Theory And Methods Flashcards
Is sociology a science - Yes
- Comte one of the first positivist thinkers of sociology agrees that sociology is a science as we should take experimental method in natural sciences which allows for the hypothesis in a systematic and controlled way
- functionalists and Marxists agree with this approach
- inductive reasoning - data and patterns
- verificationsim - enough theory to be able to verify it
- Durkheim’s study on suicide
Is sociology a science - No
- Feminist argue that women can’t be studied as an object or be objective
- Weber - science study’s unconscious, using inductive reasoning and verificationism however, sociology study’s people that do have a consciousness construct and sense of the world around them - would need internal meanings to understand
- Verstehen - in order to understand we would have to put ourselves in their shoes
Is sociology a science - No but maybe if it changed
- Popper - subject areas that wanted to be called a science should subject themselves to a process if falsification (disproving theories)
+ sociology can use falsification - labelling and fuller - Marxism - ‘get out cause’ that can’t be falsified
Excuse always have a reason as to why - Kuhn - actual science operates within a paradigm. Paradigm shift - enough evidence to prove that he current paradigm no longer works
- can’t be a sciences no agreed paradigm, positivist and interpretivists don’t agree
- Realists - open systems where not all variables can be measured, for example labelling they don’t know that it will be internalised. Sociology usually uses open systems.
- Keat and Urry - says that sociology ins’t 100% a science however, has aspects of science
Is sociology a science - it’s no longer relevant
Society is now fragmented and theories claim that they know the truth but according to Foucault they are simply meta-narratives (version of the truth to how we understand society)
Values can not be involved in the reserach
- Positivists view point - Comte and Durkheim
- study sociology as a science
- should be completely detached
- want to achieve progressivism as a result of the enlightenment
- should be studied objectively and reduce the personal values of the researcher and participant
Values are sometimes involved in research but not all the time
- Weber - value laden - make up part of the research
Yes: our values guide our researcher we do it on something we are interested in (Griffin), values interpretation of data, the reflection of the data (education - functionalists see role allocation as positive Marxist see it as negative)
No: data collection and the hypothesis testing should be value free whilst collecting
Values are involved in research and e should embrace them
- Myrdal - society we are studying the under-dogs
- Gouldner - the way sociologists conduct research claim the research is to problem solves
- Becker - teases side of the underdog and don’t want to research the over dog
- Goffman - social interactions and social norms - qualitative methods to achieve more verstehen
Evidence that sociology can be value free
- Griffin Black like me - wanted to live in the shoes of a Black person for the day
- Venkatesh - gang leader for a day but ended up joining for 9 years
- Dobash and Dobash - unstructured interviews on domestic violence, each interview was 8 hours
Feminists education
- girls achieve higher
- feminism has improved girls right - GIST and WISE
- McRobbie and the importance of magazines
- liberal feminists think we should celebrate how far we have come
- radical feminists believe girls are still viewed sexually due to skirts and how males are more likely to be a head of a school
Feminists families
- radical believe that men are the enemy
- liberal believe that policies are being made to help women - equal pay act
- marxist believe that patriarchy and capitalism go hand in hand and that women are used in the relationship - Ansley ‘takers of shit’
- difference believe that different lives and families are based on intersectional factors
Feminists crime
- the chivalry thesis that women are less likely to go to prison because of chivalry however, fe it’s argue against this
- heidensohn found that women aren’t just punished for crime but deviating gender norms too
- double standards
- Carlen women aren’t just jailed for crime but how they act as a mum
- patriarchal control theory - female crime is due to the patriarchal society through:
-control at home, control in public, control at work
Functionalism education
- Durkheim believes that education transmits the norms and values of society
- Davis and Moore talk more about role allocation and how that society has to place people in to different rules for society to be able to function properly - meritocratic
- Parson’s also believes that schools are meritocratic and judged on everyone’s universalistic standards
Functionalism families
- Murdock the family performs 4 functions: stable satisfaction of sex drive, reproduce next generation, socialisation of the young, meeting economic needs
- Parsons argues that the nuclear family is the best to function in society
-Young and Willmott the foamy i becoming more symmetrical - Durkheim - social solidarity should operate in a consensus and society should work like the humane body
- Davis believes that family function is simply just for reproduction and maintaining population
Functionalism crime
- Durkheim believes the idea of boundary maintenance and adaption and change
- Merton Strain Theory that being unable to achieve the goal leads to frustration and violence
- Cloward and Ohlin - illegitimate opportunity structures
- Matza and the conception of the drift that the youth feel a lack of control of their lives
Marxism education
- functions of education are to reproduce class and inequality
- Althusser - ideology state apparatus the idea of controlling people minds and repressive state apparatus the rule by force of threat
- Bowels and Gintis - capitalism requires an obedient workforce due to hierarchy such as headteachers and pupils
- Hidden Curriculum
- myth of meritocracy the main factor that determines whether someone does well is family and class background not ability or educational achievement
Marxism families
Marxism crime
- the law is enforced disproportionately against the working class
- criminogenic capitalism - capitalism creates crime
- the state and law making agencies only serve the interests of the working class - Chambliss of the British laws to East African colonies
- selective enforcement ‘the rich get richer and the poor get prison’
- ideological functions - some policies appear to benefit the working class however don’t such as health and safety laws
Explain social action theory
Micro theorists that take a bottom up approach and are less deterministic states that we create and shape society through our choices meanings and actions
What does Weber find in social action
That to understand the full picture we need to look at structure and action
- level of the structure (education, family why we are shaped the way we are)
- level of action (understanding meanings that individuals attach to actions)
What are the 4 ideal types from Weber
- traditional action -routine doesn’t involve thought
- affective action - emotions
- value-rational action - actions taken to achieve a goal
-instrumentally rational action - calculates most efficient way to achieve a goal
AO3 of Weber in social action
He states about Verstehen however we can never fully prove that it has been achieved
What do Mead and Blume argument about symbolic interactionism ?
Mead states that we take the place of another person and interpret the meanings that others give to an action
Blumer: actions are not automatic based on meaning, meanings are not fixed at the outset of the interaction, meanings arise from taking the “role of the other”
What is the synoptic link from mead and blumer
Becker if the see you as misbehaving such as language or clothing you will be labelled
AO3 of social action theory
Functionalist disagree that individuals make it they see us as passive puppets who respond to the needs of the social system
Who states the looking glass self
Cooley our idea of who we are
Explain the dramaturgical model
Everyone within society is on a stage and we act within our correct roles.
Impression management: thinking and taking in the audience around
Roles: loosely scripted but we have freedom to play the role how we wish
Synoptic link to dramaturgical model
Parsons that women at home are caring mothers to their children however, out with their friends they are care-free
AO3 evaluation — symbolic interactionism
Reynolds argues that it ignores class difference some people have to confine to the goals of poverty
Explain the structuration theory
Giddens attempts to combine both structure and action that they depend on each other. Individuals shape the social world but they are themselves shaped by society. In order to change structure we need to do something about the structures around us
Explain capitalism and economic change
Capitalism - based on the private ownership of the means of production and the use of wage labourers. Results in unequal wealth distribution
Economic change - economic activity now takes place across global networks (money laundering - Taylor)
Explain rational sciences, technology and technological changes
Rationality science and technology - secular way of thinking dominate and the enchantment of society changes
Technological changes - the internet, satellite communications and global tel vision have created a global village and ur ability to travel and communicate (cyber crime)
Explain the nation state and political changes
Nation state - ruled by powerful centralised government with a population sharing the same language and culture. Important source of identity with symbols such as the flag
Political changes - globalisation has undermined the power of the nation states
Explain individualism and changes in culture and identity
Individualism - tradition and ascribed status become less influential we experience greater personal freedom, deciding our own identity
Changes in culture and identity - globalisation made it harder for cultures to exist n isolation from one another
Are we still able to trust modernist thinkers ?
Foucault - anti-foundational isn’t viewpoint that’s we are no longer foundations which are set in place to prove a theory true or false. The enlightenment is dead and critical modernist thinkers all theories are meta-narratives
Lyotard - in a post modern world knowledge is jut a way of seeing the world in that version and now allows the groups which were previously marginalised to be heard
What do postmodernist argue about us living in a postmodern world ?
They argue that we are now living in a fragmented, unstable we are now in a media saturated global village where image and reality are indistinguishable. We define ourselves by what we choose to consume and represents a fundamental break in modernity
What is hyper-reality
Bauman - it means that as the media produce an endless stream of ever-changing images and versions of the truth as culture as become fragmented and unstable no longer shared values
What is the problem if people are confronted with multiple meta-narratives
That it is giving people lots of different messages and undermines other peoples faiths and people believe different versions of things
AO3 of postmodern world
Philo and Miller (Marxists)
- ignore power and inequality
- ignore structures such as class
Harvey also states that the postmodern view is too pessimistic (negative) saying that political positions do have a role to play in helping improve society
What is Marxist theory on postmodernity
Yes we have moved from modernity to postmodernity however we have enter a new stage of capitalism.
In 1970s capitalism experience a crisis there was an economic slump which gave a new regime of accumulation (new way of making profits)
What does flexible accumulation mean?
Involving the use of IT and expanded fiancée sectors and job insercuity and the requirement for worker to be more flexible to fit their employees needs. Allows for niche and mass markets and switching
What has been the impact of flexible accumulation
- changes to consumption
- weakened working class political movement such as trade unions and replaced them
AO3 of Marxist theory on a postmodern society
- by accepting hat political opposition to capitalism has fragmented into many different social movements Marxist theories of postmodernity appear to be abandoning the possibility of revolution
Explain the views that we do not live in a postmodern world - Giddens
Theories of late modernity do recognise that important social changes have taken place however they just see it as a continuation of modernity rather than a new era
Giddens argues that we are no longer governed by tradition and customs we are more individualistic. Meaning we can be reflexive in a world which is constantly changing can use rational ways of thinking to improve world
Explain the view that we do not live in a postmodern world - Beck
He agrees with Giddens that we live in late modernity which he calls risk society however argues that w dare more aware of dangers. Also agrees that we are less governed by tradition and reflect on our actions
AO3 that we don’t live in a postmodern world
- not everyone is able to reflect and change
- Rustin argues that capitalism with its pursuit of profits is the source of risk not technology
What is the difference between social problem and sociological problem ?
Social problem is when social behaviours is causing public friction whereas sociological problem is a problem with any pattern of relationships that call for an explanation so anything we wish to make sense of
What 6 factors are there which depend on whether the reserach can be done?
- Electoral policy
- Ideological and policy preferences of government
- Globalisation (SL: global crime)
- Critical sociology (Michael Gove attached his critics as ‘Marxist’ as the improvements of schools were condemning them and stopping children from getting a good education
- Cost
- Funding (may have to tone down the research to fit those who are funding it)
- Bowlby became widely accepted within society and had a huge impact on government
Explain functionalism and positivism social policy
Comte and Durkheim - enlightenment project that sociology is a science and based on a consensus
They believe that the state serves the interests of the whole society
Role of sociologists is to provide the state with objective scientific information and functionalists often favour what is known a piecemeal social engineering cautious approach one thing at a time
AO3 evaluation of functionalist and positivists on social policy
- marxists argue that the piecemeal approach neglects the wider issues of structural inequality
Explain social democratic
Favours policies that redistribute wealth from the rich to poor
Townsend argues that sociologists should involved in researching social problems and then making policy recommendations that will end them
Example the black report
AO3 for social democratic
Marxists argue how they don’t go far enough into the report such a black report will do little to reduce the inequality caused by capitalism
Explain Marxist social policy
They believe that the state represents the interest if the ruling class and its social policies serve interests of capitalism:
- policies provide ideological legitimation
- they maintain the labour force for further exploitation
- they are a means of preventing revolution - welfare state way of buying off the working class
What is the role of sociology according to Marxist ?
The main role should e to criticise capitalist social policy not to serve the interest of the capitalist state. Sociologists should reveal the explotation the underpins capitalism
AO3 of Marxists social policy
Social democrats criticise Marists for ignoring that sociological research can bring up progressive policies ith the existing capitalism system
They don’t provide any practical or realistic solutions
Explain feminist in social policy
They explain how society is patriarchal and benefits men at women’s expense and the state continues this through its social policies. Family policies my assume that this ‘normal’ and conventional for the nuclear family
How has feminism impacted policy
- changed education within learning materials that promote positive images of women and add changes to teacher training
- radical feminist have been successful in campaigning for refuges for women escaping from domestic violence
AO3 evaluation of feminists social policy
Radical and Marist feminists argue for more far-reaching changing that the existing state cannot provide
Explain the new right in social policy
The new right believe that the state should have a minimal role in social life and they are ideologically opposed to resolve social problems. The intervention of the state in area such as fmaily life, welfare and education
Charles Murray
What policies would the new right advocate ?
Marriage preparation, parenting classes, support for the tax and benefit system for mothers who stay at home
AO3 of new right social policy
The quality and objectivity of the data used by the new right has been questioned. Charles Murray claims that there is a link between absent father and delinquency but the validity of this data and findings has been seriously questioned.
