Lecture 7- Actors, Agency and CAGEs

• A sociological understanding of social inequality requires a framework that considers _, _, and _.

  Social structure, Human Agency and social time and place
• What is social structure?

  Social structure according to McMullin and curtis generally refers to the relatively long-lasting patterned relationships among the elements of society.
• What are structures of inequality?

  Class, gender, race, sexuality and ability
• What do we mean by structures of inequality?

  This refers to the built-in systems of society that lead to the unfair treatment of some people based on their class, gender, sexuality, race and ability.
• What is human agency?

  it is an individual's ability to make decisions for themselves and not passively conform to the circumstances that govern their lives
• What is social time?


  This refers to the perspective that allows us to examine how individuals manage social change and how past experiences affect their ability to cope. (Life course perspective)
• What is social place?


  This refers to the idea that where an individual is born and where they live influences their life chances and likelihood of experiences outcomes of social inequality
• What is the structure vs. Agency debate?

  The debate about the extent to which individuals are shaped by social structures or have the ability to act independently. The debate examines the tension between socialization and individual autonomy.
• Sociological theories of inequality tend to prioritize the role of _?

  Structure
• What do we mean by social mobility?


  This refers to the movement of individuals, family or groups through a system of social hierarchy or stratification.
• How many approaches are there to structure and agency

  3
• What is analytic dualism?


  This refers to the idea that structure and agency are distinguishable but related feature of social life.
• What is the dialectic or integrated approach to structure and human agency?

  This refers to the idea that structure and agency shape one another and are mutually reinforcing
• What is the final approach to structure and agency?

  A view in the middle which straddles between analytic and dialectic approaches.
• Theorists related to analytic dualism?

  Goffman and Bourdieu
• Theorists related to dialectic/integrated?

  Berger and Luckman, Anthony Giddens
• Theorists related to a view in the middle?

  Sewell
• What is CAGE(s)

  Class, Age, Gender, Ethnicity and sexuality
• What are the studies examining actors and human action

  Level of the individual, Symbolic interactionist perspective and Weber
• What does Weber say about social action?

  Weber differentiates between actin and social action. He believes that actions are individually meaningful while social action is meaningful only in relation to another person's behaviour.
• According to Weber, what are the four types of social action

  Traditional, Affectural, instrumental-rational and value-rational.
• What is traditional action?


  This is when you do things out of habit. e.g brush your teeth in the morning
• What is affectual action?

  This refers to action that is driven by emotion rather than rationality.
• What is instrumental-rational?


  This refers to actions that are done because of a goal and it is believed to be the best way to achieve it. E.g studying to pass.
• What is value-rational?

  Refers to action that is done because it is believed to be the right thing to do. based on one's values and beliefs
• What role for social time and place play in patterns of social mobility?

  It is the idea that your chances of moving up or down socially are affecting by the time period and place that you live in.
• Why do some states offer greater opportunity for social mobility?

  Some countries like sweden have a strong welfare program that takes care of certain things and gives individuals more agency to make decision that may benefit them economically and socially