentially from defining the practice of lesbianism on an individual level as a pathology or deviance to seeing lesbianism on a cultural level as an expression of social difference among gendered, sexed, desiring subjects.
Liability
Authors: Epstein Richard A.
Published: December 2017

This brief entry identifies the key choices of any tort system. The first question asks whether any given harm is “cognizable” at all. Typically physical injuries and interferences with advantageous relations by force or fraud fall into that category. Purely competitive injuries do not. Compensating for the former loss advances overall social welfare; for the latter does not. The entry then compares the desirability of strict liability and negligence for these cognizable injuries and argues that the strict liability system, subject to affirmative defenses based on assumption of risk or plaintiff's misconduct, outperforms a negligence system based either on reasonable foresight or some broad cost–benefit analysis. The negligence system, often defined by customary care, tends to be superior in consensual situations, such as medical malpractice, where it is too expensive for patients to fund a strict liability system.
Liberation Psychology
Authors: Dykstra Wayne , Moane Geraldine
Published: December 2017

Different strands of liberation psychology are described with particular reference to origins in Latin America. The key concepts of conscientization, limit situation, bottom‐up participatory approaches are described. The social theory and concepts of personhood are key underlying themes. Liberation psychology is both theory and practice and its applications include political, community, and clinical psychology. It has developed in diverse contexts globally.
Life Course
Authors: Dannefer Dale , Huang Wenxuan , Estes Carroll L.
Published: December 2017

Life course has been developed as a field of inquiry exploring both individual life experience and collective social processes, with a specific focus on the role of social structure. The field of life course studies encompasses two major analytical frameworks – one focused on how individual lives and cohort dynamics are shaped by experience and social context, and a second focused on society's increasing reliance on age as a principle of social organization, leading to the institutionalization of the life course. In analyzing life course outcomes within both of these paradigmatic frameworks, we note the increasing reliance on the principles and insights drawn from critical gerontology, whether in analyzing the dynamics and effects upon health and other aspects of individuals' lives of cumulative dis/advantage over the life course, or the utility of a political economy perspective for analyzing the effects of social and economic structures and policies.
M
alinowski,
B
ronisław
Authors: Klimczuk Andrzej , Tomczyk Łukasz
Published: December 2017

Bronisław Kasper Malinowski was a Polish anthropologist, ethnographer, and sociologist. Malinowski is often considered as a pioneer in the ethnographic field research methods, such as participant observation, interviews, and statistics. His studies focused on beliefs and forms of social organization. Malinowski is often recognized as one of the founders of modern social anthropology and functionalism.
M
arcuse,
H
erbert
Authors: Langman Lauren
Published: December 2017

Herbert Marcuse, one of the members of the original Frankfurt School, remained in the United States after World War II to become one of the best known critical theorists. His writings on capitalism and sexuality, one‐dimensional (constricted) thought, and “great refusals” not only influenced a number of students and scholars, but inspired social movements as a “guru” of the movements insofar as he often spoke out against the war in Vietnam, was critical of capitalism and the shallow, consumerism of “one‐dimensional” society. While he, and indeed other critical, often neo‐Marxists were eclipsed by, neoliberalism, poststructuralism, and postmodernism, the growing inequality and under employment of recent capital, and its continued imperialism has fostered a renewal of interest in his work and a newly formed International Marcuse Society.
Market Fundamentalism
Authors: Turner Bryan S.
Published: December 2017

The phrase “market fundamentalism” is used to describe contemporary economic theories that emphasize the market as the only solution to economic problems about demand, employment, consumption, price, and efficiency. State provision of major services is seen by contrast to be wasteful and inefficient. These strategies are contrasted with the theories of J. M. Keynes. The notion of “fundamentalism” is, by analogy with Christian evangelicals, to suggest that these theories and policies are impervious to criticism and contradictory evidence. Faith in the market cannot be dented by reference to counter‐arguments or empirical evidence.
Marriages, Nuclear Family, Same‐Sex Marriages
Authors: Poston Dudley L. , Malone Danny
Published: December 2017

Marriage, the nuclear family, and same‐sex marriage are concepts and lived experiences that have been shaped by cultural, economic, legal, and structural changes. This entry provides an overview of the transformation of the concepts of marriage, the nuclear family, and same‐sex marriage over time in Europe and the United States. Specifically, definitions for marriage, nuclear family, and same‐sex marriage are outlined and expanded upon. Each discusses intimate relationships between individuals. This entry also considers the nuclear family steering away from the “breadwinner/homemaker” vision, given increasing labor force participation of women; and it considers same‐sex marriage going from being illegal in the United States to a landmark case in 2015 that made it illegal to ban same‐sex marriage.
M
arshall,
A
lfred
Authors: Reisman David
Published: December 2017

Alfred Marshall (1842–1924) was the leading social economist of his time. His
Principles of Economics
(1890) has become the gold standard of micro–economic analysis. Demand is related to diminishing marginal utility, supply to the cost of production. Apart from his theoretical contribution to the market‐clearing price, Marshall also gave important evidence to Royal Commissions, which reveal that he had a strong interest in social issues such as poverty, old age, and qualitative betterment through economic growth. His unpublished manuscript,
Progress: Its Economic Conditions
, shows that he took pride in economics because material affluence tended to upgrade human nature and social institutions.
Mills,C.Wright
Authors: Treviño A. Javier
Published: December 2017

C. Wright Mills (1916–1962) was a leading critic of postwar America and one of the most controversial figures in social science. He contended that, in US society, production, administration, and violence were becoming centralized within the economic, political, and military bureaucracies of power. These bureaucracies of power were governed by a “power elite.” Mills showed how increased bureaucratization and centralization molded the new white‐collar workers who worked in the big organizations of business and government. Mills saw it as the intellectuals' moral imperative to set forth general and detailed programs on how to attain the properly developing society. In order to do this, intellectuals must have a commitment to act in a morally responsible manner. For Mills, the first step toward practicing a politics of responsibility begins with the cultivation of the “sociological imagination.” Mills's main concern was to utilize sociologically informed reason in the pursuit of a more humane and rational society.
Money
Authors: Vera Hector
Published: December 2017

Usually defined simply as an instrument that fulfills key economic functions (store of value, medium of exchange, unit of account), money is, more broadly conceived, a fully social institution. Money is an economic, political, cultural, cognitive, moral, and psychological phenomenon. It can be studied through its characteristics as a physical object and as an intellectual category. Sociological theorizations of money have emphasized two main aspects: its abstract‐rationalistic nature (a propagator of quantification and calculability) and its cultural dimension (an object embedded in networks of meanings).
M
ontagu,
A
shley
Authors: Hazard Anthony Q.
Published: December 2017

Ashley Montagu (1905–1999) today remains one of the most important anthropologists of the twentieth century. Spanning six decades, Montagu's anthropological career offered innovative challenges to the concept of race, and Montagu's scholarship addressed a number of pressing social issues that stood at the center of political debates in the United States. Montagu was a scientist and cultural critic who helped usher in a new era in the discipline of anthropology.
Network Theory
Authors: Pescosolido Bernice A.
Published: December 2017

Theorizing around the idea of networks and social interaction has always been central to social theory. However, attention to a specific concern with network ties, per se, has an interesting and unusual history. This entry introduces original sources, a brief history of eras of interest, contemporary terms, applied frameworks, and novel influences from outside social theory that are now available to develop further the conceptual and empirical bases of network theories.
New School for Social Research
Authors: Dahms Harry F.
Published: December 2017

The New School for Social Research was founded in 1919 as a non‐degree school for adult education by a group of distinguished American intellectuals and scholars. In 1933, the University of Exile was added (renamed The Graduate Faculty of Social and Political Science in 1934), providing a refuge for scholars fleeing from fascism in Europe whose works had been influenced to a greater or lesser extent by Kant, Hegel, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Simmel. The “reform economists” exerted a measure of influence on the development and implementation of the federal government's New Deal policies, and worked as consultants for the US government. Between 1933 and 1945, the New School helped 183 European scholars and artists by providing them with employment and an institutional home. Today, the New School for Social Research maintains its strong commitment to global social theory and attracts faculty and students who continue related traditions and pursue research in this area.
N
isbet,
R
obert
Authors: Turner Bryan S.
Published: December 2017

Robert Nisbet (1913–1996) was an influential American sociologist and conservative thinker. He received a PhD from University of California Berkeley and after war‐time service he founded the Department of Sociology at Berkeley. He left to become the dean at University of California, Riverside, and eventually the vice chancellor. In 1972 he was briefly at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and then occupied the Albert Schweitzer Chair at Columbia University. On retiring in 1978, he spent eight years at the American Enterprise Institute at Washington DC.
Popular Religion
Authors: Sadowski Emily
Published: December 2017

Popular religion is comprised of the shared ideas, beliefs, and practices in which a group participates, usually outside of or separate from officially sanctioned religious organizations, but often intersecting with, and influenced by, the local, official religion. Popular religion sometimes takes the form of folk religion, especially when it involves superstitious elements such as amulets, spells, or charms. A contemporary Western version of popular religion often takes the form of individualized spirituality.
Population
Authors: Poston Dudley L. , Heo Nayoung
Published: December 2017

This entry has four sections. We first introduce demography, its principal subject matter, its main concepts, and its general perspectives. Next we review and discuss some of the major writings and theories about population and demography. The classic demographic transition theory (DTT) is the most well‐known explanation in demography, and we discuss it in the third section. Demographic developments in many European and Asian countries have not followed the tenets of DTT, leading to the specification of the so‐called second demographic transition theory (SDTT) and the third demographic transition theory (TDTT), which are discussed in the final section.
Pornography
Authors: McNair Brian
Published: December 2017

Pornography is a term used to describe media content which is (1) sexually explicit and (2) produced with the intention of sexual arousal on the part of the consumer or user. This entry summarizes the history of pornography and the debate around its alleged social impacts.
Postcolonial Theory
Authors: Ashcroft Bill
Published: December 2017

Postcolonial theory (or often post‐colonial theory) deals with the effects of colonization on cultures and societies and those societies' responses. The study of the controlling power of representation in colonized societies began in the 1950s with the work of Frantz Fanon and reached a climax in the late 1970s with Edward Said'sOrientalism. This study led to the development of the colonialist discourse theory in the work of critics such as Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Homi Bhabha. The term “postcolonial” per se was first used in literary studies byThe Empire Writes Backin 1989 to refer to cultural interactions within colonial societies. Postcolonial theory accompanied the rise of globalization theory in the 1990s, which used the language of postcolonial theory in studies of cultural globalization in particular.
Postsecular Society
Authors: Zeller Benjamin E.
Published: December 2017

Postsecularism refers to an emerging situation in the early twenty‐first century wherein religion and religious institutions have reemerged as major forces shaping social dynamics, cultural production, and even governmental policy. Charles Taylor and Jürgen Habermas are generally credited with providing the theoretical foundation for the study of a postsecular society. The emergent church represents a particular point of convergence within a postsecular society.
Poverty, Poverty Level
Authors: Kim Eun Mee
Published: December 2017

Scholars and international organizations define and measure poverty in different ways. This entry introduces three major approaches to defining poverty: economic, capabilities, and rights‐based approaches. Divergent ideological and theoretical perspectives reflected in the different definitions address how each perceives the root causes of poverty and supports often divergent poverty reduction policies. Even though these differences exist, policy recommendations to reduce and eradicate poverty must be tailor‐made to address the challenges that different nations face. Finally, it is important to recognize that the poor themselves cannot be held responsible for reducing poverty. The international community has a global responsibility to provide everyone with the ability to live in dignity.
Profit
Authors: Peden Mindy
Published: December 2017

Profit is most often used in contemporary discourse to describe a monetary sum that accrues to the owner of capital that produces a product. The valences of the term “profit” have historically connoted a form of advantage, what Karl Marx saw as “surplus value.” Profit, as such, is distinct from income or wages (remuneration). Under the contemporary economic notion of profit as defined by capital accounting, human relationships are calculable and reflect an assumption of instrumental rationality. From the perspective of methodology, profit (under capitalism) is supported by and in turn supports the notion of a universal rational actor who is maximizing advantage at all times. The term “profit” can also be understood outside of the notion of capital accounting completely, as when people refer to a notion of social profit.
Queer Theory
Authors: Kirsch Max
Published: December 2017

The relationship of theory to practice is especially important among the concepts of queer, queer theory, and queer studies, particularly as they have developed over time. They are part of the postmodernist and poststructuralist trend that became popular in the 1990s. These approaches signify an important change in the analysis of individual and social life, emphasizing the individual over the collective. While it may seem that these developments are significant, the author argues that in accepting these phenomena at face value, we may be missing the connection of the development of this theory and the studies derived from it with the changes that have taken place in late capitalism. In particular, the author states that queer theory and queer studies are part of the “cult of the individual” which is a feature of modern social relations and which reflects the isolation of the individual from the social theory and movements necessary for the production of true social change.
Racial Formation
Authors: Liz Jordan
Published: December 2017

For Michael Omi and Howard Winant, racial formation is a sociohistorical process by which racial classifications are created, defined, and transformed via social, economic, and political forces. On their view, race is neither a transhistorical phenomenon with a fixed meaning nor a biological fact; rather, it is a dynamic and unstable concept whose influence structures both the ways individuals conceive of their own identity and that of others, and the political concerns and efforts of the state. Racial formation, then, occurs at two distinct levels: the micro‐level of “common sense” and everyday experiences, and the macro‐level of social institutions and political projects.
Reflected Appraisal
Authors: Perkins Krystal M.
Published: December 2017

Reflected appraisal is a concept that suggests that our self‐image corresponds with
how we believe
other people see us. The reflected appraisal process has been expounded upon by numerous theorists, but first described in the social scientific discussion of intergroup relations by Charles H. Cooley who noted that the way people see themselves depends heavily on the evaluation of others. Subsequent theoretical, empirical, and methodological work has clarified and expanded the major principles of the reflected appraisal process.
Religion
Authors: Possamai Adam
Published: December 2017

This entry covers the social theory of Durkheim, Marx, and Weber on religion, with a focus on the notion of magic, the sacred–profane dichotomy, and secularization. It also discusses the current re‐emergence of religion in the public sphere and introduces new social theories such as those on postsecularism and multiple modernities.
Riesman,David
Authors: Kivisto Peter
Published: December 2017

David Riesman, though trained as a lawyer and not a sociologist, became one of the most famous sociologists of the middle of the twentieth century, due chiefly to the publication in 1950 ofThe Lonely Crowd. It is the only book by a sociologist to sell over 1 million copies. The goal of the book and of subsequent work was to explore the main types of US social character, which Riesman thought were both deeply embedded in US culture and historically shaped by changing social conditions.
Rights
Authors: Morris Lydia
Published: December 2017

This entry begins with a view of rights as the outcome of social and political processes, and provides a brief account of the relationship between citizenship rights and universal human rights. It outlines key elements of civil, political, and social rights respectively, and moves on to examine the challenge posed by universal human rights. In this context it discusses transnational migration, postnationalism, civic stratification, and cosmopolitanism, before considering the question of rights and duties in relation to global inequality. It closes with a discussion of the charge that universal human rights represent a form of Western imperialism, and advances a more flexible view of human rights as a discourse that may be taken up and used in different cultural settings.
Rite de Passage
Authors: Gauthier François
Published: December 2017

The concept of rite of passage allows for interpreting and analyzing changes in status, individual and collective, in human societies, by distinguishing between three ritual stages: separation (preliminality), transition (liminality), and incorporation (postliminality). Often based on life cycles, rites of passage are foremost in the mechanisms of production and reproduction of society and culture through the performance and dramatization of the transfer from one social status to another. Rites of passage play out an essentially social function and provide a heuristic for concrete symbolic social action, including in post‐traditional, modern complex societies.
Ritual
Authors: McKinnon Andrew
Published: December 2017

Ritual theory begins with Freud and Durkheim, the latter having been more influential in the long run for his emphasis on the meaning and effects of ritual. Although there is no universally accepted definition of ritual, there is a noticeable trend towards a broad understanding: Ritual is shared action with a common focus by copresent participants, resulting in a sense of shared identity, and feelings that can be maintained by appropriate symbols. Ritual does things in the world in addition to creating solidarity (and mobilizing dissent, for example, it can be used to inaugurate presidents, solemnize marriages, or confer degrees.
Self‐Concept
Authors: Helm Peter
Published: December 2017

Self‐concept refers to a collection of self‐representations about the self. One's self‐concept begins to develop in childhood but continues through the lifespan. Sources of self‐concept include reflected appraisals, social comparisons, and self‐perception. Self‐construal refers to how people organize their self and can depend upon a variety of cultural contexts. Research focuses on independent or interdependent self‐construal, which is more common in individualistic or collectivistic cultures, respectively.
Sexual Socialization
Authors: Janssen Diederik F.
Published: December 2017

Over the course of the twentieth century the concept of sexual socialization has been theory driven but also increasingly problem driven. This may reflect the progressive politicization of the myriad aspects of “young sexualities,” and the way they have proven vulnerable, and thus indexical, to shifting social anxieties. Few canonical social theorists are in fact noted for their focus on sexual socialization. Most theoretical accounts either predominantly reiterate the mundane ethical strictures that are considered to make up the scene of sexual socialization itself, or (in the case of recent psychoanalytic and queer theoretical approaches) are so intellectually demanding as to play only a minor role in social scientific, let alone public, debate.
Shariati,Ali
Authors: Milani Milad
Published: December 2017

Ali Shariati was a significant ideologue of Iranian revolutionary thought. Shariati represented a distinct formulation of social and political thought that placed religion at its center. His academic career was marked by a unique arbitration of “original” and “protestant” Shi'ite Islam with a culturally sensitive modernization process. He remains an influential philosopher on the politics of religion and society.
Social Capital
Authors: Qi Xiaoying
Published: December 2017

Social capital is a social facility which is a basis of agency for those who invest in it and have access to it. There is no unitary theory of social capital but there are a number of distinctive accounts which emphasize different bases and particular outcomes of social capital. The best known contributions to the identification and theorization of social capital are those of James Coleman, Robert Putnam, and Pierre Bourdieu. The approaches of these theorists are discussed.
Social Conflict
Authors: Delaney Tim
Published: December 2017

The central premise of conflict sociology resides with the core tenet that social conflict in society is inevitable. Social conflict is the result of power differentials and systematic inequality found in any given society and is characterized by the dominant group imposing its will on the subordinate group(s) in order to maintain its power position. This results in antagonism between the exploited and the exploiters. Violence is a common by‐product of social conflict. Social conflict may also lead to cohesion within individual groups sparking collective activity.
Social Distance
Authors: Karakayali Nedim
Published: December 2017

The main idea behind the concept of social distance is that any given social relationship, in addition to other characteristics, always involves elements of “nearness” and “distance.” There is, however, a diversity of ways distance is conceptualized as a sociological notion. Most notably, social researchers emphasize the affective (e.g., how members of a group feel about “others”), normative (e.g., how “us” is distinguished from “them”), interactive (e.g., how long and often people interact with each other), and cultural‐habitual (e.g., to what extent two groups share similar traits) dimensions of social distance. In addition to the impact of social distance on other social processes, how these different dimensions interact with each other and with other (especially spatial) types of distance are among salient areas of research. It is widely noted that, as interactions with “strangers” increase, norms distinguishing “us” from “them” become growingly more problematic in modern societies, giving way to both more tolerant and xenophobic attitudes. In all likelihood, therefore, social distance will continue to be a significant area of research for contemporary scholars.
Social Dominance Theory
Authors: Romm Norma R. A.
Published: December 2017

Social dominance theory (SDT) as expounded by Jim Sidanius and Felicia Pratto (1999) takes as its starting point that human societies tend to be structured as group‐based hierarchical systems, with dominant groups having access to a disproportionately larger share of valued material and symbolic possessions. SDT identifies
age
,
gender
, and
arbitrary‐set
bases of hierarchy and oppression (with “arbitrary” bases being centered on socially significant distinctions functioning to distinguish social groups). Critics contend that SDT does not provide sufficient leeway for people to imagine possibilities for altering the seemingly ubiquitous hierarchical structure of social existence. However, supporters of SDT counter argue that one of the reasons for SDT's highlighting the human predisposition to form group‐based hierarchies is because this then can become a route towards researching ways of addressing the problem.
Social Epidemiology
Authors: McDowell Ian
Published: December 2017

Social epidemiology analyses the manner in which social determinants shape patterns of health and illness in populations. The ultimate goal is to propose ways to improve health and prevent disease. This relatively new subfield of epidemiology is characterized by its broad, biopsychosocial paradigm, its emphasis on theory development, a focus on population‐level determinants rather than individual risk factors, and its use of multilevel analytic techniques.
Social Neuroscience
Authors: Eslinger Paul J.
Published: December 2017

Social neuroscience is a rapidly growing area of multidisciplinary research that focuses on the neurobiological foundations of social behavior and related processes. Social adaptation draws upon processes of social perception, mentalizing, social emotions, and social communication. Social neuroscience strives to unravel the anatomical and physiological bases of these processes through study of healthy persons across the lifespan with techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electrophysiological mapping of brain activity as well as study of clinical samples that have diseases affecting the brain (e.g., schizophrenia, autism, traumatic brain injury, frontotemporal dementia). Studies in animal models of social behavior such as nonhuman primates and prairie voles provide critical investigations of neural mechanisms and interventions as well. Social neuroscience is thought by many to be a key area of research that bridges disparate disciplines of neuroscience, neurology, psychiatry, and the social sciences.
Sociobiology
Authors: Driscoll Catherine
Published: December 2017

E. O. Wilson first coined the term “Sociobiology” as the title of his (1975) book, and defined it as “the systematic study of the biological basis of behavior.” Sociobiology had its origins in ethology and behavioral ecology, but Wilson's controversial and speculative writings about the evolution of human behavior led to an academic conflict known as the “sociobiology wars.” As a consequence, new terms began to be used to refer to the evolutionary social sciences inspired by Wilson's program: these include human behavioral ecology, evolutionary psychology, and dual inheritance theory. Despite the change of name, controversies and debates still surround this work, including those concerning the value of adaptationist methods, the heritability of human behavior, and the consequences of there being a fixed “human nature,” which might include socially harmful behavior.
Sociology of Sport
Authors: Maguire Joseph
Published: December 2017

Sociologists examine the function and meaning of sport in the lives of people and the societies they form, and explain the emergence and diffusion of sport over time and across different societies. In doing so, they identify the processes of socialization into, through, and out of modern sport and investigate the values and norms of dominant, emergent, and residual cultures and subcultures in sport. They also explore how the exercise of power and the stratified nature of societies place limits, and create possibilities, for people's involvement in the sports medical industrial complex (SMIC).
Sociology of Work
Authors: Rodeheaver Daniel G. , Zafirovski Milan
Published: December 2017

The sociology of work refers to the analysis of work, or labor, properties, processes, and outcomes. It analyzes the social settings, conditions, and dimensions of work, including the relations between workers and other agents within the work process. It also studies the relationship between work and nonwork spheres of society, including leisure, family, and social life. It focuses on the nature and social organization under capitalism, from Fordism to post‐Fordism. The sociology of work represents a subfield of economic sociology as a comprehensive sociological analysis of the economy in relation to society.
Spencer,Herbert
Authors: Kivisto Peter
Published: December 2017

Herbert Spencer was one of the most influential thinkers of his era, with a wide readership in Britain, continental Europe, and North America. He was an advocate of evolution in several fields of inquiry, particularly biology, psychology, and sociology. He was also a radical individualist and proponent of laissez‐faire capitalism, a spokesperson for what became known as Social Darwinism. Yet in a few decades after his death, his reputation fell. This entry surveys the main contours of his work and offers an account of his reputational fate.
Stereotypes
Authors: Driskell Robyn , Nelson Justin
Published: December 2017

Stereotypes are defined as the typically unfavorable or inaccurate perceptions that are attributed to an entire group or category of people. These cultural sources of prejudice and discrimination are based on racial, ethnic, religious, and other social differences in an attempt to explain entire groups of people based solely on selected information. Stereotypes have been studied as automatic and unconscious thoughts, but are learned over time in social contexts and perpetuated by the socialization process in various ways. Stereotypes can result in historical patterns of prejudice and discrimination in society, but have also been demonstrated to have individual impacts such as creating a self‐fulfilling prophecy and stereotype threat. Stereotype threat is a situational impact of stereotyping in which individuals are aware of the negative stereotypes that surround their particular social group and they feel anxiety that their actions might confirm the stereotype as true.
Stigma
Authors: Howarth Caroline , Santos Tania dos
Published: December 2017

Starting from Goffman's classic account on stigma, this entry describes different perspectives on the formation and maintenance of stigma through cognitive, individual, and institutional approaches. It connects theories of stigma to work on stereotypes, prejudice, social dominance, culture, social identities, contact, and social representations, demonstrating the importance of connecting the individual‐level and contextual factors in theorizing and addressing stigma.
Symbolic Ethnicity
Authors: Kivisto Peter
Published: December 2017

Symbolic ethnicity is a concept formulated by Herbert Gans that accounts for both the indicators of the persistence of various manifestations of ethnicity and its simultaneous more pervasive gradual decline.
System Justification Theory
Authors: Kemmelmeier Markus
Published: December 2017

System justification theory (SJT) is a social‐psychological theory proposed by John Jost and collaborators to explain why members of disadvantaged groups often actively embrace and even promote existing inequalities. SJT assumes three distinct psychological motives or justification tendencies. In line with previous theorizing, SJT proposes a self‐justification and an in‐group justification motive, referring to the need for a favorable self‐image as a legitimate actor, and the need to maintain a favorable image of one's in‐group. Critically, SJT proposes a system justification motive aimed at viewing the larger social system as fair and desirable. SJT argues that social stereotypes and political ideologies especially serve a palliative function as they allow individuals to maintain the legitimacy of the status quo. Predictions based on SJT have been tested in experimental and survey research, which provide substantial support for the theory.
Tocqueville,Alexis de
Authors: Hess Andreas
Published: December 2017

Tocqueville (1805–1859) was the first political thinker to treat modern democracy as a political subject in its own right. Sandwiched between the American and French Revolutions and the 1848 revolutions his work reflects the radical transition and transformation that occurs when traditional societies aspire to become modern societies. Only if we understand this historical context will we be able to comprehensively understand Tocqueville's life and work. Tocqueville will continue to inspire social theorists, yet Tocqueville's thinking remains one that cannot be potted as a theoretical framework that can be put down anywhere; what it can do is still to encourage attentiveness to differences whilst at the same time making comparisons – this is Tocqueville's intelligence. Such thinking can be emulated but not copied.
Transnationalism
Authors: Boccagni Paolo
Published: December 2017

Transnationalism has emerged as a valuable conceptual tool for migration studies, in the broader framework of globalization studies, over the past decades. This entry provides a succinct overview of the key argument of the transnational perspective, including its theoretical and methodological added value, as well as the dilemmas and criticisms encountered, and its prospects for further development.
T
urner,
F
rederick
J
ackson
Authors: Mennell Stephen
Published: December 2017

The American historian Frederick Jackson Turner's (1861–1932) fame rests principally on one great essay, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” dating from 1893. The “Frontier Thesis” became for several decades the dominant view in the interpretation of American history. Its most celebrated proposition is that life on the frontier fostered a spirit of “rugged individualism.”
Voluntary Associations
Authors: Driskell Robyn , Wise Jasmine
Published: December 2017

Voluntary associations are public organizations that exist in contemporary societies and which are used to meet the same personal desires, psychological voids, and social needs as traditional communities are supposed to have met. Members are volunteers who work toward a common goal. This sometimes involves advocacy for progressive social change, but voluntary association can also be reactionary. Criticism of voluntary associations includes their lack of use of a physical space to create community. Similarly, voluntary associations can allow members to enjoy psychological well‐being with like‐minded people whom they may not find in their local community, but they can also be insular and promote tribal allegiances that undermine more universal norms or values.
Wealth
Authors: Zafirovski Milan
Published: December 2017

Wealth is the general subject and objective of economic science from its early phase in classical political economy to its later stages in neoclassical and contemporary economics. Indeed, the so‐called “father of economics,” Adam Smith's founding book of economics is titled
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
. Wealth has retained its centrality in classical political economy since Smith, as well as in most neoclassical and contemporary economics. In particular, economics has focused on the processes, character, forms, motives, sources, and effects and trends of wealth.
Welfare Economics
Authors: Schmid Alfred Allan
Published: December 2017

Neoclassical welfare economics uses efficiency as a criterion to rank policy alternatives. Applications include law and economics and cost–benefit analysis. But this begs the question of whose preferences count. Alternatively, an institutional‐evolutionary approach is non‐presumptive and shows politicians the substantive consequences implied by their choices.
Welfare State
Authors: Klimczuk Andrzej
Published: December 2017

The welfare state refers to a concept of a state that focuses on ensuring that a broad range of social rights is provided for all citizens by acting on the social mechanisms and consequences of the market economy. In such a state government plays a vital role in balancing social inequalities by providing or subsidizing social benefits and services. This activity is called social policy. Individual countries are characterized by different welfare state models, goals, values, and groups of beneficiaries. Such a state usually supports a recovery from the difficult situation of the population, which is not, itself, able to take care of their basic needs.
Whiteness
Authors: Taylor Joy Takako
Published: December 2017

This entry covers the different approaches in the social sciences and the humanities that understand and problematize whiteness. In short, whiteness is a social construct, a performance, and an ideology that crosses borders. Currently, white privilege continues to be experienced by people of color and indigenous peoples, both in the United States and abroad. Shelly Tochluk's practical guide assists middle‐class white individuals in doing antiracist work, while Richard Dyer's classic text offers a more theoretical approach on whiteness.
Authority
Authors: Adair‐Toteff Christopher
Published: December 2017

Authority is the power that prompts an individual to voluntarily obey. The individual obeys not by force or by persuasion, but because of the belief that that authority possesses legitimate power. There are three types of authority: traditional, legal, and charismatic.
B
oserup,
E
ster
Authors: Göransson Anita
Published: December 2017

Ester Boserup (1910–1999) was a Danish economist and researcher who worked primarily for United Nations agencies focusing on agricultural development problems. She launched a theory based on empirical results from her regional studies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, that – contrary to Malthus and the neo‐Malthusians – saw population growth as a prerequisite to economic growth, not the other way around. She argued that population growth and the subsequent increased demand for food leads to technological innovations and new organization models in order to intensify production. Her studies from different parts of the world enabled her to theorize various forms of subsistence farming under different types of property rights and gender divisions of labor. Pointing to the vital role of women, especially in the informal – or nonmonetized – economy, she was a pioneer in introducing more realistic production estimates and development policies that did not automatically subordinate women.
Burke,Edmund
Authors: Sivado Akos
Published: December 2017

Edmund Burke is a prominent figure in the history of both political philosophy and (mainly conservative) social theory, in spite of his apparent reluctance to endorse any kind of philosophical or theoretical systems, focusing instead on practical solutions given to practical problems of his time. His contributions to social theory, however, are undeniable when considering the enormous influence his major writings (most importantly hisReflections on the Revolution in France, 1790) exerted on theorizing about social matters in the past two centuries.
Caliphate
Authors: Mottahedeh Roy Parviz
Published: December 2017

The caliphate developed in the Islamic world from mere successorship to the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632) to vice‐regency over mankind on behalf of God. The bludgeoning to death of the last Baghdad caliph in 1258 left a vacuum in Islamic political theory and a widespread acceptance of
de facto
rulers as religiously legitimate, and some of these rulers adopted the style of “caliph” even if they were only locally accepted as such. The Ottoman sultans began taking the title caliph seriously in the late eighteenth century. After their deposition in 1924 there were a few unsuccessful bids for the caliphate. In the twenty‐first century a growing association of the caliphate with a lost “golden age” has caused a few radical Muslims to claim the title caliph.
Caring
Authors: Isserles Robin G.
Published: December 2017

Weaving together philosophy, sociology, social psychology, political theory, and economics, care theory is a rich, complex framework, albeit difficult at times to define. Care is both a disposition and a practice, something we do and something we experience, and always demanding self‐reflection, rational thought as well as emotional attention. Care theory places care at the center of all our human interactions and activities. It is a deeply relational construct presuming that fundamental to human existence is the universal need to be cared for and to care for others. At its very core, care theory presents an alternative notion to that of the autonomous, rational individual that has been the basis of most Western political and social thought.