Theory and Methods

Question 1

Bourgeoisie

Answer 1

the ruling class, typically with reference to it’s perceived materialistic values or conventional attitudes.

Question 2

Proletariat

Answer 2

working class people regarded collectively

Question 3

means of production

Answer 3

physical, non-human inputs used for the production of economic value such as, facilities machinery, tools, infrastructural capital and natural capital.

Question 4

relations of production

Answer 4

the social structures that regulate the relation between humans in the production of goods.

Question 5

exploitation

Answer 5

occurs when one social group is able to take for itself what is produced by another group.

Question 6

alienation

Answer 6

the isolating, dehumanizing and disenchanting effects of working within a capitalist system of production.

Question 7

surplus value

Answer 7

difference between a worker’s wages and the value of goods and services he or she produces.

Question 8

class conflict

Answer 8

the tension or antagonism which exists in society due to competing socioeconomic interests and desires between people of different classes.

Question 9

dominant ideology

Answer 9

denotes the attitudes, beliefs, values, and morals shared by the majority of people in the given society.

Question 10

communism

Answer 10

a political system that aims to establish a classless society based on a communal ownership of property.

Question 11

neo-marxism

Answer 11

an economic theory that the current worlds economic structure has been systematically implemented by use of a global class division with developing countries being exploited by industrialized nations.

Question 12

relative autonomy

Answer 12

state can and does play a limited independent role in the maintenance and stabilization of capitalist society.

Question 13

repressive state apparatus

Answer 13

what is know in contemporary political discourse as ‘hard power’ i.e. a form of power that operates by means of violence (army, police, prison system)

Question 14

Ideological state apparatus

Answer 14

education, family, churches etc. that were formally outside state control but which serve to transmit the values of the state, to maintain order in society.

Question 15

relative autonomy of the superstructure

Answer 15

the state can and does play a limited independent role in the maintenance and stabilization of capitalist society

Question 16

ideological level

Answer 16

a set of opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual.

Question 17

Political level

Answer 17

Social levels, clans, tribes, modern local governments, companies and institutions that define acceptable political methods within a given society.

Question 18

Marxism as a political ideology

Answer 18

central role in understanding societies allegedly inevitable development from the bourgeoisie oppression under capitalism to a socialist and ultimately classless society.

Question 19

Male stream

Answer 19

male sociologists carry out research which focuses on a masculine perspective and then assumes that the findings can be applied to women as well.

Question 20

social policy

Answer 20

a plan or action of government agencies which aims to improve or reform society.

Question 21

dual-systems feminism

Answer 21

a group that combine features of marxism and radical feminism into one theory. They regard patriarchy as the cause of women’s oppression as well as capitalism.

Question 22

postmodern feminism

Answer 22

an approach to feminist theory that incorporates postmodern and post-structuralist theory, seeing itself as moving beyond the modernist polarities of liberal and radical feminism.

Question 23

political ideology

Answer 23

a certain ethical set of ideals, principles, doctrines, myths or symbols of a social movement, institution, class or large group that explains how society should work offering some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order.

Question 24

Social Action

Answer 24

refers to an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals (or ‘agents’).

Question 25

Interpretivists

Answer 25

relies upon both the trained researcher and the human subject as the instruments to measure some phenomena, and typically involves both observation and interviews

Question 26

Micro Approach

Answer 26

concerning the nature of everyday human social interactions and agency on a small scale: face to face.

Question 27

symbol

Answer 27

is a gesture (usually a vocal gesture) that calls out in the individual making the gesture the same (i.e., functionally identical) response that is called out in others to whom the gesture is directed.

Question 28

looking glass self

Answer 28

describes the development of one’s self and of one’s identity through one’s interpersonal interactions within the context of society.

Question 29

Labelling theory

Answer 29

states that people come to identify and behave in ways that reflect how others label them.