intro to sociology

• Structural theory

  • Functionalism + New right - consensus
  • Marxism + feminism - conflict
• Functionalism - Durkheim + Parsons

  • society is based on agreement about basic norms and values, making society stable, like the human body
  • society = biological organism (Durkheim) body is made up of cells, organs which fit together and depend on each other (organic analogy)
  • social institutions (family, education system)
  • working together = value consensus = stability
• Functionalism

  • (Parsons) GAIL - goal attainment: society needs to allocate resources, adaptation: provide adequate standard of life, Integration: coordinating parts of society to achieve shared goals with people having a sense of belonging, latency: keeping society controlled to keep society working efficiently, maintaining shared values

  Evaluation

  • ignores individual choice - all behaviour = shaped by the needs of the social system
  • overly optimistic, assumes all members of society benefit equality, neglects inequalities in power + wealth
  • doesn't explain social change
• New right

  • similar to functionalism - believes society needs values and institutions to maintain social order
  • individual freedom and self interest - states the need to reduce the power of the state to the minimum, not interfering with individuals
  • reduce spending by the state - make individuals more self reliant. e.g. by cutting welfare benefits
  • defence of the free market - free competition between companies, schools is encouraged to give people maximum choice between competing products e.g. healthcare and education
• New right

  • the importance of traditional institutions and values - nuclear family is vital in social institutions, traditional roles maintain social order. Lone parent families are blamed for social problems (laziness, crime, failing in school)

  Evaluation

  • feminists criticise idea of traditional family roles, they view it as oppressive, reinforcing patriarchy
  • critics argue societal problems isn't caused by lone parents or people on benefits but by wider social economic + political factors, unfair to engage in victim blaming (people have little control of it)
• Feminism

  • society is patriarchal, things are done in men's best interests, creating inequality
  • liberal - wants equal rights + opportunities for women, introducing more opportunities for women in legal system = best way to bring about equality, inequality = from ignorance from socialisation and gender roles
  • radical - extreme. society is structured to oppress women, society itself needs to change, believing that all relationships = imbalanced, all women = subservient
  • marxist - women are exploited by capitalist societies (ran by men), in workforce, women are exploited, low paid, low status
• Feminism

  Evaluation

  • underestimates the extent which women have become less oppressed and liberated in modern western societies
  • implies that patriarchal exploitation + oppression = similar experience for all women, all women should share same interests
• Marxism

  • Karl Marx - focused on effects of capitalism, class division, infrastructure and superstructure
  • infrastructure: organised by classes
  • Bourgeoisie (minority) controls means of production, owns what is needed to produce goods (land, factories). Proletariat's labour is exchanged for wages (worth less than their value of work = surplus value). Employers receive extra value as profits. Creates class conflict.
  • Superstructure: hides ruling class motives by social institutions, leads individuals into accepting inequalities of capitalism so proletariat won't rebel (false consciousness)
• Marxism

  Evaluation

  • overly emphasises class inequalities at expense of ignoring gender and ethnicity
  • functionalists argues marxism emphasises too much conflict, ignoring consensus
  • postmodernists say social class isn't as influential on individual anymore, people = defined by choices not work status
• Social action theory

  • society = determined by interaction of individuals, identity = made up by free will and choices
  • focuses on individual and everyday behaviour
  • micro approach - studying individual / small group behaviour rather than the overall structure of society
  • labelling - concerned with understanding human behaviour in face to face situations, bases how we define individuals, concerning the consequence of being labelled negatively (if student is given bad label, will internalise it, fulfilling role, earning consequence
• Social action theory

  Evaluation

  • unscientific - interactionalist studies depend on the researcher's interpretation
  • functionalists criticise the lack of acknowledgement of socialisation's importance
• Postmodernism

  • can’t make sense of society through meta narratives
  • society is changing rapidly
  • needs to take into account individualism as everything means something different to different people
  • lyotard - media is using knowledge as a commodity (it’s bought and sold) to influence how society thinks
  • baudrillard - 1. death of social - no more social soliditary, we live in isolation. 2. media + experience - media’s influence over politics (left and right wing) 3. sign objects - valuing consumption 4. hyper reality - blurring between what’s real and fake (disyneyland)
• Postmodernism

  • globalisation - world is becoming increasing interconnected, barriers are disappearing
  • global risk society - (Beck) late modern society = increasingly human made e.g. global warming, nuclear war
  • meta narrative - states there’s no one true theory or view point, many versions of the truth
  • hyper reality - simulation of something which never really existed
• Postmodernism

  Preindustrial

  • rural, agricultural, little social change, strong sense of community, religion,value consensus
  • Modernity
  • urban industrial, social + technological change, belief in progress and science, class systems
  • Postmodernity
  • post industrial society, change = increasingly rapid but uneven, lost faith in science of bringing process, individualism
• Postmodernism

  Evaluation

  • weakness : exaggerates change - has media replaced class, gender, religion