expectations and perspectives Flashcards
agents of socialisation
primary:family
secondary:school
secondary:religion
secondary:work/employment
secondary:friends/peers
secondary:the media
structuralist theories
-external social forces shape the behaviour,values,and identity of the individual
-typically uses quantitative methods
-the ideas behind and meanings of individual thought and action are merely a reflection of wider social forces
Value Consensual and Anomie
Durkheim-a stable society is created through the socialisation of the individual into norms and values which maintains a peaceful way of life as people do not want to risk damaging the system.
They are passed through socialisation or through social control
Anomie- sense of moral confusion-occurs when there is no clear guidance about what is right and wrong so people feel uncertainty about their place in the world–>causes issues in society
The Organic Analogy
Parsons-society is like a human body-made up of interconnected parts which help the system run in harmony. Social ills have a disabling effect and it can “infect” the other parts of the body
if one organ changes the others will evolve
Functional Prerequisites (GAIL)
Parsons-allow society to survive in a healthy state
goal attainment
adaption
integration
latency
strengths of functionalism
-recognises the importance of social structures in constraining individual behaviour &how major social institutions work together
-provides an explanation for social order and stability and why most people conform to the rules of social life
weaknesses of functionalism
-very deterministic-sees humans as passive
-meta narrative that tries to explain everything from a single perspective
-ignores the conflict and inequalities in society
-suggests that value consensus always means social stability but it depends on the values
-Marxists would argue that “value consensus” is really just the values of the ruling class
-very conservative-supporting the dominant status quo
structures in society were designed to reproduce conflict particularly between the different social classes
Marx-social classes are divided into bourgeoisie and proletariat
other key ideas in marxism
-alienation-the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat the workers are alienated from their work so don’t receive the full value of their efforts
-ideology-bourgeoisie values are the ruling class dominant ideology which are spread in the subcultures and allow the bourgeoisie to maintain control
-false class consciousness-the proletariat suffer from the belief that their position is normal and cannot change
-revolution and communism-if the proletariat could be released from their chains of oppression they could overthrow the ruling class and form a communist society
strengths of Marxism
-recognises the importance of the economy and how economic change can influence a wide range of other institutions
-recognises the importance of the social structures in society and their links to ideas,consciousnesses and the values of different groups
-provides a convincing argument for the extreme and increasing social inequalities in wealth income and power that persist in contemporary societies
-still evidence of capitalist exploitation on a global scale
-evidence that the ruling class occupy the top positions in society and that the media often reproduce their values
weaknesses of Marxism
-communism is not a solution and globalisation has meant that capitalism is stronger than before
-over emphasises the conflict in society and assumes everyone is passively unaware of inequalities
-two class system does not leave room for the complexity of modern society
-puts too much importance on the economy as the economy can be shaped by ideology
Hegemony is what allows the ruling class to maintain power and the working class rarely rebel because they don’t have an image of what society could be
Gramsci(Neo marxist)
Ideological State Apparatus
Althusser(Neo Marixist)-three parts of society which maintain the dominant ideology:
-economic
-repressive state apparatus-a political level which enforces the dominant ideology through the police,army and law
-ideological state apparatus-an ideological level which enforces the dominant ideology through the socialisation of ideas in education,religion and the media
strengths of Neo-Marxism
-it retains many of the strengths of classical Marxism
-it overcomes the economic determinism of classical Marxism
-the concept of hegemony recognises the importance of peoples ideas and actions
-allows for the influence of the economy and the ideological side of society being mutually influential
weaknesses of Neo-Marxism
-it still has many of the weaknesses of classical Marxism
-Neo-Marxism may be seen to overemphasise the importance of ideology still assuming that the population will follow the dominant ideology passively
Standpoint Theory-traditional sociology has failed to acknowledge its own gendered history
Dorothy Smith
Patriarchy is the main cause of gender inequality by 6 structures: household, employment, state, sexuality, male violence, cultural institutions
Walby- household, employment, state, sexuality, male violence, cultural institutions
The Feminine Mystique-women felt trapped at home after being so free during WW2
Betty Friedan
Sexual Politics-patriarchy is the most fundamental form of inequality and every woman regardless of their background has a shared interest in challenging male dominance
Kate Millett-radical
radical feminism-society and its institutions are patriarchal so a revolution is needed
Firestone-radical
women have been oppressed and marginalised largely due to violence against women.Mens physical strength and dominance has been used as a tool for oppression so women need to be completely separated
Andre Dworkin-radical
weaknesses of radical feminism
-assumes all women share common experience, ignoring other inequalities due to class/ethnicity
-doesn’t recognise that there has already been significant improvements
-living separately and challenging all men may be considered escaping the patriarchy rather than challenging it and the lifestyle is unlikely to appeal to all women
agents of socialisation causing gender roles
Oakley
Feminisation of the workforce
Francis or Webb Et Al
weaknesses of liberal feminism
-focuses on reducing the effects of patriarchy rather than addressing and challenging the fundamental causes
-radical feminists would argue that its too little too late and that revolution rather than reform is needed
-policy only addresses the public sphere and the frameworks of society and does not address the private sphere of marriage and family life
womens oppression within the nuclear family supports capatalism,women reproduce the labour force
Rowbotham-marxist feminism
womens unpaid labour is unrecognised
Deem-marxist feminism
weaknesses of Marxist feminism
-the patriarchy has existed has existed in many societies not just capitalist societies
-it is men not just capitalism which benefits from women’s subordination
-it explains the exploited position of women but doesn’t offer solutions
intersectional feminism
Bell Hooks
weaknesses of intersectional feminism
-liberal and radical feminists criticise because by emphasising the differences between women it deflects attention away from the problems which are shared by all women(eg male violence)
social action theory/ interactionism /interpretivism
-a micro level approach-the individual action influences the larger society. Society is constructed by individuals meanings, interpretations and behaviours
-more concerned with how individuals react to/ interpret social structures
-social order is seen as a social construct-people want to believe there is an order to society so they behave in a manner that reinforces this
-leads to concerns with finding an objective truth in society as humans react in different ways with different meanings
human interaction is symbolic and social life can only work if there is a shared understanding of those symbols and meanings
Mead and Blumer
ethnomethodology
Garfinkel-studied how people make sense of the world around them. Conducted a lab study where people had “counselling” and asked a series of random questions to a “counseller” who gave random answers but people still made sense of the answers and found meaning in them because of conext(indexicality)
observation alone is not enough to understand human action we need empathetic understanding or Verstehen
Max Weber-social action theory
-level of cause-objective structural factors which shape behaviour
-level of meaning-subjective meanings that individuals attach to their actions
structuration theory
Giddens-the culture and structure of society of can predict some predictability in social life as it provides some predictability in social life.
-provides an understanding of basic norms & values and a common language-foundation for people to form their identity
-people can make choices about their identity but only within the cultural framework of their society
-suggests the concept of the “reflexive self”- the identity of individuals develop as they continually reflect and work on their identities as they interact with other individuals and agents of socialisation
-individuals are not passive receivers of ideology but are not completely free to choose their identity
strengths of social action theories
-shows that people are active & creative and make sense of the world through interaction with others and common sense understanding
-allows for autonomy recognising that people actively create meanings and interpretations which influence the way they act
-the micro approach and use of qualitative methods means research findings often have high levels of validity
weaknesses of social action theories
-it underestimates the extent to which social structures can constrain behaviour
-only describes motivations not where they may come from
-underestimates the distribution of power
-postmodernists suggest that it is just another meta narrative which tries to describe human life from a singular view
-the use of qualitative methods mean that reliability and representativeness is an issue
modernity
(postmodernism)
1800s-1960s
Marxism & Functionalism-reflected the society and world at the time
a period of industrialisation and urbanisation that began with the industrial revolution
saw the rise of mass production, urbanisation and overt social control
post modernity
-argues that modernist ideas are outdated as society has moved on
-Marxism, Functionalism and Feminism and their promise of a better future is not longer relevant to the more complex and unpredictable modern times
-society and work has become more flexible and service industries have taken over from manufacturing
-globalisation and the internet have led to a greater choice of cultures and lifestyles as they can communicated more freely
-truth is relative choice is everywhere-including our identities
-no universal truth or theory
no longer any meta narratives as they are too simplistic
Lyotard-postmodernism
actions and ideas are now judged by how useful they are rather than how true they are
people respond to media images rather than to real persons or places
Baudrillard-postmodernism
separating reality from representation has become impossible when all that exists is hyper reality
people have become consumers whose desires are created by the media through a system of signs and images
TV is a big source of hyper reality
if society is unable to separate fact from fiction society may be incapable of change
late modernity-is unstable and high risk it is a “juggernaut”
Giddens-late modernity
changes to work,consumption and culture have become accelerated so is unstable
the juggernaut could lose control causing war, economic collapse or climate disaster
but society is capable of rational thought
Risk society-we can take responsibility for our actions so we seek to minimise bad consequences(risk consciousnesses)
Beck-late modernity
liquid modernity
Bauman- late modernity
mass media, new information technologies, more fluid movement of people across the world, and the development of multicultural societies has all lead to the development of a postmodern world
strengths of postmodernism
-highlights some important cultural and social changes in the media, culture, identity and consumerism
-recognises that identities are more fluid, changeable, and based on consumption and choice rather than huge structural institutions
-provides insight into more contemporary issues such as increasing risk and uncertainty, globalisation, and the growing power of the media
-challenges the traditional sociological meta narratives
weaknesses of postmodernism
-Late modernity and risk society may be more appropriate areas and terms as not everything is a free-for-all
-it overemphasises the influence of the media and tends to assume people are passive and manipulated too easily
-it exaggerates the scale of social change- cultural tastes are still strongly influenced by class, gender, ethnicity and nationality
-it is a meta narrative itself
