aggregate
A collection of people who exist in the same place at the same time, but who don’t interact or share a sense of identity.
Interestingly, people within an aggregate or category can become a group.
authoritarian leader
A leader who issues orders and assigns tasks.
As the name suggests, authoritarian leaders issue orders and assigns tasks.
bureaucracy
A formal organization characterized by a hierarchy of authority, a clear division of labour, explicit rules, and impersonality.
The term bureaucracy refers to what Max Weber termed “an ideal type” of formal organization (1922/1946).
category
People who share similar characteristics but who are not connected in any way.
People who share similar characteristics but are not otherwise tied to one another in any way are considered a category.
clear division of labour
The structuring of work in a bureaucracy such that each individual has a specialized task to perform.
A clear division of labour refers to the fact that within a bureaucracy, each individual has a specialized task to perform.
coercive organization
Organization that people do not voluntarily join, such as prison or a mental hospital.
Coercive organizations are groups that one must be coerced, or pushed, to join.
conformity
The extent to which an individual complies with group or societal norms.
Conformity is the extent to which an individual complies with group norms or expectations.
contents
The specific drives, needs, purposes, or interests of individuals that motivate them to interact with others.
Along with the new musical form of punk rock came new lyrical and thematic contents: anger, disillusionment, anarchy, class politics, etc.
core discussion group
The group of close, personal contacts with whom one confides on personal matters and with whom one chooses to spend free time.
Peter Marsden (1987) refers to one’s group of close social contacts as a core discussion group.
democratic leader
A leader who encourages group participation and consensus-building before acting.
Democratic leaders encourage group participation in all decision making.
dyad
A two-member group.
Georg Simmel wrote extensively about the difference between a dyad, or two-member group, and a triad, a three-member group (Simmel, 1908/1950).
explicit rules
The types of rules in a bureaucracy; rules that are outlined, recorded, and standardized.
The existence of explicit rules refers to the way in which rules are outlined, written down, and standardized.
expressive function
A group function that serves an emotional need.
This group serves emotional needs: expressive functions rather than pragmatic ones.
expressive leader
A leader who is concerned with process and with ensuring everyone’s emotional well-being.
However, the stereotypical expectation of women as expressive leaders is still prevalent.
formal organizations
Large, impersonal organizations.
Categorize the different types of formal organizations.
formal sociology
The study of how specific social contents are organized into regular, coordinated social forms.
This mutual influence in turn creates enduring social forms (hence the term formal sociology to describe Simmel’s work).
forms
The patterns of behaviour that guide individuals’ actions in different social settings.
However, this attunement also enables everyone to introduce new elements into the interaction and to invent new musical or social forms (or renew old ones).
glass ceiling
An invisible barrier that prevents women from achieving positions of leadership.
One concept for describing the situation facing women’s access to leadership positions is the glass ceiling.
group
Refers to any collection of at least two people who interact with some frequency and who share a sense that their identity is somehow aligned with the group.
This would seem to be a grievance worthy of a movement, but simply having a grievance does not explain the ways in which movements take form as groups.
groupthink
The tendency to conform to the attitudes and beliefs of the group despite individual misgivings.
This phenomenon is known as groupthink, the tendency to conform to the attitudes and beliefs of the group despite individual misgivings.
hierarchy of authority
A clear chain of command found in a bureaucracy.
Hierarchy of authority refers to the aspect of bureaucracy that places one individual or office in charge of another, who in turn must answer to her own superiors.
ideal type
An abstract model of a recurring social phenomenon that describes the form and logical relation of components.
The term bureaucracy refers to what Max Weber termed “an ideal type” of formal organization (1922/1946).
impersonality
The absence of personal feelings from a professional situation.
Bureaucracies are also characterized by impersonality, which takes personal feelings out of professional situations.
in-group
A group a person belongs to and feels is an integral part of his or her identity.
In-groups and out-groups are subcategories of primary and secondary groups that help identify this dynamic.
instrumental function
Orientation toward a task or goal.
These groups serve an instrumental function rather than an expressive one, meaning that their role is more goal- or task-oriented than emotional.
instrumental leader
A leader who is goal oriented with a primary focus on accomplishing tasks.
An instrumental leader is one who is goal-oriented and largely concerned with accomplishing set tasks.
iron law of oligarchy
The theory that an organization is ruled by a few elites rather than through collaboration.
Finally, as Robert Michels (1911/1949) suggested, bureaucracies are characterized by the iron law of oligarchy in which the organization is ruled by a few elites.
laissez-faire leader
A hands-off leader who allows members of the group to make their own decisions.
In contrast, a laissez-faire leader (French for “leave it alone”) is hands-off, allowing group members to self-manage and make their own decisions.
leadership function
The main focus or goal of a leader.
Leadership function refers to the main focus or goal of the leader.
leadership style
The style a leader uses to achieve goals or elicit action from group members.
She stands out among the party leaders as both the only female and the only leader focused on changing leadership style.
McDonaldization
The increasing presence of the fast-food business model in common social institutions.
The McDonaldization of society (Ritzer, 1994) refers to the increasing presence of the fast-food business model in common social institutions.
macro-level of analysis
A research focus on the properties of large scale, society-wide, social interactions.
Finally, at the macro-level of analysis, the focus is on the properties of large-scale, society-wide social interactions: the dynamics of institutions, classes, or whole societies.
meso-level of analysis
A research focus on the characteristics of networks, groups, and organizations.
At the meso-level of analysis, the focus shifts to the characteristics of specific networks, groups, and organizations (i.e., collectivities).
micro-level of analysis
A research focus on the social dynamics of small groups and face-to-face interaction.
At the micro-level of analysis, the sociologist would be interested in the interpersonal structures and role-play that governs how various specific individuals (players, coaches, managers, owners, fans, etc.) interact face to face.
meritocracy
A bureaucracy where membership and advancement are based on merit as shown through proven and documented skills.
This is often seen as a function of equal access to education, meritocracy (where individual merit determines social standing), and formal or informal measures to eliminate social discrimination.
normative or voluntary organizations
Organizations that people join to pursue shared interests or because they provide intangible rewards.
Normative organizations, also called voluntary organizations, are based on shared interests.
out-group
A group that an individual is not a member of and may compete with.
In-groups and out-groups are subcategories of primary and secondary groups that help identify this dynamic.
primary groups
Small, informal groups of people who are closest to us.
Sociologist Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929) suggested that groups can broadly be divided into two categories: primary groups and secondary groups (Cooley, 1909/1963).
pure sociability
The residual qualities like pleasure that people experience from the mere fact of being together, regardless of the content of the interaction.
Both were examples of what he called the play form of social interaction, or pure sociability.
reference groups
Groups to which an individual compares herself or himself.
In Canadian society, peer groups are common reference groups.
secondary groups
Larger and more impersonal groups that are task-focused and time-limited.
Sociologist Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929) suggested that groups can broadly be divided into two categories: primary groups and secondary groups (Cooley, 1909/1963).
social network
A collection of people tied together by a specific configuration of connections.
A social network is a collection of people who exchange resources (emotional, informational, financial, etc.) tied together by a specific configuration of connections.
total institution
An organization in which participants live a controlled life and in which total resocialization occurs.
Goffman (1961) states that most coercive organizations are total institutions.
tragedy of culture
The tendency for cultural creations to detach themselves from lived experience and become increasingly complex, specialized, alienating, or oppressive.
He developed an analysis of the tragedy of culture in which he argued that the cultural creations of “subjective culture”.
triad
A three-member group.
Georg Simmel wrote extensively about the difference between a dyad, or two-member group, and a triad, a three-member group (Simmel, 1908/1950).
utilitarian organization
An organization that people join to fill a specific material need.
The third type are utilitarian organizations, which, as the name suggests, are joined because of the need for a specific material reward.
These terms were extracted from Introduction to Sociology – 2nd Canadian Edition by William Little, eCampusOntario (originally published by BCcampus, 2016) which is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on Introduction to Sociology by OpenStax (© 2013 Rice University), licensed under CC BY 3.0.