Socio1125 Lecture Notes - Symbolic Interactionism, Participant Observation, Flat Earth
Document Summary
Functionalism everything existing has its own function for society to function; society has developed structures to perform different areas; holds that crime/negative things are a dysfunction to be fixed. Conflict theory explains why things change; one group has power, one doesn"t and one struggles to resist the other. Symbolic interactionism on a micro level; about meaning, more individual than any other part of sociology. Gender is socially constructed, society"s idea of being male or female. Feminism subcategory of conflict theory/critical voice; changed social and physical sciences; dominant groups tend to ignore issues of minorities. Sociological theory: research methods are not unique to sociology, they are for all social sciences. Ethical considerations: treatment of subjects: need for respecting rights of research subjects including, right to consent. Main methods of sociology: field methods (participant observation, experiments, surveys, analysis of existing documents and stats.
