Perspectives Flashcards
1
Q
Functionalist (8)
A
- based in the assumption that society is a stable, orderly system
- majority of members share a common set of values, beliefs, and behavioural expectations
- society is composed of interrelated parts of which serves a function and contributed to the stability of the society
- Comte, Spencer, and Durkheim influenced this approach
- if one of these institutions breaks down and may result in social problems such as increased rates of crime and suicides
- manifest functions: intended or overtly recognized by participants in a social unit
- latent functions: unintended functions that are hidden and remain unacknowledged by participants
- dysfunctions: undesirable consequences of any element of a society
2
Q
Conflict (6)
A
- groups in society are engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources
- conflict may take the form of politics, litigation, negotiations, and family discussions about financial matters
- Simmel, Marx, and Weber contributed
- advocates see social life as a continuous power struggle among competing social groups
- power: ability of a person to carry out their own will despite resistance from others
- prestige: positive or negative social estimation of honour
3
Q
Feminist (4)
A
- focus on the significance of gender in understanding & explaining inequalities that exist between men and women in the household, laid labour force, and in the realms of politics, law and culture
- sociology didn’t acknowledge the experiences of women
- sociological methods, concepts, and analyses were products of the male social universe
- the first task was to provide the missing half of social reality by generation research and theory by for and about women
4
Q
Symbolic Interactionist (6)
A
- society is the sum of the interactions of individuals and groups
- it’s based on micro level analysis which focuses on small groups rather than large scale social structures
- interaction: immediate reciprocally oriented communication between two or more people
- symbols: give meaning to human communication
- subjective reality: in social encounters, each persons interpretation or definition of a given situation becomes a subjective reality from that persons viewpoint
- individuals subjective reality will influence their behaviour
5
Q
Postmodern (5)
A
- cultural and social changes characteristic postmodernity are closely linked to post-industrialization, consumerism, and global communications
- emerged after WWII (late 1940s)
- general belief systems or “metanarratives” that characterizes modern thinking are rejected including: science and reason, world religion and political ideology
- central political motivations is to demonstrate how power works through issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, age, and ability and to question how dominant narratives structure these differences
- 5 characteristics: cultural products, information explosion, rise of a consumer society, global villages, simulations
