SOCA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Material Feminism, Radical Feminism, Verstehen
Document Summary
Thomson and naiman: two levels of social structure. Sociologists analyse two levels of social structure that frame and influence human agency: Microstructures: patterns of intimate social relations formed during face-to-face interaction. Macrostructures: overarching patterns of social relations in whole societies. Other sociologists also consider mesostructures and global structures. Sociological imagination shows you the connection between personal troubles and public issues (micro and macro structures). Social problems can only be addressed if this connection is understood. Naiman defines it as: personal troubles should be connected to issues of distal power. Theory: a tentative explanation of some aspect of social life stating how and why specific facts are connected. Research: the process of carefully observing social reality to test the validity of a theory. Values: ideas about desirability/worth of attributes, people, objects and processes. Value-free sociology is impossible, but a sociologist"s biases must be declared and minimized by rigorous research methods (naiman)