Sociology 101

Any socially defined position that a person can occupy

Stable organisational forms compromised of rules, roles and relationships that guide behaviour and meet social needs.

Leads to the unequal distribution of rewards and resources across society.

Relatively stable patterns between groups of people connected to inequalities in the distribution of power, roles, products &resources (prestige, property, wealth)

The way in which sociologist analyse information historically, structurally, culturally and critically

A term coined by C Wright Mills which emphasises seeing the general in the particular – private troubles become public issues.

-Colonies of limited settlement – (small (resources, people, and admin) military, indigenous groups remain strong.
-Colonies of sizeable settlement – Indigenous work for the admin – e.g. slavery (Caribbean
-Colonies of mass settlement – Canada, NZ, Australia

The control of a specific territory by a non-indigenous group through either limited or massive settlement

The multidirectional dispersal of peoples from their homelands for various reasons (survival, force, ethnic reasons, search for a better life, Jewish & Chinese Diaspora)

Multidirectional dispersal in support of imperial or colonial project. Using mass settlement of colonies to conquest these societies’ e.g Australian convicts.

Capitalism centred on farming – Wool, Meat and Dairy. Farms were acquired at low costs and provided wealth to landowners and high wages to workers.

Societies in which Europeans have settled, where their descendants have remained politically dominant over indigenous peoples, and where a heterogeneous society has developed in class, ethnic and racial terms

Our understanding of who we are and of who other people are, and reciprocally, other people’s understanding of themselves and of others (which includes us)

Distinctions between groups of people based on descent, cultural activities, shared origins, shared histories and practices.

A concept that defines ethnicity as being innate or an essential feature if human life. It is based on shared descent and culture and is relatively unchanging.