Theory Flashcards
Interactionism - Social Action Theories
Different branches of action theory: Weberianism, symbolic interactionism, phenomenology > ethnomethodology
Basics:
- social structures = social construction
- voluntarism - people have free choice and free will
- micro approach; focus on the individual/small group
- behaviour is driven by beliefs, meanings and feelings
- interpretivist methodology
Interactionism - Symbolic Interactionism
^^^ George Herbert Mead
“The development of an individual was a social process, as were the meaning people assign to things”
- people decide to assign meanings to things so they can decide how they will act
Term symbolic interactionism - Blumer
3 tenants:
- we act based on the meaning we give something
- We give meaning to things based on social interactions; different things mean different things to other people
- the meaning we give something can change due to everyday life; not permanent
Interactionism - 4 core ideas of symbolic interactionism
Symbol:
- world is full of millions of unique objects and people, life would be impossible if everything was treated as unique - we group things together (categorise and classify)
- giving a group a name - giving them a symbol (may evoke some feelings in us)
- world is composed of many symbols all of which have some meaning for us - the choice of course of action that we feel is appropriate may not be shared by everybody
Self:
- for people to act and respond to the meaning symbols have for them, they have to understand why they are within the world of symbols and meanings
^^^ have to see ourselves through the eyes of others - Looking Glass Self which developed into the concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy
Means distinguished two aspects of the self -
> the ‘me’ - your option of yourself in a particular role
> the ‘I’ - your opinion of yourself as a whole (your self-concept)
Game-playing and role-taking:
Blumer - we develop the notion of the self in childhood and game playing
^^^ when engaging in game with others, we learn various social roles and learn how these interact the the roles of others
Mead - the importance of role-taking; we imagine ourselves as the other person and try to understand the behaviour we witness form their POV
^^^ helps us to understand the actions of others and helps us decide how we should respond
Interaction:
When the symbol and the self come together with others in an interaction
- each person in society must learn to take the viewpoint of other people into accounts when setting out on any course of action
Interactionism - The Dramaturgical Approach
- Goffman.
- Based on social interaction
- symbolic interactionism
- form of impression management
- socially constructed
- social role
> based on similar ideas to symbolic interactionism; he explores how people perceive themselves and then set out to present an image of themselves to others
Goffman suggests that people work out strategies in dealing with others and are constantly altering and manipulating these strategies.
society is like a stage, with people acting out performances, like actors do in a play or on tv - impression management
Interactionism - The Looking Glass Self
- Cooley
- self-concept
- negotiated interaction
> the idea that our image of ourselves is reflected back to us in the views of others
as we consider the image of ourselves reflected in the reactions of others, we may modify and change our view of ourselves and our behaviour.
Feminism - Waves of Feminism (History of Feminism)
Early feminism -
> late 1700s
> Mary Woolstonecraft
> “the vindication of rights of women”
First wave -
> 1900s
> Emmeline Pankhurst
> Suffragettes; votes for women
Second Wave -
> 1960s
> Gloria Steinem
> “the Personal is the Political”; what were once private issues were now in the public realm
Third Wave -
> 1990s
> Issues of identity and stereotypes
> e.g. media portrayal of women
Feminism - Sociological Feminism
Feminism - the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.
- society is based on the exploitation of women by men (patriarchy)
^^^ this is possible due to the vulnerability of women due to pregnancy and childbirth, as well as men being physically stronger and bigger than women.
Feminism - Four Basic Tenants of - - Sociological Feminism
- inequality between men and women
- Conflict between men and women
- Gender inequalities are socially constructed
- The importance of patriarchy in explaining inequality
Functionalism - Mechanical solidarity
Definition:-
Social integration of members of a society who have common beliefs and values; constitute a “collective conscience” that work internally in individual members to cause them to cooperate (traditional society).
Functionalism - Organic Solidarity
Definition:-
social integration that arises out of the need of individuals for one another’s services (modern society); society characterised by organic solidarity, grater division of labour, individuals functioning if more linked interdependent but differentiated organs of a living body.
Functionalism - What Functionalists Say About Society
- Durkheim was writing at a time of great social change
- Social facts are measurable social behaviour
- Key tenets of functionalism are social order being maintained through conformity and being maintained through the strengthening of social bonds/social cohesion
Durkheim: crime and deviance is good because it drove society forward which allows for change.
Functionalism - Parson’s Functional Prerequisites
Adaptation
Goal attainment
Integration
Latency
Pattern maintenance
Tension management
Universal functionalism
Structural differentiation
- the basic needs must be met if a society is to survive
- All social phenomena has a function just like the human body
- Parsons uses the GAIL model to explain his idea of social prerequisites
Functionalism - Structural Differentiation
Definition:-
gradual change where specialised institutions are developed
Functionalism - Criticisms
Internal Critique: a criticism from someone who shares the same theoretical perspective but not the same explanation.
Merton:
Criticisms of parsons -
- too simplistic; not all ‘ functions’ within society are deliberate.
^^^ 2 categories of function: manifest function (functions that have been considered and are deliberate) and latent functions (an added bonus)
- not every party of society is indispensable; there are parts of society that could be replaced with something that could do the job just as well
^^^ functional alternatives.
- there is no ‘functional unity’; Parsons assumes that all parts of society are connected, and function as part of one unit. However Meton suggested that modern societies are more complex, and that parts are not necessarily connected or have unity, they instead have ‘functional autonomy’.
- There is no ‘universal functionalism’; Parsons assumes that everything in society performs a positive function for society as a whole, but Merton suggests some things may be functional for some groups, but dysfunctional for other groups.
Marxism - 5 Epochs
primitive communism
Slavery
Feudalism
Capitalism
Communism
Marxism - Evidence of capitalism in today’ society
- false class consciousness
- Bourgeoisie
- Proletariat
^^^ all forms of social control
setting on minimum wages; “living wage”
The gap increases between the rich and the poor
Capitalism now because -> false class consciousness, proletariat and bourgeoisie, in which social control enforces the class gap, and the bourgeoisie create minimum wages and the richest 11 people have more wealth than the poorest half of the world illustrate a wealth gap from industrialization
Marxism - Evidence of Proletarianisation today
- ‘petite bourgeoisie’; they can’t compete, they don’t have the resources, or the wages, etc.
Proletarianisation -> COVID-19 and highstreet decrease, and this shows how small businesses cannot compete with big businesses as the petite bourgeoisie are forced to become proletariats as they cannot grow their business to bourgeoisie level
Marxism - Pauperisation
Definition:-
Pauperisation is a process in capitalist society in which the rich manipulate taxes and wages in order to accumulate wealth from the proletariat, resulting in a bourgeoisie that increases their wealth further and a proletariat who become steadily poorer.
Marxism - Historic Marxism
- Traditional
- Focused around money
- False Class Consciousness
Marxism - Neo Marxism (“New”)
Structural (Althusser):
Institutions such as the ISA and RSA
Humanistic (Gramsci):
Dual Consciousness (voluntarism)
Marxism - Humanistic Neo-Marxism
Gramsci’s concept of hegemony:
The dominance in society of the ruling class ideology and the acceptance of and consent to by the rest society.
Voluntarism:
The working class choose to accept the ruling class ideology.
Ruling class dominance is maintained by coercion and consent:
Coercion - army, police and other government agencies to force other classes to accept the ruling class ideology.
Consent - uses ideas and clauses to persuade the other classes that ruling class ideology is legitimate
Ruling class hegemony is never complete:
Ruling class are the minority - to maintain their rule they must create a power bloc (alliances) with other groups such as the middle class.
Dual consciousness - working class can see the dominant ideology and they are influences by the bourgeoius ideas but also their material conditions.
(Ruling class have to work hard to keep achieving hegemony; they are the minority and have to have assets and alliances to stay with privilege)
Organic intellectuals:
Special individuals who give a voice to those that need it or inspire a social class to action.
How are Neo-Marxist theories different to historical materialist Marxism?
- can only win the battle of ideas by producing their own ‘counter-hegemony’; win people over from the ruling class hegemony
- Gramsci argued for the production of working class Proletarian intellectuals
- Gramsci says we have small mini revolutions that help change our ideas; we need to continue working on hegemony.
Marxism - Structuralist Neo-Marxism (Althusser)
*Criticises Marx’s superstructure/economic base model
*Suggests it is more complicated than Marx suggested
Structural determinism:
society is controlled by the structures within
Economic level -
> activities involved in producing goods to satisfy needs.
Political level -
> all forms of organisation
> Repressive State Apparatus
Ideological level -
> the ways people see themselves and their world
> Ideological State Apparatus.
Postmodernism
Premodern - “because God put it there and that’s the way it’s always been”.
Modern - “Onwards and upwards with inevitable progress!”
Postmodern - fragmented, diverse, messy and decline in metanarratives.
Postmodernism - Modernity
Characterised by: Max Weber
Developed by the 18th century as a result of the Enlightenment.
Secularisation
Bureaucratisation
Rationality
Evidence of modernity:
- religion is personal
- Large organisations support society
- Use of science to achieve aims
Postmodernism - Late Modernity
Suggest that we are not entering a new era but a development of modernity
social structures are losing power but still influence individuals
Beck:
> disembedding - due to globalisation, no longer stuck in or to one place in the world
> reflexivity - reflect and make change
INDIVIDUALISATION
Giddens:
> reflexivity
RISK SOCIETY
Postmodernism - Concepts
Hyperreality - the image of an event is more real than the event it is meant to depict
Fragmentation - lack of connection between society and some members of society based on class, gender, ethnicity, etc.
Disembedding - social relations are not limited by time or space e.g. online shopping
Simulacra - images or reproductions which appear to reflect things in society but have no basis in reality
Media saturation - society is dominated by media imagery which is inescapable
Metanarratives - big stories about how the world and societies operate; because this has declined there is no longer a ‘myth of truth’.
Pick ‘n’ mix identity - people adopt identities based on consumption patterns; they are able to choose their identity from a range of influences around the world, not solely based on class, gender, and ethnicity
Globalisation - greater interconnectedness of social life and social relationships throughout the world
Liquid modernity - society is constantly changing; unpredictable and chaotic
Postmodernism - Theories
Lyotard - 1992
- knowledge is just a series of different ‘language games’ or ways of seeing the world
In his view, postmodern society is preferable to modern society, with competing views of truth, where metanarratives claimed a monopoly of truth and sometimes sought to impose it by force
- Postmodernity allows groups who had been marginalised by modern society such as ethnic minorities and women to be heard
Baudrillard: Simulacra - 1983
knowledge is central to postmodern society
Society is no longer based on the production of material goods, but now on buying and selling knowledge through images and signs with no relation to physical reality
SIMULACRA
E.g. tabloid newspapers about fictional soap opera characters, scripted reality
Hyper reality: signs appear more real than reality itself and are a substitute
Integrated Approaches - Weber
Weber - Original social action theorist
- Rejected structural approaches as too deterministic
- Recognised that people did not have complete free choice due to constraining structures of inequality
- Some free choice (agency, voluntarism)
- Still structural constraint through metanarratives (education, government, family, media, religion)
- Class, status and party (organisations) all have an effect on the ability to make choices
Thus: it is important to understand these factors when examining people’s actions
Thus: Verstehen is essential
Integrated Approaches - Giddens (1984)
- A combination of structure and action; cannot be separated or examined in isolation
- The existence of social structure, including social institutions, beliefs, values and traditions, provide people with framework of rules and established ways of doing things
^^^ enable people to live in society and reproduce the existing structure as a result.
Integrates Approaches
Social structures can constrain human action, but also enable human action to take place in an orderly way.
People can act to change social structures - as long as they go about this in the right way
Integrated Approaches - Duality of Structure
Structures (organisational context, rules, norms, resources, regularity, etc.)
<->
Agency (decisions, actions, routines, procedures,etc)
Integrated Approaches - Ontological Security
Action reproduced existing structures
Ontological Security means the need to feel that the world around is orderly and stable; encourages action that maintain the structures rather than changing them
