Ch 13 Religion and Education Key Terms

charismatic leader: someone to whom God has given an extraordinary gift; more commonly, someone who exerts extraordinary appeal to a group of followers (p.361)

church: to Durkheim, one of the three essential elements of religion; a moral community of believers (p.355)

credential society: a group that uses diplomas and degrees to determine who is eligible for jobs, even though the diploma or degree may be irrelevant to the actual work (p.342)

cult: a new religion with few followers, whose teachings and practices put it at odds with the dominant culture and religion (p.361)

cultural transmission: in reference to education, the ways by which schools transmit culture, especially its core values (p.346)

ecclesia: a religious group so integrated into the dominant culture that it is difficult to tell where the one begins and the other leaves off; also called a state religion (p.362)

functional illiteracy: a high school graduate who has difficulty with basic reading and math (p.352)

gatekeeping: a process by which education opens and closes doors of opportunity; another term for the social placement function of education (p.348)

grade inflation: higher grades for the same work; a general rise in student grades without a corresponding increase in learning or test scores (p.352)

hidden curriculum: the unwritten goals of schools, such as teaching obedience to authority and conformity to cultural norms (p.349)

latent functions: unintended beneficial consequences of people's actions that help maintain the equilibrium of a social system (p.346)

mainstreaming: helping people to become part of the mainstream of society (p.347)

manifest functions: the intended consequences of people's actions, designed to help some part of a social system (p.346)

profane: Durkheim's term for common elements of everyday life (p.354)

Protestant ethic: Weber's term to describe the ideal of a self-denying moral life accompanied by hard work and frugality (p.360)

religion: to Emile Durkheim, beliefs and practices that separate the profane from the sacred and unite its adherents into a moral community (p.355)

religious experience: awareness of the supernatural or a feeling of coming in contact with God (p.359)

rituals: ceremonies or repetitive practices; in this context, religious observances or rites, often intended to evoke a sense of awe of the sacred (p.358)

sacred: Durkheim's term for things set apart or forbidden, that inspires fear, awe, reverence, or deep respect (p.354)

sect: a group larger than a cult whose members still feel hostility from and toward society (p.362)

secularization of religion: the replacement of a religion's "other-worldly" concerns with concerns about "this world" (p.367)

social placement: a function of education; funneling people into a society's various positions (p.348)

social promotion: promoting students to the next grade even though they have not mastered the basic materials (p.352)

spirit of capitalism: Weber's term for the desire to accumulate capital as a duty-not to spend i_ but as an end in itself-and to constantly reinvest it (p.360)

tracking: sorting students into educational programs on the basis of real or perceived abilities (p.348)