Theory and Methods Booklet 1

A-level Sociology

Part 1 - Theory and methods

Name: ________________________________________

Teacher: _________________________ Class code: ________________________

A Level Sociology

Theory and Methods: Functionalism

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

(AO2) Braindump

General theory:

• Consensus theory

• Society functions as a body and each sector acts as a different sector (organic analogy)

Family:

• Parsons

• Murdock

• Young and Wilmott

• Bott

Education:

• Durkheim

• Parsons

• David and Moore

Beliefs:

• Bellah

• Durkheim

• Malinowski

Crime and Deviance:

• Durkheim

• Cohen

• Merton

• Hirschi

Who are the founding fathers?

• Durkheim

• Marx

• Weber

Durkheim & Functionalism:

• INFLUENCED the work of Parsons and Merton

• Important to measure objective facts as they are free from bias and subjectivity

• Objective truths are based on the law, money and language

• Beliefs norms and values in society are based on objective truths

• Measuring objective truths would lead to the scientific measurement of society

• Founded the functionalist view that society is based on value consensus

• Social institutions shape the process of socialisation, create social solidarity and social cohesion

• All social phenomena performs positive functions for society

How does society work?

The Work of Durkheim directly influences Parsons: 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 in society have needs e.g. the need for socialisation or socialisation

(AO2) For example…

• E.g. education relies on parental consent and adequate primary socialisation

• E.g. family needs economic stability and a form of a workplace

Functions:

• Institutions are able to function for the benefit of society

(AO2) For example…

• E.g. the family’s function is to provide socialisation and communicate

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

AO1- Social order Parsons:

• A state of stability and consensus rather than a state of chaos and upheaval (anomie)

Central value system: the practices in society based on the hegemonic value consensus

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

Value consensus: allows for social change and can lead to disagreement with the central value system

• An agreement upon the shared practices in society

For value consensus, three things are needed:

1. Socialisation:

The learning of society’s norms and values and the requirements to succeed and thrive to achieve societal goals

AO2- For example…

Primary socialisation in the family e.g. taught how to speak and eat

Secondary socialisation in education e.g. meritocracy teaches pupils a work ethic and value of competition

1. Social Integration:

Belonging to a society or community.

AO2- For example…

• In religion this occurs through going to places of worship to have shared liturgy

• In education this is done through learning FBV and history teaches British victories and patriotism

1. Social control:

• Informal- unwritten values that are policed by peers as well as institutions e.g. family and education and formal- written laws and policies to enforce their agenda

• Reaffirms value consensus

• Following societal norms and values are rewarded

• Deviance from societal norms and values result in sanctions

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

Adaptations:

• Society meets its members needs by adapting through the economic sub-system e.g. the raising of minimum wage during the cost of living crisis, triple lock pensions

Goal attainment:

• Society has set goals and has allocated resources to achieve them

• This occurs due to the political sub-system e.g. achieving a place of high social standing so education is free and healthcare is free in the UK

Integration:

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

• Maintained the norms and values of society through the ‘warm bath theory’ in the family

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 the pandemic

• Being made redundant allows people to rely on their families or religious beliefs

This is referred to as the AGIL schema.

Which of these roles are instrumental and which are expressive?

Instrumental:

• Adaptations

• Goal attainment

Expressive:

• Integration

• Latency

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

• Compares traditional society to an traditional society

• Works independently and functions by itself, self-reliant and single cell organism

• Comparable with traditional pre-industrial communities

• It provided and consumed by itself

• Pre-industrial society was judged purely by ascribed status

• IN MODERN SOCIETIES HOWEVER, it functions like the digestive system

• Many different organs (institutions) working together to provide for its members

• If something changes in one institution, it directly affects other institutions

• Thus, society has developed slowly and gradually leading to the development of specific social institutions

AO1- Structural differentiation (Parsons)

• Different institutions in society have become more specialised, they have developed specific functional roles each meeting a different set of needs

• E.g. education allows for social mobility, the family allows for norms and values, religion teaches morals and ethics

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

• Universalistic standards- even level of judgement through examinations

AO2-

AO3 (analysis)-

• This causes secularisation which has led to the separation of religion from major socialising institutions like education or the state.

• Religion is being replaced by the family and education system in teaching norms and values to children especially based on morality and provision of knowledge, moreover, education now takes on the role of social solidarity

AO3- Evaluation of Parsons:

• Ethnocentric view as secularisation isn’t occurring in Islamic cultures

• Exaggerates the separation of institutions rather they are overlapping e.g. faith schools in the UK

• the rise of the media shows that it is becoming even more differentiated

Merton (1968):

1. Indispensability- all institutions are necessary for society to function adequately- no empirical evidence to support this. E.g. the idea that the nuclear family is the best and most effective family type has no supporting evidence

2. Functionality- all instructions have functional unity and directly influence each other. Not always true as E.g. change in mandatory education age has no impact on religious belief or 2008 financial crash doesn’t affect the rules of netball THIS CRITICISES THE IDEA OF SYSTEMS

Parsons assumes that everything is intended however, Merton argues that we have both intended and unintended consequences and functions.

AO2- e.g. Hopi Indian Rain Dance

Manifest function (intended)- to produce rainfall

Latent function (untended)- created social solidarity in a time of hardship e.g. drought

Manifest function of education: building knowledge

Latent function of education: reproducing class inequality

Manifest function of religion: teach morality

latent function of religion: maintaining social cohesion in society

AO3 Evaluation:

Marxism:

• Society isn’t harmonious

• Based upon class conflict and exploitation

• Legitimises power seeing as those with the most privilege would have the most to lose if society changed.

Postmodernism:

• Functionalism is too outdated to look at the diverse and the fragmented nature of society

• Functionalism is a meta narrative that attempts to explain society as a whole but fails in doing so due to the complexities of society

Dennis Wong:

• Sees functionalism as as deterministic as it assumes that people have no free will or agency- individuals will blindly follow society's norms and values due to socialisation and value consensus

Ethnocentric:

• The studies are focused in western-centric places

Craib (1992):

• Though there are flaws to Parsons theory he must be accredited for his attempt to provide an explanation for society as a whole as very few theorists have tried or come to the conclusions that Parsons does.

Functionalism and the New Right:

• Political ideology which emerged in Britain during the years 1979-1997 of conservative gov’ts.

• Share functionalism’s beliefs in: social order, socialisation, social stability

• Functionalism= consensus and New Right argues that society is failing seen throughout the development of the underclass

Family:

• Dependency Culture

• Marsden and Murray

Education:

• Education voucher

• Chubb and Moe

Crime:

• Merton

A Level Sociology

Theory and Methods: Marxism

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

Warring factions based on ideology but approaches to society are very similar

Similarities with functionalism

• Structural theories

• See inequality as inevitable

• Impact of structures on individuals

• Both are deterministic

• Quantitative, positivists

• Macro theories

• Modernist theories

Main differences to functionalism

• Conflict vs consensus

• For functionalism social change is smooth and gradual but for Marxists the only way for social change is a revolution.

Workers of means of production:

• Proletariat own their labour

• Exploited as they create products for the bourgeoisie to sell for profit

Owners of means of production:

• Own everything including proletariat labour e.g. land, capital, factories

• Have the means to exploit the proletariat through the fact they control every aspect of Proletariat lives

Lumpenproletariat:

• lowest social group and they are fundamentally unable to gain class consciousness e.g. vagrants, unemployed and criminals

• Slows the idea of revolution as they are unable to help the proletariat

• They act as a deterrent for the proletariat to revolt as they are aware that their situation could be worse

• Act as easy replacement workers for the proletariat

• Their lack of mainstream participation in the economy means that they don’t disrupt capitalist and bourgeois society and industry

Petty Bourgeoisie:

• The middle class with the lowest social status e.g. small business owners

• They have the same politico-economic ideology as the bourgeoisie

• Aim to gain the same level of economic capital as the bourgeoisie

• As they have the same values and interests as the bourgeoisie they develop a superiority complex over the proletariat

• Halts a revolution as they want to be the bourgeoisie not get rid of their existence

• Their small business ownership stops them having a revolution as they feel that they would be worse off after revolution

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 bourgeoisie will buy their business or copy the same successful model as the petty bourgeoisie

• This allows them to create the same product, both quicker, cheaper and better

• This eventually pushes the petty bourgeoisie out of business e.g. Tesco express putting corner shops out of business

• This allows the bourgeoisie to get richer as there is less competition

• Buying out the petty bourgeoisie makes the bourgeoisie smaller

• The petty bourgeoisie lose their capital and sink into the proletariat

• More people in the proletariat means that there is more competition

AO3: Is this relevant to contemporary society?

Many companies are becoming increasingly monopolised.

• Most sweet food consumption is controlled by 10 companies like nestle and PepsiCo

• Meta bought out their social media competition e.g. WhatsApp and instagram

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

• over ⅕ of private school students get AAB at a level whereas 1/10 of those who go to state schools get the same qualifications

How will the proletariats respond to this?

• The proletariat will gain class consciousness inevitably

• See false class consciousness in every institution people interact with

Social change in society:

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

Ancient society:

• Succeeded primitive communism

• Slaves were exploited by empires and rulers of empires

• Tied to their slave owners and exploitation

Feudal society:

• Monarchs and lords were able to exploit serfs that worked on the land

• Absence of a bartering system

Capitalist society:

• Happened as a result of industrialisation

• As the lords and nobles transitioned into the bourgeoisie e.g. House of Lords members have hereditary peers

• The serfs have become slaves to wage labour

Materialist theory of history:

• Base is known as the economic level of society where all the capital of society exists. Bourgeoisie is able to profit from the base economically

• The base shapes the superstructure from the profit gained from the base.

• The proletariat can’t 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 ideology

How is society structured?

Base Structure and the Superstructure

Superstructure- the bourgeoisie are able to benefit from the economic production of the base. Thus the profit from the base allows them to shape the superstructure.

As the proletariat have a lack of capital to influence the superstructure, they only learn bourgeois norms and values and cement their oppression by maintaining the status quo

the economic level of society and contains all the capital and the population of the respective society

• Thus, there is a one way causality between how the base influences the superstructure.

AO2-

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

Education

Religion

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

Alienation:

Ideologies:

What is stopping the fall of capitalism from happening?

AO2-

AO3: Grenfell

Social mobility:

Social capital:

Cultural capital:

AO3: Is Marxism still relevant in contemporary society?

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

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

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

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

5. What is the class based on?

Social class in contemporary society:

Devine (1992):

AO3: Is Marxism relevant in contemporary society?

Harvey- Neo-Marxism (1990)

• Discusses economic impacts in the 1970s

• Society became deindustrialised and a turn towards financial goals through financial sector

• In a globalised world, there is a need for global Marxism due to the exploitation on a global level e.g. sweatshops and outsourcing labour

• Flexible accumulation- MNCs exploit the global systems to their advantage. Produce goods, cheap and sell those goods around the world

• Move away from traditional Marxism and exploitation due to the rising scale of those exploited.

However, Harvey (1990)…

• National governments are now a lot less powerful than previously e.g. UN are able to block and veto the ability to pass laws i.e. Rwanda, EU free movement between countries

• NATO and international armies

• Image Politics gives the illusion of choice and the fact that democracy and freedom of choice is a facade. Many individuals represent similar views, little access to who is supports and backs the leaders of the country

• There are now more dilemmas than class e.g. race, religion and ethnicity

• Rise of single issue political parties e.g. Green Party and UKIP

Summary of Marxism:

Evaluation of Marxism:

• Weber- Class isn’t the only division in society. Splits class into status e.g. leisure time activities and party e.g. political ideology you subscribe to and support. When the two don’t align, it causes more divisions in society

• Weber argued that Marx is too simplistic by oversimplifying the categories that people are split into e.g. the proletariat should be: skilled and unskilled, the bourgeoisie should be: office workers, white collar, petty

• Feminists argue that class divisions are less relevant as women regardless of class women are more likely to oppressed and exploited due to the fact that they are more likely to experience part time work, dual burden

• Marx thought that class would be a massive division and the middle class would become a bigger working class, however, M/C has grown in the UK. China’s globalisation has allowed W/C to benefit

• Marxism is economically deterministic as it ignores social mobility and the presence of free will

• gaining class consciousness is an example of how the working-class will gain the free will as its inevitable

• The first to explain massive inequalities in terms of wealth, power, and income, through the owners of the means of production

• Recognises the importance of the economy and how the economic base is able to dictate and control what is happening in wider society

• The revolution hasn’t happened yet e.g. Russian Revolution 1917 and there were divisions on how to reach revolution

Theory and Methods: Neo-Marxism

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

Trying to compensate for the critiques of Marxism

Scientific/Structuralist Marxism:

• E.g. Althusser

• Maintains economic determinism, no free will- no matter what, people maintain their ascribed status of w/c

• ISA and RSA

Humanistic/Critical Marxism:

• E.g. Gramsci

• People do have free will

• Hegemony vs Counter hegemony

• Humans have the ability to change history

AO1: Althusser: believes that societies exist on three levels: the economic (Goods) (production in order to satisfy needs), the political (RSA) (organisations) and the ideological (ISA) (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.

• Critical of the base superstructure model as its one way causality is unrealistic and too simplistic.

• There is a two way causality between the ideological and state apparatus

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

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 influence each other, thus there is a 2 way causality

All levels equally cause exploitation in society

The ideological and the political levels have relative autonomy and can work independently from the economic level

• Ground floor shop- buy/sell products, level of profit dictates political long term decisions

• First floor offices- long term decisions e.g. buy another shop, fire an employee

• Top floor living quarters- personal changes in life that influence your interactions with the lower levels e.g. having a child

• Education:

• Economic level= reproducing a workforce

• Political level= creating and maintaining norms and values through hidden curriculum, discipline, and sanctions

• Ideological level= values of work ethic and socialisation of young people

• Family:

• Economic level= unit of consumption

• Political level= surveillance

• Ideological level= socialisation

• Beliefs:

• Economic level= Consumption and financial contributions to society

• Political level= influences legislation

• Ideological level= informs and justifies accepting position on earth.

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 pursue.

Do others 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- Martin Luther King

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.

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

• E.g. raising children for primary socialisation

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 stimuli 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 e.g. two fingers= swearing, peace, victory

3. Response- Response 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’: similar to the Superego and the Id

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 ‘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

AO1- Cooley: The Looking Glass Self

AO1- Blumer:

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-

Language-

Thought-

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’.

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.

AO3- Evaluation of symbolic interactionism:

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:

Stage 2:

Stage 3:

Stage 4:

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.

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

Phenomenology

AO1- Husserl

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

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…

Typifications

AO2- for example…

Life World

AO2- for example…

Recipe Knowledge

(AO2) For example…

Natural Attitude

AO3: Burger 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 us.

Ethnomethodology

AO1: Garfinkel

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

AO3: How could this be a criticism of symbolic interactionism

How is social order created?

What do Ethnomethodologists study?

Indexicality

Reflexicality

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”

AO3:

Giddens theory of structuration

AO1/3 Structuration

AO1- Duality of structure

Reflexivity

AO2- legal system

Methods

AO3- Evaluation of Structuration Theory

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

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...

Fourth Wave- present day?:

AO1: The challenge to malestream sociology

What is patriarchy?

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

AO2: How can society be patriarchal?

Walby (1990) – two types of Patriarchy:

Private-

Public-

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:

AO2: Friedan (1963)

Solution

AO3 Analysis:

AO2: Sommerville- March of Progress

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 1996, 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,

More assertive,

More ambitious, and

More committed to gender equality

Critical of…

Critical of:

AO2:

AO3 analysis:

Faludi- crisis of masculinity

AO3 evaluation:

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):

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

Walby:

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

AO2:

AO2: Mirza

Essentialists of feminism-

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

AO3 evaluation:

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

AO1: The enlightenment project

AO2:

AO3: Evaluation:

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

• Anti-foundationalism

• Relativism

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 superiority of science and progress.

AO3- Coronavirus conspiracy theories

Why isn’t postmodernism a metanarrative?

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’.

Simulacra:

Hyperreality

AO2:

Culture and Identity in Post modernity

1. Society shows endless versions of truth

2. Society is unstable

3. Metanarratives

4. Metanarratives in the past have failed

5. In post modernity you can pick and mix identity

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:

AO3: Evaluation of postmodernism

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:

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

1. Disembedding:

2. Reflexivity:

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)

AO3: Evaluation of Late Modernity

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)