1. Intro Sociology Notes

• Sociology refers to the study of human groups and social life in societies, and is also concerned with the study of social institutions.
• Social institutions are various organized social arrangements which are found in societies, such as the family, education system, and healthcare system.
• Sociology aims to understand how these various social institutions work and how they relate to one another.
• Socialization is a key term in sociology, it is a lifelong process by which people learn the culture, what is expected and accepted in the society in which they live in.
• Socialization is carried out by agents of socialization, such as family, the educational system, religious institutions, media etc.
• Social mobility occurs in an open society (allows movement), however, this movement is not always possible as we can also find closed societies.
• Status can also refer to the ranking of individuals in society according to the different amounts of prestige or respect given to different positions by other members of that group or society.
• Status can either be ascribed or achieved.
• Status is often used to refer to the role someone occupies in society.
• Social mobility refers to the movement (upwards or downwards) of groups/individuals from one social class to another.
• An ascribed status is given by birth or family background which cannot be changed by individuals.
• The term "underclass" is often used to refer to a group of people who are right at the bottom of the social classes and whose poverty often excludes them from full participation in society.
• Social control refers to various methods used in order to persuade or force individuals to conform to the dominant social norms and values of a society.
• An individual's social class influences their life chances, which include the chances of having good quality housing, a long and healthy life, holidays, job security, and education success.
• Social control can be reinforced either formally, through social institutions like the law or school, or informally, through being told off by friends or family.
• These three aspects of social class, occupation, income, and wealth, are related to each other as they determine one's lifestyle.
• Sanctions are the rewards or punishments (consequences) for one's own actions.
• Social class refers to a group of people sharing a similar economic situation, such as occupation, income, and wealth.
• In a capitalist society, the means of production are privately owned and most people depend on the owners for employment.
• The superstructure includes society's social institutions such as the family, education, media, religion, political system, beliefs, and values, which Marx saw as influenced by the economic system.
• Marx believes that there are two main social classes in a capitalist industrial society: the Bourgeoisie (Upper Class) which is a small wealthy and powerful class of owners of the means of production, and the Proletariat (Working Class) which is a much larger, poorer class of non-owners of the means of production, all that they have to sell to society is their labor work in exchange for their wage.
• Surplus value provides profit for the employer but the workers are not paid for it, resulting in exploitation.
• Marx argues that workers produce more than what is needed for employers to pay them their wages, which is referred to as surplus value.
• People are either forced to work, like slaves, or paid for their work.
• Marxists also talk about surplus values and exploitation.
• Functionalism, also known as consensus structuralism, is a variety of structuralism associated with the work of Emile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons.
• Structuralism, also known as the Structuralist Approach, is a sociological perspective concerned with the overall structure of society and the way social institutions, like education, the media, and work, constrain and limit our behaviour.
• Understanding the workings and importance of the heart, lungs, and brain involves understanding what function or purpose each carries out and how they work together to satisfy and maintain the needs of the human body as a whole, such as the role of the heart and lungs in refreshing and pumping blood around the bodies.
• A perspective is a way of looking at something.
• A sociological perspective is a way of looking at society.
• People may see the same scene, issue, or situation from different perspectives, which is what interests us in sociology.
• Functionalism sees a society built up and working like a human body, made up of interrelated ports which function for, or contribute to, the functioning of society as a whole.
• Sociological Perspectives center on the themes of how much freedom or control the individual has to influence society.
• Marx argues that this exploitation creates class conflict.
• The interest of the two classes is totally opposed, the upper class wants more profit but they do not want to give stable wages, whereas the working class wants to achieve a better lifestyle but this would be at the expense of their bosses' profits.
• Marx believes that factors like religion are seen as the 'opium of the people’ as it is drugging workers, making them passive and convincing them to accept their position in society and their exploitation as they will then be rewarded with heaven after death.
• In this way, workers are brainwashed to accept their position in society and are fooled to recognize that they are being exploited, therefore they never have the opportunity to fight for their rights.
• Marx also argues that the upper class is the ruling class because they own the means of production, they have the say to decide where to locate factories, they control the working force through hiring or firing, and they have the dominant ideology, influencing major social institutions.
• Marx believes that the Bourgeoisie exploits the Proletariat by making profits out of them by keeping their wages low as possible instead of giving the workers the full payment for the goods they produce.
• There is a range of feminist approaches such as Marxist Feminists, Radical Feminists, and Liberal Feminists.