bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Genocide
Authors: Karstedt Susanne
Published: September 2017

Genocide has been termed the crime of the twentieth century, and the Holocaust of the European Jews by the German Nazi regime will forever be its defining event. This entry first gives an overview of the legal definition of genocide as a crime by the international community in the wake of the Holocaust, as well as other terminologies. Estimates of victims and perpetrators for mass atrocities and genocide across the past decades are presented. Two main explanatory approaches that shaped theorizing and research over the following decades are outlined: the structural and psychosocial perspective, and the strategic or actor perspective. As the contours and contexts of contemporary genocides and mass atrocities have profoundly changed, new terminology as well as explanatory perspectives developed. The entry gives a brief overview of recent terminological developments – “atrocity crimes” and “extremely violent societies” – and outlines a “relational perspective,” which combines contextual analyses on three levels: the international system; long term conflicts; and local and microdynamics of involvement, resistance, and victimization. As research and theorizing move out of the shadow of the Holocaust new perspectives for prevention, protection, and intervention are developed for the international community.
Genre
Authors: Horrocks Roger
Published: September 2017

A genre is any group of texts identified as sharing a cluster of characteristics (such as structure, theme, function, style, mood, spatial or temporal setting). The term may imply a precise list of characteristics or be used more flexibly as a way of exploring “family resemblances” (in Wittgenstein's sense of that phrase). New genres are constantly being identified, but use value determines whether a proposed grouping gains long term acceptance.
Gentrification
Authors: Patch Jason
Published: September 2017

Gentrification entails the intertwined processes of capital reinvestment and residential in‐migration into disinvested neighborhoods. 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 and the gradual influx of a new “gentry” of middle‐ and high‐income inhabitants.
Germani, Gino (1911–1979)
Authors: Grunstein Arturo , Barner Louise
Published: September 2017

Gino Germani legitimately stands as one of the founding fathers of academic sociology in Latin America. From the start of his academic career, Germani affirmed the need to overcome the two “anti‐positivist” dominant traditions in Latin American social analysis: abstract philosophical speculation and conceptually poor empiricism.
Gun Control, Gun Crime
Authors: Qvortrup Matt
Published: September 2017

Gun crimes – or firearms offenses – are never far from the headlines in the United States and other countries with high levels of gun ownership. Incidents such as the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007, the sniper shootings in Washington, DC, in October 2002, the Zug massacre in Switzerland (where a lone gunman shot 15 people in the local parliament before turning the gun on himself), and the Columbine High School shootings in 1999 are all high‐profile examples of what some have called “the firearm epidemic” (Cukier & Sidel 2006: 3).
Gift
Authors: Tzanelli Rodanthi
Published: September 2017

The concept of the gift has been explored by anthropologists, philosophers, sociologists, and social theorists, who recognized in it a heuristic tool for the study of kinship relations, exchange and reciprocity, and interconnections of power, economics, and morality. In all these cases the gift can assume the form of tangibles (material items such as artifacts or human beings) and intangibles (ideas, religious rituals, or titles).
Gift
Authors: Tzanelli Rodanthi
Published: September 2017

The concept of the gift and the act through which it enters social life (giving) have been central to conceptualizations of public and private human relations at least since Marcel Mauss's publication ofEssai sur le don(The Gift, 1925). Both the gift and giving relations enriched interdisciplinary inquiry, highlighting weaknesses and synthesizing the strengths of economics, sociology, philosophy, literary criticism, and general theory. Mauss's identification of gift exchange as a Durkheimian “total phenomenon” that addresses obligation and responsibility in societies through practices and rituals of offering or receiving, inspired the work of renowned sociologists.
Gift Relations
Authors: Lair Craig D.
Published: September 2017

Though the study of gift relations spans a range of intellectual disciplines (such as anthropology, ethnology, and sociology), one general theme has tended to unite the diverse works that deal with this theme: more than being simple economic transactions, gifts and gift giving are fundamentallysocialactivities. That is, gifts are not mere material objects that are being exchanged, but rather objects and actions imbued with social meanings. Therefore to engage in a gift relationship is to engage in asocial relationship.
Gini Coefficient
Authors: Sun Ivan Y. , Lin Kai
Published: September 2017

The Gini coefficient is the most commonly used measure of inequality. The coefficient is named after the Italian statistician and demographer Corrado Gini (1884–1965), who invented the measure in 1912. In addition to measuring income and wealth inequality, the Gini coefficient is also widely employed to indicate uneven distributions of other social factors, such as industrial location and development, healthcare, and racial segregation. The coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, with 0 representing perfect equality (i.e., everyone has the same income) and 1 perfect inequality (i.e., a single person has all the income). An extension of the Gini coefficient is the Gini index, which is the Gini coefficient multiplied by 100.
Global justice as a social movement
Authors: Williams Matthew S.
Published: September 2017

The global justice movement (GJM) – also known as the alter‐globalization or anti‐globalization movement – is a transnational social movement, rooted in the confluence of the human rights, labor, environmental, indigenous, peasant, and feminist movements’ shared opposition to neoliberal globalization and vision of a more democratic, equitable, ecologically sustainable world. (Neoliberal globalization refers to those structural changes in the global economy being carried out under a discourse of free markets that weaken or eliminate policies that protect the environment and vulnerable social groups, such as the poor, workers, and indigenous peoples, while creating a regulatory system that favors transnational corporations (TNCs); examples of such policies include weakening labor and environmental laws and austerity programs that cut social welfare services.) The GJM is truly global in scope, with strong constituent movements in Western countries, Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa; it is weakest in the Middle East, East Asia, and the former Soviet bloc. Constituent organizations range from traditional non‐profits and volunteer groups in the global North (first world), to large, grassroots labor, peasant, and indigenous organizations in the global South (third world). The strands making up the GJM coalesced in the 1990s and became highly visible in the United States following the massive 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle, Washington.
Global Politics
Authors: Cox Lloyd
Published: September 2017

Global politics refers to patterns of political relations and activities that stretch across state borders, and whose consequences are, potentially and/or actually, worldwide in scope. As such, global politics includes but is not limited to interstate relations, and is not explicable in terms of those approaches conventionally deployed by realist scholars of international relations (IR). The latter have routinely assumed the primacy of sovereign, bounded territorial states, which act in their own national interest in a sharply demarcated “external” political environment defined by zero‐sum power equations. Many theorists argue that such views do not accurately reflect the new realities of what some have referred to as a post‐Westphalian or post‐international world. In this world, states allegedly have had their capacities eroded, the boundaries separating domestic and foreign policy are increasingly blurred, and the sources of political authority, legitimacy, and governance have multiplied beyond the territorial state. This has created a “democratic deficit” between the nominal sites of political participation (national states) and more remote global sources of political power and decision‐making, in turn raising questions about contemporary forms of political community and citizenship. These shifting realities have been prompted by a number of developments encompassed by the term globalization.
Globalization, Consumption and
Authors: Langer Beryl
Published: September 2017

The terms globalization and consumption combine with reference to the emergence of a global consumer culture: the same products, services, and entertainment sold in the same kinds of retail and leisure spaces (malls, plazas, theme parks, cineplexes) to consumers around the world. From luxury cars and designer clothes to jeans, t‐shirts, toys, snack food, and bottled water, markets are global rather than national. The same electronic equipment, cosmetics, children's toys and grocery lines are consumed in cities as remote from each other as Sydney and Stockholm, Bahrain and Birmingham. Product availability is less tied to specific places, first because the same global brands are on sale at the same time throughout the world and second because traders catering to deterritorialized immigrants recreate the retail environment of their homeland by importing familiar products. Starbucks, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Kentucky Fried Chicken are everywhere – as are family‐run restaurants selling “ethnic” food to customers in search of either the taste of “home” or the exotic. It is no longer necessary to go to Paris and Milan to buy Dior and Armani, the US to get a baseball cap, India to get a sari, or the Middle East and Southeast Asia for hijabs and burkhas. All are on sale in cities around the world, although the different circumstances of their circulation serve to remind us that globalization is not one process, but many.
Globalization, Religion and
Authors: Beyer Peter
Published: September 2017

Globalization describes the historical process by which all the world's people come to live in a single social unit. Religion constitutes an important dimension of globalization through its worldwide institutional presence, its importance in structuring individual and collective cultural difference, and as an effective resource for local and global social mobilization for various goals. Religion is a highly contested, occasionally powerful, and often conflictual domain of some consequence in the global social system.
Globalization, Sport and
Authors: Maguire Joseph
Published: September 2017

Modern sport is bound up in a global network of interdependency chains that are marked by uneven power relations. Consider the consumption of sports events and leisure clothing. People across the globe regularly view satellite broadcasts of English Premier League and European Champions League matches. In these games the best players drawn from Europe, South America, and Africa perform. The players use equipment – boots, balls, clothing, etc. – that are designed in the West, financed by multinational corporations such as Adidas and Nike and hand‐stitched, in the case of soccer balls, in Asia using, in part, child labor. This equipment is then sold, at significant profit, to a mass market in North America and Europe. Several transnational corporations are involved in the production and consumption phases of global soccer – some of whom own the media companies and have, as in the case of Sky TV, shareholdings in the soccer clubs they screen as part of what sociologists term the “global media‐sport complex.”
Globalization, Sport and
Authors: Maguire Joseph
Published: September 2017

The emergence and globalization of modern sport was bound up in a network of interdependency chains that were and are marked by uneven power relations. The diffusion of modern sport out of its European heartland was closely connected to the formal and informal spheres of influence of the British Empire and to an intensified global spurt that occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Its standardization, organizational development, and global diffusion reflected and reinforced the global processes that were being powered by the West and, as the twentieth century unfolded, by representatives of the US – in both the public and private sectors. On the one hand, and reinforcing the views of the sports–industrial complex (SIC), this long‐term process has been viewed as a thoroughly progressive and liberating phenomenon that opened up the potential for greater human contact, dialogue, and friendship. Such sentiments find expression in current International Olympic Committee (IOC) discourse and in United Nations initiatives that seek to employ sport in addressing a range of Millennium Goals.
Globalization, Values and
Authors: Monnier Christine
Published: September 2017

Global values refer to the moral and normative conceptions shared by individuals and social actors (such as international governmental and non‐governmental organizations, transnational corporations, and global institutions) across national boundaries and that pertain to the future cultural shape of globalizing society. Global values have to be understood in the larger framework of cultural globalization and the globalization of culture. Far from being the product of a harmonious consensus, the delineation of global values is a contentious work‐in‐progress that reflects the complexities and ambiguities of the whole globalization process.
Gökalp, Ziya (1876–1924)
Authors: Mardin Serif
Published: September 2017

Turkish sociologist Ziya Gökalp was the first to use western sociological theory as a foundation of his thought. He is known as the originator of a systematic theory of Turkish nationalism. This theory was elaborated in the confluence of three problematic issues in the Ottoman Empire at the end of the nineteenth century. One was the policy of “Ottomanism,” an attempt by the reformist Ottoman bureaucracy to modernize the empire. Ottomanism attempted to present Ottoman reform to the Concert of Europe (composed of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and Great Britain) as having modernized the structure of the empire and granted a new status to non‐Muslim communities. It was hoped this would make Turkey worthy of acceptance in the Concert. This strategy was successful (1856), but met with much criticism from various groups inside the empire. The second Ottoman problem was the question of the viability of a union of all Muslims under Ottoman leadership. This issue was known as Islamism or
Islamcilik
. The third issue was an option increasingly discussed among Ottoman intellectuals in the 1890s, i.e., the ideology of rallying all Ottomans around “Turkishness.”
Governmentality and Control
Authors: Krasmann Susanne
Published: September 2017

In his lectures at the Collège de France at the end of the 1970s, the French philosopher Michel Foucault developed a new analytics of power, making the concept of governmentality the focus of his interest. This concept first of all refers to the historical emergence of an “art of government”: governing becomes an object of problematizing the best possible mode of exercising power. “Art,” therefore, alludes to an artificiality of government, something fabricated by humans and implying certain techniques and forms of knowledge, and to a capacity of producing effectiveness. The rationality of government, then, does not consist in a substantial reason, as what seems to be rational results from a relation between the object operated on, the objective pursued, the application of suitable means, techniques, and so forth. In short, rationality is itself a reflection of the conditions of government. It is by no means timelessly valid; rather, the historical context and the perspectives of a society or a local culture give the structure that facilitates its emergence, and here especially the knowledge itself that comes into use.
Governmentality studies
examines rationalities of government that form the techniques, procedures and ways of action, and the economy of power that these technologies create.
Group Processes
Authors: Huey Wesley S. , Lucas Jeffrey W.
Published: September 2017

The group processes perspective is one of the three “faces” of sociological social psychology (Smith‐Lovin and Molm, 2000). Work in this tradition is characterized by development of formal theories, testing of hypotheses derived from the theories, and theoretical growth through a process of revision and expansion of the scope of theories. Because of their ability to isolate social processes and their amenability to testing formal theories, experiments are the methodological approach most commonly employed in the group processes perspective. This kind of approach goes back to scholars who were interested in the interactions among individuals in groups. As the perspective has developed, the focus has largely shifted from interest in groups themselves to interest in the
processes
that occur in group contexts.
Growth Machine
Authors: Jonas Andrew E.G.
Published: September 2017

In 1976, the American sociologist Harvey Molotch put forward the growth machine concept in an article published in theAmerican Journal of Sociology(Molotch, 1976). The concept describes how growth systemically underpins the development of American cities. However, it has often been interpreted as referring to the presence in almost every city of property‐dependent business interests actively engaged in local politics and civic affairs. This is so much so that the city itself can be seen, in its very essence, to be an instrument of profit for land‐based interests. Moreover, those involved in promoting growth frequently form coalitions with other players likewise dependent on local development, and mobilize to shape the policies and institutions of local government in a fashion such that future urban growth patterns and land use policies profit all participants; in this way, the city‐building process operates like a growth machine. However, urban growth is a zero‐sum game insofar as growth coalitions in different cities compete in the same national pool of jobs and investment. They therefore promulgate an ideology of growth, which often proves such a potent force that all other interests either become incorporated within the essential logic of the machine or face defeat.
Guattari, Félix (1930–1992)
Authors: Genosko Gary
Published: September 2017

French activist‐intellectual Pierre‐Félix Guattari was inspired by Jean‐Paul Sartre's political sociology and trained as a psychoanalyst by Jacques Lacan. Guattari was internationally recognized for his collaborations with Gilles Deleuze on the capitalism and schizophrenia volumes
Anti‐Oedipus
(1977),
A Thousand Plateaus
(1987), and
What is Philosophy?
(1994).
Gurvitch, Georges: Social Change
Authors: Bosserman Phillip
Published: September 2017

On June 22, 1962, Georges Gurvitch and his wife Dolly were victims of a terrorist attack aimed at assassinating this deeply dedicated Sorbonne professor of sociology. He had enormous intellectual gifts and possessed a dazzling legal mind with a wonderfully creative sociological imagination. The distinguished social historian Fernand Braudel proclaimed him the brightest person he had ever known.
Gorz, André (1923–2007)
Authors: da Silva Josué Pereira
Published: September 2017

André Gorz is one of the most important contemporary European social theorists, despite the fact that his entire intellectual endeavor took place outside the academic milieu. A philosopher and journalist, he produced 19 books and hundreds of articles and interviews dealing with the most relevant themes of contemporary social theory and politics. Born to a Catholic mother and a Jewish father, André Gorz, whose real name was Gerhard Horst, was born in Vienna, Austria, on February 9, 1923. Following the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938, his mother sent him to Switzerland, fearing that he might be drafted into the German army or even jailed because of his Jewish descent, as his father had been when Austria was occupied. In Switzerland, where he lived until the end of World War II, Gorz studied chemical engineering and encountered the works of Jean‐Paul Sartre.
Gendered Professions
Authors: Loos Martina
Published: September 2017

The term gendered professions denotes that gender meanings are inscribed in the construction and changes of professions, historically and at present. Professions are established and change in a social context that mainly draws on a prevailing gender ideology, supported by extensive gender segregation within and between the professions as well as through everyday interaction.
Gypsies
Authors: Lydaki Anna
Published: September 2017

Gypsies are known internationally as
Rom
. Their language,
Romani
, is not written and spoken by all Gypsies, with many differences and borrowed elements from the countries in which they live (Lydaki 1998: 26–8; Matras 2002).
Government, Trust in
Authors: Guerrero Alejandro
Published: September 2017

Trust in government is a multidimensional concept in which citizens expect the government and public officials to be responsive, honest, and competent, “even in the absence of constant scrutiny” (Miller & Listhaug 1990: 358). The concept of trust in government has gained growing attention as a measure of the overall quality of governments and as a potential metric for good governance. But trends in trust have also been closely examined by an emerging empirical literature in the social sciences, often with a sense of alarm regarding a potential long‐term decline of confidence in governments.
Habitus/Field
Authors: Eisenberg Anne F.
Published: September 2017

European sociology serves as an interesting contrast to American sociology in terms of theory and theoretical development, as exemplified by Pierre Bourdieu's writings and particularly with his ideas of habitus and field. On the one hand, most typical of theoretical development in American sociology is to build on an existing body of theoretical work rather than seeking to create something novel, and secondly to attempt to find ways to link theory to empirical research by operationalizing the theory. Examples of such programs include theories addressing justice, balance, and identity (micro‐level theories) as well as institutionalism, social change, and revolutions (macro‐level theories). European, particularly continental, sociology has tended to take a somewhat different approach by focusing on integrating key theoretical ideas across different perspectives, as well as creating new language with which to express such integrative ideas. Additionally, another key distinction between American and European sociology is that American sociology highlights what some writers consider to be false distinctions and dichotomies in a range of areas – such as theory versus research methods, objective versus subjective, qualitative or interpretive methods versus quantitative or positivistic methods, macro versus micro, and structure versus agency. European sociologists argue against creating and maintaining such arbitrary boundaries in describing and explaining the social world. Bourdieu's ideas of habitus and field provide a new way of explaining key aspects of the social world that integrates key ideas from different sociological perspectives.
Hawthorne Effect
Authors: Swatos William H.
Published: September 2017

The Hawthorne Effect is the name that has been given to the possibility that a subject in a research project may change his or her behavior in a positive manner simply as a result of being aware of being studied. This concept takes its name from research studies conducted from 1924 to 1933 at the Western Electric Company's Hawthorne plant near Chicago, Illinois, that ultimately came under the direction of Elton Mayo of Harvard University. The specific research associated with the Hawthorne Effect was the first step among several and was conducted by engineers at the plant from 1924 to 1927, prior to Mayo's entry. This experiment involved increasing the lighting within a work area, using both experimental and control groups. Measuring worker output before and after the change in lighting showed an increase in productivity in
both
the experimental and control groups. Additional experiments with results along these lines led the researchers to conclude that the increased worker output occurred simply because of the increased attention directed toward the workers. It was at this point that Mayo entered the research, and the focus moved from simple variation in illumination to a variety of alterations in actual worker activity. As a whole, the research provided the initial grounding for Mayo to create the human relations movement, particularly in complex organizations.
Health Care Delivery Systems
Authors: Stevens Fred , van der Zee Jouke
Published: September 2017

A health care delivery system is the organized response of a society to the health problems of its inhabitants. Societies choose from alternative health care delivery models and, in doing so, they organize and set goals and priorities in such a way that the actions of different actors are effective, meaningful, and socially accepted. From a sociological point of view, the analysis of health care delivery systems implies recognition of their distinct history over time, their specific values and value patterns that go beyond technological requirements, and their commitment to a set of normative standards (Parsons 1951; Selznick 1957). The term “system” is used here in a sociological sense (Parsons 1951; Philipsen 1980). Typical system features are functional specificity (operational goals), structural differentiation (the division of labor), goal‐setting (including effectiveness, efficiency), coordination (of activities, occupations, and facilities by mutual agreement, standards, or hierarchy), and boundary maintaining autonomy (in relation to political, economic, or normative structures). Some health care delivery systems comply more with these system characteristics than others. Where health care delivery systems vary, it is mainly due to long‐term cultural and structural developments. Consequently, a health care delivery system is typified by its structure, its relationships between actors and organizations, and its specific pattern of underlying norms, values, and value orientations.
Health and Culture
Authors: Quah Stella R.
Published: September 2017

The cumulative knowledge from nearly a century's worth of studies confirms that the sociological analysis of health and illness would be grossly incomplete without the consideration of culture. Culture is both the context and an important determinant of the behavior, beliefs, and norms of individuals affected by illness, who are making decisions about help‐seeking, as well as of people and organizations whose role it is to help and to heal.
Health, Neighborhood Disadvantage
Authors: Browning Christopher R. , Cagney Kathleen A.
Published: September 2017

Although health is often seen as a product of individual or micro‐level determinants, researchers are increasingly recognizing the role of neighborhood context in influencing a broad range of health outcomes. The concept of “neighborhood” typically refers to a geographically contained residential space the boundaries of which may be defined ecologically (e.g., major streets or railroad tracks), administratively (e.g., census tracts), socially (e.g., with respect to neighbor networks), or symbolically (e.g., shared identification with a local space). Extant research offers evidence of a link between economic disadvantage at the neighborhood level and outcomes such as mortality, morbidity, and functional status. A number of perspectives on the mechanisms linking neighborhood structural characteristics to health have emerged. These approaches emphasize social capital, subcultural orientations, stress, and access to care and other health‐enhancing resources.
Health, Self‐Rated
Authors: Snead M. Christine
Published: September 2017

Self‐rated health, or self‐reported health (SRH) is a measurement of a respondent's subjective sense of health. The SRH measure is commonly used to capture a general sense of health from the perspective of the respondent, and is assessed by one simple global question about their overall health. There are many phrasings of this question, including “in general, would you say your health is,” “how would you rate your overall health,” or “how is your health, compared with others your age.” Response items for these questions are point scales typically ranging from 1 to 5 (excellent, very good, good, fair, poor) or, for the comparative question, 1 to 3 (better, same, worse). Methodologically, SRH is often described as both a reliable and a valid measurement of health (Lundberg and Manderbacka, 1996).
Health and Social Class
Authors: Lahelma Eero
Published: September 2017

Classical social theorists Karl Marx and Max Weber laid the basis for the scientific analysis of social class and stratification. Émile Durkheim's particular legacy was that societal and cultural forces outside the individual's control have influences on people's life including their health. Such forces are reflected in systematic social relationships attaching people to society's social class and stratification systems (Cockerham, 2013). The social theorists’ work has had repercussions for sociological and social epidemiological research on class differences in morbidity and mortality over more than 100 years.
Health and Sport
Authors: Waddington Ivan
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 Europe and America.
Highbrow/Lowbrow
Authors: Halle David
Published: September 2017

The distinction between “high culture” and “popular culture,” or “highbrow” and “lowbrow,” has underpinned most of the important debates about culture over the last 50 years in the US, Britain, and France especially, but also elsewhere. Theories of culture have tended either to presuppose this distinction or to debate various aspects of it. However, the nature of the debate has changed over time, and in particular the extent to which researchers and commentators are willing to stand by this distinction.
Hirschfeld, Magnus (1868–1935)
Authors: Plummer Ken
Published: September 2017

One of a cluster of early sexologists – like Krafft‐Ebing, Albert Moll, and Havelock Ellis – who came to prominence in the late nineteenth century, Magnus Hirschfeld was a German physician and sex researcher, as well as a homosexual and a pioneer of homosexual rights. In his early work, he endorsed the idea of Karl Ulrichs's “urning theory,” whereby homosexuality was seen as less of a choice and more of a biological “developmental defect.” In particular, he argued for a hormonal basis. Much of his work was concerned with “intermediate types.” He believed that all human beings were intermediate between male and female – a varying mixture of both. He was also one of the first modern theorists of transgender/transsexualism. He invented the terminology in 1923 and came to be known as “the father of Modern Transsexualism.” He produced the film
Anders als die Anden
(
Different from the Others
) (1919), probably the first documentary campaign film about the rights of the homosexual, banned in 1920. Amongst his key publications were
The Transvestites
(1910),
Homosexuality of Men and Women
(1914),
Sexual Pathology
(1917), and
Sexual Science
(the five‐volume magnus opus published between 1926 and 1930).
HIV/AIDS and population
Authors: VanLandingham Mark J. , Fu Hongyun , Meekers Dominique
Published: September 2017

The connections between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and population features are vast. While HIV has its largest impacts on population size and structure by increasing mortality among young adults, it also affects and interacts with the other key components of population makeup and change, namely, sexual behavior and fertility, and migration. Impacts on these key components in turn affect the well‐being of populations in profound ways.
Homans, George (1910–1989)
Authors: Fararo Thomas J.
Published: September 2017

George Caspar Homans was a major theoretical sociologist whose lucid writings helped to shape numerous developments in basic sociological research. His ideas about theoretical principles in sociology were much debated and often rejected.
Homicide
Authors: Beeghley Leonard
Published: September 2017

Unlike other western nations, thousands of people are murdered in the United States every year. Any large American city displays almost as many homicides as do many western nations (Beeghley 2003). A high rate of homicide – the intentional and illegal killing of another human being – makes the US anomalous.
Homosexuality
Authors: Hekma Gert
Published: September 2017

Homosexuality as a term was coined in 1869 in the fight against antisodomy laws and soon became a term describing a pathology. In the early twentieth century, the German homosexual rights movement began analyzing sexual practices. Around 1950 the work of Kinsey set new norms: homosexuality was a continuum of practices and fantasies rather than a special identity. Surveying (homo)sexuality thrived in the 1960s and later with the AIDS‐crisis. The Chicago School initiated research on gay urban cultures. Symbolic interactionism suggested concepts such as stigma and script to describe homosexuality. Coming out processes were studied. Foucault's perspective on the social construction of sexualities created a flourishing of studies on a great variety of topics: social history, gender and sexual variation, families of choice, and biological essentialism. Gay and lesbian or queer studies have become a booming field. Future themes might be sexual and gender identifications, erotic pleasures, and citizenship.
Humanism
Authors: Scimecca Joseph
Published: September 2017

Humanism, a philosophical movement that affirms the dignity of the human being, originated in Italy in the second half of the fourteenth century. While the twelfth and thirteenth centuries had been dominated by the philosophical school of Scholasticism (philosophy taught by the “schoolmen” of medieval universities who tried to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient classical philosophers with medieval Christian theology), by the fourteenth century, Scholasticism was more and more seen by thinkers outside the church and the universities as irrelevant to everyday life. This view of Scholasticism, along with the growth of cities and greater contact with the East and its differing views and customs, led thinkers such as Francesco Petrach (1304–74) and Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) to view the world differently than had the Scholastics. Although, the early Humanists were still Christians who believed that God ruled the world, it was a world which they saw as in need of change, change that could be brought about by human reason. For the Humanists, human beings possessed free will and the ability to use their reasoning power to bring about a humane world.
Humanism
Authors: Scimecca Joseph
Published: September 2017

Humanism, a philosophical movement that affirms the dignity of the human being, originated in Italy in the second half of the fourteenth century. While the twelfth and thirteenth centuries had been dominated by the philosophical school of scholasticism (philosophy taught by the “schoolmen” of medieval universities who tried to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient classical philosophers with medieval Christian theology), by the fourteenth century scholasticism was more and more seen by thinkers outside the church and the universities as irrelevant to everyday life. This view of scholasticism, along with the growth of cities and greater contact with the east and its differing views and customs, led thinkers like Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374) and Desiderius Erasmus (1466–1536) to view the world differently from the scholastics. Although the early humanists were still Christians who believed that God ruled the world, it was a world that they saw as in need of change, change that could be brought about by human reason. For the humanists, human beings possessed free will and the ability to use their reasoning power to bring about a humane world.
Hybridity
Authors: Pieterse Jan Nederveen
Published: September 2017

Hybridity refers to the mixture of phenomena that are held to be different, separate. Cut'n'mix experiences in consumption, lifestyles, and identities are common. The emergence of new hybrid forms and practices indicates profound changes that are taking place as a consequence of mobility, migration, multiculturalism, communication, and connectivity.
Hyperconsumption/Overconsumption
Authors: Schulz Jeremy
Published: September 2017

Hyperconsumption and overconsumption refer to the central role played by the acquisition of goods and services in structuring the lives of individuals, the dynamics of social organization, and processes of ecological degradation affecting nature. Both of these terms encapsulates the proposition that market‐mediated acquisition and consumption can reach excessive levels with profound repercussions for individuals, society, and the natural world. This entry explores the history of these concepts as well as current understandings of the phenomenon's sources and consequences.
Hypotheses
Authors: Sun Ivan Y
Published: September 2017

Hypotheses are predictions that specify the relationships among the variables. The role of hypotheses in scientific research is to provide explanations for certain phenomena and to guide the investigation of related others. The development of scientific knowledge hinges ultimately upon the results from hypothesis testing. Formalized hypotheses consist of two types of variables: the independent and dependent variables. The former is the cause and the latter is the outcome. A good and well‐worded hypothesis should (1) indicate the specific relationship between the dependent and independent variables to be examined; (2) suggest the nature of the relationship; and (3) imply the nature of the research design (Cone & Foster 1993).
Housework
Authors: Hunt Andrea N.
Published: September 2017

Housework, broadly defined, refers to the paid and unpaid labor performed to maintain family members and/or a home. This includes cleaning, buying groceries, preparing meals, and doing the laundry. Sociologists often frame the discussion of housework as part of the division of household labor, and this is where housework is situated within sociological literature. In most studies, housework is defined by its measurement and often excludes childcare, emotion work, and other invisible types of labor. However, sociologists do acknowledge that the construction of “housework” as a concept is a historical process and is thus contingent on other factors.
Hacking
Authors: Machado Murilo Bansi
Published: September 2017

Hacking has become an increasingly frequent subject of discussion in many fields of knowledge, such as sociology, anthropology, law, communication, political science, philosophy, and engineering, among others. However, any approach to hacking that focuses only on technical elements is open to miscomprehension. After all, hacking has never been an exclusive technical activity but is also (or even mainly) a social one.
Ideal Type
Authors: Clegg Stewart
Published: September 2017

Ideal type is a term drawn from nineteenth‐century German historical social sciences. All historical events are unique. Forcing these into some overall framework would necessarily diminish the contextual particulars of specific cases. The ideal type, as an abstracted means of capturing what is deemed essential and comparable in unique cases, was proposed as a way of overcoming these objections.
Identity, Deviant
Authors: Adler Patricia A. , Adler Peter
Published: September 2017

Identities refer to the way people think of themselves. This is important in the field of deviance because people's perceptions and interpretations of situations and themselves are likely to affect their behavior. If people conceive of themselves as deviant, they are more likely to engage in further deviant behavior than if they have a non‐deviant identity. The study of deviant identities has focused on how people develop and manage non‐normative self‐conceptions. This processual approach has been fostered by the special interest in deviant identity taken by symbolic interactionists, with their rich heritage from labeling theory to dramaturgy. Central themes in the study of deviant identities include the ways that they develop, factors that foster their development, and consequences of having them.
Identity Politics/Relational Politics
Authors: Wasson Leslie
Published: September 2017

Human society is no stranger to exercises of interpersonal power and identity politics. Power is the ability to get what you want with or without the consent or cooperation of others. Effects of deployed power are observable at the structural and institutional levels of society, and in face‐to‐face interactions. A discussion of identity politics (sometimes also called relational politics) may focus on either the class or group level or the level of personal interactions. The subject of identity politics rests within a set of related concepts, such as the distribution of social power, social location and status, and a stratified system in which these interpersonal resources may be valued and utilized for purposes of individual or group advantage over other individuals or groups.
Identity: Social Psychological Aspects
Authors: Vryan Kevin D.
Published: September 2017

Sociological social psychologists conceive of identities as social constructs – culturally and interactionally defined meanings and expectations – and as aspects of self‐processes and structures that represent who or what a person or set of persons is believed to be. Identities define people in social terms; they depend upon shared meanings and situate their bearers within variously structured and enduring sets of social relations. If a person is believed to belong to particular categories of persons, the meanings and expectations attached to those categories are presumed to be relevant to the person. Identities affect self‐conceptions and other intrapsychic structures and processes of the person believed to embody the identity as well as their actions, and affect how others will interpret, feel, and act in relation to the identified individual. The meanings of an identity draw upon sociocultural constructs attached to an identity type and may relate to relatively enduring positions within social structures, but they are actively and creatively presented, interpreted, and modified across different social contexts and over time. Identities are both reflections of socially structured sets of relations and are emergent and negotiable by social actors. As such, they can recreate and reinforce existing sets of social relations as well as alter them.
Ideological Hegemony
Authors: Mahutga Matthew C. , Stepan‐Norris Judith
Published: September 2017

Ideological hegemony refers to the embedding of relations of domination and exploitation in the dominant ideas of society. When internalized, these dominant ideas induce consent to these relationships on the part of the dominated and exploited. Consistent with the interconnected world in which we live, there are as many levels of ideological hegemony as there are levels of society.
Ideology, Sport and
Authors: Millward Peter
Published: September 2017

Sport and ideology refers to the way in which the former, as a distinct form of leisure activity, impacts upon the body of ideas which reflect the beliefs of a social group or political system. Indeed, the ideological capacity of sport can be considered so great that it may now be apt to rework Marx's dictum, in that sport, rather than religion, might sensibly be considered to be the new opiate of the people. Unquestionably, explicit links between sport and ideology have their roots in the work of the Frankfurt School thinker Theodor Adorno. In sum, Adorno argued that sport, like many other forms of popular culture, was a frivolous activity which reinforced the inequalities of the capitalist system and prohibited critical thought. At the heart of Adorno's critique lay two defining principles: participant competition and the consumption of the sporting spectacle.
Illness Experience
Authors: Scambler Graham , Scamber Sasha
Published: September 2017

The phrase “illness experience” refers to the ways in which people define and adjust to perceived interruptions in their health. It is conventional in medical sociology to distinguish between illness and disease. “Illness” refers to people's lay or subjective definitions of health problems, while “disease” refers to professional or objective definitions of health problems, which are based on signs and symptoms. The value of this distinction is that it allows us to acknowledge that people can be ill without having a disease and can have a disease without being ill (Freidson, 1970).
Imagined Communities
Authors: Jones Paul R.
Published: September 2017

Imagined communities is a term coined by Benedict Anderson (1983) in an influential book on the emergence and persistence of the nation. Anderson addresses a number of central sociological issues associated with belonging and cultural communities. A paradox of the modern age is that although many feel that the nation is our natural community, we do not know the vast majority of the other people who constitute this group. Indeed, Anderson famously defines the nation as
imagined
“because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow‐members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion” (p. 6). The nation is defined as a
community
because “regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship” (p. 7). Therefore, the concept of imagined community assumes that nations, national identities, and nationalism are socially constructed; “imagined” in this context then does not mean false, but instead points to the socio‐cognitive element in the construction of the nation.
Immigrant Families
Authors: Wall Karin
Published: September 2017

Overall, the sociology of immigrant families represents a significant lacuna in the research on international migration. Although migratory flows have been interpreted as complex negotiations involving a diversity of actors including the individual, the family, social and kin networks, the market, and the state, other topics have polarized the attention of the social sciences. The political, demographic, and economic conditions of sending and receiving countries, on the one hand, and the patterns and corresponding consequences of migration movements for societies, in particular the survival or the elimination of ethnicity, on the other hand, have been the major concerns of classical migration research.