Theory And Methods Flashcards
What is radical feminism?
They regard patriarchy as most fundamental form of inequality, the world is divide into to 2 “sex classes” or men and women.
Men dominate and control women in all areas of society both public and private. Irrespective of their social class or ethnicity all men seem as the enemy who oppress women through violence and fear and make them sex objects for their own pleasure
Eg 2018 world health organisation estimates 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced some form of partner/non partner violence in their lifetime
What are some solutions for radical feminists
Advocate for complete destruction of patriarchy including carrying out childbirth independent from men.
They believed in seperatism (living apart from males, consciousness raising (reclaiming power through shared experiences. And political lesbianism (avoiding heterosexual relationships**
What do Marxist feminist believe
Gender inequality primarily arises from nature of capitalist society rather than independent system of patriarchy. Captalism intensifes patricahoal inequalities in pursuit of its own intrests
Women used as cheap labour force and reserve army of Labour that can be sacked and re hired depending on the economy, can also perform free unpaid domestic labour and childcare
Women’s expressive world is to absorb men’s anger and frustration at exploration at work keeping captalist stable (Ansley safety valve)
As capitalism is root cause of inequality improving women’s position involves fundamental changes in capitalism and class inequality rather than Separating them from men
What is a critism of Marxist feminism
Doesn’t explain womens subordination in communist countries so must be more than capatslim
Other types of feminist say we need to look at everyone not jusy capatlism
What do liberal feminist believe
Women’s inequality arises primarily from factors like sexist stereotyping, gender role socialisation and sex discrimination through phrased laws and opportunities
This gives women lack of opportunities and keeps them in lower-paid lower status occupations eg in 2022 only 25% of women were breadwinners of households
Gender equality can only be achieved through legal, economic and social reform allowing women to take part in wider society
For example: 2010 equality act, 1970 equal pay act
What is an example of a radical feminist
Andrea Dworkin, she says marriage developed from rape as a practice as marriage takes ownsership of someone like old definitions of rape
Could link to political lesbianism or seperatsim
What are 2 liberal feminists
Jenny Sommerville: she says feminist have failed to acknowledged progress that has been made like laws for paid work and their improved social postion mean they can leave men in a relationship
Anne Oakley: did studies on domestic labour and found only 15% of men participated
What is difference (post modern feminism)
It includes black feminism which emerged over fears feminism focused too much on subordination of white middle class women.
Difference feminism emphasise all women suffer same problems not all women are in same position, oppression can take diverse forms in diff context and in diff social groups eg some may face mutiple opression like homophobia, racism and patriarchy
This is particularly true in postmodern societies where structures like gender, class and ethnicity are weakened and people “pick n mix” identities and lifestyles in a media saturated consumer society
What is a critique of difference feminism
While it does recognise women are not homogenous groups with own experiences of oppression some would argue this divides the feminism movement in pushing for change making it less effective in liberation
What is durkheims theory of functionalism?
Suggesting society would fall into chaos unless they shared imminent values and co-operation in society. Places great importance on role of social institutions like family and education
These socialise people into the collective consciousness (set of shared beliefs and values as underlying force within society) this then creates social solidarity (emphasise interdependent between individuals)
This then means in situations can act as sources of social control to maintain order and prevent deviance creating stability and harmony
What is parsons functionalist theory of prerequisites and structural differentiation?
Idea that soxisty has basic requirements that must be met for society to survive. Include food, care of young and socialisation of new generation into society, institutions like family, education and workplace satisfy these needs and work togther to benefit society
Also noted how societies become more complex and had idea of structural differentiation explaining how modern societies are becoming more specialised, and new institutions perform new or old functions eg NHS replace monasteries
What is Parsons GAIL model
In order to survive in healthy state societies have to satisfy 4 functional prerequisites which is met by GAIL model:
- Adaptation: adapting to environment providing basic material necessities for existing sand recourses to active societies goals done through economy, factories and shops eg climate change=renewables
- intergration: coordinating All parts of system to achieve shared goals through socialisation into shared beliefs, promotes social harmony and control and prevents deviance eg media, education socialise and CJS restrict deviance
Also goal attainment and Latency
What would be critism of Durkheim and parsons
Durkheim: Merton would say is institutions have latent functions (unintended consequences) and don’t all work in harmony eg family socialises but also can abuse and neglect
Parsons: postmodernist would say this is outdated as we now have our own meta narratives and don’t shared functional prerequisites or have intergrated system
What does Marx say about classixal Marxism
Marx believed economy was driving source in society and was divided into two parts superstructure: not to do with production eg education or media which maintains base: the things related to production eg factories
He argues Labour is the source of wealth and after industrialising two classes emerged bourgeoise who own means of production and proletariat who sell labour as a commodity (wage Labour)
Filing class can decide superstructure of society to protect wealthy minority creating “false class consciousness”misleading them about nature of their class existence
Marx also believed Revolution would happen when workers achieved class consciousness and overthrow bourgeoise, then own means of production creating communism
What is althussers theory of structural Marxism
Structural marxist see social structures shape society and not individuals
Althusser rejects economic determinism and humanism of Marxism and says structure of capitalism more complex as it has 3 levels
- economic level: means of producing to satisfy society
- political level: all forms of organisation
- ideological level: ways ppl see themsleves and world
Says political and ideological levels have relative autonomy from economic level but can also effect what happens in economy. So there 2 way causality
What is the two different apparatuses in althussers theory?
Repressive state apparatus (RSA): enforce behaviour directly like police or CJS so force can force u to behave
Ideological state apparatus: institutions that spread bourgeoise ideology and ensure proletariat is in state of false class consciousness eg media or education
Neo Marxist humanist Marxism-Gramsci and how do bourgeoise maintain power
Gramsci rejected economic determinism of classical Marxism as economic conditions alone wont make communism ideology plays bigger role
Bourgeoise maintain power in 2 ways:
- coercion: army, police CJS to accept rule
- consent (hegemony): ideas and values persuade ppl their rule is legitimate
In advanced capitalist societies they rely on consent cause they control institutions like media and education so Revolution can’t happen
Why can ruling class hegemony never be complete according to Gramsci?
- Ruling class is minority: have to create power by allying with groups like middle class
- proletariat have dual consciousness: influenced by bourgeoise ideas but also
Material confirms so can see through ideology eg British train strikes
So ruling class ideology can be undermined in times of economic crisis makes ppl question status quo
But working class can only do this by creating organic intellectuals (ppl who challenge dominant ideology) creating a counter hegemony offering new idea of socialist society
What is Webers social action theory?
Introduced idea of verstrhen emphasising putting sociologist in position of those they studying
Weber rejects determinism of structural theorist but also people not entirely free to behave how they wish and somewhat restricted by structures of inequality
Instead class and status shape peoples lives and their choices available. And says understanding of structure and action approaches needed to understand society analysing social factors (level of cause) and subjective meanings to beh (level of meaning)
What are are two types of subjective meanings people give to their actions (Weber)
- traditional action: customary, routine actions without need for rational thought
- effectual action: action thay expresses emotion eg protesting in Ager or crying out in grief eg political and religion use emotional appeals to invoke action from followed
However too simplistic as something like giving gifts at Christmas can be affectionate and traditional action
What is meads symbol vs instincts theory?
Unlike animals out beh isn’t fixed and instinctual. We respond to world by guiding meanings to things significant to us and attaching symbols to them
These develop work interaction with others and can change in place and time and between people
People interpret meanings of others by imaging themsleves in their position called role-taking so we need to see ourselves as other see us so we develop concept of self
Eg language or red means stop
What is ❌ of meads symbol vs instincts theory?
Functionalist day for majority to abide by symbols and rules there must be collective consciousness of norms and values so must be structural factors, it overemphasises individual
What is Beckers labelling theory?
Labelling: behaviour is heavily influenced by what people label it as
Self fulfilling prophecy: when someone is labelling they act in way that fits it so label comes true
looking gksss self: Cooley says we develop self concept by taking on role of others, others act as mirror so we can see ourselves in way they respond to use leading to SFP (link to pygmalion effect)
Career: stages through individuals progress their label eg deviant career
Overall it’s useful for many things and theories in areas like education, crime
What is collapse of metamarratives according to who? And also hybridity
Lyotard says: Large theories or grand explanations like science or religion don’t work. There isn’t universal truth but multiple competing explanations. Truths aren’t absolute but relative and judged on usefulness to individuals
Hybridity: Breakdown of universal truths led to pick and mix culture, ppl combined diff systems to create own life’s and identities in religion, youth and music
Could be linked to ledgers spiritual shopping
What does baudrillard say about postmodernity
Everything is fluid and fragmented, individuals free to construct own identity, examines way ppl build identity out of products they consume due to media association
Also says society is consumed by the media and key characteristic is production/consumption of signs in media. Often these not based upon existing thing called simulacra and in recent years these can end up being real eg Disney castle
So hard to define where media and reality end and media has become “hyper-real” meaning we can’t distinguish it from reality eg reality shows like only way is Essex
How has globalisation lead to postmodernity
Tech, economic, political and cultural changes have all lead to globalisation and we all line i a “global village” which traditional theories can’t explain eg glocal crimes or new family types
We are now effected by actions in far off countries, negative aspects of this is cultural homogenisation where everything is the same eg McDonald’s everywhere
What are strengths of weaknesses of postmodernist theory
Useful to challenge ideas and assumptions about society and theories like media and sexuality
Can account for changes in society like globalisation which classical theories can’t
However, things like collapse of meta narratives generalisation and is postmodernism not just a meta narrative?
Not everyone free to create own identity eg in fundamentalist Iran women have to dress up
What is becks late modern theory of risk society?
Todays late modern risk society faces new dangers, (before couldn’t control stuff like famine) like global warming cause by humans
Also period of individualisation where we become more reflexive (free to pursue own goals) and tradition doesn’t govern us. So we now gotta think for ourselves and consequences of our actions taking into account risks
Beck refers to this as reflective modernisation (society changed but not totally transformed)
Now risk consciousness central to our culture as we aware of perceived risk and minimise them but lots of info about risk come from media whidjbdistirts them
Still believes rational movements like political action of environentallism can challenge tech development
When was cannabis changed from class C to class B drug?
2008 cause governor wanted to take into consideration public perception, health of children and pressures of police despite wishes of scientists
What does toynbee say about prison and social policy)
Little evidence it cuts crime and works and not worth taxes
Despite this politicians call for more police and prisons cause it’s popular
What are the factors that affect sociologist influence on social policy
- electoral popularity
- intrest groups
- ideological and policy preferences of government
- globalisation
- critical sociology
- cost
- funding sources
What is positivist and functionalist views of social policy
Sociology is science so can discover social policy science to them
- state produces and implements social policy maintaining value consesus
- sociologist role is to provide state with objective, scientific info like medical researcher
What is social democratic perspective of policy?
- favour major redistribution of wealth and income from rich to poor
- black report 1980 recommend policies like free school meals but thatcher
What is feminist view of social policy
Most social policy serves to maintain patriarchal control eg tax benefits to married couples
- positive impact on policy eg teachers avoid bias or policy to help women 1970 equal pay act
- radical ideas like seperatism has led to policies for women refuge centres escaping domestic violence
What is the new rigjt persepctive of social policy
State should have minimal involvement
Oppose welfare to deal with problems
Murray say befirst act as ‘perverse incentives’ reinforcing Dependancy culture creating single parent families
Prefer a count ability policies like child support act 1991 makes parents pay to child rather than state
What are some theoretical issues
Reliablity
Validity
Representative
Subjective
Objective
Value free
Value laden
Macro, micro
Hawthorne effect
What are some practical issues
Funding bodies
Access
Time and money
Subject matter
Researcher opportunities
Researcher bias/knowledge
What do positivist do and say
Society has objective reality
Concern themsleves with macro
Use Quantative data t
Prefer structured research methods producing reliable data
Use deductive logic to determine patterns of behaviour
What do interpretivist do and say
Social reality is contracted through meanings and interactions
Concern themselves with micro
Use qualitative data to uncover meaning people assign to interactions
Seek to discover subjective understanding
Prefer valid research methods eg unstructured interviews
Use inductive logic to study people’s interactions
What methodology and results of durkheims suicide study
He used comparative method: conpared diff sources of data to identify patterns and differences between factors
Official statistics: compared 11 different European countries and diffs between social groups in each country
He found: suicide wasn’t random act but part of wider social factors
Suicide higher among Protestant countires than catholic ones (sudicide a sin in Catholicism)
And married people less likely than single ppl to commit suicide
What is a critism of durkheims suicide study?
Halbwachs says Durkheim overemphasised influence religion has over suicide and it’s more about rural or urban areas
What is interpretivist Douglas study in sufficed
Interested in roles and actions of concerned parties of suicide like family, friends or coroner and how they use qualitative data to come to conclusion
He says there is need to categorise suicide to social meaning cause responses are diff in diff countries
His methodology said suicide stats are socially constructed between negotiations of different parties
So he used qualitative anyalsis of each Sucide with interviews, reading diaries, investigating mental and physical health and circumstances leading up to death
What did Durkheim argue the two social facts determining suicide were
Social intergration: how much individual experiences sense of belonging to group
Moral regulation: extent individuals actions and desires are kept in check by norms and values and without regulation one’s desires are infinite
How does Weber argue sociology should be value free
He said values do influence rewatch we choose to conduct like feminist value gender equality whixh impacts what they study
But when we start our research we gotta be as value free as possible eg don’t ask leading questions then just test hypothesis must be tested against what they found
But when interpreting data values should become important as they have theoretical framework to conduct research. Also must make clear to critics what are perspectives are so they can challenge
How does Gomm argue sociology shoudlnt be value free
Sociologist react to political, economic and social events. This is dependent on power of groups to define reality and they determine what is worthy of research. Also important to look at what sociologist don’t research
Social research has social and moral implications so sociology has inevitable political nature and trying to divorce from that is evasion of responsibility
So when try to become value free they are merely adopting new set of values
How does callenders uni finding research support Gomm
Callenders research funded by govemrnt who found top up funds would cause inequality
It wasn’t published until legislation was passed
Shows when trying to be value free only adopting new values
What does Becker say about no value freedom
Becker says all knowledge is political, serves some groups at expense of others. Sociologist should choose a side who Becker would recommend as the disadvantaged
Supported by Goffman metal asylum research as he took side of patient over institutions to fully understand their behaviour
How does Goldner critique Becker and not being value free
Goldner claims Becker had a romantic approach to disadvantaged groups as blindly focuses on underdog
Goldner takes Marxist perspectives and says u should support oppressed
How do positivist say sociology is a science
Comte and Durkheim agrue it’s desirable to apply science logic to study of society to bring objective knowledge. They say positivist can discover patterns and laws through inductive reasoning by collecting data about the world through careful measurement and observation
Sociology is science cause: general laws can be discovered about society and a fact can be linked to another
Positivist faviur macro apporaich and so structured can be seen as social facts that shape behaviour
Use quantitative methods which create reliable data which can be verified
All research should be value free and objective
What do interpretivist say about sociology not being a science
Sociology should not model its word in natural sciences as there no facts waiting to be discovered, understanding of sociology
Only comes from interpretation of meanings and motives of ppl involved
Eg Douglas suicide study or Oakley interviews
However goes too far in opposite direction and ignores useful role Quantative data plays in research
What does Karl popper say about how sociology should be a science but isn’t
Also said sociology should be a science but it’s an inductive rather than deductive methodology, scientist should make precise predictions on basis of theories to falsify them which popper rejected many sociology theories for not being
He uses example of “all swans are white” which we cannot prove as existence of one black swan disproves it so we can never prove something
So sociology is unscientific as CANT priduve hypothesis that can be falsified and has untestable ideas
W
What is strength and weakness of popper theoryn
Highlights how much of sociology is just ideas like marxism saying there will be a revolution
But neglects valuable ideas that may be testable at some point
What is Kuhns views of sociology being a science?
Shared view that it can’t be cause of paradigms (shared framework of scientific community) science cannot exist without it. Scientist agree on basics and try to solve puzzles it presents but if anomalies occur ppl lose faith in it
This can create a scientific Revolution as a new paradigm gets replaced allowing normal science to resume
Khun differs to popper who views science as open and falsifiable, Kuhn sees it as not open, conforming to paradigm
Sociology can be said to be pre-paradigmatic and so not scientific as there no shared paradigm
Postmodernist would argue paradigm not valuable as it just another meta narrative
Why do realists think sociology is a science?
Keat and Urry say sociology can be a science cause there are underlying structures and mechanisms to both
- open systems: researches cannot control or precisely measure all variables eg meteorology is same as sociology
- Closed systems: researches can control and measure all relevant variables and can make predictive outcomes eg lab experiments
So sociology can be open system science
