Sociology Theory and Methods BIG BOY FLASHCARDS

What is Durkheim’s concept of mechanical vs organic solidarity?

Traditional society relied on mechanical solidarity with a strong collective conscience. Modern society relies on organic solidarity with a complex division of labour that weakens social cohesion.

What is Durkheim’s concept of anomie?

A state of normlessness caused by rapid social change that undermines old norms without establishing clear new ones.

What is Parsons' organic analogy?

The idea that society is like a biological organism—both are self-regulating systems of interconnected parts (institutions) that work together to meet system needs.

What is value consensus according to Parsons?

A shared agreement on norms, values, beliefs, and goals that holds society together and allows cooperation

What two mechanisms ensure social order in Parsons' model?

1) Socialisation (internalising norms). 2) Social control (rewards for conformity, punishments for deviance).

What are the four system needs in Parsons' AGIL schema?

Adaptation (economy), Goal Attainment (politics), Integration (religion/media), and Latency (kinship/family).

What are Parsons’ pattern variables for traditional vs modern societies?

Traditional: Ascribed status, particularistic norms, collective orientation. Modern: Achieved status, universalistic norms, individualistic orientation.

What three contributions did Robert K. Merton make to functionalism?

1) Indispensability critique. 2) Functional autonomy. 3) Distinction between manifest (intended) and latent (unintended) functions.

What are Wrong's "action" criticisms of functionalism?

Functionalism presents an "over-socialised" or deterministic view of individuals as puppets with no free will.

What is historical materialism (Karl Marx)?

The view that humans must work to meet material needs, and social development is driven by changes in the forces and social relations of production.

What are the three successive class societies identified by Marx?

Ancient society (slaves), Feudal society (serfs), and Capitalist society (free wage labourers).

What is class polarisation?

Society dividing into two warring camps: a tiny minority capitalist class (bourgeoisie) and a vast majority working class (proletariat).

What is alienation in capitalist society?

The loss of control workers have over their labour, its products, and their true creative nature.

How does Max Weber criticize Marx's view of class?

Weber argues status and power are also key sources of inequality, and Marx's two-class model ignores the growing middle class.

What is Gramsci’s concept of hegemony?

The ruling class maintains dominance through ideological and moral leadership (consent), persuading subordinate classes that their rule is legitimate.

How does the working class achieve revolutionary change according to Gramsci?

By overcoming dual consciousness, forming a counter-hegemonic bloc, and producing their own organic intellectuals.

What are Althusser’s three levels of structural determinism?

The economic, political, and ideological levels, which exist in complex over-determination.

What are Althusser’s Repressive and Ideological State Apparatuses?

RSAs coerce through force (police, army). ISAs manipulate ideas and values (media, education) to legitimate capitalism.

What is Liberal/Reformist Feminism?

A perspective seeking gender equality through gradual legal reforms and cultural changes to socialisation patterns.

What is the difference between sex and gender according to Liberal Feminis

Sex: Biological differences. Gender: Culturally constructed masculine and feminine roles and expectations.

What is Radical Feminism's view of patriarchy?

Patriarchy is universal, fundamental, and direct; men are the main enemy who exploit women's unpaid domestic labour and sexuality.

What does the Radical Feminist phrase "the personal is political" mean?

Personal and sexual relationships involve power dynamics where men dominate women through violence or fear.

Name three solutions proposed by Radical Feminists to end oppression.

Separatism, consciousness-raising groups, and political lesbianism.

Name three functions women perform for capitalism according to Marxist Feminists.

1) A reserve army of cheap labour. 2) Absorbing male workers' frustration. 3) Reproducing the labour force for free.

What is the ideology of familism (Barrett)?

An ideology portraying the nuclear family and its sexual division of labour as natural and fulfilling for women.

What is Dual Systems Feminism?

A view combining Marxism and Radical Feminism, seeing women oppressed by two intertwined systems: capitalism and patriarchy.

What is Difference Feminism's critique of earlier feminist theories?

Earlier theories assumed "false universality" and essentialism, treating all women as if they were white, western, middle-class, and heterosexual.

What is Poststructuralist Feminism (Butler)?

The belief that identity is constructed through competing discourses rather than a single essence of "womanhood".

What two levels of explanation did Max Weber argue were necessary for understanding action?

1) The level of cause (objective structural factors). 2) The level of meaning (subjective internal motives).

What are Weber’s four types of social action?

Instrumentally rational, value-rational, traditional, and affectual action.

What is G.H. Mead’s idea of "taking the role of the other"?

Interpreting others' meanings by putting ourselves in their place, developing from significant others to the generalized other.

What are Herbert Blumer’s three principles of interactionism?

1) Actions are based on meanings. 2) Meanings arise from interaction. 3) Meanings are modified through interpretation

What is the Thomas Theorem ("Definition of the situation")?

If people define a situation as real, it will have real consequences in their behaviour.

What is Cooley's "Looking-Glass Self"?

Our self-concept arises from seeing ourselves mirrored in how others respond to us.

What is Goffman’s dramaturgical model?

Analysing social life as drama, where actors use impression management, props, front stage performances, and backstage behaviour.

What is Schutz’s concept of "typifications"?

Shared mental categories used to organize experiences into a common-sense world of meaning.

What are indexicality and reflexivity in Ethnomethodology (Garfinkel)?

Indexicality: Meanings are always context-bound and unclear. Reflexivity: Using common-sense knowledge to construct order and prevent indexicality.

What are Garfinkel's "breaching experiments"?

Disrupting everyday situations to reveal the hidden, taken-for-granted rules people use to maintain social order.

What is Giddens’ Structuration Theory?

The duality of structure—structure and human agency produce and reproduce each other over time.

What are the main characteristics of modern society?

Nation-state, capitalism, mass industrial production, scientific rationality, and individualism.

Name four drivers of globalisation.

Economic networks (TNCs), technological advancement, political shifts, and global culture.

What is Baudrillard’s concept of hyper-reality?

A state where media signs and images appear more real than reality itself, making it impossible to distinguish image from reality.

Why do Postmodernists reject meta-narratives?

All grand theories (e.g., Marxism) claim a monopoly on truth, whereas postmodernists see all knowledge as relative.

What is Giddens’ concept of disembedding in High Modernity?

The lifting out of social relations from local interaction contexts across time and space.

What is Beck’s concept of "risk society"?

Modernity faces manufactured risks created by technology and human development rather than natural disasters.

How do Marxist theorists (Harvey/Jameson) explain Postmodernity?

Postmodernity is not a new society, but the latest stage of capitalism based on "flexible accumulation".

What is the difference between a social problem and a sociological problem?

Social problem: Misery-causing behaviour needing public action. Sociological problem: Any pattern of social behaviour requiring explanation.

Name four factors that limit sociology’s influence on government policy.

Electoral popularity, cost, political ideology, and opposition from powerful interest groups.

What is the Functionalist view on social policy?

Policies serve the whole of society through piecemeal social engineering.

What is the Social Democratic perspective on policy (Townsend)?

Favoring major state intervention to redistribute wealth and eradicate poverty.

What is the Marxist view on social policy?

Policies legitimate capitalism, keep the workforce fit for exploitation, and prevent revolution

What is the New Right view on social welfare (Murray)?

State welfare creates "perverse incentives" that encourage a dependency culture and undermine individual responsibility.

What is the Positivist view of sociology as a science?

Sociology can and should apply natural science methods to discover objective factual laws of human behaviour.

What is inductive reasoning and verificationism?

Accumulating observational data to confirm a hypothesis and build universal laws.

Why do Interpretivists argue sociology cannot be a science?

Natural science studies unthinking matter; sociology studies conscious human actors who construct subjective meanings.

What is Karl Popper's principle of falsificationism?

A scientific statement is one capable of being proved false by empirical evidence.

Why does Popper argue much of Marxism is unscientific?

Its predictions (such as future revolution) cannot be falsified.

What is Thomas Kuhn’s concept of a scientific paradigm?

A shared framework of basic assumptions, methods, and principles held by a scientific community.

Why does Kuhn classify sociology as "pre-paradigmatic"?

Sociology is divided into competing perspectives rather than operating under one unified paradigm.

How do Keat and Urry (Realism) define open vs closed systems in science?

Closed systems: Variables are fully controlled (lab experiments). Open systems: Variables cannot be fully controlled (meteorology, sociology).

What was Weber’s four-stage view on values in research?

Values guide topic choice, interpretation, and moral citizenship, but data collection must remain strictly objective.

What was Alvin Gouldner’s critique of 1950s Positivists?

They became "spiritless technicians" selling their services to powerful institutions while dodging moral responsibility

What does Howard Becker mean by asking "Whose side are we on?"

Sociologists should take the side of the underdog (the powerless/labelled) rather than establishment elites.

How does Gouldner disagree with Becker regarding the underdog?

Sociologists should not just describe the underdog, but actively support "the man fighting back" to eliminate oppression.

What is Relativism?

The view that there is no absolute objective truth; what is true depends on individual or cultural values.