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What is? Its the study of how memberships of social groups influence peoples
behaviors. Socialists are interested in how facts are created and how they are linked.
Origins: the Enlightment period, end of 17th century in Europe, great cultural
upheavals: intellectuals and scientists began to question the prevailing view of the
world (based on religious faith). Period attempted to challenge traditional beliefs
through reason and science.
Comte: against background of change (French and Industrial Revolution), he rose the
question how social order was created and maintained. He argued with scientific
method (positivism), and told about three stages:
- Theological: order based on religious beliefs
- Metaphysical: upheaval and disorder, old religious challenged: emergence of
science
- Positive: science and reason: nature of social world, basis of social order
Culture: way of life of a particular group. Defined in terms of material culture and non-material
(beliefs).
Beliefs: ideas accepted as true, they dont need to be supported by evidence.
Social order: behavioral patterns and regularities established by societies.
Positivism: methodology: possible to study social world with the same way scientists study natural
world.
Durkheim:
Societies can only be fully understood in terms of relationships between institutions
(patterns of shared behavior persistent over time)
Sociological problem: what holds a mass of individual together as a society? Solution:
regard social systems as moral entities.
Order is based on common agreement (what society thinks its important).
Societies didnt just exist, people developed social solidarity. In traditional
societies, people are bound together by who they are (part of), and in modern
societies, theres organic solidarity: people together by what they do.
He used positivism method to analyze society. Studied suicide and social causes.
Social order comes from existence of shared values and interests
Science: way of producing knowledge, two qualities: its reliable (check accuracy of
research by repeating it to get similar results), and valid (data useful if it measures or
describes what it claims).
Poppers hypothetic-deductive method: standard example of scientific
procedure. This begins with a hypothesis/research question. Question must be tested,
and conclusions cant be false. Scientific knowledge: occurs when we can affirm
that something will happen in future.
Ethical rules (conditions to be science):
- Universal: objective, universally agreed, criteria.
- Communal: scientific knowledge is public, freely shared within the scientific
community.
- Disinterested: scientists should be recognized and rewarded by their efforts
and achievements, but they shouldnt take a personal stake, financial or in the
outcome of it.
- Skeptical: nothing is beyond criticism: science is true since it hasnt been
disproved yet.
Positivism
Studies the social work in same way scientists study natural world. Construct and test
hypothesis.
Value freedom: conduct and findings of research shouldnt be influenced by researchers values.
Data collected and presented in sociological knowledge is value free: hasnt been
influenced by the values, beliefs or prejudices of the researcher. However, is more
value-neutral, since its impossible to truly act without values. Best thing we can do:
recognize them.
Respondent: the subject of a research process | who responds to the research.
Different cultural behaviors in the same gender. Life chances can vary between men
and women of the same class, age and ethnicity (men: greater personal share of
family resources). Gender differences (men and women dress differently), some
related to patriarchal ideologies: result in how men and women are treated
(inequalities, women domestic labour, and men hard work, different education and
responsibilities).
Ethnicity
Cultural differences between social groups, where people see themselves as
distinctive from others, on a basis of a shared culture and history. Ethnic groups have
common ancestry and memories of a shared past.
Religion
Wide variations: Christianity, Judaism and Islam involve worship of a single god
(monotheism), other forms such as Paganism, involve worship of different gods
(polytheism), and some belief systems dont involve a god: people believe on the
incomprehensible (North American Sioux).
Possible to be Christian without ever vising a church; different religions require
different levels of personal commitment (attendance at services, praying number of
times).
There are differences between religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam), differences
within religions (Islam has tree belief systems), and differences of belief practice and
organization (affiliation).
Global culture
Rapid global movement of cultural ideas and products, adapted to fit the needs of
different cultural groups. Cultural products are malleable (manipulated), a pick
andmix approach to culture developed creation of something new: cultural
hybridization.
Globalized culture reflects how national cultural developments can spread, to be
picked up, shaped and changed to suit different groups needs.
Globalization: various processes, economic, political and cultural, that occur on a worldwide basis.
Functionalism
Explanations of how order and stability is created and maintained involve looking at
societys organization at social system. Also: various parts of a society function in
harmony, each part dependent on the others. Connections between parts of social
system are created by institutional purposes and needs. For a family institution to
exist and function, its members need to survive. Work institution: needs family to
produce socialized human beings.
Social system, institutions: Economic (solves the physical survival problem: organize
people into work to produce things for survival), Political (solves the problem of
order: find ways of governing and control), Family (solves problem of socialization),
Cultural (solves problem of social integration: make people feel they have things in
common).
Marxism
Work is the most important activity: to survive. Marxists refer to a relationship
between base and superstructure (relationship between economic, political and
ideological institutions).
- Economic base is foundation on which society is built, involves relationships
(of production), and hierarchy (dominant and dominated)
- Political and ideological superstructure rests on the economic base and
involves political institutions (government, religion, education, etc.)
- Workplace: key area of conflict because of its structure: majority sell their
ability to work.
- Ownership and control of institutions allow ruling class to influence,
ideological state apparatuses: fits on capitalist system, that benefits
bourgeoisie.
- Socialization is a type of ideological manipulation to convince interests of
ruling class
Feminist theory
Belief that societies are patriarchal and interests of men are always considered more
important than womens. Interpersonal power: physical violence, or female labour
exploitation; cultural power: male domination structure to oppress women. Liberal
feminism: form of control is sexual discrimination, Marxist feminism; class
inequality provides female oppression (capitalism), radical feminism: patriarchy is
the source of female oppression.
Action approach
Interactionism claims that people create and re-create society on a daily basis
through daily routines. Society exists mentally: people act as though society is a real
force having an effect on them, limiting and controlling behavior creates order and
stability.
Social change
Explanations of social change; functionalism: social change produced when a subsystem changes since they are all connected in social system. Cultural changes
began with development of scientific ideas.
For Marxism, social change comes through conflict and clash between contradictory
interests in capitalism.
Feminism and social change
For liberals, change can be created through legal system. Marxist feminist link gender
inequality to economic or class-based inequalities: development of patriarch is the
product of cultural differences in capitalism. Radicals say that capitalism isnt all: a
change can only come from the overthrow of ideas and practices (anarchy
matriarch).
SOCIALIZATION AND CREATION OF SOCIAL IDENTITY
Nature vs nurture: human behavior explained in biological or cultural terms.
Roles: expected patterns of behaviors associated with each status.
Values: beliefs or ideas most important, expresses how something should be.
Norms: socially accepted way of behaving when playing particular role.
Agencies of socialization
Primary
Family: long periods. Adults learn roles ranging from husband/wife to parent/stepparent, and children also learn roles (baby, infant, child, teenager, etc.). Parents
shape our basic values (how to address adults) and moral values (understand
difference between right and wrong). Sanctions are informal.
Peers: people of a similar age, they are primary since we tend to choose friends of a
similar age and personal interaction with them influences our behavior. Peer-group
norms often related to ideas about age-appropriate behavior (children mustnt
drink/smoke). Sanctions: informal.
Secondary
Education: involves a formal curriculum: subjects knowledge and skills children are
taught, and a hidden curriculum: things we learn from the experience of attending
school (obedience, respect to the system). School essential in the process since: it
emancipates the child from primary attachment to family, and it allows children to
internalize a level of societys values and norms.
Schools: range of roles (teacher and pupil), extends the idea of cultural relationships
since we become locked into expected behaviors. Also it project values: work hard to
achieve.
Mass media: its secondary since our relationship with it is impersonal. Advertising
aims to make short-term changes in behavior (encourage to buy x product). But
also television has indirect long-term effects: consumerism, fear and agenda
setting.
Religion: moral values influenced by religious values. Religion: design for living, a
force that provides help and guidance to live a life in accord with God. Religious
values are displayed through styles of dress. It has positive sanctions
(reincarnation for Hinduism, sin in Christianity) and negative (excommunication).
SOCIETY: constructed by geographic borders, a system of government, a common
language, customs and traditions, and a sense of belonging and identification. For a
society to function it must have order and stability, and for these to exist peoples
behavior must display patterns and regularities. Cultures constructed so from the
same basic materials: roles, values and norms.
ROLES: contribute to the creation of culture because they demand both social
interactions and an awareness of others. They help individuals develop socially. Every
role has a label.
VALUES: all roles have an aspect based on beliefs about how people should behave.
So, role play is governed by values that guide behaviors.
NORMS: specific behavioral guides that tell people how to successfully play a role,
how people should act in a particular situation. Used to perform roles predictably and
acceptably. Its important because without order and predictability, behavior
becomes risky and confusing. Anomie: people who fail to understand the norms.
Goffman says that norms are more open to interpretation and negotiation than
either roles or values they can be quickly adapted to changes in social
environment. Ex.: some teachers interpret their role as strict disciplinarians, other
with a friendly approach.
BELIEFS: fundamental, deep-rooted ideas that shape our values and are shaped by
them. All values express a belief, but not every belief expresses a value.
IDEOLOGIES: constructed around a set of fundamental beliefs whose purpose is to
explain: the meaning of life, the nature of family organization, and the superiority of
selected social groups.
METHODS OF RESEARCH
Primary and secondary data
Primary
Definition
Information collected
personally by researcher. May
be questionnaires, interviews
and observational data.
Strengths
Secondary
Data that already exists, such as
documents (governments reports
and statistics, diaries) or previous
research completed by other
sociologists.
. Researcher saves time, money
and effort.
. Sometimes its the only
available resource.
. Useful for historical and
comparative purposes.
. Official statistics: highly reliable
and representative.
Limitations
- Quantification often achieved by placing the respondent in an artificial setting
(for controlling responses and data). Less ecological validity: impossible to
capture peoples normal behavior/real responses when subjects are placed in
artificial environment.
- This data collects a narrow range of information. Doesnt reveal the reasons
for behavior since it lacks depth.
- Superficial, difficult to get real meaning of an issue by looking numbers.
- Issues are only measured if they are known prior to the beginning of the
research. To quantify, the researcher must decide in advance what is
significant from the behavior studied.