Core Theory

Question 1

Define society.

Answer 1

A group of people who live in a definable community and share the same culture. Consists of people, institutions, shared beliefs and cultural ideas.

Question 2

Define social institutions.

Answer 2

Mechanisms/patterns of social order focused on meeting social needs. For example, the government, economy, education, family, and religion.

Question 3

What is the structuralist theory?

Answer 3

Aka top down theory. They believe that those with higher social positions in society create and passed down ideology.

Question 4

What is the social action theory?

Answer 4

Aka bottom up theory. They believe that society is constructed by the people within the society.

Question 5

Who are structuralists?

Answer 5

1. Marxists
2. Feminists
3. Functionalist

Question 6

Who are social action theorists?

Answer 6

1. Liberal feminists

Question 7

What is consensus theory?

Answer 7

Believe that the members in society work together towards a common shared goal.

Question 8

What do consensus theorists believe in?

Answer 8

Social solidarity and social cohesion.

Question 9

What is social solidarity and social cohesion?

Answer 9

Social solidarity - refers to a society where the individuals are connected to and supported by one another

Social cohesion - society working together in a peaceful and effective way

Question 10

What is conflict theory?

Answer 10

Believe that society functions based on the conflicts between the majority and minority groups.

Eg, patriarchy and capitalism.

Question 11

What are functionalist?

Answer 11

Consensus theorists.

Question 12

Who are the major functionalist?

Answer 12

1. Parson’s
2. Durkheim
3. Murdock

Question 13

What are Marxists?

Answer 13

Structural conflict theory.

Question 14

Who are the major Marxists?

Answer 14

1. Karl Marx
2. Engels
3. Althusser

Question 15

What are Feminists?

Answer 15

Structural conflict theorists.

Question 16

Who are the major Feminists?

Answer 16

1. Greer
2. Somerville
3. Oakley

Question 17

Who are the major late modernists?

Answer 17

1. Beck
2. Giddens

Question 18

Who are the major post modernists?

Answer 18

1. Ballard
2. Baudrillard

Question 19

Who are interactionsts?

Answer 19

Instead of trying to explain human behaviour in the context of large social structures or fundamental conflicts or cleavages in society, they look on a smaller level, acknowledging that humans have agency and are not swept away by forces outside their control and create their own meanings.

Question 20

What is the patriarchy?

Answer 20

A social system in which men hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property.

Question 21

What is capitalism?

Answer 21

An economic system based on market competiton and the pursuit of profit, in which the means of production or capital are privately owned by individuals or corporations.

Question 22

What is the infrastructure?

Answer 22

The economy system divided into two phenomenon; the means of production (raw materials) and the relations of production (people for production).

Question 23

What is the superstructure?

Answer 23

The ideas, philosophies, and cultures that are built upon the means of production.

Eg, capitalist ideologies.