SOCIOLOGY
AS Sociology Introductory Assessment.
Due on first day of term without exception.
In Advanced Level Sociology you will be required to read a fair amount of material
and put it into your own words in the form of essays. You will also be required to
think critically about this information and offer alternative viewpoints. You will
improve these skills as the course progresses. There will be many terms you are
unfamiliar with and you should get used to dealing with these. These tasks are
designed to help you develop these skills.
Tasks:
1. Read the entire document and highlight key points
2. Create a Sociology glossary by writing definitions of the words underlined in
bold. Use the space provided in the booklet.
3. Write minimum 300 words on ‘What is Sociology’ using the booklet
4. Write minimum 500 words outlining the five sociological perspectives
Functionalism, Marxism, Feminism, Interactionism and Post Modernism.
I hope you have a great summer and see you in September!
Mrs Rust Ashford
1
What is Sociology?
Sociology is the study of human social life. Because human social life is so
complex, sociology has many sub-sections of study, ranging from the analysis
of individual interactions between people to theories that try to understand how
the entire world works. This handout will introduce you to sociology and explain why
it is important, how it can change your perspectiveof the world around you, and give
a brief history of the discipline.
The term sociology was coined by Auguste Comte (1798-1857) in 1838 from the
Latin termsocius (companion, associate) and the Greek term logia (study of).
Sociology has its roots in significant changes such as the industrial revolution and
the urbanisation of populations. Some early sociologists such as Marx, Weber, and
Durkheim were disturbed by thesocial processes they believed to be driving
these changes.
The focus of the early founders of sociology was to gain an understanding of how
social structures e.g the economy, family, workplaces, religion, education, or the
media, can influence people’s norms,values ,culture and status. They were also
interested in how social roles influence behaviour e.g gender, ethnic background or
class.
Nature or Nurture?
Is the behaviour of humans due to genes, biology, evolution etc or is it due to
environmental factors like upbringing, culture, nationality, and social roles like
gender, class or race? Sociologists fall heavily on the side of nurture (how the social
environment affects behaviour)
Top-down or bottom-up Sociology?
Top-down sociology sees people as being influenced by the system (society as a
structure). A bit like society being a great big machine that controls how we act – we
are puppets on a string and ‘society’ is the puppet master. We have very little freewill and are compelled to do things. For example we commit crime because there is
pressure for us to possess certain things from the media, like the latest mobile
phone. Marxism and Functionalism (see below) are top-down perspectives also
known as ‘structural’ theories or ‘Macro approaches’
Bottom-up sociology prefers to look at how individuals actively create society through
their interactions with each other and how they influence each other on a small
scale. All together this has the affect of creating the larger structure. For example,
using the crime example, it could be argued that the media is not some machine or
entity that does what it does on its own. It requires individuals to interact and make
decisions and their individual actions create the monster that is the media. This
debate is sometimes referred to as Free-will or Determinism. Do individuals have
freedom to choose e.g lifestyle, sexuality, occupation or are we determined by the
structure of society?Interactionism and Post-modernism (see below) are bottom-up
perspectives also known as ‘social action’ theoriesor ‘Micro approaches’
2
Is Sociology a Science?
Social scientists gather data and test their theories about how the world works using
the scientific method. However, Sociologists, like all humans, have attitudes and
beliefs which will influence what they study and what they find. Humans are
conscious thinking beings that have free-will and awkwardly change their behaviour
when they know they are being studied! Some believe that this makes it difficult to be
objective. In the natural sciences like chemistry the objects of study do not choose
how to react – water does not choose how to react to heat – it just boils. Social
Science subjects are gaining ground in being considered scientific but some still
argue that humanity is simply too complex to study in the same way as chemistry or
biology. Another issue is if we only collect Quantitative data like numbers and
statistics, how can we gain a true picture of individual motives, attitudes and
experiences? But if we collect rich Qualitative datalike a case study for example of
one person’s experiences, how can we generalise the findings to a whole
population?
Frequently discussed in Sociology.






How much does social class affect our life chances and behaviour?
Will males and females ever be equal? Are they already equal? Are their
differences due to biology or society?
What would be the best way to tackle crime, preventing poverty or increasing
prison sentences to act as a deterrent?
Is it fair that some people are rich and some are poor – can the poor be
blamed for their situation?
Is it fair that some jobs seem easy but pay well while other really hard jobs are
poorly paid?
Should the government ban private schools and tutoring to pass 11+ exams
so that every child has equal opportunities?
How do we view society?
Because of some of these debates, various theories about how society works have
been developed by different writers such as Karl Marx, Durkheim, or Max Weber.
These are described on the following pages.
3
Functionalist perspective
Functionalism is based on the work of French sociologist EmileDurkheim. It is a
structural theory (Macro approach). The big structure which Functionalists examine
is the shared culture within any society and how this makes society the way it is.
Functionalists believe that society is how it is because everything serves an
important function. For example we have education because we need to pass on
knowledge and culture to offspring. We have a government because we need
leadership and rules. We have families because we need a way in which children
can be nurtured and people are emotionally supported. We have an economic
system in which people are provided with wages or profit with which to buy food and
shelter. Even crime serves the function of reminding us of our values (what we
believe is right and wrong) and allows us to question our values and change for the
better e.g suffragettes were criminals in their day! In the main part, people believe
strongly in these ways of doing things (shared culture) and contribute in order to
maintain a harmonious society e.g by paying taxes, going to work, sending children
to school and obeying the law. This is known as value consensus.
This basically suggests that everyone must work together to maintain society and
therefore all parts of society are inter-dependent (they depend upon each other). For
example without education we would not have skilled individuals to work and provide
goods and services for people. If the economy fails then many aspects are affected
such as jobs, families, health. To explain this concept of inter-dependence
Functionalist use an organic analogy. They suggest that society is like the human
body as if one part fails e.g lungs, then other parts will also fail e.g heart.
Topics in the AS Sociology
Culture and Identity – Functionalist believe that shared culture is essential to
maintain a harmonious society. Socialisation is the process through which shared
culture is passed onto the next generation.
Youth Culture – Functionalists believe youth culture is functional for society as it
helps to integrate young people into adult life. Therefore they see it as an important
‘rite of passage’. Young people go through a crisis of identity as they separate
themselves from families/adults and youth culture helps them resolve this crisis.
Research Methods – Functionalists believe in studying society scientifically. They
prefer to use a positivist approach. This involves collecting statistics and correlations
of social facts e.g Is there a correlation between family income and divorce?
Education - Functionalists believe that education serves the function of allocating
roles to people so that society has all the workers and skills it needs e.g refuse
collectors and doctors. They believe that education is meritocratic (people succeed
based on merit or intelligence and hard work) and inequalities in wealth are fair.
Doctors should be paid more than refuse collectors.
4
Marxist Perspective
Marxism comes from the work of German sociologistKarl Marx. It is a structural
(Macro approach) but is also sometimes referred to as a ‘critical theory’ and as a
‘conflict theory’.The big structure examined in Marxism is capitalism. Marxists are
anti-capitalist and anti-establishment, they believe society enslaves people to a
system where they work hard for low wages in order to buy stuff they don’t really
need. It is a conflict theory because it claims that capitalism creates conflict between
classes. Two classes exist: a dominant class, the bourgeoisie (rich, upper/ruling
class), and a subordinate class, the proletariat (working classes), and the whole
social system is centred around the exploitation of the proletariat by the
bourgeoisie.The proletariat are exploited because their labour (work) is worth more
than the wages they receive and the bourgeoisie (who employ them in factories,
mines, shops, offices, banks etc)keep the surplus (profit) for themselves. The result
is the bourgeoisie become richer and the proletariat merely survive. According to
Marx the whole of society is organised around this relationship.
The bourgeoisie are a minority in society, the proletariat out-number them by far.
This means that the bourgeoisie have to maintain control over the proletariat in order
to prevent an uprising or revolution. Marx suggested that control is maintained
because the Bourgeoisie promote an‘ideology’ which is in their interests through
institutions which they control such as education, religion, media and government.
For example government can promote the idea that people who claim benefits are
lazy. This benefits them because they can make inequalities in wealth seem fair.
According to Karl Marx people accept this ideology and develop ‘false class
consciousness’ (they are unaware that they are controlled and exploited). When they
become aware of the unfairness of society they will become ‘class conscious’ and a
revolution will be the result. An uprising will abolish capitalism and replace it with a
communist system.Neo-Marxism is a newer perspective which focuses more on the
means of power and control other than ownership of land and property e.g the
media, politics, education and cultural power.
Topics in AS Sociology
Culture and Identity – Marxists believe that the shared culture of society is
essentially designed to benefit the bourgeoisie e.g we are socialised to believe that
working hard is worthwhile because hard work increases profits for the rich. We are
taught that people who are rich deserve their wealth and we therefore accept their
leadership.
Youth culture – Neo-marxists have examined spectacular youth sub-cultures like
the skinheads and teddy boys and believe that these represented resistance to
capitalism or class consciousness. Anti-school sub-cultures are mostly working
class and may represent an awareness that the system is unfair towards them.
Research Methods – Marxists traditionally used a positivist approach but Neomarxists prefer a qualitative approach.
Education – Marxists believe that education serves to benefit the rich in society.
Education ensures that rich children secure well-paid and powerful positions and that
working class children contribute to the lower-paid workforce. They believe the
Functionalist idea of ‘meritocracy’ (that everyone has equal opportunities in
education and people succeed depending on intelligence) is an example of rulingclass ideology. It is a myth because not everyone can succeed – the rich are
advantaged as they can pay for a better education/tutoring etc.
5
Femininist perspective
Feminism is a Conflict theory similar to Marxism but feminists believe the main
conflict in society is between men and women rather than between classes.
Men have exploited women for a long time. They call this patriarchy
Patriarchy exists in the family, the workplace, the government and throughout
society. Men can exploit women because childbirth makes them vulnerable (imagine
a woman’s life without birth control even today).The fact that men are physically
stronger than women comes into it but is exaggerated by socially constructedgender
roles. Feminists believe there are other options, had men not chosen to exploit
women there are fairer ways to share wealth and workload.Men are aware of this but
choose exploitation because they benefit from the expectations placed upon women
such as being a ‘domestic goddess’ and looking attractive for men. Many women still
suffer from inequality in the workplace, sexual objectification in the media and from
violence at the hands of men.However the level of exploitation has reduced over the
decades due to feminist campaigns described below.
The impacts of feminism
Feminism presents a powerful challenge to all the key theoretical perspectives and
believes most Sociological research is ‘Malestream’ or it ignores sociological issues
relevant to women. There have been women fighting for women’s rights throughout
history however the first major campaign was the suffragettes in the late 19 th century.
They succeeded in gaining votes for women in 1918. This was crucial to secure laws
in parliament which would protect the rights of women. Although many of these
important rights such as abortion or divorce laws were not changed until years later.
The second major campaign started in the 1960s known as the Women’s liberation
movement. They campaigned in areas such as the law e.g the workplace, maternity
leave, equal pay, education, entry into universities and in the family, rape within
marriage laws, abortion rights. Women do have more say in family matters as they
often contribute financially now. But many feminists feel women now have a dual
burden of paid work and housework. Women are making great inroads in
occupations once considered purely male.
Topics in AS Sociology
Culture and Identity – Feminists believe that children are socialised into gender roles
and this disadvantages women. Girls are brought up to believe they are weaker than
men, that they should be good mothers and wives etc. And can only perform certain
roles in the workplace.
Youth culture – Feminist believe that in the past girls have been ignored when
researching youth cultures because male sociologists were mainly interested in male
youth cultures that were anti-social or deviant in some way. However there are girl
sub-cultures.
Research Methods – Feminists usually conduct qualitative research as they are keen
for the voices of women to be heard. They aim for their research to result in social
change.
Education – Feminists believe that the education system has in past been sexist
towards girls. E.g encouraging curriculums and subject choices which disadvantage
girls e.g needlework instead of carpentry, wearing of uniforms which are masculine
suggesting education is for males! Reading schemes which encourage traditional
gender roles e.g Mummy looking after children in storybooks.
6
Postmodernist perspective
Postmodernist sociologists claim that changes that took place in the 20 th century
have rendered exiting sociological theories redundant. Such theories were devised
to make sense of the modern era with its industrial societies and nation states.
Today, they claim, these societies have altered so much that we need a new type of
sociology to make sense of them.
Changes include issues like the development and spread of information and
communication technology. Consumerism has lead to choice and diversity. Buying
goods and services has become increasingly central to peoples lives. What we buy
helps to define who we are. We purchase branded goods that allow us to create our
own identities. In postmodern society people’s identities are constructed through
personal choice rather than determined by class, gender etc. As a result they are
more fluid and changeable. The media is so intense that the boundary between
reality and media images has broken down. We get our ideas about who we are from
the media.
Globalisationhas broken down boundaries between nation states. We now have
transnational organisations like the EU and transnational companies. People are
increasingly exposed to different societies and different ways of life. Nations are
becoming increasingly multi cultural. A sense of growing social and environmental
risk makes peoples lives increasingly insecure. Jobs are no longer for life, neither
are marriages. With global warming and worldwide pollution, our environment
appears increasingly dangerous. Distance no longer provides a barrier to
communication – people can talk to each other from anywhere at any time. This
provides immediate access to cultures, practices, ideas and belief systems, which
were once remote and inaccessible.
Topics in AS Sociology
Culture and identity – Post modernist believe identities are no longer fixed or based
on categories like gender, class and ethnicity. People develop hybrid identities such
as black british and culture is based on media and consumerism
Youth Culture – Post modernists believe that youth culture is very diverse and made
up on small collections of young people with similar consumer and leisure interests,
known as Neo-tribes.
Research Methods – Post modernists examine media images, how language and
conversation constructs reality. They use qualitative methods.
Education – The post modern world is full of risk and uncertainty. This has resulted
in excessive pressure on young people to conform and succeed in gaining
qualifications and the right kind of identity. Education has not kept up with changes
to society such as new kinds of media and communication or with the new
scepticism towards authority.
7
Interactionist perspective
Interactionism is a social action or micro theory that is focussed on how the actions
of individuals creates the reality of society. In particular they focus on inner mental
states such as how the people around us help us to develop a ‘sense of self.’
Interactionists use the term ‘labelling’ to describe how some groups are negatively
stereotyped and how this in turn affect a person’s sense of self. A person can adopt
the behaviour they feel is expected of them leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy. For
example being labelled a ‘chav’ may lead to a person behaving like a chav and may
have negative consequences for the individual.
Human beings attach meanings to experiences or events that they encounter. How
they interpret these events is more important than the event itself. If a teacher at
school criticises our work we may interpret this in a number of ways and it is this
interpretation that will influence action rather than the event itself.Concepts in the
social world like crime, unemployment or poverty are abstract and socially
constructed by the way we choose to interpret or attach meanings to them. A
“crime” is only a crime because that is how we interpret it.
In social science, objectivity is neither possible nor desirable, values, beliefs and
expectations will always colour research. Objectivity is itself a value treasured by the
scientific community that does nothing to reveal the truth. There is a fundamental
difference between the subject matter of natural science and that of sociology and it
is therefore a mistake to attempt to apply the same methodology. Human beings
have consciousness and free will – they choose how to act. They are not simply
caused to do things by external pressures acting upon them as things do in the
natural world.
Topics in AS Sociology
Culture and Identity – We develop a sense of self from others. This is sometimes
referred to as the ‘looking glass self’ as society is like a mirror to us. It reflects back
to us who we are. For example if we had no social interaction with others we would
not understand what it means to be masculine or feminine, ugly or beautiful, black or
white.
Youth Culture – The labelling of young people as deviant/criminal and terms such as
yob, hoody or chav create self-fulfilling prophecies which lead to further deviance.
Research Methods - Interactionists use an ‘interpretivist’ approach to research.
They might use qualitative observation of the day-to-day interactions of people and
how they shape our understanding of the social world.
Education – Interactionists examine how labelling occurs in the interactions between
teachers and students. Students who are labelled as ‘failures’ will develop a selffulfilling prophecy and fail. Whereas students with positive labels such as ‘bright’ or
‘hard working’ will do well.
8
Word/phrase
Explanation
9
10