SOCI 1F90 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Mechanical And Organic Solidarity, Social Order, Social Group
5 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Theory explanation of a social phenomenon. Ideas about the way in which the world works: theory of socialization, theory of culture. Women get specific tattoos, men get specific tattoo. Common sense: everyday theorising: opinions, received wisdom, inconsistent and incoherent, examples. Formal theory: systematic, coherent explanation based on rigorous social observation (research) Systematic searching for the actual causes of phenomenon. Huge body of sociological theory, dating from the 19th century: we don"t have to start from scratch with our research. Different schools of thought (e. g. , marxism, feminism, functionalism, critical race theory, post colonialism) Each has a set of common premises. Learn the key premises of each school. Functionalism (popular in 1950s-1970s: society: organism or interdependent parts existing in balanced equilibrium, those parts/ institutions regulate people"s self-interest, socialised selves hide self-serving beasts. Functionalists believe we would be socially destructive if social institutions didn"t regulate or behaviour and set norms/roles: society restrains the beasts, making social order possible, according to functionalists.
