Lecture 5

Question 1

Who studied STRUCTURAL
FUNCTIONAL THEORY? (Plus main idea)

Answer 1

Durkheim’s theory of functionalism

• Equilibrium (everything thing is society has a function)

Question 2

What are the functions of the nuclear family (social institution) ?

Answer 2

Education, economic, reproductive, and sexual

Question 3

What is a change in the family (in modern times)

Answer 3

Smaller families today

Question 4

What is the warm bath theory?

Answer 4

Men like to come home from work and take relaxing warm bath (pro traditional norms)

Question 5

What is the social function of crime? (and critique)

Functionalist:

Answer 5

Functionalist: Unit society against common foe, defines morals
Critique: Not good at explaining social change

Question 6

Who invented conflict theory?

Answer 6

Marx

Question 7

Explain a strand of conflict theory (C. Wright Mills)?

Answer 7

Society is in a constant state of change

Changes in class conflict through Unions, court etc

Authority and power at the centre of
class conflict

Question 8

What is DEPENDENCY THEORY (Conflict theory strand)?

Answer 8

Competition over resources
on global level

Resources flow from
“peripheral” poor states to a
“core”, wealthy state

Wealthy nations perpetuate
this relationship of
dependency by various
means

Question 9

How would a conflict theorist explain crime?

Answer 9

• Competition over resources
• Government creates “legal” vs “illegal”

Question 10

Explain: Symbolic Interaction (Micro theory)

Answer 10

Goffman!
- “How does the self develop through social relationships

• Symbols - People act towards symbols (words, gestures, artifacts ) based
  on ideas they attach to these symbols
• People become human through social interaction

Question 11

What is Dramaturgical Analysis (Goffman)? (Note: Drama)

Answer 11

Analyzing daily interactions in terms of a theatre show

Question 12

What is Impression Management? (Goffman)

Answer 12

our efforts to present ourselves in favorable ways
* Clothes (costumes)
* Accessories (theatrical accessories)
* Gestures, postures and expressions (“act”)
* Words (script)
* Settings (background decorations)

Question 13

What is front and back stage for Erving Goffman?

Answer 13

• Front stage – actions that are visible to the
  audience and are part of the performance
• Back stage – Our behaviors when no audience is present

Question 14

Explain: Phenomenology (Micro theory)

Answer 14

Meaning of the world:

The categories we create and share with others in order to interact

Question 15

Explain: Rational Choice (Micro theory)

Answer 15

How do individuals make their choices

Question 16

Who started Symbolic Interactionism?

Answer 16

George Herbert Mead
“a framework for building theory that sees society as the product of everyday interactions of individuals”

We look more at Goffman tho

Question 17

Explain stages of Society by August Compt?

Answer 17

Theological stage - Religious

Metaphysical Stage- “why are we here”

Positivist stage - Science

Question 18

What is a theoretical sample?

Answer 18

Theoretical Sample - not only directors of NGOs but also politicians they
interact with (So extending to hit all involved parties)

Question 19

Three basic steps in research?

Answer 19

Determine variables

Assess measurements

Explore relationships

Question 20

Most sociological research fits into three categories:

Answer 20

• Talking to people (Survey, interview, focus group)
• Observation (ethnography - observing social life, experiment)
• Examining available data (Ananlysis etc)

Each has strengths and weaknesses

Question 21

What is the social nature of sociological research?

Answer 21

Studying society means social relationships influence research

We bring our bias to our research

Question 22

Explain the scale of research:
Microsociology
Macrosociology
Institutional perspectives

Answer 22

Microsociology: Everyday interpersonal
and small group interactions (Do women smile more then men?)

Macrosociology: Explores how large-scale historical trends and structural patterns
influence social life (Womens rights movements)

Institutional perspectives: Didn’t say in slide
- But probs talking about how institutions act in society, and what they influence (ex. does institution of family impact womens rights?)