The state or practice of having more than one wife or female mate at a time.
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Symmetrical Family
A symmetrical family is a family that share male and female roles. For example a woman will go to work just like the man will, a man will take care of this kids and so will the woman. Basically sharing household jobs out fairly whether you are a male or female.
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Infant Mortality Rate
The infant mortality rate (IMR) is the number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1,000 live births. This rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country.
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Extended Family
A type of family in which relatives in addition to parents and children (such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) live in a single household.
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Nuclear Family
Nuclear family, also called elementary family, a group of people who are united by ties of partnership and parenthood and consisting of a pair of adults and their socially recognized children. The nuclear family was once widely held to be the most basic and universal form of social organization.
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Sociology and Journalism
Journalism is the gathering of news and information about the state of society, such as current events, trends and issues. Journalists report these news stories aiming to inform large numbers of people through media outlets like newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the internet. In some ways, good journalism and sociology have a lot in common, as both seek to collect information about society, try to avoid deliberate bias, present the information in a balanced and fair way, and the use of evidence they have collected to justify the conclusions they reach. However most journalism is biased and exaggerated, just to attract a larger audience.
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Sociology and Common Sense
Sociology is concerned with studying many things which most people usually already know something about. Everyone will have some knowledge and understanding of family life, the education system, work, the mass media and crime, simply by being part of and being a member of a society. This leads many people to assume that the topic studies by sociologists and the explanations that sociologists produced are really just common sense or what “everyone knows”. However this is a very mistaken assumption.
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Sociology and Biological Explanations
Biology or naturalistic explanations are those which assume that various kinds of human behaviour are natural or based on in-nate (inborn) biological characteristics, but if it were so then everyone on planet earth would have the same behavior regardless of where we lived, as people’s biological doesn’t change between societies.
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Society and Psychology
Like sociology, psychology also studies people and has a range of research techniques and theories to support itself. However psychology tends to focus on the behaviour of individuals, why they come to think and behave as they do and how their minds work.Sociology on the other hand focuses more on social groups, community, organizations and social institutions as a whole.
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Feral Children
Feral Children are children who, for one reason or another, miss out on some important stages of human learning as they have been removed from human contact and the normal processes of human socialization. They remain unaware of human social behaviour and language from a very early age and therefore fail to develop the behavioural aspects that we would regard as being human
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Social Processes
Social processes are the various influences that control and regulate human behaviour, and help to keep societies running more or less smoothly and with some day-to-day stability. Two important social processes are socialization and social control.
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Secondary Socialization
It refers to the socialization that takes place beyond the family and the close community. It is carried out through agencies of secondary socialization such as the education system, the peer group ( a group of people of similar age and status ), the workplace, the mass media and religious institutions.
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Primary Socialization
Primary socialization refers to socialization during the early years of childhood, and is carried out the family and the close community. It is during primary socialization that children first begin to learn about the basic values and norms and other features of the culture walling up the way of the life of the society they belong to. They also begin to acquire the sense of who they are an individual.
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How is an individual identified ?
An individual is identified by the following:
▪️ Their age
▪️ Their sexual preference
▪️ Their gender
▪️ Their education
▪️ Their nationality
▪️ Their religion
▪️ Their income and the social class they belong to
▪️ Their occupation and workplace
▪️ Their health
▪️ Their ethnicity
▪️ The region they live in
▪️ Their family
▪️ Their preferred leisure activities
▪️ The goods that they purchase
▪️ How they dress-up -
Consensus Theory
The consensus theory is the approach adopted by functional sociologists. It seems society as a whole working unit, quite similar to a human body. It suggests that just like the human body where every organ depends on the other one in some way to work harmoniously, so does the society. It believes that every individual and institution, they rely on each other to function properly.
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Conflict Theory
The conflict theory is an approach that sees society as having many social issues and differences, with inequalities in wealth, power and status. All creating conflict between individuals and groups.
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The Macro and Micro Approach.
The Macro approach is one that focuses on the large scale structure of the society as a whole, while the micro approach is one that focuses on individuals and very small groups of people.
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Social Policy
Social problems are tackled by the application of social policies. A social policy refers to the plans and actions of national local governments and various voluntary agencies designed to solve social problems and improve the life chances the citizens living in it.
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Social Problems
Social problems are matters that are in some way harmful to members of the society, and that need something to be done to sort them out or the social balance would collapse, causing a chaos in the society. They cause difficulty, resentment and instability in the society and harm its individuals.
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Racism
Racism is believing or acting as though an individual or a group is superior or inferior on the grounds of racial or ethnic origins, usually based on skin colour or other physical characteristics, and suggesting that groups defined as inferior have lower intelligence and abilities.
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Stereotype
A stereotype is a generalized, over simplified view of the features of a social group, allowing for a few individual differences among its members. The assumption that all members of the group share the same features, attitudes and behavioural similarities.
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Hidden Curriculum
“The Hidden Curriculum” refers to the attitude and behaviour which is taught through the school’s organisation and teacher’s attitudes but which are not part of the formal timetable.
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Social Control
Social control is the process of persuading or enforcing individuals to conform to the values and norms of a society.
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Role Conflict
Role Conflict is the conflict that arises between the successful performances of two or more roles at the same time.
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Consumer Goods
Consumer goods are products and services that people buy to satisfy their need and desires, such as food, clothes, furniture etc.
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Identity
Identity is about how individuals see and define themselves and how other people in their sociological environment see or define them.
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Culture
Culture refers to the language, beliefs, values and norms, customs, roles, knowledge and skills which combine to make up the way of life of any society.
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Social Term : Objectivity
Objectivity means approaching topics with an open mind, avoiding any king of bias, and being prepared to submit research evidence that could prove the research of sociologists of the past, wrong.
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Social Term : Value Freedom
“Value Freedom” is the idea that the personal beliefs and prejudices of the sociologist should not be allowed to influence the way research is carried out and evidence is interpreted.
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Socialization
Process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, language, social skills, and value to conform to the norms and roles required for integration into a group or community. It is a combination of both self-imposed (because the individual wants to conform) and externally-imposed rules, and the expectations of the others.
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Sociology
Sociology is the systematic study of human groups and social life in modern societies. It is concerned with the study of social institutions.
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The Break-even Chart
A break-even chart is a line graph used in break-even analysis to estimate when the total sales revenue will be equal to the total costs, or the point where loss will end and profit will begin to accumulate. Usually, the number of units are plotted on horizontal ‘X’ axis and total sales dollars on vertical ‘Y’ axis. The point where the two lines or curves intersect is called the break-even-point. The break-even chart is also called the break-even graph
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The 4P’s of Marketing
The marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing and by marketers. The marketing mix is often crucial when determining a product or brand’s offer, and is often associated with the four Ps:
▪️ Price: What the price of the product should be.
▪️ Product: A product that satisfies the wants and needs of the consumers.
▪️ Place: Where the product or service should be sold.
▪️ Promotion: Ways to let consumers know that that product or service exists and can be bought. -
Equilibrium Price, Equilibrium in the Market
The equilibrium price is where the supply of goods matches demand or the price at which the quantity of a product offered is equal to the quantity of the product in demand. Equilibrium is the state in which market supply and demand balance each other and, as a result, prices become stable. Generally, when there is too much supply for goods or services, the price goes down, which results in higher demand. The balancing effect of supply and demand results in a state of equilibrium.
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Methods of measuring a business
Following are the methods of measuring a business:
▪️ Amount of sales turnover
▪️ Amount of profit
▪️ Capital employed
▪️ Stock market valuation
▪️ Number of employees
▪️ Number of shops/officesThese methods however are not always completely accurate as a small business for niche’ products can sell products at absurdly high prices but not a lot in number. That does not make it a large business regardless of the profit it makes.
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E-Commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services, or the transmitting of funds or data, over an electronic network, primarily the Internet. These business transactions occur either business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer or consumer-to-business. E-commerce allows consumers to electronically exchange goods and services with no barriers of time or distance. Electronic commerce has expanded rapidly over the past five years and is predicted to continue at this rate, or even accelerate. In the near future the boundaries between \”conventional\” and \”electronic\” commerce will become increasingly blurred as more and more businesses move sections of their operations onto the Internet.
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Entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs occupy a central position in a market economy. Entrepreneurs seek disequilibrium, a gap between the wants and needs of customers and the products and services that are currently available. The entrepreneur then brings together the factors of production necessary to produce, offer and sell desired products and services. They invest and risk their money to produce a product or service that can be sold at a profit. Entrepreneurs are future oriented; they believe that success is possible and are willing to risk their resources in the pursuit of profit. They’re fast moving, willing to try many different strategies to achieve their goals of profits. And they’re flexible, willing to change quickly when they get new information. Entrepreneurs are skilled at selling against the competition by creating perceptions of difference and uniqueness in their products and services.
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Joint Ventures
A business arrangement in which two or more parties agree to pool their resources for the purpose of accomplishing a specific task. This task can be a new project or any other business activity. In a joint venture each of the participants is responsible for the profits, losses and the costs associated with it. However, the venture is its own entity, separate and apart from the participants’ other business interests.
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Franchise Businesses
A franchise is a business system in which private entrepreneurs purchase the rights to open and run a location of a larger company. The franchising company, or franchiser, signs a contractual agreement with the franchisee, explaining in detail the company’s rules for operating the franchise. Franchises are a very popular method for people to start a business, especially for those who wish to operate in a highly competitive industry like the fast-food industry. One of the biggest advantages of purchasing a franchise is that you have access to an established company’s brand name; meaning that you do not need to spend further resources to get your name and product out to customers.
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Limited Companies
A limited company is an organisation that someone can set up to run their business, it’s responsible in its own right for everything it does and its finances are separate to the owners’ personal finances. Any profit it makes is owned by the company, after it pays Corporation Tax. The company can then share its profits. Every limited company has ‘members’ the people or organisations who own shares in the company. Directors are responsible for running the company. Most limited companies are ‘limited by shares’. This means that the shareholders’ responsibilities for the company’s financial liabilities are limited to the value of shares that they own but haven’t paid for. Company directors aren’t personally responsible for debts the business can’t pay if it goes wrong, as long as they haven’t broken the law.
There are two types of companies, Private Limited ones and Public Limited ones. In Private Limited companies directors or shareholders financially back the organisation up to a specific amount if things go wrong while in Public Limited companies, the company’s shares are traded publicly on a market. -
Business Partnerships
A partnership is a single business where two or more people share ownership. Each partner contributes to all aspects of the business, including money, property, labor or skill. In return, each partner shares in the profits and losses of the business. Because partnerships entail more than one person in the decision-making process, it’s important to discuss a wide variety of issues up front and develop a legal partnership agreement. This agreement should document how future business decisions will be made, including how the partners will divide profits, resolve disputes, change ownership (bring in new partners or buy out current partners) and how to dissolve the partnership. Although partnership agreements are not legally required, they are strongly recommended and it is considered extremely risky to operate without one.
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Sole Trader
A sole trader is the simplest form of business structure and is relatively easy and inexpensive to set up. A sole trader is legally responsible for all aspects of the business. They make all the decisions about starting and running your business. The sole trader is also effected by any profit or loss the company makes. Being a sole trader is risky because of unlimited liability, which means that a sole trader’s personal assets can be taken away if they are late on payments and/or things go wrong. But it is relatively easy to change business structure if the trader’s business grows or if they wish to wind things up.
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Nuclear Family Units and why they are dominant.
The nuclear family has been described to be a family in which there are two parents in a heterosexual relationship with their biological children. Some sociological perspectives view the nuclear family as the dominant type of family unit, even with numerous other family unit types growing and emerging.
One of the biggest reason for nuclear family units still being the dominant type of family unit is economic. The ordinary nuclear family can easily adapt to the changing economic and political realities. They are flexible and mobile because they have other family members who they can trust and divide work with, making it easier for them to survive in this harsh world. Two parent families tend to be more stable than a single parent or multi-generational family. Spouses or partners can role model a loving, caring and supportive relationship for their children. This will translate into future success by teaching children how to seek out positive relationships and interact well with others. Children benefit from watching partners work together to solve problems, delegate responsibilities and support one another through all the best and worst of times.
Even with all of the positivities that make them popular, nuclear families have their own problems, like breaking up from the extended members of the family. Grandparents, aunts, uncles etc can be very helpful in times of need and should have a place in the family, but sadly the nuclear family unit doesn’t always leave or create one for them. While the idea of less conflict and stress should certainly be considered an advantage of the nuclear family unit, it also puts that type of family unit at a disadvantage. Conflict is a part of life, and conflict resolution skills are beneficial in an individuals’ social life. Nuclear families can begin to develop like minded thinking, which usually leads to fewer arguments and disagreements between the family members. This prevents individuals from learning to argue and build up the skills to negate something they don’t agree with outside of the family unit. This can very negatively effect someone’s social life.
Even with all of its pros and cons, the nuclear family unit is still the preferred way of many to raise a family and/or children. With many other family unit types on the rise like single parent families, divorced and multi-generational households, the dominance of the nuclear family might be at stake. -
Needs, Wants, Scarcity
As you probably know, we all have needs and wants. Needs are things we require to live, like water. I’m sure you can live without a Rolex for as long as you live but you can’t live without water for more then 3 days. Wants are things you can live without but they might make your life easier and make you feel good about yourself. All these needs and desires cost money, which we can only have so much of. Money is in limited supply and not everyone has an equal amount. The idea of having a limited resource is called scarcity.