Sociological Theory Flashcards
(123 cards)
1
Q
What did Durkheim argue that sociology should study?
A
social facts, which exist outside individuals but influence their behaviour, like belief systems
2
Q
What group of sociologists believe that society is an objective reality with observable patterns governed by discoverable laws?
A
Positivism
2
Q
What data do positivists use?
A
Quantitative
4
Q
What theory argues that sociology isn’t a science and why do they believe this?
A
Interpretivists
It deals with subjective human meanings, not observable laws of cause and effect like natural sciences
5
Q
Verstehen
A
Empathetic understanding
6
Q
What data do interpretivists use?
A
Qualitative
7
Q
Who came up with the fallacy of induction and what is it?
A
Popper
Refers to the idea that no amount of observations can ever definitively provide a theory true, as future evidence may contradict it
8
Q
Subjectivity
A
Sociologists are part of the society they are studying, therefore are involved in what they are researching. Their own values and beliefs will affect the research in some way; this means it is impossible for them to be completely objective and detached
9
Q
Objectivity
A
Researchers approach topics with a totally open mind and with complete detachment, separation and distance from those being studied. The research process and findings remain completely independent of subjective influences like the personal feelings, beliefs or values of the researchers
10
Q
What do Comte and Durkheim argue sociologies job is?
A
As the science of society, sociology’s job is to discover the truth about how society works, uncovering the laws that govern its proper functioning
11
Q
What was Marx’s role in sociology?
A
To reveal the truth of this development, especially to the proletariat, since they would be the class to overthrow capitalism and herald the birth of community’s society
12
Q
How can Weber’s values be split into four stages of the research process?
A
- Values as a guide to research- researchers choose what to study based on their values
- Data collection and hypothesis testing- must remain objective and free from bias
- Values in the interpretation of data- sociologists should be transparent about their perspective to avoid unconscious bias
- Values and sociologist as a citizen- sociologist must take moral responsibility for how their research is used, rather than claiming neutrality and ignoring potential consequences
13
Q
What were the two reasons why modern positivists argued their values were irrelevant to their research?
A
The desire to appear scientific- science is concerned with matters of fact so sociologists should remain neutral as their job is simple to establish the truth about people’s behaviour, not to judge it
The social position of sociology- Gouldner argued that by leaving their own values behind, sociologists were making a ‘gentleman’s promise’ that they would not rock the boat by criticising their paymasters. They were simply hired hands so saw their own values as irrelevant
14
Q
Value freedom
A
Sociologists’ values should be completely irrelevant to their research
15
Q
Committed sociology
What does Myrdal argue?
A
Sociologists should not only spell out their values, they should also openly ‘take sides’ by espousing the values and interests of particular individuals or groups
16
Q
Why does Gouldner believe that value free sociology is impossible?
A
Either the sociologists own values, or those of their paymasters are bound to be reflected in their work
17
Q
What are funding bodies?
A
- most sociological research is funded by someone other than the sociologists themselves
- these sources can include the gov., businesses and voluntary organisations
- often the body that oats for the research controls the direction it takes
18
Q
How can career ambitions affect a sociologists research?
A
Sociologists may wish to further their careers so it may influence their choice of topic, there research questions and how they interpret their findings
19
Q
What is organic analogy and who came up with it?
A
Parsons
The organic analogy is the idea that organisms have evolved from simple structures like amoebas to complex organisms like humans with many different organs, each performing a specialised function.
Parsons argues that society is similar to a biological organism - e.g. society moved from the kinship system (simple) to the complex societies we have today
20
Q
Why is value consensus so important for parsons?
A
He argues that it is the glue that holds society together
He argues that social order is only possible as long as members of society agree on these norms and values
21
Q
The social system:
What does AGIL stand for (systems needs)?
A
Adaptation
Goal attainment
Integration
Latency
22
Q
What is structural differentiation and who came up with it?
A
A gradual process in which separate, functionally specialised institutions develop, each meeting a different need
Parsons
23
Q
What is the process of dynamic equilibrium?
A
The idea that as change occurs in one part of the system, it produces compensatory changes in another part
24
Q
What are mertons three criticisms of parsons?
A
- Indispensability- P assumes that everything in society is functionally indispensable in its existing form
- Functional unity- P assumes that all parts of society are tightly integrated into a single whole or ‘unity’ and that each part is functional for all the rest, also assumes that change in one part has a knock on effect in another
- Universal functionalism- P assumes that everything in society performs a positive function but this is not the case
25
External criticisms of functionalism
1. Logical criticisms- it’s unscientific because it cannot be falsified and illogical because cause comes before effect
2. Conflict perspective- it fails to explain conflict and change and how society is not a harmonious whole but is based in class conflict and exploitation (Marxism)
3. Action perspective- Wrong says it presents an over socialised, deterministic view of individuals
4. Postmodernist- F assumes stability and order but modern society is diverse and unstable
26
What are Merton's manifest and latent functions?
manifest= intended functions
latent= unintended functions
27
Positives of the functionalist theory
* Parsons does at least try to have a theory of society as a whole
* Merton's ideas of dysfunction and latent/manifest functions is useful in revealing the hidden connections between social phenomena
* many of functionalism critics, like Marxists, agree that society is a system of interdependent parts
* provides an explanation of how societies are generally ordered and stable, why most people generally conform to social views
28
What are the five problems with capitalism that Marx found?
1. work in capitalist society is alienated
2. work in capitalist society is indsecure
3. workers get paid little while capitalists get rich
4. capitalism is unstable
5. capitalism is bad for capitalists
29
Marxism:
What is historical materialism?
* materialism is the view that humans are beings with material needs and must therefore work to meet them
* Marx refers to the forces and relations of production together as the mode of production - this forms the economic base of society which shapes or determines all other features of society
30
Marxism:
What is exploitation to Marx?
Marx identifies three successive class societies, each with its own form of exploitation:
1. ancient - exploitation of slaves legally tied to their owners
2. feudal - exploitation of serfs legally tied to the land
3. capitalist - exploitaton of free wage workers
31
Marxism:
What are the three distinctive features of capitalism?
1. unlike slaves or terfs, the prolotariat are legally free and separated from the means of production. they sell their labour to the bourgoisie in return for wages - however this isn't an equal exchange
2. through competition between capitalists, ownership of means becomes concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. competition causes capitalists to pay the owest wages possible, causing immiseration of the prolotariat
3. capitalism continues to expand the forces of production in pursuit of profit. production becomes concentrated and technological advances de-skill the workforce
32
Marxism:
What does class consciousness mean for Marxism?
* by polarising the classes, bringing the prolotariat together in ever-larger numbers, and driving down their wages, capitalism creates the conditions under which the w/c can develop a class consciousness of its own oconomic and politial interests in opposition to those of its exploiters
33
Marxism:
What does an ideology foster for Marx?
it fosters a false consciousness in the subordiate classes and helps to sustain class inequality
34
Marxism:
What is alienation a result of?
our loss of control over our labour and its products
35
Marxism:
Under capitalism, what are the two reasons why alienation reaches its peak?
1. workers are completely separated from and have no control over the forces of production
2. division of labour is at its most intense and detailed
36
Marxism:
What will Marx's proletarian revolution do?
* abolish the state and create a communist society
* abolish exploitation, introduce social ownership, replace production for profit with production to satisfy human needs
* end alienation as humans regain control of their labour and its products
37
Criticisms of Marx's view?
* he has a simplistic, one-dimentional view of inequality - sees class as the only important division
* the proletarian revolution has not happened
38
Humanistic Marxism:
Who is the proimenant theorist?
Gramsci
39
Humanistic Marxism:
How does it draw on Marx's early writings?
where he focuses on alienation and people's subjective experience of the world
40
Humanistic Marxism:
How does this have a 'voluntarist' view of human behaviour?
* humans have free will
* they are active agents who make their own history
* their consciousness and ideas are central in the changing world
41
Humanistic Marxism:
How does it see socialism being achieved?
socialism will come about when people become conscious of the need to overthrow capitalism
42
42
Humanistic Marxism:
What is his concept of 'hegemony'?
it is the ideologixal and moral leadership of society and is used to explain how the r/c maintains its position
43
Humanistic Marxism:
How does the r/c maintain its hegemony?
1. coercion - uses the army, police, prisons and courts of the capitalist state to force other classes to accept its rule
2. consent (hegemony) - uses ideas and values to persuade the subordinate classes that its rule is legitimate
44
Humanistic Marxism:
What are the weaknesses of Gramsci's theory?
over-emphasises the role of ideas and uner-emphasises the role of both state coercion and economic factors
45
Structuralist Marxism:
Who is the key theorist?
Althusser
46
Structuralist Marxism:
How is this a 'determinist' view of human behaviour?
* structural factors determine the course of history
* individuals are passive puppets - victims of ideology manipulated by forces beyond their control
46
Structuralist Marxism:
How does it see socialism being achieved?
socilaism will come anout only when the condtions of capitalis ultimately bring about the system's inevitabel collapse
47
Structuralist Marxism:
How does Althusser develop the 'base-superstructure' model?
* there are three levels: economic, political and ideological which ultimately preserve and justify the power of the dominant class
* each level has relstive autonomy and some inderpendance from the economic base
48
Structuralist Marxism:
What are Althusser's two state apparatus?
* ideological - e.g. media, schools, family, etc
* repressive - e.g. army, police, prisons, etc
49
Structuralist Marxism:
What are the weaknesses of this theory?
* for humanistic Marxists, this scientific approach discourages political activism because it stresses the role of structural factors that individuals can do little to affect
* Thompson criticises Althusser for ignoring the fact that it is the active struggles of the w/c that can change society
50
Difference feminism
links to a form of third wave feminism that criticises most feminism for focusing on white, m/c women and ignoring the ways in which other factors can affect life experiences of women
51
Liberal feminism:
What causes womens subordination?
traditional prejudices and stereotypes about gender differences are a barrier to equality
51
Radical feminism:
What causes womens subordination?
patriarchal society
52
socialist (marxist) feminism:
What causes womens subordination?
rooted in capitalism
53
Dual systems feminism:
What causes womens subordination?
patriarchal capitlism = capitalism and patriachy are two interiwined systems that cause womens subordination
54
Postmodern feminism:
What causes womens subordination?
* discourse gives power over those it defines. knowledge is power
* 'women' is not one homogenous group; women don't all share the same characteristics and experiences
55
Liberal feminism:
How is oppression maintained?
socialisation into stereotypical gender norms
56
Radical feminism:
How is oppression maintained?
* mens oppression of women in all spheres of life
* men dominating women in relationships (sexual politics)
57
Socialism (Marxist) feminism:
How is oppression maintained?
womens primary role is an unpaid homemaker in a capitalist society
58
Dual systems feminism:
How is oppression maintained?
domestic division of labour and paid work (unfair)
59
Postmodern feminism:
How is oppression maintained?
knowledge and discourse
60
Liberal feminism:
What are the solutions to women's subordination?
laws and policies and cultural change
61
Radical feminism:
What are the solutions to women's subordination?
* separatism - living apart from men
* consciousness-raising - women share experiences in women-only groups
* political lesbianism
62
Socialist (Marxist) feminism:
What are the solutions to women's subordination?
overthrow capitalism
63
Postmodern feminism:
What are the solutions to women's subordination?
* recognise womens struggles
* the enlightenment project
64
Liberal feminism:
What are the criticisms of the theory?
* over-optimistic
* ignores the possibility that there are deep-seated structures causing womens oppression
65
Radical feminism:
What are the criticisms of the theory?
* offers no explanation for why female subordination takes different forms in different societies
* ignores other factors like class and ethnicity
* has an inadequate theory of how patriarchy will be abolished
66
Socialist (Marxist) feminism:
What are the criticisms of the theory?
* fails to explain women's subordination in non-capitalist societies
* places insufficient emphasis on the ways in which men - not just capitalism - oppress women and benefit from their unpaid labour
67
Dual systems feminism:
What are the criticisms of the theory?
* Pollert argues that patriarchy is not actually a system in the same sense as capitalism, it is merely a descriptive term for a range of practices such as male violence and control
68
Postmodern feminism:
What are the criticisms of the theory?
* Segal - postmodern feminism abandons any notion of real, objective social structures
69
Liberal feminism:
What are the key consepts?
argue men and women are equally capable of performing roles in both spheres and that traditional gender roles prevent both men and women from leading fulfilling lives
70
Radical feminism:
What are the key consepts?
patriarchy is the cause of all womens oppression
71
Socialist (Marxist) feminism:
What are the key consepts?
capitalism causes women's subordination by giving them the unpaid homemaker role in society
72
Dual systems feminism:
What are the key consepts?
patriarchal capitalism
73
Postmodern feminism:
What are the key consepts?
feminist theories are essentialist and disregard difference between women
74
Liberal feminism:
Key sociologists
Oakley - sex = biological differences; gender = cultural differences
75
Radical feminism:
Key sociologists
Brownmiller - fear of rape is a powerful deterent against women going out alone at night
76
Socialist (Marxist) feminism:
Key sociologists
Barret - we must give more emphasis to womens consciousness and motivations, and to the role of ideology in maintaining their oppression
76
Dual systems feminism:
Key sociologists
Walby - capitalism and patriarchy are inter-related
77
Postmodern feminism:
Key sociologists
* Butler and Scott - discource and knowledge
* Bulter - enlightenment ideals were simply a form of power/knowledge that legitimates domination by western, white, m/c males
78
# Action theories
Social Action:
Who is the key thinker?
Weber
79
Social Action:
What is the theory based on?
how individuals act based on meanings
80
# Action theories
Social Action:
What does Weber categorise social interaction into?
1. instrumentally-rational action = to achieve specific goals efficiently
2. value-rational action = guided by desirability through beliefs or values
3. traditional action = based on habit
4. affectual action= driven by emotion
81
# Action theories
Social Action:
Strengths
overcomes the determinism of the structuralist approaches
82
# Action theories
Social Action:
Weaknesses
Schutz argues its too individualistic
83
# Action theories
Symbolic interactionism:
Who are the key thinkers?
Mead and Blumer
84
# Action theories
Symbolic interactionism:
What is the theory based on?
how individuals create meaning through interpreting symbols
85
# Actional theories
Symbolic interactionism:
What is Goffman's dramaturgical analogy?
* how we actively construct our 'self' by manipulating other people's impressions of us
* includes impression management and roles
86
# Action theories
Symbolic interactionism:
What is the looking glass self?
the image of ourself is reflected back to us like a mirror in the views of others
87
# Action theories
Symbolic interactionism:
What is Goffmans impression management?
we seek to present a particular image of ourselves to our audiences, so we try to control the impression our performance gives
88
# Action theories
Symbolic interactionism:
What are Goffmans roles?
there is a 'gap' or role distance between our realself and our roles
roles are onlt loosely scripted by society and we have a good deal of freedom in how we play them
89
# Action theories
Symbolic interactionism:
Strengths
explains how aspects of society change through social interaction
90
# Action theories
Symbolic interactionism:
Weaknesses
sometimes considered a suplamental rather than a full theory because it only focuses on small scale interactions
91
# Action theories
Phenomenology:
Who is the key thinker?
Schutz
92
# Action theories
Phenomenology:
What is the theory based on?
how people construct reality through typifications
93
# Action theories
Phenomenology:
What are typifications?
they are shared categories that enable us to organise our experiences into a shared world mening
94
# Action theories
Phenomenology:
What is natural attitude?
society appears to us as a real, objective thing existing outside of us
95
# Action theories
Phenomenology:
What is recipie knowledge?
like a recipie, we can follow it without thinking too much, and still get the desired results in everyday life
96
# Action theories
Ethnomethodology:
Who is the key thinker?
Garfinkel
97
# Action theories
Ethnomethodology:
What is the theory based on?
how people make sense of the social world through reflexivity
98
# Action theories
Ethnomethodology:
What is reflexivity?
refers to the fact that we use commonsense knowledge in everyday interactions to construct a sesne of meaning and order and stop indexicality from occuring
99
# Action theories
Ethnomethodology:
What is indexicality?
nothing has a fixed meaning: everything depends on the context
100
# Action theories
Ethnomethodology:
What is the breaching experiment?
they acted as lodgers in their own families - being polite, avoiding getting personal, etc. similarly they tried to haggle over the price of groceries. the aim was to disrupt people sense of order and challenge their reflexivity
101
# Action theories
Ethnomethodology:
Strengths
draws attention to how we actively construct order and meaning
102
# Action theories
Ethnomethodology:
Weaknesses
it ignores how wider sructures of power and inequality affect the meanings tht individuals construct
103
# Action theories
Structuration:
Who is the key thinker?
Giddens
104
# Action theories
Structuration:
What is the theory based on?
how social structure shapes individual behaviour and how human action shapes structure (duality)
105
# Action theories
Structuration:
What is the 'duality of structure'?
why actions reproduce structure. social action tends to reproduce existing structures because of...
1. rules
2. resources
3. our deep-seated desire for comfort and stability
106
# Action theories
Structuration:
Weaknesses
Archer argues that he underestimate the capacity of structures to resist change
107
What are the characteristics of modern society?
* nation-state = the state is the focal point of modern society
* capitalism = economy is based on private ownership of the means of production and use wage labourers
* rationality, science and technology = they dominate society
* individualism = you can choose your own course in life and define your own identity
108
Globalisation:
What are technological changes?
* can cross continents in a matter of hours or exchange info across the globe with a click of a mouse
* Beck argues we are now living in 'risk society' where increasingly the threats of our well being come from human made technology rather than natural disasters
109
Globalisation:
What are economic changes?
* electronic money and purchasing
* TNCs
110
Globalisation:
What are political changes?
* globalisation has undermined the power of the nation-state
* Ohmae atgues that we now live in a 'borderless world' in which TNCs and consumers have more economic power than national governments
111
Globalisation:
What are the culture and identity changes?
* today we find ourselves livig in a global culture
* globalisation also undermines traditional sources of identity such as class
112
# Theories of late modernity
What does Giddens define disembedding as?
the lifting out of social relations from local contexts of interaction
113
# Theories of late modernity
What postmidernist view does Giddens reject?
the view that we cannot intervene to improve things. he believes we can make rational plans to reduce the risks andachieve progress to a better society
114
# Theories of late modernity
What is Beck's reflexive modernisation?
tradition no longer governs how we act meanng we have to think for ourselves and reflect on the result
115
# Theories of late modernity
What are some criticisms of theories of late modernity?
* not everyone has the options to reflect on their actions and re-shape their lives accordingly to reduce their exposure to risks
* Hirst rejects Beck's view that movements such as environmentalism will bring about significant change, because they are too fragmented to challenge capitalism
116
What is social policy?
action taken by govs. to distribute and redistribute resources to provide services, facilities and opportunities to meet human need and promote well-being
117
What is a social problem and what sociologist is attached to the idea?
* Worsley
* it is some piece of social behaviour that causes public friction and/or private misery and calls for collective action to solve it
118
What is a sociological problem and what sociologist is attached to the idea?
* Worsley
* any pattern of relationship that calls for explanation, any piece of behaviour rhat we wish to make sense of
119
What are the seven factors that affect whether or not sociological research succeeds in influencing policy?
1. electoral popularity
2. ideological and policy preferences of govs
3. interest groups
4. globalisation
5. critical sociology
6. cost
7. funding sources
