Sociology

Principles of sociology
R. Gosling (ed.) and S. Taylor with the Department of Sociology, LSE

2790021
2010 Undergraduate study in Economics, Management, Finance and the Social Sciences
This guide was prepared for the University of London External System by: R. Gosling (ed.), Director of External Study, LSE, with chapters written by the following members of the Department of Sociology, LSE: Dr Claire Alexander, Dr Suki Ali, Simon Dickason, Malcolm James, Dr David Palmer, Dr Angus Stewart, Dr Steve Taylor. This is one of a series of subject guides published by the University. We regret that due to pressure of work the author is unable to enter into any correspondence relating to, or arising from, the guide. If you have any comments on this subject guide, favourable or unfavourable, please use the form at the back of this guide. This subject guide is for the use of University of London External students registered for programmes in the fields of Economics, Management, Finance and the Social Sciences (as applicable). The programmes currently available in these subject areas are: Access route Diploma in Economics Diploma in Social Sciences Diplomas for Graduates BSc Accounting and Finance BSc Accounting with Law/Law with Accounting BSc Banking and Finance BSc Business BSc Development and Economics BSc Economics BSc Economics and Finance BSc Economics and Management BSc Geography and Environment BSc Information Systems and Management BSc International Relations BSc Management BSc Management with Law/Law with Management BSc Mathematics and Economics BSc Politics BSc Politics and International Relations BSc Sociology BSc Sociology with Law.
The External System Publications Office University of London Stewart House 32 Russell Square London WC1B 5DN United Kingdom Web site: www.londonexternal.ac.uk
Published by: University of London Press University of London 2005; reprinted with amendments 2009; 2010 Printed by: Central Printing Service, University of London, England
Contents
Contents
Introduction. ............................................................................................................ 1 What this unit is about................................................................................................... 1 What is sociology?......................................................................................................... 1 What skills you will learn from studying this unit............................................................. 2 The structure of the unit................................................................................................. 2 Reading advice and other resources................................................................................ 4 Hours of study and use of this subject guide. ................................................................... 7 The examination and examination advice........................................................................ 7 Section A: Social theory and research..................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: What is sociology?............................................................................... 11 Aims of the chapter...................................................................................................... 11 Learning objectives....................................................................................................... 11 Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 11 Further reading. ............................................................................................................ 11 Video/DVD................................................................................................................... 12 Works cited.................................................................................................................. 12 1.1 Introduction........................................................................................................... 12 1.2 Approaching sociology............................................................................................ 13 1.3 What is sociology?. ................................................................................................. 14 1.4 Sociology and commonsense.................................................................................. 17 1.5 Thinking sociologically............................................................................................ 20 1.6 The individual and society....................................................................................... 24 1.7 Socialisation and identity........................................................................................ 28 A reminder of your learning outcomes. .......................................................................... 34 Chapter 2: Sociological research........................................................................... 35 Aims of the chapter...................................................................................................... 35 Learning objectives....................................................................................................... 35 Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 35 Further reading. ............................................................................................................ 35 Works cited.................................................................................................................. 36 Video/DVD................................................................................................................... 36 2.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 36 2.2 Some principles of sociological research.................................................................. 37 2.3 Research designs: planning and choice................................................................... 43 2.4 Major research designs in sociology........................................................................ 48 2.5 Research methods.................................................................................................. 54 A reminder of your learning outcomes. .......................................................................... 64 Chapter 3: Theory and research. ............................................................................ 65 Introduction................................................................................................................. 65 Aims of the chapter...................................................................................................... 65 Learning objectives....................................................................................................... 65 Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 65 Further reading. ............................................................................................................ 65 Video/DVD................................................................................................................... 66 3.1 Methodology revisited............................................................................................ 66 3.2 Positivism............................................................................................................... 69 3.3 Interpretivism......................................................................................................... 72
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21 Principles of sociology
3.4 Realism.................................................................................................................. 76 A reminder of your learning outcomes. .......................................................................... 79 Chapter 4: Theories and developments................................................................. 81 Introduction................................................................................................................. 81 Aims of the chapter...................................................................................................... 81 Learning objectives....................................................................................................... 81 Chapter structure......................................................................................................... 81 Essential reading.......................................................................................................... 81 Further reading. ............................................................................................................ 82 Videos/DVD.................................................................................................................. 82 4.1 Origins of sociology................................................................................................ 82 4.2 Sociological theories............................................................................................... 87 4.3 Bringing the individual back in.............................................................................. 115 Summary . ................................................................................................................. 124 4.4 Postmodernity and sociology. ................................................................................ 124 A reminder of your learning outcomes. ........................................................................ 132 Section B: Globalisation...................................................................................... 133 Aims of this section.................................................................................................... 133 Learning objectives..................................................................................................... 133 Reading advice for Section B. ...................................................................................... 133 Useful websites.......................................................................................................... 134 Chapter 5: Introduction to globalisation. ............................................................ 135 Introduction............................................................................................................... 135 Definition................................................................................................................... 136 Key debate: Is globalisation new and real?.................................................................. 137 Key debate: What are the drivers of globalisation?...................................................... 142 What are the implications for sociology?..................................................................... 146 Works cited................................................................................................................ 149 Chapter 6: Economic globalisation. ..................................................................... 151 Further reading. .......................................................................................................... 151 Introduction............................................................................................................... 151 Key debate: To what extent have we seen the emergence of a global economy?.......... 152 Key debate: Has globalisation changed the nature of the firm?.................................... 156 Conclusion................................................................................................................. 160 Works cited................................................................................................................ 160 Chapter 7: Globalisation, politics and the state. ................................................. 163 Introduction............................................................................................................... 163 Key debate: Has globalisation weakened the state?..................................................... 163 Four threats to nation states..................................................................................... 166 Key debate: Has globalisation created new forms of politics?. ...................................... 168 Conclusion................................................................................................................. 171 Works cited................................................................................................................ 172 Chapter 8: Cultural globalisation........................................................................ 173 Introduction............................................................................................................... 173 Key debate: Has globalisation led to cultural homogenisation?.................................... 173 Key debate: Does globalisation lead to a clash of cultures?.......................................... 177 Conclusion................................................................................................................. 182 A reminder of your learning outcomes. ........................................................................ 182 Sample examination questions for Section B............................................................... 182 Works cited................................................................................................................ 183
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Contents
Section C. ............................................................................................................. 185 Chapter 9: Gender............................................................................................... 187 Aims of the chapter.................................................................................................... 187 Learning objectives..................................................................................................... 187 Essential reading........................................................................................................ 187 Further reading. .......................................................................................................... 187 Websites.................................................................................................................... 187 Works cited................................................................................................................ 188 Introduction............................................................................................................... 188 How to use this chapter.............................................................................................. 190 9.1 Sex, gender and sexualities................................................................................... 190 9.2 Equality and difference: feminist debates.............................................................. 196 9.3 Families and work................................................................................................ 202 A reminder of your learning outcomes. ........................................................................ 206 Sample examination questions. ................................................................................... 206 Chapter 10: Race and ethnicity......................................................................... 209 Aims of the chapter.................................................................................................... 209 Learning objectives..................................................................................................... 209 Essential reading........................................................................................................ 209 Further reading. .......................................................................................................... 209 Works cited................................................................................................................ 210 Introduction............................................................................................................... 210 Reading advice........................................................................................................... 211 Learning activities. ...................................................................................................... 212 10.1 Thinking about race and ethnicity...................................................................... 212 10.2 Race and ethnicity: some basic definitions......................................................... 214 10.3 Changing debates: some key theoretical approaches to race and ethnicity......... 218 10.4 Contemporary approaches: old and new ethnicities............................................. 224 A reminder of your learning outcomes. ........................................................................ 226 Sample examination questions. ................................................................................... 227 Chapter 11: Social inequality and social injustice. .............................................. 229 Aims of the chapter.................................................................................................... 229 Learning objectives..................................................................................................... 229 Essential reading........................................................................................................ 229 Further reading. .......................................................................................................... 230 Reading advice........................................................................................................... 230 Introduction............................................................................................................... 230 11.1.1 Changing sociological perspectives on social inequality and social injustice. ...... 232 11.1.2 Global perspectives on inequality and injustice................................................. 234 11.1.3 Classical perspectives on social inequality........................................................ 236 11.2.1 Structural dimensions of inequality: contemporary class analysis....................... 240 11.2.2 Analysing social injustice................................................................................. 243 11.2.3 Social injustice and the pursuit of human rights. ............................................... 246 Summary: inequality and injustice............................................................................... 249 A reminder of your learning outcomes. ........................................................................ 249 Sample examination questions. ................................................................................... 250 Chapter 12: Religion and society........................................................................ 251 Aims of the chapter.................................................................................................... 251 Learning objectives..................................................................................................... 251 Study materials. .......................................................................................................... 251
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Essential reading........................................................................................................ 251 Websites.................................................................................................................... 251 Further reading detailed recommendations.............................................................. 252 Introduction............................................................................................................... 253 12.1 Defining religion............................................................................................... 257 12.2 Sociological research on religion......................................................................... 260 12.3 Religion and social integration............................................................................ 266 12.4 Religion and social conflict................................................................................. 268 12.5 Religion and economic culture............................................................................ 271 12.6 Secularisation..................................................................................................... 273 12.7 Religion, modernity and globalisation................................................................. 275 A reminder of your learning outcomes. ........................................................................ 278 Sample examination questions. ................................................................................... 279 Chapter 13: Power in society. .............................................................................. 281 Aims of the chapter.................................................................................................... 281 Learning objectives..................................................................................................... 281 Reading advice........................................................................................................... 281 Essential reading........................................................................................................ 282 Further reading. .......................................................................................................... 282 Additional reading and other works cited.................................................................... 282 Structure of this chapter............................................................................................. 283 Introduction: power, modernity and sociology.............................................................. 283 13.1.1 Marxism and the analysis of power.................................................................. 286 13.1.2 Weber: power, stratification and domination. .................................................... 290 13.1.3 The power of elites.......................................................................................... 293 13.2.1 The pluralist model of power............................................................................ 295 13.2.2 Power to and power over. ................................................................................ 298 13.3.1 Postmodernist perspectives on power. .............................................................. 299 Summary.................................................................................................................... 300 A reminder of your learning outcomes. ........................................................................ 301 Sample examination questions. ................................................................................... 301 Chapter 14: The sociology of organisations........................................................ 303 Aims of the chapter.................................................................................................... 303 Learning objectives..................................................................................................... 303 Chapter structure....................................................................................................... 303 Essential reading........................................................................................................ 304 Further reading and works cited. ................................................................................. 304 14.1 Introduction....................................................................................................... 305 14.2 Why do new types of organisation emerge?........................................................ 309 Conclusion................................................................................................................. 315 14.3 Power in organisations....................................................................................... 315 14.4 Organisational strategies and the environment. ................................................... 321 Conclusion................................................................................................................. 329 A reminder of your learning outcomes. ........................................................................ 329 Sample examination questions. ................................................................................... 329 Appendix 1: Approaching your examination....................................................... 331 Appendix 2: Sample examination paper............................................................. 335 Appendix 3: Full reading list. .............................................................................. 337 Essential reading........................................................................................................ 337 Further reading. .......................................................................................................... 338
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Economics, Management, Finance and the Social Sciences
Erratum sheet
May 2010: First erratum sheet to the 2009 edition of the subject guide
Important VLE resources

Please note that the following resources are now available on the VLE: a recorded interview with LSE staff about studying for this unit an opportunity to ask Rosie Gosling questions about this unit and discuss material with your peers through an online forum.
Section A: Social theory and research

Two of the essential textbooks are available to view online via the VLE:
Cuff, E., W.W. Sharrock and D.W. Francis Perspectives in sociology. (London: Routledge, 2006) fifth edition [ISBN 9780415301114 (pbk)]. Lee, D. and H. Newby The problem of sociology. (London: Routledge, 2000) [ISBN 9780415094535].
Chapter 2
Watch a video of Rosie Gosling interviewing Professor Eileen Barker, the author of The making of a Moonie, one of the works cited in Chapter 2.
Chapter 4
Watch a video of Rosie Gosling and Dr Nigel Dodd discussing Durkheim and Webers work.
Section B: Globalisation
Watch a video set of Rosie Gosling interviewing Simon Dickason, the author of this section. Test your understanding with self-quizzes for each chapter. Note: Section B: Globalisation has been updated for 2010. The Essential reading is now:
Waters, M. Globalization. (London: Routledge, 2001) second edition [ISBN 9780415238540].
The full textbook is available to view online via the VLE.
Section C
Follow links to the BBCs collection on second wave feminism.
Chapter 14
Note: This chapter The sociology of organisations has now been completely rewritten. The essential textbook remains the same but the approach is slightly different.
Notes
Introduction
Introduction
What this unit is about
Welcome to this unit Principles of sociology. Some people worry about sociology; some feel that it is too theoretical or that it does not relate to the real world, others suggest that there is too much reading and that it requires great feats of memory. We hope to dispel these myths and introduce you to a subject which is interesting and which will provide a basis throughout your studies. No formal prerequisites are required to study this unit, but you do need to have an enquiring mind and be prepared to read and think. There is a health warning though if you take this subject you will never see things in the same way again! Principles of sociology is a foundation unit and, as such, provides the essential grounding for further study in the subject and also provides the knowledge and critical skills which are necessary for the degrees in Management and Business. This unit is one of the most popular options in the Diploma in Economics programme as it helps students to be critical of the information they receive and encourages them to think logically and consistently. We have designed this unit to provide the necessary grounding in sociological theory and methods of social research. Students will then be required to apply this knowledge to substantive areas of sociology. You may be taking the BSc Sociology degree or a Diploma for Graduates in Sociology and this unit will be the basis upon which all the other units rest. Students in Business, Management and Information Systems will take this unit as a key servicing unit that will provide you with knowledge of the social world and the key ways in which it can be researched. In all cases we hope you enjoy studying this subject.
What is sociology?
First we should start by attempting to define sociology. (Chapter 1 in Section A will go into much more detail as to the nature of this subject.) The most basic view of sociology is that it is about understanding relationships in human societies, but sociologists do not agree about what societies are and how they should be studied and so no one definition will suffice. However, one of the most important things to remember is that sociology is more than commonsense! You will be introduced to the subject of sociology and will be encouraged to think how different it is from other social sciences that you may have studied. You will be introduced to different sociological theories and to the classical and more modern sociologists. You will be encouraged to see the development of sociology as it developed from and reacted to the Enlightenment. The relationship between these theories and assumptions of the social world will be investigated and you will see how the techniques of social research are applied in an academic manner. We have introduced globalisation as a compulsory topic to illustrate how sociology can help in understanding and explaining this phenomenon. In Section C you will be able to apply these theories and approaches to particular areas in sociology which are of interest to you.
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What skills you will learn from studying this unit

By the end of the unit you will have gained knowledge and learnt some important skills: to be critical of any data and theories that you read or hear about and, of course, to be critical of your own work be creative and able to link ideas from this unit and the other disciplines you are studying to create new ways of thinking about social phenomena to be challenged. This is not an easy subject and it requires you to think deeply about the materials and be able to deal with more than one way of thinking about the social world. Do the best that you can to be co-operative and share ideas and materials. It is a good idea to study with other students and friends, and to try to express your ideas with them. (If this is not possible, try thinking aloud.) This is an important skill for the world of work where you are often required to work in teams. Finally, LSEs motto is rerum cognoscere causas which means to know the causes of things. You should not be content with simplistic explanations you should always look beneath the explanations for a deeper understanding of the social world.
The structure of the unit

Sections A and B are compulsory for everyone and make up 75 per cent of the syllabus. Thereafter you are free to choose one option only from a variety of topics.
Section A: Social theory and research: compulsory

This has been written by Dr Steve Taylor with Rosemary Gosling. It makes up half the syllabus and concentrates on questions relating to the nature of sociology; the methods which sociologists use; methodology and the major sociological perspectives. The key aspects in relation to individuals and society are examined through the concepts of role, socialisation and identity. The chapters in Section A account for 50 per cent of the marks and are examined by a compulsory question, which is subdivided into questions requiring short answers and one longer question relating to a particular sociologist or perspective. You should spend at least half of your allocated study time on Section A. This is not only because of its length and depth but because the subjects covered are essential for the other sections of the syllabus.
Section B: Globalisation and social change: compulsory

Having obtained some background on the nature of sociology we want you to be able to apply what you know to one of the core sociological problems social change. Before you start to study this section you should be aware of the major changes that have occurred in the last two centuries and how the growth of sociology is connected with an attempt to explain these changes. Globalisation is an important topic, not just because we are interested in knowing whether we are living in a new age but because there is so much disagreement about the topic. These disagreements have their basis in the fundamental assumptions about what the motors of social change are, and how do we know if there has been such a change.
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Introduction
These are not difficult chapters, but you must read around the topic and, of course, read the text allocated. You will be rewarded for your ability to keep abreast of the debates which you will be introduced to in this unit. The areas which you should keep abreast of are: the reactionsto the social or global changes that are occurring the behaviour of the anti-globalists for example and the financial crises that started in 2008 whether globalisation has increased inequality between and within nations whether the nation state is becoming less or moreimportant. You will be rewarded if you can demonstrate to the Examiners that you have read widely and can apply what you have read and understood to the theories and explanations provided in these chapters. This section has been written by Simon Dickason.
Section C: Specialist topics: choose one

How do I choose which topic to take? To help you choose which one topic from Section C to study in detail we outline here the content of each chapter. You may know already, because of your own personal interests, which Section C topic you want to study, but if you dont, then this information will help you to think about your interests and how to choose a unit which fits well with your future unit choices. The approach taken by the authors in writing these chapters requires you to have a good grounding in sociology before you begin to study one of the chapters. It is an opportunity to use the knowledge of sociology that you will have gained from Section A, especially ontology and epistemology. It is important that you understand that, for most of these chapters, there is a considerable amount of material which relates to a discussion of the essentially contested nature of the core concepts used by the authors. You should be aware of how the sociologists mentioned in the chapters have gathered their data and what theory has guided their research. Knowledge of the key debates that have been discussed in Section A is important, as in all cases you will be expected to use the key debates to inform your reading of your chosen subject area. You will be expected to demonstrate knowledge of the relevant sociological theories when writing your examination answers. Gender This has been written by Dr Suki Ali of the Department of Sociology at LSE. The reading is directed and draws on the work on epistemology and ontology covered in Section A. You will be required to reflect on what you know in relation to your own society and you will be rewarded in the examination if you do. Race and ethnicity This has been written by Dr Claire Alexander of the Department of Sociology at LSE and was updated in 2009 by Malcolm James. The authors address theoretical issues directly and give a fresh approach to the study of this subject. The key texts give an in-depth approach to this subject and will require a careful reading. You will be exposed to different definitions of race and ethnicity and the different approaches to the issues raised. Dr Alexanders major research is on identity and this topic is examined in
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this chapter. Social inequality and social injustice This has been written by Dr Angus Stewart. Although you must choose only one topic to study, if you choose to study this one in depth it would help you if you were to read the Power chapter as well. This chapter leads on from Section B (Chapters 58) on Globalisation and social change very well and you should not attempt this chapter without a clear understanding of globalisation. Religion and society This chapter, which has been written by Dr David Palmer from the Department of Sociology at LSE, puts a strong emphasis on research methods, and considers religion in relation to social integration, social conflict, economic culture, modernisation and globalisation. When taking a sociological approach, it is important not to look at religion in isolation; therefore, if you choose this chapter it would also be helpful, although not required of you, to read some of the other topics for Section C, and to think about how religion intersects with ethnicity, gender, power, inequality and organisation. Power in society Dr Angus Stewart, who has taught political sociology at LSE for a number of years, has written this chapter, and it is of particular relevance to those of you who are studying for the politics and international relations degree. There may be some overlap with the Politics foundation unit (114 Democratic politics and the state) but the approach will be different. There is a concentration on the key ontological and epistemological concerns as to the nature of power and the possibility of knowing who has power. The sociology of organisations This has been written by Simon Dickason and is of particular interest to you when you take 127 Organisation theory: an interdisciplinary approach, 79 Elements of social and applied psychology and/or other management subjects. The material is straightforward but the examination questions will not ask you to describe a particular theory without some criticism. You must locate your understanding of organisations clearly within the sociological perspective and be aware of the many different explanations involved. If you are studying unit 107 Introduction to business and management at the same time, you should use relevant material on organisations from this chapter in that unit and vice versa.
Reading advice and other resources

Reading for this unit is always split into two types; Essential and Further reading. You will need to use your textbooks in a slightly different way for Sections A and B than for section C. You will find a full and detailed reading list for the whole unit at the end of this subject guide on p.319. For full details of the editions and ISBNs please check the reading list at the end of this subject guide. It is worth noting that reading lists are updated annually and provided online even when the subject guide is not fully revised that year.
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Introduction
Reading for Section A

We have provided you with a choice of three major textbooks as introductory reading for Section A; you will only need to buy one of them. We suggest that you decide which text to buy in relation to your choice of subject in Section C, as some of the textbooks are also used as key reading for Section C. Choose one from:
Fulcher, J. and J. Scott Sociology. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) third edition [ISBN 9780199285006 (pbk)].
This is an excellent, clearly written text for the theoretical aspects of the unit such as Section A. It does not have as much material on globalisation as Macionis and Plummer or Giddens, and, although it is not essential reading for the Section C chapters on race and gender, it will support them well. This book is supported by a website and there are lecturers notes online. or
Giddens, A. Sociology. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008) fifth edition [ISBN 9780745633794 (pbk)].
Students are very happy using this text. It is written in a clear and simple style. The chapters on globalisation and identity are very useful, however on its own it does not have enough material for the theoretical aspects of Section A, the relationships between theories and methods, and methods of social research. or
Macionis, J. and K. Plummer Sociology: a global introduction. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2008) fourth edition [ISBN 9780132051583 (pbk)].
We strongly advise you to buy the fourth edition of Macionis and Plummer; however we have also provided references to the third edition:
Macionis, J. and K. Plummer Sociology: a global introduction. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2005) third edition [ISBN 9780131287464 (pbk)].
This text is easy to read and is well illustrated with many examples, charts and pictures. As indicated by its title, it takes a global approach to the subject and so is an ideal text for students studying this subject on the External System. However, it does not cover many of the theoretical aspects of the unit and will not offer much support for your Section C topic. We then move on to the textbooks which specifically cover the theoretical aspects; we have indicated two texts of which you should buy one. Choose one from:
Cuff, E., W.W. Sharrock and D.W. Francis Perspectives in sociology. (London: Routledge, 2006) fifth edition [ISBN 9780415301114 (pbk)].
This covers all the theories indicated in the reading for Section A. However, although the style is clear, some of the chapters have been organised in an unusual way and so it is very important to make use of the directions to specific reading provided in the subject guide. or
Lee, D. and H. Newby The problem of sociology. (London: Routledge, 2000) [ISBN 9780415094535].
This contains much more material than is required for this unit. However, it approaches the subject historically and therefore it helps students to locate the sociologists clearly within the society and time they were writing. It is clearly written and you should have little problem in reading it. However, as with all texts it should be read in relation to the topic studied. Again we have indicated the relevant chapters in the textbook in reading advice given in this subject guide.
Reading for Section B

There is one major text for this Section which you will need to buy or have access to.
Waters, M. Globalization. (London: Routledge, 2001) second edition [ISBN 9780415238540].
You will also need to refer to the relevant chapters in the compulsory textbooks which you have bought for Section A.
Reading for Section C

These chapters are written in an academic sociological style and require students to read the key texts in parallel with the material in this subject guide. They have not been designed to be read as a novel! You need to do the reading as you tackle each section to ensure that you have fully understood it before you proceed to the next section. The authors have provided you with some thinking points; our strong advice is that you should work through your Section C topic slowly and carefully ensuring that you fully understand each section before proceeding to the next. This will help your understanding and provide you with the necessary critical skills required for these chapters. You are given reading advice at the start of each chapter. At the end of this subject guide we have provided a full list of all reading referred to in this subject guide for ease of reference.
Websites
Websites are increasingly sophisticated sources of information and there is a great deal of material available. However, beware of the sample essays and examination tips websites these may not necessarily help you to write and think in the style and manner that will help you for this unit on the External Programme. The websites relating to the classical sociologists are usually very good indeed. We have indicated some in the subject guide. Some web page addresses may change during the life of this subject guide; we have no control over this. If a page is no longer available please try an Internet search to find its new location.
Video/DVD
For some chapters we are able to recommend a video/DVD to you, which may help you by giving you a chance to see sociologists in action.
Online resources
An increasing number of resources, such as recordings of interviews with academics and self-testing quizzes, are being made available to you online via the University of London External System Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). We advise you to log in to the VLE regularly and to make use of the forums for this unit to share your ideas and discuss topics with your fellow students. You will need to use the same username and password to access this resource as the ones you are sent to use for the Student Portal. The Online Library can be accessedvia the Student Portal at https://my.londonexternal.ac.uk/
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Introduction
Hours of study and use of this subject guide

You should aim to study this unit over eight months and you should spend at least seven hours on this unit each week. You will need to read widely and think deeply, discussing the issues raised with other students or colleagues. You should practise answering the short questions in Section A and gradually build up to answering the essays for Sections B and C. You need to make sure that you have clearly understood Sections A and B before moving on to Section C. We have suggested a study schedule here to help you plan your time; this is based on completing your unit in one year, starting in October. You will need to adjust this for your own study year.
The examination and examination advice

Important: the information and advice given in the following section are based on the examination structure used at the time this guide was written. Please note that subject guides may be used for several years. Because of this we strongly advise you to always check both the current Regulations for relevant information about the examination, and the current Examiners commentaries where you should be advised of any forthcoming changes. You should also carefully check the rubric/ instructions on the paper you actually sit and follow those instructions. We have provided you with a detailed examination advice section and a full sample examination paper at the end of this subject guide (p.331). There is also advice about how the marks are allocated to each style of question in Section A. The examination structure has been designed in such a way that you will be rewarded for your knowledge of the subject and your ability to demonstrate an understanding of the key issues. For Section A, we suggest that you might also like to look at the past years examination papers. At the end of Sections B and C, sample examination questions have been included for you to practise on. You are required to know all the material that has been indicated in the subject guide, but more importantly you should indicate that you can understand this, especially the concepts involved and the perspectives of the relevant sociologists. You can demonstrate understanding by answering the question that you have been asked directly. You will be rewarded if your essays are well structured and if you select and use only material that is relevant to the question. You do not need to mention everything that you have learnt and should answer the question economically, using references and examples which indicate that you are aware of the relative importance of each. Remember: the examination tests your knowledge and understanding of the subject, we do not need to know all you know!
Notes

In Section A, we shall be addressing four key questions: What is sociology about? (Chapter 1) How do sociologists do research? (Chapter 2) What is the relationship between theory and method in sociology? (Chapter 3) How have sociologists tried to explain how societies work and change? (Chapter 4)
Notes
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Chapter 1: What is sociology?

Written by Dr Steve Taylor.
Aims of the chapter

The aims of this chapter are to give you a clearer idea of the following: how to approach studying sociology what sociology is the differences between sociology and commonsense what is meant by sociological thinking the relationship between the individual and society socialisation and identity formation.
Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter, and having completed the essential reading and activities, you should have a clearer idea of: how to study sociology, what is meant by active learning, and what examiners will be looking for what sociologists study some of the key ways that sociology gives us insights that go beyond commonsense understanding what is meant by thinking sociologically and sociologists interest in social order, social change and the relationship between the individual and society how our identities arise from social relationships what sociologists mean by socialisation and identity, and how Parsons and Mead put forward different explanations of these processes.
Essential reading
For full edition details, please refer to the full reading lists in the Appendix to this subject guide. Choose one of:
Fulcher, J. and J. Scott Sociology. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) Chapters 1 and 4. or Giddens, A. Sociology. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008) Chapters 1 and 2. or Macionis, J. and K. Plummer Sociology. A global introduction. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2005 and 2008 editions) Chapters 1 and 7.
Further reading
It is worth dipping into any of the following classic introductions to help give you a feel of sociology and sociological thinking, but note that these books can be a little more difficult to understand than the textbooks. (A reminder: for full details of the editions and ISBNs please check the reading list at the end of this subject guide. It is worth noting that reading lists are updated annually and provided online even when the subject guide is not fully revised that year.)
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21 Principles of sociology Bauman, Z. Thinking sociologically. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990). Berger, P . Invitation to sociology. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1963). Mills, C. Wright The sociological imagination. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1970).
Websites
8 www.sociolog.com
This website gives links to a range of other sociology resources.

8 www.sociology.org.uk
This is a British sociology website, geared towards the British school syllabuses but it has a lot of good introductory material and useful links to specialist sociology websites.
Video/DVD
Introducing Sociology (halo vine, 2004) [8 www.halovine.com].
A short video/DVD giving some insights into sociological thinking by explaining what sociology is about and showing how a sociologist might bring a very different perspective to everyday things like the mobile (or hand) phone and the security camera.
Works cited
Bowles, S. and H. Gintis Schooling in capitalist America. (London: Routledge, 1976) [ISBN 9780465097180 (pbk)]. Goffman, E. The presentation of the self in everyday life. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971) [ISBN 9780140213508 (pbk)]. Mead, G. Mind, self and society. (University of Chicago, 1934). Parsons, T. The social system. (New York: Free Press, 1951). Willis, P . Learning to labour. (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1993) [ISBN 9781857421705].
1.1 Introduction
We are living in a world of dramatic and unprecedented social change: new technologies and cultural upheavals are transforming our lives. As prosperity grows and cultural taboos break down, millions of people in modern industrialised societies are confronted by more choices than ever about how to live their lives. However, it seems that the drive for ever greater prosperity and new-found freedoms and lifestyle choices come at a price, as rates of crime, mental disorder, drug addiction and self harm continue to rise. So how did the world become this way? Why are peoples lives today so different from those of their parents and grandparents? What are the possibilities for our lives in the future? These are the questions that sociology asks and attempts to answer. Sociology is about trying to understand the social world, but it is also about trying to understand ourselves, and how societies make us who we are. This chapter is designed to help you start thinking like a sociologist. It is not about learning theories or facts and figures. It is about understanding what it means to think sociologically. It is simple and, we hope, you should find it quite easy to follow. Once you start thinking sociologically you will find the later chapters on research and theory and the topic areas covered later in this chapter and in Sections B and C easier to understand. To make the most of this chapter, take time out regularly to stop and
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reflect on the points being made and attempt to answer the questions that have been set in the Activities. Do not rush the chapter, but rather ask yourself all the time, What does this tell me about how a sociologist thinks about the world? Lets start with an example. Before reading any further attempt the Activity below. Activity 1.1 A changing world Write down five ways that your life is different from that of your mother (if you are female) and your father (if you are male) when they were your age. If you cannot compare yourself with a parent for some reason, then choose another relative or acquaintance 2030 years older than you. Look at your list. It doesnt matter what you have written down. Obviously there are all sorts of possibilities. Maybe your aspirations are different from your mother or father? Maybe your values are different? Maybe you have (or hope to have) very different work from your mother or father? Now try to account for those differences. How would you explain them? Are they just individual differences, or can you relate them to wider changes in your society? For example, have educational opportunities, patterns of work or certain social values changed since your parents were young? Do you think these might have influenced some of the differences you have identified between yourself and your mother or father? By asking yourself these kinds of questions, by exploring how personal lives may be influenced by wider social changes, you are already starting to think like a sociologist.
1.2 Approaching sociology

Critical thinking
So how should you approach studying sociology? Its important to make it clear from the start that sociology is not a subject you can simply learn. You also have to question things, compare different ideas and, sometimes, you have to criticise what you read. So if you find yourself simply trying to remember lists of facts you need to learn in a different way in order to do well in sociology. Lists of learned points will not impress examiners. Sociology is primarily about understanding ideas, and examiners will be looking for evidence of this understanding. More specifically, to do well in sociology, you must be able to: describe key sociological ideas, theories and studies discuss and compare sociological concepts, theories and studies apply sociological ideas, theories and studies to different aspects of social life. All these skills involve active learning and thinking.
Active learning
Some people may tell you that examinations are all about memory. This is wrong. Obviously, you have to recall information in all subjects, but the main emphasis in sociology is on testing your thinking abilities rather than your memory. You have to apply your knowledge to the problem, or question, that has been set. This involves actively thinking rather than passively trying to absorb information as a sponge absorbs liquids. The idea of actively thinking about a problem can be illustrated with an
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example from everyday life. Imagine you have returned to your house and found you have forgotten your key and there is no one in. You have to ask yourself some questions and work out the best solution. Is there some other way you can get into the house without a key? How many other people have keys and which one of these people would it be the best to contact? Is there somewhere else you could go and wait? Should you smash a window to get in? Here, you are certainly drawing on your existing knowledge (for example, who else has a key?) but you are doing much more than that, you are also actively thinking about the problem and working out possible solutions. Stop and think about this for a moment. How can this story help us to tackle questions in sociology? You certainly wont be given a question asking you to, Describe three ways to get into your house. But you might be asked, for example, to Identify three ways sociologists can study the past, or Compare the costs and benefits of using structured and unstructured interviews. Answering such questions well involves going through the same process described above in relation to being locked out of your house. You have to work out the possibilities, compare and contrast their relative merits and, above all, focus on the problem you are confronted with. This involves active processes throughout your period of study, such as asking yourself questions, looking for links between different parts of the subject, questioning the things you read about, noting down what you do not understand and looking for the answers from your books or this subject guide. The first step on the road to understanding sociology is to ask ourselves what the subject is about. Any subject is easier to understand once you have some grasp of its field of inquiry and what it is trying to do. Lets begin by introducing some of the key ideas of sociology and the questions it asks.
1.3 What is sociology?

Activity 1.2 What is sociology? Before reading any further write down in one sentence what you think sociology is. Try this even if you have never studied the subject before. It is a useful activity to try to think about a topic first before reading something about it. Now try to develop your definition by attempting two further questions: What do you think sociologists study? How do you think a sociologists understanding of some aspect of social life would be different from a commonsense understanding?
The study of social relationships

The word sociology comes from a combination of the Latin socius (meaning companion) and the Greek logos (meaning the study of), so the word literally means the study of companionship, or social relations. Sociologists are primarily interested in all that happens to people in terms of their relationships with others. These may be: personal relationships with people we know well, such as family members, friends and people we know at work or college
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impersonal relationships, such as those we have with people who serve us in shops, take away our rubbish or drive the taxi we are in indirect relations with people we neither know nor see, but whose actions influence our lives. For example, a decision by corporate executives in the United States to shut down an overseas plant can affect the working and domestic lives of thousands of people who live nowhere near the USA. Sociologists are interested in the study of individuals personalities and behaviour but they are also interested in how they relate to other people. Therefore, the word relationship is very important in sociology. All sociology is about relationships of one sort or another: for example, relationships between different societies, between different parts of a society and between individuals and societies. The fact that sociology is about social relationships that can take many different forms means that its scope is very wide. It can range from things that affect large parts of the world over long periods of time, such as industrialisation or globalisation, to the study of specific social organisations, such as schools or families, right down to two people having a brief conversation in an elevator. Thus it is very difficult to give a precise definition of sociology because it operates at different levels. However, the key idea in all sociological research is that peoples lives and behaviour cannot be understood apart from the social contexts in which they participate, directly or indirectly. From this starting point, sociologists want to know more about these social contexts, how they are produced and how they shape peoples lives.
Social institutions
Social relationships are rarely random. Normally they are organised in various ways. Sociologists refer to these patterns of behaviour as social institutions. Types of family life, education and religious practice are examples of social institutions, where behaviour tends to be regular or patterned. What we loosely refer to as a society is actually a complex of many social institutions. In contemporary industrial societies we find, for example, political, family, economic, educational, legal and religious institutions. Although these institutions seem to be separate and distinct they are also related to each other in various ways. To give a simple example: productive institutions are dependent on educational institutions for a skilled workforce, educational institutions are dependent on the government for their funding, and government institutions, in turn, rely on productive institutions to create the wealth to finance government spending. Sociologists call this institutional interdependence. Economy
Workforce
Education Funding
Taxes Government
Figure 1.1: Institutional interdependence
As a result of this institutional interdependence, many sociologists adopt a structural, or macro, perspective that means looking at societies as
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systems, and trying to work out how different institutions function to produce particular outcomes. Sociologists in the UK and the USA studying the relationships between the institutions of family and school have found that, on average, children from lower-class or working-class backgrounds have more problems at school and leave with fewer qualifications. Think about this for a moment. Can you think of some reasons for this? Two US sociologists, Bowles and Gintis (1976), adopted a structural approach to explore this problem. They argued that schools prepared large numbers of young people, usually from the more deprived backgrounds, for low-paid, subordinate jobs. However, as we shall see, this structural approach tells only part of the story. Sociologists are not only interested in exploring relationships between social institutions, they are also interested in the relationship between individuals and institutions. Exploring this question usually involves adopting a micro, or small-scale, approach and looking at small segments of institutions in much greater detail. For example, in a famous sociological study called Learning to Labour, Paul Willis (1977; reprinted 1993) made a detailed study of 12 British working-class boys. He found that rather than simply being failed by the school and the society, as Bowles and Gintis suggested, the boys he studied deliberately failed themselves, by refusing to work at school. They had already decided that education was irrelevant to their futures, which they saw as being in manual labour. The only point in going to school was to have a laugh and make fun of those who did work. An interesting postscript to this study is that Paul Willis services are now very much in demand from the governments of some newly industrialising countries puzzled by the fact so many young students are turning their back on the educational services provided for them. This illustrates how sociological research can help in the formation and analysis of government policy.
Sociology as a science?
Another question that is often asked about sociology is whether or not it is a science. We shall be looking at this issue in much more detail in Chapter 3, but it is important to note that there is an important difference between sociology and natural sciences, such as physics or chemistry. The subject of sociological research social institutions is cultural rather than natural. This means that social institutions are produced by the conscious activities of human beings, in contrast to things like gravity, the weather and chemical processes within the body, which are natural processes. The result of this is that sociologists are also interested in the subjective aspects of life; that is how people interpret and make sense of the situations in which they find themselves. Sociology, then, is not just about just about the wider outside picture of patterns of social organisation and behaviour. It also explores the inside story of peoples lives, how they make sense of social situations, their values, beliefs, prejudices and, if the research calls for it, even their darkest secrets.
Summary
Sociology may be generally defined as the study of the social relationships. Sociologists explore different forms of social institutions, the relationships between them and how individuals experience them. Now read
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This is a good place to start reading to develop your understanding of some of the issues raised here, using any one of the textbooks we have recommended by Fulcher and Scott (2007), Giddens (2008) or Macionis and Plummer (2005 or 2008). If you want to read a little more deeply, look at Chapter 1 of Mills (1970), but note that this is more complex. Bergers Invitation to sociology takes a different approach and is very entertaining.
1.4 Sociology and commonsense

In the next three sections your main reading will be this subject guide rather than your textbooks, although I shall suggest some further reading throughout. It is important that you attempt the activities that have been designed to illustrate key points and help give you a feel of the subject.
Are we all sociologists?

Its interesting how many people think that sociology is just commonsense. Its a perfectly fair assumption. After all, we cannot understand the workings of things like atoms, molecules or cells simply from our everyday experiences. They are not directly accessible to us. We can only know about them from expert knowledge. Therefore, it is easy to justify the need for specialist subjects like physics, chemistry and biology. But we cant say the same about the social world. Much of it is directly accessible to us and we begin learning about it from the moment we are born. In a way, we are all sociologists of a kind because, by the time we are grown up, most of us have developed a number of social skills and an extensive knowledge of the social world around us. We dont just learn about social life from our own experiences, we are also bombarded with information about our own and other societies from newspapers, radio and television and the Internet. People also have theories and opinions about their society, whats wrong with it, whats causing these problems and what could, and should, be done to make things better. We call this lay, or commonsense, knowledge of society. So, is the sociologists understanding of societies any different from everyday, commonsense understanding? Can a sociologist tell you anything about social life that you couldnt have worked out for yourself? It is worth pursuing this question, because answering it is a good way to find out more about what sociologists do and how they think about the world. But first, look back to the answer you gave to this question in Activity 1.2 on p.14 concerning how you think sociology is different from commonsense. So, what is different about specialist sociologists? There are many answers to this question but here we are going to look at three of the most important ones, and I shall use the example of crime to illustrate them. Sociology is different from commonsense because it involves: asking distinct sociological questions doing research, and applying or testing sociological theories.
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Asking sociological questions: making the familiar strange

Most people feel they have some understanding of crime and, certainly in countries like the United States and the UK that have high reported crime rates, people spend quite a lot of time talking about it. The conversations you hear are usually about how bad crime is, why it happens and, above all, what can be done to stop or at least reduce it. Sociologists are also interested in these questions and a number of sociologists work in crime prevention. However, thinking as a sociologist also raises other questions. The famous US sociologist Peter Berger whose book Invitation to sociology we have recommended as further reading for this chapter says that part of the sociologists art is making the familiar become strange. This means trying to see the taken-forgranted world around you afresh, by looking at it with the eyes of a stranger, or a tourist in a foreign land. Activity 1.3 Making the familiar strange Try this yourself. If you have travelled to another country for work or a holiday, think back to the first day or two when it was new to you. Recall how much you took in; for example, how different the houses were, the streets, the people, or some of the customs, or whatever. Making the familiar strange means learning to look at your familiar environment in the same way. Select a setting that is very familiar to you, such as your place of work, college or home, and spend a little time pretending you are a visitor from another country and have never been here before. Write down what you notice. What questions spring to mind? What do you find odd, amusing, interesting about this new culture? What do you like or dislike about it? Finally, returning to your real life, is there anything you might now question or do differently as a result of your visit? But be careful here, some people may not understand that you are doing sociology. They may feel that you are playing tricks on them and may take exception to your behaviour. From this perspective, sociologists question some of the things that most people just take for granted about crime. For example, why are some actions defined as crimes in the first place, whereas other acts that may be equally harmful are seen as quite acceptable? Why do societies change their minds about what is and what isnt a crime and what should be done about crime? For example, in the UK 40 years ago, it was quite legal for a man to rape his wife but illegal to be a practising homosexual. Now it is illegal for a man to rape his wife, but in many countries, including the UK, the laws relating to the prohibiting of homosexual relationships have been changed and it is not illegal to be homosexual. What this shows is that what is defined as a crime is socially defined. Sociologists are interested in how these definitions are constructed in everyday life. For example, which social groups have the power to define some acts (but not others) as crimes and some individuals (but not others) as criminals? What is considered as a crime, by the legal system, is what the law states is a crime. However laws are changed by people and laws change over time. Another difference between sociological and commonsense thinking as we shall see in the next chapter is that sociologists are interested in how everyday social order is maintained. From this point of view sociologists are not just interested in how crime disrupts social order, they are also interested in how crime contributes to social order. The famous French sociologist, Emile Durkheim (18581917), observed that it is only by identifying certain acts as crimes, and labelling certain people as criminals and punishing them, that people are made aware of the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. Thus, paradoxically,
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crime actually plays a part in maintaining social order. You will be reading more about this in Chapter 3, section 3.2. So, the first answer to the question of how sociology is different from commonsense is that sociologists see the world differently and ask different questions about it. Further reading See Berger (1963) Chapter 2.
Doing research
People in modern societies probably feel they know something about crime such as whether its going up or down or which social groups are committing most of it because they are bombarded with information about crime from newspapers, magazines and television. Sociologists are also interested in how the media report crime. However, sociologists studying crime would use many other sources of information. How do you think sociologists might study crime? Sociologists: examine the official crime rates to see how crime is related to aspects of society, such as geographical region or peoples age or social background explore how the statistics are produced and how reliable they are interview people who have committed crimes talk to victims of crime observe the police at work study the workings of the courts and the legal system join criminal gangs visit prisons and have even have had themselves locked up to observe prison life from the inside! In short, sociologists studying crime have access to much wider sources of information than most people who, unless they have been a victim of crime or are criminals themselves, are dependent on what the media tell them. However, it is not just that sociologists have access to more sources of information, they also collect and organise this information in very specific and systematic ways. The process of doing sociological research, like the process speaking a foreign language or playing chess, involves applying particular skills. In sociology these are called research methods and we shall be looking at these in the next chapter. So, we can see that a second major difference between the layperson and the sociologist is that sociology involves the systematic study of societies from a wide range of sources.
Applying sociological theories

In everyday life we all draw on our commonsense understanding to theorise about things that puzzle us. For example, I am standing at the bus stop but my bus hasnt arrived. Why is it not here? I might then begin to theorise about the problem by drawing on my commonsense understanding of why a bus might be late. Maybe its because of the traffic. Maybe the bus has broken down. Maybe it came early. My theorising may then influence what I do next, such as carry on waiting or get a taxi.
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Sociologists also draw on their commonsense understanding when theorising about human behaviour. However, what makes sociological theorising different from commonsense theorising is that sociologists have another source of knowledge to draw upon. As the subject has evolved, sociologists have developed very general frameworks of ideas called sociological theories that help explain how societies work and change. The fact that sociologists have access to this specialised knowledge means that they can provide explanations of human behaviour that are different from commonsense. For example, a key concept in sociology is anomie. A person can be said to be anomic, or deregulated, when they have aspirations, or goals, without any obvious means of obtaining them. A US sociologist, Robert Merton (19102003), used the concept of anomie to develop a sociological theory of rising crime in US society. He argued that although the culture of US society encourages everyone to pursue the American dream of achieving wealth, status and power, most people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who do not have access to good educational institutions or useful social contacts, have no legitimate means of achieving these aspirations. Therefore, they are in a state of anomie and more likely to try to obtain their goals by illegitimate means through crime. So, although commonsense theories tend to explain crime in terms of the characteristics of individuals they are bad, have had a bad upbringing and so on Mertons explanation locates the causes of crime in terms of the organisation of wider society. Although criminals are clearly deviating from societys norms by committing crimes, they are also conforming to US societys norms by wanting greater material rewards. Mertons theory predicted quite rightly as it turned out that as long as Western societies encourage people to want more and more material goods while effectively preventing a large proportion of the population from ever obtaining them legitimately, crime will continue to rise. This does not mean that Mertons theory was necessarily right indeed it has been modified and criticised rather I have used it here simply to illustrate how explanations drawn from sociological theory are significantly different from commonsense explanations. You will be reading more about Merton in the section on structural functionalism in Chapter 4.
Summary
Most people have some commonsense understanding of societies simply by living in them. However, sociological understanding is different from commonsense in at least three important respects: sociologists tend to ask different questions, do systematic research and apply sociological theories.
1.5 Thinking sociologically

In the previous section I suggested that one way that sociology is distinguished from commonsense is that sociologists think about social life rather differently. In this section we shall look at this sociological thinking in a little more detail.
Sociological problems
When most people think about society, or when we hear about social issues in the press or on TV , it is usually about things that people feel are going wrong with society, increasing crime, growing disrespectful behaviour of young people, conflicts between different groups in society.
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Most people including most people starting sociology say that sociology is about studying social problems and perhaps helping to find solutions to them. This is partly right. Sociologists are interested in social problems and some work for organisations that address some of these problems. However, sociology is about much more than this and its focus is much wider. Although sociologists are interested in things that people feel are bad or wrong in societies, they are just as interested in things that are seen to be good, right, acceptable, normal, ordinary and so on. For example, sociologists are interested in why people break the rules of a society such as committing crimes or behaving in odd, anti-social ways but they are more interested in the rules themselves and how they work. As Berger puts it in Invitation to sociology:
The fundamental sociological problem is not crime but law, not divorce but marriage, not racial discrimination but racially defined segregation, not revolution but government. (p.50)
Activity 1.4 Social and sociological problems Which of the following do you think are better described as social problems, and which do you think are better described as sociological problems? Rising divorce rates in your society. The role of educational institutions in modern societies. How societies change. The organisation of economic production in your society. Unemployment. Illegal drug use. Sociological problems, then, are about how societies, or parts of societies, work in the way they do. Thinking sociologically means being curious about the order of everyday social life, how this order changes and its relationship to the behaviour of individuals. Lets look at each of these in turn.
The puzzle of social order

Next time you find yourself in a crowded place, such as a busy street, a shopping mall or crowded subway, just take a few minutes to stop and look. Imagine you are seeing it all for the first time. Youll see evidence of the social order that is all around you. Pause and write down some examples of social order. You might have mentioned: people queuing at bus stops people waiting for others to get off the train before they get on cars stopping at a red light people paying for the goods they take from the shops. Most people take this order for granted and the only time they notice it is when someone breaks a rule, by driving through a red light or going straight to the front of a queue rather than the back. However, for sociologists, these rules are the starting point. We begin by asking why the world is this way. Why is there is this order and regularity to social life? How and why do societies hold together? Why do most people seem to follow the rules of a society or social group most of the time? Where does this order come from? Are these rules generally agreed? Or do some groups impose their rules on others?
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If we were to dig a little deeper and do some research, we would find more evidence of the regularities of social life. For example: economic data show that the patterns of employment, output, imports and exports of a country are very similar from one year to the next demographic data that is, information about the distribution of populations show that in any given country roughly the same number of people are born each year, get married and get divorced rule breaking reported crimes, arrests, rates of mental illness and even suicide rates are much the same year in and year out social differences there are significant and consistent variations between different social groups in a society: for example, those from economically poorer social backgrounds sometimes referred to in sociology as socially deprived or lower social class are more likely, on average, to end up with lower educational qualifications, work in lowpaid jobs, have worse health and die at younger ages. Sociology is about documenting and explaining these kinds of regularities and patterns. So, whereas journalists, the mass media and to some extent the general public, are more interested in the unusual and troublesome, sociologists are more interested the usual, the everyday, the taken-forgranted.
Origins of sociology
The formal study of sociology began in the nineteenth century as an attempt to make sense of massive changes that were sweeping over Western Europe at that time. European societies were industrialising and there was a mass movement of people from the rural to the urban areas. Traditional institutions of power and control, such as the Church and landed aristocracy, were losing much of their influence. The late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were times of reform and revolution and new sources of power, such as the property-owning capitalist class and organised labour movements were beginning to emerge. The fact that societies could be transformed so dramatically in such a comparatively short space of time led scholars to start exploring the sources of social order and change, and the subject we now know as sociology was born. These early sociologists tried to make sense of this new industrial age by identifying what they believed were its essential characteristics and comparing them with what had gone before. We shall be looking at these theories in more detail in Chapter 4, but we can introduce two of the most influential figures here. For Karl Marx (18181883), whose ideas were later to transform the world, the modern age was characterised, above all, by a new form of free market economy that he called industrial capitalism. Marx was very critical of capitalism. He argued that most of the wealth it created remained in the hands of the small owning class who made their profits by exploiting the labour power of the workers. However, capitalist societies were constantly changing, and Marx was optimistic that they were sowing the seeds of their own destruction. The injustices they produced, and peoples increasing awareness of them, would lead to revolutionary change and the creation of what Marx believed would be fairer communist societies where resources would be distributed to people according to their needs. See the section on Karl Marx in Chapter 4 for further reading.
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Max Weber (18641920), another key founder of sociology, took a different and altogether more pessimistic view. He argued that the modern age was characterised by a process of increasing rationalisation. By rationalisation he meant the change from doing things because they had always been done that way (traditional action) to identifying outcomes and calculating the most efficient means of achieving them (rational action). Other examples of the rationalisation of life included the replacement of religion by science as the major source of intellectual authority, the displacement of elites based on birth by ones based on qualifications, and the increasing bureaucratic administration of life. Weber was concerned that the remorseless spread of rational bureaucracy was stifling individual initiative, creativity and imagination. He called this the iron cage of rationality. Weber believed that Marx could be right about capitalism being replaced by communism. However, unlike Marx, Weber did not think this would be any liberation. In fact he thought it would almost certainly lead to an even more bureaucratic state having more control over peoples lives. For Weber there was no way out of the iron cage. Activity 1.5 Marx and Weber today: alienation and creativity You will be reading much more about Marx and Weber later in your studies. It may seem strange to be asked to read about theorists who were writing about societies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Therefore, it may be worth stopping for a moment and thinking about one of their key ideas and seeing if it has any relevance today. The term alienation means being separated, or estranged from our true selves. For example, if you really want to be a musician but feel you have to study banking to get a good job, you might be said to be alienated from your true vocation. Marx argued that people are naturally creative. However, because the profit motive predominates above all else in capitalist societies, few people have the opportunity to realise their creativity. Thus, most people learn to evaluate their lives not so much in terms of what they do, but in terms of what they own and what they consume. For Marx, they are alienated from their natural selves. This is caused by the way production is organised. For Weber, modern life is characterised by increasing bureaucratic control and regulation of peoples lives. The bureaucratic efficiency of the organisation can take away the creativity of the people working in those organisations. They simply have to follow the rules and lose the ability to think for themselves. This is the effect of rationalisation, which is also a form of alienation. Do you think either, or both, of these ideas apply to your society or to your personal experiences? Can you think of some examples that: a) illustrate b) contradict Marx and Webers views? You will be dealing with this topic in more detail in Chapter 4, section 4.2. Most sociologists today are not as ambitious as Marx or Weber. They tend to focus on particular aspects of societies rather than trying to construct such large-scale and general theories of social change. However, the principle that studying societies (or parts of them) involves seeing them as changing social processes is still an essential element of thinking sociologically. For example, I am a medical sociologist and that means I study health and illness. Now if we just look at our contemporary world, the terms health and illness seem clear enough. However, looking back shows just how
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much our ideas of what constitutes health and illness have changed over time. In modern societies many things that were simply seen as part of life a century ago such as pregnancy, long-term unhappiness and disruptive behaviour by children in school are now seen as medical conditions requiring treatments. Sociologists use the term medicalisation to describe the process whereby more and more aspects of life are being labelled as illnesses. This raises many questions for the sociologist, such as: why this is happening, how it is happening and whether or not we are gaining or losing out by being persuaded to see more and more aspects of our life as illnesses over which we have no control? Sociological thinking, then, involves moving to and fro between past, present and developing ideas that help explain societies, or parts of them, as continually changing social processes. Above all, sociologists are interested in how this changing social order shapes our lives as individuals. You will be looking at this topic in more detail in Section B on globalisation.
Summary
Whereas social problems are about things people feel are wrong with societies, sociological problems take a much wider focus and ask how societies work and change in the ways they do. Sociologists are particularly interested in documenting and explaining social order and the processes by which this order changes over time. Further reading Berger (1963) Chapter 8.
1.6 The individual and society

Commonsense thinking holds that societies are all about individuals. Many social scientists and scientists would agree with this, arguing that as societies are clearly created by individuals, it is the study of the individual through biology, medicine and psychology, for example that provides the key to understanding human behaviour. In questioning this view sociologists are not, as some claim, rejecting the study of the individual in favour of the group. Sociologists are interested in studying individuals, and a lot of sociological research involves talking to and observing individuals. Rather, thinking sociologically involves seeing the relationship between the individual and society as a two-way, rather than a one-way, street. As individuals we obviously create societies but sociologists argue that, in important respects, societies also create us. How does this happen? We shall start exploring this process here by asking you to look at your relationship to society. Maybe there is more of society in you than you realise?
You and society: identity and role

What we would like you to do for this section is to think about yourself and your relationship to the society in which you live. Start by completing Activity 1.6 below. We will come back to this activity again so it is important you take a little time to fill it in now.
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Activity 1.6 Self and society Imagine you have 10 words to describe the person you are to someone who has never met you. Write down the 10 words you would use. I am: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Check over your list and spend a few moments asking yourself why you have chosen these words. If you can, add a few additional comments to your original list. Ask yourself why you think these words say something about you as a person? What do they tell other people about you? Now look at the list below compiled by one of my students, Julie. Dont worry if you put in things that are very different from her. There is no right answer to the question: describe yourself. People have different ways of doing it. Julies list I am: 1. British 2. Afro-Caribbean 3. female 4. hairdresser 5. student 6. wife 7. mother 8. intelligent 9. attractive 10. popular. Lets look at Julies answers in a little more detail.
Social identity
Julies first three answers are British, Afro-Caribbean and female, characteristics she shares with millions of other people. These are familiar, everyday words but, if you think about it, each of them has a social component; that is, they refer to relationships with others. Sociologists usually refer to these things as part of our social identity; that is a label that places people in particular social categories.
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Lets take nationality first. You too may have put down your nationality. This is because, for many people, their nationality is still an important statement of their social identity. To say I am Malaysian, Indian, Singaporean or British is to say much more than I live in a particular region of the world. Most nation states, or countries, not only have their own language, government and laws, they also have their own traditions, customs and generally accepted ways of behaving. Sociologists refer to these as norms. Many of these norms vary over time within a particular country and also vary between countries. For example, smoking in public places or consuming alcohol are legal in some countries but illegal in others. These cultural norms have an important influence on us. They affect how we behave, how we view the behaviour of others and how we see the world. However, although nationality is a very clear and unambiguous source of identity for some people, its not the same for others. Many countries are increasingly comprised of different ethnic groups. By an ethnic group, sociologists mean a social group that has certain common characteristics, such as a shared culture, history, language, customs and institutions. For many people their ethnicity may be an equally, or more, important source of identity than their national identity. Describing herself as British and Afro-Caribbean suggests that, for Julie, both her nationality and ethnicity are important sources of identity, as they are for many people. However, whether a person identifies primarily with a nation or with an ethnic group, or with a combination of the two, the same sociological ideas apply. Nationality and ethnicity confer identities on people that influence their relationships, values and behaviour. (See Chapter 10 on Race and ethnicity for a further discussion on this point.) Like Julie, you probably put down your gender as one of the most important ways of describing yourself. Although gender may appear to be purely biological, as we are simply born either male or female, sociologists have shown that gender has important social dimensions. Social and ethnic groups tend to place different expectations on males and females and this then shapes the subsequent behaviour of boys and girls and men and women. For example, in most cultures, boys are expected to be tough and masculine, and boisterous and aggressive behaviour is usually tolerated more in boys than in girls, whereas girls are usually expected to be more mature, show a better standard of behaviour and help around the house more. Thus, for sociologists, gender is not just a biological category. It is also social. We dont just become men or women. In important respects we learn to be men or women through social interaction. Activity 1.7 Gender differences Stop and think about this last example for a minute and write down five ways that you think your life would be different if you had been born male rather than female, or female rather than male. Which of these differences do you think are primarily due to biological causes (for example, men are physically stronger, women bear children) and which of them do you think are due to the way in which your society is organised (for example its cultural values, availability of employment opportunities, access to public places).
Social roles
Like Julie, you may also have put down some of the things you do. In answers 47 she has told us about her occupation, that she is a student and that she is a wife and a mother. These are also common everyday words, but they have also have specific social expectations attached to
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them. Sociologists sometimes refer to these as social roles, because it is as if societies are giving people scripts they are expected to follow rather like actors in a play. Lets take the script of being a student. What do you think that involves? Colleges obviously expect their students to do academic work. But, when you think about it, they usually expect rather more than this. They expect students to conduct themselves in certain ways, attend classes, listen to their lecturers, work without the close supervision they had at school and hand in work that is properly presented and referenced. Colleges, then, are doing more than teaching students academic subjects. They are also presenting them with an identity: this is the sort of person you are expected to be while you are here. Similarly, if like Julie, you are a mother, you are given a mothering script; you are expected to love your child and (in most cases) take the main responsibility for its upbringing and its day-to-day welfare. Of course, like actors, people can interpret their scripts in different ways. One mother may choose to stay at home, another may work part-time, while a third works full-time and arranges childcare. You could even tear up your social script and do something entirely different. You may behave like a child at college, shout at the teachers and do no work, or you may neglect your children as a mother. However, social consequences will normally follow, such as being thrown out of college or having your children taken away from you. Whether we conform to social expectations or not (and most of us do most of the time) we have to take into account the expectations others have about how we should behave. Activity 1.8 Roles Have you put any of these social roles on your list? If so, make a few brief notes about some of the expectations you think are placed on them.
Personal identity
Like Julie (answers 810), you may also have put some personal characteristics on your list, things that say something about you as a specific individual, rather than as a social role you share with millions of others. Sociologists refer to these characteristics as aspects of our personal identity. For example, you may have said that you are hardworking or lazy, outgoing or shy, easy-going or stressed. At first sight these characteristics appear to be purely personal rather than social but, when you think about it, they also have social aspects to them. Julie has said she thinks shes intelligent. But how does a person know whether or not they are intelligent? If you are a student, for example, there are certain social criteria by which you can judge this. For example, if your teachers praise your contributions in class, give you good marks and write favourable comments on your coursework or even tell you that with your natural ability you should be doing much better! then you are more likely to begin to develop an idea of yourself as capable or intelligent. This may then be confirmed by getting good marks in the exams. Similarly, a person may see themselves as attractive, or beautiful, because their face and body shape fit the cultural norms of attractiveness as defined in magazines, cinema and on television. Other people then confirm and reinforce this identity by looking at the person with approval or admiration, asking them for dates and telling them how lovely they are.
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In short, even the ideas we have about ourselves as individual people such as whether we think we are intelligent or stupid, attractive or unattractive, fat or thin, outgoing or shy arise from social relationships and socially accepted norms and standards. When we think about what we are, we compare ourselves with these social norms. How do we match up? We also monitor other peoples reactions to us in daily life. How do others see us? This in turn may influence our behaviour in all sorts of ways. For example, we may try to make ourselves more clever, more assertive, or more sociable and outgoing. Or we may go the other way and accept that we can never be any of these things and adjust our behaviour accordingly, perhaps by not working in class, or not trying to make friends. Activity 1.9 Personal identity Look at your list. Did you put in any of these more personal characteristics? If so, ask yourself why you think you have developed this view of yourself. What do you think have been some of the most important influences on the way you see yourself? Are there any particular incidents that stand out as being particularly important? Also ask yourself how much the social expectations and the reactions of other people influence your behaviour.
Summary
Here we have asked you to describe yourself as a person and illustrated just how much of yourself, your ethnicity, gender, occupation and personal qualities are influenced by the society in which you live. For sociologists, individuals and societies are inseparable. You cannot understand one without the other. Further reading Berger (1963) Chapter 5.
1.7 Socialisation and identity

The previous section illustrated just how much your life as an individual is bound up with the social contexts in which you live. In this section we shall introduce some sociological concepts, and theories that help describe and explain this process further.
Socialisation
We observed in the last section that a key sociological problem is the relation between the individual and society. But how does this arise? In very general terms, we are all born into societies where there are already established patterns of organised behaviour that we referred to earlier as social institutions, such as speaking a particular language or organising ourselves into small groups called families. Sociologists use the term institutionalisation to describe the processes whereby these social practices become accepted ways of doing things in a society or social group. These social practices, and the values and beliefs surrounding them, make up the culture of a society, or sub-culture of a social group and, as we saw in the previous section, these cultural practices and values place expectations on how people should behave.
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Sociologists use the term socialisation to describe the various processes through which people learn about, and generally conform to, the norms and values of the social groups in which they live. Socialisation processes can be divided into three stages. Primary socialisation involves the socialisation of the young child by the family. Secondary socialisation is socialisation by the school. Schools obviously teach us academic skills but, as sociologists have shown, they are teaching us a lot more. It is from school that we learn, for example, punctuality, co-operation, team games, discipline and that good work will be rewarded, bad work penalised. This is sometimes known as the hidden curriculum. So, in number of ways, schools are trying to socialise us for adulthood. However, socialisation doesnt end when we leave school. Tertiary, or adult, socialisation continues through our lives. For example, as we saw in the previous section, people are socialised into ethnic, gender and work identities. Another example is socialisation into old age. People do not just get old. They also learn what is expected of them when they are becoming old. In some societies growing old gracefully means retreating into the background. Medical sociologists have even shown that terminally ill people are socialised by medical and nursing staff into dying in the right way. So socialisation is a continuous process: it begins when we are born and only ends when we die.
Self and identity

It is through socialisation that a person develops a sense of identity: that is an image of who they are as a person. We explored some examples of this in the previous section when you were asked how you would describe yourself. As we saw, sociologists usually distinguish between social identity and personal identity. Social identity refers to the public self, and is constructed around characteristics that are attributed to a person by others and mark them out as a member of a particular group, such as ethnicity, gender and occupational roles. Personal identity refers to those qualities that mark a person out as unique and set apart from others. The distinction between social and personal identities is one of the ways that sociologists have documented social change. In premodern or traditional societies, there was relatively little movement, or mobility, of people between different parts of society. Therefore, peoples social identities, such as nobleman, or peasant, largely defined who they were throughout their lives. Although social identities are still important sources of identity in modern societies, the increasing opportunities many people now have to change their status and their lives means that personal identities have become much more important statements of who we are than they were in the past. So identities especially personal identities are not fixed but are rather fluid and changing. In sociological terms, they are negotiated in everyday life through social interaction. People have a view of themselves but that view has to be sustained in social interaction by people confirming to us in various ways that we really are who we think we are.
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The role of others

Go back to the previous section and look at the list compiled by Julie. Under personal identity she felt she was popular. However, to sustain being popular as part of her identity requires people reacting to her in certain ways, such as wanting and enjoying her company. If these responses were to stop and people started avoiding her, then her idea of herself as popular would be threatened and may even break down. Sociologists who research the area of identity are particularly interested in exploring situations where people are suddenly and dramatically redefined by others, such as when they are labelled as a criminal, bankrupt, unemployed, mentally ill or disabled. People in these situations are confronted with what the US sociologist, Erving Goffman (19221982), has called managing a spoiled identity. (For more on the process of identity formation and labelling, see Chapter 4, section 4.3.) Activity 1.10 Spoiled identity? Stop for a moment and ask yourself if there have been times in your life when you have found a person or people suddenly reacting very differently to you. Think about why and how it happened and try to recall if it affected your view of yourself.
The role of the individual

Although the reactions of others are clearly important, we are not simply dealt our identities as if they were cards in a game. Socialisation also gives us skills to exert some control over who we are and how others see us. For example, we can influence the way others see us by buying new clothes, becoming more sociable or driving ourselves on to success in our careers. Some sociologists argue that one of the defining characteristics of contemporary affluent societies is that increasing numbers of people have unprecedented scope to transform their identities. For example, it is now much easier for people to change where they live, how they live, who they live with, how they look and what they believe in. Activity 1.11 A new you? Have you tried to change yourself in some way recently, such as changing your appearance, behaviour or lifestyle? Did it work? If so, did you notice other people reacting to you differently? Did this affect the way you thought about yourself?
On stage and off stage

Erving Goffman (1969) brought a new, and some would say cynical, twist to the question of changing social identities. He argued that identities were not so much a part of us permanently or temporarily as resources we pick up and put down to negotiate everyday life. Identities are things we consciously manipulate, or present, in given situations. So, for Goffman, we are rather like actors playing the roles on stage, such as the enthusiastic teacher, the caring nurse or lazy student, and we selfconsciously monitor our performances. However, not all social life is like this. Goffman recognised that, like actors, people have time off stage, or backstage, when they are less obviously presenting an identity. So although people may still be playing roles backstage at home, for example husband, wife, daughter, etc. they are doing so less self-consciously, there is less deliberate presentation of self and more congruence between how we are seen and how we really are.
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Activity 1.12 Presentation of self Do you think Goffman is right? Do you find yourself self-consciously presenting an image of yourself to your managers at work, or to your professors if you are at college? Are you conscious sometimes of thinking to yourself Here is the identity I am presenting, but I am really a very different person? Can you think of recent developments in technology that now give people more scope to present different identities?
Two theories of socialisation and identity

So far, we have been describing and illustrating the processes of socialisation and identity formation that are crucial to helping us understand the relation between the individual and society. But how can we begin to explain them sociologically? Here we are going to look at two of the most influential theories of socialisation developed by two of the leading figures of twentieth century sociology, Talcott Parsons (19021979) and G.H. Mead (18631931).
Parsons
Parsons (1951) saw societies as complex systems of parts working together to promote social stability. Social institutions define roles for people and socialisation is about learning these roles and the expectations surrounding them. For Parsons, these social roles have a purpose. They arise and persist over time because they help societies to function smoothly. Consider illness, for example. Illness is dysfunctional because when people are sick they do not go to work, look after their children, hand in their essays and so on. In one of the most innovative and creative applications of the idea of role, Parsons argued that in modern societies there is a distinct sick role consisting of privileges and obligations. The privileges are that the sick person is not held responsible for their condition and they are allowed exemption from their usual obligations, such as going to work, going to college and handing in essays. However, there are also obligations to the sick role. The sick person must want to get better, follow medical advice and accept treatment when necessary. The sick role functions as a form of social control; that is, it helps to maintain social order. It enables organisations to distinguish between those who have a legitimate reason for not fulfilling their obligations and those who do not. It also ensures that people do the right things when they are ill to enable them to recover as soon as possible. A person not fulfilling the obligations of the sick role may lose the privileges. Parsons insight here was to show that even sickness, which appears to be purely biological, is also a social state surrounded by expectations about how people should behave when they are ill. We dont just become ill, we are also socialised into sickness. So society is influencing us even when were sick. But why do most people conform to these social obligations most of the time? Parsons, following the great French sociologist Emile Durkheim, argued that this happens because societies constrain us to act in certain ways. This constraint is both external and internal. With external constraint, people simply learn that acting one way (for example, working hard at college and getting a good degree) will probably bring rewards (for example, a good job); whereas acting another way (for
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example, not working hard) will more likely bring failure (for example, no degree and not being able to get a good job). However, for societies to function effectively, there needs to be more than external constraint. People have to want to behave in socially acceptable ways. This happens, Parsons argued, because social norms become internalised through socialisation. They become part of a persons identity and source of morality. For example, a person may work hard at their job and not consider stealing from others not because they want promotion and are afraid of getting put in prison, but because they believe that is the right thing to do. Internalisation of values can even override survival instincts when, for example, people willingly die for their country or their religion.
Mead
Although Parsons theory has been very influential in sociology, one of its limitations is that it tells us very little about the social and psychological mechanisms by which socialisation and identity formation actually take place. For some insight into this question, we can turn to the work of Mead (1934). For Mead, socialisation was not just a process of learning and internalising the institutional expectations transmitted by families, schools, the mass media and so on. It was rather about learning skills that then enable people actively to interpret the expectations of other people and social institutions and act accordingly. In simple terms, while Parsons theory was more about ends (the desirability of socialisation), Meads was more about means (how it happens). Meads focus was on the social significance of (verbal and non-verbal) language in both socialisation and identity formation. The crucial insight provided by Mead was to show that we do not just use language to make sense of the world around us, we also use it reflexively to monitor our own behaviour. We begin to develop these skills in early childhood when we start pretending to be other people, and over time we learn to see ourselves as we believe others see us. We can then consciously monitor our behaviour in social interaction. In a very important phrase, Mead called this taking the role of the other. Activity 1.13 Taking the role of the other Daniels day Taking the role of the other might sound complicated, but it is really quite a simple idea and one which we can easily relate to our own experiences. Here we look at it though a day in the life of Daniel, a young college lecturer. Morning: Daniel is giving a lecture. He looks round the classroom, it is mid-morning but he sees several of the students yawning, some actually seem to be asleep, others are looking out of the window. The only students who seem awake are the ones texting on their mobile phones. Daniel realises the lecture is not going well, so he decides to finish it early. Anyway, he has an important interview for a new job this afternoon and he wants to think about that. Afternoon: Daniel is in his interview and a well-known professor has just asked him a question. As he is answering, Daniel notices the professor is starting to frown. Daniel quickly changes his answer. Evening: Daniel is in a restaurant with a friend. As he is telling his friend about the interview that he thinks did not go well, he suddenly notices the professor who had interviewed him earlier in the day sitting at a nearby table. As their eyes meet, the professor smiles and gives Daniel an encouraging nod. Daniel thinks that perhaps the interview did not go that badly after all and maybe he will get the job.
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Can you identify the times in this story when Daniel was taking the role of the other and seeing himself as he thought others were seeing him? How do you think he consciously monitored this and altered his behaviour? the students are not enjoying this lecture, I might as well cut it short the professor doesnt like this answer, I must change it quickly the professor is smiling, maybe the interview went OK after all? Notice, also, that communication doesnt have to be verbal. Each time in the story Daniel was responding to non-verbal communications. When we take the role of the other we receive information from others about ourselves that, over time, enables us to build up the concept of self that we looked at earlier. Charles Cooley (1864 1929), a colleague of Mead, used the term looking-glass self to describe how the image we have of ourselves is based on how we believe others see us. Just as the mirror (looking-glass) reflects back to us an image of our physical self, so others reactions to us reflect back an image of our social self, the kind of person we are. However, for Mead, this social self, with its capacity to take the role of the other, was only part of the self. Meads view of the relationship between the individual and society was rather different from that of Parsons. For Parsons, society was dominant over the individual. Social institutions confront people with sets of rules and expectations and most people simply conform to them most of the time. However, for Mead, the relationship between individual and society was rather more volatile and problematic. People are obviously shaped by societies but they are not simply the puppets of societies, they are also driven by sudden impulses, instincts and inspirations. Mead expressed this double centre of gravity in his concept of the self, which he divided into the I and the Me. Self
I Has ideas, instincts, initiates action
Me Takes role of the other, reflects on intended actions
Behaviour
Figure 1.2: Meads concept of the self
The I is the individual, spontaneous, creative and instinctive part of the self that has ideas and imagination, while the Me is the social self that takes into account the reactions of others. What we call consciousness is a form of a conversation between the I and the Me. Imagine, for example, you were one of Daniels students sitting in his lecture being very bored. I want to get up, leave now and go for a cup of coffee, says the I. Wait a minute, says the Me, taking the role of the other, Hes sure to notice and he will be marking your examination paper! Its better to wait. So you sit quietly in the class. From a Meadian point of view, you have conformed to normative expectations not just because you have internalised the value, Its rude to walk out of classes, but because you have actively made a decision to stay. However, on another day if things got really bad, then you might just walk out. For Mead, although
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we are social beings, we are never completely taken over by society in the manner suggested by Parsons, society is the source of both our conformity and our individuality. Activity 1.14 Parsons and Mead In this section on socialisation and identity, we implicitly touched on some of the ideas of Parsons and Mead. See if you can identify any of them. It is a good way to help you clarify your understanding and revise the ideas we have looked at here. Activity 1.15 Look back at Activity 1.2 on p.14. Try to answer the questions again. Compare your answers now with the ones you wrote at the start of the chapter. It is a good way of monitoring your progress.
Summary
Socialisation describes the processes by which people learn social behaviour. It is through socialisation that people develop a sense of social and personal identity, and these identities can change through social interaction. Whereas Parsons saw socialisation arising from internalisation of social norms, Mead suggested it arose primarily from peoples ability to take the role of the other. We shall be returning to the theories of Parsons and Mead in Chapter 4, sections 4.2 and 4.3. Reading Here it is important that you supplement what you have read on socialisation and identity with some textbook reading. The relevant sections from introductory texts are: Fulcher and Scott (2007) Chapter 4. Giddens (2008) pp.2224, pp.16369 and p.238 Macionis and Plummer (2005 and 2008 editions) Chapter 7. This will provide you with some essential building blocks for you to develop your sociological awareness and to give you the necessary support for reading the more difficult work in Chapter 4 and for your chosen topic in Section C.
A reminder of your learning outcomes

Having completed this chapter, and the essential reading and activities, you should have a clearer idea of: how to study sociology, what is meant by active learning, and what examiners will be looking for what sociologists study some of the key ways that sociology gives us insights that go beyond commonsense understanding what is meant by thinking sociologically and sociologists interest in social order, social change and the relationship between the individual and society how our identities arise from social relationships what sociologists mean by socialisation and identity, and how Parsons and Mead put forward different explanations of these processes.
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Chapter 2: Sociological research

Aims of the chapter

The aims of this chapter are: to explain what social research is and how you will be expected to approach it to identify the main criteria by which research is evaluated to explain what is meant by a research design, and identify some of the key research designs and strategies in sociology to introduce you to the main methods of sociological research. Note: It is very important that you supplement what you read here with the recommended reading, particularly on research design and research methods.
Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter, and having completed the essential reading and activities, you should have a clearer idea of: the nature of sociological research and why it is important to know how research is done the key criteria by which research is evaluated what is meant by a research design and how the nature of the research design influences the data that is collected the characteristics of survey, experimental, comparative and ethnographic research designs the key research methods: interviews, observations, the analysis of official statistics and documents how to approach questions on sociological research.
Essential reading
One of: Fulcher, J. and J. Scott Sociology. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) Chapter 3. or Giddens, A. Sociology. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008) Chapter 3. or Macionis, J. and K. Plummer Sociology. A global introduction. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2005 and 2008 editions) Chapter 3.
Further reading
Denscombe, M. The good research guide. (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2007) Chapters 1, 3, 4, 912. Marsh, I. et al. Theory and practice in sociology. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2002) Chapters 1 and 2. McNeil, P . Research Methods. (London: Routledge, 2005).
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Works cited
Barker, E. The making of a Moonie: choice or brainwashing? (Oxford: Blackwell, 1984) [ISBN 9781851681617]. Braithwaite, J. Crime, shame and reintegration. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989) [ISBN 9780521356688]. Charlton, T., B. Gunter and D. Coles Broadcast television as a cause of aggression: recent findings from a naturalistic study, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (3) 1998, pp.513. Durkheim, E. Suicide: a study in sociology. (London: Routledge, 1952). Goffman, E. Asylums. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987) [ISBN 9780140552195]. Gordon, S. History, philosophy and science. (London: Routledge, 1993) [ISBN 9780415096706]. Holdaway, S. Inside the British police. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1983) [ISBN 9780631131120]. Rosenthal, R. and L. Jacobson Pygmalion in the classroom: teacher expectation and pupils intellectual development. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968). Stanworth, M. Gender and schooling: a study of sexual divisions in the classroom. (London: Hutchinson, 1983) [ISBN 9780091511616]. Taylor, S. Durkheim and the study of suicide. (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1982) [ISBN 9780333286463 (pbk)]. Taylor, S. Researching child abuse in Burgess, R. (ed.) Investigating society. (London: Longman, 1989) [ISBN 9780582355958]. Townsend, P . Poverty in the United Kingdom. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979) [ISBN 9780140221398].
Video/DVD
It is often helpful to supplement what you read in the subject guide and your Sociology textbooks by watching a video. Some of the famous sociological studies mentioned here have been made into videos or DVDs where the authors talk about the aims of their research, how it was done and what they found. Videos available in halovines Classic Collection series are: Eileen Barker Michelle Stanworth Peter Townsend Paul Willis The making of a Moonie Gender and schooling Poverty in the UK Learning to labour
All available from halovine 8 www.halovine.com
2.1 Introduction
In Chapter 1 we saw that sociology is about understanding how societies, or parts of them, work, change and influence how people think and act. In Chapter 2 we shall be looking at how sociologists find out about societies. The discipline of sociology is based on the claim that sociologists offer some kind of expert understanding of social life. To evaluate this claim, we need to know how this expert knowledge is generated, how well it stands up to critical scrutiny and what assumptions it makes about the nature of the social world. This is why understanding social research is such a central part of understanding sociology.
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2.2 Some principles of sociological research

Some key terms
When you start reading about social research you may find that some of the technical language will make things seem more complicated than they really are. So we start by introducing you to a few of those terms: research is simply a process of investigating something systematically and sociological research is investigating social life using sociological theories and methods data refers to the information researchers collect research design is the way research is planned and organised methods are the tools sociologists use to collect data methodology is the study of sociological research methods. It is also helpful to remember that although research seems to be something only undertaken by specialists, at various times in our everyday lives, most of us do it. For example, someone thinking of studying for a degree may do some research before applying for a course. This might involve looking at websites, visiting different departments, talking to some current students and so on. This information may help them make a more informed choice. Everyday research, then, usually involves a problem or question, the collection of information and the application of this information to the problem. The process of undertaking sociological research is broadly similar. There are usually three key stages. See Figure 2.1. 1. Formulation and design: research begins with questions that then need to be translated into a researchable form. 2. Data collection: the research has to be organised and data collected through various research strategies and methods. 3. Data interpretation: the information that is collected has to be presented, analysed and related to the question that is being investigated.
Figure 2.1: Key stages in the research process
Choice and reflection in research

Sociological research is about getting out into society and exploring it in a number of practical ways. However, this tells only part of the story. Look again at Figure 2.1. It is clear that sociological research also involves a number of particular decisions, such as working out how research questions can be translated into a researchable project, deciding how data is to be collected and organised, and thinking about how it is to be interpreted. Doing sociological research, then, is a reflexive process. It involves the researcher not only looking out at the part of the social world being studied, but also looking inwards and continually reflecting on the processes by which the research is being undertaken. In planning and carrying out research, sociologists are confronted by a number of choices and each choice brings advantages and limitations. The analysis of these choices and their consequences is what we mean by methodology.
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Stop and think for a moment

Can you think of some factors that might influence a researchers choice? As I said in Chapter 1, it is helpful to begin thinking about an area before you start reading about it. So try Activity 2.1 below. It is important to look carefully at this example because we are going to be using it in different ways throughout this chapter. Activity 2.1 Researching students taking sociology Your local university has asked us to do some research on students studying sociology as part of their degree course. They want some answers to four questions: What do students think about taking sociology? Why are there such wide variations in the grades of sociology students? Is there a relationship between students social backgrounds and their sociology grades? How do students from different social backgrounds relate to each other in sociology classes? Write down how you could study these problems. Identify the options that are open to you. Think which ones you might choose and why. Can you see any possible problems with the approach you have chosen? Some of the most important influences on researchers choices of design and method are: The nature of the problem being investigated. Some research techniques are more appropriate than others to particular research problems. For example, researching the distribution of income in a whole society will require a different research design and different methods from a project exploring how a particular organisation works. Practical considerations. The researcher must work out what is possible in terms of such things as the amount of time and money available, access to sources of data and the requirements of those funding the research. Existing research. Much research is undertaken to extend, check or question existing work in the field. Theoretical considerations. Sociologists have different theoretical ideas about the nature of human societies and the best ways of generating knowledge about them, and these theoretical preferences influence their choice of research methods. The consequence of these choices and constraints is that there is no single correct way of doing sociological research. Rather there are a number of different ways, each with their benefits and costs and their advocates and critics. Therefore, understanding sociological research, and giving good answers to theory and methods questions, involves being able to compare and contrast different approaches. This involves the active learning talked about in Chapter 1. This critical thinking means that sociology students learn to look for the story behind the data. For example, rather than simply taking a set of statistics at face value and trying to explain it, as economists tend to do, sociologists ask questions about how it was collected and how much confidence we should have in it. This critical evaluation of data is not only valuable in sociology, it can also be applied to most of the other subjects you will study. Sociology teaches us that nothing should be taken for granted, nothing is quite as it seems. When confronted by some data, the
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person with sociological training should automatically be asking questions. Can I trust this data? How was it collected? What definitions were used? How reliable was the collection? This is a valuable skill that will not only help you on the rest of this programme; it will also help you for the rest of your life.
Aims and criteria in research

I have drawn attention above to the importance of evaluating both specific data and sociological research methods. But how are we to do this? Let me start by asking you a question. What qualities make someone attractive to you as a friend? Stop and think for a moment. Maybe it is intelligence, maybe sense of humour, maybe good looks, maybe kindness, maybe it is just that they look rich! It could be all sorts of things, but whatever you have written down are criteria, or benchmarks, by which you are likely to judge people. Similarly, there are also criteria against which sociological research can be evaluated and we are going to look at some of the most important ones here.
From subjectivity to objectivity

The general aim of sociological research (and indeed all research) is to try to move from a subjective understanding to a more objective understanding of what we are studying. Subjectivity and objectivity are very important terms in sociology, so I shall spend a little time explaining them. Subjective knowledge is literally knowledge belonging to the subject. It refers to individuals perceptions, including their values, opinions and preferences. There is nothing wrong with subjective knowledge and understanding. Everyone including the sociologist draws on their subjective understanding to make sense of the world around them. However, to justify itself as an academic subject, sociologists have to provide knowledge of societies that is something more than their own opinions and prejudices. This is where objectivity comes in. Objective knowledge is knowledge that is more than personal perceptions; it is knowledge that is free from bias, opinion and prejudice. The scientific laboratory experiment is typically seen as the ideal form of generating objective knowledge. Scientists are emotionally detached from the objects of their research, sociologists should aim to do the same. There is debate in sociology about whether or not it can provide objective knowledge of societies and we shall be looking at this in Chapter 3. However, even if sociology cannot be truly objective, as most sociologists believe, objectivity remains a goal of sociology and research has to provide an understanding of societies that goes beyond mere subjectivity. As Gordon (1992) observed:
That objectivity cannot be attained is not a reason for disregarding it. Perfect cleanliness is also impossible but it does not serve as warrant for not washing, much less for rolling around in the manure pile [dirt].
The aim of social research is to move from a subjective understanding to a more objective understanding of how societies work. However, this raises the question of how researchers try to be more objective.
Standardisation
Your mother is complaining about your behaviour again and she brings in evidence to support her complaints. She tells you that youre not working hard enough at college and youre rude to your father. All that she says
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may be true, but her use of evidence is highly selective. She only refers to things that support the point she is making. This is typical of the way we behave in everyday life. We tend to look mainly for things that confirm what we believe. Sociological research cannot or certainly should not be carried out in this way. If sociologists simply grab at evidence that supports their favourite point of view then their accounts of social life would be highly subjective. One way of trying to avoid such subjectivity is to standardise the collection and organisation of data by making research as systematic and consistent as possible. This means that rather than having their views consistently confirmed by the evidence, sociologists may be surprised by what they discover, even to the point of having their favoured theories challenged or overturned. We can illustrate this point from our earlier example of studying sociology students. The researcher will have to make compromises when doing research. If we use a questionnaire and give it to all students taking sociology, the data collection is standardised: that is, it is done in a consistent fashion. This means there is less opportunity for the researchers simply to take data that suits their own point of view. So if, for example, a majority of students tell me that they dislike sociology and find it very boring I am stuck with the results, even though my subjective view is that sociology is a fascinating subject and they should all love it. However, supposing we choose an alternative method and, instead of giving out questionnaires, we observe sociology classes and talk informally to students. Here, even if we record our observations as systematically as we can, the data collection will be less standardised than the questionnaire data. We wont be able to remember everything and we cant even write down everything we do remember. Therefore, there is more risk of our subjective view influencing the data. However, although this observational approach does not do so well in terms of the criterion of standardisation, it does not necessarily make it the wrong choice. It may well bring benefits, such as knowledge of how students actually behave in class, that would not be obtained by a standardised questionnaire-based study. So, just as a person choosing friends may have to sacrifice one desired criterion, such as kindness, in order to obtain others, such as a sense of humour and lots of money, sociologists may also have to compromise on key research criteria.
Reliability
Reliability is concerned with the question of whether research is repeatable and is most commonly used in relation to quantitative research (see below). The reliability of a test employed in research is the extent to which repeated measurements using this test (under the same conditions) produce the same results. This criterion is important because people have more confidence in research that can be repeated and the results checked out. If the research is repeatable and produces the same results each time, this suggests that researchers have been able to detach themselves from the object of their research indicating objectivity. Replication, which is very close to reliability, is when one researcher chooses to repeat the research of another. There are many reasons for doing this. The findings of the original research may be unusual, or a researcher may want to find out if the same results still apply after a time lag.
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Activity 2.2 Reliability and replication In our research example of what students think about studying sociology, we are trying to choose between three different methods: spending time with the students and observing their activities using a standardised questionnaire given to all the students conducting informal interviews with students at break times. Grade these methods in terms of their reliability, with the most reliable method given 1 and the least reliable given 3. Can you think of three reasons why another researcher might want to replicate our study in five years time?
Transparency
Transparency means that a researcher has shown exactly how the research was done. For example, if interview methods were used, the research methods are transparent if the researcher has provided the questions, explained how they were asked, indicated the numbers of people who replied and so on. If possible, the transcriptions or tape recordings should also be available. It is now common practice for many researchers to leave the various records of their work in research archives for other researchers to examine and possibly replicate. (For example, a lot of original research from British sociological studies is stored at the University of Essex in England and can be accessed at8 www.data-archive.ac.uk.) For research to be reliable and replicable the research methods must be transparent.
Validity
The textbooks and your Statistics unit will list many forms of validity but in everyday language something is valid if it is believed to be reasonable or well founded. In sociology it has a slightly more specific meaning. The issue of validity is concerned with the correspondence between a piece of data and the conclusions that are drawn from it. In other words, how justified are we in drawing these conclusions from this data? From this basis we can distinguish between construct validity, internal validity and ecological validity. Construct validity is concerned with whether data represents what it is supposed to represent. At first reading, this may seem a strange criterion. How can data not be what it is? After all, facts are facts, arent they? As we shall see in more detail in the next chapter, sociological thinking shows it is not quite that simple. The data that sociologists (and other researchers) collect is not simply discovered. Rather, it is constructed through the ideas being used by the researcher, and these ideas are open to question. We can illustrate this problem with a further example from our study of students taking sociology. Research example: construct validity The second question we were asked to look at by the university was the wide variation in grading in sociology exams. (By the way, dont worry, this isnt really the case!) Supposing, in exploring this question, we wanted to measure the students intelligence to see if there was a relationship between natural intelligence and exam results. We could use standardised IQ (intelligence quotient) tests that are designed to measure peoples natural intelligence. However, some people have questioned the construct validity of IQ tests, arguing that they do not really measure natural intelligence as they
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favour middle-class children over working-class children and favour abstract thinking skills as opposed to practical skills. So although IQ data may well be reliable, with researchers using the same methods getting the same results, they may not be a valid measures of intelligence. Internal validity is concerned with whether the conclusion that is drawn about the relationship between two or more different things is justified. For example, a researcher may claim that (a) causes (b). However, the relationship between (a) and (b) may be the result of something else. Again we can illustrate this with a problem from our study of sociology students. Research example: internal validity We were also asked to see if there was any relationship between students social background and their exam performance. Suppose we find that students from ethnic group A get higher marks on average than students in ethnic group B. We might then conclude that there is a relationship or correlation between ethnicity and educational achievement. However, such a conclusion might not be justified. Further research, might show that students in the underachieving ethnic group B are also, on average, much poorer. They have less money for books, less space at home to study and the have to work longer hours outside college to afford the fees. Therefore, we might conclude that differences we observed are the results of relative poverty rather than ethnicity and the original conclusion lacks internal validity. Activity 2.3 Reliability and construct and internal validity Without looking back: Try to explain the difference between reliability and validity. What is the difference between construct validity and internal validity? Can you think of another imaginary example of how a study might lack either construct or internal validity? Check your answers with this subject guide and your sociology textbooks. The question you should be asking yourself is not, Have I learned this? but rather, Have I understood this? This is why attempting the third question is particularly important, because being able to answer it shows understanding. Dont worry if you are finding some of this puzzling. We shall be looking at reliability and validity again. Some of you will have sociology teachers. Although they are not there to spoon-feed you with the answers, they will help you with things you dont understand. You will also have encountered these ideas when you studied 04A Statistics 1.
Ecological validity
The criterion of ecological validity is concerned with whether the results of social scientific research are actually applicable to the reality of peoples everyday lives. This is a criterion that is much more specific to sociology than to the other social sciences. Again, we can illustrate ecological validity with an example and an activity from our study of sociology students.
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Research example: authenticity/ecological validity We saw earlier that if we give the same questionnaire to all the students taking sociology, the data collection is both standardised and reliable. However, some sociologists would claim that this research has limited authenticity. For example, students may give me the answers they think I want to hear and say nice things about sociology in spite of what they really think, or they may exaggerate the amount of work they do. Therefore, the data we obtain may not reflect how things really are. They lack authenticity. Activity 2.4 Ecological validity The final question the university wanted addressing was how students from different backgrounds relate to each in other in sociology classes. We could interview students about this issue, but can you think of a problem with using interview methods here? Students may give us socially acceptable answers. Even if students answer our questions honestly and frankly, the interview method doesnt really tell us how they really behave in day-to-day classroom situations. Another way to explore this question is to go into the classes and observe them. This may well give us more ecologically valid data. But, going back to the criteria outlined in the previous section, can you think of some limitations with this method? We shall be looking at observational methods in more detail later in the section but, as we have noted, it is always helpful to start thinking about things in advance. Sociological research often involves making choices between the different options. Some methods work better than others for some problems. However, there is not necessarily always a right option. Sometimes, its just down to the researchers preferences. Some think validity is the most important criterion in social research while others argue that standardisation and reliability are more important. We shall be looking further at these differences in Chapter 3, but first we have to look at how research is planned and carried out.
Summary
Research is the systematic investigation of a problem. You will be expected to show both knowledge and critical understanding of some of the main research techniques in sociology and be able to see how sociologists apply these techniques in their research. Planning and undertaking research involves making strategic decisions and these decisions are influenced by a number of factors. Some of the key criteria by which research studies and research methods can be evaluated are objectivity, standardisation, reliability, transparency and validity.
2.3 Research designs: planning and choice

What is a research design?
Its very rare just to drop everything and dash off on holiday. Holidays are usually planned in advance. Similarly a sociologist cant just suddenly start doing research. Research journeys also need to be planned and organised in advance. Although doing sociological research never felt much like a holiday to me, there are similarities between going on holiday and doing research. Both of them usually involve going on a journey to somewhere
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different. Holidays begin with a desire to take time out and go somewhere, and research begins with the desire to find something out. Research always begins with questions. Sociologists ask all sorts of questions about social life, such as why societies are different from each other, why social groups within the same society have different life chances, or why societies change in the way they do. It is the researchers questions that give research its sense of purpose and direction. However, the sociologists general questions need to be narrowed down into something that can actually be researched. For example, a sociologist who is interested in how a society has changed in the last 25 years cannot possibly study every change. They will have to narrow this down into something manageable by focusing on specific changes in particular institutions, such as family life, work and leisure activities. What we call a research design is the process of translating a researchers original ideas and interests into a researchable journey. It involves making a number of strategic decisions and provides an overall framework for the research, in the same way as travel itineraries provide frameworks for holidays. In this section, we start by examining some of the key choices facing researchers and then we look at some of the most commonly used research designs, or approaches, in sociology.
Concepts and conceptual thinking

If you were asked to write an account of a particular day at your college, your account would actually be a simplified version of what really went on. This is because there are many things you would simply not know about. Your account would also be very different from those of other students. You might choose to write about different things, depending on what you felt was important and, even when you were writing about the same incident, you would probably interpret it differently. Therefore, peoples accounts of things tend to be different because they are selective reconstructions of a set of real events, and the selection process is shaped by peoples subjective views of what they consider to be important and interesting. It is much the same for researchers. They also have to select evidence in their accounts of social life and, like everyone else, they are influenced by their subjective views. However, as we have already observed, researchers have to move beyond their own subjective views and provide more objective accounts of social life. This means they have to find ways of making the selection process more systematic and standardised. One of the ways they try to do this is by using theoretical categories called concepts. Concepts are the theoretical tools sociologists use to describe and explain the social world. They are clearly defined categories given to aspects of the social world that have significant common features. Concepts are the most important tools of social research. They are the building blocks around which theory and research are organised. We can illustrate this by looking at researching social and economic inequality through the concept of social class. You will know from your own experience that some groups in your society have more wealth and opportunity than other groups. But how can we study this systematically? Social class is one of the concepts used in sociology to simplify the infinite complexities of social inequalities. Social classes are groups of people who share a similar economic position in a society. Different social class groupings can be identified in a society
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and this can provide a basis for exploring patterns of inequality. For example, sociologists have explored relationships between peoples social class and their values, political beliefs, educational achievements and life expectancy. However, social class is an abstract, theoretical term and sociologists wanting to do quantitative research have to find ways of measuring, or operationalising, the concept, in much the same way that the mercury in the thermometer measures the concept of temperature. These operationalising devices are called indicators. For example, a sociologist wanting to explore the relationship between the concepts of class and educational achievement, would have to find indicators of these concepts. As occupation is the major source of income for most people, most sociologists have typically used various forms of occupational ranking as indicators of class (see Figure 2.2), whereas attendance, reports and academic qualifications gained at school can be used as indicators of educational success. Concept Indicator Example Operationalising Doctors, senior managers Teachers, administrators Clerical workers, technicians, electricians Bus drivers, postal workers Cleaners, labourers
Social class Occupational ranking For example: That is, people who 1. Professional share a similar 2. Semi-professional economic market 3. Skilled/intermediate position 4. Semi-skilled 5. Unskilled
Figure 2.2: Concepts and indicators: measuring social class
By looking at rates of educational performance in each occupational group, the sociologist is able to examine the relationship between class and educational performance in a way that is standardised, reliable and potentially replicable. See Figure 2.3. Concept 1 Social class Concept 2 Educational achievement
Theoretical framework
Operationalisation
Theoretical analysis of results
Indicator Parents occupational ranking
Indicator School grades; qualifications
Statistical correlations
Figure 2.3: Conceptual analysis example: social class and educational achievements
Concepts are the most important aspect of research design. They define what the sociologist studies and provide the basis for organising and presenting data. The important thing to understand here is that concepts do not just reflect data, they shape it and this is one of the main ways that theory is linked to research. In this context, it is important to note that concepts are contested categories. That is, sociologists do not all agree about how things like class should be defined or measured.
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Descriptive and explanatory research designs

Research designs have many different purposes but an important distinction is whether the research is descriptive or explanatory. Descriptive research is about trying to construct a much clearer and more comprehensive picture of how something works, often on the basis of earlier exploratory studies. For example, a descriptive study of social change might ask how family life, work and leisure have changed over the last 25 years. Descriptive research studies are more likely to be inductive; this means that a researcher may draw out possible explanations from their observations. Explanatory research asks why something happens and identifies possible causal mechanisms. For example, an explanatory research study of social change might ask why family life, work and leisure have changed in the last 25 years. Explanatory research studies are more likely to be deductive; this means that a researcher is testing a theory, or hypothesis, against the data. Although there are sociological studies that are either purely deductive or inductive, many move between the two. For example, a descriptive study might suggest explanations that are then tested by further explanatory research (see Figure 2.4). Deductive: Inductive: Theory Observations Theory Observations Theory
Observations
Observations
Theory
Figure 2.4: Deductive and inductive research
Quantitative and qualitative research designs

Another important distinction is between quantitative and qualitative research designs. In very simple terms, quantitative data can be measured whereas qualitative data cannot, but the term has much wider implications (see below). Sometimes a researchers decision to use quantitative or qualitative designs is shaped by the nature of the problem being researched. For example, studying poverty levels in a society will almost certainly require a quantitative research design, whereas exploring the inner world of a religious cult or a criminal gang will almost certainly require a qualitative design. However, the decision to use quantitative or qualitative data does not just depend on the nature of the problem being investigated, it can also reflect different theoretical approaches to sociological research (as we shall see later in Chapter 3). Quantitative data is closer to the scientific ideal of research. Quantitative designs usually mean researchers are relatively detached from the people they are studying and it is less likely that their values will influence the research process. Quantitative research designs have a number of important advantages. See if you can think of some before reading further.
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Quantitative research designs: enable relationships between variables to be documented systematically are more likely to fulfil the key criteria of standardisation, reliability and transparency give data more authority, especially with government departments and the media. Stop and think for a moment: if quantitative research designs have all these advantages why isnt all sociological research quantitative? After all, measurement is synonymous with science and some social sciences, such as economics and psychology, are based almost exclusively on quantitative methods. The simple answer to this question is that there are many important sociological questions that simply cannot be answered with quantitative methods. We can illustrate this point by returning to our earlier example of the relationship between social class and educational achievement. A quantitative research design using concepts and indicators in the way described above can provide valuable data about relationships between class background and education. But when it comes to trying to explain this relationship there are some questions that cannot be answered very well by quantitative research designs. For example, what is it actually like to be brought up in relative poverty or in relative affluence? How do pupils and teachers interact with each other in the classroom? These kinds of questions can really only be examined by qualitative research designs and strategies such as making detailed observations of school life or interviewing people at great length that bring researchers into much closer contact with those they are studying. Qualitative research also allows us to examine the processes by which individuals and groups come to understand their roles and identities. It can also be used to criticise the use of statistics in social research to see how they are socially constructed see Chapter 4, section 4.3. Can you think of some of the strengths of qualitative research designs? Qualitative data: is more ecologically valid provides knowledge of how people behave in their natural contexts enables researchers to explore peoples experiences and the meanings they give to their actions and how they develop over time.
The expected and the unexpected in social research

We conclude this section where we started it by comparing the holiday and the research project. There is usually a sense of adventure about going on holiday. You may be going to an unfamiliar place and unexpected things can, and often do, happen. Much the same is true of research. You are often surprised by some of the things you discover. However, by planning a holiday and deciding to stay in a particular place at a given time of year, most holidaymakers narrow the possibilities of what might happen. Therefore, the holiday experience is a product of the unexpected and the expected. The plans made in advance provide a framework for what actually happens. Much the same is true of research. Sociologists research designs provide the framework for the things they find out about social life. So just as the holidaymaker expects certain things from their holiday, such as sandy beaches or snowy mountains, sociologists usually have some idea of what they are going to find from their research.
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The really important lesson to learn from this comparison is that researchers are not just giving us information about what is happening in the social world. They are doing much more than this. They are shaping and organising it for us. Our brief trip through research designs has shown that what emerges as data in a research project is a product of the relationship between the researchers design and the intrinsic nature of what is being researched. (See Figure 2.5.) Researchers theory and design Data in the world
Research data
Figure 2.5: How research data is constructed
This is why it is so important to know about research designs and research methods. By understanding how research was done, we are in a position to evaluate it. Sociological thinking teaches us always to look behind the data to find out how it was produced.
2.4 Major research designs in sociology

Here we are going to develop the ideas of the previous section by introducing you to four of the major research designs, or approaches, in sociology.
Surveys
In everyday language to survey something is to take a general view. In geography, for example, surveys map out a landscape or a town. Similarly, in social sciences, surveys try to map out aspects of the social world. Surveys offer breadth of view at a specific point in time, rather like a photograph of a landscape or townscape from a distance. Surveys are usually but not necessarily quantitative. They are used for simply collecting information, testing peoples opinions or attitudes and mapping out relationships between things in a quantifiable form. Survey data are most commonly collected by asking people questions, usually administered by questionnaires or face-to-face interviews. However, the survey is a research design or strategy and not a research method, and survey data can be collected through other methods such as using documents or making observations.
Sampling
Survey research is usually undertaken in relation to large populations, and researchers cannot collect data from everyone in the population. Therefore they use a sample: this is a part of a population being studied. You will have studied this in unit 04A Statistics 1. Probability sampling means that the sample has been selected randomly. Simple random sampling means that everyone in the population has an equal (non-zero) chance of being selected.
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Stratified random sampling is a special case of sampling, which means that every member of a population being studied has an equal chance of being selected in relation to their representation within the general population. For example, if females outnumber males by four to one in a population then stratified random sampling will ensure that 80 per cent of those sampled are female. The more the sample surveyed represents the population being studied, especially in terms of key variables such as age, class, ethnicity, gender and professional status, then the more confident the researcher will feel in generalising from the results. Non-probability sampling means that the sample has not been selected using a random selection method and cannot be taken to represent the population as a whole. The main reason for non-probability sampling is that the researcher doesnt have enough information about the population being studied to construct a sampling frame as, for example, in studies of drug use, crime and self-harm. In non-probability sampling researchers will simply contact whom they can and this is known as convenience sampling. Snowball sampling is a form of convenience sampling that is often used in research into very sensitive areas such as health problems or criminal activities, where a researcher makes contact with a small group, gains their confidence and uses that to make further contacts and enlarge the sample. (Figure 2.6.) A quota sample represents a group of people that a sociologist wants to make statements about. They divide the population into parts on the basis of the population. Therefore if we were researching a school and we knew the population of the school contained 55 per cent of girls and 44 per cent of boys we would select a sample in proportion to these percentages, for example choosing any 110 girls and 88 boys. The subject guide for unit 04A Statistics 1 has more material on sampling, validity and reliability. Population
Sample
Probability
Non -probability
Stratified random / random
Convenience
Snowball
Quota
Can generalise statistically

Figure 2.6: Types of sampling
Cannot generalise statistically
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Activity 2.5 Sampling Look at the four research topics listed below. Which ones do you think a researcher would be able to study through probability sampling? The future career ambitions of management students at the local university. Homeless people in your town or city. Victims of domestic violence. The lifestyle choices of footballers registered at your local football club. Is a national census a sample? No. A national census is a survey of the total population but it is not a sample because everyone is asked to provide information. So, here the sample is the sample frame.
Longitudinal approaches
A longitudinal research design involves collecting data from the same source at intervals over time. It is not really a design in itself but is rather an addition to an existing design and is most frequently used in survey research when the samples being investigated are interviewed at different times. Taking a longitudinal approach is one of the ways sociologists document changes in individuals and organisations over time and is most frequently used in areas like child development, health and educational research. We conclude this section with a real example of sociological survey research to illustrate some of the points that have been raised. Research example: Townsend (1979) on measuring poverty By the middle of the twentieth century it was widely believed that poverty had been virtually eliminated in Britain. Peter Townsend and his associates set out to find out if this was really the case. To study poverty a researcher has to have a concept of poverty. Townsend defined poverty in relative terms as the inability of people to participate in a substantial number of the activities and customs followed by the majority of the population. This concept was measured by a number of indicators, including the lack of a holiday in the last year, lack of fresh meat on a regular basis and an absence of household amenities such as a refrigerator or a bath. Townsend and his researchers then made a stratified random survey of over 6,000 adults living in 2,052 households. They calculated that almost 20 per cent of the population were living in poverty, which was much higher than the governments official figure of six per cent. This was not because the government statisticians made a mistake and miscalculated their figures; it is because Townsend and the government statisticians were using different concepts of poverty. The government statisticians were using an absolute definition that is, being poor is having an income less than a certain level, while Townsend was using a relative definition that is, being unable to afford things that most people in a society consider normal. The level of poverty in the UK was highly embarrassing to the government of the time and the book was credited with forcing the issue of poverty back onto the political agenda, illustrating how sociological research can influence public opinion and public policy.
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Experimental and evaluative research

The laboratory experiment is the key method in scientific research. In the experiment a possible causal influence, called an independent variable, is manipulated under controlled conditions to see if it produces a change in another factor, called a dependent variable. Smoking Cancer Dependent variable
Independent variable
Laboratory experiments are rare in sociology. Nonetheless the classic experimental design is seen by some researchers as an important yardstick against which other methods can be assessed. Field, or quasiexperimental, research designs that attempt to explore relationships between independent and dependent variables in more natural settings are becoming increasingly common in sociology, particularly in evaluative research. The aim of evaluative research is to examine different social programmes, such as crime prevention strategies or health promotion policies, to see if they work or to find out if one works better than another. The most common type of experimental research design uses a control group. This involves establishing two broadly similar populations and introducing an independent variable to one group (the experimental group) but not to the other (the control group). The aim is to see if there are differences in the behaviour of the experimental group and the control group. Here is an example. Research example: Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) on teacher expectations In this famous study the researchers were interested in whether teachers expectations influenced students performance. Teachers were told that 20 per cent of students (the experimental group) had been identified as highly intelligent through intelligence tests whereas the rest (the control group) had ordinary abilities. In fact no such test had been done, and students had just been randomly assigned to the highly intelligent group. However, as a result of increased teacher expectations, the intelligence scores of the experimental group really increased in the short run. The study showed how much teacher expectations influenced students educational performance. Experimental research designs give researchers much greater control of the research situation. They also fulfil the criteria of reliability and transparency. However, there are some criteria that they do not usually fulfil so well. Can you think of any? If necessary, turn back to the criteria outlined in section 2.2. (Looking back like this helps both understanding and revision.) One criticism of field or quasi-experimental methods is that the data collection is often difficult to standardise. Another criticism is that experiments may lack full ecological validity because although they usually take place in real settings such as the classroom in Rosenthal and Jacobsons research researchers actually change those settings so that they are not completely authentic. One way round this problem is to use a natural experimental design where a researcher makes use of some naturally occurring event that creates a quasi-experimental situation. A natural experimental design has the disadvantage that the researcher has much less control over events, but it has the advantage of high ecological validity as the events are occurring naturally. Here is an example.
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Research example: Charlton et al. (1998) on the coming of television Many people blame television, and particularly violence on television, for producing antisocial and violent behaviour in children. The introduction of television to the island of St Helena in the south Atlantic in the 1990s provided natural experimental conditions to explore the effects of television on the islands child population. Would the violence they would see on television cause them to behave more violently? Charlton and his associates monitored the viewing habits and subsequent behaviour of a large sample of children. To date there is no evidence from the study that the introduction of television has caused more antisocial behaviour in children. Activity 2.6 Experiments and ethics Laboratory experiments are rare in sociology, give two reasons why you think this is so. (Again, if necessary, look back at the criteria discussed in section 2.2.) 1. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ 2. __________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ Look again at the famous school study by Rosenthal and Jacobson outlined on the previous page. It was obviously a very valuable study, but can you think of any reasons why some might argue it should not have been done? The teachers were being deceived about the true nature of the experiment. The childrens educational environment was changed just to accommodate the experiment. The concerns expressed above are examples of ethical issues in social research. Ethics refer to responsibilities researchers have to the researched. Ethical guidelines state that the subjects of research should not be harmed or have their lives disrupted in any way and, unless it is unavoidable, they should be fully informed about the purpose of the research. Research ethics have to be balanced against the importance of the research findings and the possibility of doing the research in another way that doesnt involve compromising ethical guidelines. Ethical considerations apply to all research, but are most commonly raised in connection to experimental designs that often set out to manipulate peoples behaviour in various ways. Most people would consider Rosenthal and Jacobsons research ethical because of its contribution to educational research and because the deception was unavoidable. However, ethical guidelines mean that researchers cannot do anything they want in the name of research, and ethical considerations have to be taken into account in planning research designs.
Comparative research
Another limitation of experimental research designs is that they are invariably small-scale, or micro. This means that many of the large-scale, or macro, questions that interest many sociologists such as why societies change, why societies are different from each other, or why rates of health and illness, crime, or suicide vary between societies cannot be studied by experimental designs. To examine these larger cultural and historical questions, researchers are more likely to use what is called a comparative, or cross-cultural, research design. Comparative research is much wider in scope than other research designs, because the units of analysis are often whole societies, or even groups of
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societies, such as Western society or Latin America. Comparative research does not just mean comparing different societies or the same society over time. It involves searching systematically for similarities and differences between the cases under consideration. For example, in his comparative study of crime, the Australian sociologist John Braithwaite (1989) looked for similarities between countries with particularly high rates of crime, such as the USA and UK, and at how they were different from societies with low rates of crime, such as Japan. Braithwaite found that crime was lower in societies that tend to place collective interests over individual interests. Although comparative research usually uses secondary sources, such as historical documents or official statistics, research designs can still be organised in ways that resemble the logic of experimental comparisons between dependent and independent variables. This can be illustrated by looking at one of the most famous sociological studies of all time, Emile Durkheims comparative study of suicide Research example: Durkheim (1952) on suicide rates In his study of suicide, Durkheim used official suicide rates that is the number of people per 100,000 committing suicide as an indicator of different forms of social solidarity. Different countries and different social groups consistently produced different levels of suicide. But the data still had to be organised and analysed systematically. For example, the statistics showed that European countries that were predominantly Catholic, such as Italy, had much lower suicide rates than countries that were predominantly Protestant, such as Germany. But was this due to religion or national culture? In order to find out, Durkheim then looked at the suicide rates of Catholic and Protestant regions within the same countries. The fact that the Catholic rates were still much lower, even with nationality controlled, led him to conclude that the relationship between religion and suicide was real rather being an artefact (i.e. the result of some other cause).
Ethnography
The key idea behind ethnography is that as human behaviour is intentional, research should be orientated towards understanding the reasoning behind peoples actions. This is sometimes referred to as verstehen, a German word meaning empathetic understanding. Ethnography is usually based on detailed case studies of particular groups, organisations or individuals, and uses methods such as observations, long conversational interviews and personal documents, that bring researchers into close contact with the everyday lives of those they are studying. Research reports are in the form of a narrative, with key evidence, such as detailed descriptions of particular episodes being reproduced to illustrate the point the researcher is making. Research example: Taylor (1982) on suicidal behaviour Taylors ethnographic study of suicide can be compared with Durkheims statistical and comparative approach. For Taylor, the flaw in Durkheims brilliant study was his assumption that suicide could be explained sociologically without reference to the intentions of suicidal individuals. Using a combination of interviews with people who survived suicide attempts and documentary sources, Taylor attempted to piece together a picture of the context of suicidal actions from the victims point of view. So, whereas the units of analysis in Durkheims comparative study were populations, such as nations or religious groups, the units of analysis in Taylors ethnographic study were individual case studies.
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This research suggested that we should change the way we think about suicide. Most suicidal acts were not attempts to die so much as desperate gambles with death where suicidal individuals were uncertain as to whether they wanted to live or die. Therefore, the question was not just why do people kill themselves, but why do so many more risk their lives in these games of chance. Observations about how people actually think and behave in real situations can only come from ethnographic research.
Summary
Here we have looked at four of the main research designs, or approaches, in sociology. Survey research is the systematic gathering of information about individuals and groups at a given time. Experimental designs attempt to manipulate one variable to examine its effect on another. Comparative research focuses on similarities and differences between different societies or social groups. Ethnography focuses on how people think and act in their everyday social lives. There are, of course, other research designs and sociologists often combine different aspects of the different approaches. However, the main point here has been to show you that not all sociologists take the same approach in their research.
2.5 Research methods

What are research methods?
Research methods are techniques used for collecting data. There are many different types of data in sociological research, but an important distinction is between primary and secondary data. Primary data is information that researchers collect for themselves by, for example, interviewing people or observing them. Secondary data is information that is already in existence before the research starts. For example, a researcher may make use of government statistics or monitor the content of newspapers, magazines or TV programmes. Although some sociology textbooks use the umbrella term Methods to describe the entire research process, it is important to distinguish between research design and research methods. Sociologists have a range of research methods to choose from, each with their advantages and limitations, and they have to work out which methods best fulfil the aims of their research design. Methods are about the practical part of research, and sociologists dont just have to work out what method they are going to use. They also have to work out how best to implement it. For example, suppose I have decided to use an interview method. I still have to decide if Im going to do it by telephone or face-to-face. If its face-to-face, I still have to work out how to record the data. If Im constantly scribbling notes or using a tape recorder it may intimidate interviewees and prevent them from saying what they really think. But if I conduct the interview more like a natural conversation, it may be difficult to recall enough of what the interviewees say. However and this is important and less obvious sociologists decisions are not just influenced by practical or technical concerns. They are also influenced by theory. This is because methods are not simply neutral research tools, as if they were methodological hammers or screwdrivers. As we shall see, each of them involves making theoretical assumptions about the nature of the social world and how we understand it. We shall be examining this in more detail in Chapter 3. Therefore, sociologists not only have to work out which methods will work best for which research problems, they also have to decide which methods
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best fit their theoretical views of what societies are and how we should be finding out about them. When you write about methods you will be expected to know: the key sociological methods and their relationship to research design their strengths and limitations taking into account both practical and theoretical considerations how they are linked to different theoretical viewpoints in sociology. In this section we shall be more concerned with explaining and evaluating research methods.
Primary research methods

Asking people questions in social research One of the ways sociologists try to find out about the social world is to ask people questions. This can be done by: asking people to fill in questionnaires telephone or Internet1 formal face-to-face interviews asking questions informally in the context of field work. There are many different types of interview methods in sociology but the most important distinction is between structured and unstructured interviews. Although sociologists sometimes use a combination of interview methods in their research, we shall look at them separately to clarify the distinctions between them. Structured interviews and questionnaires The structured question format is the most popular method of asking questions in sociological research and is the most commonly used method in survey research. In the structured interview, or questionnaire, interviewees are asked a set of identical questions in exactly the same way. They are usually asked to select their answers from a limited range of options, and these are known as closed questions (see Figure 2.7). Q. How would you rate your sociology lecturer? Tick the answer closest to your view:
You will find that an increasing amount of research is conducted online, including research by the University of London.
1
Excellent Quite good Dont know/neutral Quite poor U seless.

Figure 2.7: Structured interview for a class studying sociology
Structured interviews have a number of advantages over other methods of asking questions. Information from a large number of people can be obtained relatively quickly and cheaply, the data can be quantified and the researcher is more detached from the process of data collection. Activity 2.7 Structured interviews Data from the structured interview fulfils some of the key criteria outlined in the first part of this section. Look back to section 2.2 and see if you can identify which ones they are.
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However, in spite of its benefits, some sociologists are very critical of the widespread use of structured interviews in sociology. Why do you think this is? The meaning problem. The main reason for questioning the structured interview is found in what Im doing now, using language. To write an interview question I have to use words, and a major problem with the structured interview method is that the same word can mean different things to different people. Stop and look again at the question reproduced above (Figure 2.7). Some of the students may have said that their teacher is excellent. Try to think of some different meanings the word excellent could have in this context. is inspiring and makes the subject interesting is easy-going and doesnt mind if you dont hand in any essays is a nice person looks good. The problem here is that people who might mean very different things by excellent would still be included in the same percentage figure. Therefore, the data will lack construct validity. It does not represent what it is supposed to represent that is a consistent and similar set of responses. The problem of depth and ecological validity. Another limitation of the structured interview method is that it lacks depth. As researchers are detached from the people they are studying, it is difficult for them to explore what their subjects actually mean and it is impossible for them to know how they actually behave in real situations. In sociological terms, this means that it is low in ecological validity.
For example, my lecturer:
Unstructured interviews
One way round some of the limitations of the structured interview is to use an unstructured interview. Unstructured interviews are more like ordinary conversations; there is no set interview structure and interviewees answer in their own words. Unstructured interviews are sometimes used in survey designs, but they are most frequently used in ethnographic research. The effectiveness of unstructured, qualitative interviews often depends on the rapport and trust that is built up between researcher and respondent. The aim of such interviews is to allow respondents to reconstruct their experiences in as much detail as possible, giving the researcher, and ultimately the reader, an insight into how they experienced particular events. You will see in Chapter 4, section 4.3 that unstructured interviews can allow the researcher to understand the processes by which people came to understand social situations. Unstructured interviews have more depth and flexibility than structured interviews. They are also normally more valid as they give greater insight into the meanings of a subjects experiences. However, they also have important limitations. The data collection is not standardised and is thus hard to generalise from and, as there is usually far too much data to reproduce in full, readers are dependent on the researchers selection of data. Unstructured interviews are also less reliable than structured interviews as the results cannot be quantified and re-tested.
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Limits of all interview methods

Some sociologists use a combination of structured and unstructured interviews in their research on a horses for courses principle, using structured questions to obtain factual information, such as age or income, and unstructured questions to probe deeper into peoples experiences. Alternatively, they may use semi-structured interviews where the questions are closed, but interviewees are given space (in questionnaires) or time (in face-to-face interviews) to elaborate on their answers. However, despite their many benefits, there are certain limitations with all interview methods. People may simply have problems in recalling information accurately. A great deal of psychological research has shown just how unreliable memory can be. There is something known as the interview effect. This means that interviewees may give the more socially acceptable answer, or they answer a question in the way they think the interviewer wants. With all interviews (structured, unstructured or semi-structured) researchers are dependent on what people tell them. If researchers want to find out how people really behave in their daily lives, then they have to go and take a look.
Observational methods
Watching people is another important way that sociologists find out about social life. Researchers using observational methods do not have to rely on what people say they do. They can see for themselves. Like interviews, observation can be structured or unstructured, or semi-structured, that is, it uses a combination of both. Structured observations are most commonly associated with experimental or evaluative research designs. For example, subjects may be given certain tests or tasks to do as part of an experiment and the researcher systematically records the results. Structured observation can also take place in naturalistic settings. For example, as part of her research on gender and schooling, Michelle Stanworth (1983) systematically recorded the amount of direct contact time teachers give to male and to female students. However, the vast majority of observational research studies in sociology are unstructured, and most of them use a method called participant observation where the researcher participates directly in the life of the people being studied. This technique was first used by Western anthropologists who joined tribal societies, learning their language and customs in order to document ways of life that were disappearing with colonisation and the relentless advance of industrialisation. Like anthropologists, sociologists have to find ways of getting into the groups or organisations they wish to study and this may take a lot of friendly persuasion, persistence and the cultivation of helpful contacts. Once established, the research work involves detailing observations, listening to what is being said and asking questions. This is easier said than done. It requires both an attachment to and a detachment from those you are studying. I described this process in relation to research I did on social workers management of cases of child abuse (Taylor, 1989).
As a student of child abuse, I regularly encountered forms of cruelty to children I hardly thought were possible. I watched, amazed, as children who had been brought into care because 57
21 Principles of sociology they had been abused, ran with open arms to hug the abusing parents who had been allowed to visit them. I have seen social workers and police having to drag screaming children away from their parents. While a lay person witnessing such things would probably react emotionally, the professional social workers remained detached and unemotional. It was as if nothing that happened to children could surprise them any more. Neither of these reactions is suitable for the sociological observer. On the one hand, the researcher should take nothing for granted, but rather be surprised and intrigued by what is observed. On the other hand, while it is impossible to keep your values out of research, the more you let your own values and feelings take over, the more you will write about your own values and reactions, and the less you will see of what is going on around you. 2
Taylor (1989) pp.5859
Participant observation is the method most commonly used in ethnographic research designs and you will find that some textbooks treat ethnography and participant observation as if they were the same. However, this is not strictly accurate. Participant observation can be used in experimental designs and ethnographic research can, and sometimes has to, be done by other methods, such as unstructured interviews or documents. There is a richness of detail in participant observation research that tends to be lacking in other methods and I have to confess it has always been my favourite research method. Some of the most vivid and interesting studies in sociology have used participant observation. For example, sociologists have worked in factories, offices, schools, prisons and mental hospitals; theyve made observations in clinics, clubs, call centres, on street corners and in public toilets; and theyve joined political parties, criminal gangs and religious cults, all in the name of research. In participant observation sociologists are able to see for themselves how people behave in their natural contexts. This authentic knowledge and the depth and detail it provides mean that data from participant observation usually fulfils the key criterion of validity far better than data obtained from other methods. It also offers flexibility and can provide the basis for inductively generating new theoretical explanations. The famous Chicago School of sociology, which encouraged observational work and despatched its sociologists into every corner of the city, used to claim that participant observation tells it like it is. We will be discussing the Chicago School in Chapter 4, section 4.3. Activity 2.8 Telling it as it is Stop and think for a moment about the claim that being somewhere allows you see things as they are. Do you think participant observation always tells it like it is or do you think there may be some problems with this view? Can you think of times in your life when you have found yourself participating in social situations without really knowing what is going on? If so, try to identify some of the reasons. Maybe you were missing the cues or maybe people were deceiving you? Take a moment and write down your answers to these questions before moving on. The idea that participant observation tells it like it is is challenged by something known as the observer effect. In essence, this means that those being observed may change their behaviour simply because they are being studied. If this happens, and the researcher is not seeing the subjects
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of the research as they really are but as they want to be seen, then the ecological validity of the research is compromised. Sometimes researchers try to get round this problem by using covert observational methods and concealing their true identity from the group being studied. For example, in his classic study of a state mental hospital in the United States, Goffman (1987) worked as a games teacher in the institution, while Holdaway (1983) made a study of the police force he was serving in at the time. This undercover research raises ethical issues, as those being studied have not given their consent to the research, and it has the limitation that the researcher is unable to stop the action and ask questions freely and openly. Participant observation methods also tend to be unreliable, data collection is not standardised and, like the unstructured interview, selection of data is very much dependent on the researchers subjective views of what should (and should not) be included. It is also time consuming and, because it is often based on a single case study or a small and non-representative sample, it is hard to generalise from the results. Furthermore, there are many areas of social life domestic violence, sexuality, suicide and childhood experiences that cannot usually be studied in this way.
Secondary sources
A great deal of sociological research involves the analysis of secondary data; that is, data not generated by the researcher. This may include data from previous research but it is mainly material that is not specifically produced for research and this has important implications for the sociologist. Two of the most important sources of secondary data are official statistics and documents.
The analysis of official statistics

The term official statistics refers to the mass of data collected by the state and its various agencies. For example, a national census is held in developed countries, usually every 10 years. This provides information about the composition of the population in terms of factors such as births, marriages, divorces, ethnicity and the structure of families. State sources also regularly produce economic statistics on patterns of employment and unemployment, income and expenditure, as well as publishing rates of crime, illness, suicides and the like. In addition to state-generated data, other organisations such as hospitals, economic organisations and voluntary agencies provide important sources of statistical information. Official statistics are a major source of information for sociologists and are widely used, especially in large-scale comparative research designs. They are plentiful, cheap and available; they can provide a picture of a society at a given time, enable comparisons to be made and help document important changes in societies and social groups over time. However, sociologists have to approach the analysis of official statistics cautiously. They are not self-evident facts simply waiting for researchers to use. They are social constructions that reflect the conceptual categories and bureaucratic procedures through which they are collected. A problem for sociologists wanting to use official statistics is that classification and collection procedures can vary both between different societies and within the same society over time. For example, some governments often change the way in which unemployment is classified, and a comparative study of unemployment based on official statistics that have been compiled in different ways will be neither standardised nor valid.
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Another problem with official statistics may be under-reporting. It is generally accepted that official statistics such as those recording peoples incomes, personal assets, companies profits, rates of immigration, crime, illness and suicide are far lower than the real levels. Therefore, an increase in the official crime rates, for example, could mean either that crime has risen or it could simply mean that more crime has been reported and recorded. These observations do not mean that sociologists cannot, or should not, use official statistics. Not all official statistics have the problems of classification and underreporting outlined above. For example, in many societies, birth rates, death rates and murder rates are taken to be accurate representations of the true numbers. If a researcher who is comparing different sets of official statistics is sure that they have been compiled in much the same way, then the data will still be valid. Researchers have access to different data sets, some of which can offset the limitations of the others. For example, many governments undertake annual victim surveys, where a random sample of the population are asked if they have been the victims of crime. These statistics give a much more accurate estimate of the level of crime than the official crime rates. Therefore, when writing about the limitations of official statistics, do not simply state, for example, that they lack validity. It is much better to say they may lack validity and then go to explain why this could be the case. Activity 2.9 Official statistics Critically evaluate the following statements: Government statistics have shown that there has been a sharp rise in crime this year. Sociologists should never use official statistics, because they are not valid. Townsends research on poverty showed that the official statistics were wrong. (Look back to the example of Townsends research on p.50)
The analysis of documents

In its widest sense a document simply means anything that contains text. Official reports, records from schools, hospitals, law courts, films, photographs, reports from journals, magazines, newspapers, letters, diaries, emails, and even graffiti scrawled on a wall, are examples of documents. The analysis of documents is the major method used in comparative and historical research designs, but documents are also widely used in ethnographic research. Documents are used when subjects cannot be observed or interviewed, but it would be wrong to see them merely as a substitute for primary data. For example, what you write in your diary or in letters to friends might be a more valid representation of how you think and act than what you tell me in an interview. Documents can be classified in many ways but a useful classification is: official documents: for example, government reports, legal reports, company accounts cultural documents: for example, newspapers, magazines, TV programmes, films, art works
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personal documents: for example, letters, diaries, emails. A key question in documentary research is the authenticity of the document. Researchers generally prefer first-hand accounts, written by people who witnessed something personally, rather than documents derived from earlier sources. Another important question in the context of authenticity is whether or not a document is a forgery. Even with relatively recent documents this is not always clear. For example, in 1983 the German magazine Stern paid seven million marks (2 million) for 60 volumes of Hitlers diaries after they had been authenticated by several eminent historians. The diaries were being sold round the world when it was revealed that they had not been written by Hitler, but by a former waiter and window cleaner called Konrad Kujau! Another question researchers have to consider is the validity of the documents content. A document may be both authentic and first hand but, for various reasons, the content may be distorted, exaggerated, or simply false. Therefore, researchers usually examine a number of documentary sources looking for accounts that confirm, or corroborate, each other. Like interviews and observational methods, documentary methods can be structured or unstructured. In structured, or content analysis sociologists systematically analyse documents in terms of certain pre-determined criteria. For example, researchers might monitor the output of TV stations at regular intervals to calculate the proportion of violence, sexuality or stereotyping in programmes. Activity 2.10 Content analysis Imagine you are doing a content analysis study of the news programmes on your local TV stations, looking at the proportions of time given to: a. local b. national c. international news stories. Using the criteria outlined in Section 2.2, and any other material you think is relevant here, write down what you think are the advantages and limitations of this approach. Unstructured, or textual, documentary methods use qualitative techniques to explore the meanings of texts. This may involve examining the literal meaning of the document, or it could mean looking beneath the actual words or images, to interpret the contexts that give them meaning. To illustrate this latter approach, look at the following news item from a British newspaper.
Dad of 5 Turns Down First Job A jobless teenager about to become a dad for the fifth time was offered a job yesterday and turned it down. Mike B., 19, who has never done a days work, said he would not take the job in case his state benefits were cut. Mike and his wife Kathleen, 23, receive 1,150 a month in state benefits and live rent free. They are now demanding a bigger house when their new baby arrives in October.
On the surface this is simply an account of a young man with four children who turned down a job. But what else do you think the story is saying? Can you see a hidden meaning, or sub-text? The story is not just about Mike and Kathleen. It is possible here to interpret an underlying sub-text of statements and questions that help to give the story a framework and a much wider meaning. Look back at the
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story again. Who do you think it is aimed at? What else do you think it is saying other than what is in the text? What questions do you think it is raising? Here are some suggestions below. Audience: People who work for a living and pay taxes. People who really need state benefits because they cannot work. Underlying text: Look how much money people on state benefits are paid! If you have more children the state will find you a bigger house when other people have to earn more money to move to a bigger house Questions raised: Do you think this is fair on people who work hard for a living? Do you think the benefits system is encouraging some people not to work? Activity 2.11 Textual analysis Take a story from your local newspaper and see if you can interpret its underlying subtext. Many studies in sociology, particularly historical studies, are based almost exclusively on documents. Vast amounts of information are held in documents, many of which are easily accessible and in a form that can be examined and checked out by other researchers. Documents can also be used when observational or interview methods are not possible because people cannot be contacted or observed. For example, the autobiographical accounts by adults who have tried to harm themselves, been anorexic or been abused in their childhood provide an invaluable source of information for sociologists researching these areas.
Selection of methods
In practice sociologists will select the methods that best fulfil the aims of the research design and there are usually clear relationships between research designs and research methods. Research design Survey Experimental/ evaluative Comparative/cross cultural Typical subjects Samples of large populations Small groups of subjects Institutions, societies, groups of societies Typical methods Structured interview questionnaire Structured observation Official statistics, documents Participant observation, unstructured interview, personal documents
Ethnographic Case studies
Figure 2.8: Research design and research methods (or the research design method relationship)
Although I have looked at the major methods separately in order to explain them, researchers will usually use more than one method to fulfil different aims of the research design. Often methods will be combined in a
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way where the strengths of one method can be used to offset some of the limitations of another. This is known as triangulation, a term borrowed from navigation where the position of a ship is plotted from two fixed points. Eileen Barkers study The Making of a Moonie (1984) is a classic example of the use of multiple methods in research. Research example: Barker (1984) on the Moonies The Moonies, or Unification Church, have followers and business interests all over the world. The founder, the reverend Moon, tells followers, I am your brain, when you join you do everything in utter obedience to me. Eileen Barker wanted to find out what sort of people join the Moonies, whether they are different from ordinary people and if they are brainwashed by the organisation as many people believed. She explored these questions using three different methods. 1. She carried out detailed interviews with a random sample of Moonies to explore their motivations for joining. 2. She explored possible differences between Moonies and non-Moonies by giving structured questionnaires to a large sample of Moonies and to a control group of non-Moonies. 3. She carried out participant observation research in a number of Unification Church centres over a period of six years to see for herself the ways in which Moonies were controlled within the organisation. In spite of so much criticism of the Moonies in the press, Barker found that were no significant personality differences between Moonies and non-Moonies and also little evidence of brainwashing. She found that the Moonies chose to be members of the group.The sociological question she asked, which is the subtitle of her book, is choice or brainwashing?; she found that the Moonies had actively chosen to be Moonies. Activity 2.12 Revision check In the above example there are four terms in bold type: random sample structured questionnaire control group participant observation. Write down what you understand by these terms and then check your answers by looking back at the subject guide and using your textbooks. As I observed above, choice of research methods is influenced primarily by the aims of the research design. However, they are not always simply decided by what the researcher would like to do. Sometimes, there are external factors that also have to be taken into consideration in planning and undertaking research. Some of the most important ones are: Access: sometimes sociologists cannot get access to the documents they want from an organisation or to the social group they want to observe, so they have to find alternative methods, such as interviewing people who worked for the organisation or were members of the social group under consideration. Time and money: lack of time or funding means that researchers sometimes have to select the cheaper option; for example, using questionnaires instead of detailed unstructured interviews. Ethics: as we have already observed, ethical considerations might constrain research.
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Funding body: sometimes the organisation funding the research will expect the research to be done in a certain way; for example, some organisations have a preference for quantitative rather than qualitative research. The various factors influencing selection of methods are summarised in Figure 2.8. Although it is important to mention the influence of external influences on research, they should not be exaggerated. Most of the time, most researchers have choice and discretion about most aspects of a research project. However, there is one thing about which they have no choice, and that is that all research involves making theoretical assumptions about the nature of the social world. This is what we shall be examining in the next chapter.
Summary
Research methods refer to how data is collected. Here we have looked at four of the major research methods: interviews, observation, official statistics and documents. It is important to appreciate the strengths and limitations of each method. Researchers selection of methods is influenced by the nature of the problem, theoretical preferences and by external constraints. If you would like to understand more about the history of sociology before you begin working on the subject in more detail, you can turn to Chapter 4 now.

Having completed this chapter, and the essential reading and activities, you should have a clearer idea of: the nature of sociological research and why it is important to know how research is done the key criteria by which research is evaluated what is meant by a research design and how the nature of the research design influences the data that is collected the characteristics of survey, experimental, comparative and ethnographic research designs the key research methods: interviews, observations, the analysis of official statistics and documents how to approach questions on sociological research.
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Chapter 3: Theory and research

Introduction
So far, weve looked at the questions sociologists ask about human societies (Chapter 1) and how they do research (Chapter 2). In this chapter were going to dig deeper and look at some of the different theoretical ideas underpinning sociological thinking and social research. The key idea here is that there is no such thing as theory-free research, as the very act of doing research involves making contested that is, theoretical assumptions about the nature of social reality and how we obtain knowledge of it.
Aims of the chapter

The aims of this chapter are to: develop the idea of methodology introduced in Chapter 2 introduce you to ontological and epistemological issues in sociology outline the key aspects of positivism outline the key aspects of interpretivism outline the key aspects of realism.
Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter, and having completed the essential reading and activities, you should have a clearer idea of: how research is underpinned by theoretical ideas what is meant by an ontology/epistemology problem in sociology the key aspects of positivist theory the interpretivist critique of positivism and the key aspects of interpretivist approaches in sociology what is meant by realism in sociology and how realism is different from both positivism and interpretivism.
Essential reading
The essential reading for this chapter of the unit is the subject guide, but you must also supplement it with reading from your textbook. The key pages in the textbooks we have recommended are:
Fulcher, J. and J. Scott Sociology. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) pp.1517 and 2427. Giddens, A. Sociology. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008) pp.7778 Macionis, J. and K. Plummer Sociology: a global introduction. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2005) pp.4469 and (2008) pp.5057.
Further reading
It would also be helpful if you referred to:
Hughes, J. The philosophy of social research. (London; New York: Longman, 1997). 65
Other relevant textbooks are:

Bryman, A. Social research methods. (Oxford: Oxford University, 2008) Part 1. Hamilton, The Enlightenment and the birth of social science in Hall, S. and B. Gieben (eds) Formations of modernity. (Cambridge: Polity, 1992). Marsh, I. (ed.) Theory and practice in sociology. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2002) Chapter 1. May, T. Social research: issues, methods and process. (Buckingham: Open University, 2001) Part 1. Parker J. Social theory: a basic tool kit. (Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) Chapter 11.
Video/DVD
Theory and methods [from 8 www.halovine.com]. This video/DVD may be helpful to you as it explains and illustrates the three major theories considered here: positivism, interpretivism and realism.
3.1 Methodology revisited

In Chapter 2 we introduced methodology as the study of the methods used by sociologists to find out about societies. Here we are going to unpick the idea of methodology and look at it in a little more detail. As Pawson (1999, p.20) has observed, the assertion that sociology provides some authoritative understanding of the working of the social world is based on usage of some special tools of inquiry. The special tools of inquiry involve a combination of thinking skills and practical skills. Methodology is the analysis of these skills. The practical skills which we looked at the previous chapter involve things like gaining access to research sites and selecting the right methods for the research problem. The thinking skills that we shall be more concerned with in this section involve things like excavating the underlying theoretical assumptions on which research is based, subjecting them to critical scrutiny and considering alternatives. Methodology, then, is about developing the principles and practice of social research (see Figure 3.1). Methodology = Principles + Methods
Figure 3.1
The middle term, Principles, can be divided into two further categories called ontology and epistemology (Figure 3.2). Methodology = Ontology + Epistemology + Methods
Figure 3.2
Ontology and epistemology are very important concepts in sociology (and in any other discipline) because they involve exploring the core ideas and assumptions of the subject.
Ontology
The term ontology originated in philosophy and is concerned with the essential nature of what is being studied. Therefore, an ontological question in sociology addresses the essential nature of human societies. It is concerned with what societies are, what units make them up and how these units relate to each other.
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As we observed in Chapter 1, sociology is about the relationships between individuals and societies. However, sociologists have different ways of conceptualising these relationships. For example, one key difference (that we shall be looking at in more detail in Chapter 4) is between sociologists who see societies as social structures and those who focus on social action. Sociologists who favour structural approaches conceptualise societies primarily as networks of social institutions and patterns of social relationships that are comparatively long lasting. Sociologists adopting this approach try to show the ways that different social structures shape the behaviour of the individuals living within them. Thus the focus tends to be on large-scale, or macro, social processes. From this point of view, there are similarities between the natural world and the social world. Both are external realities that constrain peoples actions in various ways. Just as gravity limits our power of movement, the societies in which we live influence and constrain how we think and act. For example, the wealth of a society, its productive processes and its customs and values shape peoples life experiences irrespective of their conscious wishes. Many of those whose work helped to found sociology in the nineteenth century viewed societies as social structures. (You will be reading about these sociological theories in more detail in Chapter 4, section 4.2). For example, Marx and Durkheim conceptualised societies this way. For Marx, the key to understanding societies lay in their economic structures. This is known as a materialist view of societies. Marx claimed that social change was caused primarily by changes and resulting tensions in the underlying economic structures of societies rather than by the outcomes of battles or the decisions of a few powerful people, as history books led people to believe. Durkheim took a different view of social structures. He saw the morals and values of a society, transmitted from one generation to the next, as social forces that regulate peoples behaviour and bind them to each other through shared membership of social institutions. Sociological approaches that see values and beliefs as the core elements of societies are called idealist. Durkheims famous study of suicide looked at briefly in Chapters 2 and 4 was an attempt to demonstrate that social groups with more integrating social structures (that is, where people are bound more closely together) have lower suicide rates. From this point of view differences in suicide rates were a consequence of different social structures rather than of the characteristics of individuals. However, despite the differences between Durkheims idealist theory focused on cultural values and beliefs and Marxs materialist theory based on economic production, both viewed peoples behaviour as the product of the structural organisation of societies. A cluster of approaches in sociology, loosely described as social action theories, view the relationships between the individuals and societies rather differently. Action theorists argue that as societies are produced by the intentional activities of people, sociologists should begin by studying individual social action and the meanings people give to these actions. Action theorists sometimes suggest that structural theories reduce people to the mere puppets of societies. (We will be going into more detail into the theories when we look at Weber in Chapter 4, section 4.2.) For example, Weber disagreed with Marx that the rise of industrial capitalist
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society in Western Europe could be explained merely by changes in economic structures. He argued that this theory did not explain the motivation behind a new, more disciplined work ethic and the tendency of so many of the early industrial capitalists to work long hours and reinvest, rather than spend, their profits. Weber used economic statistics and other documentary sources to suggest that an important factor in the success of many early capitalists was a religious conviction, arising from the Protestant doctrine of predestination where economic (or worldly) success came to be interpreted as a sign of Gods favour. By focusing more on the actions of individuals, Weber was able to highlight something absent in Marxs theory the relationship between religion and the rise of modern capitalism. So we can see that there are differences in the way that sociologists view the social world. This will affect the way that they believe that they can understand and know about the world.
Epistemology
Epistemology is another term from philosophy. An epistemology is a theory that presents a view of what can be regarded as knowledge rather than belief. In more simple terms, it explores the basis for knowledge how we know what we know. Therefore, it follows that epistemological questions in sociology are investigations into how sociologists justify the knowledge they are providing of social life. Again, sociologists have different views on this. A major epistemological debate in sociology concerns the similarity of sociological knowledge and scientific knowledge. On the one hand, there are those sometimes referred to as naturalists who argue that the best way for sociology to transcend subjectivity and produce more objective knowledge of social life, is to follow the logic and procedures of the natural sciences. This point of view holds that, as far as possible, sociology can develop methods of investigation based on the logic of experimentation and measurement found in the natural sciences. On the other hand, there are those sometimes referred to as antinaturalists who argue that because nature and society are completely different from each other, the principles and methods of the natural sciences have little or no application to the study of social life. Sociologists study people and, unlike the matter studied by most natural scientists, people are reflective and try to make sense of the situations in which they find themselves. Therefore, sociology requires a very different approach from that of the natural sciences, one where researchers transcend their subjectivity by interpreting the subjectivity of the people they are studying. In between these extremes there are a variety of positions that accept the principles of scientific inquiry to a limited degree in relation to specific research questions. Another related epistemological question concerns what is called the subject/object dilemma, which we looked at briefly in Chapter 1. Whereas some sociologists argue that researchers should remain as detached as possible from the subjects of inquiry, others argue exactly the opposite, that valid knowledge of social groups comes from researchers immersing themselves as closely as possible in the lives of those they are studying. Another, more extreme, version of this epistemological position holds that you actually have to be a member of the social group being studied, or at
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least have shared the same kind of experiences personally, to provide valid knowledge of their behaviour. In simple terms you cannot really understand people without having been there yourself. (This epistemological position would, incidentally, create problems for me, as its logic suggests I can only really understand suicide by committing suicide myself!) So, in summary, there are many different views in sociology about what societies are and the best ways of obtaining knowledge of them. In the following sections we shall try to simplify matters to some extent by identifying three of the most influential theories of knowledge in sociology: positivism, interpretivism and realism. However, before looking at these theories, it is important to put them into perspective, as it would be quite wrong to see sociology as divided into three distinct and entirely separate approaches. First, few sociologists would describe themselves as a positivist, interpretivist or realist. These are terms used primarily by methodologists and social theorists to try to describe and evaluate the theoretical assumptions underlying different approaches to research. Secondly, many studies in sociology use a combination of positivist, interpretivist and, more recently, realist ideas, just as they use different research methods. Thirdly, positivism, interpretivism and realism are very general descriptive terms and there are many different theoretical approaches within the general framework of each one. For example, some interpretivists (following Weber) believe that understanding the meanings that people give to their actions is the first step towards explaining their behaviour. However, others (following Schutz) argue that sociology cannot move beyond peoples subjective meanings. We will be examining these approaches in more detail in Chapter 4, section 4.3.
3.2 Positivism
Now read Fulcher and Scott (2007) pp.2427 or Macionis and Plummer (2005) pp.4647 or Macionis and Plummer (2008) pp.5455 or Giddens (2008) pp.1112. Positivism originated as a philosophy of science. Its key idea is unity of scientific method. This means that although the content of the various sciences is obviously very different, the form of all scientific enterprise is essentially the same. Scientific inquiry is based on the systematic accumulation of facts rather than on belief, opinion, tradition or divine revelation. Many of the early sociologists writing in the nineteenth century, such as Auguste Comte (17981857) and Herbert Spencer (18201903) believed that by applying the principles and practices that had worked so well in natural sciences (especially physics, chemistry and biology), sociology could discover the laws that explained how societies worked and changed. Most modern sociologists do not have such grand ambitions and tend to write about trends or probabilities in particular societies rather than scientific laws of social development of all societies. However, a great deal of research in sociology (and other social sciences) is underpinned by positivist assumptions, so it is important to identify some of the most important ones.
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Causality
Positivism sees the social world like the natural world as comprising phenomena (which is just a complicated technical way of saying things) that are causally related to each other. In more simple language, this means that something (a cause) makes something else (an effect) happen and an effect of one thing can then be the cause of something else. For positivists, science and good social science involves describing and trying to explain these causal relationships. For example, an economic recession in a society may cause higher unemployment and poverty in some sections of a society, and this may then be a cause of increasing rates of crime (Figure 3.3). a [economic recession] b c [increased unemployment and economic deprivation] [increased crime]
Figure 3.3: How an effect may become a cause
Determinism
Another positivistic assumption underlying much sociological research is a deterministic view of the relationship between the individual and society. This means that the organisation of the societies in which people live causes them to think and act in the way they do, irrespective of their free will, or choice. For example, in the case of crime given in Figure 3.3 increasing unemployment and poverty and not free choice causes the increase in crime. Researchers adopting a positivist point of view may still be interested in finding out about peoples subjective views. For example, they explore things such as attitudes and opinions through survey research. However, they see the task of sociology as explaining why people behave in the way they do. How people really feel about things cannot be explained scientifically and is the proper subject for arts subjects, such as literature or poetry. In spite of its determinist views, positivism does not necessarily lead to a fatalistic acceptance of the way things are. Just as scientists can intervene in nature for example, by finding the cause of a certain disease and developing an effective treatment so sociological research into the causes of peoples behaviour can, in principle, be used to engineer social change. For example, understanding the causes of crime can lead to the development of policies that might reduce crime rates. As you will have seen in your reading, Comte argued that it was possible to know (about the world), to predict (what would happen in the future) and to control (what they discovered was wrong in the world). In fact, he went as far as suggesting that, as sociological expertise developed, future societies would be run on the advice and guidance of sociologists! Activity 3.1 Determinism and free will Write down some characteristics of your own behaviour. Do you feel that you behave in the way that you do because you make a free choice? Or do you think that, to some extent at least, some of your behaviour has been determined by things outside your direct control? If so, what things (or factors) do you think have influenced your life?
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Empiricism
Another characteristic of positivist approaches is the distinction researchers make between theories (ideas) and observations (empirical knowledge). Empirical, or factual, knowledge is that which can be directly perceived. This is known as an empiricist concept of knowledge, or epistemology. Empiricist epistemology holds that the only valid source of knowledge is that based on experience. For example, if, as you are reading this, you are sitting on a chair, you know the chair exists because you can see it and feel it. In scientific terms, an empiricist epistemology means that research has to be grounded in concrete evidence that can be checked out. The positivist view is that science (and good social science) involves constructing theories that express relations between observable phenomena (or things). Theories are then tested out in research designs to see if the phenomena behave in the way predicted by the theory. Theories may then be proven, partly proven, or even falsified. The important consequence of this sociologically is that positivist research is confined to relationships between observable social phenomena. According to this view, science and (good) social science, provides objective knowledge that is, as far as possible, value free. What proves a scientific truth is the empirical evidence, not the researchers subjective values or arguments. We do not have to take the researchers word for it. The theory can be tested and it is the evidence that shows whether or not it works. This view can be summarised in the phrase the facts speak for themselves.
Methods
There are clear links between positivist theory and the research designs and methods that we looked at in Chapter 2. Before reading on, ask yourself what research designs and methods you think would be most common in positivist research. If you cannot begin to answer this, go back and reread about sociological research designs and methods in Chapter 2. The links between positivist theory and research can be worked out logically from what we already know. For positivists, the goal of sociology is to produce an objective understanding of societies by following the principles of the natural sciences. Therefore positive research is guided primarily by the scientific criteria of the measuring instruments of quantification, systematic collection of evidence, reliability and transparency. Positivist research designs tend to be those that are closest to the logic of natural science research: surveys or experimental designs. Favoured methods are those that are more likely to produce testable and quantifiable data, such as structured interviews, structured observation and analysis of official statistics (Figure 3.4). Theory Positivism Research design (most common) Social surveys Experimental Comparative Research methods (most common) Structural interviews Structural observations Official statistics
Figure 3.4: Theory, design and method 71
Positivist ideas are very important because they still underpin a great deal of research in sociology, and almost all research in psychology and in economics. However, they have been subject to a great deal of criticism. Some sociologists, as we have seen, argue that scientific methods have little or no application in sociology. Others suggest that the positivist interpretation of science is flawed. We shall look at the alternative sociological theories of knowledge arising out of these critiques below. Activity 3.2 Positivism Can you write down three characteristics of positivist theory? Look at your list. Now make of few notes to explain how these points are linked to each other. Which of the following research projects is more likely to be underpinned by positivist theory? An in-depth analysis using unstructured interviews to find out how the victims of crime really felt about their experiences. A statistical study of crime rates amongst a citys different ethnic populations. Can you think of any other criticisms of positivist theory? (For a clue, go back and look at the relation of theory to research on p.81, particularly the second point on theory and data collection.)
Summary
Positivist theory argues that the methods of the natural sciences are applicable to the study of societies (naturalism). In the positivist view, sociology involves the search for causal relationships between observable phenomena and theories are tested against observations. Although very few sociologists today would describe themselves as positivists, positivist assumptions are important because they still underpin a great deal of empirical research.
3.3 Interpretivism
Further reading Marsh (2002) pp.2125. The interpretivist tradition in sociology developed largely as a criticism of the dominant theory of positivism. Interpretivist sociologists do not necessarily reject the positivist account of scientific knowledge, but what they do question is the idea that the logic and methods of natural science can be imported into the study of societies. Max Weber (18641920) was one of the main influences on the interpretivist tradition in sociology. For him, natural science and social science are two very different enterprises requiring a different logic and different methods. The humanist question At the heart of interpretivist critique of positivism is a humanist viewpoint. Some of those favouring an interpretivist view of sociology have long argued that in their quest for a scientific explanation of social life, positivist sociologists have sometimes forgotten that they are studying people, and to study people you need to get out and explore how they really think and act in everyday situations.
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The same question is now being raised in other social sciences, some of which you may be studying at some time on your programme. For example, there is now a flourishing humanist movement in psychology. Economics, traditionally the most complacent and self-consciously scientific of the social sciences, is starting to ask itself some similar questions. A group of economists is now arguing that one of the weaknesses of economics has been its failure to get out into the world and see how people really behave in economic situations. Consumers, for example, often make very irrational choices. The key idea of interpretivist ontology is that there is a fundamental difference between the natural world and social world. The social world is meaningful. As Schutz (18991959), one of the most important influences on interpretive sociology, argued:
The world of nature, as explored by the natural scientist, does not mean anything to molecules, atoms and electrons therein. The observational field of the social scientist, however, namely the social reality, has a specific meaning and relevance structure for beings living, acting and thinking therein. (Schutz, 1954)
As people engage in conscious, intentional activities and attach meanings to their actions, human societies are essentially subjective realities. Social institutions the subject matter of sociology cannot be divorced from the subjective understanding that people (including sociologists) have of them. Interpretivists argue that the positivist idea of a chain of causation is quite logical in the natural world where a particular stimulus consistently produces a given effect, but does not apply in the social world. People do not merely react to stimuli. Rather, they actively interpret the situations in which they find themselves and act on the basis of these interpretations, as we illustrate below. A problem at work Imagine you are working in a bank and your manager comes in and starts shouting at you about how bad your work is. What you would do next depends on how you interpret his action. For example: Interpretation He is quite right. I have been making mistakes and causing him problems. He is out of order and has no right to talk to me like that the mistakes were mainly his fault anyway. It is so unlike him to get angry like this, but I know he has problems at home and this is why he has lost his temper. Action You apologise and promise to do better in future. You argue back and threaten to report him for bullying. You stay quiet and accept the criticism.
There are two points here that illustrate the interpretivist position: The same stimulus the angry manager can produce different responses depending on how his anger is interpreted (i.e. there is not necessarily a consistent causeeffect relationship). Whatever your response, a researcher cannot really make sense of your behaviour without interpreting the meaning that you attributed to your managers actions, for it is this meaning that explains your response.
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Activity 3.3 Your week Write down three experiences you have had in the past week. How to do you think a sociologist researching you could interpret and make sense of these experiences? What do you think the limitations of such a study would be?
Verstehen
A key concept here (also described in Chapter 2 and Chapter 4, section 4.2) is verstehen, a German word meaning understanding. The idea of verstehen is that researchers, as far as possible, place themselves imaginatively in the position of those they are studying and ask how they see the world and what ends they believe are served by their actions. Phenomenology is another important concept in interpretivist epistemology, associated particularly with the work of Alfred Schutz. A phenomenological approach means studying everyday life, focusing on peoples states of consciousness and bracketing off judgments about what may be causing their behaviour. Phenomenology argues that its not enough simply to interpret the meanings people give to their actions, sociology has to show how people come to construct these meanings for their actions. We will be looking at phenomenology in more detail in Chapter 4, section 4.3. Sociologists adopting an interpretivist approach to study crime, for example, would not begin by asking what causes criminal behaviour. They would start by trying to interpret criminal behaviour from the criminals point of view (see Activity below). This does not mean, of course, that sociologists have to agree with those points of view but rather that they have to interpret them in order to understand crime. An important issue raised by Max Weber is that behaviour that seems the same from the outside can have very different meanings when examined from the inside. This is elaborated in Activity 3.4 below. Activity 3.4 The social meanings of actions Car theft is a growing crime, particularly in Western societies. But the act of breaking into someones car and driving it away can have different meanings for different people. For example: financial gain: the car can be changed and sold revenge: people who have expensive cars deserve to have them taken and wrecked convenience: borrowing someones car to get somewhere else danger: the motivation is the risk of getting caught and being chased by the police. Interpretivist sociologists argue that these different meanings require different explanations. Ask yourself what meaning the degree programme you are now taking has for you. Can you think of some different meanings that other students taking your degree programme may have? If you have time, you could do a little research and ask some of them. How do you think these different meanings might influence students motivation for the degree programme?
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Methods
The aim of interpretivist approaches in sociology is to understand the subjective experiences of those being studied, how they think and feel and how they act in their natural contexts. Therefore, although interpretivists still try to be objective and systematic in their research, the key criterion in interpretivist epistemology is validity. The favoured research design is ethnography and the main methods are ones that help researchers understand social life from the point of view of those being studied, such as unstructured observation, unstructured interviews and personal documents (Figure 3.5). Theory Positivism Research design (most common) Social surveys Experimental Comparative Ethnography Research methods (most common) Structural interviews Structural observations Official statistics Participant observation Unstructured interviews Personal documents
Interpretivism

Figure 3.5: Theory, design and methods
Interpretivism has provided a powerful critique of many of the taken-forgranted ideas of positivism that are widely used in sociology and in other social sciences. It has also influenced a whole field of research illuminating peoples everyday life experiences. However, interpretivists accounts are criticised by some sociologists for not providing testable hypotheses that can be evaluated. This can lead to relativism where one theory, or study, is seen as just as good as any other. Activity 3.5 Interpretivism Identify three key characteristics of interpretivist theory. Make some notes explaining how these characteristics are linked to each other. Identify three research methods that are more likely to be favoured by interpretivist sociologists. Can you think of any criticisms of interpretivist theory other than the two mentioned above? Activity 3.6 Sociology and science Write down some arguments in favour of sociology as a science of society. Now write down some arguments against this view. Which view do you find more convincing and why?
Summary
Interpretivists argue that there are fundamental differences between the natural world and the social world and that the logic and methods of the natural sciences are not applicable to the study of societies. Sociological methods are primarily about investigating and understanding the meanings that people give to their actions.
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3.4 Realism
Further reading Parker (2003) Chapter 11 is also relevant to this section but it is not essential reading. Realist theory, like positivism, holds that sociology can, and should, follow the logic and methods of the natural sciences. Where realism differs from positivism is in its interpretation of science. Realists question positivisms empiricist interpretation of the basis of scientific knowledge. (If you cannot remember what empiricism means go back and remind yourself, using section 3.2.) They argue that no form of science relies exclusively on observable empirical evidence. There are always aspects of any form of reality that remain hidden beneath the surface of what can be observed. According to realists, the aim of scientific work rather than looking at relationships between observable phenomena as positivists argue is to uncover the underlying causal mechanisms that bring about observable regularities. The idea of medical viruses was originally constructed to explain infections that could not be explained as a result of bacteria or germs. Thus, while the causal mechanisms were unobservable or hidden they were nonetheless real and observable in the effect of the viruses. This is where the term realism comes from (Figure 3.6). Observable regularities underlying generative mechanisms
Figure 3.6: Hidden causes
Realism has become quite fashionable in sociology. However, like positivism and interpretivism, it has a long history. For example, there were strong realist elements in the work of Karl Marx. Marx was particularly interested in the analysis of capital accumulation and the process of change. However, he argued that the observable features of capitalist society, such as economic fluctuation, capital growth and massive inequalities, could only be explained in terms of something called the mode of production; that is the relationship between how goods are produced and how production is organised. (However, the mode of production was a theoretical construct that could not be observed directly. Thus, for Marx, to understand how capitalism worked, you had to look beneath the surface.) In Chapter 4, section 4.2, we will be examining Marxs theories in more detail and you will need to know why he has been described as a realist to be able to understand the idea of a mode of production which can only be seen by its effects. The development of a clear, realist epistemology is comparatively recent in sociology and owes much to new realist writers like Bhaskar (1986) and Pawson (1989). The key to realist epistemology is that it is theory-driven and non-empiricist.
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Realists do not make the clear separation between theory (ideas) and observation (facts) found in positivism. In positivist research theories are tested against observations and found to be true or false or somewhere in between. In simple terms, the facts are the judge of the theory. Realists do not make this clear-cut separation because they do not believe that observations can be separated from theories. For realists, all data is theory-dependent. Before reading on, try Activity 3.7 below. Activity 3.7 The facts? Do you agree with the realist argument that there are no such things as facts without theories? Can you find some examples of data that you think are theory free? As theory comes before data collection, theoretical concepts impose a frame of reference on the data rather like the way in which the rules of a game set parameters for the players. Theory thus orders data. However, if theory and observation cannot be separated, this raises the question of how theories can be evaluated. Realists address this question by looking at what happens in the natural sciences. They argue in contrast to the positivist view that data collection in science is also theory-dependent and that explanation does not involve testing theories against observations, but rather generating data to test theories against each other. Realists argue that this is what should happen in social sciences. As data never speak for themselves but can only be interpreted through theory, research should be about developing, refining and comparing theories in the following way: a research problem is formulated the most plausible theories are identified research designs are constructed to compare the explanatory power of rival theories in given circumstances. As Pawson (1999, p.47) observes:
Data analysis whether quantitative or qualitative is about utilising evidence to choose between theories. The principle skill of data analysis is the refinement of theory.
Although realists see the structure and logic of scientific inquiry as being applicable in the social sciences, they recognise two important differences between the study of the social world and the natural world: The social world is an open system and the social contexts enabling (or preventing) the operation of causal mechanisms are subject to rapid and sometimes unpredictable change. This severely limits the scope for prediction and generalisation in social science compared to most natural sciences that can operate under experimental, or closed, systems. The causal mechanisms in social life only operate through peoples intentions and thus, in contrast to positivists, realists argue that sociology involves the attempt to understand subjects interpretations of situations.
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Methods
Realists, like positivists, see research being guided primarily by scientific criteria, such as the systematic collection of evidence, reliability and transparency. However, because they recognise the importance of the subjective dimension of human action, they also include methods that document the validity of peoples experiences. Research designs are more likely to be experimental or comparative in realist research, but there is no particular commitment to either quantitative or qualitative methods. The focus of realist methodology, however, is on theory. Realists argue that as there is no such thing as theory-free data: sociological methods should be specifically focused on the evaluation and comparison of theoretical concepts, explanations and policies (Figure 3.7). Theory Positivism Research design (most common) Social surveys Experimental Comparative Research methods (most common) Structural interviews Structural observations Official statistics Participant observation Unstructural interviews Personal documents Non-specific, but methods are theory-focused
Interpretivism Ethnography Realism Experimental Comparative
Figure 3.7: Theory, design and methods
New realism has provided a different and what most commentators believe to be a valid interpretation of science and its relationship to social sciences. It has also provided a (developing) alternative to the dominant theories of positivism and interpretivism and laid the foundations for a non-empiricist epistemology in social science. However, realism is also criticised for exaggerating the dependence of science and social science on theory, and realist epistemology offers, at best, very limited truths about the social world.
Summary
Realism holds that sociology involves trying to uncover the underlying mechanisms that generate observable events. It suggests that rather than testing theories against the facts, data is generated to evaluate theories against each other.
Conclusion
All sociological research designs and methods make certain assumptions about the nature of the social world and how knowledge is generated. One of the ways that research can be evaluated and improved is to make these assumptions more explicit. For example, one of the questions we have addressed here is about the nature of scientific knowledge and whether or not it is applicable to societies. As we have seen, positivism, interpretivism and realism give different answers to this question. However, while these theories have been separated out here in order to explain them more clearly, it is important to repeat a point made earlier in this section: that a great deal of sociological research contains elements of all three.
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Having completed this chapter, and the essential reading and activities, you should have a clearer idea of: how research is underpinned by theoretical ideas what is meant by an ontology/epistemology problem in sociology the key aspects of positivist theory the interpretivist critique of positivism and the key aspects of interpretivist approaches in sociology what is meant by realism in sociology and how realism is different from both positivism and interpretivism.
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21 Principles of Sociology
Notes
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Chapter 4: Theories and developments

Written by Dr Steve Taylor and Rosemary Gosling.
Introduction
In the previous chapter we looked at theories of knowledge that have general implications for social sciences. In this chapter we are going to look at some sociological theories, or perspectives, that have been specifically developed to describe and explain how societies work and change. This chapter is particularly important for Section B. It can be studied or read immediately after Chapter 2 if you would prefer to understand the history of sociology before you start understanding the subject in more detail.
Aims of the chapter

The aims of this chapter are to: outline the origins of sociology and sociological thinking introduce you to the classical sociological theory of Marx, Durkheim and Weber, and to structural functionalism introduce you to micro sociology and the phenomenological approach identify some of the key theoretical dilemmas and developments in social theory outline the postmodern critique of sociology.
Learning objectives
By the end of this chapter, and having completed the essential reading and activities, you should: understand the historical development of sociology and its roots in the Enlightenment be aware of the influence of the major sociologists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and their contribution to social theory and substantive sociology be able to compare and contrast the approaches of the major theorists understand how sociology has developed since the 1980s into a more fragmented disciplinary.
Chapter structure
4.1 Origins of sociology 4.2 Sociological theories 4.3 Bringing the individual back in 4.4 Postmodernity and sociology
Essential reading
Whereas in Chapter 3 your main reading was this subject guide, your main reading here, particularly on the theories themselves, will be your textbooks.
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21 Principles of sociology Fulcher, J. and J. Scott Sociology. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) Chapter 2. or Giddens, A. Sociology. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008) Chapters 1 and 4. or Macionis, J. and K. Plummer Sociology: a global introduction. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2005 edition) Chapters 2 and 7. Macionis, J. and K. Plummer Sociology: a global introduction. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2008 edition) Chapters 2 and 7. and Cuff, E., W.W. Sharrock and D.W. Francis (London: Routledge, 2006) Chapters 16, 89 and 1213. or Lee, D. and H. Newby The problem of sociology. (London: Routledge, 2000) Parts 1 and 48.
Further reading
We suggest that if you want to look for these in an order of preference, it should be Swingewood, Parker, Kumar and Lyon first.
Bhaskar, R. Scientific realism and human emancipation. (London: Verso, 1986). Kumar, K. From post-industrial to post-modern society: new theories of the contemporary world. (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004). Lyon, D. Postmodernity. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press 1999). Marsh, I. Theory and practice in sociology. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2002) Chapters 4, 6 and 7. May, T. Situating social theory. (Buckingham: Open University 2008) Chapters 1, 2 and 10. Parker, J. Social theory: a basic tool kit. (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2003) Chapters 67. Pawson, R. Methodology in Taylor, S. (ed.) Sociology: issues and debates. (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 1999). Pawson, R. Measure for measures: a manifesto for an empirical sociology. (London: Routledge, 1989). Schutz, A. Concept and theory formation, The Journal of Philosophy 51(9) 1954, pp.25773. Swingewood, A. A short history of sociological thought. (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2005) third edition.
Videos/DVD
There are three videos/DVDs that may be helpful to you for the material being covered in this chapter: Understanding sociological theory From modernity to postmodernity Anthony Giddens on Capitalism and modern social theory All produced by halovine see 8 www.halovine.com
4.1 Origins of sociology

This section is about some of the key sociological theories that sociologists have developed to help describe and explain the modern world. However, to begin to understand these theories, it is necessary first to look back to the origins of sociology. What was sociology trying to explain? Why did it develop when it did? What ideas influenced its development?
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From pre-modernity to modernity

First, some key terms that you will encounter in your reading about the rise of modern societies are: Modern: in everyday life modern refers to something new and up to date. It has a rather different meaning in sociology. A modern society is sociological shorthand to describe societies which are characterised by mass production, consumer goods, urban living, nation states and predominantly secular values. Modernity: this describes the attributes of modern societies outlined above. Modernisation: this means the processes of societies becoming modern. Industrialisation: this describes a process of rapid economic growth arising from the increasingly sophisticated application of inanimate (i.e. mechanical) sources of power. The invention and development of the steam engine, for example, had a major impact on the process of industrialisation. Urbanisation: a process where the proportion of people living in urban areas increases. Market: in its most general sense a market is an arena where goods and services are freely exchanged for money. Most modern societies have been characterised by the spread of market economics and this is reflected in sociological thinking. For example, Webers concept of social class was built on classifying peoples market situation. Capitalism: this is a form of economic organisation where the means of generating economic wealth are largely in private hands and are organised predominantly for profit. Sociology developed in Europe in the nineteenth century, primarily as an attempt to understand the massive social and economic changes that had been sweeping across Western Europe in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These changes were later described as the great transition from pre-modern to modern societies. As Francis has observed:
The idea of a great transition by which modern, urban, industrial society emerged from pre-modern society, rural society is arguably the central motif of the history of sociology. In one form or another it has influenced every area of sociology and provided some of its most abiding theoretical and empirical questions.1
Francis (1987) p.1.
The distinction between pre-modern and modern is outlined below. However it is important, first, to get these terms into perspective. Premodernity and modernity are very general terms used by sociologists to describe the key characteristics of societies and long processes of social change. Societies dont suddenly just change from one form to another. All historical periods are the legacy of what came before and the past doesnt just disappear. Aspects of modern societies (such as the growth of science) were developing in pre-modern societies and some characteristics of premodern societies (such as the continuation of monarchies in some societies) survive in the modern world.
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Pre-modernity
Pre-modern societies were predominantly rural and agricultural; that is, the majority of the population lived and worked on the land. It was largely a non-market economy and production was based on small units, organised around the family; there was a very limited division of labour with very little mobility (that is movement) between different strata. Although there were various occupational strata, such as clerics, soldiers, merchants and craftsmen, the two major strata in Europe were the lords, or aristocracy, and the peasants, or serfs. The lords owned the land and the peasants worked the land, giving the greater part of what they produced to the lords. This economic order was known as feudalism. Politically, pre-modern societies were largely decentralised with localised leadership and government was despotic, or arbitrary. Justice and punishment depended largely on the personal views of those dispensing it. Religion was the major source of intellectual authority, and custom and tradition governed peoples everyday behaviour. There was a sense of permanence about social life: things were done in certain ways because they had always been done that way.
Modernity
Modern societies are predominantly urban and industrial and the majority of them are capitalist. Modern economies are money-based market economies with mass production of goods organised in factories. The division of labour becomes increasingly complex and allocation to occupational roles is based, at least in theory, more on qualifications and achievement than on birth and privilege. Modern societies are characterised politically by centralised nation states that begin to play an increasingly large part in peoples lives by, for example, providing employment for many and services, such as education, health care and welfare to most citizens. Social life is organised around formal rules and bureaucratic procedures rather than custom and tradition, and science replaces religion as the major source of intellectual authority. In modern societies the pace of life increases: industrial societies are societies in a permanent state of change. As Karl Marx famously put it, all that is solid melts into air. Pre-modern Agricultural production Small-scale units of production Village communities/small towns Traditional values and behaviour Religion major source of knowledge Dominant class: aristocracy Majority class: peasantry Despotic government Modern Industrial production Large-scale units of mass production Urban conurbations Rational, goal-orientated activity Science major source of knowledge Dominant class: capitalist class Majority class: industrial workers Democratic government
Figure 4.1: Pre-modern and modern societies
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Pre-modern societies were relatively static compared to modern societies and the world that people left was little changed from the one they were born into. However, the fact that societies were changing so dramatically in such a short space of time led some scholars to become curious about societies, and they began asking questions about the sources of social order and social change and the effect of these changes on peoples lives. These are questions that we identified in Chapter 1 as fundamental sociological questions. However, just as modern societies developed out of pre-modern societies, so the new subject of sociology drew on earlier influences, and one of the most significant of these was an intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment. Activity 4.1 Are you living in modernity? Different societies have modernised at different times. Would you describe your society as a modern society? If so, when do you think it became modern? (You would probably be describing a period of around 50 years or so here.) What do you think are some of the benefits and some of the drawbacks of living in modern society?
The Enlightenment
Now read Macionis and Plummer (2005) pp.1115 or Macionis and Plummer (2008) pp.1217 or Fulcher and Scott (2007) pp.2327 or Giddens (2008) p.10. Further reading Swingewood (2005) provides an excellent explanation of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a name given to a philosophical and social movement in Europe roughly spanning the last quarter of the seventeenth century until the last quarter of the eighteenth century. It championed the power of human reason, the rights of the individual and a commitment to social progress. It was called the Enlightenment because scholars believed they were throwing light into the gloom of a world that for too long had been dominated by tradition, superstition, irrationality and, above all, religious dogma. Major figures of the Enlightenment included philosophers Descartes (15961650) and Kant (17241804), the scientist Isaac Newton (16431727), and writer Voltaire (16941778). Although it was a diverse movement spanning different subject areas in different countries in Europe, Enlightenment philosophers shared two principles. First, they believed in the power of the rationality of the human mind to understand the world. Science was the epitome of reason and rationality because it produced objective knowledge of the world that was not conditioned by religious superstition. Second, they had confidence that human beings would use this knowledge to transform the world for the better. Scientific knowledge would give people more power and control over nature, and this power would be used to improve the human condition. For example, scientific developments would create more productive agriculture, more consumer goods, and scientific medicine would reduce disease.
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The radical nature of these ideas should not be underestimated. They constituted a direct challenge to the view of the world put forward by the Church that the order of the world was the result of Gods will and couldnt be changed. There had, of course, been a number of individual scholars who had challenged the Churchs view of the world long before the Enlightenment. However, what was distinctive about the Enlightenment was that it was a social movement whose influence spread beyond the scholars themselves. Technological developments, particularly in transport and printing, meant that the ideas of Enlightenment scholars were reaching a greater proportion of an increasingly literate population and the Churchs monopolistic position over knowledge and information was being challenged on a wider scale. The Enlightenment thus brought about a cultural change in what constitutes knowledge and a distinctly modern conception of knowledge was born. This modern way of thinking was not only applied to the study of the natural world, it was also increasingly applied to the social world. Embryonic sociological perspectives could be detected in the Enlightenment, as scholars became more interested in how social life was organised. Hamilton (1992) suggests that the essence of this embryonic sociology is captured by Kants motto, dare to know. For the first time, people could dare to know about the social arrangements under which they lived rather than have them presented to them through the haze of a religious ideology. By knowing about these social arrangements, their operation would become clear and thus open to change. (Hamilton, 1992, pp.5556). However, although Enlightenment philosophers were interested in the social and how it could, and should, be organised, they lacked a concept of society. The idea that societies were subjects of study in their own right did not come until the nineteenth century when early sociologists, such as Henri St Simon (17601825) and Auguste Comte (17981857), used the concept of society to describe the new institutions, social groupings and productive processes arising out of the wreckage of the pre-modern European world. This view represented a break with the Enlightenment. While the Enlightenment philosophers, committed to the idea of individuals as essentially rational and self-sufficient, saw societies merely as collections of individuals, for most early sociologists, societies were much more than this. Although created by individuals, they also shaped the ways that people thought and acted. However, the Enlightenment ideal of providing rational understanding of societies in order to improve them, not only inspired the genesis of sociology but continues to underpin the subject today.
Summary
In nineteenth century Europe, as an attempt to make sense of the massive changes taking place in newly modernising societies, sociology developed as an autonomous subject, separate from philosophy and economics. Sociology was and continues to be profoundly influenced by the Enlightenments key values of rationality, scientific understanding and the application of knowledge to improving the human condition. Activity 4.2 Comtes famous statement was To know is to predict, to predict is to control. How did Comte believe we could know? How did he believe sociology could predict?
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4.2 Sociological theories

Reading The best textbook for this section is Fulcher and Scott (2007) Chapter 2. This will provide you with most of the reading required for this section. Giddens (2008), and Macionis and Plummer (2005 or 2008) provide good introductory material, but do not go into enough depth for this unit. If you have bought this text you will need to depend on one of the two texts below for most of the background reading on the sociologists discussed here. We have indicated two supporting texts: Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) or Lee and Newby (2000). For extra reading, Swingewood (2005) provides an excellent historical approach and links Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, section 4.1 very well to this section.
Works cited
Cohen, P . Modern social theory. (London: Heinemann, 1968) [ISBN 9780435821814]. Craib, I. Modern social theory. (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992) second edition [ISBN 9780312086749]. Durkheim, E. Le suicide. [Most recent edition: London: Routledge, 2002] Translated by Spaulding, J.A. and G. Simpson. [ISBN 9780710033116]. Durkheim, E. The division of labour. (Basingstoke: Macmillan,1984) second edition [ISBN 9780333339817]. Elwell, Frank The sociology of Max Weber. (1996). www.faculty.rsu.edu/ ~felwell/Theorists/Weber/Whome.htm Gerth, H.H. and C. Wright Mills (eds) From Max Weber. (London: Routledge, 1991) [ISBN 9780415060561 (pbk)]. Marx, K. Das Kapital. Marx, K. The German ideology. See: 8 www.marxists.org/archive/marx/ works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm Marx, K. Preface to a contribution to the critique of political economy in Karl Marx: early writings. (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975) [ISBN 9780140216684]. Parsons, Talcott The structure of social action. (Free Press, 1969) [ISBN 9780029242407]. Weber, Max On the methodology of the social sciences. (Glencoe: Free Press, 1949) [ISBN 9780029343609]. Weber, Max The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. Translated by Talcott Parsons, with an introduction by Anthony Giddens (London: Unwyn Hyman, 1989) [ISBN 9780415254069].
Introduction
We begin this section by reading about how social theory developed from and in reaction to the Enlightenment. In the first part of this section you will read about: the development of social theory in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries three of the major classical sociologists Marx, Weber and Durkheim the structural functionalists. The second part will address theories which are broadly interpretivist.
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The third part of this section will link the two and introduce you to some new developments. You will have come across many of these theories in your initial reading but here we concentrate on their major contributions to social theory. While you are reading, please remember the following: This is not a unit in social theory and you will not be expected to know and understand each theorist in detail. Social theorists themselves were profoundly influenced by other social theorists and the times in which they wrote, so it is important that you have some knowledge of the history and the society in which they were writing. You are not learning about social theory for its own sake. We are providing you with building blocks so that you can understand the contribution that each theorist has made to the subject of sociology and for your understanding of Section B on Globalisation and social change. In order to study your chosen topic in Section C you will need to have a good understanding of the different approaches of the major sociologists. In your reading do try to understand the major aspects of their approach to sociology rather than simply trying to categorise them into predetermined boxes. While you are reading about these sociologists, think about and make notes on the following: the assumptions each has about the nature of society the assumptions they have about human nature and the role of the individual their view of history and their explanation of social change their explanation and understanding of social order the role of ideas and ideology their view of science and their prescriptions as to how to find out about society. In short, think about how they address the key sociological problems which you encountered in Chapter 1. This section of the subject guide is vital for the work that you will do on your Section C topic. The writers of Section C chapters have assumed that you will have knowledge of the sociological theory introduced here. We suggest therefore that you ensure that you have understood the major assumptions of each theory before you start on your chosen topic for Section C. After you have worked on Section C return to this section of Chapter 4. You will then be able to see clearly the relevance of each theory and be able to illustrate your answers with material from your chosen topic.
Examination advice
In the examination you will be expected to write about any one or more sociologists. The questions could ask you to describe and explain the major aspects of their perspective, criticise their assumptions, compare them, assess their contribution to sociology, etc. You may also be asked to describe any one perspective, for example: Marxism, structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism.
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Background
In the first part of section 4.1 we described the great changes that occurred in Europe. You read about the economic changes (industrialisation and urbanisation) and, most importantly for this section, the Enlightenment. We have created a flowchart (on p.90) for you to track the sociologists that we will be discussing. Use it to help you locate them in time. This diagram has been left intentionally incomplete feel free to add your own notes and links as you read. Professor Percy Cohen suggested that all sociological theory should: explain, or suggest ways of explaining, why social phenomena have the characteristics they have provide ideas for an analysis of complex social processes and events aid in the construction of models of how social structures and social systems operate.2 Cohen believed that Marx, Weber and Durkheim were committed to these aims and that it should be possible to evaluate their theories in the light of these three aims. Marx, Weber and Durkheim along with Comte, are often called The founding fathers of sociology, so you should know about these social theorists and the influence they had on the development of sociology. Keep these aims in mind as you read about these sociologists and the other sociological perspectives you are introduced to.
2
Cohen (1968).
Karl Marx (18181883)

Reading Before you read this section on Marx, look up and read the section on Marx in your chosen textbook or in any reference book, or on the website 8 www.marxists.org Note: Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) or Lee and Newby (2000) provide a good deal of material on Marx, and we will not give you a complete description of his work or the work of the later Marxists here. We have provided you with some guidance for your reading and some description of his concepts, especially historical materialism. Marx was one of the greatest social critics of the nineteenth century. Marxs ideas have had a profound influence not only on sociology but on many social and political movements, indeed many revolutions in the twentieth century were, in part, influenced by them. He wrote extensively on economics and philosophy and all these ideas have been incorporated in much twentieth century sociological theory. A major aspect of his work concerned the nature of social relationships, and particularly class relationships, so it quite properly fits into sociology. You should be aware of the major influences on his thought. His genius lay in his ability to create new ideas from those existing in philosophy and economics and from the writings and observations of social activists. The major influences on his thought were: The Scottish Enlightenment (Adam Smith and David Ricardo from whom he took ideas such as the division of labour and the idea of economic rent extraction of surplus value). The Utopian Socialists. German Idealism Hegel.
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The Enlightenment philosophers (1770-1831)
Kant (1724 - 1804) Hegel (1770 - 1831) Comte (1798 - 1857)
Spencer (1820 - 1903)
Marx (1818 - 1880)
Durkheim (1858 - 1917)
Weber (1864 - 1920)
Meade (1863 - 1931)
Structural Functionalism
Figure 4.2
Marxism
Symbolic Interactionism
Ethnomethodology
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Marxs influences: Georg Hegel

Georg Hegel (17701831) is important for an understanding of Marxs historical materialism. Idealism, (progress and human history) Idealists, as we have seen in Chapter 3, section 3.1 attempt to explain the nature of society in terms of human consciousness. What distinguishes humanity from other living things is its ability to conceptualise, to construct categories of thought. Hegel believed in the progression of humanity, thus he thought individuals would be increasingly able to understand the social and natural worlds and the processes and principles which lie behind their development. He further suggested that the ability to control the natural world would result in a creation of a superior moral and social life. The dialectic
The Hegelian notion of the dialectic holds that all matter (or the thesis) always and inevitably creates its own opposite (or antithesis). From the contradiction between the thesis and the antithesis there emerges a transformation which becomes the new thesis.3
Lee and Newby (2000).
These two major aspects of Hegelian logic are central to Marxs analysis. Change is seen as progress but society changes dialectically through struggle and contradiction.
Marxs influences: Ludwig Feuerbach

Ludwig Feuerbach (18041872) was a pupil of Hegel, who developed his ideas and suggested the following: Gods did not create humanity but humanity created gods. These gods were idealised creations of human thought. Early religions were based on attempts by their believers to make sense of the world especially in times of disruption. Feuerbach suggested that people who had not yet developed the social and technical knowledge to understand the natural and social world attributed particular powers to these social constructions. Over time, these social constructions became institutionalised into formidable belief systems which control their adherents. He called this phenomenon religious alienation. Activity 4.3 In your own words answer the following questions: How did Feuerbach account for religious behaviour? How do you think that Feuerbach would suggest that religious alienation could be overcome? Marx asked a key question of Hegel and the idealist philosophers: where do ideas come from? Marx rejected the notion that ideas determine the nature of social life. How did he come to this conclusion? He asked the following question: Why do people need religion? In particular, he asked why did the poor and the oppressed need religion, which he called the opium of the people. He accepted Feuerbachs assertion that religion was a social creation, but he suggested that people create religion to deal with the real misery which confronts them.
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21 Principles of sociology As long as people were poor, ignorant and needful of help, religious ways of thought, however illusory, would constantly reproduce themselves.
Marx rejected Feuerbachs view of religious alienation. He believed that the reason that people believed in supernatural forces was a result of their objective situation. If they were unhappy then they turned to religion, which acted as an opiate and which would dull their pain. Religious beliefs and values were not, as the idealists suggested, independent of the material conditions that existed in a particular era. Therefore Marx rejected the notion that ideas determine social life; there is a real material world and in order to gain knowledge of this material world we must participate in it. It is not enough to theorise about it. He therefore suggested that it was necessary to examine the nature of the material conditions that faced the working class, to uncover the real relationships between capital and labour.
Marx and realism

In Chapter 3, section 3.4 you read about realism. You will see here that the capitalist mode of production is an example of a theoretical construct which cannot be observed directly. You have to look beneath the surface to find out how capitalism works. Now read Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) pp.1020 or Lee and Newby (2000) pp.11315. Ensure that you understand the influences of Hegel and the Idealists on Marxs thought. From these ideas follow Marxs ontological assumptions about the nature of society.
Marx and materialism

In your reading you will have seen that Hegels idealism saw society as guided by and limited by the human spirit or Geist. Marx asks where does this spirit come from? Where do ideas come from? Marx believed that ideas are a product of society so we should not only study ideas, we should study society empirically and scientifically rather than by means of speculation or metaphysics. Now read At this point, reread the section on Epistemology in Chapter 3 (pp.7879). Materialism is not an easy concept. At its most basic in Marxist analysis, it is the assumption that he developed from Henri de St Simon that the most important aspect of human existence is the necessity to produce the means of subsistence. Everything else follows from this: social relationships, the structure of society, ideology, etc.
The first premise of all human existence and, therefore, of all history, (is that humans) must be in a position to live in order to be able to make history. But life involves before anything else, eating and drinking, a habitation (shelter/home), clothing and many other things. The first historical act is thus the production of the means to satisfy these needs, the production of material life itself.4
From Marx, The German Ideology see www.marxists. org/archive/marx/works/1845/ german-ideology/ch01a.htm

4
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Activity 4.4 Men distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they produce their means of subsistence. (Marx and Engels) Can you explain this statement? Why do you think the form of production makes a difference to how people think and behave? Marx suggested that in primitive communism, nature controlled man, and human development involved mans increasing ability to control nature. Do you think that this is the case in the twenty-first century? Can people control nature? Think about the recent catastrophes such as SARS, the tsunami and other earthquakes.
Marx: base and superstructure

In your reading you will see that each type of society is characterised by a particular mode of production which determines the nature of class relationships and all other social institutions. The mode of production is made up of: the forces of production the way that goods are made in any epoch relations of production the productive relationships; ownership and non-ownership of the productive forces; the nature of the relationships between the major classes, the economic roles that are allowed by the state. The forces and relations of production make up the economic base (infrastructure). The superstructure is, in the last instance, determined by the infrastructure and is composed of the prevailing cultural ideas, and other social institutions, including law. Now read Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) pp.2122 or Lee and Newby (2000) pp.11520. As with many social theorists of the nineteenth century, the idea of progress and development was central to Marxs writings. He explains change dialectically. Changes occur in the way that goods are produced as a result of changes in technology, for example, in agriculture during the agricultural revolution, or the steam engine in the industrial revolution. These changes give rise to tensions and contradictions between the productive relations and the productive forces (infrastructure). These tensions in turn give rise to changes in the superstructure.
Marx: conflict and contradictions

Dialectical materialism At the centre of Marxist analysis is the concept of the dialectic (see Hegel). Conflict for Marx is the motor of history. Dialectic strains exist between: a. society and nature between any given level of technology (the productive forces) and the conditions in which these productive forces appear b. the level of technology and the existing social organisation (social relations) which prevent new forms of technology emerging c. the newly developed productive relationships of production (classes) and the traditional system of political ideological institutions (superstructure).
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Political and legal (ideological) superstructure
Forms of social consciousness (art, literature, religion)
Socioeconomic formation
Relations of production
Mode of production
Productive forces
2
Nature
(extra-social environment + human hereditary endowment)
1, 2, 3 Main dialectic strains
Figure 4.3 Source: Diagram adapted from: Sztompka, P. The Sociology of Change. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993) [ISBN 0631182063 (pbk)] p.172.
Now read Fulcher and Scott (2007) pp.78790 or Macionis and Plummer (2005) pp.8288 or Macionis and Plummer (2008) pp.10106 or Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) pp.2232 or Giddens (2008) pp.1417. In your reading you will discover that there are at least two different readings of Marx: humanistic Marxism and scientific or structural Marxism. There have been many readings of Marxs works. Some suggest that the real Marx did not believe that the mode of production determined everything in the superstructure (the Humanists). Others suggest that the economic base is the determining factor in explaining the prevailing legal and political arrangements in society (the Structuralists). Humanistic Marxism Marx believed that the history of mankind had a double aspect. Developments in technology gradually allowed man to control nature. (Remember that Marx was writing in the nineteenth century; industrialisation was occurring throughout Europe). There was general optimism about peoples ability to develop natural resources to produce even more sophisticated goods, and to provide protection from the elements. However Marx believed that the processes of production in capitalism increasingly alienated people. The working class in capitalism became dehumanised.
Alienation refers to the process, endemic to capitalism, whereby the products of human labour become expropriated from and appear as opposed alien to those who produce them. Workers, indeed not only become alienated from the products of their labour, but from the labour process itself, from each other and ultimately from themselves.5
Lee and Newby (2000) p.117
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Activity 4.5 It is a strange idea to think that people could be alienated from themselves (what Marx described as being alienated from their species being). Think about this for a few minutes. What do you think he meant by this? We see science fiction films about aliens and find them fascinating because they are different from us. We cannot understand them. Marx believed that being in a state of alienation prevents us from knowing the real nature of the world and from being our true selves. Marx suggested that Capitalism prevented the people of the working class from understanding their true nature and from understanding their real interests. Therefore people were unaware of what they could achieve. Humanist Marxists believe that the base/superstructure distinction is too deterministic and they believe that the working class can be liberated from this alienated state and realise its full potential. This could be achieved by what Marx called praxis putting theory into action. Marx suggested that the world would not be changed by simply thinking about it. Remember that he had rejected Hegels idealism:
The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however is to change it.6
6
Marx (1975).
It was not inevitable that the members of the working class would develop revolutionary consciousness and become fully aware of the nature of their condition. They have to be encouraged and persuaded by political actors (like Marx). Note: Lenin took the concept of praxis further. He believed that without leadership, the working class will become economistic (they will simply struggle for money not political power). So Humanist Marxists concentrate on both superstructural and infrastructural elements. They believe these have an independent role to play in the class struggle. Structural Marxism Marxists such as Louis Althusser (19181990) believed that the Humanist Marxists laid too much emphasis on the superstructural aspects. Althusser suggested that there had been an epistemological break in Marxs writings. Marxs early writings, he considered, were more philosophical and concerned with alienation and the possibility of emancipation, whereas in Das Kapital he was concerned with exploitation. This exploitation could be understood and measured objectively. It is possible to measure the value of a commodity and the extent to which the capitalist has extracted surplus value.
Marx: the labour theory of value

In your reading you will see that class positions/roles in Marxist analysis are seen to be determined by their position in relation to production. A persons class position depends on his relationship to the means of production whether they are owners or nonowners. Capitalism is a system of commodity production, everything is produced for sale in the market. Labour itself is a commodity. The labour theory of value states that the value of any commodity is the value of the amount of labour required to produce it. The value of a product is the effort put into creating the product. The products that the workers made are sold in the market and the capitalists receive profit from these transactions. The profit they receive is the part of the value of the work that is put into creating the profit.
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In capitalism, the working class is a class of non-ownership. The interests of the capitalist class are opposed to the working class (zero-sum game). The capitalist class extracts surplus value from the working class, which is unaware of the true nature of the relationship. The capitalist class exploits the workers, who are the ones that create value, by not giving them the full value of their labour. Now read Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) pp.2234 or Lee and Newby (2000) pp.12432. Further reading Lee and Newby (2000) Chapter 9 Think about how a Marxist would explain the changes in the family structure and relationships that have occurred in most societies in the last 50 years, in religious belief and practices in the last 30 years, and in the forms of inequality particularly in power, gender and ethnic relationships. Activity 4.6 See if you can answer these questions: 1. How did Marx view society? 2. What is meant by alienation and how does it occur? 3. Does a Marxist analysis of class have relevance today? 4. What is the role of the individual in Marxism? 5. Explain the concept mode of production. How does society change from one epoch to another? 6. What is meant by the terms dialectical materialism and historical determinism? 7. Why is Marx described as a conflict theorist? 8. Was Marx a humanist? 9. What is meant by structural Marxism? You will need to have a good understanding of Marxism and the later Marxists for Section B Globalisation and social change, and also for the Section C chapters on Power in society, Social inequality and social injustice, the Sociology of organisations and Religion and society. However, it will take time for you to understand some of this theory and you will need to reread this section in conjunction with your texts more than once. You will not be required to know and understand all the material in Lee and Newby (2000). The section in Fulcher and Scott (2007) on Marx gives a good indication of the level required, and when read with this section Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) covers all the materials necessary.
Emile Durkheim (18581917)

Reading First we suggest that you look up and read about Durkheim in your chosen textbook. Fulcher and Scott (2007) provide a good introduction in Chapter 2. Chapter 1 of Giddens (2008) also provides some useful background. Macionis and Plummer (2005 or 2008) have written a short piece in Part 2 which provides a good account of the concept of function.
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Durkheims mission was to develop sociology as an academic discipline. He was influenced by August Comte (17981857) and Herbert Spencer (18201903). Comte, working in France, and Spencer in England, both developed the idea of comparing society to an organism. This has become known as the biological analogy. It views society as a system of interrelated parts, each institution playing a part to sustain society, and working together to ensure that society survives. Spencer (see Fulcher and Scott, 2007, pp.2728 or Lee and Newby (2000) pp.7382) believed that as societies evolved, they became more specialised, just as organisms grow and mature, societies become increasingly complex and specialised as they evolve. Durkheim saw the practical role of the sociologist as being similar to that of a physician. He believed that scientific sociology would enable the sociologist to distinguish between the sickness (pathology) and the health of a society. Sociology would enable a diagnosis of the causes of pathology to be undertaken and, once these causes were understood, remedies could be suggested. One of the greatest problems he identified was the growing individualism in nineteenth-century society and the withdrawal of individuals from public life.
Durkheims key ideas

Below we outline Durkheims key ideas they will help guide your reading on the chapters indicated here. All the texts have a description of Suicide which is important for you as you study Research Methods, Sociology as a Science and Methodology. Now read Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) Chapter 4, pp.6163 or Chapter 14 in Lee and Newby (2000) Moral obligation and individual life. The scientific nature of sociology. Following on from Comte, Durkheim believed that the methods that sociologists should use should be modelled on the methods used in the natural sciences (Naturalism). They should seek to find out law-like relations between phenomena. Holism. Durkheim believed that society is more than the aggregate of individuals. Society exists and is observable in its effects (see Realism in Chapter 3). Society exists sui generis. The individual cannot exist without society and society has a constraining influence on individual and group behaviour. Society is a moral force which acts on individuals. Norms and values are created by individuals acting in groups, these induce individuals to conform to the society. The example Durkheim used was the religious beliefs and practices of the aboriginal peoples of Australia. This moral force is also creative as it provides the cultural resources necessary for individuals to lead their lives in a group. Durkheim believed that man is only a moral being because he lives in society (since morality consists in solidarity of the group, and varies according to that society). The social should be separated from the psychological. You will have read in your texts that Durkheim wrote Suicide to demonstrate that the most individual of all acts suicide was in fact either caused or prevented by society. He attempted to demonstrate that the causes of suicide were to be found in society and could not be reduced to the state of mind of the person who had committed suicide.
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Now read Look up and read about Durkheims work Suicide in your textbooks. Social facts/society. In determining the nature/existence of social structures, Durkheim set out two criteria: social facts must be external and also have constraining effects which set limits to our actions. Durkheim suggested that we must treat social facts as things. Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) give the example of the law. Law is external to our perception of it and it certainly constrains our actions. Fashion would be another example. Social facts can only be explained by other social facts, but not by other facts (biological, geographical, psychological, etc). Activity 4.7 If you are using Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) as your main textbook, try the same activity with fashion that they use with law to see if you understand the concept of a social fact. Functionalist method of explanation. Social phenomena and institutions can be explained in terms of their role in the maintenance of society as a whole (see above). However, Durkheim did not explain the cause of social facts by their functions (unlike many later functionalists). The cause of a social fact must be accounted for in relation to other social facts. The punishment attached to a crime, for example, may express an intense collective sentiment of disapproval. The collective sentiment in society is the cause of the disapproval.7 Functional analysis is concerned with the effects of a social fact, not its causes. It explains the part that a social fact plays in relation to the needs of society. Here the explanation of the social fact/phenomenon is explained not in terms of what it is, but what it does for the whole. Hence Durkheim suggests that religion helps to meet a societys need for social cohesion, so that is why religion exists in society. Activity 4.8 Can you think how religion can help meets a societys need for social cohesion? Think about times of natural disaster, or war or internal struggles.
Fulcher and Scott (2003) p.35.
Society and social change

Durkheim described two forms of society, which he differentiated by their different forms of solidarity (cohesiveness): mechanical and organic solidarity. Mechanical solidarity This is a form of solidarity which Durkheim believed existed in very simple societies. These societies were small, self-sufficient groups; there was little specialisation and thus a low division of labour, individuals did not depend on each other for their existence. The solidarity in the society is a result of the likeness of the members. Where most of the experiences of the individuals are similar, they are therefore likely to hold similar value systems. There is a moral consensus which unites members of the society. He described this as the collective consciousness (the values and beliefs shared within a community) thus: society forms a determinate system which has its own life.
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The function of religion in these societies was to reinforce this consensus. The collective consciousness is strong in these societies and the law is repressive. The decline of mechanical societies was a result of increasing population growth, which created pressures that could only be accommodated by greater specialisation. Organic solidarity Whereas in simple societies there was a low division of labour, organic societies were characterised by greater differences between the members as a result of specialisation and a complex division of labour. Organic solidarity occurs as a result of difference, individuals rely on each other for their existence. They are functionally interdependent on each other. The law in these societies is restitutive.
The division of labour

Durkheims concept of the division of labour is different from Marx. (Remember Marx believed that the division of labour through production was one of the factors that contributed to the alienation of the working class.) For Durkheim, the division of labour consists of moral as well as economic ties, and therefore derives from society rather than being outside or opposed to society.
Work is not shared out by independent individuals who are already differentiated from one another, who meet and associate together in order to pool their different abilities. It would be a miracle if these differences, arising from chance circumstances, could be so accurately harmonised as to form a coherent whole. Far from preceding collective life they derive from it. They can only occur within a society, under the pressure of social sentiments and needs.8
From Durkheim (1893; 1984).

8
Therefore, for Durkheim, it is through the division of labour in organic societies that society becomes cohesive and solidaristic.
Anomie
The word anomie comes from the Greek word Anomos, which means without laws. Durkheim used the concept of anomie in The division of labour in society (1893) and defined it as a state where norms and expectations on behaviours are confused, unclear or not present. In Suicide (1897) he describes it as morally deregulated behaviour. Durkheim was worried about the effects of the rapid social changes that were occurring in the nineteenth century and believed that such changes could lead to a state of anomie. He believed that industrialisation and other political and social changes dissolve the restraints on behaviour, causing people to feel morally adrift and lacking moral direction. Religion in these societies was a constraining force whereas in organic societies religion is less important in constraining peoples behaviour. However, Durkheim believed that other sets of beliefs and values would develop, which would serve to constrain behaviour and so prevent anomie. He believed these to be Nationalism and even the belief in the power of science.
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Activity 4.9 How does Durkheims concept of anomie differ from Marxs concept of alienation? If, at this point, you are finding that you are not sure how to start answering this question, or are finding it difficult, reread your notes, your textbooks and the previous section on alienation. You should think about the following: Many people have said that the concepts are broadly similar, because both describe people being detached from society. Marx used the concept of alienation to describe the situation of the workers in capitalism who had become increasingly estranged from each other, from the objects that they produced and finally from their real nature (their species being). As a materialist Marx therefore attributed the cause of alienation as the capitalist mode of production. The result was that workers became dehumanised. Alienation would disappear when the mode of production changed in a society, when private property was eliminated and there was minimal division of labour. For Durkheim the cause of anomie was a lack of moral guidelines brought about when society changes too rapidly. The cure for anomie would be a new moral force. In organic societies Durkheim believed that the individual was connected to society through the division of labour in work, and work was regulated through norms. An individuals identification with a profession and its ethical values was a source of social solidarity and so professions and guilds functioned to prevent anomie and curb egoistical tendencies.
Social solidarity/cohesion
At this point, refer to your textbooks again for an account of Spencer and the biological analogy. Like Spencer, Durkheim had an organic view of society. To say that a society exists implies that it must have boundaries: these boundaries are created by a membership, and membership of a society implies that there are other people who are not members. Nonmembers are outside society; by differentiating between members and non-members the moral boundaries are maintained. Those people who do not conform to the norms, values and laws of a society are outside society. Much of Durkheims work concentrated on the nature of social solidarity.
Summary: Durkheims legacy

Durkheims work influenced the Structural Functionalist anthropologists and Parsons. His concept of structure was important to structuralists, including Claude Levi Strauss, Louis Althusser and Ferdinand de Saussure. The concept of structure implies that there are underlying principles by which a system works and that it is the task of the social scientist to work out what these principles are. Durkheims work is an important antidote to some of the evolutionary theorists (such as Spencer) who were dominant in the nineteenth century. His stress on seeking the underlying causes of social phenomena have been further developed by realist sociologists (see Chapter 3, section 3.4). Activity 4.10 Write short answers to these questions: 1. Why did Durkheim write Suicide? 2. Why did Durkheim believe the division of labour was functional? 3. What did Durkheim mean by society being a moral force? 4. Why has Durkheim been described as a realist?
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5. What is the difference between anomie and egoism? 6. What is the role of the individual in Durkheims sociology? 7. How did Durkheim differentiate between causal analysis and functional analysis? 8. How did Durkheim account for social change?
Max Weber (18641920)

Webers sociology is important for many aspects of Section A, particularly for Methodology and for illustrating some methods of social research. In Section C, all the chapters will require you to know, and apply, Webers theories and his ideas about the nature of the social world and how it should be studied. Now read Your chosen text will give you some general background about Webers life and approach, and we suggest that you read up on his biography now. Macionis and Plummer (2005) pp.8891 or Macionis and Plummer (2005) pp.10911 or Giddens (2008) pp.1719 or Fulcher and Scott (2003) pp.3942. You will see that Weber was not just a sociologist; he was a historian, a politician, a lawyer and an economist. As you read the chapters and pages indicated below you should recognise how he has linked economic ideas into his sociology. His work on the State and bureaucracy is based to a very great extent on his knowledge of the Law and the State, especially German law at a time when the German state was becoming particularly strong. His legacy is immense; he created a conceptual framework for the development of the social sciences that is still relevant for todays sociologists. One of his major influences was Immanuel Kant (17241804) and you should look this up in your texts now. Now read The Introduction to Chapter 3 in Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) or Lee and Newby (2000) also have a clear introduction to the German Idealists in Chapter 11. Kants viewpoint was that there could be no knowledge of things as they exist independently of our thinking about them. In trying to understand the world the observer attempts to give meaning to the physical and social objects which s/he sees. Whereas Durkheim believed we should treat social facts as things, Kant believed that it was necessary to interpret these facts. In interpreting the world individuals select what is meaningful to them. You have already read about concepts earlier in Section A, and seen how many of these are essentially contested. Weber, following Kant, suggested that the concepts we use to understand the world derive from cultural values. These values tell us what is significant and what is insignificant. Concepts are therefore value relevant. Thus in Webers view there can be no universally valid scientific concepts. This has profound implications for how we do sociology. For example: it would be impossible to do research on childrens learning without having some understanding of the concept of education (note that this concept can be used in very different ways). Therefore the world is interpreted in the way that is significant for the observer. That is why Weber is often described as an interpretivist sociologist. The German idealistic tradition viewed people as active, purposive, free agents. Weber believed that the social sciences should not proceed in the
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same way as the natural sciences. The reason was that if individuals are free to act, if they have agency, then they will act in unpredictable ways. It is impossible to control for this and therefore he rejected the ideal of creating nomothetic theories for the social sciences. Nomos comes from the Greek meaning law. These approaches create generalisations and produce laws. Examples of such theories include Marxs explanation of social change and Comtes law of the three stages. Weber suggested that social science should adopt an idiographic analysis which would particularise historical events. He rejected the possibility of developing laws, especially those relating to evolutionary processes. His work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism9 (see below) is an illustration of this. In this text, Weber described and explained the rise of capitalism in the West. He did not believe that this explanation was generalisable to other epochs Whereas Durkheim concentrated on social structures; Weber suggested that sociology should concentrate on social action and the interpretation of social action. Social sciences should be distinguished from the natural sciences because sociology involves the interpretation of subjective meanings given to action. An action such as falling off a chair when asleep is not social action! (Here the sleeper relinquishes agency when s/he is asleep.) However, if someone deliberately fell off the chair then it would be social, as the individual would attach meaning to his action. Weber therefore had a very different approach to sociology to either Marx or Durkheim. Most of his work involved interpreting social action. He wrote extensively on how sociologists should go about their work and the tools they should use. In this section we will examine: Webers concern with modernity and rationalisation Idealism Webers methodology. Webers main goal was to understand modernity; the major theme in his work is the growing disenchantment of the world. Unlike the Enlightenment philosophers who championed the debunking of religious beliefs and superstitions, he was pessimistic about the effects of the increasing use of reason in all things. His view of the future is illustrated by the quote below:
Not summers bloom lies ahead of us, but rather a polar night of icy darkness and hardness.10
10
The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism is one of Webers key texts. Most libraries have copies of this and we do advise you to read some of it to see Webers writing at first-hand.
9
Weber (1946/1958) p.120.
Weber and rationalisation

Rationalisation for Weber was a process in which social interaction and social institutions were being increasingly governed by methodical procedures and calculable rules. He believed that in modernity, traditional values and emotions gave way to formal and impersonal practices. These practices may encourage greater efficiency to achieve designated ends but they lead to a situation where one can master all things by calculation. Modernity allows people to have mastery of the natural and social environment, but the division of labour, bureaucratisation and mechanisation lead to individuals becoming little cogs in a big machine. Rationality, which Weber described as the application of reason to achieve a desired end, leads to greater predictability, calculability, co-ordination and control in all spheres of social life. However this leads to individuals feeling trapped in an iron cage with no room for creativity.
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Whereas science can provide the knowledge about how to do things, for example by adopting rational principles, scientific techniques are empty of meaning. He was particularly concerned about the growing bureaucracy in modern society. An example of this is his concern about the growing bureaucratisation of the modern world. He accepted that bureaucracy was the most technically efficient of all forms of organisation but he was concerned about the effect this would have on the people who were increasingly acting rationally. The following quote illustrates Webers pessimism well:
It is horrible to think that the world could one day be filled with nothing but those little cogs, little men clinging to little jobs and striving toward bigger ones a state of affairs which is to be seen once more, as in the Egyptian records, playing an ever increasing part in the spirit of our present administrative systems, and especially of its offspring, the students. This passion for bureaucracy ... is enough to drive one to despair. It is as if in politics we were to deliberately to become men who need order and nothing but order, become nervous and cowardly if for one moment this order wavers, and helpless if they are torn away from their total incorporation in it. That the world should know no men but these: it is in such an evolution that we are already caught up, and the great question is, therefore, not how we can promote and hasten it, but what can we oppose to this machinery in order to keep a portion of mankind free from this parcelling-out of the soul, from this supreme mastery of the bureaucratic way of life.11
11
Elwell (1996).
Activity 4.11 Now look up rationalisation in your textbooks. In your own words attempt to write a definition of it. Then take any large-scale organisation that you know and see if it mirrors the situation described by Weber in the quote above. For example, in his work The McDonaldisation of society, George Ritzer suggested that rationalisation and bureaucratisation is a feature of many organisations in society. He described how McDonalds organises every aspect of the work process into smaller parts which can be controlled and standardised.
Weber and idealism

You may have read that much of Webers sociology has been described as a debate with the Ghost of Marx. Remember that for Marx, the basis of society is the way that material production is organised; change occurs first in the way that goods are produced. For Weber, human motivation and ideas were the major forces behind social change. Weber also disagreed with Marx who believed that most structures, being composed of a large number of continuing social relationships, were external to and coercive of social actors. Weber focused on social action and saw social structures not as external to and independent of individuals. Social structures, according to Weber, are formed by a complex interplay of social actions. For materialists, matter matters; the way that things are produced will determine the way that society is organised. Weber on the other hand suggests it is the change from traditional to rational thinking that makes the difference. It is the willingness to use and adapt to new technologies, that indicates how rational a society is. Weber rejected all determinist models of social explanation but he accepted that material considerations were extremely important.
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Activity 4.12 Now look up the four types of social action in your textbooks and make sure that you are able to link these to the particular forms of domination. Thus: Traditional action Affective action Instrumentally rational action Value rational action Traditional domination Charismatic domination Legal rational domination
In traditional societies the dominant type of social action is tradition. Individuals give authority to those in power on the basis of their traditional right to rule. Weber described the first two forms of action as being non-rational. Weber categorised societies by the differences in how they viewed the world. In pre-industrial society, traditional action was dominant and peoples actions were guided by the past, whereas in industrial/capitalist society individuals actions are goal-oriented. Now read Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) or Lee and Newby (2000) on Webers The Protestant Ethic and Spirit of Capitalism. The importance of this work lies in Webers methodology and the comparison with Marxs analysis of the development of capitalism. Weber demonstrated that human motivation and ideas were the forces behind social change ideas values and beliefs had the power to bring about social transformation. For Weber the central organising principle of the modern system was rational capitalism. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism was Webers attempt to explain how the process occurred. The Protestant Ethic thesis demonstrates Webers ideas of rationality and rational action. Lee and Newby are very careful to state that it was not Webers intention to refute Marxs theory of the development of capitalism. Weber was determined to argue against the economic determinism of the some of the later Marxists. Lee and Newby also give a good corrective to those texts, which state that Protestantism caused the development of capitalism. Now read Chapter 3 on Weber in Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) or Chapters 11 and 12 in Lee and Newby (2000). We outline some of the most important methodological aspects of Webers sociology below. Try to see how these points compare with the notes that you will have made on Marx and Durkheim. We will use the example of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism to illustrate these key ideas.
Webers methodology
Sociology should focus primarily on empirical research, formulating theories on the basis of this research, not on a priori assumptions. (A priori literally means from the former. A priori assumptions imply that knowledge exists prior to experience. We know that 2 + 2 = 4 without
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any further research.) Therefore sociologists should carry out research and not simply theorise about the world without any evidence or doing sociological research! Methodological individualism Weber has been described as a methodological individualist unlike Durkheim who saw society as existing sui generis. Weber saw society as an aggregate of individuals rather than an entity. In this sense he is close to the social constructionists but he did not go as far as they do, as they suggest that society is itself a social construction. Therefore we should use methods which can examine aggregate behaviour. In The Protestant Ethic, he suggested that rational capitalism arose in part because of the behaviour of the Protestants, which had changed. The changing belief systems caused changes in the way that the Protestants worked, saved and spent their money. As they saved and spent their resources wisely they were able to accumulate capital which could then be invested in rational projects. This change in aggregate behaviour was one of the reasons behind the development of rational capitalism. Value freedom/value neutrality The social sciences should be principally concerned with addressing practical problems. However, Weber suggested that social scientists should, as far as possible, seek to be value free that is, to place to one side judgments about what ought to be the case (normative statements). The social scientist is concerned with the evaluation of means rather than ends or goals. However objectivity in the social sciences should not be confused or treated as synonymous with political neutrality or sitting on the fence. Weber rejected all determinist theories, believing that the explanations of sociologists must always be rooted in an interpretive understanding of the subjective meaning that individuals give to their actions. The comparative method The social sciences proceed through the construction of ideal types which have been called interpretive benchmarks. Examples of these include: bureaucracy, caste, social action, rational capitalism. You should note that these ideal types were created by Weber. These ideal types are important in comparative sociology as they allow social phenomena to be compared with the ideal type. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism his creation of an ideal type of rational capitalism allowed Weber to argue that northern Europe had all the features indicated in his ideal type. Although ancient China and India had some of the essential features for rational capitalism to develop they lacked some key aspects and therefore could not be considered as capitalist societies. Now read Look up descriptions of the ideal type and its use in the social sciences in your textbooks. Activity 4.13 Attempt to construct an ideal type of a farm perhaps or even an ideal type of a sociology student. You should create a set of features. An ideal typical farm for example would have: A farm house, some barns/animal sheds; should be in the country; may have a distinctive smell of animals; have a tractor or a horse; be separated from the rest of the countryside by fences.
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The ideal type of rational capitalism for Weber had the following features: the pursuit of profit capital is organised entrepreneurially rational enterprise, using rationalised technology rational organisation of free labour unrestricted markets. Verstehen (empathetic understanding) You will have seen that for Weber, the social sciences can be distinguished from the natural sciences. Social sciences are concerned with the interpretation of social action and sociology should be concerned with the interpretation of subjective meaning.
In the social sciences we are concerned with mental phenomena, the empathetic understanding of which is naturally a task of a specifically different type from those which the schemes of the exact natural sciences can seek to solve.12
12
Weber (1949).
Weber was an advocate of hermeneutics, the branch of philosophy which involves the human understanding and interpretation of texts. In sociology a hermeneutic study involves sociologists interpreting documents and attempting to understand what the authors meant by their writings. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber interpreted the works of Benjamin Franklin, and so doing caught the essence of the capitalist spirit.
Webers legacy
Webers influence on the twentieth century has been immense, both in substantive sociology and in methodology. He was responsible, with others, for bringing the individual back in to social analysis and for demonstrating the importance of understanding the meaning behind action. It could be argued that he was a precursor of postmodernist theorising (see section 4.4 of this chapter) as his work can be seen as an attack on the grand narrative theories of Comte, Spencer, Marx and Durkheim. His main influences were on Parsons and the symbolic interactionists whom we will be discussing in the next section. His importance in political sociology has been immeasurable; his analysis on power and the bureaucratic states has been a useful corrective to much Marxist theorising and has gone a long way to explaining the character of late capitalism. Activity 4.14 Attempt to write short answers to the following questions: 1. Outline Webers explanation of social action. 2. What is meant by methodological individualism? 3. How does Weber explain conflict in society? 4. What is meant by elective affinity? 5. According to Weber, how did rational capitalism develop in Northern Europe? 6. What is an ideal type? Why is it useful in comparative sociology? 7. What is meant by verstehen? 8. Why was Weber worried about rationalisation in the modern world?
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Structural functionalism and Parsons

Now read Either Fulcher and Scott (2007) Chapter 2 or Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) Chapter 5 or Lee and Newby (2000) Part 7. With the exception of Fulcher and Scott (2003), the set texts provide very little material on structural functionalism, and the key texts Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) and Lee and Newby (2000) go into too much detail. In this section we will outline the key features of Parsonian functionalism, and indicate the areas which it would be helpful for you to know and understand now and what can be left for general reading later. A particularly good text from your Works cited, which explains why structural functionalism is so difficult, is Ian Craibs Modern Social Theory. If you choose to study one of the following in Section C Power in society, Social inequality and social injustice, Religion and society or the Sociology of organisations you will need to have a good understanding of the major assumptions of Parsons and the structural functionalist approaches. You should be able to describe and evaluate these theories, especially the work of Parsons. You need to understand Parsons theory in relation to socialisation and role; see Chapter 1, section 1.6 on the individual in society.
Introduction
Structural functionalism in sociology rose to prominence in the United States after the Second World War. Its leading exponents were Parsons, Merton, Smelser and Davis and Moore. Its main concern was to answer the sociological problem, How is social order maintained in society? Most structural functionalists use a biological analogy, seeing society as an organism. The main task of a sociologist is to identify the parts or structures in society that function to maintain equilibrium. In this section we will concentrate on Parsons but in your reading you should be aware of the work of other structural functionalists. Structural functionalism has its roots in Comte and Spencers organic analogy and of course in Durkheims sociology. The anthropologist A.R. Radcliffe Brown (18811955) developed Durkheims functionalist framework. He was interested in finding out what holds society together and prevents it from falling apart. He suggested that social institutions are the key to maintaining order and that it was possible to make generalisations about the functions of social structures across societies. Instead of looking at how societies evolve over time, he looked at how different parts of the society (social institutions) functioned to maintain the whole.
Talcott Parsons (19021979)

Parsons theory Parsons sociology was primarily theoretical, with little empirical content. His theories owe a lot to the classical sociologists but, unlike Weber or Durkheim, Parsons did not create methodology for the study of society. Instead he developed a grand model of how he believed society to be organised. The major influences on Parsons thought were Durkheim, Weber, Pareto and Freud, and, as you will read later in Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) or/and in Lee and Newby (2000), much of his work lay in a rejection
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of Thomas Hobbes individualistic conception of the human being. (As you have seen in section 4.1, sociology in the nineteenth century reacted against the individualisation of the Enlightenment.) Parsons created a synthesis of ideas from these social scientists and created a theory that was to dominate US sociology for three decades. He sought to explain the nature of society and the role of individuals within it a grand plan indeed! Parsons theory is analytical in that, like Weber, he recognized that all observations were dependent on concepts. But it was also realist in that, like Durkheim, he saw these observations telling us something about what the world is really like (Scott, 1995, in Fulcher and Scott, 2007, p.45). Parsons influences Parsons theories owe much to Durkheims concept of structure and Durkheims functional analysis by which he describes social facts by their contribution to the working of society as a whole. It also owes much to the work of Comte and Spencers ideas of organicism and equilibrium. He was also influenced by the work of some social anthropologists (Radcliffe Brown and Malinowski) who were concerned about the epistemological problems arising out of the evolutionary theories of the nineteenth century. (They believed that it was impossible to know what previous societies were like and that it was impossible to predict how they would develop.) The anthropologists advocated a synchronic approach to the study of societies. In their fieldwork, they aimed to demonstrate how changes in one part of the social system could be explained in relation to changes in other parts. Rather than explaining why and how societies changed over time, they explained how each institution changed in response to changes in other institutions at that particular point in time.
The structural functionalist perspective

Students often have difficulty with the structural functionalist perspective. There are some theories that are structuralist, for example Louis Althussers Structuralist Marxism which we have discussed in the section on Marx. Structuralist theories suggest that social institutions are structured/determined by society, leaving the individual with little autonomy. There are also many explanations in sociology that explain the shape, form or structure of a social institution by its function. However, structural functionalist is a name given to a particular group of sociologists who are both structuralist and functionalist and most of whom described themselves as such. In the structural functionalist approach, a social institution is described by the role it plays in maintaining the stability of the wider society. Like Durkheim, structural functionalists believed that individuals and groups are constrained by structures. Parsons believed that the task of sociology was to analyse society as a system of interrelated variables, therefore he sought to show how each social institution functioned to maintain the whole society. Now read Look up the biological analogy and details of Parsons biography in your textbooks.
Parsons ideas on the social system and social structure

Parsons major aim was to analyse the social system as a whole and hence he can be described as a macro sociologist. Structures
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include economic, legal, educational and political structures. Structural functionalists believe that social systems have certain needs. If these needs are to be met, it is the social structures that meets these needs. In structural functionalism, societies are seen as a mixture of personality systems, social systems and cultural systems, which contain mutually dependent parts; these parts work together to form a social structure. Parsons viewed the structure of society as a normative framework, the cultural system playing the most important part. In the model of social action, which we describe below, you will see that action is governed by the prevailing norms and values in a society. This normative framework or cultural system (very like Durkheims concept of moral regulation) is important in defining the expectations that are attached to each role in a social institution.
Parsons voluntaristic theory of social action

In Parsons early work, especially The structure of social action written in 1937, he describes action as the unit act. Like Weber, Parsons believed that the sociologist should analyse social action rather than physical events and biological behaviour. Unlike Weber he was not an Interpretivist aiming to understand meaning behind the action. Like Weber, he believed that a sociologist must attempt to understand social phenomena as they appear to the actors, so he would need to find out why people act in the way that they do. Parsons major assumption in explaining social action is that the actor aims to maximise his/her gratification. First, it is a simple exchange: if the actor receives satisfaction in an exchange then this action will be repeated. This gives rise to a set of expectations relating to similar exchanges. These expectations build up into sets of rules and norms. These norms will in turn be influenced by the prevailing values in society.
The unit act

Individuals make choices they choose between different goals and they choose between different ways of achieving these goals. Parsons believed that understanding the way that people make these choices is the most important task of any social scientist. The components of the unit act are: Actors: the people who make choices (in choosing the ends/goals and the means to achieve the ends/goals). Means: the resources available to achieve these ends/goals. These means are not always available, so these choices are constrained by physical, social, legal and cultural factors (environmental factors) which limit the opportunities available to the actors. Activity 4.15 Can you think of something that you would like to do and cannot do? What are the constraints which prevent you from doing this? Example 1 You may want to drive a Ferrari across Africa but you may be constrained by your inability to drive a car; by your lack of finances; by environmentalist ideas that it is not good to waste petrol driving fast cars and by the fact that you have a job and a family to support.
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Here the constraints relate to your skills, your financial situation, the values regarding the environment and your duty to support your family. Example 2 You may want to smoke in a restaurant after having a very good meal. However you are constrained because the restaurant has a no smoking policy; your companion hates smoking; and you believe that you should not smoke. Here the constraints are very strong and smoking may incur punishment. You may be asked to leave the restaurant and your friend will probably be very offended. Question: If people pursue their individual self-interest, how can there be social order? Social action is not simply a reaction to external stimuli, each actor develops a system of expectations in choosing how to act and what goals to aim for. However, as we have seen, individuals are not autonomous actors, the choices available to them are limited by the prevailing norms and values in a society (as well as financial and legal constraints). These norms and values structure individual choices. Actors take account of the expectations of others. I act towards you in respect of how I expect you to act. Parsons believed that people tend to co-operate on the basis of these values. Actors are constrained by the values and norms of the people around them. These values and norms are the basis for order in society.
Status roles
For Parsons, a role is a cluster of normative expectations which exist prior to an individual taking up a role. Hence roles are taken in a structural functionalist model. For example, as a student you will play your role in relation to others playing their role. You will behave differently in each case. In front of your friends you will act informally but in a large lecture theatre you will be much more formal and will not be expected to interact with the lecturer unless asked to do so. You will know how to play different roles through a socialising process which ensures that you understand the expectations attached to each role. Society can be considered as a network of social roles, each governed by established norms and values.13 Now reread Chapter 1, section 1.6 The individual and society which compares Parsons and Meads ideas of socialisation and role.
13
Craib (1992) p.42.
Social institutions
Now reread Chapter 1, section 1.3 which explains how sociologists define a social institution. This is a difficult concept in Parsons work. We expect an institution to be like a school or a bank. In structural functionalism an institution is described as the generalised norms and practices which are shared by many members of a society. These norms are normally well-established and settled and help tie the various social roles in society together. The key institutions in society which help to define the social roles within these institutions are: the market, property, contract, marriage and kinship.
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In a market there are buyers and sellers each role carrying a role set of expectations and behaviours. In a marriage, the roles relate to husband and wife, and in joint families parents and brothers and sisters-in-law. Note: Parsons believed that women tended to play expressive roles whereas men would play instrumental roles in the social division of labour.
The general system of action

Social institutions tend to be arranged in groups which make up subsystems. For example, the political sub-system sets the goals in a society; the stratification system serves to integrate people into the society. Each of these systems relates to each other and adapts in response to changes in the other systems. The biological system: this provides the biological link between the physical world and the meanings that make up the world of action. The personality system: the personality system was concerned with human motivation. Human beings are seen as essentially passive and reactive in the Parsonion model, individuals seek approval in social relationships. The personality system was made up of a mixture of biological drives and culture but cannot be reduced to biology. A persons personality is affected by all the conditioning and learning that occurs in a hers or his life. The social system: patterns of activity resulting from the sum of social interactions in the society. The cultural system: Parsons can be described as a consensus theorist. People conform because there is a consensus (agreement) over the prevailing set of norms and values in a society. Without some degree of conformity to the conventions in the society, communication would be impossible. Culture is a symbolic system but people in different situations will read symbols differently. For social interaction to occur over time there must be some stability in the symbolic system. Hence one of the major functions of the family and education is pattern maintenance (see below). This ensures that the culture of a society is internalised by members of a society. According to Parsons the sub-systems of the social system are: the economic system the political system the societal community the socialisation system. There are also subsystems of each of the above systems! You will have read that structural functionalists use a biological analogy. In order for society to survive each of the sub-systems and the sub-systems of sub-systems it must satisfy four functional prerequisites: Latency/ Pattern Maintenance, Integration, Goal Attainment and Adaptation (LIGA). On the next page the chart indicates how these prerequisites are met.
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Structures related to External needs
Means of action
Ends of action
Adaptation
Goal attainment
(The need to mobilise existing resources to achieve individual and collective goals.) Met by: the Polity political structures of decision-making and control. POWER
These relate to the (The need to facilities and accumulate and control resources that must resources from the be generated from natural environment.) the environment. Met by: the Economy structures of production distribution and exchange. MONEY
Internal needs Relating to the integrity and cohesion of the social system.
Latency and Pattern

Maintenance: (The need to build up a store of commitment in a society and to ensure stability of the system as a whole.)
Integration:
(The need to integrate individuals into the society.)
Met by: the family and education people are socialised into the generalised values and norms in a society, which ensures both the stability of the system and the perpetuation of its culture.
Met by:

Figure 4.4 Source: Generated from Fulcher and Scott (2007) p.49.
The societal community this includes localised structures such as kinship and neighbourhood, but also larger bonds of ethnic and national community. Social stratification is an important mechanism INFLUENCE
COMMITMENT
The cybernetic hierarchy

The systems illustrated above are related through the exchange of symbolic information. Each of the sub-systems has an equivalent symbol which is indicated in CAPITAL LETTERS in the above boxes. Symbols are exchanged and each system remains in equilibrium with the other systems. Using the idea of cybernetics (the science of systems and their ability to be self-regulating) Parsons attempted to demonstrate how each system is controlled by another system. Thus a hierarchy emerges: the cultural system is high on information the social system is high on information the personality system is high on energy the biological organism is high on energy.
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Those systems which are highest on information control those who have high energy, therefore the cultural system controls the personality and biological systems. Those with highest energy (the personality and biological organisms) push energy up through the system and those with high information push information down through the system. Change in one system will affect changes in another system which will react and restore the original situation. Parsons described this process as moving equilibrium.
Moving equilibrium
The sub-systems above are constantly adapting to changes within the social system (endogenous changes) and from outside the system (exogenous changes). Parsons concept of moving equilibrium can serve to indicate how the various sub-systems react to these changes. Parsons attempted to demonstrate how a change or disturbance in one system induces a reaction in another which maintains equilibrium. Change is generally ordered and evolutionary, with one part of the system adapting to changes in another. The normative system ensures that individuals are socialised into the rules of the society and so society is normally in a state of solidarity of equilibrium. When there is overt conflict, society adapts to deal with the tension (tension management) and moves back to a state of moving equilibrium. Parsons assumed a variable-sum view of society: there are enough power resources, and societal resources in a society if the society is organised to properly utilise them. The more these resources are utilised, the more is available to pursue collective goals. They account for conflict as an indication that the system is not working effectively. This triggers changes in the sub-systems to rectify the situation and conflict also contributes to social change. In adapting to the conflict situation the society will change in some way. In contrast, in Marx and Webers analyses, conflict is endemic. They had a zero- or constant-sum view. Resources, for Marx, were material resources, they were scarce and there would be competition over them. In Marxs analysis of social class, classes have oppositional interests (even though, in capitalism, the working class is generally unaware of these opposing interests). These interests cannot be reconciled and so society is normally in a state of conflict, even thought this conflict may not be overt.
Specialisation
Social systems change as they become more differentiated and as structures become more specialised. As social systems become more specialised, the number of the functions that an institution can achieve decreases. However, the functions that an institution is left with are more effective than when that institution was carrying out multiple functions. Parsons theory of the family illustrates this well. As societies develop, the functions of the family are reduced to two important functions the socialisation of the young and the stabilisation of adult personalities. The other functions have been taken over by the education system and the state. However, the family remains in Parsons model the cornerstone of society. As societies become more complex and differentiated, the cultural system has to adapt to these changes and becomes more abstract and more generalised. Remember the cultural system has to ensure that there is a general consensus and agreement in society. The task of the education system is to socialise the young into this generalised culture.
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Robert Merton (19102003)

Now read The descriptions of Merton you will find in your main textbook, and also in Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) and Lee and Newby (2000). Mertons development of Parsons work on social action has been used extensively in the study of organisations and crime (see p.102 on anomie). He took Durkheims concept of anomie as a starting point but developed this to include a typology of the different responses to anomic situations. His work as been used to describe deviant behaviour and even revolutionary change. If you have chosen the study of organisations or religion in Section C, Mertons theory will be very helpful to you.
Neofunctionalism
Reading If you are using Fulcher and Scott (2007) we suggest that you read their background material (pp.5051) on this topic. Here you will see that Nikolas Luhmann developed Parsons ideas but suggested that social systems were very often unstable and that they often failed to adapt. Specialisation, far from ensuring social cohesion, created a situation where social institutions became so specialised that they developed different value systems. This brings us quite close to the postmodernist theory which suggests that culture is fractured and there is no one point of reference for social behaviour. Now read Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) Chapter 5 or Lee and Newby (2000) Chapter 16. Use the above notes to guide you in your reading. We should ask questions of both Mertons and Luhmanns positions. How do structural functionalists explain the existence of conflict in so many societies? They can explain it using the concept of function but, if this conflict persists, then what? In the organic model, society will die or the equilibrium will be destroyed and society would be reborn. Activity 4.16 Think of a society in which there has been continuous open conflict for over 10 years. Do you think that the structuralist functionalists can account for this situation?
Summary
Structural functionalism dominated US sociology until the late 1960s (although there were other paradigms which were dominant in some univerisites: phenomenology and other interpretivist traditions in Chicago, for instance). Other paradigms became more popular and there was little work done using the structural functionalist perspective. However, since the 1980s there has been a re-emergence of this tradition with the development of neofunctionalism around people such as Nicholas Luhmann.
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Much of the material in Sections B and C depends on a thorough understanding of structural functionalism as a perspective and its concern with explaining social phenomena. This is not only in terms of causes but in terms of the ends that social institutions and practices have for the maintenance of society.
4.3 Bringing the individual back in

Works cited
Atkinson, J. Maxwell Our masters voices: the language and body language of politics. (London and New York: Methuen, 1984) [ISBN 9780415018753]. Blumer, H. Symbolic interactionism. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1969) [ISBN 0138799245]. Craib, I. Modern social theory. (London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992) second edition [ISBN 9780312086749]. Fry, Jane and Robert C. Bogdan Autobiography of Jane Fry. (New York: Wiley Interscience, 1974) [IBSN 9780471085706]. Garfinkel, Harold Studies in Ethnomethodology. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1967) [ISBN 9780745600611]. Goffman, E. The presentation of self in everyday life. (Anchor, 1959) [ISBN 9780385094023]. Thomas, W.I. and D.S. Thomas The child in America: behavior problems and programs. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1928) [ISBN 9780384601789]. Thomas, W.I. and Florian Zaniecki The Polish peasant in Europe and America. (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1918) [ISBN 9780252010903].
Introduction
Most sociology in the nineteenth century could be described as macro sociology. Sociologists such as Comte and Durkheim were committed to the idea that there was such a thing as society, and society structured individual behaviour and consciousness. Interactionists did not try to create a theory of society, as Parsons and Durkheim did. In your reading you will have seen that Weber moved away from this structural approach. For Weber, for behaviour to be social meaning had to be attached to it. In order to understand the meaning that the actor was giving to her or his behaviour, we had to put ourselves in the shoes of the other (verstehen). For the next group of social scientists this did not go far enough, this group believed that we need to understand the processes by which individuals come to understand the behaviour of others and how individuals identified themselves through interaction.
Social interactionism, symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology

This group of sociological perspectives can be described as micro sociology because they stress the importance of looking at the individual in society. However, there are differences between these approaches that you should be aware of.
Social interactionism
Now read Fulcher and Scott (2007) pp.5154 or Giddens (2008) pp.2224 or Macionis and Plummer (2005) pp.2830 or Macionis and Plummer (2008) pp.3336 and reread Chapter 1, section 1.7.
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Social interactionism is a loose term, but is generally applied to theorists who stress the importance of looking beyond action and structure to the way in which people create their identities and define the situations/ reality in which they find themselves in. These perspectives were developed in the University of Chicago where George Herbert Mead and W.I. Thomas were working. It had its roots in the work of William James (18421910) and Charles Peirce (18391914) and the theory of Pragmatism. If you have access to Fulcher and Scott (2007), please read this now.14 Pragmatism is a theory of meaning, which suggests that there are no abstract definitions of things as they really are. Things are what they mean to people. An example of this is the Thomas Theorem.
If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences.15
Fulcher and Scott (2003) pp.5253.

14
15
Here Thomas and Thomas take the example of a prisoner who interprets the behaviour of people talking to themselves (aloud) in negative terms. The prisoner believes that these people are making disparaging remarks about him. He therefore attacks them and in some cases kills them. So he acts on his perception of the situation. Now the idea of interpreting behaviour was not new; what was new in the Chicago School was the development of a department which was interested in finding out how people define and interpret the social environment. They were particularly interested in the way that different social groups struggled over resources in the rapidly developing city in the time of mass migration. W.I. Thomas and Florian Zaniecki examined the way that these migrants perceived their situation and how they adapted to the different social environment of the large city, having migrated from small rural communities. They did this through a content analysis of one migrants (a Polish peasant) letters home to Poland. They examined his interpretation of his situation and how this changed over time. They wrote this up in a book The Polish peasant in Europe and America (1918).
Thomas, W.I. and D.S. Thomas (1928) p.572.
George Herbert Mead (18631931)

Mead has been very influential in both sociology and social psychology, but the problem has been that he actually wrote very little and most of his work has been gathered together by his students. You may like to look up some of these notes on the web, particularly the review of Mind, Self and Society by Jacob Robert Kantor: 8 http://spartan.ac.brocku.ca/~lward/Kantor/Kantor_1935.html Now read You need to reread the material on Mead in Chapter 1, section 1.7, especially in relation to Meads view of the I and the Me. You will have seen that Mead is usually described as a social psychologist. In his book review, Kantor (see above), explains how Mead suggests that we should study the inner experience of activity which arises in the social process of interaction. Mead, like other sociologists, attempted to find out the nature of the relationship between society and the individual, and particularly peoples ability to manipulate symbols. Whereas Weber and Parsons stressed social action, Mead believed that the field methods of anthropology should be used to understand the process of interaction between the self/mind (the I and the Me) and society. To
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understand Mead it is important to be aware of the concept of gesture. Gestures include all verbal and non-verbal communication, and are central to Meades analysis of social interaction. Gestures have meaning to social actors. An individuals gesture indicates subsequent behaviour to another. For Mead, when an individual responds to a gesture it is regarded as a significant gesture. The mind arises through communication which is result of the interplay of gestures in the form of significant symbols. The most important category of symbols is language. The mind, for Mead, is characterised by the processes of meaning, knowing, significance and reflection. All these processes assume that there is an external environment (society) which can be understood, known and reflected upon. Mead said that the mind should be studied scientifically (because) its workings are displayed in human contact not concealed behind it and that the content of the mind is only a development and product of social interaction. There cannot be a mind in the absence of society. What differentiates men from animals is mans ability to reflect on past activities and anticipate and prepare for future situations. The social environment, therefore, shapes human thinking; the individual cannot be detached from the environment. Her/his identity is given by her/his reactions to others. Whereas behaviouralists believed that humans react directly to external stimuli and events, Mead believed that individuals can control their behaviour and act according to their interpretation of the meanings of the gestures and events that they are exposed to.
The self
The self arises in the process of gesture conversation in social interaction the self is reflexive. The social self takes on the role of others (see Chapter 1, section 1.7). The social self emerges only through social experience and the self will not emerge unless individuals are able to interact with others and see themselves as others see them. Interaction is by definition a dynamic process. In order to understand gestures, you need see how they are interpreted and to see how the process of interaction occurs. Therefore interactionists do not simply seek to understand a single action through verstehen. They observe the processes by which people are socialised; and the processes by which individuals come to understand their social reality. Interactionists therefore use ethnographic methods, particularly participant observation, so that they can understand the processes by which individuals develop a sense of self through the processes of communication and interaction. Now read Fulcher and Scott (2007) pp.11629 or Macionis and Plummer (2005 or 2008) Chapter 7 or Giddens (2008) pp.12633.
Erving Goffman (19221982)

Goffman was a Canadian sociologist who studied in Chicago. He used a phenomenological approach see below to understand how individuals perceive the interactions they observe and take part in. He concentrated on small-scale, face-to-face interaction. You should be aware of Goffmans empirical work and try to read some of it, particularly The presentation of self in everyday life.
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Goffman described his work as a dramaturgical approach, it is an analogy taken from the theatre. Individuals learn their role and the context in which the role is played. Roles are not given, they are learnt through a process of interaction, they are the sets of expectations which others have of our behaviour. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959) was a largely descriptive study of the way that individuals engage in presentation management. Goffman suggests that interaction is a performance, and this performance is shaped by the external environment and the audience of the action. Individuals aim to create an impression on others, and this impression is called the self. The image the actors present will vary according to the impression that the actors believe is expected by the audience. In The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, young girls acted dumb (i.e. stupid) to impress their boyfriends. The girls believed that their boyfriends liked dumb girls, so they acted accordingly. Actors act towards an audience to make an impression. They can manipulate symbols to create a particular response to their behaviour. Goffman undertook a participant observation study in the Shetland Islands (in the far north of Scotland), to illustrate his idea of impression management. In the Shetland Islands, the poor crofters deliberately let their houses get run down because they wanted to create an impression that they were so poor that the landlord would believe that they could not afford to pay any extra rent. Front The process of establishing a social identity is linked to the concept of front which is that part of the individuals performance which functions in a general and fixed fashion to define the situation for those who observe the performance. Therefore individuals learn about the front through socialisation and act to standardise their behaviour so that others can understand it. A front is a collective representation which provides the proper setting, appearance and manner for the social role. So the actor has to fulfil the duties of a social role and be able to communicate the characteristics of the role to others. However as we have seen in the example of the dumb girls, an audience can influence the actors to act in a way that is expected of them. Reading note Fulcher and Scott (2007) have a good section of Goffman in Chapter 4, pp.12829. The social process
The social process is an interplay of action and reaction, an interplay in which each actor interprets and responds to all others. Interaction is a reciprocal and continuous negotiation over how situations are defined. A definition of the situation is the joint construction of the participants in interaction. Consensus exists only when this definition has been established and agreed by all involved.16
16
Power Much of the work of the symbolic interactionists concentrates on the individual, and they have been accused of neglecting the constraints under which actors perform. Yet their work has addressed power especially through labelling theory.
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Now read Fulcher and Scott (2007) pp.5354 or Giddens (2008) pp.799803 or Macionis and Plummer (2005) pp.44750 or Macionis and Plummer (2008) pp.56567 or Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) pp.13641. Here the authors explain how symbolic interactions have explained deviant behaviour through the process of labelling.
Symbolic interactionism
Herbert Blumer (19001987) Symbolic interactionism is a term created by Hebert Blumer, who was a student of Mead. Blumer developed many of Meads ideas and formalised them. Blumer described symbolic interactionism as:
a down-to-earth approach to the scientific study of human group life and human conduct. Its empirical world is the natural world of such group life and conduct. It lodges its problems in this natural world, conducts its studies in it, and derives its interpretations from such naturalistic studies.17
17
Blumer (1969)
Societies for Blumer were not fixed objective structures. Society is a fluid and flexible network of interactions within which we act.18 Look back at the section on Parsons for Parsons these networks made up society and society constrained an individuals actions. Blumer believed that Durkheim and the structural functionalists had reified society. Reificiation means treating a phenomenon (a thing) as an occurrence that has no concrete existence. Activity 4.17 Can you explain how the term symbolic interactionism was derived? Blumer outlines the following assumptions of symbolic interactionism, most of which he developed from Meads ideas. Human beings act towards things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them. (We have described this in relation to the Thomas Theorem above.) Note also the descriptions of gesture. These meanings are a product of social interaction and negotiation in human society (see Chapter 1, section 1.7) on socialisation. Thought: These meanings are modified and handled through an interpretive process that is used by each individual in dealing with the signs each encounters.19 Labelling theory Unlike Goffmans work which concentrates more on the impression management of the actor, in the chapters of the textbook relating to labelling theory you will see that the locus of research is on the people with the power to label. Howard S. Becker (who was a member of the Chicago School) described deviant behaviour as that behaviour which people label as deviant. Labelling theory has also been used in understanding educational success and failure. For example, Rosenthal and Jacobson and their team organised an experiment with Mexican children to test the reasons certain groups of children failed at school. They posed as psychologists and gave the children a dummy test. This test was given to all the children in the class. The researchers then reported to the teachers that

18
Adapted from Craib (1992) p.87.

19
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some children who had been labelled slow learners were in fact late developers. Rosenthal and Jacobson left the school for six months and when they returned they re-tested all the pupils. They found that those children who had been relabelled as late developers had done significantly better than was originally expected of them and much better than their peers who had not been labelled late developers. This indicated to Rosenthal and Jacobson that the teachers had acted towards the pupils as if they were late developers rather than slow learners. The labels did make a difference. However, the effect was not lasting and there was no subsequent improvement in the pupils performance. They termed this process a self-fulfilling prophecy. Activity 4.18 Think back to the time when you were at school. Were there instances where teachers labelled pupils? Do you think this made a difference to their performance? Phenomenology You have been introduced to phenomenology in Chapter 3. Phenomenology is the study of structures of consciousness, the task of the phenomenological sociologist is see how people make sense of their lives. Now read If you have a copy of Fulcher and Scott (2007) read pp.5455. Edmund Husserl (18591938) is considered to be the founder of phenomenology. He aimed to create a radical philosophy whose task was to restore the connection between knowledge and everyday experience. Two major aspects of his work are: The world we live in is created by our consciousness. The outside world only has meaning through our consciousness of it. Husserl criticised the positivists of the nineteenth century because they believed that the social world existed sui generis. Husserl pointed out that Webers theory of action was one-sided as Weber did not attempt to explain how the individual came to understand the meanings of social action. Husserl was concerned with studying the structures and workings of human consciousness. Therefore, the task of the social scientist is to understand the processes by which we come to know social reality. Now read Chapter 3 for a discussion on interpretivist ontology and epistemology for a description of Schutzs phenomenology. Schutz (18991959) further developed Husserls ideas. The social construction of reality In 1966 Peter Berger (who worked with Schutz) and Thomas Luckmann wrote this important text. They describe this both as a systematic treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Its major aim was to demonstrate that the social world does not exist sui generis as Durkheim suggested. Society, although meaningful to social actors, is nonetheless socially constructed.
Everyday life presents itself as a reality interpreted by men and subjectively meaningful to them as a coherent world.20 120
20
Berger (1963) p.33.
The task of the sociologist is to take this reality as the object of analysis and see how this reality is constructed. This can be achieved by setting aside what we know (bracketing) and see how we come to know it. Hence sociologists should engage in trying to understand how people have developed their understanding of reality. Berger and Luckmann believe commonsense is simply senses held in common. Knowledge can therefore be achieved by trying to find out how individuals come to perceive social reality. Hence the study of perception is at the forefront of their analysis. They used in-depth interviews and other ethnographic methods to uncover the taken-for-granted assumptions that people have. One famous study which used this approach was The autobiography of Jane Fry.21 Jane Fry was a transsexual and this text is a day-to-day record of his/her perceptions as she became a woman. Here the process of becoming was the main focus. Phenomenologists, as you will have seen in Chapter 3, are distrustful of statistics, which they describe as social constructions. Sociologists such as J. Maxwell Atkinson and Jack Douglas have cricitised Durkheims use of statistics and demonstrate how statistical data is socially created. Atkinson in his text Discovering Suicide demonstrated that those who had power to label a suicide as a suicide the coroners came to their conclusions on the basis of biographies. Over time they came to understand that a particular type of person, in a particular situation would be a suicidal type. They would therefore label the death as a suicide of people who fitted into these types. This process is known as typification. Atkinson observed coroners in England and Denmark and he found that British and Danish coroners gave different typifications of typical suicidal behaviour when presented with similar biographies.
Fry and Bogdan (1974) .
21
Ethnomethodology
Students are often worried about this term because it sounds rather daunting. In Chapter 2 you were introduced to the concept of Ethnography. There you will have read that ethnography involved studying people in their own environments. Ethnie = people methodology = the science of methods, how we evaluate the methods that sociologists use.
Ethnomethodologists attempt to find out the methods that individuals use to decide whether something is real or not, studying how people judge social situations. In Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006), they give an example of how people judge between fact and fiction, between the possible and the impossible, between what really happened and what was a dream. Reading note The only textbook to have some description of this approach is Fulcher and Scott (2007). The chapter in Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006) on ethnomethodology is useful but contains more than is required for this unit. Ethnomethodology takes the philosophical standpoint of the phenomenologists, that is, that society is socially constructed and that the task of the social scientist is to find out how people construct their world. Harold Garfinkel and Aaron Cicourel who were writing in the 1950s and 1960s were its main exponents.
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Garfinkel criticised the structural functionalists who, as you now know, believed that individuals had little or no autonomy and were like puppets. He believed that we cannot simply look at action, or interpret action. We need to go beyond this and understand not just the meanings of social actions and how the social world is constructed, we need to understand the methods that actors use to organise their interactions and how they judge what is real or not. In Chapter 1, you learnt about the nature of sociology and that sociologists main focus is on studying the nature of relationships in society. The social world is made up of rules and regularities and the task of the sociologist is to understand how these come about and how they operate. Ethnomethodologists believe that the way to discover these rules and regularities is to break them and to lay bare the taken-forgranted assumptions that people use to make sense of the situations in which they interact with others. Their methods were sometimes experimental. Garfinkel called these experiments breaching experiments. They included acts such as interrupting lectures, and suggesting to students that they should act as if they were lodgers in their own homes. However, most of his work was an analysis of conversations. People in conversation can create an illusion of social order even though they may not understand each other fully. In a conversation each person takes a turn in the conversation. The ethnomethodologists examined transcripts of conversations and analysed how this turn taking was managed. The breaching experiments involved his students bringing conversations to a halt and refusing to take for granted that they knew what the other person was saying (Garfinkel 1967). This allowed them to ask for explanations, and then ask for explanations of the explanations! Garfinkel asked his students to talk to their friends and deviate from the normal conventions of conversation we give two examples here. Case 6 The victim waved his hand cheerily: s: How are you? e: How am I in regard to what? My health, my finances, my school work, my peace of mind, my...? s: (Red in the face and suddenly out of control) Look I was just trying to be polite. Frankly I dont give a damn how you are. You should be able to relate to this case. When you say hello to someone or how are you? you do not expect to have a long description of their illnesses. Case 7 My friend and I were talking about a man whose overbearing attitude annoyed us. My friend expressed his feeling: s: Im sick of him. e: Would you explain what is wrong with you that you are sick. s: Are you kidding me? You know what I mean. e: Please explain your ailment. s: (He listened to me with a puzzled look) What came over you? We never talk this way.
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Here you can see the breaching experiment. e. is not acting according to the rules of normal conversation and s. is getting confused. s. believes that e. knows what Im sick of him means. However e. is not going to take this for granted and asks for further information. s. does not know how to answer this second question and starts getting angry.22 In conversations there are many gaps; there are many matters that the partners dont understand but act as if they understand what the other is talking about. In speech there are gaps in information and in conversation people fill these in and assume that this is what the other meant! The idea that there is a shared agreement between partners in a conversation is a myth, according to Garfinkel. Partners in a conversation interpret what they think the other person means. Garfinkels task lay in attempting to understand the conditions under which people can make sense of one anothers activities and act accordingly. J. Maxwell Atkinson has developed a similar approach to conversational analysis in his studies of how politicians can ensure participation in public meetings. By analysing the speeches he was able to demonstrate that the content of the speech matters less than the structure of the speech. The question he asked was How does an audience know when to clap? He found that if a speech contained three points the audience would clap more enthusiastically than two points. If a speech contained a comparison we do this, but they do that then the audience would also clap. However, other speech structures were not so successful. It did not seem to matter what the content of the speech was, it was the structure that mattered. Therefore he concluded that the audiences fill in gaps in speeches as dictated by their structure.23 Now read If you have Cuff, Sharrock and Francis (2006), read Chapter 7. The first part on phenomenology is the most important.
Both cases from Garfinkel (1967).

22
23
Atkinson (1984).
Structure or action? Structuration

We have now introduced you to two very different approaches: at one extreme, structural functionalism and at the other ethnomethodology. Most of the textbooks try to compare these theories in terms of structure and action (agency). In your reading you should now try to compare them in relation to whether they believe that individuals are constrained by the society or actively create their own understanding of reality. According to Parsons, the individual is constrained by the culture of the society and is socialised into a role having little autonomy. According to ethnomethodology, the individual is actively involved in making sense of the situation she or he finds her or himself in. Giddens has developed a way out of this dualism and suggests that we should bridge the gap between structure and action. There is a dynamic process involved. In his textbook he uses the case of the monetary system. Individuals would find it very difficult if they did not use the monetary system (a structure) unless they opt out of society completely or are completely dependent on others who do! Yet individuals can make choices, they could decide not to use money, and they also make choices as to how to use it. In using the monetary system, individuals contribute to its continued existence and development.
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Structuration refers to the process whereby individuals make and remake social structure during the course of their daily lives. Societies only have structure if people behave in regular ways. However individuals are only able to act in predictable ways if they are aware and have a great deal of socially structured knowledge. In his textbook Giddens uses the idea of language. Language vocabulary and structure pre-exist the individual. Individuals learn language. Language can only exist if people use the language and abide by its rules. However, as he states, languages are constantly changing; people do not receive language passively. Vocabulary changes through interaction, and although many people are concerned about proper grammatical forms the structure of our language changes over time. Activity 4.19 In your society, has the everyday language of communication changed? If so, in what way has it changed?
Summary
In this section we have described how the interactionists brought the individual back into sociological analysis. It provides some important social theory for your work on methodology and will be very important if you have chosen either Race and ethnicity or Gender as your Section C topic. Activity 4.20 Attempt the following questions: 1. Why do phenomenologists criticise statistical methods? 2. What is meant by gesture in symbolic interactionism? 3. Why is phenomenology sometimes called a sociology of knowledge? 4. What methods would phenomenologists use and why? 5. What is meant by bracketing? 6. How did Garfinkel conduct his experiments? 7. Explain the phrase the world we live in is created by our consciousness. 8. What is meant by labelling in sociology? Illustrate your answer with some examples. 9. What is pragmatism in philosophy? 10. Why do phenomenologists believe it is important to analyse conversation? 11. What is meant by the phrase the presentation of self in everyday life? 12. How does structuration theory attempt to link structure and agency?
4.4 Postmodernity and sociology

Essential reading
Fulcher, J. and J. Scott Sociology. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007) pp.6466 and 38687. or Giddens, A. Sociology. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008) pp.11516. or Macionis, J. and K. Plummer Sociology: a global introduction. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2005 edition) pp.3334 and 68688; (2008 edition) pp.3839 and 84850.
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Further reading
Cuff, E., W.W. Sharrock and D. Francis Perspectives in Sociology. (London: Routledge, 2006) pp.28699. Marsh, I. Theory and Practice in Sociology. (Harlow: Prentice Hall, 2002) [ISBN 0130265535] Chapter 7.
Works cited
Ashenden, S. Feminism, postmodernism and the sociology of gender in Owen, D. (ed.) Sociology after postmodernism. (London: Sage, 1997) [ISBN 9780803975149]. Hall, S. The question of cultural identity in Hall, S., D. Held and T. McGrew Modernity and its futures. (Cambridge: Polity, 1992) [ISBN 9780745609669]. Harvey, D. The condition of postmodernity. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989) [ISBN 9780631162940]. Jameson, F. Postmodernism or the cultural logic of late capitalism. (London: Verso Press, 1991) [ISBN 9780860915379]. Lyotard, J. The postmodern condition: a report on knowledge. (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984) [ISBN 9780816611737].
Postmodern theory: a challenge to sociology?

As you will know by now, sociological theory (like theory in any subject) is a dialogue, with theorists questioning, criticising or developing earlier theoretical ideas. Therefore, the best way to begin to understand postmodern social theory is first to be clear about the theoretical ideas and assumptions it is questioning. So, before reading on, try Activity 4.21 below: Activity 4.21: Modernity and the Enlightenment revisited Try to answer the following questions before going back to look at the subject guide or your textbooks. What do sociologists mean by modernity? What is meant by a modern way of thinking? Can you identify the key ideas of the Enlightenment? How did the Enlightenment influence the development of sociology? What did the Enlightenment philosophers mean by reason? What did Weber mean by rationality? Now go back to Chapter 1 of this subject guide and your textbooks to check out your answers and, if necessary, fill in any gaps. The theoretical approaches we have looked at so far, although different from each other, are all characterised by the ideals of the Enlightenment and all of them are based on three fundamental modernist assumptions that were outlined earlier. There is an order to social life and social change. This order can be illuminated by rational understanding which provides a knowledge of societies that is superior to commonsense, religion, opinion and prejudice. Sociological knowledge, once validated and acted upon, can lead to improvements in society by, for example, informing social policies, revealing inequalities or disarming prejudices.
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Postmodern theory rejects all these assumptions. Therefore, it is not just another new theory. It is also a challenge to existing sociological theory and research. It raises important questions about: the nature of contemporary societies the status of sociological knowledge the purpose of sociological research. We shall introduce you to the postmodern critique below. However, it also very important that you supplement what you read in this subject guide with the textbook reading indicated above. In reading about postmodern theory it is also important to distinguish between some terms that sound similar but are actually different from each other. Postmodernity: This describes a social formation coming after modernity. Postmodernism: This refers to cultural and social beliefs and ways of behaving that result from living in postmodernity, and can refer to divergent areas such as music and architecture as well as the way social life is ordered. Postmodern theory: This refers to a new way of theorising that some sociologists argue has to be used to understand the postmodern world. Postmodern theory in sociology is based on two key arguments. The first is that we are living through another period of intense social change in which modern societies are being transformed into something different called postmodern societies. The second argument is that many of sociologys most influential theories and concepts are now out of date, and a new form of sociological thinking is required to understand this new world.
A postmodern world?
It is important to make clear that it is not just postmodernists who realise that the latter part of the twentieth century was a period of dramatic change. All sociologists realise that many modern societies had been transformed. For example, the world has become increasingly globalised (see Section B), the most advanced societies have tended to de-industrialise, class boundaries have become much less clear and nation states have disposed of many of their assets and actively encourage more self-reliance, competitiveness and private enterprise. However, most sociologists see these developments as changes in the nature of modern societies and some, like Anthony Giddens, refer to the contemporary world as late modernity. Postmodernists, in contrast, argue that the most developed societies have become postmodern and this represents a clear break with the past era of modernity. The key to postmodern theory is in its interpretation of the effects of living in a media saturated society. Contemporary societies are dominated by new information technologies that bring the world into peoples homes and consciousness. Terrestrial, satellite and cable TV , websites, emails, chat rooms and digital radio stations bombard people with sounds and images from around the globe that cut across and blur boundaries of time and space. Postmodern theorist Harvey (1989) refers to this as space-time compression.
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Postmodernists argue that the information explosion of the last two or three decades has not led to increasing conformity and acceptance of dominant values, as many modernist sociologists feared, but has in fact led to a massive increase in diversity and choice. The effect of this has been to transform contemporary societies into something resembling endless shopping malls, where people shop not only for consumer goods, but also for new lifestyles, beliefs, images and identities. Thus the postmodern condition has been described as one unending choice for increasing numbers of people. Postmodernists argue that these changes have important implications for the ontological basis of sociology: the relationship between the individual and society. As we have seen, the cornerstone of sociology is that there is an institutional order to societies which, although created by people also shapes how they think about themselves and the world. Peoples identities are thus formed in the interaction between self and society. Postmodernists argue that this no longer holds: what sociologists call societies, or social structures, have become so diversified and fragmented and are now much less important in shaping how people think about themselves and the world. In the postmodern world peoples sense of identity now comes less from social things like where they live, their family, education, class, ethnicity or gender, and much more from the images and choices presented to them via the media. In a postmodern world, people define themselves much more in terms of the lifestyle choices they make about their clothes, cars, the football teams they support and so on. Identity is therefore much more precarious, fragmented and uncertain. This loss of a stable sense of self is described by postmodernists as a decentring of the subject. As Hall (1992, p.277) puts it:
The postmodern subject is conceptualised as having no fixed or permanent identity. Identity becomes a movable feast: formed and transformed continuously in relation to the ways in which we are represented or addressed in the cultural systems which surround usWe are confronted by a bewildering, fleeting multiplicity of possible identities, any one of which we could identify with at least temporarily.
Postmodernists further argue that, as the social order that once characterised modern societies has fragmented, the generalisations sociologists typically make about the relationship between institutions (such as family or education) and individual behaviour and the comparisons they make between different social groups have become increasingly difficult to sustain. Thus modernist sociological concepts, like social class, gender, or family, no longer work. They are past their sell-by date and, in the technical language of postmodernism, they have to be deconstructed.
Sociological knowledge and progress

A second epistemological part of the postmodern critique concerns sociologys claims to produce some expert, or specialist, knowledge of societies. Lyotard (1984), in a book that had a profound influence on the development of postmodern sociology, compared the status of knowledge in modern and postmodern societies.
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In modern societies, as we have seen, a faith in the truth of the word of God was replaced by a new faith in the power of the human mind, through science in particular, to uncover the truth about the world and change it. However, according to Lyotard, this faith in science and various scientific enterprises did not just happen automatically. Like any other major belief system, it had to be supported by what he calls a meta-narrative; that is, a set of ideas and assumptions woven into a story that provides a justification for the beliefs. Thus the meta-narrative of the Enlightenment was that scholars and scientists were liberating people from the darkness of superstition, tradition and irrational beliefs and progressively laying the foundations for a more rational and improved world. For example, engineering sciences would transform environments for the better, medical sciences would give people healthier and longer lives, and the social sciences would produce better organised and fairer societies. For Lyotard, the postmodern condition can be defined as a scepticism towards meta-narratives. Not only have most people in contemporary societies lost interest in religious and political meta-narratives, they have also now become more sceptical of scientific meta-narratives. In the contemporary world, scientific truths are increasingly called into question and, although science is certainly transforming the world, people are no longer convinced it is necessarily transforming it for the better. In the postmodern world, no form of knowledge not even expert knowledge has privileged status. Knowledge is simply a commodity, the value of which is determined by whether or not people want it. Postmodernist sociologists have developed Lyotards ideas into a critique of sociologys meta-narrative of producing expert knowledge of societies in order to improve them. Postmodernists argue that in an increasingly fluid and fragmented social world, it is no longer possible to develop general explanatory theories of the type we have looked at in this chapter. Postmodernists are particularly critical of structural theories such as structural functionalism, Marxism and some feminisms. They argue that these are simply further metanarratives and the only purpose of so-called research is to convince people of the truth of the basic story. For example, Marxists only find evidence of class inequality and some feminists only find evidence of patriarchal domination. Postmodernists argue that sociological concepts, such as social institution, capitalism, patriarchy and gender are far too general to do justice to the complexity and diversity of contemporary societies. They argue that sociological theories can only be about providing specific interpretations of particular aspects of the social world. They argue that in an increasingly fragmented and sceptical world there are no longer any clear criteria for determining whether one theory or piece of research is better than another. Therefore, sociological research cannot be evaluated in terms of key criteria such as objectivity, reliability and authenticity. Like any other commodity, sociological knowledge can only be assessed in terms of how useful people find it. Postmodernists challenge sociologys claim to be about improving societies in the name of social progress. They argue that, as sociologists cannot obtain special, or true, understanding of societies, it is simply arrogance on their part to presume to tell people how societies ought to be improved. The most the sociologist can do is to offer ideas about the social world which people can take or leave as they see fit.
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Evaluation of postmodern theory

Before reading on, try the following activity to check your understanding. Activity 4.22 Postmodernity What do sociologists mean by postmodernity? Why is postmodern social theory a challenge to sociology? What are some of the differences between conventional sociologys view of identity and postmodernists view of identity formation? Would you describe your society as modern or postmodern? Alternatively, do you feel there are some aspects of your society that are (or are becoming) postmodern? Can you think of some criticisms of postmodern theory? As you might imagine, most sociologists are very critical of postmodern theory and have raised a number of valid points in response to its claims. Four of the more important ones are outlined below, but see if you can think of, or find others in your textbooks. There is a contradiction in the postmodern position. Postmodernists are critical of the generalisations made in sociological theory, yet they make a major generalisation themselves by claiming that the whole of Western society has been transformed from modernity to postmodernity! In fact postmodern theory could itself be described as another metanarrative! Postmodernists are very selective in their use of evidence and tend to ignore the many aspects of modernity that remain relatively unchanged. For example, peoples socioeconomic backgrounds still have a major and measurable influence on their life chances, the economic organisations that produce goods and services are still characterised by rational planning and systematic organisation, and nation states still remain strong and continue to play an important part in regulating peoples lives. Many of the things that postmodernists see as characteristics of a new postmodern condition such as greater choice and the ability to construct and consume identities tend to apply only (or at least mainly) to the better off groups in the most affluent societies. People might have more choice in contemporary societies, but it seems that some have more choice than others. The postmodern critique of the possibility of discovering true and universal knowledge of societies is hardly original. As we saw in Chapter 3, this anti-empiricist view is shared by many sociologists. Weber was deeply critical of nomothetic approaches to sociology. Phenomenologists can explain the changes in the way people identify themselves. However, this does not mean that sociology has to descend into relativism, where one theory, or research study, is as good as any other. For example, realists also recognise the impossibility of obtaining absolute knowledge of the social world, but argue that theories can still be found to be more or less valid. Activity 4.23 Revision In the evaluation of postmodern theory above, I used some important technical conceptual terms that we have encountered before in this and earlier chapters. As a revision activity, ask yourself if you know what they mean and, if not, go back and check them out.
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What is a meta-narrative? Can you remember who first used this term? And why might postmodern theory be described as a meta-narrative? In the second point of the evaluation above, it is suggested that organisations are still characterised by rational planning. What does this mean? Weber referred to the modern world as being characterised by the progressive rationalisation of life. What did he mean by this? What is empiricism (and anti-empiricism)? Can you explain the key features of realist epistemology?
Sociology of postmodernity?
In spite of the reservations that most sociologists have about aspects of postmodern theory, especially its relativism, many agree that it has made a number of valuable contributions towards understanding contemporary societies. It has provided a new way of looking at culture and identity in contemporary societies and, in particular, identities are becoming more fluid, fragile and precarious. (See Section C chapters on Gender and Race and ethnicity.) It has also provided a new way of looking at the mass media and the effects of living in mass mediated society and, in particular, how the media images we consume can become more real than the things they are supposed to represent, something postmodernists call hyper-reality. It has raised important critical questions about some of sociologys most established concepts, such as organisation, social class, gender, ethnicity and power, that have led many sociologists to reconsider their relevance to understanding contemporary societies. You will find there is a postmodern approach to the topics examined in the Section C chapters in this subject guide. Many postmodern ideas have been incorporated into modernist sociological theories. For example, although not postmodernists themselves, Giddens (1991) and Hall (1992) use postmodernist ideas in their discussions of cultural identities. Some sociologists, while rejecting the totality of postmodern theory, have developed a sociology of postmodernity. They accept that many societies have been transformed into something different from modernity (i.e. postmodernity) but they argue that this means transforming rather than abandoning existing sociological theories. Two examples of this are Marxist and feminist theories of postmodernity. Marxist theories of postmodernity explore links between economic factors and postmodernism. For example, Jameson (1991) argued that postmodernism is the expression of a new form of late capitalism where the production of culture has been integrated into commodity production; images and style are no longer promotional accessories to economic products, but are the products themselves. Modern feminist theories of gender tend to be based on the assumption of clear differences between the experiences of men and women. However, postmodernist feminists reject this view as oversimplified (Ashenden 1997). They argue that, in contemporary societies at least, gender divisions and gender identities are much less clear-cut. They argue that in the postmodern world there are no such things as masculine and feminine identities. Rather there are many different feminine and masculine identities that people construct for themselves in different situations and at different times in their lives (see Section C, Chapter 9).
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Summary
Postmodern theory argues that many modern societies are becoming transformed into postmodern societies and this requires a different form of sociological theory reflecting the fragmentation and diversity of the contemporary world. Most sociologists reject this idea. However, postmodern theory has opened up new questions on issues such as culture, identity and media and has had a significant effect on contemporary sociological theory. Activity 4.24 By the end of Chapter 4, and having done all the reading indicated, you should be able to answer the following questions. You are not expected to write long answers, the point is that you understand why these questions are important. If you cannot answer any of them return to your reading, or ask your tutor (if you are studying in a college). These questions could usefully be used as tutorial or discussion questions. 1. What was the Enlightenment? 2. Why did some sociologists turn away from developing grand explanations of social change? 3. What is meant by a meta-narrative? Give some examples of such explanations? 4. Compare Marx, Weber and Durkheims views on the nature of society. 5. Is there a difference between Durkheims idea of the collective consciousness and Berger and Luckmanns social construction of reality? 6. What are meant by the terms, agency and structure? (Use the work of any two sociologists to illustrate your answer.) 7. How did one of the following sociologists explain change in society: Marx, Weber or Durkheim? 8. How did Marx, Durkheim and Parsons explain social order? 9. Compare a structural functionalist view of socialisation with an interactionist account. 10. Sociologists are influenced by other sociologists. Take one sociologist and explain how other social scientists or philosophers influenced their work. 11. What is meant by rational action? Compare any two theories of rational behaviour. 12. What is the difference between a consensus and an ideology? 13. Conflict is normal. Discuss this statement. 14. What is meant by phenomenology? 15. What is meant by the term structuration? 16. What is meant by the terms bracketing and typification? 17. Explain the concept the social construction of reality. 18. What did Durkheim mean by the phrase: we should treat social facts as things? Why do the phenomenologists believe that this is impossible? 19. What is meant by postmodernity? 20. How do Marxists explain postmodernity? 21. How do feminists explain postmodernity? 22. What is meant by a meta-narrative? This list is not exhaustive, but should be used as a check to see whether you can explain in your own words what you have read.
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Having completed this chapter, and the essential reading and activities, you should be able to: understand the historical development of sociology and its roots in the Enlightenment be aware of the influence of the major sociologists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and their contribution to social theory and substantive sociology be able to compare and contrast the approaches of the major theorists understand how sociology has developed since the 1980s into a more fragmented disciplinary.
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Principles of sociology

R. Gosling (ed.) and S. Taylor with the Department of Sociology, LSE

2790021 Principles of sociology

Important VLE resources

Section A: Social theory and research

The full textbook is available to view online via the VLE.

What skills you will learn from studying this unit

The structure of the unit

Section A: Social theory and research: compulsory

Section B: Globalisation and social change: compulsory

Section C: Specialist topics: choose one

Reading advice and other resources

Reading for Section A

Reading for Section B

Reading for Section C

Hours of study and use of this subject guide

The examination and examination advice

Section A: Social theory and research

Section A: Social theory and research

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

Aims of the chapter

This website gives links to a range of other sociology resources.

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

1.2 Approaching sociology

1.3 What is sociology?

The study of social relationships

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

Figure 1.1: Institutional interdependence

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

1.4 Sociology and commonsense

Are we all sociologists?

Asking sociological questions: making the familiar strange

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

Applying sociological theories

1.5 Thinking sociologically

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

The puzzle of social order

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

1.6 The individual and society

You and society: identity and role

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

1.7 Socialisation and identity

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

Self and identity

The role of others

The role of the individual

On stage and off stage

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

Two theories of socialisation and identity

Chapter 1: What is sociology?

I Has ideas, instincts, initiates action

Me Takes role of the other, reflects on intended actions

A reminder of your learning outcomes

Chapter 2: Sociological research

Chapter 2: Sociological research

Aims of the chapter

All available from halovine 8 www.halovine.com

Chapter 2: Sociological research

2.2 Some principles of sociological research

Choice and reflection in research

Stop and think for a moment