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