Abbreviations are shortened versions of a word or phrase. There is no universal system for abbreviating words. Each of the abbreviations below can be written with or without periods (also called full stops) between each letter. For example IPV and I.P.V. are both correct for intimate partner violence or GPA and G.P.A. for grade point average.
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Table of Contents
A
- AA – Alcoholics Anonymous
- ACS – American Community Survey
- ACT – affect control theory
- AD – anno Domini (Latin: In the year of the Lord)
- ADHD – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- ADLs – activities of daily living
- ADR – alternative dispute resolution
- AFDC – Aid to Families with Dependent Children
- AFL-CIO – American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations
- AI
- AIM – American Indian Movement
- AIDS – acquired immune deficiency syndrome
- See also HIV
- AJS – American Journal of Sociology
- AM
- amplitude modulation
- ante meridiem (Latin: before midday)
- AMA – American Medical Association
- ANCOVA – analysis of covariance
- ANOVA – analysis of variance
- ANT – actor network theory
- APA – American Psychological Association
- ART
- advanced reproductive technology
- assisted reproductive technology
- ASA – American Sociological Association
- ASAP – as soon as possible
- ASBO – anti-social behavior (behaviour) order
- ASCII – American Standard Code for Information Interchange
- ASR – American Sociological Review
- ATM – automatic teller machine
- ASQ – Attribution Style Questionnaire
- AU – African Union
- AWOL – Absent without Leave
- AWSA – American Woman Suffrage Association
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B
- BBC – British Broadcasting Corporation
- BC – before Christ (Latin: In the year of the Lord)
- See: BCE
- BCE – before the common era
- See: BC
- BCS – British Crime Survey
- Note: Now called the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
- BLTQ – bisexual, lesbian, gay, transgender, and queer (or questioning)
- BMI – body mass index
- BSA – Boy Scouts of America
- BSE – bovine spongiform encephalopathy
- Note: scientific term for “mad cow disease.”
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C
- CA – conversation analysis
- CALD – culturally and linguistically diverse
- CAM – complementary and alternative medicine
- CAMSIS – Cambridge Social Interaction and Stratification Scale
- CAPI – computer assisted personal interviewing
- CAPM – capital asset pricing model
- CAPTCHA – Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart
- CAQDAS – computer-assisted qualitative data-analysis (or data-aided) software
- CARE package – Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe package
- CATI – computer assisted telephone interviewing
- CB – citizen’s band
- CBD – central business district
- CBO – community based organization (organisation)
- CCTV – closed-circuit television
- CD – compact disc
- CDC – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- See also NIOSH
- CE – common era
- See: AD
- CERN – European Organization for Nuclear Research
- CGI – computer generated imagery
- CMSA – consolidated metropolitan statistical area
- See also MSA
- COLA – cost of living allowance
- CNN – Cable News Network
- CPI – consumer price index
- CPM – critical path method
- CR – critical realism
- CRT – critical race theory
- CSA
- child sexual assault
- combined statistical area
- See also MSA.
- CSM – Critical Studies on Men
- CSS – Cascading Style Sheets
- CSR – corporate social responsibility
- CSEW – Crime Survey for England and Wales
- CTS
- conflict tactics scale
- critical terrorism studies
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D
- DA
- discourse analysis
- district attorney
- DARPA – Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Dewk – dually employed with kids
- DIDO – drive in, drive out
- DINK – dual income no kids
- DINKER – dual income no kids early retirement
- DINKY – dual income no kids yet
- DIY – do it yourself
- DJIA – Dow Jones Industrial Average
- DNA – deoxyribonucleic acid
- DNC – Democratic National Committee
- DNR – do not resuscitate
- DOE – Department of Energy
- DOI – digital object identifier
- DOS
- DPI – dots per inch
- DRM – digital rights management
- DSIT – dynamic social impact theory
- DSM – Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
- DST – day lights savings time
- DV – democratic transition
- DV – domestic violence
- DVD – digital video disc (also called digital versatile disc)
- DVR – digital video recorder
- DA
-
E
- ECOSOC – United Nations Economic and Social Council
- EEO – equal employment opportunity
- EOE – equal opportunity employment
- ERA – Equal Rights Amendment
- ERISA – Employee Retirement Income Security Act
- ESRC – Economic and Social Research Council
- EU – European Union
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F
- FAA – Federal Aviation Administration
- FAAB – female assigned at birth
- FAQ – frequently asked question
- Fax – facsimile
- FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation
- FCC – Federal Communications Commission
- FDA – Food and Drug Administration
- FDI – foreign direct investment
- FDIC – Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- FDT – first demographic transition
- FE – further education
- FICO Score – Fair, Isaac, and Company score
- FIFO – fly in, fly out
- FIFA – Fédération Internationale de Football Association
- FIFO – first-in, first-out
- FLOTUS – First Lady of the United States
- FM – frequency modulation
- FTP – File Transfer Protocol
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G
- GA – Gambler Anonymous
- GAAP – generally accepted accounting principles
- GBV – gender-based violence
- GDL – gendered division of labor
- Variant spelling: GDOL or GDoL
- GDN – general distance model
- GDP – gross domestic product
- GHQ – General Health Questionnaire
- GHS – General Household Survey
- GFC – Global Financial Crisis
- GID – gender identity disorder
- GIS – geographic information system
- GJM – global justice movement
- GMT – Greenwich Mean Time
- See: UTC
- GMO – genetically modified organism
- GNI – gross national income
- GNP – gross national product
- See: GWP
- GONGO – government-organized non-government organization
- GP – general practitioner
- GPA – grade point average
- GPS – Global Positioning System
- GSS – General Social Survey
- See: NORC
- GST – goods and services tax
- See: VAT
- GT – grounded theory or Grounded Theory Method
- GWP – gross world product
- See: GDP
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H
- HAZMAT – hazardous materials
- HCS – hierarchical clustering scheme
- HDI – Human Development Index
- See: QALY
- HES – Household Expenditure Survey
- HIC – high income country
- HIV – human immunodeficiency virus
- See: AIDS
- HLM – hierarchical linear model
- HMO – health maintenance organization
- HR – human resources
- HRT – hormone replacement therapy
- HREC – human research ethics committee
- HSD – Tukey honestly significant difference test
- HTML – HyperText Markup Language
- HOLC – Home Owners’ Loan Corporation
- HVAC – heating, ventilating, and air conditioning
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I
- ICANN – Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
- ICT
- identity control theory
- information and communication technology
- IDA – International Developmental Association
- IGO
- ILO – International Labour Organization
- IMF – International Monetary Fund
- Interpol – International Criminal Police Organization
- INGO – international non-governmental organization
- IOC – International Olympic Committee
- IPA – interpretive phenomenological analysis
- IPO – initial public offering
- IPV – intimate partner violence
- IQ – Intelligence Quotient
- IR – international relations
- IRB – institutional review board
- ISA – ideological state apparatus
- See: RSA
- ISBN – International Standard Book Number
- ISO – International Organization for Standardization
- ISP – Internet service provider
- IT – Information Technology
- IU – international unit
- IVF – in-vitro fertilization
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J
- JD – Juris Doctor
- JIT – just in time
- JOS – Journal of Sociology
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K
- KGOY – kids getting older younger
- KKK – Ku Klux Klan
- KPO – knowledge process outsourcing
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L
- LAD – language acquisition device
- laser – light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
- LBTQ – lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (or questioning)
- See: BLTQ
- LBTQIQ – lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and questioning
- LDC
- less developed country
- least developed country
- LIFO – last-in, first-out
- See: FIFO
- LLDC – landlocked developed countries
- LSD – Fisher’s Least Significant Difference
-
M
- MAAB – male assigned at birth
- MAD – mutual assured destruction or mutually assured destruction
- MBA – Master of Business Administration
- MDS – multidimensional scaling
- MSA
- MG – marriage gradient
- MGR – marriage gradient reversal
- MINT – mathematics, information sciences, natural sciences, and technology
- See: STEM
- MLM – multilevel marketing
- MMORPG – massively multiplayer online role-playing game
- MMPI – Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
- MNC – multinational corporation
- MNCs – multinational corporations
- MO – modus operandi
- MOW – meaning of work
- MMOG – massive(ly) multi-player online game
- Variant spelling: MMO
- MP3 – MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III
- MSA – metropolitan statistical area
- MSA – micropolitan statistical area
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N
- NAACP – National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- NAFTA – North American Free Trade Agreement
- NASA – National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- NAWSA – National American Woman Suffrage Association
- NCVS – National Crime Victimization Survey
- NEM – new religious movement
- NES – new economic sociology
- NESB – non-English speaking background
- NET – network exchange theory
- NGO – non-governmental organization
- NHS – National Health Service
- NIC
- newly industrialized country
- newly industrializing country
- NIDL – new international division of labor
- NIMBY – Not in My Back Yard
- NIOSH – National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
- See: CDC
- NIT – new institutional theory
- NOI – Nation of Islam
- NORAD – North American Aerospace Defense Command
- NORC – National Opinion Research Center
- See: GSS
- NOW – National Organization for Women
- NPM – New Public Management
- See: TQM, VFM
- NRM – new religious movement
- NSF – National Science Foundation
- NSM – new social movement
- NSMT – new social movement theory
- NS-SEC – National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification
- NWP – National Woman’s Party
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O
- OCR – optical character recognition
- OMB – Office of Management and Budget
- OPEC – Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
- OS – operating system
- OTC – over-the-counter
- OUG – occupational unit group
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P
- P2P – peer to peer
- PAC – political action committee
- PAR – participatory action research
- PAS – physician-assisted suicide
- PB – participatory budgeting
- PEGR – poverty equivalent growth rate
- PERT – program evaluation and review technique
- PC – politically correct
- PDF – Portable Document Format
- PGP – preferred gender pronoun
- PGPs – preferred gender pronouns
- PhD – Doctor of Philosophy
- PIE – person-in-environment
- PIN – personal identification number
- PIS – participant information sheet
- PM – post meridiem (Latin: after midday)
- PMS – premenstrual syndrome
- PMSA – primary metropolitan statistical area
- POA – power of attorney
- POC – person of color or people of color (or persons of color)
- POET – population, organization, environment, and technology
- PPS sampling – probabilities-proportional-to-size sampling
- PQLI – Physical Quality of Life Index
- See: QALY
- PSE – Present State Examination
- PSID – Panel Study of Income Dynamics
- PS – postscript
- PTSD – posttraumatic stress disorder
- PUMS – public use microdata sample
-
Q
- QALY – quality adjusted life year
- See: PQLI
- Q & A – question and answer
- QCA – qualitative comparative analysis
- QDA – qualitative data analysis
- QUANGO – quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation
- QOL – quality of life
- QWL – quality of working life
- QALY – quality adjusted life year
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R
- RADAR – Radio Detecting And Ranging
- RAS syndrome – redundant acronym syndrome syndrome
- Example of : ATM machine (automated teller machine machine) or PIN number (personal identification number number).
- RCT – randomized control trial
- REM – rapid eye movement
- RGSC – Registrar General’s Social Classes
- RIP – rest in peace (Latin: requiescat in pace)
- RMT – resource mobilization theory
- ROI – return on investment
- ROY G. BIV – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet (colors of a rainbow)
- RPI – retail price(s) index
- RRT – rapid response team
- RSA – repressive state apparatus
- See: ISA
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RSVP – French: répondez s’il vous plaît, which means “reply, if you please.”
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S
- SAAB – sex assigned at birth
- See: FAAB, MAAB
- SAHD – stay at home dad
- SAHM – stay at home mom
- SAR – sample of anonymized records
- SARS – severe acute respiratory syndrome
- See: acute disease
- SCUBA – self-contained underwater breathing apparatus
- SDH – social determinants of health
- SEC – Securities and Exchange Commission
- SEC
- socioeconomic class
- socioeconomic classification
- SEG – socioeconomic group
- SES – socioeconomic status
- SDL – sexual division of labor
- Variant spelling: SDOL or SDoL
- SGL – same gender loving
- SGBV – sexual and gender based violence
- SLGY – sociology
- SIT – social impact theory
- SIT – social-identity theory
- Smart car – Swatch Mercedes Art car
- SMR – standardized mortality ratio
- SMI – social movement industry
- SMO – social movement organization
- SMS – social movement sector
- SNS
- social network service
- social network site
- SOC – sociology
- SPE – Stanford Prison Experiment
- SPF – sun protection factor
- SPSS – Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
- SRH – self-reported health
- SRS – sex reassignment surgery
- SSA – Social Security Administration
- SSN – Social Security Number
- STD – sexually transmitted disease
- See: STI
- STEM – science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
- See: MINT
- STI – sexually transmitted infection
- See: STD
- SAAB – sex assigned at birth
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T
- TASER – Thomas A. Swift’s electric rifle
- Named by inventor Jack Cover for Tom Swift, the protagonist in a series of juvenile novels.
- TAT – Thematic Apperception Test
- TBA – to be announced
- TBC – to be confirmed
- TBD – to be determined
- TFR – total fertility rate
- TNC – transnational corporation
- TQM – total quality management
- See: NPM, VFM
- TST – Twenty Questions Test
- TV – television
- TVA – Tennessee Valley Authority
- TASER – Thomas A. Swift’s electric rifle
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U
- UCR – uniform crime reposrts
- UDHR – Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- UFO – unidentified flying object
- UHF – ultra-high-frequency
- UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
- UN – United Nations
- UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund
- UPC – Universal Product Code
- URL – uniform (or universal) resource locator
- Note: the URL for this dictionary is sociologydictionary.org
- USB – Universal Serial Bus
- USGS – United States Geological Survey
- UTC – Coordinated Universal Time
- See: GMC
- UTF-8 – Universal Character Set + Transformation Format—8-bit
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V
- VAM – violence against men
- VAT – value-added tax
- See: GST
- VAW – violence against women
- VFM – value for money
- See: TQM, NPM
- VHF – very high frequency
- VIN – vehicle identification number
- VIP – very important person
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W
- W3C – World Wide Web Consortium
- WAT – word association test
- WASP – White Anglo Saxon Protestant
- WBL – work based learning
- WHO – World Trade Organization
- WID – women in development
- WIL – work integrated learning
- WLB – work-life balance
- WMD – weapon of mass destruction
- Variant spelling: WoMD
- WPA – Works Progress Administration
- WMF – world market factory
- WTO – World Trade Organization
- WWW – world wide web
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X
- Xmas – Christmas
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Y
- YMCA – Young Men’s Christian Association
- YPR
- Young People Revolution
- Young Professional Revolution
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Z
- ZIP Code – Zone Improvement Plan Code
- Called postcodes in Australia and the United Kingdom and postal codes in Canada.
- ZPG – zero population growth
- ZIP Code – Zone Improvement Plan Code
Citing the OESD: Please see the front page for general citation information or any definition for specific citation information.