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Linking theory to methods - Coggle Diagram
Linking theory to methods
Social constructionism
Discourse - shared set of assumptions and a way of thinking about a particular subject
Foucalt - prisons, medicine, and sexuality
Now, mental illnesses are things that need to be cured
Social construction of mental illnesses
Medieval societies viewed mental illnesses as harmless
Same with sexuality - hundreds of years ago, many societies had no labels for different sexualities
History of mental illnesses
Socially constructed sexuality that created categories
'Knowledge is not a product of objective observation, but socially constructed through discourse, and therefore statistics are socially constructed' - Burr
Marxism
Makes proletariat think that capitalism is good for them
For example, homeless statistics are covered up by those in prison as they are not included - Melossi and Pavarini
Althusser - statistics are a type of the ideological state apparatus, reinforcing bourgeois norms and values and creating false class consciousness
For example, life expectancy statistics are from the capitalist point of view, success of healthcare
Starmer - introduced 2024 inheritance tax law, where W/C farmers who have land are taxed a lot, even though they are actually poor
Statistics serve the objectives of capitalism and the ruling class
Statistics distort and conceal the real issues - homeless statistics, unemployment
Reject the view that statistics are objective as they are created by the bourgoisie so that it includes country lines
GDP shows economic growth but not those who are benefiting from it
Government can redefine laws - changed definition of human trafficking
Appears that more are being caught but they just changed the meaning to suit themselves and appear successful
Change definition of employment poverty to make it seem like its going down - absolute to relative poverty
Evaluation (AO3)
Disease / death rates
Joseph Rowntree Foundation make reports on poverty
Crime statistics highlight class divide
Swann Reports shows failings of capitalism
Some official statistics highlight the weaknesses of capitalism
Feminism
Oakley
She would answer questions about herself and took the participants as her friends
She attended some of the birthing of these women and carried the child
She would spend an average of 9 hours a week on interviews
She says this relationship meant that women were engaging in the research and would call her to give her more information
She looked into issues such as returning to work after birth and postnatal depression
Intimacy of method created more data and validity
In her research, she conducted 178 unstructured interviews on women becoming mothers
Committed sociology - value laden point of view, improving lives of these women, gaining successful results despite there being some bias in the method
Evaluation (AO3)
Gave a voice to women / unheard individuals
Improved position of 178 women
In depth, valid data as she received calls from the participants with extra information
Gave them advice, meaning that she was researching herself rather than participants / her own views, asking leading questions that supports her conclusions - beyond interpretivist method
Interpretivist method where the intimacy created validity
Feminist methodology
Social class of the household was judged by the male income - changed to whoever pays rent / earns more
Feminist methodology offers a critical stance towards positivism and non feminist research
Definitions for statistics are constantly changing, for example until 2001, men were seen as legally head of the household
Females position in society may be lost in the data on class, as data is reliant on her husband's class position
Government statistics conceal real issues of patriarchy and are a form of patriarchal ideologies, for example no statistics on the women's unpaid labour in the home
Aims to avoid gender bias and reveal true experiences of women, using qualitative methods to gain valid data, removing power imbalance, and allowing women to be more open in their research
Oakley - structured interviews and quantitative ressearch are regarding as 'masculine' and should be replaced with reflexive unstructured interviews that are distinctive feminist approach
No hierarchies in research, researchers should be attached to participants, and participants are not pods for information
Reinharz
Guided by feminist theory and aims to create social change
Frequently includes the researcher as a person and attempts to develop a special relationship with the people studied
Feminist research uses a range of methods and gives an ongoing criticism of non-feminist research
Overcomes weaknesses of male research, which ignores experiences of women
Methods used - ethnographies, surveys, statistical studies, experiments, cultural comparisons, oral histories, content analysis, and case studies - Reinharz
Evaluation (AO3)
Interpretivists don't go far enough - should give advice as it provides more verstehen and validity
Feminist approaches offer support to participants
Positivism isn't useful - cannot build up a rapport and intimacy to gain valid data
Too value laden - lacks objectivity / not useful for looking at wider information / policy
Postmodernist / structuralist feminists reject that research can reveal the truth (socially constructed discourses) as any conclusion is not applicable to all women
Misinterpretations - finding conclusions that support own views
Value of liberation - white Western families agree that women should be free of the household and all housewives were oppressed - some choose this as it's less oppressive than work