Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

THEORIES: STRUCTURAL + SOCIAL ACTION THEORIES & POSTMODERNISM,…

- - - - recognises importance of social structure
      - provides explanation for social order
    - - too deterministic - ppl aren't passive products of the social system; they have personal choice and give individual meanings to situations
      - a metanarrative - doesn't work in a postmodern society
      - too positive + overemphasises positive influence of social institutions; downplays conflict in society, assuming a value consensus exists
- - - - proletariat are separated from means of production
      - capitalism is competitive - transnational companies buy smaller companies; it also means wages need to be kept low
      - technological advances deskill the workforce
  - - - ALTHUSSER argues these lvls preserve + justify the capitalist system and each has relative autonomy and some independence from the economic base
      - society consists of three lvls: economic, political (where rsa comes in), ideological (where isa comes in)
    - - GRAMSCI: the power of ideology doesn't come through from just the economy; the state maintains the hegemony to ensure the proletariat don't challenge the system
      - ideas control actions, so these ideas have 'relative autonomy' from the economic base
      - GRAMSCI believed the proletariat need to create a counter hegemony to bring about revolution
      - GRAMSCI says the proletariat have dual class consciousness - being aware of exploitation but feel unable to break free of the cycle; false class consciousness is false
- - - - all relationships involve power; patriarchal power is exercised through personal relationships through physical/ sexual violence
      - fear of rape is a powerful deterrent against women going out alone at night
      - sexual politics - personal relationships = political as men dominate women through them
    - - separatism: living apart from men
      - consciousness raising - women-only consciousness raising groups leading to collective action against men
      - political lesbianism - 'hetero relationships' = 'sleeping with the enemy', so lesbianism is the only non-oppressive form of sexuality
- - - - instrumentally rational - most efficient means of achieving a goal
      - value rational - action done because its important for its own sake
      - trad action - action done based on habit
      - affectual action - action done based on emotion
  - - - how individuals shape the world around them through their actions + interactions
      - MEAD: ppl use their minds to understand other and decide their own action using rational thought
      - BLUMER: three features of symbolic interactionism
        
        people act in terms of symbols - things have meaning attached to them, influencing an individual's response to them
        
        people's meanings are based on social interaction - interactions w/ individuals are changeable
        
        making sense of scenarios, adapting meanings by reflecting on a situation, trying to imagine other people's perspective on them. successful interaction -> correct interpretation
    - - GOFFMAN: ppl act out performances, constantly trying to manage impressions others have of us by wearing different 'masks' as we manipulate how others see us
      - FRONT STAGE SELF: what we show to the world w/ ppl we aren't comfortable w/ yet. we put out behaviours that are typically acceptable
      - BACK STAGE SELF: our true self in the environment we're comfortable in. we are accepted and there is no need for impression building. we're unobserved + more relaxed
    - - an individual's sense of self is formed by their interactions and the labels given to them by other ppl, which could lead to a master status
  - - - recognises individuals can create their own reality + interpret meanings/ events their own way - we aren't puppets
      - shows importance of understanding motivations + meanings to truly understand behaviour
      - interpretivist approach - high validity + verstehen
    - - fails to explain influence of structures in society on individual's actions + their interpretations
      - structuralists argue not all individuals have the same amount of free will + choice - social structures can limit freedom
      - doesn't fully explain where shared meanings come from + why ppl follow them