Essential Sociology Definitions: Power, Poverty, and Segregation
Open Society
A society where individuals have the freedom to act as they please and create their own social structures.
Closed Society
A society where decisions are limited, often dictatorial, such as North Korea, where internet access is highly restricted.
Aversive Racism
The attitudes of a person who attempts to ignore the existence of Black people and actively avoids contact with them.
Dominative Racism
A form of racism that divides races, leading the dominant group to exploit victims, as seen historically between African Americans and whites.
Scientific Racism
The belief that scientific evidence justifies racism, often involving the practice of classifying people of different phenotypes or genotypes into distinct races.
De Facto Segregation
Racial, ethnic, or other segregation resulting from social differences between groups, occurring by fact rather than by legal requirements.
De Jure Segregation
Segregation enforced by law. For example, historical practices where whites sat in the front and Black people in the back of a bus.
Two-Tiered Race System
A social system that acknowledges only two classes of people: whites and non-whites.
Three-Tiered Race System
A social system that creates three classes of people: whites, Black people, and others, where both Black people and other groups face discrimination.
Vertical Segregation
A division of labor that typically places men in managerial positions and women in subordinate labor roles.
Horizontal Segregation
The division of genders in the workplace into similar but separate jobs. For example, a woman may sell makeup while a man sells power tools.
Structural Poverty
A condition where people live in areas with scarce resources, often with limited opportunities for upward mobility.
Conjectural Poverty
Poverty resulting from forces of nature, such as a hurricane or wildfire. In such cases, people can often recover and rebuild, as seen after the Puerto Rico hurricane or California wildfires.
Social Class
A large group of people who rank closely to one another in terms of property, prestige, and power.
Caste System
A social structure where individuals are born into a specific social status and cannot leave it.
Slavery
The act or system where one person legally owns another person.
Serfdom
A system where a laborer is bound to the land and required to provide services to a lord.
Indentured Servitude
A system where an individual contracts to work for a master for a set period, typically in exchange for passage to a new land, such as the colonies.
Sexual Division of Labor
The classification of certain jobs as female and others as male. Historically, men were often responsible for higher-risk tasks, while women were responsible for most of the staple diet.
Civilized Labor Policy
A policy where wages were determined by a person’s race. Historically, whites often received higher payments and better economic status than African Americans.
Native Reserves
Government-owned land set aside for the Indigenous peoples originally from that country.
Sharecropper
A farmer who cultivates crops for a landowner and is paid a portion of the money from the sale of those crops.
Tenant Farmer
A farmer who works land owned by another and pays rent either in cash or in shares of the produce.
Bacon’s Rebellion
An armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers, led by Nathaniel Bacon, against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.
Jacksonian Democracy
A political philosophy advocating for the spread of political power to the people, ensuring majority rule, and supporting the “common man.”
Herrenvolk Democracy
A system of government where only the dominant ethnic group participates, while minority groups are disenfranchised.
Calvinism
A set of beliefs and teachings by John Calvin or his followers, emphasizing predestination, the primacy of God, the supreme authority of the scriptures, and the irresistibility of grace.
African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME)
An important denomination for African Americans, founded in 1816 by former slave and preacher Richard Allen. It is noted for its contributions to education and philanthropy within the Black community.
London Missionary Society
Founded in England in 1795, this society was a prominent evangelical missionary organization throughout Western Europe and was notably associated with David Livingstone.
Abolitionism
The principle or movement advocating for the abolition, particularly of slavery for Black people in the U.S.
Populism
A political movement aimed at increasing farmers’ political power and advocating for legislation that serves their interests.
Plessy v. Ferguson
A landmark Supreme Court case that upheld racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine, leading to the establishment of Jim Crow laws, despite violating the 14th Amendment.
Miscegenation
The interbreeding of people considered to be of different racial types.
Cape Coloureds
In South Africa, a person of mixed ethnic descent residing in the Western Cape Province, typically speaking Afrikaans or English.
Native Land Act of 1913
An act of the Parliament of South Africa aimed at regulating land acquisition, which became a crucial component of the apartheid system.
Bantustans
Territories set aside for the Black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa as part of the apartheid policy. The term “Bantu” means “people.”
Apartheid
A policy or system of segregation and discrimination based on race, notably implemented in South Africa following the arrival of Europeans.
Afrikaner Nationalism
A political ideology that emerged in the late 19th century among Afrikaners in South Africa, heavily influenced by growing anti-British sentiments, particularly due to the Boer Wars.
African Nationalism
A political movement advocating for the unification of Africa and for national self-determination.
Disfranchisement
The state of being deprived of a right or privilege, especially the right to vote.
14th Amendment to the US Constitution
Adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments, it addresses citizenship rights and equal protection under the law, proposed in response to issues concerning former slaves after the American Civil War.
Ghettos
A part of a city, often a slum area, predominantly occupied by a minority group or groups.
Townships
A division of a country with certain corporate powers. In South Africa, these were suburbs or cities predominantly occupied by Black people, officially designated for Black occupation by apartheid legislation.
Dixiecrats
A term used to describe white Southern Democrats who opposed civil rights legislation.
Mineral Revolution
A period when the British began mining for gold and diamonds in South Africa, leading to conflicts with both Africans and Afrikaners.
Pluralism
The concept that each religion is unique and must be respected as an authentic path.