Social Studies Critical Vocabulary
Terms
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- a political system headed by a dictator that calls for extreme nationalism and racism and no tolerance of opposition
- fascism
- a national policy of actively trading with foreign countries to foster peace and prosperity
- internationalism
- the willingness to go to the brink of war to force an opponent to back down
- brinkmanship
- a systematic attempt to overthrow a government by using persons working secretly from within
- subversion
- ______ corporation; large corporations with overseas investments
- multinational
- the buildup of conventional troops and weapons to allow a nation to fight a limited war without using nuclear weapons
- flexible response
- the practice of teaching immigrant students in their own language
- bilingualism
- a person who believes government power, particularly in the economy, should be limited in order to maximize individual freedom
- conservative
- reducing a company in size by laying off workers and managers to become more efficient
- downsizing
- a person who generally believes the government should take an active role in the economy and in social programs but that the government should not dictate social behavior
- liberal
- the expulsion, imprisonment, or killing of ethnic minorities by a dominant majority group
- ethnic cleansing
- the basic currency shared by the countries of the European Union since 1999
- euro
- nuclear ______; the spread of nuclear weapons to new nations
- proliferation
- ______ terrorism; violent acts against civilians that are secretly suported by a government in order to attack other nations without going to war
- state sponsored
- the use of violence by non-governmental groups against civilians to achieve a political goal by instilling fear and frightening governments into changing policies
- terrorism
- an act of rebellion against the established government
- insurrection
- an organization that is authorized by law to carry on an activity but treated as though it were a single person
- corporation
- an organization linked to a political party that often controlled local government
- political machine
- the separation or isolation of a race, class, or group
- segregation
- the actions used by one nation to exercise political or economic control over smaller or weaker nation
- imperialism
- relaxation of tensions between the United States and its two major Communist rivals, the Soviet Union and China
- détente
- belief that people in a territory should have the ability to choose their own government
- self-determination
- the act of granting pardon to a large group of people
- amnesty
- Factor in an experiment that researchers manipulate so that they can determine its effect
- independent variable
- Stress and health are thought to have a(n) ____________________ ____________________ since stress goes up as health deteriorates, or goes down.
- negative correlation
- Form of learning based on the consequences of actions
- operant conditioning
- Stimulus that causes an automatic response
- unconditioned stimulus
- The form of learning that keeps knowledge hidden until it is needed is called ____________________ ____________________.
- latent learning
- The type of learning that occurs when a person observes and imitates others is called ____________________ ____________________.
- observational learning
- Method of repeating information over and over to keep from forgetting it
- maintenance rehearsal
- Method of remembering information by relating it to information already known
- elaborative rehearsal
- Information stored as a(n) ____________________ code is stored according to its meaning.
- semantic
- Changing the thoughts one has in a particular situation
- cognitive restructuring
- Test question that shows if the test taker is answering questions honestly
- validity scale
- Cluster of symptoms that define or describe an illness in a cultural context
- culture-bound syndrome
- Intense, persistent feelings of anxiety caused by traumatic experience
- post-traumatic stress disorder
- The condition that results from limited resources combined with unlimited wants.
- Scarcity
- alternatives that must be given up when one is chosen over another.
- Trade-off
- a rise in the general level of prices.
- Inflation
- economic system in which private citizens own and use the factors of production in order to generate profits.
- Capitalism
- a measure of responsiveness that ells us how a dependent variable such as quantity responds to an independent variable such as price.
- Elasticity
- the amount of a product that would be offered for sale at all possible prices that could prevail in the market.
- Supply
- the lowest legal wage that can be paid to most workers
- Minimum Wage
- any substance that serves as a medium of exchange, a measure of value, and a store of value.
- Money
- the dollar amount of all final goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a year.
- Gross Domestic Product
- the quality of life based on the possession of necessities and luxuries that make life easier.
- Standard of Living
- a state of the economy with large numbers of unemployment, supply shortages, and excess capacity in manufacturing plants.
- Depression
- people available for work who made a specific effort to find a job during the past month and who, during the most recent survey week, worked less than one hour for pay.
- Unemployed
- privately owned, publicly controlled, central bank of the United States.
- Federal Reserve System
- government administrators
- Bureaucracy
- a complex network of voluntary associations, economic groups, religious organizations, and many other kinds of groups that exist independent of government
- Civil Society
- a person whom a member of Congress has been elected to represent
- Constituent
- government in which the people rule
- Democracy
- the art and practice of conducting negotiations between nations without arousing hostility
- Diplomacy
- a system in which power is divided between the national and state governments
- Federalism
- the institution through which the state maintains social order, provides public services, and enforces binding decisions on citizens
- Government
- elected official that is already in office
- Incumbent
- the power of the Supreme Court to declare laws and actions of local, state, or national governments unconstitutional
- Judicial Review
- the authority of a court to rule on certain cases
- Jurisdiction
- the legal process by which a person is granted citizenship
- Naturalization
- the effort to control or influence the conduct and policies of government
- Politics
- a government in which voters hold sovereign power; elected representatives, responsible to the people, exercise that power
- Republic
- the supreme and absolute authority within territorial boundaries
- Sovereignty
- the blending or fusing of minority groups into the dominant society
- assimilation
- knowledge, values, customs, and physical objects that are shared by members of a society
- culture
- judging others in terms of one's own cultural standards
- ethnocentrism
- the process of learning to participate in a group
- socialization
- the ability to see the link between society and self
- sociological imagination
- broad ideas about what is good and desirable shared by people in society
- values
- a distorted, exaggerated, or oversimplified image applied to a category of people
- stereotype
- rewards or punishment that encourage conformity to social norms
- social sanctions
- anything that stands for something else and has an agreed upon meaning attached to it
- symbol
- behavior that departs from societal or group norms
- deviance
- The exact position of a place on the earth's surface.
- Absolute Location
- A center where cultures developed and from which ideas and traditions spread outward.
- Cultural Hearth
- The complex community of interdependent living things in a given environment.
- Ecosystem
- Group of people who share common ancestry, language, religion, customs, or combination of such characteristics.
- Ethnic Group
- A central point and the surrounding territory linked to it.
- Functional Region
- Native to a place.
- Indigenous
- Relying on one another for goods, services, and ideas.
- Interdependent
- The average number of people in a square mile or square kilometer.
- Population Density
- The pattern of population in a country, a continent, or the world.
- Population Distribution
- A place united by specific characteristics.
- Region
- Of or relating to people who live in the country.
- Rural
- Producing just enough food for a family or a village to survive.
- Subsistence Agriculture
- Of or located in the city.
- Urban
- Satisfying the demands of dissatisfied powers in an effort to maintain peace and stability.
- Appeasement
- Self-governing.
- Autonomous
- A camp where prisoners of war, political prisoners, or members of minority groups are confined, typically under harsh conditions.
- Concentration Camp
- An absolute ruler.
- Dictator
- A person who speaks out against the regime in power.
- Dissident
- An upper class whose wealth is based on land and whose power is passed on from one generation to another.
- Aristocracy
- A person who uses unexpected maneuvers like sabatoge and subterfuge to fight an enemy
- guerilla
- A limit or reduction in armed forces or weapons.
- Disarmament
- The unique cultural identity of a people based on common language, religion, and national symbols.
- Nationalism
- Ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a cause.
- Propaganda
- Payment made to the victor by the vanquished to cover the costs of a war.
- Reparation
- A system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production.
- Socialism
- A government that aims to control the political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural lives of its citizens.
- Totalitarian