theories

Question 1

symbolic interactionism

Answer 1

a perspective that analyses communication. people communicate and react to each other with the use of symbols such as words, facial expressions, and objects

Question 2

mead -

Answer 2

• our behaviour is more than instinct, because of the meaning we give things. after you decide your interpretation, then you will be able to respond

Question 3

taking the role of others

Answer 3

• we gain this meaning through taking the role of the other. as children we do this through seeing oyrselves through the eyes of those close to us, like our parents. significant others.
• as we get older, we begin to see ourselves from anybody and everybody else- the generalised other
• through shared symbols, especially shared language, we learn the ways of acting that others require of us

Question 4

cooley - the looking glass self

Answer 4

• we use the way other people interpret our behaviour as evidence of who and what we are- develops self concept
• self concept arises from our ability to take the role of the other
• we use the behaviour of others towards us as a kind of mirror in which is reflected an image of the person we are. through this process, a SFP is creates

Question 5

significant others

Answer 5

some people are more significant to us and their views carry more weight with us

Question 6

impression management

Answer 6

we try to manipulate the impression that other people have of us

Question 7

interactionism is often called a voluntaristic theory …

Answer 7

• emphasise on free will and choice in how we act
• however, can be accused of determinism - seeing our actions and identities as shaped by the way others label us

Question 8

goffman - dramaturgical model

Answer 8

the roles we play in society are loosely scripted and we have freedom and choice in when and how we play them

Question 9

goffman - roles

Answer 9

• functionalists see roles as tightly scripted by society, but goffman argues that there is a ‘distance; between ourselves and our roles
• we are actors playing a role - sometimes cynically to manipulate our audience into believing our impression and concealing our true motives and self

Question 10

positive evaluations of symbolic interactionism

Answer 10

• avoids the determinism of structural theories by recognising that people create society through their understanding of situations
• it led to the development of important concepts such as labelling, deviant career, subculture and sfp. these have been employed to great effect in study of education, deviance and health

Question 11

negative evaluations of symbolic interactionism

Answer 11

• a weakness of taking a micro view is it ignores the role of structural factors and doesn’t examine which groups in society have power or where inequality comes from
• does not look at how socialisation leads to inequalities and conflict in society
• doesn’t look at how socialisation leads to inequalities and conflict in society. primary socialisation teaches children patriarchy - feminism
• for a whole society to share meanings, they must be the product of society as a whole rather than learnt individually. e.g functionalists say people share value consensus

Question 12

key difference between ethnomethodologists and interactionists

Answer 12

• interactionists: interested in the effecrs of meanings e.g the effect of a label on someone
  EM: interested in the methods or rules that people use to produce those meanings in the first place

Question 13

phenomenology - schutz

Answer 13

an approach which states that things and events have no meanings

Question 14

atkinson

Answer 14

• used phenomenology in his studies of coroners and their social construction of suicide
• argues suicide is simply a meaning given to an event
• no such thing as a ‘real’ or ‘objective’ suicide death waiting to be discovered

Question 15

garfinkel

Answer 15

• social order is created from the bottom up
• social order is constructed and ‘accomplished’ by members of society every day using their commonsense knowledge

Question 16

evals of EM

Answer 16

+ shows how we actively construct order and meaning in everyday situations, not just puppets of society
- craib : argues findings from EM are trivial- they uncover taken for granted assumptions that are not really that surprising
- EM denies existence of wider society, yet by analysing how members apply general commonsnese knowledge to particular contexts, like suicide, they are accepting that a structure of norms exists beyond these contexts
- EM ignores how wider structures of power and inequality affect the meanings that individuals construct. marxists would argue that commonsense knowledge is actually ruling class ideology, creating a social order that benefits and maintains capitalism

Question 17

key features of social action theories

Answer 17

• social structures are created by individuals
• voluntarism; free will and choice
• micro approach
• behaviour driven by beliefs, meanings and feelings people give to a situation they are in or the way they see things
• the use of interpretivist methodology in order to uncover meanings and definitions of individuals

Question 18

different types of social action

Answer 18

• rational action
• value-oriented action
• affective or emotional action
• traditional action

Question 19

weber: modern society

Answer 19

• characterised by its shift in the motivation of behaviour. today more and more behaviour is based on rational action
• saw the increase in rational action as having created an iron cage that enslaves us : individuality, compassion and human interaction are being removed from society
  e.g work is done to earn money rather than to fulfill ourselves and be creative

Question 20

positive evaluation of weber

Answer 20

• weber provides a valuable point about the over-emphasis of social structure seen in functionalism and most marxism
• reinforced the view that we must understand a persons subjective meanings if we want to explain their actions adequately

Question 21

negative evaluation of weber

Answer 21

• schultz: argues weber does not explain the shared nature of meanings- too individualistic
• webers types of actions may be difficult to apply. some actions can be seen as traditional or rational. what about actions that are taken for no specific outcomes
• postmodernists argue that individualism is increasing as well as increased choice for consumption
• marxists would argue that base (economics) still the most important aspect of society, not other areas of the superstructure (religion)

Question 22

giddens: duality of structure

Answer 22

— we create social structures but we can change the structures

• social action creates and reproduces structures e.g language,banking,patriarchy. once these structures are created they can constrain our actions
• however, these structures are changed through peoples actions .eg new words are introduced to language

Question 23

social structures are made up of rules and resources

Answer 23

rules: the norms customs and laws that govern action
resources: both economic (raw materials, technology) and power over others
- both rules and resources are reproduced or changed through human interaction (agency)

Question 24

agency and transformation- structuration theory

Answer 24

change can happen when human agents ‘reflexively monitor’ our own actions, means constantly checking our actions and their results and deliberately changing to a new course of action
- increasingly likely as tradition plays less part in how people behave
—– actions also have uninetended consequences e.g weber’s argument that calvisnism led to the creation of modern capitalism

Question 25

determinism and voluntarism - giddens

Answer 25

• giddens tries to resolve the dispute between determinists - who believe that human behaviour is entirely determined by outside forces - and voluntarists who believe that humans possess free will, and can act as they wish
• he argues neither theory is true, but both have elements of truth

Question 26

positive evaluation of structuration

Answer 26

giddens makes an important attempt to overcome the division between structure and action in sociological theory

Question 27

negative evaluation of structuration

Answer 27

• archer: giddens underestimates how resistant structures can be to change e.g slaves lack the power to abolish slavery
• craib: structuration isn’t actually a theory because it doesn’t explain what Actually happens in society, but just describes some things we find when we study society such as actions, rules and resources
• craib : giddens fails to unite structure and action

Question 28

modernity - late 1600s onwards

Answer 28

ideas of enlightenment are used to understand the world:
- rules of law, impartial courts
- democracy
- free speech
lots of other major social changes occurred in the 1800s and 1900s:
- individual states organised social life e.g set educational, welfare and legal institutions. a persons behvaiour is governed by law, rather than custom
- people developed a national identity. elements of globalisation can be seen
- growth of industrial capitalism
- growth of the view that an individuals status in society should be determined by his/her own potentialities and capabilities

Question 29

postmodernity

Answer 29

baudrillard- simulacra
-no knowledge is fixed
-culture and idenitty much more diverse and there are SO MANY diff versions of the truth
lyotard - there is no objective criteria to prove whether our knowledge and views of society are objectively true

Question 30

marxist postmodernism

Answer 30

harvey: society has become postmodern i.e diversity, individualisation, consumerism are key characteristics of society today
- flexible accumulation: ways of making profits that can be adapted to suit changing situation and needs e.g different versions of the same product made
, new areas for profit making: leisure, culture, sport, identities- stimulates consumerism

these economic changes have led to an increase in choice, consumption and individualisation i.e capitalism caused postmodernism

Question 31

late/high modernity

Answer 31

beck - argues that modernity has changed but it has not ended. some key features of modern society have been intensified or are more predominant today. these include:
- manufactured risks: human made dangers that are difficult to control and threaten the whole world
- reflexivity: people consider how to live their own live. people are more aware of risk and take action to minimise risks in their everyday lives
- individualisation:leads to people planning their own lives instead of relying on tradition. e.g has led to the negotiated family and family diversity

Question 32

late/high modernity - giddens

Answer 32

society today changes rapidly for two reasons
1. disembedding (face to face contact not needed to interact today). breaks down geographical barriers but makes social life more impersonal
2. reflexity. we have to continually decide by ourselves how to live because tradition has declined

both giddens and beck believe in the ability of science and rationality to overcome the problems in society today. beck argues we can evaluate risks rationally and take action to reduce them e.g new political movements such as environmentalism

Question 33

postmodernism evals

Answer 33

ignores power and inequality

overlooks poverty and access to all this info and media and stuff

doesnt even explain how postmodernity even occured