Prologue: The Basics of Sociology

What is Sociology?

• sociology is the study of human society, including its development, functions and organisation

• there are considered to be 3 founding fathers of sociology: Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber

• Marx believed that capitalism oppresses the working class and that there needs to be a revolution to make all people equal

• Durkheim was a functionalist, and he believed that society is made up of different institutions each with its own function, which work in harmony to create a stable society

• Weber believed that sociologists should study both structures and actions to understand society, thinking that an individual’s behaviour is shaped by structural and subjective factors

Culture, Socialisation and Identity

• culture is the way in which people live: their language, beliefs, norms, values, knowledge and skills

• cultures vary from place to place and also with time

• socialisation is the way in which culture is passed on from generation to generation

• it begins in childhood, where you learn how to behave and what to believe

• socialisation comes from families, schools, friends, religion, media and work

• a society’s values are internalised by socialisation, so that they become part of your way of thinking

• identity is made up of basic facts (such as age and name) but also the way you see yourself and the way that your are viewed by others

• social identity is influenced by things like class, ethnicity, gender, age and sexuality

• globalisation is the idea that the world is becoming more connected

• improved technology, communication, increase in transnational corporations and more migration all mean that national boundaries are breaking down

Social Differentiation, Stratification and Power

• social differentiation is the groups in which society is divided

• these groups can be decided based on cultural or biological features

• stratification is when groups are ordered in layers, with a specific hierarchy

• these groups can be decided based on status, income, religion, ethnicity, gender and age but most commonly on social class

• power is seen as the ability to get someone to do something that they wouldn’t normally do

• a person can have power because of wealth, job or social class

Sociological Methods and Theories

• sociological research methods may include interviews, questionnaires, observations, documents, government statistics or experiments

• once data has been collected, it must be analysed and interpreted

• sociologists look for patterns and correlations and use these to draw conclusions

• the main theories of sociology are Marxism, functionalism, interactionism, feminism and postmodernism

Functionalism

• Emile Durkheim believed that society is made up of various institutions each of which has a useful function

• functionalism is a structural theory as it looks at how society is structured

• examples of these institutions include family, education or religion

Marxism

• Karl Marx focused on the effects of capitalism, thinking that a society’s economic system influenced its non economic institutions

• institutions like the family, education and religion are part of the superstructure, and they lead individuals into accepting the inequalities of capitalism

• he believed that society was divided into 2 classes: the bourgeoisie (ruling class, minority) and the proletariat (working class, little or no power)

• neo marxism is a 20th century version of Marxism, developed to be more relevant to the modern world

• neo marxists focus on ideology and how it is communicated and enforced by the ruling class

• functionalists say that Marx put too much emphasis on the role of economic structures in shaping ideas

• interactionists say he placed too much emphasis on class and not enough on individuals

• postmodernists say social class doesn’t have such an important influence on individual identity any more and that people are defined by the choices they make

Feminism

• feminists believe that society is patriarchal, meaning it is run by men and that things are done in a man’s best interest

• they believe there are many gender based inequalities in society and they want to make society more balanced

• liberal feminists want equal rights and opportunities for women, and that introducing more opportunities for women into the existing structures of society is the best way to bring about equality

• radical feminists believe that society is structured to oppress women and that society itself needs to change, believing that there is an imbalance in power in all relationships and that women are expected to be subservient to men

• marxist feminists combine the beliefs of marxism and feminism, believing that women are exploited by the capitalist societies

• radical feminists criticise liberal feminists for not acknowledging that it is more than just institutions that are patriarchal

Interactionisn

• many sociologists say that society is actually determined by the behaviour and interaction of individuals

• theories like this are called action theories as they emphasise the actions of individuals

• interactionists don’t say structures aren’t important, but they do suggest that each of us responds to social structures in our own way

• marxists say interactionists don’t pay enough attention to conflict or to the fact that some social groups are more powerful than others

Sociological Theories Key Points

• functionalism: society is made of institutions that function as a whole

• marxism: society is split into 2 classes: the working class and ruling class

• feminism: society is patriarchal and women have less rights than men

• interactionism: interaction between individuals in society

New Right Sociologists

• the new right is a form of consensus functionalism

• new right socialists are similar to functional theorists as they both believe that society needs values and institutions to maintain social order

• new right theories focus on things such as family, education and welfare

• new right theorists argue that a nuclear family is the most important social institution and that the traditional roles in a nuclear family are paramount in maintaining social order

• feminists criticise new right theorists due to their ideas regarding traditional roles in a family which they see as being oppressive to women

Postmodernism

• modernism is the period of industrialisation and urbanisation that began with the industrial revolution when rational and scientific thinking was valued

• modernist theories include marxism and functionalism

• postmodernists say that society is no longer structured or ordered in the same way that it was at the time of the modernist theories, and that society is now much more flexible and there is more choices of culture and lifestyle

• functionalists disagree with postmodernists because postmodernism ignores the role of institutions

• interactionists disagree with postmodernists because postmodernism ignores how individuals interact

• marxists disagree with postmodernists because postmodernism ignores inequality