Historical Context

The Enlightenment

A European intellectual period where individuals strayed from religious traditions and opt for art, politics, and pihlosophy

The Industrial Revolution

A European movement where societies moved from an agrarian society to an industrial one as a result of technological advancement.

Capitalism

An economic system that is driven by profitmaking and competition between the owners of production.

The French Revolution

A period of political and social change in which citizens called for equality and freedom

Auguste Comte (1798-1857)

• defined ‘sociology’ as a science of society

• a positivist

Positivism

A scientific approach to knowledge based on ‘positive’ facts as opposed to mere speculation

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

• Evolutionary view of social life

• Raised the theory of historical materialism

Historical materialism

the social world, including individuals’s behaviours and perspectives, are shaped by the environment they reside in

Durkheim

• Society as ‘sui generis’: as existing independently of individuals

• Individuals share a ‘collective conscience’

• Societies as moving from mechanical to organic solidarity

Weber

• Society as the outcome of the thoughts and actions of individuals

• Beliefs and values make societies distinct

• Capitalism and industrialisation as a result of the turn to rationality

Functionalism

Tends to see society as something like a body - all the parts need to work together to be operational

Anomie

As societies increasingly individualise and experience greater freedom, there is a risk or decline in social solidarity and moral direction.

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)

• Values and morals are the social glue that holds a society together

• A society must have mechanisms that align their values and norms so that society works together in a cohesive fashion

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)

the process in which individuals learn and internalise the norms, values, behaviours, and social skills of their society and cultures

Socialisation

the process in which individuals learn and internalise the norms, values, behaviours, and social skills of their society and cultures

Erving Goffman (1922-1982)

• Interested in face-to-face interactions between two or more people.

• Compares social life to actors performing in a theatre

Post-structuralism

• How words and ideas change depending on who’s using them and the situation

• Questions if there are any absolute truths and realising that language shapes how we see the world.

Post-structuralism

• How words and ideas change depending on who’s using them and the situation

• Questions if there are any absolute truths and realising that language shapes how we see the world.

Michael Foucault (1926-1984)

• Power operates through discourses

• Governmentality - which is a rationality enacted upon individuals who are free.

• Sexuality has been constructed through knowledge discourse

Theory

• An explanation based on evidence and reasoning why, and how it happens

• It can be proved through experiments

Concept

• An abstract idea or a general notion that represents something in our mind

• The building block to a theory

Macro theory

looks at large scale social life - at how networks and systems shape society as a whole

Micro theory

explains interaction and experience in everyday life

Meso theory

explores the relationship between the micro and macro

Paradigm

A way of thinking that acts as a framework in sociology (e.g schools, traditions and styles)