Theory

Question 1

sociology + social policy

what is social policy?

Answer 1

the palns and actions of govts to tackle social problems

Question 2

sociology + social policy

what are social problems?

Answer 2

some piece of social behaviour that causes public friction and/or private misery and calls for cellective action to solve it

Question 3

sociology + social policy

what are sociological problems?

Answer 3

any pattern or relationship that calls for explanation

Question 4

sociology + social policy

what factors affect wheter or not sociological reserch succeeds in influencing policy?

Answer 4

• electroral popularity- unpopular with voters= unlikely
• ideological and policy preferences of govts
• interest groups
• globalistaion
• critical sociology- those critical of the state and powerful groups may be too extreme= unlikely to influence
• cost
• funding sources -

Question 5

sociology + social policy

who has the power to define the problem?

Answer 5

those with power are the ones able to define what is and what is not a social problem and whether anything should be done

Question 6

sociology and science

what are the three main factors involved in positivism?

Answer 6

patters laws and inductive reasoning- gathering data about the world through careful considered precise measurement or observation
verificationism- repeated observation of a pattern that means cannot be explained by chance
objective quantitaive research- observing in a non biased way feelings etc are not involved, date expressed in numerical form

Question 7

sociology and science

what are the main factors for interpritivists?

Answer 7

verstehen- empathy and understanding of people we need to be put in their shoes to be able to do this
qualitative- data expressed in word form