Sociology Word Search

A sociology vocabulary puzzle with its answer key, from Norm and Role to Stratification and Anomie.

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0 of 16 words found

YLJSNRLASIXUOOI

TAODTETYOSNREGC

WIDEVIANCERSRRD

HWDEINSTITUTION

EJVSHTHEORYPDUD

OKNIEIBELIEFEPR

IYUXOGIOOTCHNRW

ROLESSHSGULUTNE

NBXYNTRWYFAMILY

KLRSPADHGPSDTEO

GEOHWTOAUOSHYIO

OUVALUENCWEOSLH

QUEHESOCIETYJWE

GNEJYSMNRRSHWMD

NORMNCULTUREUFO

This grid is wider and taller than its box. Slide it to see every letter.To drag, hold the first letter for a moment, then slide.Keyboard: Tab to the grid, arrow keys to move, Enter on the first and last letter.

CultureCULTURE
NormNORM
RoleROLE
InstitutionINSTITUTION
StatusSTATUS
SocietySOCIETY
GroupGROUP
ValueVALUE
BeliefBELIEF
ClassCLASS
PowerPOWER
FamilyFAMILY
IdentityIDENTITY
DevianceDEVIANCE
SociologySOCIOLOGY
TheoryTHEORY

16 of 20 words from the Sociology Key Terms list.

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Answer key: Sociology Word Search

YLJSNRLASIXUOOI

TAODTETYOSNREGC

WIDEVIANCERSRRD

HWDEINSTITUTION

EJVSHTHEORYPDUD

OKNIEIBELIEFEPR

IYUXOGIOOTCHNRW

ROLESSHSGULUTNE

NBXYNTRWYFAMILY

KLRSPADHGPSDTEO

GEOHWTOAUOSHYIO

OUVALUENCWEOSLH

QUEHESOCIETYJWE

GNEJYSMNRRSHWMD

NORMNCULTUREUFO

CULTURE, NORM, ROLE, INSTITUTION, STATUS, SOCIETY, GROUP, VALUE, BELIEF, CLASS, POWER, FAMILY, IDENTITY, DEVIANCE, SOCIOLOGY, THEORY

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All 186 words

Culture 25

Artifact An object made by people, which tells about their way of life.
Assimilation The process by which newcomers take on the ways of the larger population.
Belief An idea that people hold to be true.
Culture The shared way of life of a people: beliefs, customs, language and the things they make.
Custom A usual way of doing things that a people has followed for a long time.
Diffusion The spread of ideas, foods or tools from one people to another.
Diversity The presence of many different kinds of people and ways of life.
Ethnocentrism The belief that the ways of your own people are better than all others.
Etiquette The rules of polite behavior.
Fad Something many people take up eagerly for a short time.
Folklore The stories, sayings and beliefs passed down by word of mouth.
Folkway An everyday custom of a people, such as its manners or usual dress.
Heritage The history and ways handed down within a people.
Ideology A set of beliefs shared by a people, or forming the basis of a political system.
Language A system of words and signs that people use to share meaning.

Show all 186 words (171 more)

Culture, continued

Law A rule written down and enforced by the government.
Mores The customs of a people that decide what counts as right and wrong.
Norm A rule or expectation for how the members of a group should behave.
Pluralism A state in which many groups keep their own ways while living side by side.
Ritual A set of actions done the same way each time, often with special meaning.
Sanction A reward for following a rule or a penalty for breaking one.
Symbol Anything that stands for something else to the people who share a way of life.
Taboo Something forbidden so strongly that doing it shocks people.
Tradition A belief or practice handed down from one generation to the next.
Value An idea that a people holds about what is good, right or important.

Groups and Social Structure 24

Achieved Describes a position that a person earns or chooses through effort.
Aggregate A simple collection of people in one place, such as riders waiting at a bus stop.
Ascribed Describes a position assigned at birth or taken on without choosing it.
Bureaucracy Management by departments of officials who follow set rules and procedures.
Clan Families that trace their line to a shared ancestor.
Coalition An alliance of people or parties who join for a shared goal.
Community People who live in the same place or share an interest and feel connected.
Counterculture People whose values and ways oppose those of most of the population.
Crowd A large number of people gathered together.
Dyad A pair: two people who interact.
Group Two or more people who interact and feel that they belong together.
Hierarchy An arrangement of people in ranks, one above another.
Household The people who live together in one home.
Institution An established pattern of life that a whole people shares, such as marriage or the family.
Kinship The ties of blood, marriage or adoption that make people relatives.
Network The web of ties that links a person to other people.
Organization A large body of people formed to reach a specific goal.
Peer A person of about the same age or standing as you.
Role The behavior expected of someone who holds a certain position.
Society People who live in one area and share a way of life.
Status A position a person holds among other people.
Structure The lasting pattern of relationships that holds people together.
Subculture People inside a larger population who have some values and ways of their own.
Triad A set of three people.

Social Inequality 29

Ageism Unfair treatment of people because of their age.
Bias A leaning for or against something that keeps judgment from being fair.
Caste A hereditary rank that sets a person's place among others for life.
Class People who share a similar economic and social standing.
Discrimination Unfair treatment of people because of who they are taken to be.
Elite The few at the top with the most wealth or power.
Equity Fairness in how people are treated.
Ethnicity Membership in a people who share a way of life, ancestry or language.
Glass ceiling An unseen barrier that keeps some people from rising to top jobs.
Income Money earned from work or investments.
Inequality An uneven sharing of wealth, power or opportunity.
Life chances The opportunities a person has to improve how well they live.
Meritocracy A system in which people are chosen and rise by ability and achievement.
Minority A smaller part of a population that differs from the larger part, as in religion or origin.
Mobility Movement up or down between layers of wealth and standing.
Opportunity A chance to get ahead.
Poverty The state of lacking enough money for basic needs.
Power The ability to control or influence what others do.
Prejudice A judgment about people made before knowing the facts.
Prestige The respect that a position or a person receives from others.
Privilege An advantage that some people have and others do not.
Race A grouping of people set apart from others because of supposed physical traits.
Racism Unfair treatment of people because of their race, or the belief that excuses it.
Segregation The separation of people from one another, by law or by custom.
Sexism Unfair treatment of people because of their sex.
Stereotype An oversimplified picture of a whole set of people.
Stratification The arrangement of people in layers, one ranked above another.
Wealth Everything of value that a person or family owns.
Welfare Government aid for people in need.

Social Institutions 28

Authority The power to give orders and be obeyed.
Capitalism An economic system in which businesses are privately owned and run for profit.
Citizen A legal member of a country.
Corporation A business that the law treats as a single body, apart from its owners.
Credential Proof, such as a diploma or license, that a person is qualified.
Curriculum The subjects and lessons a school teaches.
Democracy A government in which the people hold power, usually by voting.
Economy The system by which people make, share and use goods and services.
Education The passing on of knowledge and skills, mostly through schools.
Family People related by blood, marriage or adoption.
Government The body that makes and enforces the rules of a country or community.
Industry The making of goods in factories; also all the businesses of one kind.
Labor Work, or the people who do it.
Market The meeting of buyers and sellers.
Marriage A legal union between two people.
Medicine The work of keeping people healthy and treating illness.
Military The armed forces of a country.
Occupation The work a person does to earn a living.
Policy A plan of action chosen by a government or other body.
Politics The contest over who holds power and how it is used.
Profession A job that calls for long training, such as law or nursing.
Property Things that a person or company owns.
Religion An organized system of belief, worship and practice.
Sacred Set apart as holy and treated with awe.
Secular Not connected with religion.
Socialism An economic system in which the means of producing goods are owned by all or by the government.
State The political body that holds authority over a territory.
Union A body of workers formed to bargain over pay and conditions.

Theories and Research 30

Alienation A feeling of being cut off from your work or from other people.
Anomie A state of instability in which shared standards and values have worn away.
Case study A close look at one person, place or event.
Census An official count of all the people in a place.
Conflict A clash between people or ideas; one school holds that it, not agreement, shapes how we live.
Correlation A link between two things that change together.
Data Facts and figures gathered in research.
Empirical Based on what can be observed or measured.
Ethics Rules of right conduct that protect the people being studied.
Ethnography A study made by living among people and describing their life.
Fieldwork Research done out among the people being studied.
Functionalism The view that the parts of a people's life together work as a system to keep it stable.
Hypothesis A statement of what a researcher expects to find, which can be tested.
Interactionism The view that people build their common life out of shared symbols and meanings.
Interview A conversation in which a researcher asks a person questions.
Macro On a large scale, looking at a whole population.
Method An orderly way of doing research.
Micro On a small scale, looking at people face to face.
Objective Not swayed by personal feelings.
Observation Watching and recording what people do.
Paradigm A framework of ideas that guides how researchers see a subject.
Positivism The doctrine that knowledge must rest on what the senses can observe.
Qualitative Having to do with qualities and kinds, not amounts.
Quantitative Having to do with numbers, amounts and measurement.
Sample The part of a population that a researcher actually studies.
Sociologist A person who studies human social behavior.
Sociology The study of human social behavior and of how human life in common is organized.
Survey A set of questions asked of many people.
Theory A set of ideas that explains how and why things happen.
Variable Something that can change or differ from person to person in a study.

Population and Social Change 26

Activism The use of direct action, such as a march or a sit-in, to support or oppose a cause.
Birth rate The number of babies born for every 1,000 people in a year.
Boycott A refusal to buy or use something, as a way of pressing for change.
Cohort People who share an experience in the same span of time, such as a birth year.
Demography The study of the size, makeup and movement of the people of a place.
Gentrification The upgrading of a run-down city area by wealthier newcomers, which can push poorer people out.
Globalization The process by which trade, travel and ideas come to span the whole world.
Immigrant A person who moves into a country to live there.
Innovation A new idea, tool or way of doing things.
Life expectancy The average number of years a person can expect to live.
Migration The movement of people from one place to live in another.
Modernization The change by which a people takes up modern ways, tools and ideas.
Movement An organized effort by many people to bring about or resist change.
Petition A written request signed by many people.
Population All the people who live in a place.
Protest A public show of disagreement.
Rally A large meeting held to show support for a cause.
Reform A change meant to improve a law or a system.
Revolution A sudden, sweeping change in how a country is run.
Rumor A story passed from person to person without proof.
Rural Having to do with the countryside.
Strike A stopping of work by employees to press for better terms.
Suburb A community of homes at the edge of a city.
Technology Tools and know-how that people use to change how they live.
Trend A general direction in which things are changing.
Urbanization The change by which a place and its people become urban, as towns grow into cities.

How this list was compiled: Own work: the word list and every clue were written for this page. Spellings and meanings were checked on 2026-10-09 against The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, https://www.ahdictionary.com/. Sociology terms were also checked on 2026-10-09 against English Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/, in the articles Sociology, Sociological theory, Mores, Achieved status, Ascribed status, Structural functionalism, Conflict theories, Symbolic interactionism, Socialization, Social group, Life chances and Social control. Licence: own work

How it works

This sociology word search opens on 16 key terms: Culture, Norm, Role, Institution, Status, Society and Group among them. Every word has a one-line meaning, and seven more lists follow the units of an introductory course.

Read the full guide

Culture, groups and inequality

Under Start from a list, Culture has Folkway, Mores, Sanction and Ethnocentrism. Groups and Social Structure has Dyad, Triad, Bureaucracy and Counterculture. Socialization and Deviance has Stigma, Role model and Rite of passage. Social Inequality has Caste, Prestige, Mobility and Meritocracy.

Institutions, research and change

Social Institutions has Marriage, Capitalism, Secular and Credential. Theories and Research has Functionalism, Ethnography, Anomie and Hypothesis. Population and Social Change has Demography, Cohort, Urbanization and Gentrification.

Rite of passage, Glass ceiling and Life expectancy hide closed up: RITEOFPASSAGE.
Long Sociology Words has 73 words of nine letters or more, such as Stratification and Counterculture.
Under More options, tick Show clues, not words and Norm prints as "A rule or expectation for how the members of a group should behave."

Questions and answers

What is sociology?

The study of human social behavior, especially of how human society began, how it is organized, and how its institutions develop. That is the definition in the American Heritage Dictionary, read in October 2026.

What is the difference between folkways and mores?

Both are social norms. Mores decide what a society counts as right and wrong, and breaking them can bring punishment. Folkways are everyday ways of behaving, such as manners and dress. William Graham Sumner brought both terms into sociology.

What is the difference between achieved and ascribed status?

An achieved status is a position a person earns or chooses through effort, such as college graduate. An ascribed status is assigned at birth or taken on involuntarily later in life; the person neither earns it nor chooses it.

What are the main theories of sociology?

Functionalism sees society as a system whose parts work together for stability. Conflict theories hold that groups interact on the basis of conflict, not agreement. Symbolic interactionism looks at how people use shared language to create common symbols and meanings.

All 186 words

Culture 25

Culture, continued

Groups and Social Structure 24

Socialization and Deviance 24

Social Inequality 29

Social Institutions 28

Theories and Research 30

Population and Social Change 26

How it works

Culture, groups and inequality

Institutions, research and change

Questions and answers

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