Theory and methods

How do liberal feminsist believe that we can achieve gender equality

Laws and policies - Liberal feminists believe tha women can achieve gender equality through laws and policies, such as the sex discrimination act 1970

Cultural change - liberal feminists also call for a cultural change. In their view, traditional prejudices and stereotypes about gender are a barrier to equality. They reject the idea that biological differences make women less competent or men less nurturing

How do liberal feminists distinguish between sex and gender

Sex refers to biological differences between males and females, such as their reproductive role, hormonal and physical differences

Gender refers to culturally constructed differences between the masculine and feminine roles and identities assigned to males and females

Therefore, gender differences vary greatly between cultures. For example, it is common to see women as bus drivers in Britain, whereas in Saudi Arabia women weren’t allowed to drive until 2018

According to liberal feminists, what must we integrate in order to achieve gender euality

Liberal feminism keeps in line with the enlightenment project. They say that to change gender equality we must integrated:

Changes in socialisation and culture – this can lead to more rational attitudes towards gender and reducing prejudice

Political action to introduce anti discriminatory laws and policies – This can help bring about progress to a fairer society in which a persons gender is no longer important

How does liberal feminism critique functionalism

Liberal feminism also critiques functionalist perspective of gender roles, such as the instrumental and expressive roles held by men and women. Liberal feminism challenges this division, by arguing that men and women are equally capable of performing roles in both spheres and that traditional gender roles prevent both men and women from living fulfilling lives

Evaluation of liberal feminisim

They are criticised for over-optimism, viewing obstacles to emancipation as individual prejudices removable through progress. They overlook deep-rooted structures like capitalism or patriarchy, and Walby argues they fail to explain the overall structure of gender inequality.

What claims does radical feminsim make about patriarchy

Patriarchy is universal: male domination of women exists in all known societies. According to Firestone, the origins of patriarchy lie in women’s biological capacity to bear and care for infants, so they become dependent on men

Patriarchy is the primary and most fundamental form of inequality and conflict. They key division is between men and women. Men are the enemy

All men oppress all women and all men benefit from patriarchy

Accroding to Radical feminists, how is patriarchal oppression expressed in relationships between people

For radical feminists, patriarchal oppression is direct and personal. It occurs not only in the public sphere of work and politics but also in the private sphere of the family. Personal relationships are political as men dominate women through the relationships. Radical feminists refer to this as sexual politics

Radical feminists therefore focus on the ways which patriarchal power is exercised through relationships, often the threat of sexual or physical violence. For example, Brownmiller says that fear of rape is a powerful deterrent against women going out alone at night

What is the radical feminist view on sexuality

Radical feminism also sheds new light on sexuality. Malestream sociology tends to regard sexuality as a natural biological urge and therefore is outside the scope of sociology. However, radical feminists argue that patriarchy constructs sexuality to satisfy mens desires. For example, women are portrayed in pornography as sex objects and penetration as the main source of sexual pleasure. Rich argues that men continue to force womn into a narrow and unsatisfying compulsory heterosexuality

What strategies do radical feminsist put forward in order to achieve women’s liberation

Separatism – Living apart from men thereby creating a new culture of female independence, free from patriarchy. For example, Greer argues for the creation of matrilocal household as an alternative to the heterosexual family

Consciousness raising – Through sharing experiences, women come to see that they face the same problems, leading to collective action such as ‘slutwalk’ marches

Political lesbianism – Many radical feminists argue that heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive as they involves ‘sleeping with the enemy’ and that lesbianism is the only non oppressive form of sexuality

Evaluation of radical feminsim

Marxists say that class, not patriarchy is the primary form of inequality. They also argue that capitalism is the main cause and beneficiary of women’s oppression and not men as radical feminism claims

Radical feminism offers no explanation to why female subordination takes different forms in different societies. Similarly, it assumes that all women are in the same position and ignores class and ethnic differences between women. A middle class woman may have more in common with a middle class man that a working class woman

What is the view of Marxist feminism and oppression

Marxists feminists see women’s subordination is rooted within capitalism, with the main beneficiary of women’s oppression being capitalism

According to Marxist feminists, what role does women’s subordination perform for capitalism

Women are a source of cheap, exploitable labour for employers. They can been paid less as it is assumed they are also dependent on their husbands earnings

Women are a reserve army for labour that are moved into the labour force during economic booms and out during recessions

Women reproduce the labour force by nurturing and socialising children to become the next generation of workers at no extra cost to capitalism

Women absorb anger that would otherwise be directed at capitalism. Ansley describes wives as ‘takers of shit’ who soak up frustration of their husbands

According to Barrett, what is the ideology of familism and what is the impact

Barrett argues that women's subordination in the family benefits capitalism but also stems from ideology. The ideology of familism presents the nuclear family as natural, making women see fulfilment in motherhood and intimacy. While overthrowing capitalism is necessary for women's liberation, Barrett insists it’s not enough—we must also challenge familism to break restrictive stereotypes and ensure equal domestic labour

According to Mitchell, why do women accept oppression

Mitchell seeks to explain why some women freely accept oppressive family and marital relationships by using Freud’s psychoanalytic theory to argue that ideas about femininity are so deeply implanted on women’s minds that they are very difficult to dislodge. The implication is that even after the overthrowing of capitalism, it will still be hard to overcome patriarchal ideology

Evaluation of marxist feminisim

It fails to explain women’s oppression in non-capitalist societies. Women’s oppression cant be simply explained in terms of the needs for capitalism as it is found in non-capitalist societies

It isn’t proven that unpaid domestic labour is the cheapest way of reproducing labour power. For example, it may be done more cheaply through state provision such as publicly funded nurseries

What is the main idea of difference feminisim

Difference feminists don’t see women as a single homogenous group – differences of class, ethnicity, sexuality all lead to different experiences of structural inequality, for example, patriarchy.​

Argues previous feminist theories have claimed a ‘false universality’ where they claim traditional theory applies to all women experiences.

What is essentialism

Difference feminism claims previous theories are essentialists​

This is because they see women as the same.​

This means they fail to reflect the diversity of women’s experiences and exclude other women and their problems​

For example, difference feminists argue Western feminism is preoccupied with sexuality, whereas in poorer countries they care more about other problems such as clean water and healthcare therefore they have different problems

What is postructuralist feminism and what does it focus on

Poststructuralism is concerned with discourses – ways of seeing, thinking, or speaking about something (Foucault)​

The world is made of many, often competing, discourses e.g. religious, scientific and medical​

Discourses enable users to define others, in other discourses, in certain ways (a discourse gives power over those it defines) e.g. state agencies in the criminal justice system (discourse), can deny the label of victims to women suffering domestic abuse, disempowering them

What is the postructuralist femininist view on the enlightenment project according to Butler

Butler argues that the enlightenment ideals were a form of discourse that allowed the domination by Western, middle-class males. ​

Butler also argues the White, western, middle-class women who dominate the feminist movement, falsely claim to represent the ‘universal womanhood’ – but women aren’t a single entity who all share the same ‘essence’​

Theres no fixed essence of what is to be a woman, because identities are gained through discourse, and there are many different discourses in different times and cultures​

Poststructuralism enables feminists to ‘de-construct’ (analyse) different discourses to reveal how they subordinate women e.g. the power to apply or deny the label of victim to domestic violence victims.​

Evaluation of difference and postructuralist feminism

Walby (1992) agrees there's difference among women, however, there is also vital similarities such as all being faced with patriarchy​

Segal (1999) argues they ignore the impact of structural factors and focus too much on discourse.

Outline the basis of Marxism

Marxism is a structural theory. Like Durkheim, Marx believed that society could be undertsood scientifically and that an ideal society could be identified using scientific methods

Howeverm in contrast to functionalism, Marx didnt see the processa s a gradual evolution, but saw hostorical chnage as a contradicotry process where capitalism would lead to a revolution

Describe Marx’s idea of historical materialism

Marx believes that as the forces of rpoduction grow and deveop, so do the social relatiosn of production, along with the development of a division of labour, giving a rise to 2 classes - those who own the means of production and the labourers

Marx’s base-superstructure model expresses the idea that those who own the means of production also control teh intangible ideas and values of a society and can manipulate workers into accepting capitalist exploitation

What is the base-superstructure model

Marx’s base-superstructure model explains that those who own the means of production also control a society’s ideas and values, allowing them to manipulate workers into accepting capitalist exploitation.

Describe Marx’s idea of capitalism

CApitalism is divided into 2 classes according to marx, the proletariat and bourgeoisie. He identifies 3 key features of capitalism:

Firstly, unlike slaves or serfs, workers are legally free and seperate from teh means of production. They sell their labour in return for wages. Marx argues that this sint an equal exchange, and workers only recieve enough to survive

Secondly, through competition the ownership of the means of production becomes concentrated towards fewer people. This competition drives small independent business owners into the proletariat. ompetition also forces the capitalist class to pay the lowest wages possible

Thirdly, capitalism expands teh forces of production in pursuit of profits, causing de-skilling of workers

What is Marx’s idea of class consciousness

Marx says taht capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction as it creates environments where workers develop their own consciousness of economic and political interests different to that of the ruling class. Therefore, the proletariat move from being a ‘class in itself’ to a ‘class for itself’ and develop a class consciousness to revolt

What is Marx’s idea of ideology

For Marx, those hwo own the means of production also contorl the means of mental production - the production of ideas, such as religion, media and education. These institutions all provide sets of ideas and beliefs that benefit the ruling class.

However, as capitalism impoverishes workers, the are able to see through teh exploitation and develop a class concsiousness

What is Marx’s idea of alienation

Alienation is the result of loss of control over our labor and its products, therefore seperating ourselves from our true nature

Under capitalism, alineation reaches its peak for 2 reasons:

Workers and seperated form and have no control over the means of production

The division of labour is at its most intense and detailed when the worker is reduced to an unskilled labourer merely just repeating a meaningless task

What is the critcism of Marx’s view of class

Marx’s view of class can be seen as very simplistic. He sees class as the only important source of inequality, howver Weber argues that he ignores status and power differences. For example, a ‘Power elite; can rule without owning the means of production

The middle class has grown whilst the working class has shrunk in western civilisation, whereas Marx said the middle class would be swallowed up by the proletariat. However, in countries such as china and india the working class is growing due to industrialisation

What is the criticism of Marx through economic determinism

The base-superstructure model is criticised for economic determinism. Critics argue that it fails to recognise that humans have free will and can bringa bout change through their conscious decisons

Base superstruscture model rejects the role of ideas. Weber arhues that it is the emergence of a new set of ideas, such as protestantism which brought capitalism into being

Who was Gramsci and in what ways did he see the capitalist class and maintaining its dominance

Gramsci was a humanistic Marxist and teh first leader of teh Italian communist party in the 1920s.

He sees the ruling class as maintaining their dominance in 2 ways:

coercion - the use of ‘armed bodies of men’ to force others into accepting rule

hegemony - uses ideas and values into persuading the proletariat into thinking the cpaitalist class’ rule is legitimate

Describe Gramsci’s idea of hegemony and revolution

In advanced capitalist societies, the ruling class can mostly rule by consent as they contorl the institutions which produce ideas. However, for Gramsci the ruling class hegemony is never fully secure for 2 reasons:

The ruling class are a minroity - to rule they must create alliances to form a power bloc such as with the middle class, so they must make compromises

The proletariat have a dual consciousness - Their ideas are infleunced by not only the ruling class’ hegemony, but also by their material conditions such as poverty and exploitation, so they are aware of their own exploitation

Therefore, Gramsco believes a revolution can only be successful if the working class can develop a counter hegemonic bloc and produce ‘organic intellectuals’ who provide ideas in support of the proletariat

Evaluation of Gramsci

Overemphasises the role of ideas and under emphasises the role of state coercion and economic factors. for exmaple, workers may see through capitalist ecploitation but be reultant to revolt out of state repression

How does Althusser criticise the base-superstructure model

Althuseer replaces it with a more cmples ‘strcutural determinsim’ which has 3 levels:

Economic level - any activities that involve producing sonething to meet a need

Political level - All forms of organisation

Ideological level

In Althusser’s model, the 3 levels have relative autnomy and are partly independent form eachother with a 2 way causality, whereas in the base-supertsructure model there is a one way causality where the economic level determins teh 2 other levels

What are the 2 state apparatuses

Repressive state apparatus (RSAs) - ‘Armed bodies of men’ that corce the public into complying with the will of teh bourgeoisie

Idoelogical state apparatus (ISAs) - The institutiosn that ideologically manipulat ethe working class into accepting capitalism as legitimate

What is Althusser’s criticism of humanism

Humanists believe people can use their creativity, reason and free will to change society, such as revolution occurring due to the development of a class consciousness

Structuralist Marxists see free will as an illusion. We are nothing but products of social structures

According to Althusser, socialism will come into existence due to over-determinsim, where the contradictiosn in the 3 structures that are independent result in a collape of the whole system

Evaluation of Althusser

Gouldner claims that the scientific apporach discourages political activism as it causes stresses to the role of tsructural factors that individuals cant affect

What 3 similarities does Parsons identify between society and a biological organism/system

1. System - Organisms, such as the human body and society are both self-regulating systems of inter-related and inderpendent parts (organisms and institutions)

2. System needs - If the needs of an organism arent met, it will die. Fucntionalists see the social system as having basic needs that must be met if society is to survive such as socialisation

3. Functions - The function of any part of a system is the contribution it makes to meeting the systems needs, ensuring its survival. For example, the economy help regulates the social system by providing food and shelter

According to Parsons, what is the importance of value consensus and social order

Parsons argue that social order is achieved through the existence of a central value system. This allows for peopel to co-operate by laying down rules about how they should behave. Therefore, social order is only possible if members agree on these shared norms and values

According to Parsosn, what are the 2 mechanisms that make sie individuals conform to shared norms and values aimed towards integration of individuals

1. socialisation - through socialisation, individuals internalise societies shared norms and values so that society becomes a part of their personality structure

2. Social control - positive sanctions for conforming to norms and negative sanctions to punish devaince. For example, those who go through the education system achieve degrees, whereas those who dropout are stigmatised

Describe the parts of the social system according to functionalists such as Parsons through the ‘building block’ approach

At the bottom of the system, there is indiviudal actions. Each action is governed by norms and values. These norms create ‘clusters’ known as status roles. Roles are sets of norms that tell us how an occupant of a role must carry out their duties

Status roles come in clusters known as institutions. For example, the family is made up of mathers, fathers, children etc. Institutions are then grouped into sub-systems such as the conomy, made up of shops, farms banks etc. Finally, sub-systems make up the social system

According to Parsons, what are the 4 basic needs of a system such as society

1. Adaptation - The social system meets its members material needs through the economic subsystem

2. Goal attainment - society needs to set goals and allocate resources to achieve them. This is the function of the political sub-system made of institutions such as parliament

3. Integration - the different parts fo a system must be integrated together to pursue shared goals. This is the role of the sub-systems of education, religion and media

4. Latency - Refers to the processes that maintain society over time. The Kinship sub-system provides tension management where people ‘let off steam’

What categories does Parsons groups the systems needs into

Parsosn decsribes adaptation and goal attainment as instrumental as the provide the means to an end, such as producing food to sustain the population

Inegration and latency are expressive needs as they involve channeling emotions

Accroding to Parsons, what is the process of social change

Parsons identifies 2 types of society, traditional and modern so therefore there must be change. Accroding to Parsosns, social change is a gradual evolutionary process, such as takes place in an organism. As societies move from more simpel to complex structures, the sub-systems of society lose their functions to, for example, schools, churches, political parties. This is known as structural differentiation

Accoridng to Parsons, how does social change work in a dynamic equilibrium

Parsons believes that change occurs in a dynamic equilibrium. As change occurs in one part of a system, a compensatory change takes place in another for example the rise in industry changes the family from extended to nuclear

What are Merton’s 3 internal critiques of fucntionalism

1. indispensability - Parsons assumes that everything in sociey, such as family and religion is indispensable in its own form. Merton says that this is just an untested assumption and points towards ‘functional alternatives’ for example a lone parent family may be better at socialisation than an abusive nuclear family

2. functional unity - Parsons assumes that all parts of society is integrated into a ‘unity’ and is functional for all the rest. Mertons says that in complex modern society, some parts are inderpendent and have ‘functional autnomy’

3. Universal functionalism - Some phenomena may be functional for some but dysfunctional for others

What are the logical criticisms of fucntionalism

Critics argue that functionalism is teleological. This is the idea that things exist due to their fucntion, for example functionalists believe the family exists for socialisation, but fail to explain its origin

Funtionalism can be seen as unfalsifiable, for example fucntionalists see deviance and functional and dysfunctional therefore, cant be falsified so is unscientific

What are the conflict perspective criticisms of functionalism

Marxists criticise functionalism for its inability to explain conflict and change. This inability arises from the organic analogy where all the organs work for positive function

However, marxists argue that society isnt harmonious and is based on exploitation and class division. Stability is therefore the result of teh dominant class being able to prevent change by manipulation. Therefore, norms as just a ‘cloak’ for capitaist exploitation

What are the action theory criticisms of functionalism

Wrong sees functionalism as deterministic. He describes the functionalist view as such: The social system uses socialisation to shape peoples beahviour in order to meet the needs of the system by performing prescribed roles, Therefore, people have no choice, they are just puppets

Action theory takes a different approach, that individuals create society by their meanings and interactions

What are the postmodernist criticisms of fucntionalism

Postmodernists argue that functionalism assume sthat society is stable and orderly. tehrefire, it cant account for diversity and instability in todays society

Postmodernists believe functionalism is a meta narrative that attempts to crate a model of the workings of society as a whole, however according to postmodernists, such as theory is no longer possible as society is increasingly fragmented

What do Comte and Durkheim believe is the role of the sociologist

Comte and Durkheim believed in the enlightenment project, where scoiology would reveal the wone best structure for society by gathering objective and factual data

What does MAx believe to be the role of the sociologist

To reveal the truth about the development of society to overthrow capitalism

How does Weber make a distinction between values and facts

Weber says taht reserach may show that divorcees have higher rates of suicide. However, this fact doesnt demonstaret the value judjement taht we should make divorce harder to obtain. Instead we may argue we should make it harder to get married or peple have the right to commit suicide

What are Weber’s 4 views of values in society

Values as a guide to research - values are essential in choosing what part of reality to study. For example feminists value gender equality so they study patriarchal oppression of women

Data collection and hypothesis testing - we must be objective in our data collection so as to not contaminate the research

Interpretation of data - Our choice of theoretical framework is influenced by values so we must be clear about them, spelling out our values so other can see any unconcious bias in intepretation of data

The sociologist as a citizen - Weber argues that sociologists must take responsibility fo rwhat their research is used for and any harm it may do

What view do modern positivists hold about values in research

Modern positivists see values as irrelevant for 2 reasons:

Desire to appear scientific - Science is concerned with facts not values, so critics argue this reflects a desire to be seen as respectable

Social position of sociology - Gouldner argues that by the 50s, sociologists had become ‘spritless technicions’ by hiring themselves out to organisations to become problem takers instead of problem makers

What view do committed sociologists such as Gouldner and Myrdal take in values as a guide to research

Myrdal argues that sociologists should activley ‘take sides’ by espousing their values for all to see.

Gouldner argues that value free sociology is both impossible as either the sociologsist or paymaster values will come through, and undesirable as without values to aguide research sociologists are just selling themselevs to the highest bidder

How does Becker answer the question ‘whose side are we on?’

Becker argues that values are always present in sociology, but positivists and functionalists traditionally tak ethe viewpoint of powerful groups. Becker instead argues that instead of seeing things from the perspective of ‘overdogs’, we should take the side of underdogs such as criminals, partly as less is known about their story so we must redress the balance. By idnetifying with the underdog and giving them a voice, we can reveal the hidden side of society

Goffman argue we must be biased in their favour to effectively take the side of the underdog

How does Gouldner criticise Becker’s view of the underdog

Gouldner takes a marxist view and says that sociologists should take the sides of those who are ‘fighting back’ - political radicals struggling to change society

What does relativism believe in relation to objectivity

Relativism argues that different groups hold different values, and therefore believe in different truths. However, relativists say taht there is no one objectiev truth, just truths plural

What is social policy

Social policy is the plans and actions of governments to tackle social problems, for example the equal pay act 1970

What is the difference between social problems and socialogical probems

A social problem us a piece of behaviour that causes public friction such as crime

A sociological problem is any pattern or relationship that are of interest to a sociologist. This can include normal behaviour such as law abiding

What factors can affect whether sociology will influence social policy

Electoral popularity - research can point to a policy that may be unpopular with voters

Globalisation - organisations such as the IMF can influence social policy through structural adjustement programs meaning poorer countries spend less on healthcare and education

Cost - how expensive a policy will be to implement

What is the influence of positivism and functionalism on social policy and sociology

For Comte and Durkheim, the role of the sociologist is to provide objective facts. Functionalists see social policy as serving the interests of society as a whole, for example educational policies promote equal opportunities.

What is piecemeal social engineering

Piecemeal social engineering is a perspective held by functionalists. It aims to tackle one problem at a time

How can the piecemeal approach be criticised

Marxists argue that policies aimed at equal opportunities such as education are often defeated by wider structural causes such as poverty. Therefore they argue that we must change the entire structure of society in order to make an impact

What is the social democratic perspective on sociology and social policy

This approach favours a major redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor. Townsend argues that sociologists should conduct research on social problems and put forward policies to evaluate them, for example to eliminate poverty we need greater welfare benefits

What is the Black report

The Black report was a report on class inequalities made 37 recommendations for reducing inequality such as free school meals. However, the government refused to implement any of these

Evaluation of the social democratic perspective

Marxists agree that class inequalities are deep rooted, however they argue that capitalism is to blame for this

What is the Marxist view on sociology and social policy

Marxists believe that the state represents the ruling class and integrates polcies which serve their inetersts such as:

policies provide ideological legitimation (mask capitalist exploitation)

maintain the labour force

prevent revolution

Provide evidence of the marxist perspective on social policy

Mrxists evidence the black report, saying that the policies werent integrated as they dont benefit the ruling class

Criticisms of marxist perspective on social policy

Critics argue marxist views on social polict are unrealistic. Social democrats criticise them for rejecting the view that research can bring progressive policies in capitalism

What is the feminist view on sociology and social policy

Feminists see society based on conflict between genders. For example the nuclear family is seen as the normal family, so the state offers benefits to married couples but not to cohabiting ones. feminsism has had impacts on social policy such as womens right to vote and equal pay act 1970

What is the new right view on sociology and social policy

The new right believe that the state should have mininal influence on society. They oppose wlefare benefits when dealing with social problems. In their view, state intervention undermines peoples sense of responsibility. For example, Murray argues that welfare benefits act as incentives for people not to work

What is the positivist approach to sociology

they argue that it is possible and desiable to apply the logic and methods of the natural sciences to the study of society to bring about objective knowledge

What is inductive reasoning and who uses it

Inductive reasoning involves accumulating data about the world through careful observation and measurement. As our knowledge grows, we see more patterns. This method is used by positivists

What is verificationism

Positivists believe that the patterns we observe, whether in nature or society can all be explained in the same way - by finding the facts that cause them

Why do positivists use quantitative reasearch

Positivists believe in the experimental method to test hypotheses. like natural sciences, the use quantitative data to uncover and measure patterns of behaviour. This allows them to test cause and effect relationships. However the reseracher may contaminate the research

How does Durkheim use suicide to proves sociology as a science

Durkheim believed that of he could proce a greatly individual act such as suicide had wider social causes, he could prove sociology as a science. He investigated suicide rates between catholics and prtestant, said that catholics would have lower rates due to better integration into society

What is the interpretivist view of subject matter in sociology compared to natural sciences

They argue that there is a fundamental difference between subject matter of sociology and the natural sciences:

Natural sciences study matter, which has no conscience. Therefore, its behaviour can be explained by an external stimulus

Sociology studies people, which do have a conscience. People construct their own world by adding meanings to it. Their actions can only be understood in terms of these meanings

What is the importance of verstehen and qualitative research to interpretivists

Interpretivists favour qualitative research, as it provides meanings behind actions, improving validity

What are the types of interpretivism and what do they believe

Interactionists believe that we can have casual explanations. They favour a bottom up approach where our ideas gradually emerge throughout our research

Phenomenologists reject the possibility of casual explanations of human behaviour. They argue that society isnt a real thing and that it only exists in peoples conscience

What is the view of interpretivism and suicide

Douglas says that to understand suicide, we must look at the labels applied by coroners and why

Atkinson says that we should look at quantitative data to find out how coroners use knowledge to arrive at a verdict

What is Popper’s fallacy of induction

Popper rejects verificationism and inductive reasoning. He provides that example of observing a large number of swans that were all white. Therefore, we may assume all swans are white. However, the sighting of just one black swan would destroy this completely. therefore a theory can never be compltely true

What is falsificationism by Popper

For Popper, what makes science unique is alsificationism where scientists should seek to prove other theories wrong. He says that any good theory should be falsifiable, as we as a good theory should claim to explain a great deal so it is at greater risk of falsificationism

WHat are the implications for sociology on Popper’s view

He says sociology is unscientific as it consists of theories that arent falsifiable such as marxist revolution

However, he argues that it may be scientific because it can produce hypotheses that can be falsified. For example, Ford hypothesised that comprehensive schooling would lead to greater social mixing among pupils. She was then able to test this hypothesis and found evidence that falsified it.

What is Kuhn’s paradigm

The paradigm is shared by members of a given scientific community and defines what science is. It provides a basic framework of assumptions and methods within which members of these communties work with. Therefore, teh paradigm is a set of norms

What is Kuhn’s normal science

In normla science, sociologists engage in puzzle solving. When the paradigm poses specific questions, scientists set out to answer them

What are the implications for sociology from Kuhn

Currently, sociology is pre-paradigmatic therefor enot a science in the eyes of Kuhn.

However, postmodernists argue that a paradigm isnt desirable in sociology as it silences minority views

What 2 explanations does Weber give for an adequate sociological explanation

The level of cause where we explain the objective structural factors that shape people’s behaviour

The level of meaning where we understand the subjective meanings that people attach to their actions

What are Weber’s 4 types of action

Instrumentally rational ection - goal oriented and efficient such as capitalists cutting costs for higher profits

Value rational action - action towards a desirable goal. There is no way of calculating whether this will be effective such as religious worship

Traditional action - Involves customary, routine or habitual actions. Weber doesnt see this as rational as there is no conscious though behind it

Affectual action - an action that involves emotion such as weeping out of grief. Weber sees this as important in religious and political movements

Evalauation of Weber’s social action theories

Schutz says that Weber’s view of action is too individualistic and doesnt allow for shared meanings and values

What is symbolic interactionism

Symbolic interactionism focuses on the fact that human screate their worls through actions, interactions and meanings that we attach to situations

How does Mead believe that our actions differ from animals

Mead obsereved that unlike animals, our behaviour is shaped by attaching symbols to the world instead of fixed instincts. Therefore, unlike animals we dont respond to a stimulus but instead an interpretive phase comes between the stimulus and action for example when humans shake their fist at each other it may mean different things depending on context

According to Mead, how do we intepret other people’s actions and meanings

By taking the role of the other. We do this by putting ourselves in their shoes

What 3 key principles did Blumer identify in social action

Our actions are based on man-made meanings

these meanings arise from the interaction process and are variable

the meaninsg we give to situationsare a result of teh interpretive processes

What 3 key interactionist processes underpin labelling theory in relation to social action

Definition of the situation

The looking glass self - Cooley says that our self concept arises out of our ability to take the role of the other

Career - becker adapts the term career and applies it to people

What is Goffman’s dramaturgical model

Goffman says that we are all asctors who manipulate other people’s impressions of ourselves. He says that our goal is to carry out a convincing performance of our role in society

What is Goffman’s view of roles and how does this differ from the functionalist perspective

Goffman argues that there is a ‘role distance’ between our social roles and selves, whereas functionalists argue taht we internalise our social role

What is impression managemnet by Goffman

Goffman says that we must control the impression that our performance has by constantly studying our audience and their reactions such as changing our language, tone, facial expressions

Evaluation of symbolic interactionism

Deterministic

fails to explain how actors create meanings