1. MODERNIST SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
FUNCTIONALISM AND MARXISM
The founding fathers of sociology, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, aimed to create a science
of society that could be applied to societal problems in the same way that the natural sciences were
being applied to problems such as illness.
-WHAT KIND OF PROBLEMS WOULD SOCIOLOGISTS AIM TO ADDRESS?
Modernity refers to the period from the industrial revolution, in the west: a period of technical,
social and political advance.GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF EACH IN THIS PERIOD – show clip of Olympic
opening ceremony here..
Some sociologists now argue that we have move into a post modern age, as the economy is no
longer driven by industry and the divisions in society are no long determined by social class.
- WHAT ARGUABLY DRIVES THE ECONOMY NOW AND WHAT DIVISIONS DO THEY REFER TO?
Marxism and functionalism are structural approaches, they aim to examine to the whole of
society from a top down perspective. Despite similar starting points they reach very different
conclusions.
FUNCTIONALISM – IS SOCIETY BASED ON CONSENSUS – AGREEMENT?
A key concept according to this perspective is meritocracy.
- HOW IS THIS CONCEPT DEFINED?
Like Marxists, functionalists believe that industrialisation fundamentally changed society, no longer
was status ascribed?
- HOW IS ASCRIBED STATUS DEFINED?
In modern society a different status from that of our parents can be achieved as a result of social
mobility.
- HOW MAY THIS OCCUR?
Change in modern society can often happens at a fast rate, this can lead to uncertainty as to what
norms and values should be, this can lead to what Durkheim calls ‘anomie’ or normlessness.
- DEFINE ANOMIE.
At the end of the nineteenth century Emile Durkheim aimed to establish sociology as a distinct area
of scientific study, his work revolved around the study of social facts, a term he coined to describe
phenomena that have an existence in and of themselves, are not bound to the actions of individuals,

2. 2 A2 sociology – theory and methods.
but have a coercive influence upon them.Durkheim's, most enduring work is Suicide (1897), a study
of suicide rates amongst Catholic and Protestant populations, this attempted to show that suicide
was not an individual act. The decision to commit suicide is shaped by moral regulation (values that
society places on our behaviour and social integration (how connected individuals are to groups).
His main concern was how society unites through shared values – what he called the collective
conscience.
-WHY DO YOU THINK IT WAS THAT DURKHEIM FOCUSED ON DIFFERENT RATES OF SUICIDE AMONGST
PROTESTANTS AND CATHOLICS?
Functionalism is often seen as a conservative perspective, it has often dominated US sociological
thinking; Parsons views were seen by many as a challenge to Marxist theory in the middle of the
last century. Parsons argued that each society must have core norms and values that create social
integration.
- WHAT DO YOU THINK THE CORE VALUES OF THE UK ARE?
We learn these values as a result of socialisation and from key institutions in society such as the
media, the legal system, the education system and religion.
- WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN TAUGHT FROM THESE INSTITUTIONS?
Parsons has been criticised for having an oversocialised view, he assumed that people will normally
conform without resistance, and he ignores individual drives and motives.
- GIVE EXAMPLES OF SUCH RESISTANCE RECENTLY?
Parsons is also criticised for ignoring the oppression experienced by groups in society and the
inequalities and divisions created by capitalism.
- FIND A STATISTIC TO REINFORCE THIS POINT.
Robert Merton unlike Parsons thought that societal institutions could be both functional and
dysfunctional – e.g. religion can both unite and divide. He also argued that Parsons missed how
people were often motivated by material interests but do not necessarily accept the core values of
society such as respect for authority.
-HOW MAY THIS EXPLAIN THE WILLINGNESS TO COMMIT CRIME?
Merton's analysis suggests that deviant behaviour is functional. First, for the individuals involved,
since it enables them to adapt to the circumstances in which they find themselves. And second, for
society as a whole - since modes of individual adaptation help to maintain the boundaries between
acceptable and non-acceptable forms of behaviour.
-WHAT DO YOU THINK HE MEANT BY THIS?

3. MARXISM- argues that the central feature of society as it is currently organised is conflict, between
those who have power, the bourgeoisie and those who have to sell their labour power for a wage,
the proletariat. There has always been conflict is society, apart from during primitive communism.
In feudalism timesthere were very strict divisions in society and no social mobility, now in
capitalism, workers have more rights (democracy and trade unions etc.), but the system is still
based on exploitation.
-HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE CAPITALISM?
Marx argued that eventually capitalism would be its own gravedigger.
-WHAT DO YOU THINK HE MEANT BY THIS?
One of the reasons for the endurance of capitalism is that the majority of the population accepts the
inequalities in the system as natural or inevitable. According to Marxists the institutions in society –
the family, religion, education, politics, the media and the legal system – operate to create an
ideology that masks and justifies exploitation and inequality.
-USE ONE OF THESE INSTITUTIONS AND GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THIS MAY HAPPEN.
These institutions (together known as the superstructure) create a false consciousness, to support the
economic system – known as the base.
-PRODUCE A DIAGRAM TO SHOW THIS.
Criticisms of Marxism –
The main criticism is that despite continual economic crises capitalism has survived and capitalism
won the cold war. However, many Marxists would argue that the nations, which called themselves
communist before the fall of the Berlin Wall, were in fact state capitalist – they called themselves
Marxist, but were in fact as exploitative of their populations as those in the west.
Marxism is also criticised for being overly deterministic.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
And for focusing on social class exploitation and ignoring inequality based on gender, race, religion
or sexuality.
HOW WOULD MARXISTS ANSWER THESE CRITICISMS?
Neo- Marxism – aims to explain why capitalism has survived and focuses on factors other than the
power of the economy.
The Frankfurt School, aimed to explore why the proletariat had not responded with more anger to
their exploitation. Writers such as Marcuse argued that culture and the media play a key role in
persuading the majority to accept their position and be distracted by trivial entertainment. In much
the same way as Roman emperors kept their populations in check by offering them ‘Bread and
Circuses’.
-WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MEANT BY THIS?

4. 4 A2 sociology – theory and methods.
Similarly, the media generate false needs, which prevent us from pursuing our true needs –
consumer fetishism.
-GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF THIS.
Althusser, focused on the ideologies generated by the ideological state apparatus (the ISA), when
this brakes down the state will mobilise its repressive state apparatus (RAS).
-GIVE AN EXAMPLE OF THIS.
Gramsci’s key concept was hegemony; key institutions in capitalism control the working class by
passing on an ideology that again makes the system seem inevitable. However, he believed that
people possess a ‘dual consciousness’ – ‘oppressed’ and potentially ‘revolutionary’, this can be
mobilised by collective actions, such as working class political parties creating their own
newspapers.
-HOW MIGHT GRAMSCI VIEW THE WAY SOCIAL MEDIA AIDED THE ARAB SPRING?
David Harvey, has recently argued that the move away from manufacturing in the west to
commerce and retail, has lead capitalism to create new sources of profit. We have been persuaded
to consume through the manipulation of identity; new forms of fashion, music and travel have been
created. At the same time many fundamental changes have taken place:
Political parties have lost support to new social movements.
-EXAMPLE:
Social Class has been replaced to an extent by other divisions such as gender, religion and
alternative political movements.
-EXAMPLE:
Many governments are now less powerful than MNCs – multi national companies.
-EXAMPLE: