SOCA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Heredity, False Consciousness, Structural Functionalism
Document Summary
Power structures and values, not biology, determine social position of males and females. Patterns of gender inequality should be changed, barriers addressed, opportunities equalized. Modernism (thomson: enlightenment) has not fulfilled its promise of rational, free, and equal society. Therefore, all assumptions (rationality, universality, belief in progress) and results of modern thought should either be deconstructed or rejected. Stresses the validity of subjective meaning: there is no truth about society (cf. positivism) and all perceptions/interpretations of it are equally valid. Extreme post-modernism: society does not exist only people"s perceptions and interpretations of it exist. Will collect raw data and just publish it without trying to draw conclusions from it. Socialization is a lifelong, interactive process whereby human beings become members of society. Outcomes of socialization: developing a sense of self; an individual identity. (e. g. awareness of ideas and attitudes about one"s personal and social identity)
