Our sociological glossary is new; we are in the process of developing our online sociological glossary, with more terms to be added as we go along. If you think there is something we haven't added yet, please let us know.
Glossary
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TUNDRA (Tracking Underrepresentation by Area)
TUNDRA is an alternative to POLAR, designed to provide a more nuanced measure of higher education participation among underrepresented groups.
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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)
The TEF is a UK government initiative that assesses the quality of university teaching and learning, rating institutions as gold, silver, or bronze.
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Third-Place Learning
Third-place learning occurs in environments outside home and school, such as youth clubs and community centres, where informal education takes place.
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Total Institutions
Total institutions, such as prisons, asylums, or military barracks, are places where individuals are completely controlled and separated from wider society.
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Totemism
Durkheim’s study of totemism describes how religious symbols represent collective identity and reinforce social bonds.
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Tracking
Tracking is the practice of grouping students into different educational pathways or ability groups, often reinforcing social inequalities.
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Transferable Skills
Transferable skills, such as communication, leadership, and problem-solving, are developed through extracurricular activities and are applicable across different life domains.
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Tuition Fees
Tuition fees in the UK were introduced in 1998 and increased to £9,000 in 2012, fundamentally shifting the funding model of higher education.
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Types of Suicide
Durkheim identified four types of suicide: egoistic (lack of integration), altruistic (excessive integration), anomic (lack of regulation), and fatalistic (excessive regulation).
