AS sociology
- Created by: bex
- Created on: 04-01-13 17:45
Culture and Identity
Functionalism
- the individual is the product of society
- believe that the structures of society are set up to allow society to run as smoothly as possible
- norms and values become a part of who you are (personality & identity) this creates a consensus which means everyone shares the same norms and values
- Durkheim called the shared norms and values that hold society together the collective consciousness of society
Marxism
- the individual is the product of economic forces
- Marxists believe that the most important force in society is class conflict
- people are socialised into a culture based on their social class
Interpretivists
- individual actions are the most important
- culture is determined by the behaviour and interaction of individuals
Labelling Theory
Self-fulfilling prophecy
- this is when you pursue what you are being labelled e.g. if you are labelled as a bad student you will become a bad student and fail
Master status
- they are very strong labels which replace an individual's other labels, e.g. if someone was called a criminal that is all they will be seen as, nothing else
Types of culture
Folk Culture
- is the pre-industrial society and it is things like folk dances, folk tale, folk medicine etc
- Redfield- folk societies were from strong extended families, local culture and supportive communities things that were not around in urban cultures.
High culture/Low culture
- the elite have a distinct culture from the masses, things like opera and sophisticated restaurants are associated with them
- low culture is then associated with soap operas and reality TV
Global Culture
- Globalisation means that now everything can be transported around the world nothing stays local e.g. British and American pop music everywhere
Gender indentities
Ann Campbell- increase in female deviant behaviour
Mac an Ghail- changes have led to a crisis of masculinity where no men no longer know their role
McRobbie- argued that female magazines reinforce conventional notions of femininity
Skelton- argues schools both create gender stereotypes and maintain those learnt at home
Verbal appellation- parents use language and names to define what's appropriate
Cannalisation- parents push their children's interests in a particular way
Manipulation- parents encourage normal behaviour and interests for the child's sex and discourage what is seen as deviant
Ann Oakley - research led her to identify four ways in which family usually teaches children norms & values associated with masculinity and femininity
National Identity
Durkheim- national identity makes individuals feel that they belong to a larger group
Schudson- individuals are socialised into a national culture and identity by agents such as education and mass media
Anderson- nationalism has replaced religion
Hall- national identity is about learning and sharing the collection of stories about a country
Age and Identity
Age is a social construct- can change over time and vary between different societies and cultures
Lambert- found that older men are often portrayed in positions of power
Phillipson- argues that elderly are a burden on society
Bradley- argues that age is less important to identity than other things like class, gender and ethnicity
Disability and identity
Shakespeare- disability is a label society uses to categorises people , being in that category can be more of a problem than the disability itself
Scott- concluded that blind people have learnt helplessness because they were labelled as dependent
Marsh and Keating- argue that everyone is dependent on other people in some way
Cumberbatch and Negrine- disabled rolls on TV were based on pity or comedy
Leisure and Identity
Blumler and Katz- people use the media to meet their needs
Willis- work is less satisfying because it requires little skill
Rojek- culture rather than social class is the way to understand patterns in leisure
Cohen- a community can be any group of people who are connected to each other, he suggests that communities are now symbolic communities
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