Unit 1: Theory and methods

What does Sociology do?

It tries to understand and explain the relationship between people and the societies they live in.

Society- A group in which you belong, can be a family unit or a large one like your country and anything in between.

To study the complex behaviour of people in social groups the two main tools that sociologists use are theories about society and methods to explore those theories.

Structuralism- an approach focusing on large scale structures in which people play defined roles. Macro. Institutions rather than individuals. perceives society as a set of structures in which individuals play definite roles. In this approach the social roles are important rather than the individuals.

founder od structuralism- Emile Durkheim

two main approaches to sociology- Structuralist and interpretivist.

Macro- this approach focuses on large scale of whole societies

Micro- this approach focuses on small scale social interaction.

Correlation- when two variables are related to each other but causation cannot be proved. for example, ill health is related to poverty, this is not a causal relationship as some poor people are not sick and some sick people are not poor.

Causation-where a strict link can be proved between two variables in a time sequence.* causation is hard to find in sociology. Heating water to 100 degrees celsius causes it to boil.

Interpretivism- approaches that start at the level fo the individual, focusing on small scale phenomena and favouring qualitative methods. Micro. believes that individuals are in control, pulsing the string of society.

Interpretivists re interested in how individuals make sense of society and social actions. They are interested in how people see themselves and what makes up their identity .

Identity- How a person sees themselves and how others see them.

Socially available labels include

  • sex and gender identities

  • ethnic identities

  • age

  • social class

  • nationality

  • occupation

  • roles within the family

  • membership of a religious or political organisation

    Interpretivists believe that our identities are not imposed on us by society as structuralists would argue. they use research methods that try to discover what meanings people give to their actions and how they interpret the world around them.

The main differences between structuralism and interpretivism

  • Structuralism is a macro approach whereas interpretivism is a micro.

  • structuralism focuses on the roles that people play in society whereas interpetivism focuses on the individuals and how they perceive the world.

    Perspectives- ways of viewing social life from different points of view.

    Consensus- basic agreement based on a set of shared values

    Conflicts-disagreement between groups with different interests.