exam questions

Question 1

sociology should be a science

Answer 1

Positivism - can be as social world is patterned - causal laws - quantitative methods - allow replicate methods of natural sciences - reliable objective data - using logic and methods of natural sciences - produces empirical evidence, generalise laws of cause and effect to solve social problems, durkehim, comte

Karl popper, Hawkings, black swan theory - falsifiable eg whether video games cause violence, experimental method, hypothetic-deductive method - sociology can be scientific by using this method - should be about falsifying a theory

Question 2

sociology should not be a science

Answer 2

Feminism - cannot and should not - malestream view and understanding of the world, science searched for single absolute truths - a single scientific feminist theory would privilege the view of some groups of women over others - oakley - cannot be a science as needs to have more informal approach

Postmodernism - ian angell, lyotard, the big bang, ethnography, science is a metanarrative, ethonography - the way experts try to establish order is not possible making it irrelevant due to how fragmented society is

Question 3

value freedom

Answer 3

traditional positivists - comte and durkheim
- model itself on logic of natural sciences - only look at what is directly observable - follow methods of natural scientists which allows detachment eg Durkheim’s suicide study used official stats - hard data - little room for subjectivity

marx - role of sociology is to reveal the truth and scientific methods achieve this - marx used method of historical analysis to discover truth about society eg development of human society ends in communism

Question 4

value laden

Answer 4

postmodernism - world consists of diversity of individuals including sociologists - no way of judging whether view is truer than others - any perspective that claims to have truth is just a metanarrative - no absolute truths just a multiplicity of truths - value free process itself is based on a set of values

feminism - Ann Oakley - only by taking an active part in the research process can sociologists gain truth of those they research - sociologists should be reflexive as shown - open mind - her own research into motherhood where interviewed first-time mothers before and after childbirth - empathy - reflexivity - openly reflecting upon the ways in which our own values, experiences and beliefs have been shaped

Question 5

sociology should be in policy research

Answer 5

comte and durkheim - sociology should use science and reason to discover cause of social problems and provide solutions to solve them - part of enlightenment of social progress - Comte - sociology as a practical subject should be applied to wider society - ideas to reinforce social order and direct social progress - Durkheim - sociology provides ways of restoring order and strengthens integrations - state - serves the interests of society as a whole - social policies help everyone eg nuclear family

political left - left realists - social democratic view - new labour - 1997 - 2010 - sociologists actively involved in social policy recommendations - help eradicate social problems eg social exclusions - Townsed - identified extent and causes of poverty in UK - survey of over 2000 households - findings to recommend policies - black report- 1980 - 37 policy recommendations for reducing class-inequalities in health

Question 6

objectivity

Answer 6

positivists - sociologists should adopt the research process of natural scientists, where a hypothesis is tested in a systematic and controlled way - quantitative data to find and measure patterns of behaviour - detached - functionalism

Question 7

subjectivity

Question 8

structure

Answer 8

macro approach
structural theories believe society is out there

functionalism - Focuses on the needs of the social system as a whole.
• All the main features of society (from institutions like the family, the language we speak and the behavioural patterns of individuals) are a response to those needs.
• A consensus theory: Sees society as based on a basic agreement among its members about values, goals and rules.
• A modernist theory, sharing the goals of the Enlightenment.
• Believes that we can obtain true knowledge of the functioning of society and that this knowledge can be used to improve society.

marxism - structural marxism - state functions to serve the long-term interests of the bourgeoisie - passes on capitalistic values to the working class to allow for exploitation - structure of capitalism affects the behaviour of individuals - individuals are the product of the class relationships with capitalism - superstructure - marx - role is to pass on dominant ideology to reinforce capitalist values

Providing:
• An awareness of cultural differences
• Self-awareness and understanding
Reflecting on:
• Experiences (eg domestic violence, sex discrimination)

Question 9

action

Answer 9

micro approach

symbolic interactionism - Blumer - people act in accordance to meanings attached - actions are partly predictable because we internalise expectatinos of others but not fixed as room for negotiation - Cooley - develop sense of ourselves by interpreting messages we receive from others - looking glass self

labelling theory - the labels people give to others influence their self-concepts - Becker interactionism - positive or negative labels can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy - eg education working class kids more likely to be labelled as failures and deviance so labelling by authorities can lead to a deviant career and master status

Can empower people to change their lives
Form pressure groups
Criticise existing policies and suggest new policies
Exert pressure on governments to implement new policies

Question 10

social action theory - weber

Answer 10

social action - action carried out by individual to which a person attached a meaning
- unconscious reaction cannot be social action
social action - an action that account for the existence and possible reactions of others in society
developed concept of verstehen action - four different types - affection action, traditional action, instrumental rational reaction and value rational reaction

level of cause - explaining the objective structural factors shaping people’s behaviour
level of meaning - understanding the subjective meanings individuals attach to actions

Question 11

structuration theory - giddens

Answer 11

attempted to recast and solve the structure action debate

argued no social laws in social life - people are knowledgeable about the world and people create and reproduce existing social structures

not separate - duality of structure - we draw upon various resources that we use these to work alongside - using them to subvert rules

rules can shape our access to resources but resources can be used to change rules

Question 12

humanistic - neo-marxism

Answer 12

Gramsci - bourgeoisie maintain domination in two ways - coercion use of force or consent propagating ideologies

• do not see domination of bourgeoisie as total and monolithic
  hegemony unlikely ever be complete
  rather than monolithin and all powerful - bourgeoisie often divided and too few so need to form alliance to create powerful bloc - rather than brainwashed into passive false consciousness - proletariat have dual conscious - one reflect bourgeoise ideology and other reflect exploitation of daily life
• disagree that economic forces along bring revolutionary change - as long as proletariat accept hegemony then no revolution
  to bring revolution marxists need to win hearts by connecting to popular culture for alliances to form to construct counter-hegemonic bloc
  then can become organic intellectuals - Leveson inquiry news international and phone hacking scandal

Question 13

structural - neo-marxism

Answer 13

Althusser - rejected both economic determinism of traditional marxism and the emphasis on free will of humanistic marxists - argued that capitalist society has three structures - economic, political and ideological level - all partly independent from eachother - all have relative autonomy and two-way causality - each level can effect the other

Rejects Gramsci - rejects view we are authors of our actions - this is an illusion created by ideological state apparatuses - we are products of pre-existing structures that map our our lives for us - ISAs socialise us into finding our allotted places in the relations of production
revolution will occur if crisis in capitalism - contradictions at different levels of the three structures

Question 14

positivism

Answer 14

Comte - 1800s - social human behaviour should be researched by adopting the same principles applies to the natural sciences - objective research to achieve objective truth - aim to find objective social facts free from interpretation and bias - natural science methods produce this

Hypothetic-inductive method - researcher is finding information about world - as knowledge grows - sees a set of patterns - confirms theory into the form of a general law - hypothetico deductive method - scientific approach - drawing up initial hypothesis and testing in order to falsify through empirical methods

Question 15

interpretivism

Answer 15

verstehen and qualitative research
- reject logic/methods of natural sciences so reject quantitative methods of study
- argue we need to see the world from the subject’s viewpoint to understand the meanings they give their actions
- must put ourselves in the other’s shoes (verstehen) to understand their meanings

science
- subject matter is meaningful social action - can only be understood by successfully interpreting the meaning/motives of actors involved
- sociology isnt a science because deal with human meanings and not laws of cause and effect
- argue we are not puppets manipulated by social factors but autonomous beings who construct the social world through the meanings we give to it

Question 16

secondary data strengths

Question 17

secondary data limitations

Question 18

non-random sampling strengths

Question 19

non-random sampling limitations

Question 20

random sampling strengths

Question 21

random sampling limitations

Question 22

realist methodology

Answer 22

science made up of open and closed systems
closed systems - researcher has control over relevant variables - can create predictions about human behaviour - popper would agree eg using lab experiments
open systems - researcher cannot control and measure all variables - hard to model - they are studied to make accurate predictions of behaviour as too many variables involved eg social class

realism and science - like with science, may not be able to directly observe/measure sociological concepts - eg false consciousness and anomie - does not mean they are not there - science can be used to study unobservable phenomena - if correct means no barriers to study meanings scientifically SO use natural/social science to explain cause of event by looking at structures and processes that are not observable but the effect of them is eg educational achievement

Question 23

realistic metholody evaluation

Answer 23

positivists - science only concerned with observable phenomena

interpretivism - sociology cannot be researched scientifically as the peoples people give to actions are not directly observable

Question 24

feminist methodology

Answer 24

critiques the area of study of mainstream sociological - traditional theoretical and methodological approaches ignore women and focuses on men - androcentrism - view world from male perspective

unstructured interviews are preferred - oakley - looked at women’s experience

radical feminism - men and women diff experiences - construct knowledge at different starting points - sexism can be seen directly or indirectly in each stage of the research process - double standards and gender insensitivity - dont report gender of respondent

feminist ethnography - reinhart - document every aspect of women’s life so researcher experience life from women’s pov

Question 25

feminist methodology evaluation

Answer 25

Hammersley

qualitative data used doesnt show patterns of inequality - unstructured interview limitations - feminist interview - cannot remove all power of researcher as the research needs direction

no unified women’s experience - ignores other important sources of inequality - difference feminism

Question 26

marxism

Answer 26

marx - capitalist society has features - w/c are legally free and separated from the means of production - competition between capitalist - ownership become concentrated in fewer hands - tech advances deskill workforce increasing the divide between minority and majority leading to polarisation
w/c have to sell labour to u/c - profit - surplus value - low wages

institutions in superstructure reflect ideology of u/p - brainwashed to accept their position - dont know they are being exploited - therefore DONT rebel - false class consciousness - use control of superstructure to pass down ideology - eg family Zaretsky - props up capitalism through socialisation

Question 27

marxism evaluation

Answer 27

feminist - overemphasis of class - conflict and inequality of gender is more important

new right - rise in share of ownership - now all r/c - society meritocratic and capitalism had improved living standards - peter saunders

neomarxist - gramsci - doesnt see the r/c as all powerful - alliance needed to create power bloc

Question 28

marxism is relevant

Answer 28

traditional marxism - marx predictions of concentrations of ownership and wealth are true - top 1% owns 40% of wealth in the US - living conditions may have improved, 30% have gotten poorer
Global capitalism - global companies / conglomerates - powerful and forms global capitalist class

neo-marxists - idea of power bloc still influential today - people now point out alliances between social groups eg Leveson enquiry and phone hacking scandal - exposed social contact between powerful positions such as Murdoch and politicians - need to stop accepting hegemony

Question 29

marxism is not relevant

Answer 29

PM - meta narrative - no longer exist - social structures are fragmenting - economy not a key factor influencing identities - media saturated society - hyperreality - main source of social devision is now around choice in consumption and lifestyle - based on fordist economy when we now live in post-fordist

Giddens argues that in late modern society, class is no longer the main source of inequality: Instead society is fractured by other inequalities like ethnicity and gender

Question 30

weber

Answer 30

What – social action – an action carried out by people to attach meaning
An unconscious reaction is not a social action – cry of pain
Developed theory of versten
How - The emergence of modern society – accomplished by important shift in patterns of social action
- Move away from trad beliefs grounded in superstition, relgion, custom and longstanding habits
- Moved to rational caluations took into account affiency and future consequences of there actions
Who – weber -classified action into four different types, based on there meanings
- Affective action, traditional action, value rational, instrumentally rational

Weber and ideal types
What – basic method for historical comparative study – refers to typical or loccially consident features of social institution or behaviour
- Eg social action example of ideal type
- Determines features of social institutions that would be present if institutions where
logically consistent and not affected by other institutions, concerns and interests.
Ideal type not concreate reality but can be used to compare with In society
Example – ideal capiatlsim – used a lot in social science literature – ideal type says capitalism consiste of 4 features
- All profitable activity are privately owned
- Pursuit of profit
- Competition between companies
- Government not envoled in economy
In reality capitalist system different from idea of ideal capiatlsim – some controlled by state, some markets are virtual monopolies

Question 31

weber evaluations

Answer 31

No much enphsis on peoples motive – ignores external social forces that may contrain and determaine behaviour
Shutz – to invidualitic cannot explain how social actors arrive at shared meaning
Too simpltic – actions can have more than one meaning or conform to more than one type

ideal types are intellectual constructs so are subjective

Question 32

radical feminism

Answer 32

patriarchy is main source of inequality and conflict - men responsible and benefit from exploitation of women - patriarchy - from unpaid domestic labour and sexual services - seen in public sphere eg work, education and politics - patriarchy control’s women’s body - need political lesbian and separatism
greer - women always suffer from male power if live in same household

patriarchy enforced in relationships - private sphere - patriarchal power is exercised through personal relationships eg sexual or physical violence
Firestone - biological ability to give birth - dependency on men - biological inequality - emancipation through abortion

Question 33

radical feminism evluations

Answer 33

too deterministic - ignores inequality and conflict in class, ethnicity, sexuality
somerville - too radical - most women want to live with men
marxists - capitalism not patriarchy

lib - outdated as change eg new man, laws
new right - not oppressive - women happier in expressive role - this idea damages families

Question 34

marxist feminism

Answer 34

women’s exploitation rooted in capitalism - capitalism made patriarchy to benefit itself - women’s unpaid domestic labour and exclusion from work - due to capitalism so dependent on men - women are seen as cheap exploitable labour
Barret - ideology of familism ensures women collude in their own oppression - believe they only get fulfilment within domestic role - nuclear family

women are reserve army of labour - labour market during economic boom but first to laid off during recession to return to domestic role - temporary contacts
ansley - women are the takers of shit - stop men taking frustration out on their bosses which is why government refused to focus on domestic abuse

Question 35

marxism feminism evaluations

Answer 35

radical - men benefit from patriarchy more than capitalism - men will always exploit women - thats why exploitation in socialist societies

contradiction - doesnt make sense for marxist theory when surplus value is goal

Question 36

liberal feminism

Answer 36

change is gradually eg through laws rather than through revolution - needed to make gender equality
eg equal pay act, the equality act
Somerville - due to these changes - more choice in education, work and household roles - seen through rise in the new man

reject biological differences that views women as less capable than men and instead seek cultural reasons and changes - traditional attitudes prevent equality for women
Ann Oakley - sex and gender not the same - gender is culturally constructed through gender socialisation so not due to biology

Question 37

liberalism feminism evaluations

Answer 37

radical feminism - judge success by male standards - they want equality with men rather than independence - encourages women to accept unequal society

difference feminism - too focused on equality with men whilst neglecting the unique experiences

Question 38

feminism is relevant

Answer 38

still inequalities between men and women - women still being exploited - eg agents of socialisation like family socialising women into domestic expressive role
radical feminists - family oppressive institution - reinforces patriarchal ideology
socialisation into certain social roles - reinforces power relationship - present in media eg adverts with women in private sphere and men in public - tunstall - symbolic annihilation

men still benefit from patriarchy and use it to exploit women and have power over women - marxist feminists - women’s exploitation is rooted in capitalism making women unpaid domestic labour - benefits men as also excluded from work so dependent on men - source of cheap exploitable labour
Barnett - familism

Question 39

feminism is not relevant

Answer 39

functionalism - gender roles are important for society to function - women should be in domestic role while men breadwinner - nuclear families are important - parsons warm bath theory

new right - no longer relevant as women prefer domestic role

difference feminism - hegemonic feminism is irrelevant

Question 40

interactionism

Answer 40

labelling theory - becker - eg teacher labels student if they dont meet the expectations of the ideal student - selfulfilling prophecy - anti school subcultures
Goffman - ethnographic study of inmates in a mental hospital in USA - destroy individuality - made them feel like they couldnt exist elsewhere creating self fulfilling prophecy

social interaction effects identity - interactions - social actions manipulate performance to manage impression others have of them - dramaturgic model - Goffman - audience monitoring our performance to check for leakage eg nonverbal communications - roles are loosely scripted by society - freedom how we choose to play them - prop is our language, staging is our surroundings, backstage is out of role

Question 41

interactionism evaluation

Answer 41

marxist - ignores wider structures in society - ignores power of who is able to define and decide labels

doesnt take into account dual roles in interactions of both actor and audience

Question 42

phenomenology

Answer 42

Feature 1:
What – looks at concept of social reality.
- Alfred – action depends on context – meaning is unclear and unstable – not everyone has same classifications
- BUT – way we classify objects is collective not individual process
How – we have shared assumptions of how things are, what situations mean etc
- Use categories shared with society (typification’s) – common sense knowledge
Who – cicourel – police officers use them to label action as deviant or not – based on appearance, accent, demnour etc
- w/c more likely to be labelled
why – this common-sense knowledge is the world – world as we know it is only product of our mind so social work ONLY exist as shared world when we share same meaning
example – traffic lights, only mean stop cuz we say it dose

eval
Marxists – common sense knowledge – imposed by R/C ideology – reproduces capitalism

feature 2:
what – its about fining out about lived experiences – people only know what they experience
e.g. being punched in the face
how – finding out how people experience phenomena – researchers do interviews – get essence of phenomena
who – Atkinson – used unstructured interviews and documents – uncover process of deciding weather death is suicide or not
- suicide – social construct – cant classify suicide objectively
- coroners – have common sense theories of suicide
impact – finds out live experiences – capturing essence of phenomenon

eval
Taylor – realist – disagrees that suicide is social construction (meaning that is developed from social interaction) – sociologist job to explain actions

Question 43

ethnomethodology

Answer 43

Ethnomethodologists stem from phenomenology, but are interested in how society/ meanings are created. It’s more of a method than a theory.

Garfinkel - interested in how we produce meanings in the first place - society is a social construction - social order is an illusion created by the mind

Atkinson’s study of sudden deaths being classed as suicide - suicide was just a social construction of meaning

Garfinkel - expose the taken for granted assumptions we have in an experimental way

Question 44

functionalism

Answer 44

Social order
What – durkeim – emphasis on socialising people into value consensus/collective consciousness Why – as it allows them to maintain social control
How – as collective consciousness ensure cooperation needed for social control
- Durkheim – concerned with how industricalisation changed social solidarity an collective consiousnes
- In modern work – change is rapid – lives are more different from each other – weaken social bonds leading to anomie
Education teaching moral values boost collective consciousness

What – no society is in perfect equilibrium – change in one part of system lead to adjustment in the others to restore social equilibrium
How – change In economic system – needs changes in education and integration system – to restore it
- Moving equalbrim is created allowing social change to happen
Society more complex = structural differences where structural inditiution develop to meet functional needs

Question 45

functionalism evaluations

Answer 45

oversocialisation - interactionism

Interpretavists – denis wrong - to deterministcis – people not passive acctives – not puppets – don’t allow for individual choice
Confit theorists would argue it overenphsisie harmony – ignores conflict and unequal power in society
Pm – society is chracterised by individualism, diverisity and fragmentation

Question 46

functionalism is relevant

Answer 46

still relevant as eg used to maintain social order within society - durkehim - social order cannot be maintained without collective consciousness - through agents of socialisation eg family - socialised into value consensus maintaining social solidarity - seen in education with teaching of eg history and norms and values

still relevant as society needs to meet its needs to allow for society to continue functioning - functional prerequisites and organic analogy - fulfil bodies needs for functions - Parsons gail model

Question 47

functionalism is not relevant

Answer 47

PM - meta narrative explanation of society - no longer possible due to fragmentation of institutions - value consensus outdated - fragmentation now causing no single set of values - society has wide diversity of values now - free to choose values that best suit - pick and mix identity - paluski and waters

pm - outdated - social institutions - no longer stable - no longer useful to refer to the family - family structured have become more diverse

Question 48

neo-functionalism

Answer 48

functional alternatives - argues that different forms of the same institution can perform same function eg single parent families

functional autonomy - complex modern society has many parts - may only be distantly related or operate independently eg no real connection between structure of banking and rules of netball

Question 49

neo-functionalism - who is it arguing against

Answer 49

parsons - functional indispensability
- argued that everything in society is functionally indispensable in its existing form eg nuclear family best form of socialisation - warm bath theory

functional unity - all parts of society are tightly integrated into social unity and each part is functional for the rest - change in one part will effect another - eg is education system becomes less effective then job market affected

Question 50

new right

Answer 50

society is meritocratic - saunders - social mobility - taught through education - if try hard then rewarded - exams - so best and most able can take the best jobs

poverty is own fault - reckless behaviour - community breakdown caused by welfare dependency (government welfare policies created a feral underclass separated from mainstream society) - should be removed so people take responsibility for their actions

Question 51

new right evaluations

Answer 51

not meritocratic if society is based on ascribed status - durkheim - for society to be fair, inheritance needs to be removed

marxism - poverty is structural based on capitalism’s consistent pursuit for profit

Question 52

modernity

Answer 52

nation state - modern society developed in 18th C - the nation state is a political unit which is defined territory which is ruled by a powerful centralised state
- population of nation state share the same language and culture - modern society is a world of separate societies that have their own state
- nation state organises social life on a national basis which contain administrative bureaucracies, educational, welfare and legal institutions - flags national anthems

capitalism - marxism - modern society based on the economic system of capitalism - characterised by private ownership of the means of production - fordist principles - mass produced, standardised goods using large factories and using low skilled labour - cheap consumer goods that rose standard of living - unequal distribution of wealth - class conflict
Lash and Urry - organised capitalism - nation state is important in regulating capitalism and maintaining the conditions that capitalism operates in a modern society

Question 53

modernity evaluations

Question 54

late modernity

Answer 54

Giddens- reflexivity - stage of late or high modernity - rapid change often on a global scale - due to disembedding (lifting out of social relations from local contexts of interaction) and reflexivity - tradition less important and forced to be reflexive eg monitor and reflect on our actions - we are all continually re-evaluating our ideas and theories and nothing is permanent - rapid and widespread social change

Beck - risk society - power of reason can create a better world - in past society faced dangers as a result of inability to control nature but now we manufactured risks eg global warming - growing individualisation - increasingly reflexive - constant risk - risk consciousness becomes central to culture

Question 55

late modernity evaluations

Question 56

postmodernity

Answer 56

nation states and national identities displaced by globalisation - supernational bodies eg european union, the united nations and multinational corporations eg nike - eclipse national and local identites
global media and global marketing in a media-saturated society turn the world into a global supermarket
Bradley - globalisation brings different cultures into contact and forms new identities

objective truth is undiscoverable - Lyotard
- individuals lost faith in progress and in metanarratives as they are myths - no certains or absolute truths in the world
all forms of knowledge are equally valid - relativity of knowledge (Foucault) - scientific knowledge no more valid than other knowledge eg religious

Question 57

postmodernity evaluation

Question 58

sociology should not be in policy research

Answer 58

marxist - conflict perspective - Westergaard and Resler criticise Townsend - encouraging welfare buys off the w/c and prevent them realising their true class interests - only solve through revolution eg educational policies produce the next generation of workforce

political right eg right realists - state should have minimum involvement in social problems - individuals should have responsibility - neo-liberalism
Murray - townsend’s welfare solutions create dangerous underclass dependent on welfare