Marx’s Ideas: Marx saw harm caused by modern industrial society taking shape of 19th Century Europe, and the promise of progress to a better world Believed possible to understand society scientifically and this knowledge would point to better society = “scientific...
Liberal or Reformist Feminism Concerned with human + civil rights + freedoms of the individual Believe all human beings should have equal rights e.g. same inalienable rights LAWS and POLICIES: believe women can achieve gender equality through theseCULTURAL CHANGE:...
Max Weber: Social Action Theory One of the ‘founding fathers’ of sociology Structural + action approaches necessary for a full understanding of human behaviourAdequate sociological explanation involves two levels:THE LEVEL OF CAUSE – explaining objective structural...
Modernity and Globalisation Modernist theories part of the Enlightenment Project – the idea society can progress through use of human reason Rationality + science enable us to discover true knowledge about the world, we can progress to future of freedom + prosperity...
Social problems and Sociological Problems Social Problems Worsley (1977) ‘a social problem is some piece of social behaviour that causes public friction and/or private misery + calls for collective action to solve it’ e.g. poverty, divorce and so on Sociological...
Practical Issues: Time and Money Requirements of funding bodiesPersonal Skills and Characteristics of Researchers The subject matter of the study Research Opportunity Ethical Issues: Informed ConsentConfidentiality and Privacy Harmful Effects Vulnerable Groups Covert...
SUMMARY: (use book for detailed information) Interpretivists favour unstructured interviews as a way of accessing actors’ meanings, but they’re more costly, time-consuming and difficult to analyse than structured interviews. Positivists criticise them for their lack...
Positivism ‘Founding fathers’ of sociology in the 19th Century very impressed by success of science in explaining natural worldMany of these sociologists, like Comte (1798-1857) who coined term ‘sociology’ call themselves ‘positivists’These believe favourable to apply...
The classical sociologists and values The Early Positivists Early positivists, Comte (1978-1857) and Durkheim (1858-1917) creation of a better society wasn’t matter of subjective values or personal opinions about what is “best”Share Enlightenment/Modernist view...
Functionalists often use an organic analogy to describe society; Parsons (1970) identifies 3 similarities between society and a biological organism:SYSTEM: organisms (e.g. human body) + society both self-regulating systems or inter-related, interdependent parts that...