Theory and Methods

Consensus based theories= state everything works together Functionalism= consensus structural perspective + a macro theory Talcott Parson "Organic Analogy" 

Functionalist > social change=  slow process of social evolution + occurs when new functions emerge /or/society adapts + gradually changes values 

Parsons Structural Differentiation> refers to when new needs arise some functions change + become more specialised e.g. 1800's Family= educate us but now 2000's gov educates us
Socialisation= taught values and norms via prev generations and social institutions e.g. education
Social Control =  various methods used to persuade/ force individuals to conform to dominant + social norms of society
Functionalist argue if society changes too quickly then norms are lost before new ones are created. 
Durkheim called this an Anomie which is a state of moral confusion + social instability bad for individuals and society
Functionalists> all members of society have needs + desires the social system must cater for. These needs can be broken down in to instrumental needs and expressive needs.

Instrumental needs = material e.g. the need to be feed, the need to have a home
Expressive needs = emotional e.g. the need to belong

+ functionalist ideas =good explanation of the structure of society  + recognises importance of social structure + how it compels human behaviour and how social institutions (e.g. family) + economy have links- e.g. education teaches us how to do certain jobs 
+ provides explanation for social order and stability and why most people generally conform to the rules of society

Instrumental needs are material e.g. the need to be fed, the need to have a home. These needs are supported by: the political subsystem (political parties, trade unions) the economic subsystem (industries).

Expressive needs are emotional e.g. the need to belong. These needs are looked after by: the kinship subsystem (marriage and family) the cultural subsystem (e.g. schools, churches).

This is referred to as Parsons GAIL model

The New Right is also a consensus structuralist theory. Like functionalist sociologists, New Right sociologists believe that traditional institutions and values in society are what maintain social order. 

The New Right believe that society is breaking down, and that this has come from a decline in traditional moral standards. They blame changes in family structures, an over-generous welfare state, and too much sexual freedom (such as the legalisation of homosexuality) for society’s problems. 

The New Right has been criticised by Feminists because they believe that New Right theorists want women to focus on marriage and children and not work outside the home. Feminist theorists argue that New Right thinking is an attempt to justify a patriarchal society.

The ruiling class (the 'bourgeoisie')                                                                           The working class (the 'proletariat') 

According to the Marx’s the means of production make up the economic bases of society 

Economic determinism refers to the economic base which determines the superstructure (the institutions in society e.g. religion, the education system)

Superstructure of Society Model 

Top: Family, religion, law, politics, media, education, ideology
Middle: Means and relations of productions
Bottom: Economic base 

What is the job of the superstructure according to Marxist? It is legit the position of the ruiling class

What did Marx say only way the proletariat recognise how they have been oppressed? Marx argues revolution= only way for proletariat recognise how they been oppressed, and a socialist/ communist society would then emerge 

+ recognises importance of economy, focuses on 'private ownership of the means of production' provides social inequalities in wealth, income and power, recognises the importance of society's social structure.

-Marx's predict’s not come true in terms of communism solving equality. Extreme cases (China) show us communism = inequality

-Over emphaises extent of conflict in society. Functionalist's argue society = primarily stable. 

-Marxists 2 way class model of inequality does not explain differences in power and rewards among manual workers

Neo Marxism focuses on ideology and is further development of classic Marxist theories, to make them relevant to the modern world. Humanistic Marxism developed by Gramsci = focused on hegemony (the domination of the ruiling class ideology in society) 

Summary of Gramsci theories Marxism is about economy. Humanistic Marxism is about people. 

Structuralist Marxism 

Althusser = structure of capitalist society consists of 3 levels. Althusser believed capitalism would be over thrown when these 3 structures contradicted one another.

The 3 levels of capitalist society 

• 1) The economic level (=economy + production of goods)
• 2) The political level (=institutions that control people) 
• 3) The ideological level (=concerned with ideas, beliefs and values which are controlled through media, education and religion) 

• +Neo Marxist approach  recognises importance of ideas + meanings 
• -Neo Marxist approach =deterministic (economically deterministic as it focuses the importance of the economic base)
• -Underplays the importance of the economy in terms of shaping social reality
• -"Institutions in the superstructure can impact on the economy" - Althusser.    
• -However Althusser has not considered that perhaps the economy impacts the institutions

Feminist Theory aims to explain the causes of gender inequalities. They believe society is patriarchal.

There are 3 main feminist groups; 

Liberal Feminism; women’s inequality arises from factors  sexist stereotypes, gender role socialisation, lack of positive role models, sex discrimination


Radical Feminism;patriarchy =most fundamental (basic) form of inequality + the world spit in 2 'sex classes'  


Marxist Feminism; gender inequality arises from nature of capt society, not from independent system of patriarchy

The main focus of social action theories is on individual behaviour in everyday social situations. Say that people make their own choices, and take their own action, There are three important action theories:
1)Social Action; Weber-  human behaviour needs to be described on two levels: The level of cause (behaviour shaped by structural factors)  + The level of meaning (meanings people attach to actions)

Weber categories meanings into 4 types of action:

• Instrumentally rational action; efficient means of achieving a goal, 
• Value-rational action taken because something is important for its own sake(cos I like it)
• Traditional action based on habit,
•  Affectual action is based on emotion

2)Symbolic Interactionism Refers to the belief that society is built up by interactions between people which take place on the basis of meanings held by individuals. Blumer suggest interactions has 3 features: A)People act in terms of symbols, B)These meanings develop out of the interaction, C)Meanings arise from an people trying to interpret the meanings others give to their actions by imaging themselves in their position and taking on their role.       

3) Ethnomethodology: refers to way of studying society that looks at how we interact with society and what ideas develop out of this. It states society has no structure or order and that order is an illusion.   
+shows that people are not just puppets,  fully explains peoples actions, has qualitive research= high valid
- doesn’t pay attention to struct of society such as power, class gender inequalities,  doesn’t explain peoples motivations  

Modernists believe we can discover truths about society via rational thinking. These theories study modernist societies, and aim to investigate the world scientifically and explain why societies have evolved to be the way they are.

Marxism and functionalism are both modernist theories.  Postmodernism argues society’s progressed from modernity and no one theory can claim a monopoly of the truth. They say society today has moved on from the ordered world of modernity and is in constant state of change. To summarise: Globalisation-world is becoming increasingly interconnected. Giddens developed the term Disembedding- when you are no longer confined to where you live or confined by time. E.g. the internet.          

Choice, identity and consumption- Postmodernists believe nowadays there are few social constraints. Lyotard suggests postmodern societies are characterised by growing individualism; there is now only a mass of individuals with few social bonds connecting them forming their identities              

Media- The media use to more or less reflect reality but now, media imageas dominate and distort the way in which we see the world. Baudrillard see’s life in the postmodern era dominated by media imagery and he calls it media saturated.            

+ highlighted important cultural changes, provides insight into contemporary social changes.

-all crit, voluntaristic that people pick’n’mix identities

Science uses experiments and observation to test theories. Objective, unbiased and systematic. Popper said some sociological concepts weren’t scientific as couldn’t possibly be proved wrong. Sociology could only be a science if it made hypotheses which could be falsified. Features of Poppers scientific method.

• Hypothesis Formation
• Falsifying
• The Use of Empirical Evidence 
• Replication
• The Accumulation of Evidence 
• Prediction 
• Theory of Formation 
• Scrutiny

Kuhn believed science uses accepted body of knowledge to solve puzzles. He called it ‘normal science’. He thought scientists based ideas on assumptions or ‘paradigms’. Realists believe that sociology can be scientific, they divide science into two types: Open systems: Sayer (1984), argued sociology is the scientific study of an open system. Society is too complex a system to lend itself to accurate predictions and experiments, but that doesn’t mean sociology’s not a science. Realists use qualitative and quantitative methods. They argue sociology can’t be entirely value-free, but researchers must try to collect and present data in a clear + neutral way. Closed systems: this relates to the natural sciences where the researcher can control all of the potential causal factors.

Classical Sociologists disagree about values in sociology. Values are general beliefs about what’s important in life, and what is right or wrong. There is much debate in sociology as to whether it is possible to study society in a value-free, objective way. 

There are three main positions in the ‘values debate’

• 1)Sociology should be and can be value-free
• 2)Sociology cannot be value-free
• 3)Sociology should not be value-free, even if it were possible. 

value freedom= idea  the beliefs + prejudices of researcher should not influence the way research is carried out

Why can sociology be value-free? Because it could be objective and this is because researchers can separate facts and their values and this through studying social facts and using empirical data. Why is value-freedom not possible? It is impossible for any natural or social scientist to avoid the influence of values completely.

What are the assumptions of positivists and interpretivists? Positivists:Believe society exists as an objective reality+quantitative data which = regard as reliable because it is untainted by the values of the researcher and can be replicated and checked by other researchers Interpretivists:Believe society is socially constructed by the actions of individuals who act in the ways they do because of the meanings and interpretations. The way of discovering meanings and producing valid data is to collect qualitative data through close involvements with those being researched, and by a process of subjective interpretation of what those meanings and interpretations are. 

Positivists argue sociology should be a science and this is made possible by following the scientific approach using the hypothetical deductive method. Positivist’s view=: 

• 1)  A view human behaviour is  response to observable social facts 
• 2) Direct Observation and the use of quantitative, statistical methods of data collection should be used to study society.  Without quantification sociology will remain at a level of insight, lacking evidence and it will be hard to make predictions and generalisations 
• 3) Research focuses on the search for the social causes of events in society.
• 4) Focus of sociology is on study of social institutions and the social structure as a whole, not on the individual, as it is these external structures which shape and mould individuals.

Can sociology be scientific? The five objectives sociology must strive for to be scientific:

• Value Freedom
• Objectivity 
• The use of Systematic Research 
• The Careful Analysis and Evaluation of Data and Hypothesis in the Light of Evidence and Logical Argument 
• Findings should be Open to Inspection, Critism, Debate and Testing by Other Researchers 

Giddens claims the study of sociology gives four practical benefits;1) An understanding of the world. 2) A heightened awareness of the needs of individual groups.  3) An assessment of what works (evidence-based policy).                 4)An increased personal knowledge of ourselves and others.

Social policy is the area of Government that tries to solve social problems or achieve other goals that are seen as important e.g. pensions, health, education, etc. Social problems differ from sociological problems, a sociological problem is any theoretical or social issue that needs explaining even if it is not a current social problem.The 9 ways in which sociology contributes to social policy.

• 1 Providing an Awareness of Cultural Differences 
• 2 Providing self- awareness and understanding 
• 3 Changing assumptions 
• 4 Providing a theoretical framework 
• 5 Providing practical professional knowledge 
• 7 Providing the Evidence 
• 8 Identifying the Unintended Consequences of Policies 
• 9 Assessing the Results