Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, how it functions, and how individuals within that society behave.
Social Institutions are structures in society that influence how it is organized and managed, including Family, Media, Education, and Government.
Sociological Imagination is the ability to see things socially and understand how they interact and influence each other, requiring a person to think from an alternative point of view.
Norms are the unwritten rules of behavior within a society that differentiate between right and wrong, as well as rude and polite.
Functionalism is a structural consensus approach that believes society's institutions work together to maintain social cohesion and order, likening society to the human body.
Male dominance over women.
A consensus theory believes that the institutions of society work together to maintain social cohesion and stability.
The Organic Analogy compares society to the human body, suggesting that social institutions interact like human organs. It was proposed by Talcott Parsons.
Marxism is a structural conflict approach that views society as being in conflict between classes, where the Bourgeoisie oppresses the Proletariat through social institutions.
Feminism focuses on the conflict between men and women, examining how women are oppressed by social institutions and how equality can be achieved.
Interactionism is a micro approach that examines how individuals influence society through their interactions with others and social institutions.
G.H. Mead, Herbert Blumer, Charles Cooley, Erving Goffman.
Numerical data collected by charities and other organizations.
Could be biased to the views of the organization.
Postmodernism is a broad approach that views society as diverse and less structured, emphasizing individual choice in shaping reality and culture.
Key thinkers include Lyotard, Baudrillard, Foucault, and Giddens.
It means partial autonomy from the economic level, indicating that political and ideological levels are not just reflections of the economic level.
A pilot study is a small-scale preliminary study conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the key steps in a future, full-scale project.
A Manifest Function is the intended function of a social institution, such as the rain dance performed by the Hopi Indians to make it rain.
Internal criticisms include the ideas of Indispensability, Functional Unity, and Universal Functionalism, which challenge the assumptions of functional indispensability and positive functions.
Instinct means responding to a stimulus in an automatic way, while symbol refers to the meanings attached to words, objects, expressions, and gestures.
Triangulation involves using more than one research method to improve the validity of the study.
1. Our actions are based on meanings we give to situations. 2. Meanings are negotiable and fluid. 3. Meanings result from interpretive procedures like taking on the role of others.
Invasion of privacy.
A large sample may make interviews impractical due to time constraints, while a small sample may require in-depth interviews for sufficient information.
Auguste Comte is known as the father of modern sociology; he named the science and applied natural science methods to the study of society.
It under-emphasizes the role of coercive political and economic forces in hindering the formation of a counter-hegemonic bloc.
Changes to the world around us that occur not always in the way we intended, such as the Calvinists' adoption of the Protestant work ethic leading to the development of modern capitalism.
A self-complete form with questions that provide a set of responses for the respondent to choose from.
Value Consensus means that a majority of society agree with the goals that society sets to show success.
The conflict is between social classes, specifically the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.
Proletariat refers to the workers who are oppressed by the bourgeoisie and are involved in the relations of production.
Reliability refers to the extent to which a study can be replicated in the same way, ensuring that the process remains consistent even if the results differ.
Validity measures how well a piece of research actually reflects the reality it claims to represent.
Correlation refers to the relationships between two variables, which can be either positive or negative.
Marxism is criticized for oversimplifying society into two classes, while it is suggested that there are seven different classes within British society.
Language is a structure with rules of grammar that determine meanings, showing that our actions (communication) depend on structure (grammar), while structure exists through action.
It is the phenomenon where we become what others see us as.
Confidentiality ensures that identifying features of participants are not released to the public or published in research reports.
It discourages political activism by suggesting individuals can do little to change society and ignores examples of working-class struggles changing society.
Flexibility, allows for clarification of questions, good for sensitive topics.
A hypothesis is a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.
The dominance in society of the ruling class ideology and the acceptance and consent to it by the rest of society.
Coercion and Consent.
Because the ruling class is a minority and must create alliances with other groups, and the working class has dual consciousness.
Abortion, contraception, and domestic violence.
Economic determinism is the view that economic factors are the sole cause of everything in society, including inequality and social change.
Viewing social phenomena from the point of view of men, without regard to gender.
The state, violence, domestic labour, paid work, sexuality, and culture.
The use of language, gestures, and props to present ourselves in a way that aligns with how we want to be perceived by others.
Other feminisms create a false universality of women's oppression based on the experiences of western, middle-class white women.
Private ownership of the means of production and the use of wage labourers.
Greater personal freedom and a break from tradition and ascribed status, despite structural inequalities.
They aim to disrupt people's sense of order and challenge their reflexivity by undermining assumptions about situations.
Not conducted in a normal setting, potential harm to participants, and small sample sizes.
Weber believed that to fully understand society, one needs to use a combination of both structural and action approaches.
Stratified sampling provides a representative sample.
Social facts are institutions, norms, and values that exist external to the individual and constrain individual behavior.
The four basic needs are Goal Attainment, Adaptation, Integration, and Latency.
Bourgeoisie refers to the owners of the means of production and the ruling class.
Numerical data produced by government or government agencies.
Access to the participants influences the choice of research method, as some groups may not have time for interviews but can complete questionnaires.
Informed consent means that participants must be fully informed about the research, what participation involves, and how the data will be used.
Class conscious workers who organize themselves into a revolutionary political party to create counter hegemony.
Ethnographies are scientific descriptions of peoples and cultures, focusing on their customs, habits, and mutual differences.
A significant criticism is that the revolution Marx predicted has not occurred, and he was vague about the conditions that would lead to it.
Critics argue that capitalism has become less exploitative and that Keynesian economics has led to more government oversight and the development of welfare states.
Pre-emptive consent involves speaking to a similar group to gauge their willingness to participate, allowing the researcher to assume the sample will consent as well.
A quantitative approach to analyzing mass media content by developing a system of classification.
He applied Husserl's concepts to the social world, stating that the categories we use are shared with others, enabling us to live in community.
They are shared categories that help us organize our experiences and stabilize meanings by ensuring mutual understanding.
Behaviors are driven by the beliefs, meanings, and feelings people give to the situations they are in.
They agree on the importance of common sense knowledge but believe that once created, society becomes an external reality reflecting back on us.
Routine, customary, or habitual actions done without thought or choice, often described as 'we have always done this'.
They argue that it is actually the ruling class ideology that serves the interests of capitalism rather than the individual.
Society is based on the buying and selling of knowledge that bears no relation to reality, with signs that stand for nothing.
It implies that it is never possible to truly put oneself into the shoes of another person, making it difficult to fully understand their motives.
Anomie is a feeling of normlessness where a person doesn’t know what it means to be normal within society.
A Latent Function is the unintended function of a social institution, like how the rain dance also helps to maintain social solidarity.
Logical criticisms include the theory being teleological, contradictory, and unscientific, making it impossible to falsify or verify.
It means that the working class chooses to accept the ruling class ideology.
Suffragettes striving for women's votes.
The duality of structure, which posits that structure and action are two sides of the same coin and neither can exist without the other.
It describes how we develop our self-concept based on how we think others perceive us.
Can be unreliable and open to interpretation.
It involves the presentation of self, where we have a front stage self for public interactions and a back stage self for private moments.
Equality should be brought about through education and policy changes.
Gender separation and political lesbianism, often through protest and violence.
The world only makes sense because we impose meaning and order on it, constructing mental categories to classify our experiences.
The ideas of radical and Marxist feminists, suggesting women are oppressed by both capitalism and patriarchy.
It refers to the stock of shared typifications or common sense knowledge that includes assumptions about how things are.
It is the belief that society is an objective reality existing outside of us, which Schutz argues is a false belief.
The two levels are 'Cause', explaining structural factors that shape behavior, and 'Meaning', understanding subjective meanings attached to actions.
Economic activity now takes place on a global scale, including the electronic economy.
Globalization has undermined the power of the nation state, leading to a borderless world.
A sample refers to those who are taking part in your study.
Experiments that take place in real-life settings such as classrooms, workplaces, or the high street.
A disadvantage of random sampling is that it can lead to an unrepresentative sample.
Key thinkers include Durkheim, Parsons, and Merton.
Qualitative data is non-numerical information that can be observed and recorded, while quantitative data can be quantified and verified, typically in the form of numbers and figures.
May not ask the questions specific to the research.
It refers to the process between experiencing a stimulus and reacting to it, where the situation is interpreted to choose an appropriate response.
1. Proletariat are legally free and separated from the means of production. 2. Competition leads to concentration of means of production. 3. Proletariat receive only the cost of subsistence for their labor.
Documents such as personal diaries, letters, and other personal correspondence.
The subject being studied may be more suited to one method over another, such as difficulties in interviewing certain vulnerable populations.
Socialisation is the process of learning the norms and values of society, occurring in two stages: Primary socialisation in the family and Secondary socialisation through institutions like education and media.
Counter hegemony created by the working class to overthrow the cultural hegemony of the ruling class.
Easy, cheap, lack of researcher effects, quick to analyze and reach conclusions.
Gatekeepers are individuals from whom researchers must gain permission to access their participants.
Deception involves deliberately misleading participants about the purpose of the research or how the data will be used, which may be necessary to avoid researcher effects.
A conversation between the researcher and the participant where the questions are based on the responses given.
He fails to explain how his theory applies to large-scale structures such as the economy or the state.
Flexible, allows the researcher to ask questions, and is the only option with some groups.
Where the researcher doesn’t tell the participants that they are being observed until after the study is complete.
It is when social actors work out the most efficient way to achieve a goal, such as paying low wages to maximize profit.
It is action towards a goal that is seen as desirable for its own sake, like believing in God and completing rituals for salvation.
We live in a global culture created by mass media, leading to the westernization of the world.
Generalisability means the extent to which findings can be applied to the larger population of which the sample was a part.
Systematic sampling involves picking every Nth person from all possible participants.
The continual re-evaluation of our ideas and theories, where nothing is fixed or permanent.
Key thinkers include Marx, Engels, Althusser, and Gramsci.
False class consciousness is when the proletariat is led to believe that their oppression by the bourgeoisie is normal and that hard work can lead them to become bourgeoisie.
1. Primitive communism 2. Feudal Society 3. Capitalist Society 4. Socialism 5. Communism
The belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes.
1. Collective ownership of the means of production. 2. Stateless and classless society. 3. Reclaiming control over workers' labor and products to end alienation.
The definition of something is its label, which can have real-world consequences.
Government documents that have been released, such as OFSTED reports.
Factors such as time available, research opportunity, cost/funding, and ethical considerations can all impact the choice of method.
Original documents that contain important historical information about a person, place, or event.
Low response rate, misunderstanding of the question, answers may not fit those given.
1. By applying the stock of knowledge about how we live our lives, such as using money for shopping. 2. Through actions that reinforce existing structures to maintain the status quo.
Capitalism is the cause of women's oppression, which reinforces capitalism.
The Nation State, which is a geographical area ruled by a powerful central state.
Science and technology dominate as the way of thinking, moving away from religious explanations.
It uses interpretivist methodology to uncover the meanings and definitions individuals give to their behavior.
A singular truth that explains the world around us.
Snowball sampling is useful when researching hard-to-access groups.
Alienation is the process whereby the worker feels foreign to the products of their own labor.
Key thinkers include Oakley and Firestone.
Through social interaction, starting with imitative play as children and then seeing ourselves as the wider community does.
The personal characteristics of the researcher, such as communication skills and observational abilities, can make certain methods easier or more difficult to use.
Repressive State Apparatus and Ideological State Apparatus.
A case study is a detailed and in-depth study of a single case, which can involve an event, group, individual, or organization.
A self-complete form with questions that allow the respondent to answer in as much detail as they want.
The process of constantly reflecting on our own actions and their consequences to adjust our actions as needed.
Research that has been carried out in the same area or on the same topic.
It fails to explain how actors create meanings, the origin of labels, and consistent behavior patterns, and is seen as more descriptive than explanatory.
Reliable and easy to access.
Time-consuming, costly, and may lead to unreliable data due to small sample sizes.
It is the ability to interpret situations without conscious thought, such as knowing that a red light means stop.
All views are true for the people who hold them; no one has a monopoly on the truth.
Random sampling is when everyone in the population has the same chance of getting chosen, such as picking names out of a hat.
Schutz argued that Weber's view is too individualistic and does not explain the shared nature of meanings.
In quota sampling, researchers ensure the sample fits with certain quotas, such as a specific number of unemployed participants.
Key thinkers include Goffman, Cooley, and Weber.
A longitudinal study is a research study that takes place over a long period of time and can include various research methods.
They focused on issues such as gender representations in the media and sexual harassment.
1. Rules - norms, customs, and laws governing action. 2. Resources - economic resources and power over others.
The need to feel that the world around us is orderly and stable, encouraging actions that maintain existing structures rather than changing them.
May not be specific to the research being conducted.
He argues that Structuration isn't really a theory but rather describes the kinds of things sociologists find when studying society.
It emphasizes the free will and choice of people to form their own identities rather than being dictated by social institutions.
Time-consuming, costly, and may breach privacy.
Where the researcher becomes a member of the group they are researching.
A population is the people who live within a society.
He showed that the orderliness of everyday situations is not fixed but is an accomplishment of the participants.
It is the use of common sense knowledge to interpret everyday situations and construct a sense of meaning and order.
By instability and fragmentation within a global village where image and reality are indistinguishable.
Systematic sampling can lead to an unrepresentative sample.
Stratified sampling is where the sample reflects the proportions of different groups in the research population.
The risks we face today are created by human activity rather than by nature.
It refers to the gap between who we really are and the roles we play, indicating that roles are loosely scripted by society.
Giddens underestimates the power of structures to resist change, as individuals may wish to change their circumstances but lack the agency to do so.
Social structures are a social construction created by individuals, not a separate entity above them.
The increased interconnectedness of people across national boundaries.
He found them trivial, arguing that uncovering 'taken for granted rules' is not surprising and that ethnomethodology denies the existence of a wider society.
'Verstehen' means empathy, and it emphasizes the need to understand social groups by 'walking in their shoes'.
A challenge is that meanings can be misinterpreted or reinterpreted by different individuals.
It can be seen as either a traditional action due to its historical context or as an instrumental rational action for cementing relationships.
They argue that capitalism, not technology, is the cause of risk in modern society.
He is interested in how social order is maintained and how people construct common sense knowledge and the rules used to produce meanings.
The focus is on individuals or small groups rather than large scale trends.
A study that takes place in a lab where the researcher can manipulate and control all the variables.
Variables are controlled, highly reliable, and causation can be determined.
It means that nothing has a fixed meaning; everything is dependent on context.
It expresses emotion and is important in religious and political movements, often associated with charismatic leaders.
Knowledge is not about truth but a way of seeing the world, allowing marginalized groups to be heard.
Snowball sampling involves finding a few participants and then asking them to find more participants themselves.
Where a researcher tells the participants that they are being observed and what they are being observed for.
New technologies have created time-space compression but also greater risks such as global warming.
A research population is the group of people that you wish to study.
Representative means the extent to which a sample mirrors a researcher's target population and reflects its characteristics.
It illustrates how structural causes, like the Protestant Reformation, changed people's worldview and behavior, giving work a religious meaning.
The breakdown of geographical borders, making interaction more impersonal and no longer requiring face-to-face contact.
A disadvantage of quota sampling is that it can be difficult to find enough people to fill the quota.
A blurring of reality and image, exemplified by reality TV that is partially scripted.
An increased awareness of risks to ourselves and efforts to avoid and minimize them.
Opportunity sampling uses people from the target population who are available at the time and willing to take part.
Opportunity sampling can lead to an unrepresentative sample.
