Wednesday

4th December 2013

Aims

• Revise main themes and issues of the past 8 weeks

• Consolidate learning• Add to notes – Repetition + memory

• Questions and ways to answer

British Society 1

• A coalition government• What are the political parties?• What is the role of the Queen?• Post-war changes in Britain• A divided society?

British Society 2• Changes in population• An ageing population and its implications• National statistics online:

– Mid-2009:– Pop. Of UK 61,792,000 (increase of 394,000 on the previous year. – Under 16s = 1/5 total pop– Retirement and older = 1/5

• Families, divorce and relationships• Single parent families:

– 8% of all families in 1972; 22% by 1995; 1.3 million one-parent families in 2004; 89% of parents are women; One third of children under 5 have divorced parents

• Class divisions and wealth – ‘class is dead’ (Pakulski and Waters, 1996)?

• 53% of the financial wealth in UK = owned by 10% (Inland Revenue, 2000)

The origins of sociology• The sociological imagination (C. Wright Mills)

– Social interaction and social judgements– Global social networks and social and economic development – Class and gender

• The historical development of sociological thought– Copernicus, Galileo and the Enlightenment– Reason; Empiricism; Science; Universalism; Progress;

Individualism; Toleration; Freedom; Uniformity of human nature; Secularism

• Key sociologists– Comte(1798-1857) – Durkheim (1858-1917), Marx (1818-1883) and Weber (1864-

1920)– Forgotten sociologists

Durkheim• (1858-1917)• ‘Study social facts as things!’ (social life can be

analysed as rigorously as objects in nature)• Social facts:

– aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals:

– the state of the economy– the influence of religion.

• Rapid change disrupts traditional life – results in anomie (feeling of aimlessness and despair)

• Suicide seems to be a purely personal act, the outcome of extreme unhappiness. Is it?

• Durkheim discovered different levels in suicide rates in different countries.

• social factors influenced suicidal behaviour.• Durkheim turned a personal problem into a

public issue.

Explaining modern industrial societies: Weber. Rationalisation & Disenchantment

• modes of thought have a powerful effect on society

• a great difference between the tradition of pre-industrial societies and the rationality of modern, industrial societies.

• bureaucratic organisations representing rationality) would crush human creativity.

• Weber’s books– The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of

Capitalism– The Sociology of World Religions– Objectivity of Social Science and Social

Policy

Explaining modern industrial society: Marx. Capitalism & Conflict

• Historical materialism: – Class struggle has a powerful effect on society

– conflict between social classes (masters and slaves; nobles and serfs; capitalists and proletariats).

• Industrial capitalism alienates workers from– The act of working– From the products of work– From fellow workers– From human potential

• Revolution: workers overthrow capitalists and the industrial-capitalist system.

• Marx’s books:– Das Kapital– Economic and Philosophical Manuals of 1844– Wage Labour and Capital– Manifesto of the Communist Party

Marx & Weber on change

Marxist ideas

• Dynamic of development is expansion of capitalist economic mechanisms

• Class inequalities are basis to modern societies

• Divisions of power come from economic inequalities

• Capitalist societies are transitional – socialism will replace capitalism

• The spread of Western influence is a result of expansionist tendencies of capitalist enterprise

Weberian ideas

• Dynamic is rationalization of production

• Class is one type of inequality among many

• Power is separable from other sources

• Rationalization is bound to progress further in the future

• Global impact of the West comes from its command over industrial resources and superior military power

Globalization • The context of modern societies• Three Schools of Thought on the Globalization

Debate:– Hyperglobalisers– Sceptics– Transformationalists

• factors contributing to globalization:– Economic– Social – Political– Environmental

• One culture?

Cultures, norms and values

• Culture – definitions• Elements of culture –

define:– Language – Symbols– Values– Norms– Materials

• Sub-culture

• The Frankfurt School and mass consumption of culture

• Saphir-Whorf Hypothesis

QUESTIONS & WAYS TO ANSWER

The British family is a dying institute. Discuss.

• Nuclear family/ extended family / tradition/ political

• Statistical evidence• divorce/ cohabitation: why?• gay & lesbian: why? • single parent families: why?• women’s rights/ work • Serial monogamy: why?• Birth rates are falling: why?

Why do some children from working class backgrounds not do very well in educational

achievements?

• Class/ definitions/ British focus/ changes• Marx: history is class conflict• Mobility?• Capitalist society - inequalities• Economic hardship/ educational success/ fees• Middle- class atmosphere of schools• Bourdieu – cultural capital / language /ways of talking• Interactionists: the meaning people put on situations: doctor’s

child or labourer’s child: who will you expect to get highest marks?• What about gender?

Each society has its own culture. Discuss

• What is culture? • What are the 5 components of culture? • Give examples of each of the 5 components.• What is cultural relativism?• Parsons: functionalism: transmitted from one generation• Mores / folkways• High culture/ popular culture• Marxism: dominant culture reflects ideology of powerful• Post modernist; reproduction of culture/ accessibility

The major factor influencing gender roles is the mass media. Discuss

• What is mass media• What is gender/ distinguish from sex.• How are women presented: which roles?• Men’s mags • Does media reflect the position or create?• Reinforcing or creating?• Media is one agent of socialisation. What are the

other four. Give examples. Which agent is more powerful ?

British politics

• Who is the executive? Who is the legislature? • What is a constitutional monarchy?• Which parties are in the coalition government, why do we have

a coalition government at the moment, and what is a coalition government?

• Who are the main political parties?• Where on the spectrum of left to right wing do these political

parties stand?• How is the parliamentary system bicameral?• Who is Margaret Thatcher? What was the Thatcher revolution

(what ideologies and political reforms did her government make?)

British identity• Where did a sense of Britishness come from?• Imperialism/ colonialism/ industry• UK: devolution, partition of Ireland• Returning of colonies/ withdrawal from empire• Globalization: competition• National identities become stronger• Attitudes towards Europe: isolationist?• Immigration/ change• Fragmentation• Uncertainty • Divided society: country/city, rich/poor, north/south, men/women &

ethnic minorities

Neglected sociologists

• Who was Harriet Martineau ?• What was Martineau’s criticism of sociological study?• What did she argue should be included in sociological

study?• Who was Ibn Khaldun?• According to Khaldun, what is a nomadic and a sedentary

society? Why was group feeling or ‘solidarity’ important? Why did Beduoin tribes become open to attack after they settled into urbanized life-styles?

• Why were these two early sociologists neglected? Women, racial minorities, reading, recognition, publication.

Importance of sociology

• What particular style of thinking does sociology represent?

• How does sociology question common sense or stereotypes?

• In which careers would sociological training be necessary and why? Think of ten jobs.

• What does sociology aim to do?• Who uses sociological research?• Who pays for sociological research? Why?

The sociological imagination

• How does C. Wright Mill’s ‘sociological imagination’ turn a private issue into a public issue?

• Berger states that the first rule of sociology is ‘things are not what they seem’ Berger, 1963: 34). What does he mean by this?

• Use your sociological imagination to analyse a cup of coffee according to:– Social interaction– Social judgements– Global social networks/ the world in change– Social and economic development– Human rights issues

Globalization & social change

• What is a hunter–gatherer society? An agrarian society? A pastoral society? A non-industrial society?

• What are the features of a modern, industrial society? What proportion of people live in cities?

• There are three factors in change: what are they? Give examples.• How has the IT revolution contributed to globalization?• How has modern technology made us more socially aware?• How do people look beyond the nation state in constructing their identity?• What are TNCs?• How is Barbie an example of economic globalization?• What are the differences between sceptics, hyper-globalizers and

transformationalists? Think in terms of:– Power/structure of governments– Structure of the world order– Driving force (what makes change)