HLTHAGE 1BB3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Disengagement Theory, Activity Theory, Shared Experience
30 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
What is social theory: describes how society operates and what society is made of, offers explanations about the relationship between individual people and social stuff. Qualitative research: focuses on the measurement of human behaviour using social statistics, statistical data is collected using surveys or questionnaires with numerical scales, methods include: experiments or lab tests, surveys, secondary data-analysis. Strengths: focus is on the individual, considers agency, attends to social context, analyzes the different meanings assigned to the aging experience. Weaknesses: little focus on social structure, power, and conflict. Functionalist: key assumptions: social systems theory, society is like an organism. Institutions have functions: people fulfill roles and obligations because of shared norms and values. Normative perspective: norms (or social rules ) provide society with social control and order and define what opportunities are available to people. Individuals learn social rules through socialization and acculturation processes. If people abided by social rules, society will survive.
