Download perspectives pit stop

Starter
Using Lego…
Create a representation of
either…
• Functionalism
• Marxism
• Feminism
You need to be able to
explain why you have done
your model that way.
Perspectives…
A quick pit stop!
Structural Theory
Sees us as entirely shaped by the
structure of our society (the way
society is organised or set up)
Human behaviour is shaped by the
norms, values and rules than govern
society.
Society determines our behaviour –
puppets on a string being manipulated
by society.
Social Action
Theory
Sees us as having free will and choice
Emphasises the power of the
individuals to create society through
their actions and interactions AGENCY
Think about your educational experiences and choices:
In what ways to you have freedom of choice about your education?
In what ways are your choices shaped by wider society (e.g. Parents, jobs,
college, university?
Sees us as entirely shaped by
the structure of our society (the
way society is organised or set up)
Human behaviour is shaped by
the norms, values and rules than
govern society.
Sees us as having free will and
choice
Emphasises the power of the
individuals to create society through
their actions and interactions AGENCY
Structural Theory
Consensus
Social Action
Theory
Conflict
Interactionism
Functionalism
Marxism
Feminism
Theory can be said to be like looking at society through different
lenses – each give it a different perspective or appearance.
Functionalist view of society
 Structuralist theory
 It is a CONSENSUS theory – meaning society has an agreement about
the core beliefs, norms and values of society (what is right and wrong).
Consensus provides unity and harmony in society – without it, society
would collapse into chaos where no one would be able to agree on how
people should conduct themselves.
 Social institutions (e.g. Family, education..) socialise /’teach’ individuals
how to internalise society’s core values, creating a SOCIAL ORDER –
patterns of shared and predictable behaviour
 Society is a social system based on VALUE CONSENSUS (shared
values) of what is right and wrong
 When everyone follows the value consensus, we have SOCIAL
SOLIDARITY, a sense of belonging to a community
 Functionalists see society in a positive terms – harmony will produce a
well functioning society
What might
these organs
represent in
British
society? (use your
booklet to see the
various institutions)
Like organs in the
body, if all the
institutions (organs) in
society are
FUNCTIONING in
harmony it will remain
healthy.
In your earlier activity –
you all worked together
as a team, performing
certain roles and
functions, just like
society
•Justify why you think so
•Then – think critically about what would happen to society if this FUNCTION
was removed or began to malfunction (break-down).
Functionalist view of society
•If change happens in one part of society (failure in an
institution), change will happen in other parts
•If one or other of these vital institutions starts to
malfunction, then society becomes dysfunctional.
•For example – the Recession in the UK – how could a
change in the economy (a social institution) affect the
other institutions in society?
Specialised division of labour:
• Functionalists also believe that division of
labour enables society to function
• This is when cooperating individuals within
society perform specific tasks/roles
• E.g. nurse, policeman etc.
Complete the task on division of labour
Summary:
• A quick way of learning the key principals of
Functionalism can be conducted by
remembering the following formula:
Value consensus + Specialized
division of labour = Social
order
Present new information:
Structural Theory
Consensus
Conflict
Feminism
Functionalism
Marxism
What do you think the term CONFLICT means? What does this
mean in context to society?
Present new information:
Marxism and Feminism states there is CONFLICT in our
society and certain groups within society are constantly being
exploited.
It is important to note that these perspectives do not want
society to be this way – they have highlighted the conflicts so
that change in our society can be achieved.
Marxism:
o Structuralist theory – can you remember what this means?
• Society is organised economically that is responsible for the behaviour of
individuals
• Marxism believes that society is in a permanent state of CONFLICT
• Capitalism results in two groups of people- proletariat (working class) and
the bourgeoisie (the ruling class) = conflict
• NB-Capitalism is the name of the economic system based on the private ownership of
business
• The Bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat (the working class are unaware of
this – called a false class consciousness) – because they are more powerful
as they own greater property/wealth, therefore exploit the working class to
protect their wealth = inequality
• The Bourgeoisie control the institutions (education, media, religion) which
leads to class inequality
• Meritocracy - Everyone is given an equal opportunity and individuals achieve
rewards through their own effort and ability
•
•
•
The bourgeoisie try to get the proletariat to be believe this as part of their ruling class ideology
Working class believe their position in society is therefore deserved and they don’t realise that they are being
exploited!!
Marx believe meritocracy was a myth!
• Leading to the rich getting richer and the poor becoming poorer
(polarisation)
Marxism:
Is there a solution?
• Marxism believes the way to solve this problem is
communism!
• Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless,
stateless social organisation based on common ownership of the
means of production (all people should own factories, farms etc)
• Eventually the proletariat will become conscious of the
exploitation and have a revolution!! – the two classes will
clash and communism will replay the conflict-based
societies.
Marxism:
Example:
You are a worker in our factory:
The factory makes chairs. You get paid £5 an hour and in an hour
you make on average 10 chairs. You work 8 hours a day and have
an hour for lunch (not paid). The chairs sell for £20 each. The
work gives you just enough to support you and your family in the
house you are living.
•
•
•
•
•
How much do you earn in a day?
How much does your boss (Mr. Wakefield) get for each chair you
make in an hour?
Who owns all the buildings, machinery, tools and raw materials?
What would happen to you if the factory closed?
What would happen to your boss (Mr Wakefield) if the factory
closed?
Marxism
Bourgeoisie
Exploit
Proletariat
They don’t realise they’re
being exploited because ruling
class ideology
(ideas/thoughts) maintains
false class
consciousness(unaware they
are being exploited)
Marxists do not like this, they believe that eventually
the proletariat will become conscious of the exploitation
and have a revolution!!
Feminism
o Structuralist theory –
can you remember what this means?
• It is a CONFLICT theory – source of inequality and conflict is
gender
• Men exploit women in all areas of life (e.g. home, work,
education)
• Feminists argue that society is patriarchal-men have more power
• There are different types of feminism:
• Liberal feminism – concerned with campaigning against sex
discrimination and for equal rights and opportunities for women
(e.g. equal pay)
• Marxist feminism – women are oppressed due to capitalism as
women produce the labour force
• Radical feminism – they believe men are the source of women’s
oppression and exploitation and wants to remove the patriarchal
society
• Difference feminism – despite the equal moral status of men and
women, there are genuine differences between the sexes and those
differences need not all be considered “equal.”
• Examples in your booklet of how women are exploited by men
Feminism
Is there a solution?
Feminism sees society as women being exploited
by men
Even though they see society in this way – they
aim of feminism is to end men’s dominance and rid
society of the exploitation of women
Feminism
Men
Exploit
Women
Liberal Feminists
Marxist Feminists
Radical Feminists
Feminism
Men
Exploit
Women
Liberal Feminists
Focuses on measures to ensure that
women have equal opportunities with
men within the present system.
Feminism
Men
Exploit
Women
Marxist Feminists
Emphasizes the
way in which
women are doubly
exploited as both
women and
workers
Feminism
Men
Radical Feminists
Exploit
Focuses on the
problem of men
and male
domination under
patriarchy (where
men dominate
every area of
society)
Women
Learning Objective:
To be able to describe the interactionism perspective in
Sociology
What would you do?
You are walking down the street
with a friend when an elderly
lady drops her bags and appears
visibly distressed by this. There
are no other people nearby.
You are walking down the street
with a friend when a drunken
man falls over and appears to
have hurt himself. There are no
other people around.
A group of your new
school friends are
going out tonight and
have asked you to
join them but one of
them is really loud
and has made fun of
you a few times in
front of the others.
Interactionism
The meaning we
give to a situation
influences how we
behave.
These meanings can act as
labels which can become a
person’s master status
(overrides all others).
He is no longer John, who
is good at Maths, plays
football and goes to
Scouts. He is a ‘hooded
youth’, he’s disrespectful
towards authority, antisocial and dangerous!
Sees us as entirely shaped by
the structure of our society (the
way society is organised or set up)
Human behaviour is shaped by
the norms, values and rules than
govern society.
Sees us as having free will and
choice
Emphasises the power of the
individuals to create society through
their actions and interactions AGENCY
Structural Theory
Consensus
Social Action
Theory
Conflict
Interactionism
Functionalism
Marxism
Feminism
Theory can be said to be like looking at society through different
lenses – each give it a different perspective or appearance.
Interactionism:
 Social Action theory
• Reject the structualist assumption that behaviour is
determined by organisation of society – individuals create
society through our actions and interactions with people – we
have an active role in shaping social life
• Focus on the individuals rather than society as a whole
• We are not puppets of society!
• Although focus on individuals, other people in society do
influence the way we think/behave
• We try to make sense of our own and others behaviour
• We interpret each situation and work out what is
happening
• We apply meaning to behaviour
• We acquire knowledge about appropriate behaviour in
certain situations e.g. dancing at a party
Construct:
Complete the activity to demonstrate how our
interactions with other’s can shape our behaviour
Self-concept:
What is a self-concept?
Self-concept: the way a
person sees or defines
themselves
Interactionists believe our
self-concept develops from
our interactions with others
Complete the activity in your booklet on Anna
Labelling theory:
Labelling theory – how we label people affects their
self-concept which can lead to a self-fulfilling
prophecy – a prediction that makes itself come true
(e.g. if people think you are aggressive and treat you
negatively you are more likely to become aggressive)
Labels have the power of a master status - a label or
status that can override all others e.g. criminal
Elaborate/Apply:
Shoplifting in Chicago:
Mary Cameron (1964) investigated shoplifting in Chicago department
stores. She found that stores did not automatically prosecute everyone
suspected of shoplifting because of the difficultly of proving the case.
She noticed instead, that store detectives made assumptions of what
the ‘typical shoplifter’ is like (black, adolescents) and kept them under
surveillance. The detectives were unlikely be suspicious of people they
saw as ‘respectable’ (tended to be middle class, white). They were more
likely to press charges if the person was black (9% of arrests made
were white women; as opposed to 42% of women who were black) – and
were 6x more likely to be jailed than white women.
In pairs - What would Interactionists say about Cameron’s findings?
How would this differ from a structualist point of view of crime?
Cameron’s study shows how people’s beliefs about others influences
how they act towards them. Interactionist sociologists see crime as not
being caused by ‘society’, but an outcome of labels people apply to
others in their interactions with them.
Learning Objective:
To be able to describe the postmodernism perspective in
Sociology
Modernity
Industrialisation
Urbanisation
Science has the
answer!
Postmodernism:
Over the past 20 years some sociologists have argued
that modernity is breaking away and being replaced
by postmodernism
Using the information in your booklets on
postmodernism – summarise the key features of what
this means?
Postmodern
Society
Changing work
patterns
Media,
consumption and
identity
Scepticism- science
can’t solve
everything!
Postmodernism:
• Work-not dominated by mass factories. More flexible
• Culture-we are a media saturated society since we have
become wealthier. We organise our lives around this
• Identity-celebrates diversity. Influenced by culture
• Knowledge-sceptical about the power of science
• Globalisation- expansion of transnational companiesemphasis on consumption
So…
• Class, family, gender are no longer relevant when explaining
processes in society
• Due to globalisation there is no one theory which can explain
behaviour within society – we are all individual and unique
• Moved away from Marxism and Feminism
• Sociologists can no longer make judgements about what's
best for society. Sociology is just one set of ideas, people
can choose to believe it or not!
Learning Objective:
To be able to describe the New Right perspective in Sociology
The New Right:
Political perspective
The New Right have very conservative beliefs
They believe in the importance of self-reliance and
individual choice
Having an over generous welfare system (i.e. benefits)
has lead to an underclass
The New Right are concerned about what they see as
the breakdown of society and wish to see a return to
traditional family values (nuclear family)
Elaborate/Apply:
Read this newspaper article:
Is this article supporting or criticising the main ideas
of the New Right? – be prepared to explain why
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24369514
Sociological perspectives:
Each group – you are going to be given some plastic cups and
straws
You are going to work together and take responsibility to create
a model to represent one perspective in sociology
You will then be presenting your model to the class and explain
what it represents and why
Homework:
Each group is going to be given one perspective in sociology and
you will need to create a display on the key features of that
perspective – include images, key terms, a summary of the key
features
This will be displayed in our room to help you refer back to over
the course of the year.
Prize for the best/most creative display!
QUIZ TIME
Go to www.socrative.com
Enter code: cmAAtkab7
Answer the questions… I can
view your results live!