社会学必读生字glossaryforsociology-R

1、RRaceA set of social relationships which allow individuals and groups to be located, and various attributes or competencies assigned, on the basis of biologically grounded features.RacializationThe process by which understandings of race are used to classify individuals or groups of people. Racial d

2、istinctions are more than ways of describing human differences: they are important factors in the reproduction of patterns of power and inequality.RacismThe attributing of characteristics of superiority or inferiority to a population sharing certain physically inherited characteristics. Racism is on

3、e specific form of prejudice, focusing on physical variations between people. Racist attitudes became entrenched during the period of colonial expansion by the West, but seem also to rest on mechanisms of prejudice and discrimination found in very many contexts of human societies.Radical feminismFor

4、m of feminist theory that believes that gender inequality is the result of male domination in all aspects of social and economic life.Random samplingA sampling method in which a sample is chosen so that every member of the population has the same probability of being included.RationalizationA concep

5、t used by Max Weber to refer to the process by which modes of precise calculation and organization, involving abstract rules and procedures, increasingly come to dominate the social world.RecidivismReoffending by individuals previously found guilty of a crime.Reconstituted familyA family in which at

6、 least one of the adults has children from a previous union, either living in the home or nearby. Reconstituted families are also known as step-families.ReflexivityThis describes the connections between knowledge and social life. The knowledge we gain about society can affect the way in which we act

7、 in it. For instance, reading a survey about the high level of support for a political party might lead an individual to express support for that party too.RegionalizationDivisions of time and space which may be used to zone activities at a very local, domestic level; or the larger division of socia

8、l and economic life into regional settings or zones at a scale either above or below that of the nation-state.ReincarnationRebirth of the soul in another body or form. This belief is most often associated with Hindus and Buddhists.Relative deprivationThe thesis that peoples subjective feelings of de

9、privation are not absolute, but related to their assessment of themselves in comparison with others.Relative povertyPoverty defined by reference to the overall standard of living in any given society. ReligionA set of beliefs adhered to by the members of a community, involving symbols regarded with

10、a sense of awe or wonder, together with ritual practices in which members of the community engage. Religions do not universally involve a belief in supernatural entities. Although distinctions between religion and magic are difficult to draw, it is often held that magic is primarily practised by ind

11、ividuals rather than being the focus of community ritual.Religious economyA theoretical framework within the sociology of religion, which argues that religions can be fruitfully understood as organizations in competition with one another for followers.Representative democracyA political system in wh

12、ich decisions affecting a community are taken, not by its members as a whole, but by people they have elected for this purpose.Representative sampleA sample from a larger population that is statistically typical of that population. Reproductive technologyTechniques of influencing the human reproduct

13、ive process.Research methodsThe diverse methods of investigation used to gather empirical (factual) material. Numerous different research methods exist in sociology, but perhaps the most commonly used are fieldwork (or participant observation) and survey methods. For many purposes it is useful to co

14、mbine two or more methods within a single research project.Resistant femininityA term associated with R. W. Connells writings on the gender hierarchy in society. Women embodying resistant femininity reject the conventional norms of femininity in society (emphasized femininity) and adopt liberated li

15、festyles and identities.Feminism and lesbianism, for example, are forms of resistant femininity that are not subordinated to the dominant role of hegemonic masculinity.Resource allocationHow different social and material resources are shared out between and employed by social groups or other element

16、s of society.Resource mobilization theory (RMT)An American approach to social movement studies which begins from the theoretical premise that movements require resources to be successful. Studying how movements gather the varied resources they need in a competitive social movement field is the basis

17、 of RMT.Response criesThese seemingly involuntary exclamations individuals make when, for example, being taken by surprise, dropping something inadvertently or expressing pleasure may be part of our controlled management of the details of social life, studied by ethnomethodologists and conversation

18、analysts.Restorative justiceA branch of criminal justice which rejects punitive measures in favour of community-based sentences that attempt to raise awareness among offenders of the effects of their actions.Restricted codeA mode of speech that rests on strongly developed cultural understandings, so

19、 that many ideas do not need to be - and are not - put into words.RevolutionA process of political change, involving the mobilizing of a mass social movement, which by the use of violence successfully overthrows an existing regime and forms a new government. A revolution is distinguished from a coup

20、 détat because it involves a mass movement and the occurrence of major change in the politicalsystem as a whole. A coup dtat refers to the seizure of power through the use ofarms by individuals who then replace the existing political leaders, but without otherwise radically transforming the go

21、vernmental system. Revolutions can also be distinguished from rebellions, which involve challenges to the existing political authorities, but again aim at the replacement of personnel rather than the transformation of the political structure as such.Right realismIn criminology, right realism grew ou

22、t of control theory and political conservatism. It links the perceived escalation of crime and delinquency to a decline in individual responsibility and moral degeneracy. To right realists, crime and deviance are an individual pathology - a set of destructive lawless behaviours actively chosen and perpetrated by individual selfishness, a lack of self-control and morality. Right realists are dismissive of the theoretical approaches to the study of crime.Risk societyA notion associated with the German sociologist Ulrich Beck. B