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Sociology Theory - Coggle Diagram
Sociology Theory
Functionalism
Key words: structural, positivist, macro, consensus
Durkheim
- the body acts as a society, with vital organs representing instituions in society that must cooperate for the body to function, without one, it all collapses
Insititutions: media, education, CJS, family, workplace, religion
Society uses humans as puppets on a string, with soceital structures shaping our behavior
Parsons
: GAIL paradigm
Goal attainment- the state
Adaption- economy
Intergration- media, education, religion
Latency- family (sustains motivation)
Adaption to social change? structural differentiation= insitutuions specialising to changes. For example, the family used to perform economic roles with generational labour but now new insitutions have emerged
Insitutuions
Family: stabilise adult personality, primary socialisation of children via universalistic standards, internalises value consensus, parental roles,
Murdock
4 functions, warm bath
Education: society in mini, role allocation, meritocracy, secondary socialisation, social solidarity,
Social Policy
How does it help us in our lives?
a) awareness of cultural differences
b) self awareness
c) changing assumptions
d) theoretical framework for politics
e) professional knowledge
f) identifying social problems
g) providing the evidence
h) assessing the results
Influences
wider global bodies eg EU, UN
selective of research or evidence
reserach institutes being assigned to political parties eg Public Policy Research favour labour party
creating an image for the political party
distortion of research to justify decisions- especailly in prostitution,
Mcneill
Research
NGOs like Rowntree Foundation- focus on child poverty and council housing (Awaab Ishak)
IFS- more right wing, emphasis on economic policies eg reducing tax
Funded by governent and ESRC
done by universities too
think tank= research body
Theoretical links
Giddens
+ Labour
New Right +
Thatcher
Functionalism + cultural deprivation
Marxism + material depirvation
BUT interactionist + ethical issues (as an issue)
Feminism + womens rights
Definitions
social problem= harm to society
sociological problme= cause needing explaining
social policy= packages of plans to be adopted by governments to solve social problems
For a question:
p1- intergrated approach of post modernitsts eg Giddens duality of structure
p2- interactionsist, untethcial, Blumer,
p3- feminists principle pragmatism, eg women vote,
p4- Neoliberals,Thacther, marketisation BUT too economic?
Value freedom
Should it be?
to establish as a legitimate science
uncover universal patterns without bias
should be objective
solve sociological problems based on scientific evidence
Durkheim
Can it be?
Social facts can be easily separated from values
use similar methods to natural science
it can be unbiased and value free
Comte, Durkheim
- positivists
Cannot be?
values are rooted in research: eg what to study, what method to use, evaluating research, selective publication
without a theoretical framework, how do we know what to observe?
eg who would reserach women if not a feminist?
Shouldn't it be?
Gouldner 1962
if something is vlaue free, it removes moral responsibility
value free is it's own ideology
value freedom = value laden
Archibishop Desmond
'if you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the offender'
Becker 1967
abandon value freedom
social change cannot occur without ideologies driving research
Perspectives
Marxist and functionalism think... support value freedom for an objective study of universal patterns
Interactionists think..our behavior is built on perceptions of ourseleves and others- cannot be value free
Feminists think... sociology is already malestreamed so a value of patriachy and power has already been internalised
Postmodernists think.. another metanarrative to establish their ideology as the only correct one
objective vs subjective
Feminism
value sets
patriachy
malestream sociology/ science
opression by men
Liberal feminism
gradual change not revolution
'principled pragmatism'
Somerville
Oakely
- dual burden
working with the law to gradually achieve equality, eg equalit act 2010
Radical feminism
Greer
goal of matriachy
3 women killed a week by men
"ghastly figure of bride"- married away to men as innocent virgin in white
triple shift
Marxist feminist
Ansley
'takers of shit'
domestic violence is a product of capitalism
Benston
- unpaid labour by women contributes to capitalism
Insititiutions
Education:
Kelly
boys dominate scinece,
McRobbie
changing jobs,
Skelton
conform to identity
Family:
Ruspini
womens moevemnt forces change,
Oakely
individualism strayed from gender roles
Social Action
Key words: interpretivist, micro, verhesten
Interactionism
Blumer
3 features:
a) people act in terms of symbols
b) meanings develop through interactions with others
c) individuals create conceptions of themselves based on how others see them
Cooley
looking glass self suggests we are what we think others think we are
our identities are based on interactions with others, we develop meanings and adjust ourselves or our actions to meet expectations
Goffman
-impression management , face saving or threatening acts
Labelling
people label things in a particular way, which then effects how the labelled behave
self fulfilling prophecy in education or secondary deviance in crime (
Lemert
)
Lemert
and
Becker
Cicourel
field experiment in CJS
Rosenthal
field experiment in education
Ethnomethodology-
Garfinkel
suggests methods should be analysed to find out how they construct social order and why
Value sets
institutions are constructed by individuals, not separate or above them
people do things based on free will, not greater structures
behavior is driven by beliefs, meanings and emotions
Post modernism
Value sets
acceptance of diversity
questioning of universal 'truths'
critical of power stances
individualism and reflexivity
Institutions
Family:
Stacey
changing family types, destandardisation of lifecourse,
Weeks
chosen families
CJS:
Lea
laws cannot be universal, recognice diversity, increase police tolerance, protect disadvantaged groups
Gender roles:
Ruspini
womens liberation movement,
Oakely
stray from traditions,
Adler
liberation thesis allows women to leave private sphere
Micro theory, interactions
late modernnity= a continuation of our current era
Giddens
second modernity= a new era of modernism
Beck
Marxism
Key words: structural, macro, positivist, deterministic
institutions serve needs of capital by working up from the economic base under a false class consciouness
Insitutions
Family: unit of consumption, monogamous family for property inheritance (
Engels
), maintain social inequality, cushion effects of capitalism (
Zaretsky
)
Education: hidden curriculum (
Bowles
), material and culutral deprivation (
Washbrook
),
Berstein
codes,
Bordieu
capitals, myth of meritocracy, ideological state apparatus (
Althusser
), correspondence principle
CJS- capitalism is criminogenic,
Chambliss
, law reflects ruling class ideology, selective law enforcement, white collar crime,
relations of production= social linnks between private owners and labourers, ie rich and poor
Science
Is sociology a science?
Yes
Urry 1982
- society exists in an open system with insitutuions as varibales, just as vulcanologists cannot control all variables
Marx argues his work was only made possible by applying scientific methods to society
it can be researched in a positivist manner-
Durkheim
value free
Bhaskar 1998-
many sciences are physically unobservable such as atoms or germs but are still worthy of research, discoverable by their effects, not their tangible forms
Kaplan 1973
- many sciences are unsystematic in their research just as sociology can be, with publications often not showing the true process
Popper
sociology should be falsified to attemtp to prove things wrong
No
There is no consensus paradigm as there are competing perspectvies with no overaching idea
Kuhn 1970
predictions are hard as humans can change their behavior during an experiment
Ethically, humans can't be maniupulated in lab experiments
feminist think.. science is based on male perceptions and understandings
Kuhn 1970
paradigm= a metanarrative or shared framework of thinking about society
Integrated
between structuralism and social action theories
combining structural frameworks with individual chocie
Weber
verhesten= understanding and meanings
people can chnage structures so determinism is unhelpful
interactionist by putting yourself in other's positions
religion changed societal structures when the emergence of protestance created capitalism
also different types of actions too
Gidden's Structuration
strutcure and action are interdependent
duality of structure= structures exist due to actions, but actions exist within structures
for example: the law keeps people in order ( structure) but the people must conform to them in the first place (action)
we reproduce structure but our actions are based on structure
Resarch design
Marxism
Sampling: large frame, random or stratified, macro, representative
Theory/ hypothesis: opressed working class, metanarrative of classism and exploitation, focus on power of bourgoisie or challenges of proletariat
Methods: materialist methodology (
Engels
), questionnaires, official statsitics, documents,
Data: generalisable, objective, valid, quanititative, positivist,
Examples: CSEW, BSAS,
Functionalism
Sampling: large frame, random or stratified, macro, representative
Theory: cohesion in society as a result of instituions, structural differentiation, structures shaping our behavior
Examples:
Data: generalisable, objective, valid, quanititative, positivist,
Methods: participant observation to observe a specific insitution, questionnaires, official statsitics, documents,
Interactionalism
Sampling: quota, snowball, stratified, small sample frame, micro
Data: qualitative, interpretivist, reliable, no deception,
Theory/ hypothesis: how do labels effect our behavior, how do we percieve interactions, why are people labelled
Examples: Rosenthal labelling- field experiment education, Cicourel labelling field experiment CJS
Methods: participant observation, field experiments, focus group interviews,
Post modernism
Sampling: snowball, quota, micro, small sample frame,
Data: qualitative, interpretivist, reliable, no deception,
Theory/ hypothesis: how is IVF effecting family diversity, whole role do policies play in encouraging gender equality
Methods: unstructured interviews, questionnaires,
Examples: