Ideology and Science

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  • Created by: Ellie
  • Created on: 09-06-14 13:22
What is ideology?
A set of political beliefs/Ideas and beliefs of a particular social class/Dominant ideas and beliefs of the ruling class/Official beliefs of a political system/Set of beliefs that represent a total view of reality
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What is marxist ideology?
Ideology = Ruling class ideas keeps workers in their place
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What is feminist ideology?
Ideology = Keeps women oppressed(patriarchy) Liberates women(feminism)
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What did Karl Marx say about ideology?
The most important force in society is class conflict/If workers were aware of the conflict they'd revolt/Ideology is used to legitimise and reinforce class inequality, creating false class consciousness
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Who talked about hegemony?
Gramsci
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What is hegemony?
Domination of the ruling class
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What are the key features of hegemony?
Hegemonic ideas don't rule, they dominate/Other ideas in society exist but aren't taken into account/Ruling class ideas are ''common sense'' - nobody questions it/Ruling class ideology becomes integrated throughout all of society
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Who talked about ideological state apparatus?
Althusser
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What were Althusser's views on ideological state apparatus?
Ideological state apparatus is a tool used by the ruling class to control the working class, reproducing and legitimising class inequality/Elements of society (e.g. Education, Media, Religion etc) are all part of the ideological state apparatus
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What did Manheim talk about?
He distinguished 2 explanations of ideology
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What 2 explanations of ideology did Manheim give?
1. Ideology is a set of beliefs used to justify and continue social order 2. Ideology is a utopian set of beliefs about the organisation of the world in the future
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What 3 points did Manheim make about his 2 explanations of ideology?
1. Both types of ideology distort reality creating an illusion of fairness 2.Marxism can be seen as utopian ideology with its vision of the perfect future when the ruling class get overthrown 3. Functionalism can be seen as ruling class ideology
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What are the 3 features of traditional science?
1. Its objective - the scientist is neutral 2. Conclusions are based on evidence, not ideas 3. Scientific enquiry is ''open,'' ideas which are proven wrong are rejected and replaced with newer more accurate ones
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What did Lynch talk about?
Science is not as objective as people make out
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What evidence did Lynch use to support his view?
Lynch studied scientists experimenting on lab rats, and found scientists were often influenced by their existing theories
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What did Lynch find when investing scientists experimenting on lab rats?
Lynch found that when unexpected results occurred scientists blamed it on errors in the photos they studied rather than looking at it as new evidence towards a new theory
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What did Polyani talk about?
Talked about the idea that a belief system was made up of three things
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What was the first thing Polyani believed made up a belief system?
A circularity of beliefs - Each idea is explained in relation to another, so if one is proved wrong, its defended by something else so the belief system isn't changed
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What was the second thing Polyani believed made up a belief system?
Supporting explanations are given for difficult situations - If any evidence contradicts the belief there will be an explanation for it (e.g. Lynch on experiment of lab rats)
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What was the third thing that Polyani believed made up a belief system?
No alternative belief systems can be tolerated - A rejection of religion by science highlights this
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Why did Comte believe sociology to be a science?
It gathers information from society, classifies data and draws conclusions.
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What did Durkheim think?
Through multivariate analysis ''social facts'' could be uncovered
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What is multivariate analysis?
The attempt to isolate the impact of independent variables on the dependent variable e.g. isolating the impact of material deprivation and labelling (iv) on working class achievement in schools (dv)
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What process did early positivists use to see whether something could be considered a social fact?
Used an inductive approach/Collected, studied and analysed data/Compose a theory or hypothesis/Test and draw conclusions/If results were repeatable can be considered a social fact
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What did Popper believe scientists should do?
Believed scientists should use a deductive approach and include falsification
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What is a deductive approach?
Opposite to inductive approach, where you start with a theory which then leads to an investigation, rather than investigation leading to theory
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What did Popper discuss?
Popper believed that early positivists were wrong using inductive methods, theories/hypothesis could come from anywhere(even dreams)
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What did Popper reject?
Popper rejected the idea of permanent and social laws which governs human behaviour, because any law can be falsified no matter how many times its been proved to be true
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What example did Popper use in explaining his ideas?
Popper used the hypothesis that ''All swans are white'' which is true thousands of times, until you see a black one
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What did Popper say science and social science should do?
Look towards falsification and falsifying theories as it distinguishes science from religion and other belief systems
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What did Gomm argue?
Scientists work should be viewed in social context, and they should prove their theories rather than falsifying them
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What example did Gomm use to support his view?
Gomm talked about Darwins theories of ''survival of the fittest,'' as his theory was not supported by all the evidence/Darwin did not falsify his theory suggesting it was ideological rather than scientific
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What did Gomm believe about Darwins theory?
Gomm believed that Darwins theory matched the idea of capitalist ideology, arguing that scientific knowledge can be partly socially constructed
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What did Kuhn talk about?
Kuhn challenged the idea that science is objective
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Why did Kuhn believe science was not objective?
Scientists work in a paradigm/They look for evidence to support paradigm/Continues until errors are found/Triggers a paradigm shift or scientific revolution
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What is a paradigm?
A paradigm refers to a group of established ideas in which scientists base their studies, they share ideas of truth validity and methodology
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What ideas can be applied to Kuhn's theory?
Polyani's idea of a circularity of beliefs can be understood as being a set of ideas explained in relation to one another
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Card 2

Front

What is marxist ideology?

Back

Ideology = Ruling class ideas keeps workers in their place

Card 3

Front

What is feminist ideology?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What did Karl Marx say about ideology?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Who talked about hegemony?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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