sociological theories Flashcards
what does consensus mean?
general agreement
what is value consensus?
An agreement among society’s members about what values are important.
what is anomie?
lack of the usual social or ethical standards in an individual or group
what were Durkheim’s ideas of society?
- society shapes an individual (top down theory)
- socail solidarity and cohesion is achieved an maintained through socialisation process and learning norms and values
what were the reasons Durkheim said people were committing suicide?
- individualism
2.excessive hope - we have too much freedom
- atheism
5.weakening of the nation and family
what are the two ways of maintaining value consensus and social order?
formal and informal social control
what are the four basic needs of society?
- goal attainment
- adaptation
- interegation
- latency
what is goal attainment?
the problem of settling and implementing goals
what is adaption
providing to the needs of the members to help them survive
what is intergration?
institutions developed to reduce conflict in society
what is latency?
the problem of creating, perserving, and transmitting the system’s distinctive culture and values
What did Talcott Parsons believe?
society acts in a similar way to the human body through the wat that social institutions interact in the same wat as human organs
what are some internal criticisms of functionalism? (Robert K Merton)
- not all institutions play a single role
- not all institutions are as tightly linked as Parson’s suggests
- not all institutions play a constant positive role
what are some external criticisms of functionalism?
- contradicts itself by saying that things are functional and dysfunctional
- unable to explain conflict and change in society
-unable to explain diversity and instability in society
what did Karl Marx say about society?
- society is in a state of conflict between the rich and poor
- society has a system to keep the rich- rich and the poor - poor
- capitalism as a system that keeps the wealthy minority in charge of the means of production
- the relations of production exploit the subject class
-education and religion teach workers to follow orders
what is the relations of production?
the relationship between the ruling and working class
ttttt
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what are the stages of society?
-primitive communism
- slavery
- feudalism
- capitalism
why are people tied to their possessions?
it gives them a sense f identity and is some sort of compensation for the lack of identity in the workplace
what is infrastructure?
- the economy of a society, basic physical and organisational structures needed for a society to function
what is ideology?
- the way in which people are told to think by people in power
what is althusser?
ideological state apparatus
what are the strengths of marxism?
- links to major institutions
- emphasises the importance of the economy
- tries to link the structural elements of society with the consciousness of thought of the individual
what are some criticisms of marxism?
- communist societies have a bad reputation
- overemphasise on conflict
- ignores the role of women
- no said revolution
what is feminism?
the belief that men and woman should have equal rights and opportunities
how useful is feminism as a sociological perspective?
- it gives us a good understanding of the effects of society on women and allows us to see the inequality, however it only focuses on gender
what are the different types of feminism?
- radical
- liberal
- difference
- post modernist
- Marxist
what happened in the first wave of feminism?
- in the 19th and 20th century
- improved rights for women in marriage and property
- lead by the suffragettes
- in 1918, women over 30 who owned property won the vote
what happened in the second wave of feminism?
- in the 1960s and 1970s
- extended beyond political rights
- ” private made political” - Gloria Steinem
- focused on issues like abortion, contraception and domestic violence
what happened in the third wave of feminism?
- 1990s- present
- widened the feminist movement beyond, middle class, white women
- focuses on issues like representation in the media and sexual harassment
- moving away from the inequality of the history of feminism
what did Germaine Freer (1970) argue?
that women are “castrated” by society and that gender roles are not natural, but learned. the women in our society are conditioned to restrictive femininity
what are some criticisms of liberal feminism?
- overly optimistic
- deals with the effects of the patriarchy, not the causes
what are some criticisms of radical feminisms?
- gives other forms of feminism a bad reputation
- in this theory, gender equality is never achieved
what are some criticisms of marxist feminists?
- revolution isnt required for equality and it hasn’t happened yet
- patriarchy exists in non-capitalist societies
- it is men not capitalism that benefit from women oppression
what are some criticisms of intersectionality feminism?
- focuses on the minutia of oppression which lessens the impact and power in feminism as a whole
what are some criticisms of duel- systems feminism?
- patriarchy is not a system in the same way capitalism is
what is symbolic interactionism?
it focuses on the interactions between individuals and is about these interactions rather than social structure
what did George Herbert Mead believe? (interactionist)
that the development of individuals change depending on different interactions
what else did George Herbert Mead say?
- we act based on the meaning we give something
- we give meaning to things based on different interactions
- the impression that we have of something is not permanent
- “things become real in their consequences”
what did Cooley believe with the looking glass self?
- we aren’t influenced by the opinions of others, but rather the imagined perspective
- we use the way other people interpret our behaviour as evidence of who and what we are
- we use the behaviour of others as a mirror of how we should act
what did Goffman believe?
- the social world is represented as a play in which various members adopt certain roles and speak certain lines (presentation of self)
what is dramaturgical analogy?
- our social encounters have scenery that lines the situation for the actors and props used to enhance our performance
what did Goffman argue about stigma?
- some experience stigmatised or spoiler identities
- none of these behaviours themselves caused the stigmatised identity
- it occurs as a result of how others view these behaviours
what are some criticisms of symbolic interactionism?
- ethnomethodology argues that it fails to explain who the actors create meaning
- not all action is meaningful, especially weber’s idea of traditional actions which may hold little meaning for the actor
- fails to explain the origin of the labels
what is phenomenology?
the study of lived experience and phenomena from the experience of being in the world
what does edmund husserl say? ( meaning and the world )
- the world only makes sense because we impose meaning and order on it
- we construct mental categories to classify and file information
- the world as we know is a product of the individual mind
what did alfred schutz say?
- the categories and concepts we create about the world are not unique to ourselves –> we share them with other people allowing us to live in a community
what is typifications?
the shared categories that help us organise experience and world around us
what is typifications?
the process of relying on general knowledge as a way of constructing ideas about proper and the social world
why are typifications important?
they help stabilise and clarify meaning
what is meant by recipe knowledge?
the ability to interpret a situation, action or motivation without really thinking about it
what is involved in the natural attitude?
it is the belief that society is a real objective thing that exists outside of us
what are some evaluation points for phenomenology?
- recognises that people create society through their on meanings and have their own motivations
- ignores wider societal structural such as inequality and doesn’t explain the origins of labels
- some actions are habits and not intentional to what meaning they have
what does Garfinkel say about ethnomethodology?
- interested in how social order is achieved from the bottom up
- social order is an accomplishment that people in society construct due to the development of common-sense knowledge
what does ethnomethodology study?
the process of creating the meanings by which we make sense of the world
what is indexicality?
nothing has a fixed meaning ; everything is dependant on context
what is reflexicality?
the use of common sense knowledge to interpret everyday situations to construct a sense of meaning and order
what is the evaluation for ethnomethodology?
- Marxists argue that the “shred common sense knowledge” is in fact the ruling class ideology and the order that it creates serves the interests of capitalism
- functionalists argue that norms and values are not fiction, but a social fact
what are the 5 features of social action theory?
- social structure are are social construction created by individuals
- voluntarism
- micro approach
- behaviour is driven by the beliefs, meaning and feelings people give to a situation
- the use of interpretivist methodology
what does micro approach mean?
that the sociologists are looking at the individuals in society and how they shape the world around them
what did Weber believe?
in order to fully understand society, you need to use a combination of both structural and action approaches
what are the 4 types of action?
- instrumental rational action
- value rational action
-traditional action - affectual action
what is instrumental rational action?
social actors work out the most efficient way to reach a goal
what is value rational action?
action towards a goal that seen as desirable for its own sake
what is traditional action?
routine, customary or habitual actions that are done without thought or choice
what is affectual action?
action that expresses emotion. Weber saw this as important in religious and political movements with charismatic leaders who attract followers based on emotional appeal
what is some evaluation of weber?
- too individualistic
- doesn’t explain shared nature of meanings
it is difficult to apply these ideas as meaning can be misinterpreted - it is never truly possible to put yourself in the shoes of another person
what does Vertehem mean?
empathy – >to fully understand social groups, we must “walk in their shoes”
