ARPS Social Studies: Vocabulary

Glossary of Social Studies Terms

[Note: This Glossary was compiled by Karen R. Todorov, Social Studies Education Consultant for the Michigan Department of Education.

See Michigan Department of Education “Helping teachers teach and children learn” http://www.michigan.gov/documents/10-02Glossary_48851_7.pdf

Absolute Advantage – exists in the production of a good when one country can produce a good more efficiently than another country.

Absolute Location – the exact position on the globe using addresses, grid coordinates, or the imaginary lines of longitude and latitude

Acid rain – a type of polluted rain, produced when acids from smokestacks combine with water vapor that can harm lakes, forests, and human health

Adapt – to change or tailor something to fit, humans change their environment or their way of doing something to fit their current needs or goals.

Advertising – information provided to encourage the purchase or use of a good, service or idea by emphasizing its positive qualities.

Affirmative Action – efforts to recruit or hire members of underrepresented groups, such as women and minorities.

Allegiance – devotion or loyalty.

Allocation – the process of choosing which needs will be satisfied and how much of our resources we will use to satisfy them.

Alternative Courses of Action – the other choice that could have been made which are inherent in every decision.

Altitude - the height of a thing above sea level or above the earth's surface.

Amendment (to the U.S. Constitution) – changes in, or additions to, a constitution. Proposed by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress or at the request of two-thirds of the state legislatures. Ratified by approval of three-fourths of the states.

American Influence on Foreign Countries – as the most powerful nation and economy in the world the United States affects the cultures, economies, and politics of nations worldwide. When other nations seek access to and become part of the lucrative U.S. market their own economies, cultures and politics are affected by American culture and values.

American Political System/Presidential System – a system of government in which the legislative and executive branches operate independently of each other and in which power is distributed through a system of checks and balances.

Amnesty - a general pardon granted by a government, especially for political offenses.

Analog – a face clock with hands.

Anarchy - Absence of any form of political authority. A state of lawlessness, confusion, and disorder (usually resulting from a failure of government.)

Ancient history – history of people living from the beginnings of human society through 300 CE

Apartheid – policy of separation of the races enforced by law

Appellate court - a court authorized to hear appeals

Apportionment – the distribution of legislative seats according to population

Arbitration – settlement of a dispute by the decision of a judge, umpire or committee.

Articles of Confederation – The first document created to govern the newly formed government after the American Revolution. It created a “firm league of friendship” among the 13 original states. The states agreed to send delegates to a Confederation Congress. Each state had one vote in Congress.

Artifact – things made by humans, and used by archaeologists and historians to recreate a picture of the past.

Authority – right to control or direct the actions of others, legitimized by law, morality, custom, or consent.

Bar Graph – a means of displaying data using the length of “bars” to represent the values of the data being displayed.

Barter – the direct trading of goods and services between people without the use of money.

Beliefs – opinions about what is considered to be true and trustworthy.

Benefits – something of value, a benefit can be tangible like a gift or money, or intangible like satisfaction.

Bias – an unfair act or policy resulting from prejudice.

Bigotry – intolerance and prejudice; obstinate and unreasoning attachment to one's own belief and opinions, with narrow-minded intolerance of beliefs opposed to them

Biography – a narrative account of a person’s life.

Bill of Rights – first ten amendments to the Constitution ratified in 1791, these amendments limit governmental power and protect basic rights and liberties of individuals.

Biome – a major regional or global biotic community, such as a grassland or desert, characterized chiefly by the dominant forms of plant life and prevailing climate.

Bipartisan - supported by members of two parties, especially two major political parties

Boundary – the limit or extent within which a system exists or functions, including a social group, at state, or physical feature.

Branches of Government – established in the U.S. Constitution to divide the power of government between legislative, executive and judicial branches

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) – Supreme Court case that declared that “separate-but-equal” educational facilities are inherently unequal and therefore a violation of equal protection of the law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Calendar – a table showing the days, weeks, and months of at least one specific year.

Campaign – the overall effort a candidate makes to win votes through speeches, press conferences, and advertising.

Campaigns – activities planned to achieve a certain goal as in electing a candidate or establishing a public policy.

Campaign finance reforms – how money is collected and spent in campaigns for public office is subject to rules. Many groups believe that a major change in those rules is necessary to limit the amount of money that any person or group can donate to a political campaign with the goal being to limit the influence any person or group will have after the election to influence the office holder they helped to elect.

Capital – cash, goods, natural resources, or human skills that are used to produce income.

Capital Equipment – manufactured equipment used in the production of goods and services.

Capital Resources – goods made by people and used to produce other goods and services (also called intermediate goods).

Capitalism – economic system characterized by the following: private property ownership exists; individuals and companies are allowed to compete for their own economic gain; and free market forces determine the prices of goods and services.

Cartel – explicit forms of collusion concerned with product price, output, service, or sales.

Cash – currency and coins

Caucus - A meeting, especially a preliminary meeting, of persons belonging to a party, to nominate candidates for public office, or to select delegates to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding measures of party policy; a political primary meeting.

Census - an official, usually periodic enumeration of a population, often including the collection of related demographic information. As required by the Constitution, the census of the population of the United States takes place every 10 years.

Century – one hundred years.

Certificates of Deposit (CD) - these offer a guaranteed rate of interest for a specified term, usually one year. The institution generally requires that you keep your money in the account until the term ends. The institution may pay a higher rate of interest than for a savings or other account. Typically, the longer the term, the higher the interest

Characteristics – a special quality or feature; whatever distinguishes one person or thing from others.

Checking Accounts – deposits in a checking account give individuals quick, convenient, and immediate access to money in their account. Money is accessed through the writing of a check, which transfers money to the person or business named. Some checking accounts pay interest (NOW accounts), but most do not institutions may impose fees on checking accounts, along with a charge for the checks.

Checks and Balances – constitutional mechanisms that authorize each branch of government to share powers with the other branches and thereby check their activities. For example, the president may veto legislation passed by Congress, the Senate must confirm major executive appointments, and the courts may declare acts of Congress unconstitutional.

Chlorofluorocarbons – a series of hydrocarbons containing both chlorine and fluorine. These have been used as refrigerants, blowing agents, cleaning fluids, solvents, and as

fire extinguishing agents. They have been shown to cause stratospheric ozone depletion and have been banned for many uses.

Choropleth map – maps that display data by using colors or shading to represent distinct categories of qualities or quantities.

Choice – what someone must make when faced with two or more alternative uses for a resource, also called an economic choice.

Chronological order – arranged in order of time occurrence.

Circle Graph – used to display data that adds up to 100%

Circular Flow – the flow of money from businesses to households and government, from households to businesses and government, and from government to households and business.

Citizen’s responsibilities and conduct – actions expected of citizens in their daily conduct such as upholding the values and principles of the Constitution, obeying the law, voting and participating in the civic life of the community.

Citizenship – status of being a member of a nation, one who owes allegiance to the government and is entitled to its protection and to political rights.

City Council – the equivalent of the legislative branch for a city.

City-state - A self-governing city, often with surrounding lands it governs.

Civil court – the place where disputes between people, or between people and the government are resolved

Civilization – the type of culture and society developed by a particular nation or region or in a particular epoch: The ways in which people organize themselves.

Civil Rights – protections and privileges given to all U.S. citizens by the Constitution and Bill of rights

Climate – the temperature, precipitation, winds, etc. that characterize a region. Long-term trends in weather elements and atmospheric conditions.

Coin – money issued by a government in the form of a metal disk. Colony - A group of emigrants or their descendants who settle in a distant territory but remain subject to or closely associated with the parent country.

Command Economies – an economy in which the government makes the decisions about what, where, how and how much is produced and finally who will get what is produced.

Common Good – involves individual citizens having the commitment and motivation (that they accept as their obligation) to promote the welfare of the community (even if they must sacrifice their own time, personal preferences or money) to work together with other members for the greater benefit of all.

Communism – the final state of social evolution according to Marx, in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed according to need.

Communication – the exchange of thoughts messages and or information.

Community – a group of people living in the same locality and under the same government.

Community Characteristic – a feature that helps to define, describe, or distinguish one community from another.

Comparative advantage – the principle that states that a country benefits from specializing in the production of goods at which it is relatively most efficient.

Comparison – an examination of two or more objects, ideas, locations, concepts, or individuals to discover the similarities and differences.

Compass rose – orientation graphic that indicates the direction north on a map or globe

Competitive Markets – markets with many buyers and sellers where not one person or firm controls prices or the number of products for sale.

Complementary Goods – goods that are jointly consumed. The consumption of one enhances the consumption of the other (examples hot dogs/hotdog buns; left shoe/right shoe; snow skis and snow clothing).

Composite region – a region that shares more than one characteristic or function e.g., Midwest-agricultural region, Midwest-industrial region, urban -industrial regions

Compromise of 1850 – had four parts– first, California was allowed to enter the Union as a free state; second, the rest of the Mexican Cession was divided into the territories of New Mexico and Utah (in each territory, voters would decide the slavery question according to popular sovereignty); third, the slave trade was ended in Washington, D.C., the nation’s capitol (Congress, however, declared that it had no power to ban the slave trade between slave states; fourth, a strict new fugitive slave law was passed.

Conflict – an open clash between two opposing groups, individuals, or nations regarding an ideology or a course of action.

Conflict and cooperation – a recurring theme of social studies that represents the opportunities for people in communities, nations, regions or worldwide to engage in activities in which they openly clash with one another while retaining the capacity at other times to work together towards accomplishing common goals.

Conflicting viewpoint – a position taken by one individual group, or nation, which is in opposition to the position of another individual, group or nation.

Consensus – a point reached in a negotiation where a general agreement of all or most of the people consulted is achieved

Constitution – the system of fundamental laws and principles that prescribes the nature, functions, and limits of a government or another institution. The fundamental law of the United States, framed in 1787, ratified in 1789, and variously amended since then.

Constitutional guarantee – the promises or assurances given to the people of the nation in their written constitution, which cannot be taken away without the due process of law.

Consumer – a customer who buys the products or services a business produces.

Consumer Credit – ability to buy goods or services now and pay later by installment payments.

Consumer Goods – items that are made for final consumption (i.e., not used by business to produce other goods or services)

Consumer Spending – purchase of consumer goods and services.

Contemporary factors – something that belongs to the same time period as the event, which contributes causally to the event, like the present efficiency and abundance in the production of wheat in the United States allows us to sell wheat to other countries who need it.

Continent - one of seven large landmasses on the Earth, which separates the oceans

Core Democratic Values – fundamental beliefs and constitutional principles outlined in the Declaration of independence and/or the United States Constitution and other important writings of the nation such as Supreme Court decisions.

Corporation – an organization of people legally bound together by a charter to conduct some type of business.

Costs – the total money, time and resources associated with a purchase or activity.

Costs of Production – all resources used in producing goods and services, for which their owners receive payment.

Country – a sovereign nation.

County – the largest territorial division of a state.

Coup d’ etat - the sudden overthrow of a government by usually a small group of persons in or previously in positions of authority

Crimes against humanity – actions that are agreed to be so universally abhorrent that they are determined to be unacceptable by all people regardless of culture and for which people seek to have the perpetrators punished on behalf of humanity.

Criminal court – the place where cases are heard for those accused of breaking a law

Criminal procedure – a set of established steps taken when the government is preparing a criminal prosecution to bring a person accused of breaking a law to trial, which includes due process for the accused.

Crusade - Any of the military expeditions undertaken by European Christians in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims. Also, a vigorous concerted movement for a cause or against an abuse.

Culture--- the values, beliefs and perceptions of the world that are learned and are shared by members of a community or society, and which they use to interpret experience and to generate behavior, and that are reflected in their own behavior.

Cultural diffusion – the spread of linguistic or cultural practices or innovations (including ideas and beliefs) within a culture or from one culture to another.

Cultural geography – the study of how people use space and interact with their environment.

Cultural stability and change – an important theme in social studies, particularly in geography and history, which addresses how different societies maintain the stability of their culture and how they deal with the inevitable difficulties associated with change as a result of interactions with other cultures or changes in prevailing values.

Cultural Relativism – the idea that each culture’s features should be understood in terms of that culture’s history, environment, values, and views of its people, and that it is ethnocentric or biased, as well as uninformed, to judge another culture by the standards of one’s own culture.

Culture – learned behavior of people, which includes their belief systems and languages, their social relationships, their institutions and organizations, and their material goods (food, clothing, buildings, tools, and machines).

Currency – paper money with a specified value, issued by the government or a central bank.

Currency Exchange – the comparative value of foreign currencies.

Decade – ten years.

Deciduous – type of tree that loses its leaves during portions of the year, usually beginning in the autumn months

Decision – a conclusion or judgment reached after consideration of alternatives.

Decision Matrix – a table comparing possible decisions.

Declaration of Independence – the declaration of the Congress of the Thirteen United States of America, on the 4th of July, 1776, by which they formally declared that these colonies were free and independent States, not subject to the government of Great Britain.

Defining Characteristic – shared patterns of life, which characterize a period of history.

Deflation – a decline in general price levels, often caused by a reduction in the supply of money or credit.

Deforestation – the clearing or destruction of forests, generally for the purposes of timber extraction, agricultural expansion, cattle raising and in drier climates an increase demand for firewood.

Delegated Powers – powers granted to the national government under the Constitution, as enumerated in Articles, II, III, and I

Demagogue - A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.

Demand – the desire and ability of individuals to purchase economic goods or services at the market price; along with supply, one of the two key determinants of price.

Democracy – a system of government in which political authority is held by the people; typically feature constitutional governments where the majority rules, a belief in individual liberty and in equal rights for all people, freedom of expression, political freedom, and freedom of choice.

Demography – the study that emphasizes statistics to look at human population distribution, population density, and trends in population

Describe – to tell the who, what, when or where about something

Desegregation - To abolish or eliminate segregation; to open (a school or workplace, for example) to members of all races or ethnic groups, especially by force of law; to become open to members of all races or ethnic groups.

Desert – an area with little precipitation or where evaporation exceeds precipitation and thus includes sparse vegetation

Desertification – a process by which desert-like conditions are created by a loss of plant cover and soil due to human activity and climatic changes in arid and semi-arid regions

Dictator – a ruler with absolute power.

Digital clock – clock, which only uses numbers to tell the time.

Discrimination - treatment based on class or category rather than individual merit.

Disenfranchised - deprived of the rights of citizenship especially the right to vote

Disparities – lack of equality.

Dispute - a disagreement or argument about something important

Distributor – a firm that sells and delivers merchandise to retail stores or acts as an intermediary in business.

Distribution – the delivery of merchandise to retail stores.

Diversity – variety in culture and ethnic background, race and belief is not only permissible but also desirable and beneficial in a pluralistic society.

Doctrine - A principle or body of principles presented for acceptance or belief, as by a religious, political, scientific, or philosophic group; dogma, e.g., Monroe Doctrine

Domestic – of one’s own country; not foreign.