Freedom and Constraint

Question 1

What is essentialism?

Answer 1

the belief that for any type of group (e.g. males, religious, ethnicity) there is a particular set of characteristics shared by them

Question 2

Why does sociology critique essentialist ideas?

Answer 2

although identity includes common characteristics, identity is also about difference which changes over time and space

Question 3

What is the Materialist conception of history?

Answer 3

Fundamental forms of social relationship are determined by the production of the basic means of existence (e.g. shelter, food, clothing).
All societies are divided in the way commodities are:
Produced by a population
Distributed to people
Exchanged in some way

Question 4

The means of social existence has involved what 3 things?

Answer 4

Forces of Production
The Means of Production
The Relations of Production

Question 5

What does Louis Althusser (1918-90) say about traditional Marxism?

Answer 5

Traditional Marxism places too much emphasis on the Economic.
Political and Ideological.
Hegemony needs to be consolidated.
Repressive state apparatus
Ideological state apparatus
Social Structures need to be studied to understand why individuals act the way they do.

Question 6

Social Action

Answer 6

Class explains how and why societies change
Relationship between classes is unequal, exploitative and founded on a conflict of interest.
Put up with it because of the structures in place. However Marx illustrates that capitalism is not inevitably (& depends on maintaining inequalities)
Social order is fluid (as seen in Marx’s five epochs of history).