Theorists

Structural theory

• Focus on insitiutions

• Large scale

• Studies the impact of the wider society upon us

• Macro approach

• Marxism, feminism, functionalism

Social action theory

• Labelling theory

• Meanings and interactions

• Institutions are socially constructed

• People have free will to do things and form their own identities

• Focus on individual interactions

• Micro approach

• People’s behaviour is driven by their beliefs, meaning and emotions given to a situation

Consensus

The view that society all works in harmony, and everyone and thing is an agent of society, each with its own specific role to play in ensuring that society runs smoothly. Everything we do is for the greater good of the whole of society.

Conflict theory

This is a rose tinted view to suggest everyone works in harmony and is happy, and that society and it’s agents actually has create inequalities for individuals or groups of individuals.

Functionalism

Views society as a system of interconnected parts, each serving a specific function to maintain stability and order. It emphasises how institutions like family, education, and religion contribute to the functioning of society. Social cohesion and equilibrium are key, with each part working together to support the whole.

Durkheim - organic analogy

Durkheim used the organic analogy in his functionalist theory. The organic analogy compares the different parts of a society to the organs of a living organism. The organism is able to live, reproduce and function through the organised system of its several parts and organs.

Organic analogy AO2

• Each organ has a unique function + institutions has a unique function

• NHS crisis during Covid-19 was the closest the NHS had come to operational collapse in modern history - can be compared to the brain

Strengths of organic analogy

• Useful for explaining why we need things such as family, education, government, NHS etc

• Maintain social order by emphasising on social norms

Weaknesses of organic analogy

• Deterministic as it doesn’t account for how micro level interactions contribute to society

• There are people who live and function without family, religion and education

• Not everyone in society complies to social institutions and can lead to protest movements

Parsons - Functional prerequisites

• Problems that society must solve if it is to survive

• As one agent ‘dies out’ or changes, other agents might have to adapt or take on more work to allow for a consensus in society to continue. It will cause pressure and strain elsewhere in society until adaptation occurs.

• The functional prerequisites are goal attainment, adaptation, integration and latency.

Parsons - GAIL

Claimed that society has 4 basic needs:

• Goal attainment - what goals society as a whole should aim to achieve

• Adaptation - adapt to the environment and the production of goods and services

• Integration - manage the interrelations of its parts

• Latency - society must maintain shared values

Moving equilibrium

As societies change they can retain a degree of balance in order to continue functioning effectively. If one part of the social structure changes, the others adapt to fit round it. For example, if there is a period of immigration or if a new technology is introduced, the institutions of society will adapt to fit around the new elements in society and quite quickly balance will be restored.

Value consensus

Social order was mainly achieved through institutions promoting value consensus - agreement around shared values. Parsons argued that commitment to common values is the basis for order in society. Two of the most important institutions which do this are the nuclear family and school.

Value consensus AO2

• The Family is responsible for providing ‘primary socialisation’ – teaching the basic norms and values of our society. Parsons believed the nuclear family was the best type of family for providing a stable upbringing for children, and the best type of family to provide moral guidance

• Later on in life, education integrates individuals into wider society – providing individuals with a sense of belonging and identity to the wider society. Parsons argued, for example, that education does this through teaching us a shared history and language.

Anomie

• State of normlessness where individuals feel disconnected from the collective conscience of society

• Anomie occurs during rapid social change such as economic crisis, or breakdown of traditional norms. This leads individuals to feel isolated, purposelessness and increase risk of deviant behaviour or suicide.

Mechanical solidarity

These societies have people involved in similar roles so labour division is simple. Therefore, people have similar lifestyles which leads to them having shared norms and values and beliefs. This value consensus means that there is a consensus of opinion on moral issues. As there is societal agreement, there is pressure to follow the value consensus, so therefore most do. A parent in this type of society would also be the teacher, doctor, judge and jury, as well as a parent.

Organic solidarity

Industrialisation meant population grew rapidly with urbanisation occurring. As society developed, a division of labour occurred wherein people did increasingly specialised jobs. Alongside this, work became separate from the home and the state organised the education, health care and criminal justice system. The social solidarity (cohesion) in this type of society therefore results from the fact that we have become so interdependent - a teacher has specialist skills, but also requires the skills of shop workers, plumbers and healthcare workers in their life.

GAIL AO2 - education

• G - ensures the socialisation of individuals, imparting essential cultural values and norms to integrate them into society

• A - continuously updating curricula and teaching methods to reflect changing societal needs and technological advancements

• I - children from diverse backgrounds/ ethnicity come together

• L - passes values down

Manifest functions

• Ku: the intended and explicit functions of an institution

• App: education system - provide knowledge and skills

• An: directly related to the stated goals/ objectives of institutions or practices

• Eval: education provides more socioeconomic mobility

Latent functions

• Ku: unintended/ hidden functions of an institution

• App: education system - hidden curriculum (manners, obeying)

• An: these functions often emerge over time, can have positive and negative effects

• Eval: Marxist - serving a capitalist ideology, feminists - reinforces patriarchal society

Morton’s internal criticisms of functionalism

• Parsons assumed that if an institution was functional for one part of society, was functional for all. Merton points out that this ignored that some institutions can be both functional and dysfunctional for society - e.g. religion can being people together and drive them apart.

• Merton also suggests that Parsons failed to realise the distinction between manifest (intentional) and latent (unintentional) functions.

Sharrock’s criticisms of functionalism

• Functionalism overemphasises the level of consensus in society (Marxists and feminists would emphasise the conflicts of class and gender, respectively). In this sense, functionalism ignores differences in power which can have a strong impact on the form that society takes and whose interests it reflects.

• Functionalists have real problems explaining social change. If, as Parsons claims, institutions exist to fulfil social needs, then once these needs are fulfilled there is no reason to change them. Societies should, therefore, never change in form unless there are some external changes that impact on the prerequisites.

• Finally, as interactionists point out, human beings in the Parsonian model of society seem rather like puppets having their strings pulled by all-powerful societies. Interactionists, postmodernists and late-modernists all combine to argue that people are, in fact, much more reflexive - actively making choices and constructing their lives. Functionalism can therefore be seen as too deterministic.

Feminism

Feminists are a macro structural theory that believe society shapes and moulds our actions. It is a conflict theory based the inequalities between men and women. Unlike other Structuralists, Feminists reject the use of science as it is male dominated and does not allow women in research to have a voice as they are used and discarded for the purpose of research. Although all Feminists agree that society is patriarchal (rule by, and for the benefit of, men), they all disagree on the position of women in society and how to change it.

Liberal feminists

• Equal rights through law and reform. Focus on education, workplace and political rights.

• Try to achieve gender equality through political, social and economic reforms

• Friedan - lack of equal opportunities between males and females to the way in which the mother and housewife roles dominated most women’s lives

• Ann Oakley - the root problem is socialisation. If gender is a social construct then if society changes its views of men and women, then there can be equality. Laws can help but traditional mind sets need to change for true equality to be achieved.

• 1960 - right to divorce

• 1975 - equal rights given to men and women

Marxist feminists

• Believe patriarchy is rooted in capitalism. Although men benefit from women’s subordination, the main beneficiary is capitalism

• Their subordination performs a number of important functions for capitalism

  • Women are a source of cheap labour - paid less as forced to do part time work/ less likely to receive promotions

  • Women are a reserve army of labour - moved into the workforce in times like the war then moved out again back into the home

  • Women reproduce the next generation of workers - through unpaid labour women are expected to nurture and socialise the next generation of workers

  • Women absorb anger: Ansley - ‘women are takers of shit’

• Solution is to overthrow capitalism and the position of women will improve

Radical feminists

• Patriarchy is universal and rooted in male power and control, especially in sexuality and reproduction

• Men are the enemy, oppress women, and all men benefit from patriarchy

• All relationships with men inevitably involve power and domination

• Dworkin - rape, violence, and pornography are methods through which men have secured and maintained their power over women

• They believe the only way to make women’s lives better is through:

  • Political lesbianism - heterosexual relationships are inevitably oppressive and sleeping with a man is ‘sleeping with the enemy’

  • Separatism (Greer) - given the oppression women face, domestic violence is inevitable. Therefore, all women should live apart from men.

Difference feminists

• Women are not a single homogenous group meaning they do not suffer patriarchy in the same way

• They believe other feminist branches ignore other structural factors such as ethnicity, culture, social class, age and sexuality and how that affects the daily experiences of women

• Hooks - legacy of slavery has given black women insight into the nature of oppression, an insight that white feminists do not have

Marxism

Marxists are a macro structural theory that believe society shapes and moulds our actions. It is a conflict theory based the unequal distribution of wealth and power between the social classes. Karl Marx believes Capitalism is the root of all problems in society and believed using science, we could achieve a better (equal) society. He called this scientific socialism. In order to solve this issue society must change to meet the needs of all in society but by revolution not evolution.

Superstructure

• Marxists believe that the wealth of the ruling class enables them to dominate and control society through social institutions

• The base is capitalism and controlled by the very few wealthiest in society. They need workers to help to make more money for them, and they need to protect this base.

• According to Marx, the superstructure maintains the base in two way:

  • Means of mental production – by transmitting dominant ideology (hegemony) which makes sure the

    Proletariat (workers) never question the system. This maintains a state of false class-consciousness (this is

    where we are unaware of our class and inequalities).

  • Armed bodies of men – the institutions teach us that we should get a job and buy things, meaning there is a continuous workforce for capitalists to exploit and use for their own gains, and they can make money from us buying the very products we make.

• According to Marxists, the only way that this will ever change is when the Proletariat ‘wake up’ and realise they are being exploited. This will lead to a class revolution.

Means of mental production

The majority of society accept the inequalities because of the way dominant institutions justify them as fair and just

False class consciousness

• Means of production will continue to become concentrated in the hands of power and control

• Rich will get richer → poor will get poorer → stay unaware of this increasing divide

Gramsci’s humanist Marxism (neo-Marxist)

• Believed the ruling class need some form of acceptance from working class to maintain their RCI and control

• Social control doesn’t just come from economics - it also comes from ideas so the ruling class own the means of producing ideas

Gramsci AO2

• Voting - if people vote they are consenting to the ruling class campaigns or views → this then legitimises the ruling ideologies

• Media - people interacting with shows that portray ruling ideologies

Dual consciousness

Many of the working class were only partly convinced. Therefore, the ruling class could never take their loyalty for granted. They had to work hard at this and sometimes make concessions e.g. throwing each other under the bus so that it looks like the RC are “on the side of the people”.

Evaluation of Gramsci

It is true that many members of the working classes see through bourgeois ideology, for example the lads in Paul Willis' study realised that education was not fair. Gramsci has been criticised for under-emphasising the role of coercive political and economic forces in holding back the formation of a counter-hegemonic bloc - for example workers may be unable to form revolutionary vanguards because of the threat of state-violence.

Repressive state apparatus

Institutions that maintain the rule of the ruling class through force or threat of force. Eg police, military, courts and prison system.

Ideological state apparatus

Institutions that maintain the rule of the ruling class through control of ideas, values and beliefs. Eg education, media, family and religion.

Althusser’s three levels/ structures

• Economic - all of those activities which involve producing something or meeting a need

• Political - comprising all forms of organisation

• Ideological - involving at the ways that people see themselves and their world

Evaluating Althusser

• For Humanistic Marxists the problem with Althusser is that it discourages political activism because the theory suggests there is little individuals can do to change society.

• The theory also ignores the fact that the active struggles of the working classes have changed society for the better in many countries

Modernism

Modernism emerged as part of the enlightenment project. This was the idea that society could develop through thought and human reasoning. If we were rational and used science, we could develop society. Due to these fundamental changes new theories emerged as a way of explaining society - ‘modern for their time’.

Key characteristics of a modern society

• Nation state

• Capitalism

• Rationality, science and technology

• Individualism

Nation state

• Governs citizens through centralised laws and policies

• Functionalism - maintains social order, prevents anomie, laws create social solidarity

• Marxism - government exploits working class through capitalist dominance, laws are pushed through state as the caring face of capitalism

• Feminism - laws exploits women and maintain gender divide, reinforce patriarchy

Capitalism

• Private ownership of production, wages and labour

• Functionalism - promotes meritocracy and social solidarity

• Marxism - government exploits working class, economic determinism

• Feminism - women’s unpaid labour, reserve army

Science, rationality and technology

• Religion isn’t really that rational when you think about it. Technology and science are emerging and shaping society.

• Functionalism - promote social order and stability, enlightenment and adaptation

• Marxism - views it as a product of social relations, serves collectivist needs, technology owned by bourgeoisie, concentration of ownership

• Feminism - advocate for the inclusion of diverse perspectives and experiences, science is mainstream and ignores females

Individualism

• As we had greater freedom (moving for jobs) and could achieve status rather than be stuck to an ascribed one

• Functionalism - views society as meritocratic

• Marxism - we don’t have individualism, tokenism, ideological state apparatus

• Feminism - advocate for individual rights

Weber’s beliefs in modernity

• A move towards scientific rationality

• Gradual secularisation

• Bureaucratisation - large hierarchical organisations were increasingly used to organise society

Globalisation

Society experienced significant changes through globalisation. Giddens describes this process as the ‘increasing interconnectedness of societies, creating a global village’

Four major changes to society during globalisation

• Technological change: increase in technology and communication

• Economic changes: transnational organisations, more opportunities to develop economies, 24 hour electronic money - ‘money never sleeps’

• Political changes: more than 1 nation state (EU, UN, NATO etc), more people have a voice

• Changes in culture and identity: pick n mix society, cultural diversity, hybrid of culture, e-commerce

Examples of globalisation changes

• Technological: iPhone, ai, social media, vpn

• Economic: inflation, overseas banking, change in female professions

• Political: climate change protests, United Nations, social movements

• Culture and identity: Bollywood, halal and kosher foods, prayer rooms in schools

Late modernists

Late modernists disagree that we need new theories, we just need to adapt the old ones as society is more intense and fast paced but can still be explained using the modernist theories

Beck - risk society

• Modernity introduced a range of ‘risks’ that no other historical period has ever had to face.

• Throughout history, societies have had to face a range of hazards, including famine, plague and natural disasters. These were, however, always seen as beyond the control of people, being caused by such things as god or nature, yet the risks faced by modern societies were considered to be solvable by human beings.

• In late modernity, however, the risks are seen as spiralling away from human control. Problems such as global warming and nuclear disaster are potentially too complex for societies to deal with.

• Furthermore, due to globalisation, risks are not confined to one country.

Beck - reflexivity

• As people have become more aware of risk and how they as individuals are in danger, they change their behaviour and seek ways to minimise risk in all spheres of their lives

• Risk and risk avoidance have become central to the culture of society

• This helps explain the growth in control of young children by parents trying to minimise any possible risk to them from cars, paedophilies and the material they watch on television

Beck - individualisation

• Beck links the growth of individualisation with a move away from tradition in people’s lives. In modern societies, most aspect of people’s lives were taken for granted - such as social position, family membership and gender roles

• In late modernity, however, there has been the move towards individualisation, whereby all of these are now more open to decision making

Natural risks

• Risks that arise from natural events or environmental processes beyond human control

• Eg floods and epidemics

Manufactured risks

• Risks that result from human activities and the unintended consequences of technological, industrial and social advancements

• Eg Urban poverty, global warming

Risk consciousness

Main challenge of society is to respond to the challenges of the risks we have created

Examples of risk consciousness

• High divorce rate → skepticism, live with partner for long time, be careful with who you marry

• Beauty myth created by media → bring in a wide range of influencers who all look different

• Global warming → recycle, ditch plastic, use public transport more

Postmodern age

• Individualism

• Pick n mix identity

• Two way media duality

• Covert control (surveillance, cctv)

• Global village

• Science is only one source of knowledge - plurality of truths now

• You create who you want to be

Lyotard - metanarratives

• We question meta narratives (such as Marxism) and no longer see them as capable of explaining the world. There is therefore no consensus on what constitutes ‘truth’

• Metanarratives often ignore different viewpoints, exclude minority voices, and fail to deliver real progress

• Instead of one ‘truth’, postmodern society has lots of smaller stories that reflect different experiences. Suggesting that instead society is now made up of mini-narratives - local, personal and diverse ways of understanding the world

• Encourages us to think about whose voices are heard and whose are left out, also helping us to understand the complexity and diversity of modern life

• Eg the meta narrative of science is questioned by some when it comes to explaining climate change

Baudrillard - the ‘death of the social’

• People live more isolated lives as they have limited direct experience of the world and rely on the media to inform their ideas

• This is partly due to media saturation - we are bombarded with the media and cannot escape it

Baudrillard - simulacra

• Words, phrases or images that represent something which does not exist

• Eg ‘Harry Potter world’ is used to refer to the mythical world of a non-existent child wizard, which is recreated in fantasy theme parts

• Eg photoshopped images of celebrities - they represent something which doesn’t exist

• The fact that so much of our lives is based upon simulacra that have no basis in reality has led Baudrillard to suggest that we live in a world of hyperreality - a world of image

Crook, Pakulski and Waters - hyperdifferentiation

• Choice - social changes of postmodernism have led to hyperdifferentiation, in which a variety of different cultures and cultural products are created

• Eg popular music is no longer split into a small number of genres, but instead there is an almost infinite variety of styles and hybrid forms of music. Furthermore, high culture (such as classic music) and popular culture are no longer clearly separate as they influence and borrow from one another → this gives people more choice when it comes to developing their own individual style and tastes

Foucault - discourse

• Suggests that rather than being shaped by structures, society is shaped by discourses (language we use and discussions we have in society). So power doesn’t operate through structures, it operates through discourse.

• Eg the structure of society doesn’t tell us smoking is bad, we would choose not to smoke because the behaviour of not smoking is something which is encouraged by powerful groups in society (ie health professionals) and that is part of their discourse

• This helps us understand mass conformity and how our behaviour is governed/ shaped in society

Symbolic interactionism

• Focuses on how we create the world through our interactions

• Out interactions are based on the meanings we give to situations, and we can convey this through symbols like language

Symbols

Things such as objects, words facial expressions which are conveyed by society and the people within it

Interaction

How we respond to the symbols, and how we change our actions based on past responses or how we think we should come across

Mead - symbols vs instincts

• Animals are guided through instinct whereas we are guided by our responses to the world in the form of meanings we attach to significant things

• We create the world by attaching symbols to meanings we have attached

• Eg the symbol of putting a finger to your mouth we have attached the meaning ‘be quiet’

Mead - the ‘I’ and the ‘me’

• Ku: I = the individuals impulses, who you really are. Me = who you put out to the world.

  • Demonstrates how we are in ‘control’ of our actions

• App: a stranger chewing loudly on the metro - I = wants to tell them to shut up, me = stay quiet and act unbothered

• An: shows some people hide their real identities

• Eval: some people do say what they think - they put out who they really are

Blumer - 3 key principals of interaction

• Human beings act on the meanings they give to people, objects and situations, rather than just reacting to external stimuli

• Meanings emerge through the process of interaction rather than being present from the outset

• Meanings are the result of interpretations by individuals within interaction contexts and meanings develop over time, thus social norms and institutions can change

• Blumer argues that although our actions are based on meanings we give to a situation, people are sort of predictable because we internalise expectations of them. However, there is still free choice in how we do things.

Cooley - looking glass self

• An individual can have ‘many selves’

• Our image of ourselves is reflected back at us (like a mirror) in the views of others

• As we consider how others see us we may change our behaviours

• Labelling theory and ‘looking glass self’ link together because you become aware of how others label you and as a result, you react to this label

• App: how parents, girlfriend, siblings, exs see you is all different

Goffman - dramaturgical model

• The most appropriate way to understand people is to view them as if they are actors on a stage - people use props to protect idealised images or themselves to a social audience - people have multiple identities which change according to the social setting and the audience they find themselves performing in front of

• Individuals are very active and manipulative, and we may never see people’s real identities unless we spend considerable time with them during their day to day lives

• Some labelling theorists say that we construct ourselves through how other labels us, however goffman believes that we actively manipulate others views of us in order to create our own self construct

• “We are social actors with scripts using props to give a convincing argument”

• App: merging friendship groups means someone has to put on multiple masks at once to please the groups

• An: people wear different masks to match the personalities of the people they’re with

• Eval: Weber would argue that it doesn’t include structural factors

Becker - labelling theory

• People in power generally have more ability to impose their labels on situations than the powerless

• Eg parents, teachers, and the police generally have more power to make labels stick and make these labels have consequences compared to working class youths - this is because the hierarchy of society has given these groups more power

• Labelling theory criticises both mead and goffman, arguing that while we need to look at micro-level interactions and meanings to examine labelling, we still need to understand where people are located in the power-structure of society to fully understand the process of labelling and identity construction

Schutz - Phenomenology

• The world only makes sense to us because we impose meaning and order on it, and our shaped meanings help create this. This means society is a product of our minds.

• Argues that we share concepts and categories with members of society (called typifications) and they enable us to understand and organise our experiences into a shared world of meaning

• App: The meanings of any actions depends on the context eg raising your hand at a rave has a different meaning to raising your hand in a classroom

• An: Schutz says that society is just a creation of our minds, it is simply shared meanings that allow us to cooperate and achieve goals

Garfinkel - Ethnomethodology

• Focused on how social order is constructed

• All of society is a social construction

• Social order is an illusion created in one’s own mind using our common sense procedures and culturally embedded assumptions

• App: Garfinkel’s lodger experiment in which he asked students to mimic the behaviour at home of being a guest in a hotel rather than their usual role of a son for example

• An: these experiments depend upon the ability of individuals to draw meanings from social situations and index them for future references. This approach highlights importance of meanings and patterns in social behaviours as individuals look to make sense of society.

Integrated approaches

Recognise that there are structural constraints out there (family and work etc) and that we have free choice to make choices within these constraints

Weber - structure and action

• When we look at human behaviour and ultimately aim to gain Verstehen we must consider both a structural and an action approach, both are needed on two levels:

• The level of cause - explaining the objective structural factors that shape behaviour

• The level of meaning - understanding the subjective meaning that individuals attach to their actions, using the concept of Verstehen

Weber’s types of actions

• Instrumental rational action: most efficient means of achieving a goal, eg revising to get good grades

• Value-rational action: action towards a goal that’s seen as desirable for its own sake, eg praying the night before an exam

• Traditional action: actions are due to traditions of doing things in a certain way, eg decorating a Christmas tree

• Affectual tradition: actions which expression emotions, eg crying out of grief

Giddens - structuration

• Structures only exist because of the actions of people and people can only act because of the structures which enable meaningful actions - ‘ duality of structure’

• Shows the two way process of how people are constrained and shaped and how these structures only exist as long as people take actions to support them, and they can also change them

• App: language has sets of rules and structures - if we don’t follow these, we cannot be understood, we all know these rules and are constrained by them to create meaningful communication. But we still have the opportunity to change language by ignoring rules or changing them, eg abbreviating words

• An: our action is dependent on the structures around us but at the same time our actions change the structures

• Eval: Marxists would say that free will is a fallacy, we have false class consciousness where we think we have agency but we don’t