Theory and Methods Flashcards

Question

Explain interpretivism and suicide in relation to Atkinson's ethnomethodologist view

Answer 1

The ethnomethodologist Atkinson (1978) also rejects the idea that external social facts that lie in society determine behaviour. He claims that the only thing we can study about suicide is the way that the living make sense of deaths - the interpretive procedures coroners use to classify deaths. Ethnomethodologists argue that members of society have a stock of taken-for-granted assumptions with which they make sense of situations, including deaths. For Atkinson, the sociologist's role is to uncover what this knowledge is and how coroners use it to arrive at a verdict

Answer 2

- sociology never can nor should try to be a science - sociologists can rarely produce the kind of controlled conditions for study such as those of scientist's laboratory - Research findings are not verifiable by other sociologists as the research situation can never be precisely replicated - It is impossible to quantify human behaviour in the same way research in different ways - The meanings that people attach to events and actions are internal and cannot be directly measured - Human action depends on individual interpretations - The design of hypotheses to test imposes the views of the researcher on what is discovered

Answer 3

There are methodological differences in sociology which give rise to 'different' sociologies. Positivists and Interpretivists have very different assumptions and approaches regarding how best to gain knowledge about the workings of society. They assume different epistemological positions (a philosophical theory of knowledge relating to different schools of though). All sociological approaches assume some epistemological position e.g. positivism and interpretivism have very different assumptions and approaches to thinking about the social world and human behaviour. Epistemological issues influence the ontological position adopted by a sociologist. Ontology relates to a philosophical project and its assumptions about how best to understand and explain the social world. Positivists and Interpretivists have different assumptions about how best to explain and research the social world.

Answer 4

Whilst accepting that there are basic differences between the social and the natural world, realists maintain that a social science is possible. Realists, BHASKAR (1979) and SAYER (1984) believe: that it is both possible and desirable for sociology to be scientific - they see physical and social sciences are similar. Sayer argues that some sciences have closed system in which all variables can be measured. An example of a closed system is a laboratory. Sciences like physics and chemistry have the advantage of being able to create closed systems in which conditions can be fixed and variables controlled. However, many sciences operate in open systems where all variables cannot be controlled and measured nor can precise predications be made. For example, meteorology (study of weather) is a natural science which operates in an open system. As a result it is difficult to predict the weather after the event in terms of underlying mechanisms. Sayer therefore rejects Popper's falsification view that a scientific theory must make precise predictions as realists argue that sociology can be a science by operating in a similar way to meteorology. He believes that sociology is scientific but because societies are complex open systems, it is impossible to make precise predictions. From a realist point of view, this does not rule out sociology as a science as it is still possible to explain human behaviour in terms of underlying structures and mechanisms

Answer 5

Furthermore, KEAT and URRY (1982) argue that some sciences deal with things that cannot be directly observed and therefore reject the positivist view that science confines itself to studying the observable. They argue that sociology can still be seen as scientific even if it studies unobservable meanings and motives. Realists believe that scientists try to discover the underlying structures and processes that cause unobservable events (for example evolution) Sociologists try to do exactly the same looking for social structures and processes (for example, social change) Realists therefore argue that much sociology is scientific

Answer 6

There seems to be conflicting ideas about the scientific status of sociology. Those who have attempted to model sociology on the natural sciences do so in an attempt to claim objectivity for the subject - as science is accepted as being objective. They see the scientific method as the route to empirical truth about the social world. However, many sociologists and philosophers have developed a powerful critique of science and its status and this critique has major implications for the desire of sociology to claim scientific status

Answer 7

Some sociologists critique science arguing that science does not follow any single methodology. They claim it takes place in a context and often does not involve an objective search for truth. They claim that what scientists say they do and what they actually do are two very different things. This is illustrated by KAPLAN (1964) who distinguishes between: - Reconstructed logics: the methods scientists claim to use - Logics in use: the actual methods they use According to KAPLAN guesses and hunches, accidents and mistakes contribute to the creation of scientific knowledge and therefore despite our conventional ideas regarding science he claims it cannot always be understood as objective knowledge. LYNCH (1983) illustrates this by showing how scientists studying rats brains ignored slides that contradicted their theories. He claims that some scientists look for evidence to confirm theories, ignoring evidence that might falsify them.

Answer 8

According to GOMM (1982), science is influenced by social factors, environmental concerns, politics, economic constraints and cultural norms, practices and guidelines. Scientists are therefore understood as being shaped by the very context that they are working in. Additionally, the nature of scientific research is such that sponsorship impinges upon the objectivity of the projects that scientists are working on. In this way, science cannot be understood as the detached pursuit of objective knowledge,

Answer 9

KUHN (1962) is a historian of science and his ideas have important implications for sociology. He argues that the 'scientific' nature of science itself questioned. He rejects the idea that there exists one scientific approach or standardised procedure and rejects the conventional view which sees science as the progressive accumulation of knowledge based on the testing and proving or disproving of a hypothesis.

Answer 10

Kuhn claims that scientific communities develop a commitment to a particular paradigm. A paradigm is shared by members of a given scientific community and defines what their science is. It provides a set of shared beliefs about some aspect of the physical world in terms of how it works; it dictates how to study it and how to interpret evidence. A paradigm therefore provides the complete framework within which scientists operate and he claims that scientists are committed to operating within a paradigm rather than falsifying it. Ideas from outside the paradigm are normally dismissed. However, during scientific revolutions, anomalies which the paradigm cannot explain come to the fore. One paradigm is not open to replaced by another and science returns to its normal state, in which the paradigm is not open to question. An example is the move from Newtonian to Einsteinian physics. However, in the main scientists conformity to the paradigm is rewarded and career success, while non-conformity may mean their work goes unpublished.

Answer 11

From this point of view, sociology can be seen as pre-paradigmatic because there are a variety of competing paradigms (or perspectives) such as Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism etc. For Kuhn, sociology could only become a science if such basic disagreements were resolved. Reflecting on these observations it may not even be desirable for sociology to become scientific in Kuhn's sense, because the conflict between perspectives is a critical element in the subject.

Answer 12

Anderson et al (1986) criticise Kuhn for underestimating the extent of disagreement between scientists and question whether his approach has much relevance to sociology. Nevertheless, this critique of science raises questions about the subjective rather than objective nature of the discipline.

Answer 13

Ann Oakley 'from here to maternity' (1979): The aim of this book was to look at the experience of becoming a mother in modern British society. Oakley argues that this, rather than marriage is the point at which gender has the most impact on women's lives Oakley's interest in her research topic is both academic and personal, she makes no claims to scientific objectivity in her choice of topic' - 'I am a feminist, an academic sociologist and a woman with children. I am not a feminist until I had children'. , 'personal dramas provoke ideas that generate books and research projects' , 'academic research projects bear an intimate relationship to the researchers life' She discusses her own experiences in her research. Personal commitment to a research project inevitably presents problems - ' I began to confuse my roles - researcher, pregnant woman, mother, feminist, participant observer and so on' Prior to main research Oakley spent six months as an observer in the London hospital from which she chose her sample of women. Selecting her sample - sample was selected to enable general points to be made about the experiences of first-time motherhood and therefore certain groups of people were excluded. Confining the sample to one hospital inevitably presented problems of representativeness. Conducting the interviews - The interviews were all conducted by Oakley herself and included a number of very open questions which encouraged the interviewees to discuss their own feelings fully. Some of these questions were extremely personal in nature. Questions were followed up with supplementary questions At the end of the book Oakley discusses interviews as a method of gaining sociological information. She argues that the interview is often presented as a clinical research tool, by which an objective interviewer asks questions of a passive interviewee. The answers can then be used to compare people and identify patterns. The process of interviewing - neither the nature of the questions asked nor the interaction between interviewer and interviewee is supposedly has an influence on the data produced. On the contrary she argues that the interview is inevitably a reactive research tool which itself can change reality

Answer 14

Scientists are viewed as producing true knowledge, free from prejudice and taking a detached and objective approach to their research - they do not allow their subjective values to get in the way of discovering the facts. However, every member of society has value. This has led to the debate on whether sociological can study society objectively, without bias, unaffected by their own personal views and values and whether sociological research can be 'value free' - free from contamination or distortion by their views.

Answer 15

Positivist/classical sociology argue that it is both possible and desirable to keep subjective values out of the research in the same way as natural scientists are said to do. Only in this way can produce true, scientific knowledge about society. Interpretivists argue that because sociologists are humans (with values) studying other humans, it is impossible to keep personal values out of one's research. Committed sociology go further than interpretivists arguing that it is actually desirable for sociologists to use their values to improve society through their work hence they are referred to as 'committed sociology'

Answer 16

POSTIVISM / CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGY: The early positivists, COMTE and DURKHEIM shared the enlightenment modernist view of the role of sociology. As the science of society, sociologists would be able to say objectively and with scientific certainty what was really best for society so that social problems can be solved and human life can be improved. Marx saw himself as a scientist and believed his method of historical analysis would help 'deliver' a good society. However, by the mid (20th positivists argued that their own values were irrelevant to their research. This was mainly a reflection of their desire to be scientific). Science is concerned with matters of fact, not value - with 'is' questions, not 'ought' questions. Therefore, sociology should remain morally neutral and value free, their job being to simply establish the objective and empirical truth about people's behaviour.

Answer 17

Critics argued that this reflected a desire to make sociology respectable. Science has high prestige in society and therefore emulating it would raise sociology's status. This was particularly important in the early (20th century, when sociology was becoming established as an academic discipline.

Answer 18

Many interpretivist sociologists argue that absolute value neutrality is impossible. WEBER argued that values inevitably guide research. He believed that values were bound to influence what topics sociologists think are relevant and important enough to study. Taking the idea from phenomenology that social reality is made up of a meaningless infinity of facts that make it impossible to study it in its totality - therefore researchers select certain facts to study in terms of their 'value relevance' to them. WEBER argues that sociologists values may also influence which aspects of a topic they study. However, whilst values dictate what aspect of reality to study, sociologists must be as objective and unbiased when they are actually doing their research and collecting the facts. Nevertheless, he recognises that values become influential again when sociologists come to interpret the data. The facts are set in a theoretical framework so that conclusions can be drawn and the choice of the theoretical framework or perspective is inevitably influenced by the individual sociologist's values.

Answer 19

Supporting Weber, GOULDNER argues that all research is inevitably influenced by values. The sociologists own personal values deriving from their background, upbringing, social status etc. means research is unlikely to be value free. Furthermore, GOULDNER also argues that different sociological theoretical perspectives can be seen as embodying different assumptions and values about how society should be, what topics should be studied and what methods should be used.

Answer 20

Furthermore, most sociological research is funded by government departments, businesses and voluntary organisations. Often the funding body controls the direction of the research and the questions asked. Therefore, sociological research is likely to embody the values and interests of their paymasters. In some cases funding bodies may prevent the publication of the research if its findings prove unacceptable. Accepting that facts and values cannot be separated in sociology, WEBER argued that sociologists must be explicit about their values so that others can see if unconscious bias is present in out interpretation of out data. Supporting this, PHILIPS (1973) argues that sociologists should bring their values out into the open so that others are aware of any potential bias to ensure transparency. This reflective stance can be clearly reflected in the work of Oakley.

Answer 21

Research findings often have very real effects on people's lives but sociologists and scientists sometimes choose to ignore the uses to which their work is put. As a citizen and member of society, WEBER argues that values influence how sociological findings are used. He argued that sociologists and scientists must not dodge the moral and political issues their work raises by hiding behind words such as 'objectivity' or 'value freedom' and must take moral responsibility for how that research is used

Answer 22

Supporting Weber's viewpoint, GOULDNER argued that by the 1950s, American sociologists in particular had become 'spiritless technicians'. Earlier in the century sociology had been a critical discipline challenging accepted authority. However, by the 1950s sociologists were no longer problem takers who hired themselves out to government and other organisations to solve their problems for them. Gouldner argues that by leaving their own values behind, sociologists were simply hired hands that would not rock the boat by criticising or questioning their paymasters. This is exactly the attitude weber was criticising when he said that sociologists must take moral responsibility for the effects of their own work.

Answer 23

Many sociologists argue that value neutrality is not desirable in sociology, The issue of commitment that WEBER raised has remained at the centre of debates about the place of the sociologists values in research. Modern positivists have shied away from any value commitments. However, Marxists, Feminists and Interactionists have argued for a 'committed sociology' in which the sociologists spell out the importance of their personal values to their research and they believe it is desirable for sociologists to use their values to improve society through their work. MYDAL argues that sociologists should not only spell out their values, as WEBER recommends - they should also openly take sides by espousing the values and interests of particular individuals or groups. By not choosing a side, the sociologist is in fact taking the side of the more powerful against the less powerful. Therefore, committed sociologists who advocate this approach such as MYDAL and GOULDNER argue that it is neither possible nor desirable to keep values out of their research

Answer 24

The interactionist BECKER poses the question, whose side are we are?. He argues that traditional positivists and functionalists tended to take the viewpoint of powerful, however he argues that instead of seeing things from the perspective of these 'over-dogs', sociologists should take a compassionate stance and take the side of the 'under-dogs'. This is partly because their story needs to be told and by identifying with the underdog and giving them a voice we can reveal a previously hidden side of social reality. This emphasis on identifying and empathising with the powerless has clear links to the qualitative research methods advocated by interactionists which they believe reveal the meanings of these outsiders.

Answer 25

Gouldner criticises becker for taking a sentimental approach to disadvantaged groups confining his analysis simply to describing their views and experiences. He argues for a Marxist approach and believes sociologists should take the side of those 'fighting back' - the political radicals struggling to change society. Sociology should be committed to ending oppression by unmasking the ways the powerful maintain their position.

Answer 26

Relativism argues that there is no independent way of judging whether any view is truer than any other and there is no absolute or objective truth - just truths plural. Postmodernists take a relativist view of knowledge. They reject the idea that any one account of the social world is superior to another and see perspectives that claim to have the truth as a meta narrative. However, ironically this means we shouldn't believe what postmodernism says either. In practice, sociologists rarely go this far and argue that there is a real factual world 'out there' in which for example, ethnic background can affect a person's life chances and so on. Regardless of the sociologists values or perspective we can observe and record these facts. Once these facts have been established. In the end it matters less whether a theory contains certain values than whether it can explain the world that we observe.

Answer 27

Marshall (1975) defines social policy as the actions of government that have a direct impact on the welfare of citizens - by providing them with services, support or income e.g NHS, free school meals, bursary, universal credit, free education, national curriculum etc. Many social policies are designed to address and overcome social problems.

Answer 28

Worsley (1977) defines social problems as any social behaviour that causes public friction and/or private misery - and calls for collective action to solve it e.g racism, discrimination, poverty, crime etc. Governments are called on to produce and implement social policy to address these social problems.

Answer 29

According to Worsley a sociological problems is 'any pattern of relationships that calls for an explanation'. Basically, it is any behaviour that we wish to make sense of. It could be a social problem but it also includes behaviour which society doesn't normally see as a problem e.g marriages decreasing, anti-school subcultures etc. Therefore 'normal behaviour' is just as interesting to sociologists as behaviour that is viewed as a constituting a problem.

Answer 30

Many believe that the whole point of sociology is to try and make a difference; to engage in making policy proposals based on informed research in an attempt to improve society. For example GOULDNER and critical social scientists all believe that sociology should try to influence social policy. Reflecting this, Mills argued that sociology should not be simply the accumulation of facts but it should explain social problems and suggest policy solutions.

Answer 31

- sociology can inform policy makers of viewpoints other than their own and can directly influence social policy - sociological research helps assess the results of policy initiatives - sociology may be influence by social policy - policy makers might use sociology selectively to justify policies.

Answer 32

- The social democratic perspective on education encouraged the introduction of comprehensive schools in the 1960s and 1970s - feminist campaigns have led to changes in education and have led to offences such as domestic violence being taken more seriously by the police - The right realist perspective on crime by Wilson led to the introduction of ASBOs aimed at preventing areas from deteriorating due to antisocial behaviour - Research by MIDDLETON ET AL led to the introduction of EMAS to increase participation routes.

Answer 33

Reflecting on some of the points, the influence of sociology varies depending on the government in power. New right influenced conservative governments between 1979 and 1997 were generally hostile to sociologists apart from the handful of right wing sociologists who supported their views In contrast, new labour governments between 1997 and 2010 took sociology more seriously and sociology has influenced the shape of some policies in areas such as criminal justice, welfare, education and health

Answer 34

POSITIVISM / FUNCTIONALISM PERSPECTIVE Reflecting the Enlightenment project, both positivists and functionalists believe sociology should be used to improve society by discovering both the cause of social problems and scientifically based solutions to them. They see the state as serving the interests of society as a whole - producing and implementing rational social policies for the good of all. For example, educational policies promote equal opportunities and social integration and housing policies assist families in performing its functions more effectively. They believe the role of the sociologist is to provide the state with objective, scientific information that it can use to base it policies on. However, functionalists favour social policies that are sometimes referred to as 'piecemeal social engineering' - in other words the support a cautious approach to addressing one specific issue at a time. This approach has been criticised particularly by social democratic theorists and Marxists as they argue social policies only solve problems on a small scale and the fact they support policies that are not radical or ambitious enough to solve and address real big problems.

Answer 35

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PERSPECTIVE: In direct contrast to the 'piecemeal social engineering' view, this perspective favours a more radical approach in order to eradicate social problems in society - a redistribution of wealth and income to eradicate other problems in society. Sociologists adopting this perspective such as Townsend (1979) argue that sociologists should research social problems and make policy recommendations to eliminate them. He research poverty and on the basis of his findings he made recommendations for policies such as fairer and higher benefit levels and more public spending on health, education and welfare services. Similarly, the Black Report (1980) commissioned by the Labour government in 1977 on class inequalities in health made 37 far-reaching policy recommendations for reducing deep-rooted inequalities including free school meals for all children, improved working conditions and improvements in housing. However, Thatcher's conservative government refused to implement the report's recommendations on the grounds of cost and tried to restrict its publication - limited circulation - highlighted class differences in life expectancy

Answer 36

MARXIST: Marxists criticise social democrats because they argue that the ambitious and far-reaching policies, they propose are not enough to solve social problems. It is capitalism that is ultimately responsible for these inequalities and therefore they believe that problems cannot be solved without abolishing capitalism. Unlike functionalists, Marxists do not see the state and its policies as benefitting all members of society. From this point of view, the state represents the ruling class and its policies serve their interests rather than society as a whole - They provide ideological legitimation - They maintain the labour force for further exploitation - They are a means of preventing revolution They recognise that social policies do sometimes provide real, if limited benefits to the working class - however, such gains are always threatened by cuts in welfare spending of economic recession. Marxists also argue that research that reveals the unpleasant truth about the social problems created by capitalism - will not be used to formulate policies to solve these problems. For Marxists, the sociologist's main role should be to criticise capitalist social policy which masks exploitation, not to serve the capitalist state. However, critics argue that their solutions are unrealistic and impractical and that progressive social policies are capable of having positive impacts.

Answer 37

FEMINISM: Feminists believe that the state perpetuates women's subordination through its social policies. For example, family policies may be based on the assumption that the 'normal' family is a conventional nuclear family, thus idealising this type and stigmatising alternatives.. However, liberal feminist research has had an impact in a number of policy areas producing anti-discrimination reforms bringing about greater gender equality and radical feminism has led to the provision of refuges for women to escape domestic violence. Whilst feminist sociological research has been influential in social policy many feminists reject the view that reformist social policies can liberate women believing more far-reaching changes are required - that the state cannot deliver.

Answer 38

NEW RIGHT: New right theorists believe that the state should only have a minimal involvement in society. They are particularly opposed to using state provision of welfare to deal with social problems. In their view, state intervention in areas such as family life, education, health care etc robs people of their freedom to make their own choices and undermines their sense of responsibility - this in turn leads to greater social problems. For example, Murray (1984) argues that an over-generous welfare state creates a dependency culture and an increase in SPFs. They are not opposed to social policy as such but believe it should be to enable people to help themselves and be more independent rather than relying on the state. Nevertheless, the new right support a strong 'law and order' policy and research by right realists has been influential in introducing zero tolerance policies.

Answer 39

There is a philosophical debate in sociology regarding how to explain the relationship between the individual and society and by implication, to understand what shapes out behaviour. Key questions central to the debate are: - Do people shape society or does society shape people? - Do we control our own destiny or do social pressures determine out actions? - Are we largely moulded by the wider society and forced to behave in certain ways or do we have the freedom to decide our own actions?

Answer 40

Determinism refers to our behaviour being determined by external forces where we have little agency (little control/choice) Free will refers to the view that individuals can exercise considerable choice and can have a large degree over control over their actions

Answer 41

Rather it is a matter of emphasis on perspectives in sociology on whether free will or determinism is more influential. The tension between free will and determinism enables us to make our first categorization of sociological perspective: - those who emphasise the power of society over the individual are referred to as structuralists - determinism (macro/positivists) - those who emphasise the ability of individuals to shape their own behaviour are known as social action theorists (free will) - interpretivist/micro

Answer 42

STRUCTURALIST APPROACHES: Structural or social systems approaches emphasise the way behaviour is constrained and structured by social forces. Society is seen as a system of interrelated parts, external to the individual, directing behaviour. The individual is therefore a social construct, made and controlled by society socialised into pre-set roles and values in other words a product of the social system. We are what we are because of the expectations and pressures of the social groups to which we belong. 'Society' is in us, moulding out thoughts and directing our actions. We are socialised in terms of the culture of society, we are kept in line by mechanisms of social control, we learn roles, norms and values and act accordingly. In summary, structural theories are macro top-down and deterministic - to understand people's behaviour, they maintain we must first understand the social structure that shapes it

Answer 43

SOCIAL ACTION APPROACHES: Social action or interpretive perspectives stress the ability of individuals to exert control over their own actions. The individuals is not a passive receptacle of society's directives, but an active creator of social action. In this way, society is understood as constructed by individuals not the other way around. Social actors are capable of conscious thought and this enables them to be aware of themselves and others as social beings and they have their own motives and beliefs their own interpretation of the meaning of a situation, they control their own actions. Social action approaches do not deny the existence of roles, norms, constraints etc. However, they tend to see them as flexible guidelines rather than inflexible directives and are thus open to interpretation and negotiation. In summary, social action theories are micro, bottom up and voluntarist - to understand people's behaviour, they maintain we must interpret the actions and interactions of individuals. However, although we have differentiated between social systems and social approaches neither is quite as extreme as suggested here. Systems approaches do not simply see people as puppets totally controlled by society, nor do action perspectives view people as totally free agents completely unaffected by external constraints. Rather it is a matter of emphasis. Structural approaches place more emphasis on the structure of society and its power to determine individual behaviour whereas social actions perspectives place more emphasis on the freedom of individuals to direct their actions. Thus, the tension between free will and determinism is reflected in all sociological theories and perspectives.

Answer 44

Functionalism is a macro, structural consensus theory. It focuses on the needs of the social system as a whole and how these needs shape all of the main features of society. Most of the key ideas of functionalism can be traced back to the ideas of Durkheim in the (19th. He was concerned by the rapid social change, from a traditional society with a simple social structure (based on mechanical social solidarity and a strong collective conscience to the degree that individuals in the modern sense did not really exist) to a more complex modern society (with a complex division of labour, more pluralistic and individualistic and less social solidarity), and how this could threaten social cohesion. However, it was Parsons (1902-1979) who developed functionalism as a systematic theory of society in the mid (20th. It became the dominant sociological theory in the 1950s and 60s, particularly in America

Answer 45

A group’s or society’s commonly shared fundamental beliefs, customs, norms, and values.

Answer 46

Society as a System: Functionalists use the organic analogy. Parsons (1970) identified three similarities between society and a biological organism: 1. System: Organisms, such as the human body and societies are both self-regulating systems of inter-related, interdependent parts. 2. System needs: Organisms have needs that must be met in order to survive. 3. Functions: the function of any part of a system is the contribution that it makes to meeting the system’s needs and thus ensuring survival.

Answer 47

For Parsons, the central question that sociology tries to answer is ‘how is social order possible?’ - how are individuals able to cooperate harmoniously? He argues this is achieved through the shared culture - a central value system which creates a value consensus – the basic function of this, is to make social order possible. It does this by integrating individuals into the social system, thereby directing them to meet the system’s needs, e.g. the system must ensure that people’s material needs are met and so the consensus is that people should work. To achieve this goal, norms on punctuality etc. must exist. Parsons argues that the system has two mechanisms for ensuring that individuals conform to shared norms and meet the system’s needs: 1. Socialisation: Individuals do what is expected of them by internalising the system’s norms and values so that society becomes part of their personality structure – different agencies of socialisation all contribute to this process. 2. Social Control: Individuals who conform to society’s norms and values are rewarded with positive sanctions, while those who deviate are punished with negative sanctions. Therefore, because individuals are integrated, through socialisation and social control into a shared value system, their behaviour will be relatively predictable, stable and cooperative. This makes social life possible. His model of the social system is like a series of building blocks: norms, status-roles, institutions and sub-systems

Answer 48

The system’s needs: AGIL schema: Parsons argues that the system has four basic needs: the AGIL schema – each need is met by a separate sub-system of institutions: - Adaptation: the social system meets its members’ material needs through the economic sub-system; - Goal attainment: society needs to set goals and allocate resources to achieve them. This is the function of the political sub-system, through institutions such as parliament; - Integration: the different parts of the system must be integrated together to pursue shared goals. This is the role of the sub-system of religion; - Latency: refers to processes that maintain society over time. The kinship sub-system provides pattern maintenance and tension management. Adaptation and goal attainment are instrumental needs (means to an end) and integration and latency are expressive needs (channelling of emotions). By carrying out their respective functions, the four sub-systems ensure that all society’s needs are met and social stability is maintained.

Answer 49

Social Change: Traditional societies are based on ascribed status, norms are particularistic, collective orientation and immediate gratification is emphasised. In contrast, modern societies are based on achieved status, norms are more universalistic and individualism and deferred gratification is emphasised. For Parsons, change is a gradual, evolutionary process of increasing complexity and structural differentiation: in traditional society, a single institution e.g. the family, performs many functions. However, as society develops, the family may lose some of these functions to new specialised institutions. This is structural differentiation: a gradual process in which separate, functionally specialised institutions develop, each meeting a different need. Gradual change occurs through moving equilibrium: as a change occurs in one part of the system, it produces compensatory changes in other parts.

Answer 50

Internal Evaluation: Merton argues that Parsons is wrong to assume that society is always a smooth running, well integrated system. He criticises three key assumptions made by him: 1. Indispensability: Parsons sees everything in society as functionally indispensable in its existing form. Merton argues that this is an untested assumption and that there may be ‘functional alternatives’. 2. Functionality unity: According to Parsons, all parts of society are tightly integrated into a single whole, so a change in one part affects all other parts. However, complex modern societies have many parts, some of which may be only distantly ‘related’ to one another and may have ‘functional autonomy’ from others. 3. Universal functionalism: For Parsons, everything in society performs a positive function for society as a whole. Yet some things (e.g. poverty) may be functional for some groups and dysfunctional for others. Merton makes a useful distinction between manifest (intended) and latent (unintended) functions: this distinction helps to reveal the hidden connections between social phenomena that the actors themselves may be unaware of. For example, the manifest function of the Hopi Indian rain dance was to cause rain, but the latent function was to promote solidarity during hardship caused by drought.

Answer 51

External Evaluation: 1. Logical criticisms: (a) Teleology is the idea that a thing exists because of its purpose or function. For example, functionalism claims that the family exists to socialise children – it explains the existence of the family in terms of its effect. (b) Unfalsifiability: Functionalism is unscientific because its claims are not falsifiable by testing. It sees deviance as both dysfunctional and functional – something which could never be disproved. 2. Conflict perspective criticisms: Marxists argue that ‘shared’ values are not agreed but imposed on society in the interests of the dominant class. Conflict theorists see functionalism as a conservative ideology legitimating the status quo; e.g. assumptions of ‘indispensability’ help to justify the existing social order as inevitable and desirable. 3. Action perspective criticisms: Wrong criticises functionalism’s ‘over-socialised’ or deterministic view of individuals in which they have no free will or choice – they are puppets whose strings are pulled by the social system. 4. Postmodernist criticisms: Postmodernists argue that functionalism cannot account for the diversity and instability that exist in today’s society. Functionalism is an example of a metanarrative of ‘big story’ that attempts to create a model of the workings of society as a whole. Such an overall theory is no longer possible because today’s society is increasingly fragmented.

Answer 52

TRADITIONAL MARXISM: Marxism is based on the ideas of Karl Marx (1818-83). Like Durkheim, Marx saw both the harm caused by modern industrial society and the promise of progress that it held. They both also believed that it was possible to understand society scientifically and that this knowledge would point the way to a better world. In these ways, Marxism is a continuation of the Enlightenment project. However, he saw historical change as a contradictory process in which capitalism would bring great human misery before giving way to a classless communist society. He was not just a theorist, but a revolutionary socialist and his ideas came to form the basis of communism. Marxism subsequently became the official doctrine of the former Soviet Union.

Answer 53

- historical materialism - class, society exploitation - capitalism - ideology - alienation - the state, revolution and communism

Answer 54

. Historical materialism: Materialism is the view that humans have material needs, such as food and shelter and they must work to meet them using the forces of production. Initially, these forces are just unaided human labour, but over time people develop tools, machines etc. Humans cooperate with one another, entering into social relations of production (ways of organising production). However, as the forces of production develop, the social relations of production also change - a division of labour develops that eventually becomes a division between two classes: a class that owns the means of production and a class of labourers. Production is then directed by the class of owners to meet their own needs. The forces and relations of production together are the mode of production which form the economic base of society. This shapes and determines all other features of society – the superstructure

Answer 55

Class society and exploitation: In the earliest stage of human history: primitive communism – everything is shared and there are no class divisions. But as the forces of production grow, different types of class society develop. In class societies, one class owns the means of production, enabling them to exploit the labour of others for their own benefit. In particular, they can control society’s surplus product – the difference between what the labourers actually produce and what they did to subsist.

Answer 56

Capitalism: Capitalism is based on the division between a class of owners, the bourgeoisie or capitalist class, and a class of labourers, the proletariat or WC. But unlike earlier class societies, capitalism has three distinctive features: (a) The proletariat are legally free, but because they do not own the means of production, they have to sell their labour power to the bourgeoisie in return for wages to survive. (b) Through competition, ownership of the means of production becomes concentrated in ever fewer hands; e.g. today’s giant TNCs. This drives small independent producers into the proletariat – they become proletarianised. Competition also forces capitalists to pay the lowest wages possible, causing the immiseration (impoverishment) of the proletariat. (c) Capitalism continually expands the forces of production in its pursuit of profit, production becomes concentrated in ever-larger units and technological advances de-skill the workforce. The concentration of ownership and the de-skilling of the proletariat together produce class polarisation - society divides into a minority capitalist class and a majority WC who ‘face each other as two warring camps’

Answer 57

. Class consciousness: Capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction. Polarising the classes, bringing the proletariat together in even larger numbers and driving down their wages means capitalism creates the conditions under which the working class can develop a consciousness. The proletariat then moves from merely being a class in itself to becoming a class for itself, whose members are class conscious – aware of the need to overthrow capitalism.

Answer 58

Ideology: The class that owns the means of the production also owns and controls the means of mental production – the production of ideas. The dominant ideas in society are therefore the ideas of the economically dominant class – spread by institutions such as religion, education and the media which legitimise the existing social order and create a false consciousness. However, as capitalism impoverishes the workers, they begin to see through capitalist ideology and develop class consciousness.

Answer 59

Alienation: Alienation is the result of our loss of control over our labour and its products and therefore our separation from our true creative nature. Under capitalism, alienation reaches its peak because workers are completely separated from and have no control over the production and because the division of labour is at its most intense.

Answer 60

The state, revolution and communism: The state exists to protect the interests of the class of owners – the RC. The state is made up of ‘armed bodies of men’: the army, police, prisons, courts etc. Previous revolutions had always been one minority class overthrowing another, but the proletarian revolution that overthrows capitalism will be the first revolution by the majority against the minority. It will abolish the state, create a classless communist society, abolish exploitation, replace private ownership with social ownership and end alienation.

Answer 61

Criticisms: 1. Class: Marx sees class as the only important division. Weber argues that status and power differences are also important sources of inequality; e.g. a ‘power elite’ can rule without actually owning the means of production, as in the former Soviet Union. Marx’s two class model is simplistic: Weber subdivides the proletariat into skilled and unskilled classes and includes a white-collar middle class of office workers. Other critics argue Marxism does not account for gender and ethnic inequalities and disadvantages. 2. Economic determinism: Marx’s base-superstructure model is criticised for economic determinism. It fails to recognise that humans have free will and can bring about change through their conscious actions. Predictions of revolution in the most advanced capitalist countries, such as Western Europe, have not come true. It is only economically backward countries such as Russia in 1917 that have seen Marxist-led revolutions. Since Marx’s death, the absence or failure of revolutions in the West has led many Marxists to reject the economic determinism of the base-superstructure model. They have sought to explain why capitalism has persisted and how it might be overthrown

Answer 62

.HUMANIST OR CRITICAL MARXISM: This approach has some similarities with action theories and interpretive sociology. Gramsci (1891-1937), provides the most important example of humanist Marxism. The concept of hegemony (ideological and moral leadership and control), explains how the RC maintains its dominance in 2 ways: (a) Coercion: the army, police, prisons and courts of the capitalist state force other classes to accept its rule and (b) the RC use ideas and values to persuade the subordinate classes that their rule is legitimate. However, RC hegemony is never complete because the RC are a minority and have to make ideological compromises with other classes. Furthermore, the proletariat have a dual consciousness as the poverty and exploitation they experience means they begin to ‘see through’ the dominant ideology. Gramsci rejects economic determinism as an explanation of change – although economic factors may create the preconditions for a revolution, ideas are central to whether or not it will actually occur. Although RC hegemony may be undermined by an economic crisis, this will only lead to revolution if the proletariat construct a counter-hegemonic bloc to win the leadership of society. The working class can only win this battle for ideas by producing its own organic intellectuals.

Answer 63

Criticisms: Gramsci is accused of over-playing the role of ideas and under-playing the role of both economic factors and state coercion, e.g. workers may see through RC ideology but be reluctant to rebel because of the fear of state repression or unemployment. Nevertheless, many sociologists have adopted a similar approach to his and emphasis the role of ideas and consciousness in changing society: Neo-Marxists.

Answer 64

SCIENTIFIC OR STRUCTURAL MARXISM: This is a structural positivist approach. For structural Marxists such as Althusser, it is not people’s actions but the social structures that shape history. The task of the sociologist is to reveal how these structures work. However, this version of Marxism rejects both economic determinism (Marx) and humanism (Gramsci). Althusser’s criticisms of Marx’s base-superstructure model: Marx stated that society’s economic base determines its superstructure and that contradictions in the base cause changes in the superstructure. Althusser’s structural determinism is more complex. In his model, capitalist society has three structures or levels: (a) The economic level: comprising all those activities that involve producing something in order to satisfy a need. (b) The political level: comprising all forms of organisation. (c) The ideological level: involving the ways that people see themselves and their world. Ideological and repressive state apparatuses: Although the economic level dominates in capitalism, the other two levels perform indispensable functions. Althusser argues that the state performs political and ideological functions that ensure the reproduction of capitalism. He divides the state into two apparatuses: - The repressive state apparatus (RSAs: army, police, prisons) or ‘armed bodies of men’ that coerce the WC into complying with the will of the bourgeoisie. This is how Marxists have traditionally seen the state. - The ideological state apparatuses (ISAs: media, education, religion, political parties) manipulate the WC into accepting capitalism as legitimate. This is a much wider definition of the state than the traditional Marxist view.

Answer 65

Althusser’s criticisms of humanism: For structuralist Marxists, free will, choice and certainty are an illusion – everything is the product of underlying social structures. Humans are merely puppets and these unseen structures are the hidden puppet master, determining all our thoughts and actions. For Althusser, socialism will not come about because of a change in consciousness – as humanistic Marxists argue – but because of a crisis of capitalism resulting from what he calls over-determination: the contradictions in the three structures that occur relatively independently of each other.

Answer 66

Criticisms of Althusser: Although he rejects economic determinism, critics argue he simply replaces it with a more complex ‘structural determinism’ in which everything is determined by the three structures and their interrelationships. For humanist Marxists, his approach discourages political activism as it emphasises the role of structural factors that individuals can do little to affect

Answer 67

Feminism sees society as male dominated and its aims to describe, evaluate, explain and change the position of women. It is both a theory of women’s subordination and a political movement. A ‘first wave’ of feminism appeared in the late (19th with the suffragettes’ campaign for the right to vote and the 1960s saw a ‘second wave’ emerge on a global scale. Since then, feminism has had a major impact on sociology. Feminists criticise mainstream sociology for being malestream – seeing society from a male perspective.

Answer 68

- liberal/reformist feminism (LRF) - Radical feminism - Marxist feminism - Dual systems feminism - Difference feminism - Post structuralist feminism

Answer 69

Liberal/Reformist feminism (LRF): Liberalism is concerned with the human and civil rights and freedoms of the individual, believing that all people should have equal rights. Reformism is the idea that progress towards equal rights can be achieved by gradual reforms in society, without the need for revolution. LRFs have documented the extent of gender inequality and discrimination, thus legitimising the demand for reform in areas such as equal pay and employment practices (reflecting their belief that equality can be achieved through reform and equal rights). They want cultural change because traditional prejudices and stereotypes about gender differences are a barrier to equality.

Answer 70

LRFs distinguish between sex (biological differences between males and females) and gender (the culturally constructed differences between the ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ roles and identities assigned to males and females). While sex differences are seen as fixed, gender differences vary between cultures and over time. Sexist attitudes and stereotypical beliefs about gender are culturally constructed and transmitted through socialisation.

Answer 71

Therefore, they campaign to change socialisation patterns and challenge genders stereotyping in the media etc. and believe that over time, such actions will produce cultural change and gender equality will become the norm. They believe that men and women are capable of performing the same roles and traditional gender roles prevent both men and women from leading fulfilling lives. The LFR theory is the closest to a consensus approach as they do not see gender conflicts as inevitable.

Answer 72

RFs and MFs argue that LFs fail to recognise the underlying causes of women’s subordination and is naïve in thinking that simply changing attitudes and laws will bring equality.

Answer 73

Radical Feminism (RF): RF emerged in the early 1970s and its concept is patriarchy, which they claim is universal: FIRESTONE argues that its origins lie in women’s biological capacity to bear infants, as this role results in their dependency on males. They see patriarchy as the most basic form of social inequality and conflict and position men as the enemy. All men benefit from patriarchy, especially from women’s unpaid domestic labour and their sexual services. Fundamental to RF, is the view that patriarchal oppression is direct and personal, it’s not just in the public sphere of work and politics, but in the private sphere of the family, domestic labour and sexual relationships.

Answer 74

Patriarchy as the most basic form of social inequality and conflict and position men as the enemy. All men benefit from patriarchy, especially from women’s unpaid domestic labour and their sexual services. Fundamental to RF, is the view that patriarchal oppression is direct and personal, it’s not just in the public sphere of work and politics, but in the private sphere of the family, domestic labour and sexual relationships. Therefore, they argue that the personal is political: (a) All relationships involve power and are political when one individual tries to dominate another. (b) Patriarchal power is exercised through personal relationships, often through sexual or physical violence. (c) Malestream sociology regards sexuality as a natural biological urge and thus outside the scope of sociology. However, RFs argue that patriarchy socially constructs sexuality to satisfy men’s desires, e.g. the portrayal of women in pornography and the media as passive sexual objects.

Answer 75

Given that patriarchy and women’s oppression are reproduced through personal and sexual relationships, these must be transformed if women are to be liberated: (a) Some RFs advocate separatism: living apart from men and creating a new culture of female independence, free from patriarchy. (b) RFs argue for women-only consciousness-raising groups that may lead to collective action, e.g. ‘reclaim the night’ marches. (c) Some argue that heterosexual relationships are ‘sleeping with the enemy’ and that political lesbianism is the only non-oppressive form of sexuality.

Answer 76

Critics argue that vague utopian notions of separatism are unlikely to be achievable; e.g. heterosexual attraction makes it unlikely that the nuclear family will be replaced by matrifocal households.

Answer 77

Marxist Feminism (MF): MFs see women’s subordination as rooted in capitalism – although men benefit too, the main beneficiary is capitalism. Women’s subordination in capitalist society results from their primary role as an unpaid homemaker, which places them in a dependent economic position in the family and it serves a number of functions for capitalism: (a) Women are a source of cheap, exploitable labour for employers – they are a reserve army of labour: marginal workers who can be hired and fired to suit the needs of capitalism. They can be treated in this way because it is assumed that their primary role is in the home. (b) They absorb male workers’ anger which otherwise would be directed at capitalism. (c) Women reproduce the labour force through their unpaid domestic labour.

Answer 78

Women’s subordination in capitalist society results from their primary role as an unpaid homemaker, which places them in a dependent economic position in the family and it serves a number of functions for capitalism: (a) Women are a source of cheap, exploitable labour for employers – they are a reserve army of labour: marginal workers who can be hired and fired to suit the needs of capitalism. They can be treated in this way because it is assumed that their primary role is in the home. (b) They absorb male workers’ anger which otherwise would be directed at capitalism. (c) Women reproduce the labour force through their unpaid domestic labour.

Answer 79

Because of these links between women’s subordination and capitalism, MFs argue that women’s interests lie in the overthrow of capitalism. However, some MFs argue that non-economic factors must also be taken into account if we are to understand and change women’s position: (a) BARRETT argues that more emphasis should be given to women’s consciousness and motivations and to the role of ideology in maintaining their oppression. In particular, the ideology of familism presents the nuclear family and its sexual division of labour as natural and normal. The family is portrayed as the only place where women can attain fulfilment. She claims that this ideology must also be overthrown to secure women’s liberation. (b) MITCHELL argues that ideas about femininity are so deeply implanted in women’s unconscious minds that they are very difficult to dislodge and even after the overthrow of capitalism, it would still be difficult to overcome deeply rooted patriarchal ideology.

Answer 80

However, while unpaid domestic labour benefits capitalism, the theory does not explain why it is women and not men that perform it.

Answer 81

Dual Systems Feminism (DSF): DSF combine Marxism and radical feminism in a single theory. The two systems are: (a) Capitalism: an economic system and (b) Patriarchy: a sex-gender system. DSTs see both systems as intertwined, that form a single ‘patriarchal capitalism’. To understand women’s subordination, the relationship between their position both in the domestic division of labour (patriarchy) and in paid work (capitalism) must be studied, as the two systems reinforce each other. However, WALBY argues that capitalism and patriarchy are inter-related, but the interests of the two are not always the same: capitalism demands cheap, exploitable female labour for its workforce, but patriarchy wants to keep women subordinated within the domestic sphere.

Answer 82

critics argue that patriarchy is not actually a system, but merely a descriptive term for a range of practices such as male authority, control and domination.

Answer 83

Difference Feminism (DF): DFs emphasise diversity - they do not see women as one homogeneous group; differences of class, ethnicity, sexuality, age etc. all lead to different experiences of patriarchy. They claim that previous feminist theory has claimed a ‘false universality’ for itself: it claims to apply to all women, but in reality it is only about the experiences of white, western, heterosexual, middle class women. They believe that LRFs, RFs and MFs are essentialists - that see all women as essentially the same and therefore fail to reflect the diversity of women’s experiences and they exclude other women and their problems.

Answer 84

critics argue that women in poorer countries may see access to primary healthcare as more important than the concerns about sexual freedom and representation that have been important to western feminists.

Answer 85

Poststructuralist Feminism (PF): PF is concerned with discourses: ways of seeing, thinking or speaking about something. The world is made up of many, often competing discourses, e.g. religious, scientific, medical and artistic. By enabling its users to define others in certain ways, a discourse gives power over those it defines; e.g. by defining childbirth as a medical concern and healthy women as patients, medical discourse empowers doctors and disempowers women. They argue that the Enlightenment project, with its talk of reason, humanity and progress, is simply a form of power/knowledge that legitimates the domination of western, white, middle class males over other groups. BUTLER argues that the white, western, middle class women who dominate the feminist movement have falsely claimed to represent ‘universal womanhood’, but women are not a single entity who all share the same ‘essence’. There is no fixed essence of what it is to be a woman, because identities are constituted through discourses and there are many different ones, reflecting time and culture. For example, womanhood in Saudi Arabia is constituted partly by Islamic discourse, womanhood in the West by the discourses of advertising and the media. PF enables feminists to ‘de-construct’ different discourses to reveal how they subordinate women, e.g. the medicalisation of childbirth.

Answer 86

critics would argue that PSF abandons any notion of real, objective social structures affecting women’s lives; oppression is not just the result of discourses – it is about real inequality.

Answer 87

Social action theories differ from structural approaches. They are micro sociology, bottom up theories that see individuals as possessing agency and view behaviour as voluntaristic.

Answer 88

SOCIAL ACTION THEORY: Weber was interested in explaining the meaningful nature of our behaviour. However, he recognizes that both structural and action approaches are necessary to fully understand our actions, as an adequate sociological explanation should consist of two levels: level of cause: explaining objective structural factors shaping behaviour and level of meaning: understanding subjective meanings that individuals attach to their actions. He recognized that there are an infinite number of meanings that actors give to their actions but identified 4 main types of actions: instrumental rational action (where the actor calculates the best way to achieve a given goal/end), value rational action (where the actor regards the goal as desirable for its own sake), traditional action (customary, routine or habitual action) and affectual action (expressing an emotion).

Answer 89

whilst he highlights the importance of the subjective nature and meaning of actions, his view is considered as too individualistic as it cannot explain the shared nature of meanings. Also, the typology is difficult to apply and outsider’s views of actions will never fully gain verstehen.

Answer 90

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM: Symbolic Interactionists focus on our ability to create the social world via our actions and interactions. They believe our interactions are based on the meanings we give to situations and we convey these through symbols, particularly language. Mead argues that we create and inhabit a world of meanings by attaching symbols to the world. We then interpret the meanings of these symbols and then choose an appropriate response (unlike animals whose behaviour can be understood in terms of stimulus response). He argues that we learn to interpret the meanings of other people’s actions by taking the role of the other. To function as members of society, we must be able to see ourselves as others see us and to become conscious of the ways of acting that others require of us

Answer 91

Blumer systematized Mead’s ideas and argued: 1. Our actions are based on the meanings we give to situations, events, people etc. 2. Meanings arise from the interaction process and are not fixed but negotiable. 3. Meanings given to situations are a result of an interpretive process, particularly taking the role of the other. This view contrasts with the structural view which tends to see people as passive puppets of society.

Answer 92

Labelling theory is the best known application of interactionist ideas. It is based on the following ideas: 1. Definition of a situation: a label is given to a thing and it influences our actions towards it. 2. Looking glass self: Cooley argues that we develop a self-concept from our ability to take the role of the other and by doing this we come to see ourselves as others do. This helps explain the effects of labelling. 3. Becker and Lemert argue that through the process of a career the label become our master status.

Answer 93

Goffman describes how we actively construct our self by manipulating other people’s impression of us. His dramaturgical analogy sees people as actors acting out a script front-stage, presenting ourselves to audiences, resting backstage between performances, etc. aiming to carry off a performance. Through: 1. Presentation of the self and 2. Impression management we attempt to control the impression others make of us by managing our performance via props and settings, tone of voice, facial expression etc. We play roles, but unlike the functionalist view of roles, there is role distance (a gap between our self and our roles) and they are only loosely scripted – we have a degree of freedom in how we play them.

Answer 94

However, it has been criticised for assuming (like Weber) that all actions are meaningful and ignoring broader structural factors. Critics argue that it is a loose collection of concepts, not an explanatory theory and ethnomethodologists believe they are in a better position to explain how we create meanings

Answer 95

PHENOMENOLOGY: Phenomenology is a philosophy based on the idea that we can never have definite knowledge of what the world outside our minds is really like ‘in itself’. Husserl argues that the world only makes sense because we impose meaning and order on it by constructing mental categories that we use to classify and ‘file’ information coming from our senses. In this view, we can only obtain knowledge about the world through our mental acts of categorizing and giving meaning to our experiences. The world as we know it is, and can only be, a product of our mind.

Answer 96

Schutz applies this to the social world and claims that the categories and concepts we use are shared with other members of society. He calls these typifications and they enable us to organize our experiences into a shared world of meaning. In his view, the meaning of any given experience varies according to its social context, however, typifications stabilise and clarify meanings by ensuring that we are all ‘speaking the same language’ – all agreeing on the meaning of things. This makes it possible for us to communicate and cooperate with each other – therefore without shared typifications (‘recipe knowledge’) social order would become impossible.

Answer 97

For phenomenologists, this commonsense knowledge is not simply knowledge about the world – it is the world. Whilst society appears to us as a real objective thing existing outside of us, the social world only exists as a shared, intersubjective world because we share the same meanings. However, Berger and Luckmann reject this view that society is merely an inter-subjective reality.

Answer 98

ETHNOMETHODOLOGY: Ethnomethodology (EM) emerged in America in the 1960s, mainly from the work of Garfinkel. Reflecting the fact that his ideas stem from phenomenology, he also rejects the very ideas of society as a real objective structure ‘out there’. Like functionalists he was interested in explaining how social order is achieved, however he takes an opposing view claiming that social order is created from the bottom up. Social order is understood as an accomplishment – something that members of society actively construct in everyday life using their commonsense knowledge. EM attempts to discover how we do this by studying people’s methods of making sense of the world. It differs from interactionists who are interested in the effects of meanings, whereas EM is interested in the methods or rules that we use to produce the meanings in the first place.

Answer 99

Like phenomenology, EM sees meanings as always potentially unclear - a characteristic Garfinkel calls indexicality. Nothing has a fixed meaning and everything depends on the context. Indexicality is clearly a threat to social order because if meanings are inherently unclear or unstable, communication and cooperation become difficult and social relationships may begin to break down. However, in everyday life we take for granted that meanings are clear and obvious and this is because of reflexivity. Reflexivity is the commonsense knowledge we use in everyday interactions to construct a sense of meaning and order and to stop indexicality happening. This is similar to the idea of typifications. For EM, language is crucial in reflexivity as when we are describing something we are simultaneously creating it - our description gives it reality. Garfinkel was interested in the methods we use to achieve reflexivity and he and his students sought to demonstrate the nature of social order by a series of so-called ‘breaching experiments’ and a study of the role of coroners and the processes they use when making sense of deaths.

Answer 100

Whilst EM draws attention to how we actively construct order and meaning it attracts a lot of criticism. Craib argues that it findings are trivial and that EM ‘uncovers’ taken-for-granted rules that are not a surprise to anyone. It denies the existence of wider society yet at the same time assumes that a structure of norms and rules apply to specific contexts and it ignores wider structures of power and inequality that affect the meanings that individuals construct

Answer 101

Action theories: are micro level, voluntaristic theories that see people as inter-subjective, constructed through interaction and meaning: bottom-up sociology.

Answer 102

Structural theories: by contrast are macro-level, deterministic theories that see society as objective and external to individuals: top-down sociology.

Answer 103

Structuration theory: developed by GIDDENS, seeks to combine the two approaches into a single unified theory of structure and action. He argues that there is a duality of structure: structure and agency (action) are two sides of the same coin; neither can exist without the other – our actions produce, reproduce and change structures over time, while these structures are what make our actions possible in the first place. This can be applied to language: it is a structure with rules making it possible to communicate. This shows how our action (communication) depends on the existence of structure (language rules), but a language would not exist if no one used it and it is reproduced over time through the actions of individuals speaking and writing it. Our use of it can also change its structure, e.g. by giving words new meanings. He calls this relationship structuration.

Answer 104

For GIDDENS, structure has two elements: 1. Rules: the norms, customs and laws that govern action and 2. Resources: both economic resources and power over others. Rules and resources can be either reproduced or changed through human action, e.g. obeying the law reproduces the existing structure, while inventing new technology may change it. However, he argues that our actions generally tend to reproduce rather than change them. This is because society’s rules contain a stock of knowledge about how to live our lives, so our routine activities tend to reproduce the existing structure of society. We also reproduce existing structures because we have a deep-seated need for ontological security – a need to feel that the world is orderly, stable and predictable.

Answer 105

Change can happen because: 1. We ‘reflexively monitor’ (reflect upon) our actions and we can choose a new course of action. This is more likely in late modern society, where tradition no longer dictates action and thereby increasing the likelihood/pace of change. 2. Our actions may change the world, but they may have unintended consequences.

Answer 106

structuration theory is criticised for not really being a theory at all: it doesn’t explain what happens in society; it is just describes the kinds of things we will find when we study society. Also GIDDENS, his claim that actors can change structures underestimates the capacity of structures to resist change; e.g. slaves may wish to abolish the institution of slavery, but they lack the power to do so.

Answer 107

MODERNITY: Modern society emerged in Western Europe from about the late (18th. It has a number of characteristics that distinguish it from previous traditional societies: (a) The nation state: the key political unit in modern society; a bounded territory ruled by a powerful centralised state whose population usually share the same culture and language, it is an important source of identity for citizens. The state is at the centre of modern society, organising social life on a national basis. Large administrative bureaucracies and educational, welfare & legal institutions regulate citizens’ lives. (b) Capitalism: the capitalist economy of modern societies brought about the industrialisation of modern society. However, capitalism has unequal wealth distribution resulting in class conflict. The nation state is important in regulating capitalism. Production is organised on Fordist principles: mass production of standardized products in large factories using low skilled cheap labour. Cheap mass produced consumer goods increases the standard of living. (c) Rationality: rational, secular, scientific ways of thinking dominate & religious explanations of the world decline. Technically efficient forms of organisation (bureaucracies and factories) dominate social & economic life and science dominates industry, medicine & communications. (d) Individualism: tradition, custom & ascribed status become less important. Greater personal freedom allows people to choose their life course & define their identity. However, structural inequalities remain important in shaping identity & restricting choices.

Answer 108

GLOBALISATION: However, many sociologists argue that we are now increasingly affected by globalisation: the increasing interconnectedness of people across national boundaries. The view is that we now live in one interdependent global village and that our lives are shaped by a global framework.

Answer 109

1. Technological changes: we can now cross entire continents in a few hours or exchange info across the globe with the click of a mouse. Satellite communications, the internet & global TV networks have helped to create time-space compression, closing the distances between people. Technology also brings about risks on a global scale – greenhouse gases produced in one place can lead to global climate change. Beck (1992) we are now living in a risk society, where increasingly threats to our wellbeing come from human made technology rather than natural disasters.

Answer 110

Economic changes: economic activity takes place within a set of global networks that are creating ever-greater interconnectedness. The global economy is increasingly electronic; instead of producing physical goods, much activity now involves the production of information (music, TV & data processing). These commodities are produced, distributed & consumed through the global economy which never sleeps. Another major economic force pushing globalisation is TNCs which operate across frontiers, organising production on a global scale.

Answer 111

Political changes: Some claim that globalisation has undermined the power of the nation state. Ohmae (1994) argues we now live in a ‘borderless world’ in which TNCs & consumers have more power than national governments. States are now less able to regulate the activities of large capitalist enterprises’.

Answer 112

Changes in culture and identity: Globalisation; particulary IT & the media have led to a global culture in which western-owned media companies spread western culture to the rest of the world. TNCs such as Nike, sell the same consumer goods in many countries, promoting similar tastes across national borders. The increased movement of people (tourists, economic migrants, refugees, asylum seekers) creates a globalised culture. Globalisation undermines traditional sources of identity such as class, e.g. the shift of manufacturing from the West to developing nations has led to the fragmentation & decline of WC communities that previously gave people their identity.

Answer 113

Postmodernism is believed to have emerged in the 1970s. PMs claim that we are now living in a new era of postmodernity – which they believe represents a fundamental break from modernity. Postmodernity is viewed as an unstable, fragmented, media-saturated global village, where image and reality are indistinguishable and we define ourselves by what we consume. For PMs, this new kind of society requires a new theory to explain it.

Answer 114

Drawing on the ideas of FOUCAULT (1979), PMs argue that there are no sure foundations to knowledge – no objective criteria we can use to prove whether a theory is true or false. This view known as anti-foundationalism, has 2 consequences: 1. If we cannot guarantee knowledge is correct, we cannot use it to improve society. Therefore, the Enlightenment project of achieving progress through knowledge is dead. 2. Any all-embracing theory that claims to have the absolute truth about how to create a better society is a mere meta-narrative (a big story/someone’s version of reality). Rejecting meta-narratives that claim absolute truth, postmodernists take a relativist position: all views are true for those that hold them. All accounts of reality are equally valid, no-one has special access to the truth – we should therefore celebrate the diversity of views rather than seek to impose one version of the truth on everyone.

Answer 115

Following this view, LYOTARD (1992) argues that knowledge is just a series of different ‘language games’ or ways of seeing the world which he sees as preferable to modernist society where meta-narratives claimed a monopoly of truth. He believes that the media are central to this - they create an endless stream of ever-changing images, values and versions of the truth. As a result, culture becomes fragmented and unstable so that there is no longer a coherent or fixed set of values shared by members of society. This bewildering array of different messages and ideas undermines people’s faith in meta-narratives. Confronted by so many different versions of the truth, people cease to believe wholeheartedly in any one version.

Answer 116

Furthermore, in postmodernity, identity becomes increasingly destabilized. For example, instead of a fixed identity ascribed by our class or ethnicity, we can now construct our own identity from the wide range of images and lifestyles on offer in the media. We can easily change our identity by changing our consumption patterns – picking and mixing cultural goods and media produced images to define ourselves.

Answer 117

Like Lyotard, BAUDRILLARD (1983) believes postmodern society is defined by the buying and selling of knowledge in the form of images and signs. However, he argues that unlike in the past, in postmodernity signs stand for nothing other than themselves – they are not symbols of some other real thing, they substitute themselves for reality and appear more real than reality itself. He refers to such signs as simulacra. Baudrillard is particularly critical of television, which he sees as the main source of simulacra and of our inability to distinguish between image and reality.

Answer 118

EVALUATION OF POSTMODERNISM: Whilst it is recognized that PMs make some important observations about today’s society and the significance of the media to our culture and identity, it is not without its criticisms. From a Marxist perspective, PHILO and MILLER (2001) make several criticisms: (a) It ignores power and inequality, e.g. the idea that media images are unconnected with reality ignores how the RC use the media as a tool of domination. (b) It fails to see that poverty may restrict opportunities to construct identities through consumption. (c) It neglects to realise that people can distinguish between reality and media images. (d) Assuming all views are equally true is morally indefensible. Beyond Marxism, postmodernism can be further criticised: (a) Lyotard’s theory is regarded as self-defeating: why should we believe a theory that claims no theory has the truth? Postmodernism can therefore be interpreted as simply another metanarrative! (b) HARVEY (1989) rejects their pessimistic view of knowledge and the Enlightenment project, claiming that knowledge can be used to make a difference in society and attempt to solve problems. (c) Critics point out that whilst postmodernism has made important observations of today’s society, it is poorly equipped to explain them. By contrast, recent sociological theories of late modernity have offered what many regard as more satisfactory explanations of the changes society is undergoing.

Answer 119

THEORIES OF LATE MODERNITY: Contrasting with postmodernism, theories of late modernity argue that rapid societal changes are not heralding the dawn of a new postmodern era, but are actually a continuation of modernity itself. Theories of late modernity do recognize that something important is happening, but claim that the features of modernity that were always present have simply become more intensified reflecting the new phase of late modernity. Theorists still subscribe to modernist theories and believe in the Enlightenment project; that objective knowledge can be discovered to improve society.

Answer 120

ccording to GIDDENS, we are now at the stage of late/high modernity and its defining characteristic is rapid social change, often on a global scale. This is because of two key characteristics: 1. Disembedding: the lifting of social relations from local contexts of interaction; we no longer need face-to-face contact in order to interact and therefore, disembedding breaks down geographical barriers and makes interaction more impersonal. 2. Reflexive: high modern society is less governed by tradition and custom and therefore people become more individualistic. People become more reflexive and monitor, reflect and adapt actions in the light of information about the possible risks and opportunities that they involve. This means people are continually re-evaluating their ideas and theories, nothing is fixed and everything is up for challenge. Together, disembedding and reflexivity account for the rapid social change in high modernity: culture becomes increasingly unstable and subject to change and by enabling social interaction to spread rapidly across the globe, they help drive the process of globalisation.

Answer 121

GIDDENS claims that in late modernity we face a number of high consequence risks to human society including nuclear war, economic instability, global warming, increased state surveillance etc. However, he rejects the postmodernist view that we cannot intervene to improve these. BECK (1992) shares similar views to Giddens. He subscribes to the Enlightenment tradition, sees late modernity as a period of individualisation and believes we now live in a ‘risk society’ where risks are now manufactured. As a result, ‘risk consciousness’ becomes increasingly central to our culture, we become more aware of perceived risks and seek to avoid or minimize them. However, he disagrees with the postmodernist view as he maintains a belief in our rationality to overcome problems. For example, new political movements such as environmentalism can challenge problems.

Answer 122

However critics of late modernity theories argue that: (a) Not everyone can be equally reflexive. Not everyone has the ability to re-shape their lives. (b) RUSTIN (1994) argues that it is capitalism, with its pursuit of profit at all costs, that is the source of risks, not technology. (c) HIRST (1993) rejects Beck’s view that new political movements, such as environmentalism can bring about significant change, this is because they are too fragmented to challenge capitalism. However, theories of late modernity do provide a sociological alternative to postmodernism and recognize that whilst our knowledge may never be perfect, we can still use it to improve society and reduce the risks we face

Answer 123

MARXIST THEORIES OF POSTMODERNITY: Some Marxist such as JAMESON (1984) and HARVEY (1989) do accept that today’s society has moved from modernity to postmodernity and describe postmodernity in similar terms, emphasising the importance of media images, diversity and instability. However, they offer a different analysis to PMs, seeing postmodernism, not as a fundamental break from the past – but a product of the most recent stage of capitalism. Therefore, to understand postmodernity, we must examine its relationship to capitalism.

Answer 124

For HARVEY, postmodernism emerged out of the capitalist crisis of the 1970s. This crisis gave rise to a new regime of flexible accumulation or post-Fordism. This was a new way of achieving profitability and replaced the rigid pre-1970s Fordist mass production system. It is based on the requirement of workers to be ‘flexible’ and permits the production of customised products for small ‘niche’ markets instead of standardised products for mass markets. These changes brought many of the cultural characteristics of postmodernity, such as diversity, choice and instability. It also brought changes in consumption and turned leisure, culture and identity into commodities. For JAMESON, postmodernism represents a more developed form of capitalism because it commodifies virtually all aspects of life, including our identities. HARVEY argues that this more developed form of capitalism also leads to another feature of postmodernity – the compression of time and space. The commodification of culture, the creation of worldwide financial markets and new information and communication technologies, all serve to shrink the globe. They also argue that flexible accumulation has brought about political changes characteristic of postmodernity. In particular it has weakened the working class and socialist movements and in their place a variety of oppositional movements have emerged. However HARVEY and JAMESON are hopeful that these social movements can form a ‘rainbow alliance’ to bring about change.

Answer 125

BEST and KELLNER note that whilst Marxist theorists of postmodernity agree with PMs that we have moved into postmodernity, they retain a faith in Marxist theory as a means of explaining these changes and still subscribe to the Enlightenment project. Also by relating the recent changes in society to the nature of capitalism, they are able to offer a sociological explanation of them – something that postmodernists fail to do.