Democracy is a form of government where the will of the people reigns supreme, as reflected in the famous American quote “government by the people, for the people”. In these systems, elections are held to ensure citizens choose their representatives and, in cases of direct democracy, can even directly vote on laws themselves. At its […]
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Civil liberties refer to fundamental freedoms that cannot be curtailed (i.e. prevented or undermined) by governments or others in society. The concept of civil liberty comes from classical liberal philosophy of the Enlightenment period, and is most famously upheld by the US constitution, which was heavily influenced by Enlightenment liberalism. A civil liberty is a
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Libertarianism is a political ideology that attempts to maximize individual liberty and personal autonomy by advocating for extremely limited government. It is an offshoot of liberalism, which also advocates for individual freedom. However, whereas liberalism tends to embrace democratic institutions for achieving enhanced freedoms, libertarianism tends to mistrust government as a vehicle for maximizing liberty.
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Functionalism and conflict theory represent two of the three key paradigms in sociology (the other being symbolic interactionism) (Bryant & Peck, 2019). Functionalism and conflict theory represent the two macrosociological approaches, meaning they examine how social institutions shape society. The functionalist perspective holds that social institutions provide stability and order to a society (Andersen &
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Liberalism and libertarianism both embrace freedom and liberty as core concerns. However, liberalism tends to embrace the concepts of the social contract and mutual responsibility, while libertarians have a more radical embrace of the primacy of individual freedom over civic duty. Libertarians see personal liberty as freedom from governmental interference, while liberals view government as
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Stereotypes are oversimplified perceptions of people based on their characteristics. They are believed to be harmful because they involve making premeditated judgements and biases about others. Common types of stereotypes include gender, race, sexual, social-class, (dis)ability, age, nationality, political, and religious stereotypes. These prejudices can get in the way of people getting jobs, lead to
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Civic duty is often defined as the responsibilities, obligations, or tasks that each citizen owes to their nation or society, typically implied by the social contract between a government and its citizens (Dalton, 2014). In democratic societies, civic duties include a range of activities of participatory citizenship, where the citizens themselves are essential for maintaining
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In sociology, agency is a term used to refer to a person’s capacity for free will, freedom of choice, and independent action. Agency is contrasted to structure, where agency represents our ability to impose our will on the world and determine our own destiny, while social structure represents the many constraints placed on us by
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A hierarchy is a ranking system in which entities (people, data points, etc.) are ranked according to relative importance, status, authority, or another factor. There are multiple different types of hierarchies, encapsulating biological taxonomies, data hierarchies, corporate ranks, military ranks, and so on. One of the most central types of hierarchy is a social hierarchy,
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A social hierarchy is a ranking system that organizes society so that some people have greater social status than others. There are many types of social hierarchies, including caste systems, social class hierarchies, gender hierarchies, and so on (I’ll explore a ton of them if you scroll down!) However, different societies have different approaches to
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