Sociology of Development

Empiricism', Ethnomethodology; Experimental Method; Falsificationism;

Grounded Theory; Hermeneutics; Hypothesis; Hypothetico-Deductive Method;

Induction; Methodenstreit; Naturalism; Neo-Kantianism;

Objectivity,Operationalization; Phenomenological Sociology; Positivism;

QualitativeAnalysis; Realism; Replication; Understanding Alien Belief

Systems;Value Freedom; Value Neutrality; Value Relevance. Sociology of

Development. This involves the analysis of the social and political effects of

industrialization on Third World societies.In the i96os, the sociology of

development was dominated by perspectives and assumptions drawn from

functionalism (q.v.) and regarded industrial change as largely beneficial. In the

1970s, Marxist sociology (q.v.) emphasized the negative effects of capitalist

industrializationby arguing that development programmes, which were financed

by Western societies, did not necessarily result in economic growth or social

improvement. See: Capitalism; Centre I Periphery; Convergence Thesis;

Dependency; Differentiation; Dual Economy; Imperialism;Industrialization;

Internal Colonialism; Migration; Mobilization; Modernization; Nationalism;

New International Division of Labour, Peasants; Secularization; Social Change;

Underdevelopment; Uneven Development;Urbanization. Bibl. Roxborough

(1979); Mouzelis (1988) Sociology of Education. The main focus of British

educational sociology in the 1950S and i96os was on the contribution of

education to social mobility and life-chances, social class differences in

educational attainment and the explanation of these. Since the early 1970s the

subject has developed in several ways. (i) School ethnographies provided

descriptions of the social systems of schools, and drew attention to the

significance of pupil—teacher interactions for educational attainment. (2)

Reflecting the interest within mainstreamsociology in accounts of ideologies,

educational sociologists have looked at schools as agencies of cultural

reproduction and purveyors of a hidden curriculum. (3) Feminist sociologists

have recently begun to investigate the role of,the school in reinforcing gender

stereotypes among children. (4) Empirical research into teaching methods

attempts to identify the effectiveness of different teaching styles. See:

Bernstein; Class; Classroom Interaction; Classroom Knowledge; Cultural

Capital; Cultural Deprivation; Cultural Reproduc400 Sociology of Gender tion;

Educational Attainment, Hidden Curriculum, Intelligence', Life-Chances',

Nature Nurture Debate', Pedagogical Practices', Restricted Code', Sponsored

Mobility; Stereotypes. Sociology of the Family. This is the study of how human

sexual reproduction is institutionalized and of how children, which are the

product of sexual unions, are assigned places within a kinship system. Two

issues have dominated contemporary sociological approachesto the family, (i)

The relationship between types of family structure and industrialization has

been debated. (2) Critics of modem family life suggest that a woman's place in

the home compounds female inequality in society at large and that the modem
family based on intimacy and emotional attachment in fact masks a system of

exploitation of wives by husbands and children by parents. See: Conjugal Role;

Demography; Descent Groups; Divorce; Domestic Labour, Extended Family;

Marriage; Maternal Deprivation; Matriarchy; Nuclear Family; Patriarchy;

Sexual Divisions; Symmetrical Family. Bibl. Morgan (1975); Allan (1985)

Sociology of Gender. The sociology of gender considers the ways in which the

physical differences between men and women are mediated by culture and

social structure. These differences are culturally and socially elaborated so that

(i) women are ascribed specific feminine personalities and a 'gender identity'

through socialization; (2)women are often secluded from public activities in

industrial societies by their relegation to the private domain of the home; (3)

women are allocated to inferior and typically degrading productive activities;

(4) women are subjected to stereotypical ideologieswhich define women as

weak and emotionally dependent on men. There have been two major debates

within the sociology of gender. The first has addressed the issue of whether

gender is a separate and independent dimension of social stratification (q.v.) and

of the social division of labour (q.v.). The second debate concerns the

appropriateness of general theoretical perspectives for the analysis of gender

differences and divisions in society. For example, one aspect of the debate is

whether feminism is compatible with Marxism.See: Class; Division of Labour,

Domestic Mode of Production; Dual Labour Markets; Educational Attainment;

Feminism; Gender, Maternal