Chapter 1 & 2 Sociology: Socialisation and Sociological Perspective

Sociology evolved to answer two key questions:

1.How is social order created and maintained?

2.How and why do societies change?

August Comte

Father of sociology, social order, and positivism

Social order (Comte)

the behavioral patterns and regularities established by societies that make social action possible

Positivism (Comte)

principle that says that it is possible and desirable to study the social world in broadly the same way that natural scientist study the natural world

Karl Marx

believed social order was created and maintained through class conflict (conflict theory)(Bourgeoise vs Proletariat) and through a mixture of force and persuasion; work is the most importsnt activity because no other social activity: family/culture/politics can exist without first having found a way to survive ownership=power

Bourgeoisie

dominant group who owned the means of economic production, such as land, factories and machines

Proletariat

the vast majority, owned nothing but their ability to work (their labour power),which they exchanged for money.

Strength of Marx’s Conflict Theory

the contribution he made to understand the role of conflict in bringing about social change; showed how competition for scarce economic resources can have a significant influence on the way societies are organized

Criticism of Marx’s Conflict Theory

- Overemphasis on economics: Ignores other conflicts (religion, gender).

- Deterministic: Assumes behavior is dictated by class, not individual choice

Weber

was most concerned with social change in the form of how societies modernized

Weberian Theory

examined how and why pre-industrial societies based on agricultural production, powerful feudal lords and a relatively powerless peasantry developed into industrial societies based on manufacturing and various forms of political democracy

Theory of social action

social change is the result of individuals and groups acting based on their values and beliefs, influencing societal structures.

Durkheim

1.societies can only be fully understood in terms of the relatinship between their various institutitons

2.contribututions to the sociology

culture

the way of life of a particular group. This is normally defined in terms of material culture, or the objects people produce and non-material culture- the ideas and beliefs they create.

beliefs

ideas that are accepted as true, whether or not they are supported by evidence.

Social order

the behavioral patterns and regularities established by societies that make social action possible.

scientific method

a way of generating knowledge about the world through objective, systematic, and controlled research.

Positivism

a methodology based on principle that it is possible and desirable to study the social world in broadly the same way that natural scientists study the world.

social change

on a macro level, social change involves a major shift in the political, economic, or cultural order. On a micro level, it can refer to everyday changes in political, economic, or cultural relationships

value consensus

agreement about the things a society, and by extension, individuals within that society thinks are important

traditional society

type of society in which behavior is characterized by and based on long-standing customs, habits, and traditions

mechanical solidarity

people are bound together by who they are rather than what they do

organic solidarity

people are bound together by what they do

falsification

the principle that scientific theories should be framed in such a way that they can be disproved

hypothetico-deductive method

positivist research design based on the development and systematic testing of hypotheses

hypothesis

statement or question that can be systematically tested

researcher bias

condition in which the presence or behavior of the researcher process should not be influenced by the values of the researcher

interpretivism

methodology based on the principle that social behavior can only be understood subjectively, by understanding how people interpret situations, and by so doing, giving them meaning,

value-freedom

general principle that the conduct and findings of the research process should not be influenced by the values of the researcher

objectivity

freedom from personal or institutional bias

post modernism

micro-sociological perspective that rejects the modernist claim that the social world can be understood rationally and empirically. Focus is on how people construct personal narratives, through which they make sense of the world

respondent

a person who is the subject of a research process or responds to the research

Feminism

a broad range of approaches dealing with male-female relationships from the perspective of the latter

gender

the social characteristics different societies assign to individuals based on an understanding of their biological or social differences. Where biological sex refers to ideas like male and female, gender refers to ideas about femininity and masculinity

social policy

a set of actions and ideas pursued by governments to meet a particular social objective.

Social problem

behavior seen to cause public friction, and/or private misery, usually involving some form of public outcry/ call for help. Always defined by the people with power

social control

the various mechanisms, such as rewards and punishments, that individuals and societies use to maintain order.

modern industrial society

type of society characterized by particular forms of political, economic, and cultural beliefs and practices

functions, manifest, and latent

manifest functions are the intended consequences of an action, latent functions are the hidden or sometimes unintended consequences of that action

globalization

various processes- economic, political, and cultural- that occur on a worldwide basis

functionalist theory

Parsons (1959a) explains how individuals fit into the overall structure of society on the basis of functional prerequisites - things that must happen if society is to function properly.

Marxist Theory

philosophy or social theory based off the ideas of Karl Marx

macrosociology

large scale sociological approach where the focus is on social structure institutions

determinism

the claim that human behaviour is shaped by forces beyond the immediate control of individuals, such as social structure or society

economic determinism

idea that the form taken by economic relationships is the most significant relationship in society. This determines the form taken by all other political and cultural relationships

forces of production

in Marxist theory, this refers to how everything- from raw materials, through labor power to machinery, is organized in the productive process

ideology

a system of related beliefs

liberal feminism

type of feminism that promotes gender equality

marxists feminists

type of feminism that focuses on challenging capitalism as a route to freeing woman of oppression and inequality

radical feminism

form of feminism that sees females oppression in terms of patriarchal relationships

Nature vs nurture debate

A debate in the social sciences about whether human behavior can be explained in biological/genetic or cultural terms

Roles

Expected patterns of behavior associated with each status that we hold such as a friend

Values

Beliefs or idea that are important to the people who hold them. A value expresses a belief of how something should be

Norms

Socially acceptable ways of behaving when playing a particular role

Domain assumptions

Fundamental assumptions on which a particular perspective or ideology is based

Interactionalist

An approach focused on the behavior of individuals that refers to three related perspectives, based on the concept of social action

Microsociology

Type of sociology based on the study of individuals and small groups

Phenomenology

Interactionist approach that argues that the social world consists of phenomena whose meaning is both negotiated and interpreted through interaction

Ethnomethodology

Sociological approach that argues that all social interaction is underpinned by a search for all meaning

Symbolic interactionism

Interactionist perspective that analyses society and situations in the terms of the subjective meanings people impose on objects, events and behaviors

Over-socialized conception of man

Criticism of the claim that human beings are simply the product of their socialisation and behavior can be understood as merely a response to external stimulation

Structuration

Theory developed by giddens, which argues that structure and action are equally significant in terms of our ability to understand the relationship between the individual and the society

Conformity

Behaving in a socially acceptable way

Socialisation

Process through which people learn the various forms of behavior consistent with membership of a particular culture.

Social self

An awareness of how others expect us to behave in given situations means that our sense of self- who we believe ourselves to be - is created through social interaction and exchange

Looking-glass self

Theory that argues that our sense of self develops from how we are seen by others

Action theory

Sociological perspective focused on how individuals and their interactions create and recreate a sense of society

Social engineering

Cultural manipulation of individuals to produce particular social outcomes

Significant others

Significant others people who are important to us and whose opinions we value

Subcultures

Cultures within a culture ex. Religion

Social sanctions

Rewards and punishments designed to exert social control and enforce conformity to roles, norms, and values

Consumerism

Repeated exposure to affluent lifestyles and desirable consumer goods that suggests that happiness is something that can be bought

Customs

Established and accepted cultural practices and behaviors

Social construction of reality

The idea that our perception of what is real is created by a variety of historical and cultural processes rather than something that is fixed and naturally occurring

ex:your school exists as a school and not just as a building because you and others agree that it is a school. If your school is older than you are, it was created by the agreement of others before you. In a sense, it exists by consensus, both prior and current.

Critical theory

Theory developed by and associated with Marxism that seeks to understand, criticized and change the nature of capitalist societies or some feature of some societies

Power

The ability to make others do what you want, even if it's against their will

Social identity

Collective or groups identities applied to important roles

Modernity

A stage in historical development characterized by things like industrialization, urbanization and the development is science and reason

Mass culture (popular culture)

The culture of the masses as opposed to the high culture ruling of the elite characterized as simple, worthless, mass produced and disposable

metanarrative

‘big stories’ as a society constructs to explain something about the nature of the world(religion)

Robinson 1987

Argued that there are 'six conditions that shape the likelihood of religion becoming a force for social change’: 1. A religious worldview shared by the revolutionary classes 2. A theology (religious teachings and beliefs) that conflicts with the beliefs and practices of the existing social order 3. A clergy closely associated with revolutionary classes 4. A single religion shared by the revolutionary classes 5. Differences between the religion of the revolutionary classes and the religion of the ruling classes (such as one being Catholic and the other Protestant) 6. Channels of legitimate political dissent blocked or unavailable.