BCS Written Sociology key terms

The systematic study of human society, focusing on social relationships, group behaviour, institutions, and the patterns that shape collective life.

The ability to connect personal troubles to broader public issues by seeing how history and social structure shape individual lives and choices.

The relatively stable arrangement of roles, groups, and institutions that organises interaction and distributes resources, opportunities, and constraints across a society.

A group of people who share a territory, culture, and system of interaction, and who are organised through institutions that meet their collective needs.

A group of people bound by shared locality, interests, or identity, whose members interact regularly and feel a sense of belonging together.

A formally organised group created deliberately to pursue specific goals, with defined membership, rules, and structures of authority.

An established pattern of norms, roles, and practices organised around a basic social need, such as family, education, religion, economy, or polity.

The total way of life of a people, including knowledge, beliefs, values, norms, language, symbols, and material objects transmitted across generations.

Shared expectations and rules of conduct that guide behaviour in particular situations and are enforced through sanctions, formal or informal.

The lifelong process through which individuals learn the norms, values, skills, and identities needed to participate as members of society.

Status is a social position a person occupies; role is the set of expected behaviours attached to that position, guiding interaction and identity.

The hierarchical ranking of people into unequal layers based on class, status, power, gender, or ethnicity, producing differential access to valued resources.

Movement of individuals or groups between social positions, either upward or downward, and either within a generation or across generations.

A kinship group based on marriage, blood, or adoption, which typically performs functions of reproduction, care, economic support, and socialisation.

A socially recognised and often legally sanctioned union between partners that establishes rights, obligations, and kinship ties between them and their groups.

The network of social relationships based on descent, marriage, or adoption, defining rights, obligations, and support among relatives.

The transformation over time of social structures, institutions, norms, and patterns of behaviour within a society.

A process of social, economic, and cultural transformation involving industrialisation, urbanisation, rationalisation, and the spread of new institutions and values.

A multidimensional process of improving living conditions, capabilities, and opportunities, encompassing economic growth, social welfare, and human freedom.

Behaviour that violates significant social norms and provokes, or would provoke, disapproval or sanction from a relevant audience.

Conduct formally defined and prohibited by law, and subject to official punishment or penalty by the state.

The mechanisms, formal and informal, through which a society encourages conformity and discourages deviance, including law, education, family, and public opinion.

Unequal distribution of valued resources, opportunities, and privileges among individuals or groups, often structured along class, gender, ethnicity, or region.

A theoretical perspective viewing society as an integrated system of parts that work together to maintain stability, order, and shared values.

A perspective emphasising struggle over scarce resources, arguing that inequality and power differences generate tension and social change.

A micro-level perspective focusing on how people create meaning through symbols, language, and everyday interaction, and how those meanings shape behaviour.

The systematic procedures used to gather and analyse social data, including surveys, interviews, observation, experiments, and documentary analysis, within qualitative or quantitative designs.

Socially constructed roles, expectations, and identities associated with being male or female, distinct from biological sex and varying across cultures and time.

The movement of people from one place to another across administrative boundaries, whether internal or international, temporary or permanent.

The increasing proportion of a population living in towns and cities, accompanied by the growth of urban institutions, lifestyles, and economies.

A community characterised by agriculture-based livelihoods, close kin ties, personal relationships, and relatively small, dispersed settlements.

The growing interconnection of economies, cultures, and societies worldwide through trade, communication, migration, and information technology.

The study of interactions between societies and their natural environments, including resource use, pollution, climate risk, and environmental movements.

A condition of weakened or conflicting norms in a society, leaving individuals without clear guidance and often associated with rising deviance.

A formal organisation marked by hierarchy, written rules, specialised offices, and impersonal procedures, intended to coordinate large-scale administration efficiently.

A system of social relations and structures in which men hold dominant power and authority, shaping family, economy, politics, and culture.