Section 1-7 student handout

Durkheim & Functionalism:

Influenced the work of functionalist minds such as Parsons and Merton

said it was important to measure and research social facts which he sees as objective truths which are based on law, money and language

they are measurable things free from bias and subjectivity

measuring objective truths would lead to a scientific measurement of society

• functionalism is a structural consensus approach in which social institutions shape the process of socialisation which then leads to value consensus which is social solidarity and social cohesion

• all social phenomena performs positive functions for society

• Social facts include such things as beliefs, moral codes and basic norms and values which are passed from one generation to the next.

How does society work?

durkheim directly influences:

AO1- Parsons and systems (1970): Systems are like organisms, such as the human body, both self regulating but also inter-dependent. The human body works collectively as institutions in society (family education, media) works collectively also. Organic analogy is a system.

Needs:

institutions have needs that needs to be fulfilled

(AO2) For example…

e.g education relies on parental consent and pupils need to be adequately socialised during primary socialisation

e.g. Family needs economic stability and someone fulfilling their instrumental role

Functions:

• therefore institutions are able to function for the benefit of society

(AO2) For example…

e.g education is able to accurately teach pupils specialist skills for the workplace and provide secondary socialisation which means that society can function

e.g family is able to provide socialisation and communicate

e.g crime has the function of creating social cohesion through reaffirming boundaries

AO1- Social order:

• A state of stability and consensus rather than a state of chaos and upheaval which could lead to anomie

Central value system: this is the practices in society

• shared set of norms and values, beliefs , moral codes and shared goals

• the application of value consensus

Value consensus: this allows for social change

• its an agreement upon the shared values, beliefs and moral codes in society

• the theory of central value system

For value consensus, three things are needed:

1. Socialisation:

• the learning of society’s norms and values and also what is required to succeed and thrive to achieve society’s goals.

AO2- For example…

• being taught how to talk and eat in the family

• being taught punctuality and respecting authority in education

• being also taught a work ethic and the importance of competition - Parsons’s Meritocracy

1. Social Integration:

• Belonging to a society or community

AO2- For example…

• In religion, places of worship allow for communities to form through things like shared prayer and worship

• In education this is done through things like assembly where fundamental british values are taught and in History teaching History victories

1. Social control:

• informal and formal

• reaffirms value consensus

• following society’s N+V means that individuals are rewarded and sanctioned if we deviate from society’s norms and values

• formal social controls means there are written laws, policies and strict punishment

AO2- Parsons- Functional Prerequisites: must be fulfilled by the social systems using…

Adaptations:

• society will meet its members needs by adapting through the economic sub system

• such as the minimum wage increasing during an economic crisis

• Pensions and the triple lock system

• instrumental

Goal attainment:

• society has set goals and has allocated resources to achieve these goals

• happens through the political sub system

• e.g individuals try to achieve high place in society and the political sub section reacts by making education and healthcare free

• instrumental

Integration:

• different parts of society work together to achieve their goals e.g religion provides a large network of support, education gives people a work ethic preparing them for the workplace

• warm bath theory helping the family , workplace, education, economy etc

• expressive

Latency:

• The processes in society that are maintained over a long period of time

• society runs smoothly during periods of social change

• e.g education moving online during covid which maintained society’s norms and values

• warm bath theory- stabilisation of adult personalities , if losing jobs this can help maintain the family

• expressive

This is referred to as the AGIL schema.

Which of these roles are instrumental and which are expressive?

instrumental

• adaptations

• goal attainment

Expressive

• latency

• integration

AO2- Durkheim’s views on social change and social evolution:

• looks at traditional society and compares it to the amoeba cell which is a single cell organism that works independently and functions by itself, it is also self reliant

• traditional pre industrial communities which made the family responsible for everything like food, socialisation , health care etc

• due to this society was judged by ascribed status

• However, Currently society is more like the digestive system and is complex as it has many different institutions all working together to perform their functions and combining together to provide for the members of the community.

• changes in one institution directly affect other institutions

• therefore society has developed slowly and gradually and the development of specific social institutions

AO1- Structural differentiation Parsons:

• Society’s institutions have become more specialised and developed specific functional roles to meet a specific need

• education allows specifically for social mobility and family is solely responsible for primary socialisation, religion teaches morals and ethics

• Particularistic standards- differing levels of judgement based on socialisation practices

• universalistic standards- everyone is judged the same way

AO3 (analysis)-

structural differentiation has had an impact of religion due to the rise of secularisation as its functions has been delegated to other institutions thereby undermining its importance in individuals lives

for example the family now teaches family norms and values, education is now the provision of knowledge and provides a sense of social solidarity and community, healthcare

AO3- Evaluation of Parsons:

• secularisation is not occurring in all cultures which therefore makes this an ethnocentric view as seen through the rise of Islam

• exaggerates the specialised aspects of the institutions as they instead overlap each other as seen through faith schools

Merton (1968):

• criticised elements of Parsons work :

1. Indispensability : all institutions are necessary for society to function adequately. no empirical evidence to support

2. Functional unity : all institutions directly influence all other institutions. Merton then argues that functional unity doesn't always apply E.g the change of age in education system did not affect religious attendance in places of worship

3. Parsons assumes that everything is intended, However Merton argues that we have both

• manifest functions- intended actions:

• latent functions- unintended consequences:

AO2- e.g. Hopi Indian Rain Dance

Manifest function- : to produce rain

Latent function- : social solidarity in a time of hardship i.e drought

Education

manifest function- build knowledge

latent function- formation of anti school subcultures

religion

manifest function- teach morals and ethics

latent functions- formation of communities

Marxism:

• society is not harmonious as its based upon class conflict and exploitation

• legitimises power seeing as those with most privilege would have the most ot lose if society changed

Postmodernism:

• functionalism is outdated due to the current diverse/ fragmented nature of society

• functionalism is a metanarrative that attempts to explain society as a whole but fails in doing so as it fails to recognise individual differences and the complex nature of society

Dennis Wong:

• argues that functionalism is deterministic as it assumes that people have no free will or agency. individuals will blindly follow due to socialisation and value consensus

Ethnocentric:

• focuses on the american society

Craib (1992):

• Even though there are flaws to parsons theory, he is one of the theorists that has provided an explanation for society as a whole. provides conclusions that many theorists would not attempt

A01/ 3 Functionalism and the New Right:

• political ideology which emerged in Britain during the years of the conservative government, 1979- 1997

• share functionalism belief in : socialisation, social order and social stability

• NR argues that society is failing due to the development of the underclass

family :

• dependency culture

• marsden and murray

• Mooney: no empirical evidence to support

education:

• Chubb and Moe- education voucher that was never enacted

Marxism

Similarities with functionalism…

• structural theories which take a top down approach to the way in which society works as institutions dictate the way in which individuals function

• both agree that inequality is inevitable

• both argue that humans has no free will and no agency

• positivists that rely on quantitative data

• modern theories

• macro theories

Main differences to functionalism

• conflict vs consensus

• func- social change is smooth and gradual, marx - social change does not exist and there can be a revolution

Workers of means of production:

• Proletariat own their labour

• exploited as they create products for the bourgeoise to sell for profit

Owners of means of production:

• bourgeoisie they own everything such as land, factories and capital including the proletariat labour

Lumpenproletariat:

• lowest social group as they are fundamentally unable to gain class consciousness

• slows down the revolution as thy act as a deterrent as proleteriat believe they could be worse and their situation could be worse

• it does not support capitalist production

Petty Bourgeoisie:

• they are the m/c with lowest social status

• they have the same political and economic ideology as the bourgeoise such as voting interests of the bourgeoisie

• These are small business owners and shopkeepers. They have the same interests and values as the bourgeoisie.

• they don't realise they are exploited

• this stops a revolution as the revolution would hinder their belief of them attaining bourgeoise status

• the liability of the small business failing prevents the revolution as the small business is working for them and they would not want to jeopardise

According to Marxism, the bourgeoisie will reduce in size as the proletariats become bigger, this is because…

when the petty bourgeoisie threaten the bourgeoisie the bourgeoise will buy their business or copy the same successful model as the petty bourgeoisie due to bourgeoise superiority they are able to make it bigger, better, cheaper to run the petty B out of business

once the petty B are bought out they sink into the proletariat

more people join the proletariat which means that wages go down and make a poorer social group

AO3: Is this relevant to contemporary society?

Many companies are becoming increasingly monopolies like kellog, cocoa cola which control many other small businesses.

AO2:

Chart comparing proportion of 16-18 year olds studying towards A-level qualifications achieving at least AAB at A-Level in 'facilitating subjects', by type of school or college attended

How will the proletariats respond to this?

• they need to gain class consciousness by realising how all institutions exploit proletariat in some way or another

Social change in society:

Marx identifies three successive class societies, each with its own form of exploitation:

before all the variations of society there was primitive communism

Ancient society:

slaves who were owned by pharaohs and emperors

Feudal society:

monarchs and lords exploited serfs who worked on their land. as they were tied to their land

Capitalist society:

• as lords and nobles transitioned into bourgeoise.

• the serfs then became slaves to wage labour

• seen in contemp society through things like hereditary peers in HOL

• this happened as a result of industrialization

Materialist theory of history:

• base is known as the economic level of society where all the capital of society exists. bourgeoisie able to profit from base economically, the base shapes the superstructure from the profit gained from the base . the proletariat cannot influence the superstructure as they only learn bourgeois norms and values

• cyclical nature as it maintains the status quo

• one way causality as everything starts at the base and the base shapes the ideology

How is society structured?

Base Structure and the Superstructure:

AO2-

Family - Inheritance and Engles ; ideology which maintains the structure of inequality in the base as bourgeoise is able to keep most capital for themselves

safe haven- Zaretsky : this ideology helps maintain the base as it prevents the proletariat from revolting against the bourgeois and go back to work for the bourgeoisie

Education

• correspondence principle - Bowles and Gintis : ideology which maintains the structure of the base as education teaches and instill values into proletariat which make them able to be exploited by the bourgeoisie and allows them to maintain the their influence of the superstructure

Religion:

The inequalities predicated by the downfall of capitalism as proposed by Marx

Alienation:

• w/c are isolated and estranged from their work as they have no control over the final product

• therefore they don't realise their exploitation due to the menial nature of their job

Ideologies:

• bourgeois are able to control the ideas circulated in everyday society which is done through the different institutions, this forms the basis of all economic and political thinking.

What is stopping the fall of capitalism from happening?

• false class consciousness is maintained by alienation and ideologies

AO2- how false class consciousness is maintained

in the family, primary socialisation teaches subservience to authority which therefore instils the proletariat with values that prevent them from challenging the authority of the bourgeoisie and their ideologies

in the media- during the crisis of hegemony, Hall- myth of the black mugger which gives scapegoats for bourgeois failing and therefore justifies and maintains their ideology and popularity for it

Yap- filipino women ‘packed’ up their religion with them to deal with the alienation experienced by the low pay they gained in Hong Kong to compensate their despair

AO3: Grenfell

• w/c experience a class awakening as they realise their exploitation and see revolution as the better option

• grenfell as a class awakening due to the clear exploitation of the w/c as it took 4 years for residents that survived to gain accommodation

• therefore they realised how dangerous cladding was and that w/c were subjected to that due to bourgeois negligence

Social mobility:

• when individuals move up or down the social hierarchy and change their class position

• marx thought this was impossible

Social capital:

• social networks and connections that can facilitate upward social mobility

• old boys network

Cultural capital:

• attitudes, beliefs, norms and values that exist outside economic means such as language codes, level of education , old boys network

AO3: Is Marxism still relevant in contemporary society?

BBC- great British class survey in 2013 found 7 different social class in comparison to Marx’s 2 he identifies

1. How has the working-class eating culture changed?

• they had started going to restaurants and museums

1. What is the name of the top level of social class?

• elite, they have economic, cultural and social capital

1. What is the name of the bottom level of social class?

• precariat- they have low economic, cultural and social capital

1. What is the new class that is no longer based on wealth/income?

• emergent servant workers who economically had low status had high cultural and social capital such as university students and jobless graduates

1. What is the class based on?

• now not only based on economic factor but now social and cultural capital is influential

criticises marx as his studies are based solely on economics

Social class in contemporary society:

Devine (1992):not a marxists

• argued that w/c have changed as many have become more affluent,

• they were working in jobs that were relatively well paid and they were more highly educated

• saw a new 'affluent worker’ who was able to purchase things like holidays and nice cars

• they maintained their traditional values such as voting for the labour party which were a socialist party and were in fact disgusted by vast amounts of wealth in society as it was a problem

• hated things like inheritance and private schools as they thought them to be unfair

• criticises marx as they when w/c became more affluent they maintained their traditional values and did not accept bourgeois ideology

• also criticises marx as it make it seem simplistic due to the complexity of the different classes in society

AO3: Is Marxism relevant in contemporary society?

Harvey (1990) - neo marxist - postmodern outlook on marxism

• discusses economic impacts in the 1970s

• society became deindustrialised and a turn towards financial goals through the financial sector

• in a globalised world, there is need for global marxism due to the exploitation on a global level e.g sweatshop sand outsourcing labour

• ‘flexible accumulation- MNCs exploit the global systems to their advantage and produce goods cheaply and sell those goods across the world

• move away from traditional marxism as things like the media and globalisation has sped up exploitation and there is more methods and means to exploit people rather than just a direct relationship between the bourgeois and factory worker

However, Harvey (1990)…

• still observes some real changes that has actually affected capitalism

• national governments are now a lot less powerful than previously such as the UN blocking the Rwanda migrant policy due to human rights and the european convention of human rights

• In politics we have a sense of image politics which creates an illusion of choice which is where there is a range of individuals representing similar ideas. no sense of who is supporting the leaders of a country

• there are now more dilemmas than class which has led to the emergence of single party issues as UKIP and Green Party which undermines marx as it demonstrates the extent to which social issues is built upon class disparities

Summary of Marxism:

Evaluation of Marxism:

• weber- class is not the only division in society. splits class into status and party e.g network, institutions, clubs, political parties. the variety of divisions undermines marx’s basic 1 division in society i.e class

• Weber argued that Marx is too simplistic by oversimplifying the categories that people are split into. w/c should be split into skilled and unskilled workers. bourgeoise should be split into office workers, white collar and petty bourgeois

• feminist argue that women are more likely to be exploited at work and and be w/c due to things like the glass ceiling

• Marx thought that class would be a massive division and the middle class would become a bigger w/c however in the Uk the middle class is increasing and China globalisation has allowed w/c to benefit

• marxism is economically deterministic which ignores social mobility

• Marx ignores proletariat free will and agency

• revolution has not happened yet e.g. Russian revolution 1917 and there were divisions on how to reach revolution

• class consciousness is an example of how working class has free will and agency

• he explains the massive inequalities in terms of wealth, power and income through the owners of the means of production

• recognises the importance of the economy and the economic base being able to dictate what happens in wider society

Theory and Methods: Neo- Marxism

Spec Title: consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories

neo marxism is a development of marxism which tries to compensate for the criticisms of trad marxism

Scientific/ Structuralist Marxism: Althusser

• maintains economic determinism as proletariat have no free will

• I.S.A and R.S.A helps maintain the inequality

• no matter what economically and internally proletariat remain proletariat

Humanistic/Critical Marxism: Gramsci

• individuals have free will

• gramsci- hegemony and counter hegemony demonstrates his belief that humans have the ability to make their own history

AO1: Althusser: believes that societies exist on three levels: the economic (production in order to satisfy needs), the political (organisations) and the ideological (the way people see themselves and the world). The later two are not mere reflections of the economic level (as Marx believed – economic determinism) but they have ‘relative autonomy’ although still having an effect on the economy.

Althusser (1971) – also identifies two kinds of state apparatus used to help maintain the position of the capitalist class:

‘Ideological state apparatus’ – education and the mass media

‘Repressive state apparatus’ – the army and police

• critices marx’s superstructure/ economic base model. one way causality of exploitation is too simplistic and is therefore more complicated

Provides a more sophisticated model of Marx based on three levels:

Economic level - goods and services

Political Level- RSA

Ideological Level- ISA

AO2: Craib’s analysis:

• all levels are interlinked and all influence each other. therefore there is a 2 way causality which directly contradicts marx’s one way causality

• the political and ideological levels equally cause exploitation in society.

• these two levels also have relative autonomy and can work independently from the economic level

• ground floor shop- buy and sell products, level dictates political long term decisios

• first floor offices- long term decisions

• top floo- living quarters, personal changes in life that influences your interactions with the lower levels e.g having a child

e.g within the family

Economic- unit of consumption

political level- Surveillance

ideological level- Socialisation

AO3: Evaluation of Althusser:

Overcomes Marxists failings in saying that the superstructure can affect the economic base and the economic base can impact on our superstructure.

Craib- Althusser provides a more sophisticated concept of social structure but whilst Althusser believed he was analysing society scientifically, ironically, he has heavily influenced postmodernism who reject the idea that you can research society scientifically.

It claims to get rid of economic determinism, it just replaces it with a more complex determinism.

Frankfurt School: Developed on Althusser’s ideas and criticised Marx for ignoring three main areas:

Instrumental Reason:

the idea that the w/c work for instrumental reasons and often are working to achieve a means to an end, sometimes working hard, is not for capitalism but for rational reasons e.g. providing for the family. Rationale implies that it is a choice to work rather than just being exploited by capitalism

Mass Culture:

Marx understates the impact the mass media have on maintaining capitalism. E.g. promotes consumerist norms and values by othering countries who are perceived as less than in order to increase uptake of capitalist support

Oppression of personality:

Capitalism takes advantage of how many members of the w/c see work as a key part of their identity and therefore, work hard because they want to work hard

Humanistic Neo-Marxism

AO2: Gramsci (1937): also highlighted the importance of ideology in ensuring the maintenance of capitalism. Gramsci’s notion of hegemony (intellectual and moral leadership), argues that the capitalist class exercise hegemony because their ideas and values are dominant. As a result they are able to persuade others to consent to their rule. According to Gramsci:

“Revolution is only possible if the working class challenge the hegemony of the ruling class.”

Hegemony- Bourgeoisie maintain their dominant ideas and values- intellectual/ moral leadership

Coercion and Consent

The ruling class maintain their power through laws, police, and army.

AO2-Control over CJS

Duel Consciousness - An acute awareness of their exploitation. W/C need to unite behind a new hegemony to enforce social change.

AO2- revolution

Organic intellectuals - Special individuals who give a voice to those that need it or inspire a social action.

AO2- MLK

AO2: Maduro ‘liberation theology’

• Catholic priests in South America in 1960s and 1970s

• Church had relative autonomy from the state

• Priests taught the W/C about their exploitation

• The Church aligned with the w/c to create social change

• In 1979 Nicaguan Revolution: the 1979 Sandinista National Liberal Front ovethrew the Samozaan Dynasty.

• The Group aligned their Catholic view with Marxism to form a new hegemony

• Founded by university students across the country

AO3: Evaluation of Gramsci:

• Paul Willis- Learning to Labour, the participants saw through the myth of meritocracy and maintained their position, proving that they had dual consciousness

• Overplays the role of ideas and consciousness and understates the role of coersion and consent as he places it below in the hierarchy e.g. Public Order Bill, 2011 London Riots

Theory and Methods: Social action

Spec Title: consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories

Social Structure: Pre-existing social arrangements that shape behaviour e.g. institutions

Social Action: Humans have free will, rational thoughts and emotions.

In what ways do social action theorists disagree with structural theories such as functionalism or Marxism?

People reject/rebel against societal institutions as they have free will rather than being controlled by them, interpretivist approach, micro, life chances aren’t determined by an individual’s CAGE factors so people can change their social standing

• Unlike structural theorists, social action theorists argue that people’s behaviour and life-chances are not determined by their social background. Instead, social action theorists emphasise the role of the active individual and interactions between people in shaping personal identity and in turn the wider society. In order to understand human action we need to uncover the individual’s own motives for acting.

• Weber= strong contribution to sociology as it influences interactionism as a whole

Max Weber (1864-1920):

Max Weber was one of the founding fathers of Sociology. He argued that understanding individual motives is crucial for understanding changes to the social structure. This made him different from Marx and Durkheim as they only focused on the social structures.

Verstehen: Empathetic understanding which is the main point of sociology.

The Level of Cause: societal institutions, directly shape and form human behaviour

The level of meaning: subjective meanings, individuals react independently to society’s structures, attach our meanings to our actions

Social Action: refers to an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals.

AO2- protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism

Cause- The Protestant Reformation meant that Catholicism lost its monopoly of truth and denominations such as Calvinism arose.

Meaning- They lived an ascetic lifestyle- simplistic, minimalist, reinvesting in their businesses and the economy allowing their businesses to grow and boom. This allows capitalism to thrive and move forward. However, not every Calvinistic led an ascetic lifestyle and not every Calvinist was successful in their business and they made mistakes. Each Calvinistic acted and reacted to the Protestant reformation differently and independently, thus, there is a level of meaning attached to this.

Is he Micro or Macro?- Weber is a mixed method sociologist as he discusses how micro reactions influence macro structures.

Types of Social Action:

Instrumental- rational social action:

• Actions carried out to achieve a certain goal.

• An individual does something to achieve a result.

• The action may not be the most desirable option but is necessary for the goal at the end

AO2- for example

• E.g. paying staff minimum wage to increase profit, hiring new employees to help expand the business

• E.g. the pandemic and following lockdown regulations

• E.g. going to school in order to get into university- deferred gratification

Value Social Action:

• Action that there is inherent value in the action

• The result itself, can’t be measured and there is no way of calculating the result

• The action is carried out for the sake of its own goal

AO2- for example

• E.g. Praying to gain a place in heaven

• E.g. Holding a door open for someone

• E.g. Saying bless you when someone sneezes

Traditional Social Action:

• Carrying out an action because it is the way it has always been done

• There is no goal to be achieved

AO2- for example

• E.g. marriage

• E.g. Eating with a cutlery

• Singing the national anthem before a sports event

Affective Social Action:

• Actions that can’t be controlled or there is little control over

• Based on emotion and affection

AO2- for example

• E.g. Falling in love

• E.g. crying, laughing

• Charismatic leaders are able to use affective social action to galvanise support for their motives e.g. Kim Jung Un crying for mothers to have more children

Evaluation of Weber:

• He is profound as he was first to highlight the free will humans have in society

• Structures in society don’t have as much power as first suggested by structuralists.

• Strong contribution to sociology as he was first to discuss the need and research into empathetic understanding in sociology

• Schutz- Little explanations for shared reactions and shared feelings and meanings

• It is very hard to truly understand the thoughts and feelings of others

• Weber’s typology is very difficult to apply and it is unworkable as there are only 4 social action groups.

• Some actions fit into multiple typologies e.g. having children, Christmas, Marriage

• Malinowski- The Trobriand Islanders engaged in a gift giving ceremony called- Kula. Giving gifts to neighbouring tribes thus, it was both traditional and instrumental

AO3- analysis

Strong contribution to

sociology as it inspired the whole of

Symbolic interactionism

A Level Sociology

Theory and Methods: Symbolic interactionism

Spec Title: consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories

Symbolic interactionism- Mead (1863- 1931 and then Blumer (1969)

Disagreed with the Marxist and Functionalist view that humans are controlled by social structures.

The symbol

• Interested to see how people act and react to a stimulus in society

• Explore how meaning is attached to those symbols

Meanings may not be shared by everyone. For example…

• Reactions to cars, marriage, sports, political ideology

Mead: Unlike animals, our behaviour is not shaped by fixed, pre-programmed instincts.

Humans respond to the world by giving meaning to things, thus we inhabit a world of meanings by attaching symbols to the world.

Animals respond to stimulus in an automatic way. Humans interpret its meanings e.g. shaking your fist is a symbol that can mean many things.

1. Stimulus- the original symbol that evokes a particular reaction

2. interpretive phase – How we interpret the symbol can change depending on the individual and the context e.g. two fingers= swearing, peace, victory

3. Response- response is dependent on interpretation

In order to interpret meanings we take on the role of the other (trying to see ourselves as others do). This develops through interaction.

AO1- Mead- The ‘I’ and the ‘Me’:

Unlike animals, our behaviour is not shaped by fixed, pre-programmed instincts.

Humans respond to the world by giving meaning to things, thus we inhabit a world of meanings by attaching symbols to the world.

Animals respond to stimuli in an automatic way. Humans interpret its meanings e.g. shaking your fist is a symbol that can mean many things.

Stimulus- the original symbol that evokes a particular reaction

1. interpretive phase- How we interpret the symbol can change depending on the individual e.g. two fingers= swearing, peace, victory

2. Response- Response dependent on interpretation

What is the ‘I’?

• The ‘I’ is the individual and is self-opinion and is shaped by the ‘me’.

• The choices we make

What is the ‘Me’?

• The socialised aspect of the individual based on interactions.

What is the relationship between the ‘I’ and the ‘Me’?

• the ‘me’ keeps the ‘i’ in check and controls it.

• The ‘I’ bends the rules

• ‘Me’ and ‘I’ make up the individual

E.g. a boy wearing a dress

The ‘me’ restricts the boy from wearing a dress.

The wants and desires of the ‘I’ are restricted by the ‘me’

E.g. openness of sexuality

the ‘I’ is constantly bending and stretching the limits of the ‘me’

AO1- Cooley: The Looking Glass Self

• actions/reactions are reflected in how others view ourselves e.g parents may see you as strong, the girlfriend may see you as strong, your brother as weak and the ex- girlfriend sees you as a devil

• decisions made are therefore based around how other people in society view you

• individuals that are sociable, outgoing and friendly can be perceived by others as none of these things which cooley then says is ‘creating a new self identity’

• e.g people with tattoos

AO1- Blumer:

• suggests that we develop the notion of our self in childhood and playing games

• each person must learn to take the viewpoint of other people into account

• we have to read the meaning of a situation - a very complex situation for example power status, fairness, inequality

Self: For an individual to know how to respond to the symbols and for them to have meaning to them they must know their role in society.

Interaction:

1. Each person must learn to take the viewpoint of other people into account

2. We have to read the meaning of a situation – very complex situation.

3. Here is where there is scope for confusion and error – people may read the rules or symbols

Wrong

Blumer suggests that we develop the notion of our self in childhood and playing games

Blumer- 3 stages of interaction

Meaning- the meaning an individual gives to an action or symbol or person which is symbolic interactionsism

Language- language allows the individual to negotiate the meaning of the action through speech

Thought- thought is modified in reaction to the meaning and language provided. this requires a different person’s point of view

AO2: Example

A boy (Jeremy) and a girl (Kim) broke up last year. When Jeremy received an email from Kim to go out he agreed and they went to a bar. Jeremy had a different kind of meaning though in comparison with Kim. Jeremy went out as friends, where Kim went out as with the meaning of ‘potential boyfriend’. Also in the communication the language was misunderstood. Kim wanted to have a romantic night, while Jeremy wanted to have a talk in a bar. This is also caused by the nonverbal element of emails. The third miscommunication is under thought. When Jeremy replied so fast Kim thought that they were going out to a romantic place. Jeremy went out just as ‘friends’. They both used an internal dialogue to interpret the situation and to make a perception of the evening

Goffman- Dramaturgical Analogy: Society is like a stage with people acting out performances. We are all ‘actors’, acting out ‘scripts’, using ‘props’, resting ‘backstage’ between ‘performances’.

in rooms and private places he argues that we are preparing for our next role

goffman directly contradicts meade

Impression management: People are constantly engaged in managing the impressions they give to others by putting on performances to convince others of the identities they wish to assert. This involves studying our ‘audience’ to see how they respond.

Roles: Unlike Functionalists Goffman argues that there is a ‘role distance’ from who we are on stage and off stage – our roles are loosely scripted by society & we have freedom in how we play them e.g. teachers being strict/ or easy going.

• complete free will with how we perform roles even though they are forced upon us

AO3- Evaluation of symbolic interactionism:

• small scale individual interactions are explained and explains how humans can create meanings

• recognises individual motives and overcomes determinism which overcomes structuralist weaknesses

• provides insight into the consequences of interaction e.g labelling

• interpretivist research methods provides verstehen which add validity and depth to the study as a whole

• underplays group behaviour and reactions and is a psychological explanation

• ignores wider social constraints and social structures as it ignores power inequalities in society as seen through marxism and feminism

• does not explain the initial comprehension of the symbols

• postmodernists would argue that its another metanarrative

AO2- Symbolic interactionism has been applied in labelling theory

Labelling Theory (H. Becker)

Stage 1: Someone in society with power applies a label to a group/individual as ‘other’ or deviant.

Stage 2: The labelled individual/group is then treated differently by others in society.

Stage 3: The individual begins to see themselves as different and begins to associate themselves with others that share a similar label.

Stage 4: The individual becomes the label.

Stage 1: police label hippies and their culture at notting hill deviant for smoking marijuana

Stage 2: police action against marijuana users makes them feel different and from tjis they unite together

Stage 3: the marijuana users retreat into small groups

Stage 4: deviant norms and values seem to develop

Subcultures and Labelling

A group of people with a culture (whether distinct or hidden) which differentiates them from the larger/mainstream culture in the society they belong to.

Labelling and Subcultures:

Cohen ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’:

Cohen was interested in the truth behind the ‘Mods vs. Rockers’ media hype in the late 1960s. According to the media the violence between the ‘Mods’ and ‘Rockers’ was a national problem that represented the decay of society.

Cohen reached very different conclusions compared to what the media was reporting…….

Cohen found the following in his research (which contradicted the media stories)…..

>The ‘Violence’ that the media reported was actually minimal.

> The majority of young people at the seaside during these so called ‘riots’ were not Mods or Rockers.

> The media seemed to have painted a skewed picture of events & sensationalised the clashes between these two groups.

In order to understand why this occurred (occurs), Cohen suggests we need to understand the concepts of Social Control, Folk Devils & Moral Panics.

mods and rockers were labelled violent and disruptive by the media which made them folk devils and caused them to internalise this label,as a result, violence and disruption became a central part of their identity and so they carried out more acts of violence

AO3- The key point is that labelling can have a serious impact on someone’s sense of self and their identity and interactionists uncover this impact.

Outline and explain contributions by social action perspectives in understanding contemporary society (10 marks)

A Level Sociology

Theory and Methods: Phenomenology and Ethnomethodology

Spec Title: consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories

Symbolic interactionism key concepts recap

1. the looking glass self - cooley

2. the i and the me - mead

3. social action theory - Weber

4. stimulus- reaction and response - Blummer

1. labelling theory and subcultures - becker

2. impression management - Blummer

3. 3 stage of interraction

Phenomenology

AO1- Husserl

The world as we know it is a product of the individual mind.

interested in the emotion individuals attach to phenomena

AO2- Schutz

Developed Husserls ideas and applied it to the social world. He states the way the individual mind views the world isn’t completely unique in fact we share these with other people which is how we are able to live in community and social groups. There develop through shared experiences. These may be different in different communities and social groups and are not necessarily applied to society as a whole or across societies.

AO2- for example, Londoners using the tube find it easy and annoying when tourists dont share the same sentiment. dress and location. victims of domestic violence share a reaction of fear and caution but people that havent been in t a DV relationship have hope and joyful expectations of future relationships

Typifications

shared reactions allow us to create typifications which are the categories that help us to organise the experiences and world around us. the typifications have led to general knowledge which helps the world run smoothly as there is less hesitance and more trust

AO2- for example the category may be education and therefore trust a new teacher in a school

Life World - shared typifications creates common sense knowledge

AO2- for example red light means stop

Recipe Knowledge - the ability to interpret a situation, action or motivation without really thinking about it

(AO2) For example when crossing the road individuals look for a red light to prevent being hit

Natural Attitude - ‘ taken for granted world of everyday life’

A02) For example- posting a letter requires an individual to put trust in multiple people to deliver their message.

AO3: Berger and Luckman

They agree that it is right to focus on the common sense knowledge they disagree with the idea that reality is an inter-subjective reality but instead that once the shared meanings have been created, society becomes an external reality that reflects back on us For example religion starts as a set of ideas but becomes powerful structures of society which can constrain and dictate how individuals should live, dress, eat and procreate with. argues that there is no longer a shared reaction to phenomena and now external forces that control us

Ethnomethodology

AO1: Garfinkel

Garfinkel is interested in how social order is maintained. He is interested in how people construct common sense knowledge and the rules and processes we use to produce the meanings in the first place.

• idea that social order is maintained because we all act and react the same way but instead meanings are socially constructed. the socially constructed meaning creates social order

indexicality- everything is dependent on the context

reflexivity- the use of common sense knowledge to interpret everyday situations and construct a sense of order

avoid using shared reactions but meanings are socially constructed because of similar ideas and interactions and this maintains social order

AO3: How could this be a criticism of symbolic interactionism

How is social order created?

What do Ethnomethodologists study?

Indexicality - everything is dependent on the context

Reflexicality - the use of common sense knowledge to interpret everyday situations and construct a sense of order

AO2- Breaching experiment

Garfinkle got his students to either act as lodgers in their own home (overly polite, avoiding getting personal) or the haggled over the price of groceries at the checkout of a supermarket.

Breaching experiments are experiments which aim to disrupt people’s sense of order and challenge their reflexivity (individuals are able to shape their behaviours based on the situations they are in) by undermining assumptions about a situation.

By challenging the taken for granted assumptions he was able to show that the orderliness of everyday situations is not fixed but an accomplishment of those who took part. Social order is “participant produced”

• evidence that if you socially construct the meaning of a relationship between a parent and child then you can socially construct the meaning of anything

AO3:

• uncovers the role individuals can play in maintaining social order

• craib - uncovers taken for granted rules rather than explaining

Giddens theory of structuration

AO1/3 Structuration

• brings together both structure and social action

AO1- Duality of structure

• Both the structure in society and the social action in society depend upon each other. e.g people are constrained by capitalism, but capitalism only thrives because people support it

• therefore the structure of society provides a framework of rules

• individuals have free will with how they interpret the rules

Reflexivity

• individuals are constantly reflecting on their behaviour

AO2- legal system

• the legal system creates a framework of laws that exist without human interactions

• there is still some free will as individuals break the law

• social action to change society through protests and public outrage influencing laws for example the 750k signatures protest to ban guns after dunblane massacre , legalisation of homosexuality

Methods

• mixed methods approach of both interpretivism and positivism ( triangulation )

AO3- Evaluation of Structuration Theory

structuralists : criticise for over emphasising the amount of free will in society and underplaying the importance of structures

Social action: underplays freewill and over plays the structures in society

Theory and Methods: Feminism

Spec Title: consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories

Three waves of feminism:

First Wave- Early 1900s- late 1920s:

1^st creating equality between men and women (suffragette movement). Where women fought for the right to vote.

Second Wave- 1960s- 70s:

2^nd concerned with radical transformation of society to overcome patriarchy – this was the era of the 1960’s where women burnt their bras in the street to fight for equal pay, abortion, divorce etc

• start of different branches of feminism

Third Wave mid 1990s- present day?:

Less focus on laws and political processes and more focused on individual identity. And the differing experiences of women.

It is concerned with diverse and local forms of feminism. it no longer universalises women’s experiences instead it breaks it down into smaller groups in society i.e. Age, ethnicity…

• difference feminism and post structural feminism emerging due to increase in choice and identity emerging as a product of the fragmentation of society

Fourth Wave- present day?:

• protests taking place over the internet- focused on uniting and empowering women through common cause

AO1: The challenge to malestream sociology

Heidensohn- the history of sociological research is male dominated as it reflects the views and interests of men and also argues that women have been marginalised in sociological research and so feminist sociology has been created as a result of this oppression because things that are in the interest of women has been neglected and ignored such as things like female criminality, domestic DoL, housework, caring duties, DV

What is patriarchy?

Walby defines patriarchy as ‘a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women.

6 pillars of patriarchy to which men benefit in all aspects of society

housework : dunscombe and marsden ; triple shift, paula nd voghel: pooling

paid work : the gender pay gap is 14.3

state : 35% of

male violence : dobash and dobash

cultural institutions

sexuality

AO2: How can society be patriarchal?

Walby (1990) – two types of Patriarchy:

Private- patriarchy within the home such as domestic violence, housework etc

Public- Patriarchy in wider society e.g workplace, fear of sexual assault , gender pay gap

AO2:

Women Political Leaders Summit (2017):: Only 23% of the world's politicians are women (34% of MPs in the UK). It's time for that to change

At the summit on 29 and 30 November, politicians and policy experts are discussing issues such as leadership, legislation and policies that work for women, in areas including peace, defence and security; the impact on women’s lives of digital and technology; and how to include gender impact in government policy-making.

Around the world, women are closing the gender gap in areas such as health and education, but significant gender inequality persists in politics

Liberal Feminism:

Developed out of second-wave feminism – seeking reform rather than revolution and argue that smaller changes in the position of women in society would lead to equality between the sexes.

Main arguments:

• gender inequality is ‘socially constructed’ and based upon traditional ideas of what gender should be .

• says that gender socialisation is sexist stereotyping

• somerville: march of progress , seen as the gender pay gap has decreased

AO2: Friedan (1963)

• lack of opportunities due to gender socialisation as we are socialised into our roles which are based on dominant traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity

Solution

remove gender socialisation and instil positive female role models in schools and the home

AO3 Analysis:

books like a david walliams boy in a dress

wilkinson - feminisation of the workforce

webb- genderquake

AO2: Sommerville- March of Progress

The inequality gap between men and women has reduced over time

rise of feminism due ot legislative change e.g equal pay act, marital rape act

AO2: Sharpe

Conducted interviews with secondary school girls in 1976 and another interview 20 years later with a different group to compare results. She found how girls’ attitudes to education and priorities in work had changed. In 1976 the girls placed ‘love, marriage, husbands, and career’ in that order as their top priorities. However, in 1994, they had switched to ‘job, career and being able to support themselves’ as their top priorities. She found that this made the girls:

More confident, these are mainly mental changes

More assertive,

More ambitious, and

More committed to gender equality

Critical of…

Critical of:

Parsons - girls are now blurring the lines between the expressive and instrumental roles e.g politics, law and education which breaks down traditional values and expectations of women

AO2:

AO3 analysis:

Faludi- crisis of masculinity

• men are becoming uncertain of their identity

• the rise of the metrosexual male, men that focus on their aesthetic identity and spend leisure and money on appearance and fashion

Mac and ghail

• female independence has created a crisis in masculinity as men are now uncertain of their role as women are in every sphere

AO3 evaluation:

• Policy changes- led to a march of progress

- criticise as its overly optimistic and its very difficult to enforce the laws

- marxists- ignoring the root cause which is capitalism

- radical fem- There is no MOP and exaggerates the extent of change

- difference feminism- Ignoring individual difference in the female experience - White, M/c

Policy changes:

Overly optimistic

Radical Feminism:

Particularly associated with certain writers from second-wave feminist thought, who adopted the most extreme position and believed that women are exploited by, and subservient to, men.

Firestone (1972) and Ortner (1974):

• Patriarchy is based upon biological differences between men and women

• women are responsible for childbirth and therefore they are oppressed by patriarchy

• childbirth diables women making them reliant on men

Personal is political:

Brownmiller (1976):

“the fear of rape is a powerful deterrent against women to be out alone at night”

AO2:

Sexuality is a social construct:

AO2: Levy (2005)- Raunch culture

Levy: In her book Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, Levy attacks the increasingly sexualised culture that objectifies women.

AO1/2: Solution:

Advocate separatism (Greer):

Consciousness’ rising:

Political lesbianism:

Women having control over their reproduction:

Firestone argued that contraception was a step towards greater gender equality, because it gave women more control over when they got pregnant. The pill introduced in the U.K. in the early 1960s.

However….

AO3: Evaluation:

Pollert (1996):

Sommerville (2000):

Liberal Feminism:

What about men?

Marxist Feminism:

They reject the notion of gender equality by liberal feminism and also say that patriarchy is not due to sexual exploitation like radical feminism. They say it is rooted in capitalism. Women’s subordination comes because of capitalism as they take on the home duties which is unpaid for the interest of capitalism.

AO2: Four ways women are exploited and oppressed:

1. Women are a source of cheap and exploitive labour (Delphy and Leonard, 1992)

2. Women are the reserve army of labour (Benston, 1972)

3. Women are used to reproduce the labour force (Smith, 2013)

4. Women act as a safety valve for men (Ansley, 1972)

Barrett (1980) Ideology of Familialism:

Mitchell (1975):

AO3: Evaluation:

They are able to link both class and gender inequality.

It does not explain women’s subordination in non-capitalist societies or societies where there is communism.

Hartmann (1981) ‘sex-blind’:

Hartmann (1979) dual system feminism

• interdependence between capitalism and patriarchy - calls this an unhappy marriage

• patriarchy allows capitalism to thrive and vice versa

Walby:

• to fully understand the female patriarchal experience the unequal labour market and paid work need to be taken into account as well as the domestic division of labour

• only studying both will give accurate conclusions and holistic understanding og the patriarchal female experience

Difference Feminism

Difference feminist do not see all women as a single homogenous group- women of ethnic minorities, white, working class and middle class, black, heterosexual, transgender, homosexual women all have different experiences.

They say that traditional factions of feminism have been ethnocentric. Meaning that, while claiming to address issues about women in general, the actually concentrate on white women’s experiences in the western world. Other feminists have called this ‘false universality’.

Has developed since the mid-1990s as a part of third wave feminism.

AO1: Intersectionality

• multiple sources of inequality oppresses a women at the same time

• Black feminism - family is sexually and racially oppressive- lone parent families means tha there is a high burden placed on black women

AO2:

Kendall

• women of colour have been forgotten by white feminists

AO2: Mirza

• black british feminism to challenge the assumption that WoC are passive to racism

Essentialists of feminism-

• A black unmarried woman would have to work another year to earn the same as a white man whilst white women its considerably lower and closer to two months

• concrete ceiling and glass ceiling

• 0/100 CEOs are women in the FTSE100

Essentialism= the idea that all women share the same experiences.

AO3 evaluation:

Walby: argues that the shared notions of patriarchy are more important than individual differences and that this is making the feminist movement weaker as its fragmenting the feminist movement.

AO1: Post-structuralist feminism (Butler and Scott (1992))

• multiple discourses- religion, science , medical etc

• in this post structuralist society the multiple discourses create the patriarchy and the discourses allow for individuals to control the knowledge around patriarchy. e.g scripture saying that wives should submit to their husbands, Iran Hijab protests , reactionary force used by Iranian government , roe v wade control over bodies

• Childbirth being seen as a medical condition they argue that this gives doctors power and knowledge which as a result leads to control over women’s bodies , husband stitch

AO1: The enlightenment project

• 1700s onwards allowed men to control and create discourses allowing them to exercise power

• butler - simply a form of power and knowledge , the discourses however create differences in inequality

AO2:

• ‘womanhood’ in Saudi Arabia e.g framed through Islam and conforming to Islamic expectations of women

• In Eurocentric societies , womanhood is centred around individual choices and freedom . workplace and media consumption

• thus discourses can be challenges as not all women have the same experience of womanhood

AO3: Evaluation:

• segal - oppression is not just a discourse its a real inequality. Feminists need to keep their focus on inequality .

- the structures in society ha caused real inequality and it's not just a discourse e.g gender pay gap, 96% of DV

AO3: Is feminism an important contribution to Sociology?

Theory and Methods: Post modernity Vs Modernity

Spec Title: the concepts of modernity and post-modernity in relation to sociological theory

What do feminism, Marxism and Functionalist all have in common according to Post modernity?

What is modernity?

What is postmodernity?

Annotate and develop the ideas around the differences between modernity and post modernity:

Does power create knowledge or knowledge create power?

AO1: Foucault:

• Power and knowledge are inter-related – knowledge is always an exercise of power and power is always a function of knowledge

• says that they are dependent on each other

• knowledge is always an exercise of power and power is always a function of knowledge : Mark Zuckerberg , varsity blues college admissions scandal 2019

• discipline is a mechanism of power- surveillance is a part of discipline

• postmodernism is relativism

eval

• goffman: criticised foucault ideas stating that prisoners often find ways of resisting controls in prisons

• neglects the expressive ( emotional) aspects of punishment

disciplinary power

• the sovereign, no longer rules by force but society self rules through self surveillance which controls the behaviour and actions of others

• Anti-foundationalism

• there is no objective criteria by which we can confirm if something is true or false

• Relativism

• all truths are true to each individual person and by extension there is no encompassing truth as all truth is relative. there is no special aspect to truth.

AO1: Lyotard (1984): Metanarratives

People do not believe in the myth of truth and societies can no longer be understood in terms of general theories. There has been a loss of faith in the superiority of science and progress.

AO3- Coronavirus conspiracy theories

• people now blame science, tech and rationalism for illness rather than it being positive

- people saying the virus escaped from a chinese lab

- Covid doesn't actually exist

Why isn’t postmodernism a metanarrative?

• death of a metanarratives is a metanarratives in of itself as that is an all encompassing truth

• lyotard’s response is that postmodernism does not offer solutions but merely commenting on the changes in society and doesn't offer a universal truth but rather describing how metanarratives no longer exist.

AO3: Evaluation of Leotard

AO1: Baudrillard:

Life in the postmodern era is so dominated by media imagery that it has become what he calls ‘media saturated’.

• we can only be certain about the information right in front of us

• outside our immediate view , we have created a hyper reality where we can no longer be sure about if the information we are seeing is accurate and truthful as they are based on simulacrum

Simulacra:

• ‘ a representation or imitation of something’

• e.g chatgpt , filters, deepfake tech , photoshop

Hyperreality

• reality becomes based on distorted images rather than the factual truth

Culture and Identity in Post modernity

1. Society shows endless versions of truth

• access multiple truths through globalisation and tech

1. Society is unstable

• individuals have become more fragmented with the choice on offer in society

1. Metanarratives

• death of the metanarrative has happened due to choice and identity and the fact that we can pick and mix those choices

1. Metanarratives in the past have failed

• they have failed to deliver a better society and so people have lost faith in the metanarrative

1. In post modernity you can pick and mix identity

• people are no longer constrained to their ascribed identity and people have the freedom to choose an identity that suits them.

However, we have endless amount of truths so according to Baudrillard if we cannot grasp reality, then we have no power to change it

AO3: Evaluation:

• Philo and miller : argues that audience members are not passive to the media and are able to make a judgement n the accuracy of the media

• direct criticism of the existence of hyperreality

• talks about how the w/c are less likely to be able to access the same choice as someone in the middle class

• very influential- g

AO3: Evaluation of postmodernism

• very influential- growth in media and critiques of the biases in the media

• pointed out the failure in grand metanarratives and how structures in society lose influence, they have had influence in post structural feminism and had influence on some strands of neo marxism

• more a critique of modern society than a sociological theory

• harvey ( neo marxist) - agrees many PM ideas have taken place- fragmentation, consumption and superficiality in culture. However, this isnt due to the decline in Metanarratives but instead due to economic changes in the 1970s and a response from capitalists

- manufacturing to service sector : TNCs are exploiting the global nature of society and due to flexible accumulation as a result of globalisation they are able to outsource their labour to low income countries

• have not suggested any alternatives to grand theory

• not everything is hyperreal

• does not deal with inequalities in society

• Best and Kellner: point out that PM is particularly a weak theory: while it identifies some important features of today’s society, it fails to explain how they came about e.g how did the media and consumption emerge

• Harvey : National governments are much less important and powerful given the rise of global and continent governing groups SEC, EU, NATO- globalisation has created a myth of freedom and choice and helps benefit the rich

• Walby- 6 pillars of Patriachy, Heidensohn- 3 types of control, Brownmiller- women are controlled by the fear of sexual assault

• Barratt- Ideology of familism

• Koskela- surveillance is used to justify the male gaze as they still have control over women’s bodies

• Levy: Raunch culture

Theories of late modernity

Spec Title: the concepts of modernity and post-modernity in relation to sociological theory

• Theories of late modernity do recognise that something important is happening. In their view, key features of modernity that were always present have now become intensified.

• For example, social change has always been a feature of modern society, but now the pace of change has gone into overdrive.

• So we are still in modernity but we have entered the late phase.

AO1: Giddens:

Duality of structure:

• structuation- Looking at structure and social action simultaneously

• duality of structure : structures in society and the social action in society are interdependent

• laws work independently and individuals have freedom in how they act and react to the laws

• laws are able to change as they depend on human action such as the protests leading to the legalisation of homosexuality

• language- the death of Latin as its no longer needed after the death of the roman empire

There are experiences of rapid change on a global scale – this is because of two key features of modernity:

1. Disembedding:

• individuals no longer have to be directly with someone to communicate to another individual

• e.g Shamima Begum communicating and adopting extremist values through social media

1. Reflexivity:

• traditions no longer dictate on decisions

• as a result we are constantly reflection on the decisions we make

AO1: Beck – Risk Society:

He believes that todays late modern society-which he calls ‘risks society’ faces new kinds of dangers:

Two types of dangers:

1. Society faced dangers due to its inability to control nature (drought etc)

2. Today it’s dangers from manufactured risks and human activities (grooming, global warming)

• grooming sped up massively as a result of the internet and global warming as a result of science

• late modernism argues that individuals have free will and choice on how risk averse they are , manufactured risks have exacerbated the choice people can make to engage in the risk

• argues that every person in society is in danger of these risks . e. g climate change, cancer, pollution

AO3: Evaluation of Late Modernity

• Marxists : globalisation with climate change allows the rich to relocate and the poor to suffer more Ledc’s pay the price , the rich can afford healthier foods and better healthcare

• highlights the interdependency of structure , choice and free will as they provide an alternative to PM

• bridges the gap between structure and social action

• mike rusting- real problem is still capitalism and not tech

• Hirst- environmentalists are too fragmented to challenge capitalism

• reflexivity is not possible for everyone for example w/c people do not have the same freedoms to reflect on their financial situation

MODEL PARAGRAPHS

OUTLINE AND EXPLAIN TWO PROBLEMS OF USING THEORIES OF MODERNITY TO STUDY TODAY’S SOCIETY (10)

One problem of using theories of modernity to study today’s society is that it is out of date. This is due to the fact that that it does not take into consideration that identity is now chosen unlike in the period of modernity. During modernity, theorist such as Marxism for instance, discussed identity in terms of inheritance. Class was inherited and consequently, it was as very apparent due to the type of work individuals carried out, which reflected their income. For example, manual workers (proletariats) worked in factories and earned very little. According to postmodernism, this is no longer relevant to today’s society as firstly manual labour is now in decline and there is a rise in service sector (financial and retail) employment. This is due to the rise in globalisation which means that manufacturing sector can now be done more cheaply in developing countries. Marxism does not account for this change and the impact it will have on class. Secondly, class is very complex now resulting in seven classes. Class is no longer only based on income and occupation (using occupation scales) but is also now based on cultural and social capital, which does not always collaborate with occupation due to the rise of social media (such as Facebook). In addition, the working class are now more affluent (Divine) and choose to live lifestyles once believed to be of the upper class (dining out, visiting museums, owning housing and concerts). This however, would not have been possible by the traditional working class which theories of Marxism discuss. Therefore, the rise of globalisation and changes in employment has led to changes/decline in social class which traditionally was the major source of identity in Britain, and theories of modernity do not account for these changes and consequently out of date.

EVALUATE THE VIEW THAT THEORIES OF LATE MODERNITY ARE MORE RELEVANT TO SOCIETY TODAY THAN THEORIES OF MODERNITY. (20)

Some sociologists would agree that theories of late modernity are more relevant to society today than theories of modernity as theories of modernity are out of date. This is due to the fact that that theories of modernity do not take into consideration that identity is now chosen, which is supported by Giddens who refers to reflexivity in the period of late modernity. For Giddens, late modern society is going through rapid change on a global scale. This has led to a reflexive society where tradition and custom has become less important and our actions have become more individualistic and reflexive, taking risks and opportunities. This is relevant to today’s society as for example, in traditional society the royal family will only marry within aristocracy, whereas in today’s society we are seeing royal members such as Harry and William not only marry outside of aristocracy but also outside the British culture. This demonstrates that not only have individuals broken down geographical barriers, but also members of the family are no longer expected to follow family customs and traditions but are free to pursue their own goals and desires. This is also applicable to beliefs, where according to Hervieu- Leger, there is a rise of spiritual shoppers choosing religious beliefs and practices to meet their individual goals and needs. Today we are seeing members within a family belonging to a diversity of faiths and beliefs systems.

However, theories of post modernity can be criticised to still not apply to all social groups in today’s society. This is because although Gidden’s discuss the opportunities to re-evaluate actions and make choices that are more individualistic, this is not possible for all especially those who are more disadvantaged. For example, those with wealth may have greater access to individualism and opportunities. For example, they can decide to move to another country for improved quality of life, but the poor will not have access to similar opportunities.

Item D

According to some sociologist, recent changes such as those associated with globalisation have resulted in major change in the nature of today’s society. For example, postmodernists argue that we no longer live in modern society but are now living in a media-saturated postmodern society in which it is impossible to distinguish image from reality or to change society for the better. As a result, postmodernists argue, we need new theories to explain this kind of society.

However, some critics argue that although there have been major changes in society, these are continuation of modernity rather than a completely new type of society.

Applying material from Item A and your own knowledge, evaluate the claim that we now living in a postmodern age. (20 marks)