Contempory Social Theory

Question 1

Symbolic Interactionism

Answer 1

Way meanings, values and actions are interconnected within individuals

Question 2

Macro-sociology

Answer 2

Long term trends, big scale sociology

Question 3

Micro-sociology

Answer 3

Social interactions, small scale sociology

Question 4

Structuralism (3)

Answer 4

1. Society comes before individuals
2. Personal freedom is a construct
3. Society is more ordered

Question 5

Existentialism

Answer 5

You are responsible for your situation, you are free

Question 6

Existential freedom

Answer 6

Free in your response to situations

Question 7

Dramaturgy (Goffman) (Symbolic Interactionism) (3)

Answer 7

1. Social interactions = theatrical performance
   - Setting, props, front/back stage
2. Impression management

Question 8

Frankfurt School (9)

Answer 8

1. Institute for social research
2. Context:
   - Rise of fascism
   - Persecution of Jewish intellectuals
   - Rise of mass production, mass media
3. Members:
   - Adorno
   - Horkheimer
   - Walter Benjamin

Question 9

Erving Goffman (3)

Answer 9

1. Asylums - ‘total institution’
2. Stigma - stigmatised persons can develop a positive social identity
3. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life - dramaturgy

Question 10

Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) (3)

Answer 10

1. ‘socio-analysis’:
   - Unearth hidden motivations within society
2. Societies structures are misrecognised
3. Wanted to bring structuralism and existentialism together

Question 11

Misrecognition (Bourdieu)

Answer 11

Failure to see power relations hidden by cultural systems that justify inequality

Question 12

Culture (Bourdieu) (4)

Answer 12

1. Social structures/inequalities are reproduced culturally:
   - Beliefs
   - Traditions
   - Values

Question 13

First Key Feminist Work (3)

Answer 13

1. Mary Wollstonecraft 1792:
   - Published in the wake of the French Revolution
   - Revolution only mentioned the rights of man

Question 14

Crisis of the Patriarchy (Feminism) (4)

Answer 14

1. 1950s
2. Second wave feminists:
   - ‘women are naturally irrational’
   - Cultural construction

Question 15

Myth of Autogenesis (Feminism) (3)

Answer 15

1. Zeus gives birth through his head
   - Devalues natural birth
   - Ensures primacy of men over women

Question 16

Empire and Imperialism (2)

Answer 16

1. Based on the principles of expansion and exploitation

2. 1914 - 2/3 of the globe was shared by the main European powers

Question 17

Lenin (1916) (3)

Answer 17

1. Believed imperialism would lead to a crisis of capitalism:
   - Space would eventually run out
   - Capitalism would collapse