Key Sociological Concepts and Citations
Key Sociological Terms and Citations
Week 2: Futurism and Social Actors
- Futurism:
- Social Actors:
“For a generation often accused of being passive and totally preoccupied with their own selves, their digital devices and social media, young people are ready to show that there is another side to their life trajectories—that they are future-makers.” (Spyrou, 2020, p. 3)
Week 3: Colonialism, Biopolitics
- Settler Colonialism: When people from a place of imperial power move to a region and displace those indigenous to the land through genocide, expulsion, or segregation. (Spencer & Sinclair, 2017).
- Biopolitics: When a population is treated as a problem.
Week 4: Bodymind, Disability, Sexual Rights
- Bodymind difference: A way of challenging the idea that the body and mind are separate. Disability is an identity that is not solely physical or mental; it is interconnected with one’s entire being and experiences. (Eli Clare, 2017).
“Because every citizen will become, sooner or later, a disabled citizen, the struggle of people with disabilities for sexual rights belongs to everyone.” (Tobin Siebers, 2015, p.52)
Week 5: Code-Switching and Race
- Code-switching: The ways in which a member of an underrepresented group (consciously or unconsciously) adjusts their language, syntax, grammatical structure, behavior, and appearance to fit into the dominant culture. (Gumperz, 2023)
“Race is a social concept, not a scientific one.” (Venter, 2000)
Week 6: Agency
- Agency: The capacity to act in a given context in order to engage with and shape the world around us, and our subjective awareness of instigating these actions. (The Sociology of Childhood and Youth in Canada, 2017)
Week 7: Youth, Global North, Subcultures
- Youth: A Global North social construction attached to young people who are out of place. (Holt, 2009)
- Global North: Nations of the world which are characterized by a high level of economic and industrial development. (Steger & Roy, 2010)
- Subculture: Part of the culture of any specific group that is constructed from elements of a wider culture (“sub”). (Hebdige, 1979)
- “Tribal” subculture: Subcultures whose practices resist the mainstream. (Maffesoli, 1996)
“We find ourselves entangled in the worlds in which we move, from home to social settings to intimate relationships with ourselves and others, as well as places of work, study, and recreation.” (Blaikie, 2020, p. 333)
Week 8: Child-Oriented Retail
“Retailers have accordingly become more ‘child-oriented’ in their sales techniques; spending on advertising directed at children has grown exponentially; and there has been a marked increase in more general promotional activities aimed at children, not least in schools.” (Buckingham & Tingstad, 2007, p. 51)
Week 9: Globalization, Family, Citizenship
- Globalized culture: When cultural elements (values, practices, norms, symbols) transcend local and national boundaries, becoming integrated into a worldwide culture. (Tomlinson, 1999)
- Transnational families: “Families that spend some or most of their time separated from each other, yet hold together and create something that can be seen as a feeling of collective welfare and unity, namely ‘familyhood,’ even across national borders.” (Bryceson & Vuorela, 2002, p. 3)
- Citizenship: The status of being a member of a particular country and enjoying its rights and privileges. In transnational contexts, citizenship has to do with agency and cultural identity. (Amadasi & Iervese, 2018; Bellamy, 2008)