2. Aims
• Revise main themes and issues of the past 8
weeks
• Consolidate learning
• Add to notes
– Repetition + memory
• Questions and ways to answer
3. British Society 1
• A coalition government
• What are the political parties?
• What is the role of the Queen?
• Post-war changes in Britain
• A divided society?
4. British Society 2
• Changes in population
• An ageing population and its implications
• National statistics online:
– Mid-2009:
– Pop. Of UK 61,792,000 (increase of 394,000 on the previous year.
– Under 16s = 1/5 total pop
– Retirement and older = 1/5
• Families, divorce and relationships
• Single parent families:
– 8% of all families in 1972; 22% by 1995; 1.3 million one-parent families in
2004; 89% of parents are women; One third of children under 5 have
divorced parents
• Class divisions and wealth
– ‘class is dead’ (Pakulski and Waters, 1996)?
• 53% of the financial wealth in UK = owned by 10% (Inland Revenue,
2000)
5. The origins of sociology
• The sociological imagination (C. Wright Mills)
– Social interaction and social judgements
– Global social networks and social and economic development
– Class and gender
• The historical development of sociological thought
– Copernicus, Galileo and the Enlightenment
– Reason; Empiricism; Science; Universalism; Progress;
Individualism; Toleration; Freedom; Uniformity of human nature;
Secularism
• Key sociologists
– Comte(1798-1857)
– Durkheim (1858-1917), Marx (1818-1883) and Weber (1864-
1920)
– Forgotten sociologists
6. Durkheim
• (1858-1917)
• ‘Study social facts as things!’ (social life can be
analysed as rigorously as objects in nature)
• Social facts:
– aspects of social life that shape our actions as
individuals:
– the state of the economy
– the influence of religion.
• Rapid change disrupts traditional life – results
in anomie (feeling of aimlessness and despair)
• Suicide seems to be a purely personal act,
the outcome of extreme unhappiness. Is it?
• Durkheim discovered different levels in
suicide rates in different countries.
• social factors influenced suicidal behaviour.
• Durkheim turned a personal problem into a
public issue.
7. Explaining modern industrial societies:
Weber. Rationalisation & Disenchantment
• modes of thought have a powerful
effect on society
• a great difference between the
tradition of pre-industrial societies
and the rationality of modern,
industrial societies.
• bureaucratic organisations
representing rationality) would
crush human creativity.
• Weber’s books
– The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism
– The Sociology of World Religions
– Objectivity of Social Science and Social
Policy
8. Explaining modern industrial society:
Marx. Capitalism & Conflict
• Historical materialism:
– Class struggle has a powerful effect on society
– conflict between social classes (masters and slaves; nobles
and serfs; capitalists and proletariats).
• Industrial capitalism alienates workers from
– The act of working
– From the products of work
– From fellow workers
– From human potential
• Revolution: workers overthrow capitalists and the
industrial-capitalist system.
• Marx’s books:
– Das Kapital
– Economic and Philosophical Manuals of 1844
– Wage Labour and Capital
– Manifesto of the Communist Party
9. Marx & Weber on change
Marxist ideas
• Dynamic of development is
expansion of capitalist
economic mechanisms
• Class inequalities are basis
to modern societies
• Divisions of power come
from economic inequalities
• Capitalist societies are
transitional – socialism will
replace capitalism
• The spread of Western
influence is a result of
expansionist tendencies of
capitalist enterprise
Weberian ideas
• Dynamic is rationalization
of production
• Class is one type of
inequality among many
• Power is separable from
other sources
• Rationalization is bound to
progress further in the
future
• Global impact of the West
comes from its command
over industrial resources
and superior military
power
10. Globalization
• The context of modern societies
• Three Schools of Thought on the Globalization
Debate:
– Hyperglobalisers
– Sceptics
– Transformationalists
• factors contributing to globalization:
– Economic
– Social
– Political
– Environmental
• One culture?
11. Cultures, norms and values
• Culture – definitions
• Elements of culture –
define:
– Language
– Symbols
– Values
– Norms
– Materials
• Sub-culture
• The Frankfurt School
and mass consumption
of culture
• Saphir-Whorf
Hypothesis
13. The British family is a dying institute.
Discuss.
• Nuclear family/ extended family / tradition/
political
• Statistical evidence
• divorce/ cohabitation: why?
• gay & lesbian: why?
• single parent families: why?
• women’s rights/ work
• Serial monogamy: why?
• Birth rates are falling: why?
14. Why do some children from working
class backgrounds not do very well in
educational achievements?
• Class/ definitions/ British focus/ changes
• Marx: history is class conflict
• Mobility?
• Capitalist society - inequalities
• Economic hardship/ educational success/ fees
• Middle- class atmosphere of schools
• Bourdieu – cultural capital / language /ways of talking
• Interactionists: the meaning people put on situations:
doctor’s child or labourer’s child: who will you expect to get
highest marks?
• What about gender?
15. Each society has its own culture.
Discuss
• What is culture?
• What are the 5 components of culture?
• Give examples of each of the 5 components.
• What is cultural relativism?
• Parsons: functionalism: transmitted from one
generation
• Mores / folkways
• High culture/ popular culture
• Marxism: dominant culture reflects ideology of
powerful
• Post modernist; reproduction of culture/ accessibility
16. The major factor influencing gender
roles is the mass media. Discuss
• What is mass media
• What is gender/ distinguish from sex.
• How are women presented: which roles?
• Men’s mags
• Does media reflect the position or create?
• Reinforcing or creating?
• Media is one agent of socialisation. What are the
other four. Give examples. Which agent is more
powerful ?
17. British politics
• Who is the executive? Who is the legislature?
• What is a constitutional monarchy?
• Which parties are in the coalition government, why do we
have a coalition government at the moment, and what is a
coalition government?
• Who are the main political parties?
• Where on the spectrum of left to right wing do these
political parties stand?
• How is the parliamentary system bicameral?
• Who is Margaret Thatcher? What was the Thatcher
revolution (what ideologies and political reforms did her
government make?)
18. British identity
• Where did a sense of Britishness come from?
• Imperialism/ colonialism/ industry
• UK: devolution, partition of Ireland
• Returning of colonies/ withdrawal from empire
• Globalization: competition
• National identities become stronger
• Attitudes towards Europe: isolationist?
• Immigration/ change
• Fragmentation
• Uncertainty
• Divided society: country/city, rich/poor, north/south,
men/women & ethnic minorities
19. Neglected sociologists
• Who was Harriet Martineau ?
• What was Martineau’s criticism of sociological study?
• What did she argue should be included in sociological
study?
• Who was Ibn Khaldun?
• According to Khaldun, what is a nomadic and a sedentary
society? Why was group feeling or ‘solidarity’ important?
Why did Beduoin tribes become open to attack after they
settled into urbanized life-styles?
• Why were these two early sociologists neglected? Women,
racial minorities, reading, recognition, publication.
20. Importance of sociology
• What particular style of thinking does sociology
represent?
• How does sociology question common sense or
stereotypes?
• In which careers would sociological training be
necessary and why? Think of ten jobs.
• What does sociology aim to do?
• Who uses sociological research?
• Who pays for sociological research? Why?
21. The sociological imagination
• How does C. Wright Mill’s ‘sociological imagination’
turn a private issue into a public issue?
• Berger states that the first rule of sociology is ‘things
are not what they seem’ Berger, 1963: 34). What does
he mean by this?
• Use your sociological imagination to analyse a cup of
coffee according to:
– Social interaction
– Social judgements
– Global social networks/ the world in change
– Social and economic development
– Human rights issues
22. Globalization & social change
• What is a hunter–gatherer society? An agrarian society? A pastoral
society? A non-industrial society?
• What are the features of a modern, industrial society? What proportion of
people live in cities?
• There are three factors in change: what are they? Give examples.
• How has the IT revolution contributed to globalization?
• How has modern technology made us more socially aware?
• How do people look beyond the nation state in constructing their
identity?
• What are TNCs?
• How is Barbie an example of economic globalization?
• What are the differences between sceptics, hyper-globalizers and
transformationalists? Think in terms of:
– Power/structure of governments
– Structure of the world order
– Driving force (what makes change)
