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Socy.-formal organizations Ch.6
Key terms for final
22
Sociology
Undergraduate 2
11/27/2009

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Term
voluntary organizations
Definition
formal organizations that draw people together who give time, talent, or treasure to support mutual interests, meet important human needs, or achieve a not-for-profit goal
Term
coercive organizations
Definition
formal organizations that draw in people who have no choice but to participate; such orgs include dedicated to compulsory socialization or to resocialization or treatment or individuals labeled as deviant
Term
utilitarian organizations
Definition
formal organizations that draw together people seeking material gain in the form of pay, health benefits, or a new status
Term
bureaucracy
Definition
an organization that strives to use the most efficient means to achieve a valued goal
Term
formal organization
Definition
coordinating mechanism that brings together people, resources, and technology and then channel human activity towards achieving a specific outcome
Term
secondary groups
Definition
impersonal associations among people who interact for a specific purpose
Term
ideal type
Definition
a deliberate simplification that exaggerates defining characteristics, thus establishing a standard against which real cases can be compared
Term
formal dimension
Definition
the official aspect of an organization, including job descriptions and written rules, guidelines, and procedures established to achieve valued goals
Term
informal dimension
Definition
the unofficial aspect of an organization, including behaviors that depart for the formal dimension, such as employee generated norms that evade, bypass, or ignore official rules, guidelines or procedures.
Term
rationalization
Definition
a process in which thought and action rooted in emotion, superstition, or tradition is replaced by thought grounded in the logical assessment of cause and effect or the means to achieve a particular end
Term
McDonaldization of society
Definition
the process by which the principles of fast-food restaurants are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world
Term
efficiency
Definition
an organization's claim of offering the "best" products and services, which allows consumers to move quickly from one state of being to another (e.g. hungry to full, fat to thin, or from uneducated to educated) (principle of Mcdonaldization)
Term
quantification and calculation
Definition
numerical indicators that enable customers to evaluate a product or service easily (principle of McDonaldization)
Term
predictability
Definition
the expectation that a service or product will be the same no matter where or when it is purchased (principle of Mcdonaldization)
Term
control
Definition
the guiding or regulating, by planning out in detail, the production or delivery of a service or product (principle of Mcdonaldization)
Term
iron cage of rationality
Definition
the set of irrationalities that rational systems generate (e.g. try to make jobs really easy, but this leads to extremely high employee turn over)
Term
multinational corporations
Definition
enterprises that own, control, or license production or service facilities in countries other than the one where the corporations are headquartered
Term
externality costs
Definition
hidden costs of using, making or disposing of a product that are not figured into the price of the product or paid for by the producer
Term
trained incapacity
Definition
the inability, because of limited training, to respond to new or unusual circumstances or to recognize when official rules or procedures are outmoded or no longer applicable
Term
oligarchy
Definition
rule by the few, or the concentration of decision-making power in the hands of a few persons, who hold the top positions in a hierarchy
Term
professionalization
Definition
a trend in which organizations hire experts with formal training in a particular subject or activity
Term
alienation
Definition
a state of being in which human life is dominated by the forces of its inventions , comes with increased control over nature -marx
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