THEMES IN SOCIOLOGY

• SOCIOLOGY IS THE STUDY OF HUMAN SOCIETY
• DEVELOPMENT, FUNCTIONS AND ORGANISATON
• GENERALLY CONSIDERED TO BE 3 'FOUNDING FATHERS' - KARL MARX, EMILE DURKHEIM AND MAX WEBER

1) KARL MARX 1818-1883

• BELIEVED CAPITALISM OPPRESSES WORKING CLASS
• NEEDS TO BE A REVOLUTION TO MAKE ALL PEOPLE EQUAL

2) EMILE DURKHEIM 1858-1917

• FUNCTIONALIST
• BELIEVED SOCIETY IS MADE UP OF DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS - EACH WITH OWN FUNCTION
• INSTITUTIONS WORK IN HARMONY TO CREATE A STABLE SOCIETY

3) MAX WEBER 1864-1920

• BELIEVED SOCIOLOGISTS SHOULD STUDY BOTH STRUCTURES AND ACTIONS TO UNDERSTAND SOCIETY
• THOUGHT AN INDIVIDUAL'S BEHAVIOUR IS SHAPED BY STRUCTURAL FACTORS AND SUBJECTIVE FACTORS

• NORMS - BEHAVIOURS AND VIEWS THAT SOCIETY SEES AS NORMAL
• VALUES - BELIEFS AND IDEAS ABOUT WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG
• THE CULTURE OF A GROUP OF PEOPLE REFERS TO THE WAY THEY LIVE - THEIR LANGUAGE, BELIEFS, NORMS, VALUES, KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS
• IT REINFORCES THE SENSE OF COMMUNITY IN A SOCIETY
• CULTURES VARY FROM PLACE TO PLACE - E.G. BRITISH CULTURE IS DIFFERENT TO INDIAN CULTURE
• IT ALSO VARIES WITH TIME - TODAY'S CULTURE IS VERY DIFFERENT TO THE CULTURE OF 100 YEARS AGO

• SOCIALISATION IS THE WAY IN WHICH CULTURE IS PASSED ON FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION
• IT BEGINS IN CHILDHOOD, WHERE YOU LEARN HOW TO BEHAVE AND WHAT TO BELIEVE, AND CONTINUED INTO ADULT LIFE
• SOCIALISATION COMES FROM FAMILIES, SCHOOLS, FRIENDS, RELIGION, THE MEDIA AND WORK
• A SOCIETY'S VALUES ARE INTERNALISED BY SOCIALISATION, SO THAT THEY BECOME PART OF YOUR WAY OF THINKING

• IDENTITY IS HARD TO DEFINE - THERE ARE DIFFERENT LEVELS TO IT
• THE MOST BASIC LEVEL OF YOUR IDENTITY IS MADE UP OF SIMPLE FACTS - YOUR NAME, AGE, APPEARANCE ETC.
• ON A DEEPER LEVEL, YOUR IDENTITY IS THE WAY YOU SEE YOURSELF AND THE WAY YOU ARE VIEWED BY OTHERS. THIS IS CALLED YOUR SOCIAL IDENTITY. IT'S INFLUENCED BY THINGS LIKE CLASS, ETHNICITY, GENDER, AGE AND SEXUALITY AND ALSO BY YOUR ROLES IN SOCIETY - E.G. TEACHER, FRIEND, COUSIN

• GLOBALISATION IS THE IDEA THAT THE WORLD IS BECOMING MORE CONNECTED.
• IMPROVED TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION, AN INCREASE IN TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS AND MORE MIGRATION HAVE ALL MEANT THAT NATIONAL BOUNDARIES ARE BREAKING DOWN
• GLOBALISATION AFFECTS MANY DIFFERENT AREAS OF SOCIOLOGY - E.G. SOME SOCIOLOGISTS SAY THAT CULTURE IS NOW GLOBALISED

• STRUCTURAL DIFFERENTIATION - WHEN DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS IN SOCIETY BECOME MORE AND MORE SPECIALISED
• SOCIAL DIFFERENTIATION - ANY SOCIETY CAN BE DIVIDED UP INTO DIFFERENT GROUPS
• THE GROUPS CAN BE BASED ON BIOLOGICAL FEATURES (E.G. AGE, SEX), CULTURAL FEATURES (E.G. CLASS, RELIGION) OR MORE PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, LIKE ABILITIES.

• STRATIFICATION ALSO SPLITS SOCIETY INTO DIFFERENT GROUPS, BUT THE GROUPS ARE ORDERED IN LAYERS, WITH A DEFINITE HIERARCHY.
• THE GROUP CAN BE BASED ON THINGS LIKE STATES, INCOME, RELIGION, ETHNICITY, GENDER AND AGE, BUT ARE USUALLY BASED ON SOCIAL CLASS (ESPECIALLY IN WESTERN SOCIETIES).
• THE TOP LAYER IS MADE UP OF THE RICHEST AND MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE, AND THE BOTTOM LAYER IS THE POOREST PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE LEAST POWER
• IN BETWEEN, THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT LAYERS, KNOWN AS STRATA

• POWER CAN BE SEEN AS THE ABILITY TO GET SOMEONE TO DO SOMETHING THAT THEY WOULDNT NORMALLY DO
• A LOT OF SOCIOLOGY FOCUSES ON THE BALANCE OR IMBALANCE OF POWER IN SOCIETY
• A PERSON USUALLY HAS POWER BECAUSE OF THEIR WEALTH, JOB OR SOCIAL CLASS, BUT COULS ALSO HAVE IT BECAUSE OF THEIR GENDER OR RELIGION, FOR EXAMPLE
• SOME SOCIOLOGISTS ARGUE THAT PEOPLE WHO HAVE POWER USE IT TO CONTROL SOCIETY SO THAT THEY CAN REMAIN IN POWER (E.G. BY OPPRESSING THOSE WITH LESS POWER)

• SOCIOLOGISTS DO RESEARCH TO TRY AND FIND EXPLANATIONS FOR HOW SOCIETY WORKS AND WHY IT CHANGES.
• THEY CAN USE DIFFERENT RESEARCH METHODS FOR THIS INCLUDING INTERVIEWS, QUESTIONNAIRES, OBSERVATIONS, DOCUMENTS, GOVERNMENT STATISTICS AND EXPERIMENTS
• ONCE THE DATA HAS BEEN COLLECTED, IT NEEDS TO BE ANALYSED AND INTERPRETED. SOCIOLOGISTS LOOK FOR PATTERNS AND CORRELATIONS, AND USE THESE TO DRAW CONCLUSIONS.
• SOMETIMES, SOCIOLOGISTS CARRY OUT RESEARCH THAT RELATES TO THE MAIN THEORIES OF SOCIOLOGY. THE MAIN THEORIES ARE MARXISM, FUNTIONALISM AND INTERACTIONISM AS WELL AS FEMINISM AND POSTMODERNISM.
• THERE ARE ALSO SUBCATEGORIES, SUCH AS NEO-MARXISM AND RADICAL FEMINISM.