Social Science Glossary

This is a glossary for Social Science students or future students to help better understand some words

society

Noun

A large group of people who live in the same area, share a common culture, and interact through an organized system of relationships and institutions.

Example: In these terms decentralisation with the form of civil SOCIETY's participation in the decision making process could be considered as a way to provide a check on state power and therefore reduce corruption.

fr: Société

culture

Noun

The shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and everyday practices that characterize a particular group, society, or organization.

Example: Due to the limited scope of this review the following lines will attempt to summarize only one of the chapters, namely Sakabe Megumi's 'Mask and Shadow in Japanese CULTURE: Implicit Ontology in Japanese Thought'. As it can be deduced from the title, the focus of this writing is the conception of omote - the mask (used in no ), or the face and the notion of kage - the shade, or reflection, in the context of the structure of 'reciprocity' and 'reversibility' in the traditional Japanese CULTURE.

fr: Culture

psychology

Noun

Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and behavior.

Example: gender. Edward Wilson who coined the term 'sociobiology' (now sometimes referred to as 'evolutionary PSYCHOLOGY') (Connell, 2002, p.31) is where males and females use their traits prescribed to them by society, (aggression and a caring nature respectively), to survive.

fr: Psychologie

sociology

Noun

The scientific study of human society, social behavior, and the ways people interact within groups.

Example: For example, the behaviour of Xiao Tze is discussed in a 'comic SOCIOLOGY' - Various facets of the life of Xiao Tze (2001) by People's Daily Newspaper Online (a large Chinese publication) in Reading Section of their website.

fr: Sociologie

economics

Noun

A social science that studies how individuals, businesses, governments, and societies choose to allocate scarce resources to satisfy unlimited wants and needs.

Example: demand. The British Heart Foundation confirms this assertion, recently stating "...acknowledging that people largely enjoy foods that are high in fat is vital, as few people would seriously consider avoiding these foods altogether." 7 6 Anderton, A. (1995) 'ECONOMICS' 2 nd edition.

fr: Économie

politics

Noun

Politics means the activities, actions, and methods used to gain and hold power in a government or to influence how a society is run.

Example: Agrarian POLITICS in Eastern Europe in the Shadow of EU Accession. European Union POLITICS . 4 , 447 - 471.

fr: Politique

anthropology

Noun

Anthropology is the scientific and holistic study of humanity, examining human biology, evolutionary history, society, language, and culture across past and present times.

Example: Moving on from classification, methods of research themselves are discussed in Robert Shanafelt's 2004 article 'Magic, miracles, and marvels in ANTHROPOLOGY'.

fr: Anthropologie

democracy

Noun

Democracy is a system of government where supreme power belongs to the people.

Example: The Athenian DEMOCRACY, and the Athenian Empire, ceased to exist, being replaced by Spartan government.

fr: Démocratie

inequality

Noun

A lack of equality, fairness, or evenness between people, groups, or numbers.

Example: assignment. Assigned to A4: text + major reflection rask: compound. deleted: header: student number; footer: page numbers deleted: cover sheet 1 2005-01 Welfare health and INEQUALITY 112SW Essay + Narrative recount Health LS M 1 2694 106 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 no abstract 25.4 5.0 compound assignment consisting of 2 parts (see notesStmt for details) TEI P4 (documented in: BAWE.documentation.pdf) f 1978 English UKa BA Dietetics 3119 112 SW WELFARE HEALTH AND INEQUALITY ESSAY NUMBER: 7 STUDENT NUMBER: COURSE: DIETETICS How are social inequalities reflected in what people eat?

fr: Inégalités

globalization

Noun

the process by which countries, businesses, and people around the world become more connected and dependent on each other.

Example: Granta. Hay, C. (2005) 'GLOBALIZATION's impact on states' Ravenhill, J. (ed) Global Political Economy : 235-262. Hirst, P. and Thompson, G. (1999) 'Can the Welfare State Survive GLOBALIZATION?' Globalisation in Question , Cambridge: Polity. Hirst, P. and Thompson, G. (1999) 'Introduction: GLOBALIZATION- a necessary myth?' GLOBALIZATION in Question , Cambridge: Polity. Kenworthy, L. (1997) 'GLOBALIZATION and Economic Convergence' Competition & Change, Vol. 2.

fr: Globalisation

socialization

Noun

The lifelong process through which individuals learn and internalize the culture, values, beliefs, and norms of a society to function as proficient members.

Example: Stage and sequence: The cognitive developmental approach to SOCIALIZATION. In D.A. Goslin (Ed.), Handbook of SOCIALIZATION theory and research (pp. 347-380).

fr: Socialisation

identity

Noun

The qualities, beliefs, personality traits, and expressions that make a person or group who they are.

Example: That EWCs could be useful in aiding the establishment of common IDENTITY and facilitating governance at corporate level is a notion also advanced by Rehfeldt (1998) in his assessment of French initiatives with regard to European consultative bodies. Rehfeldt highlights that 'it is the declared aim of managements to use European (...) dialogue arrangements to promote a common awareness of the problems and a European 'corporate IDENTITY' amongst employees' (1998:219). It can be therefore concluded that another benefit that EWCs could and actually present to managers as judged by survey information is the creation of a common European corporate IDENTITY among employees and the promotion of a shared understanding of common problems, which, in turn, facilitates corporate governance in solving these problems.

fr: identité

community

Noun

A group of people who live in the same place or share similar interests, beliefs, or goals.

Example: The local COMMUNITY - the farm is providing jobs in the local COMMUNITY, it is also helping the local economy as it will use other local services.

fr: communauté

research

Noun

A careful and organized study of a subject to find new facts, learn truth, or solve a problem.

Example: International Service for National Agricultural RESEARCH (ISNAR) and National Agricultural RESEARCH Organization (NARO).

fr: recherche

quantitative

Noun

Relating to, measuring, or expressed in terms of measured amounts, numbers, or quantities.

Example: The research, careful and QUANTITATIVE, covered a great number of questionnaires from at least 50 countries, ensuring the reliability of the final scores.

fr: quantitative

qualitative

Noun

Relating to the quality, kind, or characteristics of something rather than its numerical quantity.

Example: As far is the 'QUALITATIVE' aspect of union communication is concerned, he mentions that the increased breadth of issues to be covered under new rules 'could in many workplaces enable recognised unions to address a substantially broader agenda than is currently the case (2005:124).

fr: qualitatif

statistics

Noun

Branch of applied mathematics that deals with collecting, organizing, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting data.

Example: Limited. Unit 47 'Taxation' pages 281-282. The economics effects of farm policies and the history of the CAP [online] Available from: URL: [Accessed 04 11 05] STATISTICS and information from lecture given by James Robertson of the National Audit office on 31st October 2005 NAO STATISTICS (1998) 'Tackling Obesity in England' [online] available from: URL [Accessed 04 11 05] (Thursday, 19 February, 2004, 08:11 GMT) Government unit 'urges fat tax' Available from: URL: [Accessed 04 11 05] (2000 January 29) Tom Marshall, honorary clinical lecturer British Medical Journal.; 320(7230): 301 - 305.

fr: statistique

population

Noun

The total number of inhabitants, individuals, or objects living or existing within a specified area, group, or statistical set.

Example: There are large sugar estates which are for the most part owned by about 2 percent of the POPULATION - namely the Franco-Mauritians (Gulhati and Nallari, 1990).

fr: population

behavior

Noun

The way a person, animal, system, or machine acts, reacts, or functions in response to internal or external stimuli.

Example: Some researches suggested that 'stress induced by increased task demands decreases interpersonal sensitivity and helping BEHAVIOR' (Podsakoff et al., 1990: 136).

fr: comportement

human rights

Noun

The basic freedoms and protections that belong to every person simply for being human.

Example: This was a case where the European Court of HUMAN RIGHTS held that a mentally incapable man who was kept in hospital without clear legal authority was unlawfully deprived of his liberty within Article 5 of the European Convention on HUMAN RIGHTS ('ECHR'), even though he made no attempt to leave and appeared 'compliant' with the regime in hospital.

fr: droits humain

This glossary was made with the Virtual Writing Tutor glossary maker and grammar checker.