Sociological Theory notes
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This Sociological Theory page gathers over 40 notes on topics from Marxism and functionalism to feminism and action theory. School students, university students and professional candidates can use them to practise comparing theories, while teachers can find ready-made material. The notes span secondary and university levels. Choose a note to get started.
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- Classical Sociological Theorists36
- Positivism and Interpretivism19
- Consensus and Conflict Theories57
- Functionalism185
- Marxism115
- Feminist Theory35
- The New Right11
- Social Action and Interactionism77
- Structure and Agency21
- General Systems Theory9
- Material Culture18
- Power, Class and Inequality10
- Modernity and Postmodernism52
Notes
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Sociological Theories Functionalism IntroductionFunctionalists look at the role of different parts of society, known as social institutions, of bringing about patterns of shared behaviour (or social order). They believe that social institu...
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Neo-Marxism Describe two key features of Neo-Marxism.Neo-Marxism is a structural conflict theory. This means it looks at society as a whole. Neo-Marxists are strongly influenced by Marxist theory but reject some aspects of his wo...
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Consensus v.s. Conflict Describe two differences between consensus and conflict theories. One difference between consensus and conflict theories are that consensus emphasises harmony, integration and stability within society. Conflict t...
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Feminism v.s. Functionalism Describe two differences between feminist and functionalist theories.One difference between feminist and functionalist theories is that functionalism believes that society is characterised by harmony and stability. Th...
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Marxism v.s. Functionalism Describe one similarity and one difference between Marxism and Functionalism.One similarity between Marxism and Functionalism is that they are both macro-sociological, structural theories. This means they both look at...
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INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY- MARX AND THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO communist manifesto The Communist Manifesto, originally the Manifesto of the Communist Party, is an 1848 pamphlet by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. acknowledge the class conflict between the bourg...
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Marxism Key Terms and Theorists Theorists: Marx Gramsci Althusser Weber Gouldner Willis Craib Terms: Bourgeoisie - capitalist class who exploit the working class for profit Coercion - maintaining dominance of society by physi...
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Race and Racialization Explain each of the following concepts by discussing examples drawn from lectures and course readingsRepresentationCollective Representation is a term introduced by Emile Durkheim to refer to a symbol having a common ...
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(Y1) Activities Social Order: Functionalism - 09/02/2021 Functionalism "Macro or mid" "The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole" "sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet ...
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Unit 1 — Theory and Methods Paradigms Structuralism A macro sociological approach that views society as a set of structures in which individuals play definite roles. It is the actions of the individuals that matter...
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Overview Each theorist has a unique diagnosis and account of great potential of modern society E.g. de Tocqueville - freedom through democracy And of the crisis component of modernity E.g. Marx- critical of separation of peopl...
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Spirit of Capitalism Vitues, e.g. honesty are useful because they improve a man's salary and credit, p. 52. Useful virtues. Argues this through Franklin's autobiography. Utilitarianism. In Western cpaitalsim, there is an ETHOS abou...
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(Y2) Activities Dillon (2020) Reading - 12/09/2021 Access the Dillon (2020) reading, pages 3-14, answer question 1 at the end of the chapter. Post this to your sociology journal (remember to include your reference). What is so...
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Untitled 2. While referring to Moira Gatens’ social imaginaries, critically reflect on the following proposition: it is proper that women’s rights be set in social organizations, institutional structures, and cultural traditio...
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Marxism - Theory, Religion, Crime Theory Conflict Proletariat and Bourgeoisie modernity development of capitalist society. Base superstructure model Theory Conflict via workers desires = increase wages for small amount of work. Owner...
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Social Action Theories Key Terms and Theorists Key theorists: Weber Mead Lemert Blumer Thomas Cooley Becker Husserl Schutz Berger Luckmann Garfinkle Key words: action theory - bottom-up, voluntaristic approaches which argue that individuals...
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Rise and Decline of the Individual (Horkheimer) From the reading: The individual Def: (p.128) "awareness of his own individuality as a conscious human being" More clearly defined in adults Western/civlised thing (not aborigine) "often seems uncertain ...
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Modernity ModernityRefers to the changes in society in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. "Twin Revolutions"Democratic - modernity would lead to reason over tradition. Government would become democratic. Reason a...
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Division of labour - created from Mind Map Def: The breakdown of a task into smaller operations (Pin factory)Example by Adam Smith: Pin factory. 10 men, each performing one or more of the 18 operations necessary to make a pin, together produce 48,000 pin...
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Weber Weber One of the founding fathers of sociology, alongside Marx and Durkheim. Interpretivist Based on understanding the purpose and meaning that individuals attach to their own actions. Weber's main intellectual concer...
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Untitled Theories Of Education Positivism and Interpretivism Positivist approaches to social research are quantitative, ‘scientific’, objective. Interpretivists criticise Positivist’s reliance on&n...
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Untitled The 1940s and 1950s were paradoxically the years of greatest dominance and the beginnings of the decline of structural functionalism. In those years, Parsons produced his major statements that clearly reflected his sh...
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Social Action Theory Essay Plan (33 Marks) Assess the usefulness of interactionist approaches to the study society (33 Marks) Introduction Definition: Interactionism = theory focused on the micro interactions that take place within society rather than macro st...
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Theoretical Approaches Theoretical approaches-A theoretical perspective is the way in which a group of people view society. These perspectives can be divided into main camps: 1.Structuralists- Look at the bigger picture and show how society...
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Marxism essay The Marxist theory is a conflict social system theory. It was introduced by Karl Marx who saw society as divided into two opposed classes one which exploits the labour of the other. He predicted that the proletariat, ...
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Functionalism - Theory, Crime and Beliefs Beliefs Durkheim Malinowski Parsons religion demonstrates moral superiority society has over the individual religion provided regular opportunities for people to reinforce norms, values and morals amongst one another....
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Overview More stoic than Nietzsche Still depressing but we must look modern realities in the face and work hard in it to arrest the market-driven beaurocratic modern life. Key diagnosis The problem of rationalisa...
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D.R. Maines 10 propositions on which to base narrative sociology (Soci 287, Unit 2) D.R. Maines 10 propositions on which to base narrative sociology (Soci 287, Unit 2) 1) Since all socialized humans are storytellers, they are always in a potential storytelling situation when interacting with or encou...
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Functionalism Key Terms and Theorists Key Theorists: Parsons Durkheim Key Terms: adaptation - a need of the social system; the social system meeting members' material needs through the economic sub-system functions - role of a part...
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Marxism Describe two key features of Marxism.Marxism is a structural conflict theory. This means that it looks at society as a whole and how this influences society. Marxism believes that the structure of society is based on ...
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Functionalism Describe two key features of Functionalism.Functionalism is a structural, consensus theory. This means it looks at society as a whole. One key feature of functionalism is that it adopts an organic analogy to understan...
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Feminism Describe two key features of Feminism.Feminism is a structural, conflict theory. This means that it looks a society as a whole. There are different types of feminist perspectives- Marxist, radical, liberal and black. ...
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Emile Durkheim - Suicide Emile Durkheim felt that humans have desires that result in chaos unless society limits them. He said a force must be used to limit them. That force is socialization and social integration. Socialization - helps us le...
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DURKHEIM FUNCTIONALIST THEORY Functionalist Theory Summary: DURKHEIM Focus on the role of culture. Its ability to form consensus between social groups and the the interrelations of each group in helping make society a whole. Social Fact: We are bo...
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Postmodernism Introduction Emerged in the 1970s and has been influential in many areas, including sociology. Pm argue we are now living in a new era of post-modernity. Post-modernity is an unstable, fragmented, media-saturated glob...
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Weberian Action Theory Describe two key features of Weberian Action Theory.One feature of weberian action theory is that it is known as a bridge between structural and action theories. This is because it looks at both society as a...
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MARXISM - created from Mind Map Modernists Theory. Structural Theory. POSITIVISTS.
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Structure or actions STRUCTURE The macro or large scale way of looking at the society For structuralists, sociology should be the study of effects of the structure of society on social life. Patterns created by structure such as rel...
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exam 1 Sociology- is the systematic study of human group behaviorSocial Theory- Set of statements that seek to explain problems3 Sociological Models 1. Symbolic interaction (interactionist)Microsociological- close up social ...
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Marxism (Karl Marx) Society is divided into 2 parts: INFRAstructure + SUPERstructure Every society has 2 main groups: Subject + ruling classes Ruling class kept most of the money and power
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These notes offer different ways into the unit. Neo-Marxism and Functionalism each describe key features of a theory. Weberian Action Theory considers both structural and action theories, while Theoretical Approaches introduces ways of viewing society.
For a starting point, the key-features notes provide focused reading on one perspective at a time. The comparison notes then offer a way to practise similarities and differences, including those between feminism and functionalism or Marxism and functionalism.
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The collection includes material at secondary and university levels. School students, university students and professional candidates can use the notes to practise describing and comparing perspectives. Teachers can also find ready-made material, including notes focused on individual theories and others that compare them.