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Sociology A2 Crime and Deviance exam AQA 2010 - Revision/Discussion

Hello everyone.
I've just been reading through some past threads created to help Sociology students revise for their Crime and Deviance exam, so I thought I'd have a go at creating one myself!
Feel free to ask questions, create discussions, and share information/notes :smile:

Also, is anybody taking the Crime and Deviance exam in January?

Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

Me=]

Not to June unfortunately....Is it hard?

Reply 2

Sakura-Chan

20

03dowerl

Hello everyone.
I've just been reading through some past threads created to help Sociology students revise for their Crime and Deviance exam, so I thought I'd have a go at creating one myself!
Feel free to ask questions, create discussions, and share information/notes :smile:

Also, is anybody taking the Crime and Deviance exam in January?

Thanks :smile:

I am. At the moment I just feel like crying, I have a different teacher this year and he's really bad, I feel like I've learned nothing and wasted the last 3-4 months doing nothing. The sheer volume of things I need to remember is making my brain melt, especially with the methods in context part as well. EUGH! :facepalm:

Reply 3

MRadwan

hey im retaking crime and deviance in jan :frown:

i think im ok with memorising all my notes tht i made last year (its a retake i got a B last yr) but becoz im not at coleg dis year on a gap yr i have no help at all and ive forgotten how im supposed to format my essays like how they shud be written..if tht makes sense..i would rele rele like a sample essay of an A standard paper but dont know how to find it if anyone knows please do let me know thank u very much

Reply 4

mimi101

Hi - Im repeating that module in Jan too, I hated it last year and didnt do that well in it which brang down my whole grade overall, so im hoping this time round it might go better.... I dont have any really good essays, but ill have a look and put them up if find any. What topics do you think are most likely to come up? Im thinking suicide maybe, that hasnt come up for a while...... :s-smilie:

Reply 5

Sakura-Chan

20

Does anyone have a rough guide to how to structure the 30+ mark questions properly? :smile:

Reply 6

screaming_pickle

This exam is so hard and i have not been told any structure for the essays and i have done in other subjects so i never really know who to write the questions

Reply 7

missrosiex

1

MRadwan

hey im retaking crime and deviance in jan :frown:

i think im ok with memorising all my notes tht i made last year (its a retake i got a B last yr) but becoz im not at coleg dis year on a gap yr i have no help at all and ive forgotten how im supposed to format my essays like how they shud be written..if tht makes sense..i would rele rele like a sample essay of an A standard paper but dont know how to find it if anyone knows please do let me know thank u very much

Hello,im retaking this module this month,ive got a fair few essays A grade i got last year,ill post them up as soon as i get round to revision,but this is pretty good

http://www.sociology.org.uk/A2_deviance.pdf

got alot on that site :smile:

ill upload the essays when i find them xx

Reply 8

JamesNichols

missrosiex

http://www.sociology.org.uk/A2_deviance.pdf
got alot on that site :smile:

That links quite good actually!

My problem is that there is just so much to remember its just not fun ¬,¬
start to stress about it as well! :eek3:

Reply 9

missrosiex

1

i knoww litrally not gonna be fun! if anyone else is going to last minute cram...not that i intend to haha,but
Ethnicity
Gender
Suicide
Labelling Theory

id revise those gonna be one of them most sure...
but just from previous years,suicides got a v high chance of coming up so id make sure you learn that,got this if its any use to anyone:

The Sociological Issues Arising from the Study of Suicide

Durkheim’s ‘Le Suicide’
Durkheim
Individual action shaped by social structure - suicide product of social influences.
Studying suicide objectively could prove sociology to be scientific discipline.
Examined official statistics:
Single societies – rate remains fairly constant over time.
Rates varied consistently between different societies.
Rate varied between different groups within same society.
Types of suicide:
Egoistic – Excessive individualism. Lack of integration
Altruistic – Too much integration e.g. Jonestown Mass Suicide.
Anomic – Lack of regulation
Fatalistic – Too much regulation e.g. suicide in prison

Criticisms –
Suicide rates – ‘social facts’.
Manipulated non-social and social variables to discover cause of suicide.
Lack of reliability of official statistics
Fail to guide how to recognize different types of suicide
Eliminated non-social variables e.g. climate, heredity, seasons.
Examined psychological variables; high rate of insanity but low level of suicide amongst Jews.

Durkheim noted and suggested
Catholics less likely to commit suicide than Protestants
Catholics more integrated into communities – ritualistic character of beliefs and practices, whereas Protestants not as integrated, as religion stresses ‘free enquiry = less social control
Marriage and family life – integrating effect on individuals – single/divorced more prone to ‘egoism’.
Strong sentiments in terms of nationalism/patriotism present in political environment can affect suicide rates. Political upheaval and war promote integration ~ less suicide

Other Functionalist theories of suicide

Halbwachs (1930) – Continued Durkheim’s theme. Suggested urbanization was the key variable in determining social integration as city life characterized by isolation and impersonal relationships.
Criticisms –
Durkheim focused on lack of reliability of official statistics on death.
Failure to offer any guidance on how to recognize different types of suicide.

The Interpretivist critique of Durkheim

Durkheim’s theory – attacked by interpretivists sociologists ~ suicide rates ‘do not exist as facts’; socially constructed, thus systematically biased.

Cultural meaning of Suicide
Douglas (1976) – suicide rates reflect different cultural meanings attached to suicidal action in any particular society.
Cultural interpretations of suicide influence the statistics e.g. Catholics, suicide = ‘morally wrong’; a cardinal sin.

Social Construction of Suicide Statistics
Atkinson (1978) Suicide rates are socially constructed.
Suicide stats are end products of complex set of interactions and interpretations involving victims, Dr etc, most importantly coroners.
Research focused on coroners – legal officers investigate suspicious deaths.
A death is not a suicide until it is labeled as such by a coroner’s court

Steve Taylor (1988)
Attempts to combine Durkheimian and interpretivist approaches.
Like Durkheim – social structure is important – brings levels of ‘certainty’ and ‘uncertainty’ in people’s lives, e.g. WC people may exp. More uncertainty than certainty = unemployment.
Argues, stable lives arise from people’s interpretations – experience a balance between certainty and uncertainty.
Suicide more likely when individual interprets their social situation as certainty or uncertainty.
People feel they know everything worth knowing or experience – ‘purposive’ suicide.
Feel they know nothing worth knowing and attempt ‘ordeal suicides’ – as Taylor calls.
Both may be product of some aspect of experience of how society is organized.
Suicidal response only one way to reacting to this.

and if anyone wanted to know past papers too:

-Jan 09-
'Crime and deviance are the result of a strain between the goal of 'money success' and the socially approved means of achieving it.'

Assess this view.

-June 08-
Assess sociological explanations of social class differences in crime rates.

-Jan 08-
Assess the view that delinquent subcultures are the main cause of crime.

-June 07-
Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess sociological explanations of gender differences in patterns of offending, victimisation and punishment.

-Jan 07-
Assess the usefulness of statistical data in the study of crime and deviance.

-June 06-
“Since the mid-1950s, the number of recorded crimes in England and Wales has risen from about half a million a year to around 5 million today.”

Assess sociological explanations of the increase in recorded crime in the last 50 years.

-Jan 06-
Assess the usefulness of conflict theories for an understanding of crime and deviance.

-June 05-
"Deviance is the result of the social background of the deviant, rather than the actions of social control agencies"

Assess this view.

-Jan 05-
Assess the social explanations of gender difference for the rate of crime and deviance.

ill keep posting as i find stuff on my comp-may aswell share the love :wink:

haha x

Reply 10

missrosiex

1

Physiological Explanations
Lombroso (1876) L’Uomo Deliquente
The Italian Doctor believed he found a link between physical characteristics and criminality
He suggested that if a person’s arm span (that’s both arms measured together!!) is longer than a person’s height then that person would be pre-disposed to crime.
Lombroso’s work was based in an Italian prison. His sample was therefore biased.
The prisoners were usually from a poor background, their diets would have been bad and this could explain their deformities.
Moir and Jessel (1997)

They believed that a low IQ was inherited and this is the main cause of criminality and deviance.
Psychological Explanations
Eysenck
Crime and deviance can be explained through inherent character traits. People with an extrovert personality are more likely to break the law as they crave attention, take chances and act on the spur of the moment.
SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS:
Durkheim (1858-1917)
Durkheim was concerned with:
Analysis of social order
How stability is created
How collective will is maintained
Durkheim accepts that not everyone follows the collective conscience
primary and secondary socialisation agencies to ensure members stay on the straight and narrow.
Durkheim does acknowledge however that the collective conscience can fail especially at periods of great social strain and dramatic change e.g. war, depression, recession, political upheaval.
For Durkheim crime was really an inevitable a normal aspect of social life. It is beneficial for society, without it society would fail.
Robert Merton’s Strain Theory (1938)
Merton based his research on 1930’s American society. From this he suggested that societies have a set goal that it asks it’s members to achieve (value consensus).
Legitimate ways of achieving these goals are through hard work, educational qualifications, talent, drive, determination and ambition.
The strain occurs when socially acceptable goals cannot be met through socially acceptable means.
Merton also linked back to Durkheim by expanding on his theory of anomie. If the majority of people cannot achieve their goals then they become disenchanted and seek out other ways thus creating anomie.
Merton believed there were five different types of strain’s between goals and means that can occur:
Criticisms
Whilst this does provide some kind of explanation, there are a number of reasons for not viewing it as particularly convincing:
Valier (2001) believes that the theory places too much stress on the fact that people share similar ends. Evidence has shown that members of society can share a number of goals at any one time.

Taylor suggests that Merton ignores the power struggle in society. He doesn’t question who makes the rules and laws but merely assumes that we follow them. (Fruit machine analogy)
Hirschi’s Bonds of Attachment (1969)
Hirschi again is a functionalist and he too was heavily influenced by the work of Durkheim. His theory has influenced a great number of sociologists and is known as Control Theory.
Instead of asking the normal question “Why do people commit crimes?” he asked, “Why don’t people commit crimes
He had an overriding belief that human beings are neither naturally wicked nor prone to conformity. Instead he saw us as rational beings that will only turn to crime when the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
Hirschi believed that people attach themselves to society through a variety of ways. They create a number of social bonds that holds them to society.
Attachment: if we are strongly attached to a family unit then we care about other people’s opinions and are less likely to commit crimes, as we will let them down (Commitment/ Involvement/ Belief)
Marxism
As in all Marxist theory the evil state controlled by the ruling classes is to blame for all of society’s problems.
The Manipulation of Values. Society is controlled by those who own the Means of Production
Socialisation During childhood and adulthood we are socialised by a variety of different agencies, all these agencies are working together to promote capitalist values to ensure the population maintains them.
Law Creation. Remember Durkheim? For functionalists law is a reflection of the general masses, a value consensus that we as a society have reached together. For Marxists law creation is all based on the ruling classes and what they dictate to be important
Law Enforcement : The bourgeoisie, according to Marxists such as Box (83), have, through official statistics created a stereotypical criminal, that of a young, black, working class male
Individual Motivation. Crime is a logical explanation to ruling class ideology.
William Chambliss
To begin his journey he took an evolutionary approach to crime, ranging all the way back to feudal times. The law had very little to do with protecting private property due to the fact that the Lords were undisputed lords of the manor and their property was unmovable
Chambliss was concerned with how certain things are made illegal and how certain things aren’t. He asked who decides what issues are made law and why aren’t certain things made illegal such as unequal distribution of wealth
There is major crime in Seattle and majority of it comes from the political and economic elite. It includes illegal gambling, porn, prostitutes and drugs; he found this was rife amongst the ruling classes yet nothing was being done to stop it.
Sutherland originally coined the term white-collar in 1949 to indicate that not all crime was committed by white working class young males.
Occupational Crime. Crime carried out at the expense of the company
Weaknesses
Victims are ignored. Marxists don’t take into account the harm done by offenders.
Are all laws for the bourgeoisie? What about drink driving and GBH?
Feminists claim it ignores patriarchy and the way it can affect the making of law
Can a communist state rid us of crime? China and the USSR has proven that crime has not been eradicated

Chicago School
· Shaw & McKay began to divide the city up into concentric circles to determine if the area we live has anything to do with the distribution of crime.
· Shaw & McKay assert that everyone is socialised into a common set of values, but the poorer members of society in the Inner City or Zone of Transition are not in a position to achieve these values
Criticisms
Too deterministic - it suggests all members of the zone of transition should turn to crime when clearly they do not
It sees the individual as highly passive who simply responds to the environment around him/her;
A Cohen
Delinquency must be seen as a COLLECTIVE and not an individual problem
It is important to also account for NON-UTILITARIAN CRIMES (crimes committed out of fun
STATUS FRUSTRATION. Working class boys find themselves denied of any kind of status by the education system.
form delinquent subcultures and make up their own set of achievable goals
CRITICISMS
Short and Strodbeck found little evidence to suggest that gangs reject the middle class values of society
The emphasis on ‘malice’ misses the fact that delinquency is often carried out for fun
Cloward and Ohlin = indicate that there is more pressure on the w.c to deviate as they have less legitimate means of reaching their aspired goals.
They adapted both Merton and A. Cohen’s theories on both subculture and structural. Merton stressed that the working classes are criminally deviant due to strain
C and O distinguish these subcultures into three different sections:
Criminal subcultures
Conflict Subcultures
Retreatist Subcultures
Interactionism
Becker = For Becker, therefore, there is no such thing as a deviant act - it only becomes deviant when others perceive and define it as such.
Becker noted that this process of segregation creates "outsiders",
Once applied, the label takes MASTER STATUS
Since individuals’ self concepts are largely derived from the responses of others, they will tend to see themselves in terms of the label
Criticisms?
Becker tends to side too much with the deviant against the authority figure. As such his whole approach is too subjective
Becker assumes that deviance starts with the labelling process. What he fails to investigate are the reasons as to why the individual committed the act IN THE FIRST PLACE
Jock Young "Marijuana Users in Notting Hill"
The police held stereotypes of the users who they saw as "Hippies" and in particular as scruffy, dirty, idle and scroungers.
The group itself saw themselves as a deviant group and so they deliberately set up a subculture as a sign of defiance with its own norms and values and fashionThe drug culture therefore made it difficult to re-enter society because they were seen as different.

E. LEMERT
His study of stuttering amongst North American Pacific Coastal Indians showed that this form of deviance was produced through societal reaction.
(a) Primary Deviance (i.e. deviant acts before they are so labelled) which Lemert sees as unimportant as it only has a little effect on the individual and does not effect his/her status in the community not prevent the individual from continuing a normal and conventional life because no-one knows about the deviance as there has been no public label.
(b) Secondary Deviance is deviance resulting from SOCIETAL REACTION, and for Lemert this is the most important because it entails the public identification of an individual as a deviant which in turn results in clear consequences for the individual concerned. - It affects one’s status and standing in the community
Cicourel
the process of defining a person as a delinquent is not simple and unproblematic - rather it is complex , involving a series of interactions, based on meanings held by participants which can be modified during the interaction, making each stage in the process NEGOTIABLE.
The first stage consists of a decision by the police to stop and
interrogate an individual. This will be based on stereotypes held by the police of a 'typical delinquent' and of what constitutes 'suspicious' behaviour.
The second stage consists of whether to charge the individual (likely to be a youth) or not. This will be based on the stereotypes held by the juvenile officer of a typical delinquent
It will also be based on the power of the youth's parents to be able to successfully NEGOTIATE with the police
Stan Cohen
He focused on the Mods and the Rockers of the 60’s two groups that were at odds with one another
Cohen suggests that the media at the time had no major stories to report and therefore built up these two groups into Folk Devils (group seen as trouble makers).
Cohen argues that from time to time agents of social control such as prominent members of the police, courts, editors of newspapers, politicians whip up a MORAL PANIC - i.e. a particular type of activity or a group of people is/are defined as a THREAT to society.
In short, the media AMPLIFIES the problem by creating a moral panic, which heightens police activity, court sentencing and public awareness. This becomes a vicious spiral, which has little resemblance to the actual situation.
Criticisms = McRobie’s 5 criticisms (frequency /context etc.)
ERVING GOFFMAN 'ASYLUMS'
Goffman stresses that institutions such as mental hospitals, prisons and reform schools, instead of reforming or curing the individual simply confirm the label of deviant upon them.
In and American Asylum, Goffman showed how one's self-identity is stripped away by the removal of one's own clothes, haircut and their replacement with standard, regulation ones including a uniform and a timetable of activities placed upon them.
In short, for Goffman, the Asylum is seen as a storage dump for inmates - rather than reducing deviance, as an institution it actually reinforces it.

Reply 11

missrosiex

1

MRadwan

hey im retaking crime and deviance in jan :frown:

i think im ok with memorising all my notes tht i made last year (its a retake i got a B last yr) but becoz im not at coleg dis year on a gap yr i have no help at all and ive forgotten how im supposed to format my essays like how they shud be written..if tht makes sense..i would rele rele like a sample essay of an A standard paper but dont know how to find it if anyone knows please do let me know thank u very much

Not sure where i got this one from haha,but mentions A grade essay...

Example Sociology Essay (A Grade Student): Crime Statistics
Why is it so difficult to get a true picture of crime?

Officially recorded crime statistics by the Home Office suggest that there were approximately 5.4 million crimes in Britain in 2006/07. This decreased by 10% in 2007/08. However, the British Crime Survey (BCS) suggests that there were in fact 11.3 million crimes in 2006/07, decreasing by 10% as well. This therefore poses the question: why is one survey telling us that the amount of crime recorded is in reality under half of what is actually happening?

A main reason behind the difference in these statistics is the way that they are both recorded. Police record statistics only when, according to official guidelines, ‘the circumstances as reported amount to a crime defined by law’ and there is no credible evidence to the contrary of the reported circumstances. There are problems with this method of recording crimes. For example, it also states in the official guidelines that ‘Apparent or possible criminal activity, such as damage to bus shelters, telephone kiosks, forensic items (blood) etc, which does not in itself amount to evidence of a crime, coming to the attention of the police after the incident either personally or via third parties, would not initially be recorded as a crime but as a crime related incident’. This therefore distorts statistics as in most people’s eyes, this would be evidence enough that a crime has been committed, and these are the types of incidents that the BCS takes into consideration and records as a crime. The BCS is a large survey of a representative sample of households of people over 16 years of ages in England and Wales. It discovers people’s perceptions and experiences of crime, people’s attitudes towards crime, and includes people’s experience of illicit drugs. This can then determine on a national level the approximate amount of crime happening, and the approximate number of types of crime as the sample is large and representative, and therefore provides the most reliable picture of crime and victimisation over periods of time. So these statistics are in some ways given greater authority when people look at crime data as it records more types of crime.

Thefts and criminal damage make up 44% of police recorded crime, whilst the BCS records vandalism and thefts as 57% of all crime committed. This can give us a valuable insight into how people treat the survey and the police differently. Despite the slightly different categorisation, the crimes still amount to the same thing. However, these statistics do show that people are more comfortable reporting to an organisation that they are not in risk of retribution from. It is common in some societies not to trust the police, and in some cases, people do not report to the police for the sake of a friend or family member who has committed the crime. Therefore, the police cannot record these crimes and the statistics that are released are still under the ‘iceberg effect’ where a lot of the crime that is committed cannot be seen.

There are other reasons why crimes may not be reported to or recorded by the police. For example, a victim of a minor offence may report a crime to the police, but in their professional opinion they may deem it to be too trivial to be recorded as an official crime. This ties in with previously mentioned categorisation - the offence is categorised and its seriousness is also therefore determined by the police officer’s opinion. More worryingly, its has been deemed that the police force, when a crime is reported, may view the social status of the person reporting the crime to be too low or not high enough to pursue the matter.

Therefore, in relation to this, the British Crime Survey is very important in giving a better oversight and picture of crime to the public and the home office. The survey, which interviews around twenty-four thousand people, is crucial in reporting to the government crimes which are unrecorded, and is also used in designing crime prevention programmes. The way in which it differs most from official police statistics is that it covers a much larger area of topics. The survey itself includes questions on attitudes towards the Criminal Justice System, crime experienced in the workplace, illegal drug use and other subjects which are sometimes considered taboo in society. People are often scared to tell the police or confide in others when they experience these sorts of issues, or participate in these activities themselves. Therefore they make up part of the hidden crime rate.
However, self report studies, and victim studies such as the British Crimes Survey do have their disadvantages as well as their advantages. Self report studies are criticised more than the others for the method in which they gain statistics. They give volunteers a confidential list of offences and ask them whether or not they have committed any of the listed crimes. This is aimed as such so that the results can be compared with official conviction rates so that is can be seen which types of offence are generally punished and those which are going un-noticed. Yet, the problems that these surveys may encounter are multiple: those who choose to respond will generally only be from one section of the public, i.e. those who have enough time to carry out such questionnaires and who are interested. This will more often than not be the elderly, so answers may also be affected by exaggeration and/or forgetfulness on behalf of the respondent. Respondents may also be affected by embarrassment, for example, they may not want to admit that they took recreational drugs, or committed a sexual offence. This is all also based on the limited list of offences that are listed, and in many cases largely ignore middle class and white collar crime such as fraud in all its many shapes and forms.

Hidden crime is therefore a serious problem today, and it is seemingly impossible to conduct a nationwide survey which will include every single type of crime. Changes in legislation for example, or targeting by police forces (for example, and famously, drink driving around Christmas time) mean that crime is forever changing, and different types of crime are increasing and decreasing constantly. One type of hidden crime is increasing substantially, yet it is not regarded as a particularly serious in the general public’s eyes: online crime, particularly ‘wi-fi tapping’, where a computer user has logged on to somebody else wireless internet collection illegally to gain access to the internet for free. The police themselves are particularly worried about this type of crime. At the time of the survey, conducted by The Times newspaper, only eleven arrests had been made for this crime, but it is believed that over half of computer users have committed this crime (54%). This has boomed in the past few years as hijackers have taken advantage of the huge increase in wireless internet available and people who have not protected their networks. It is particularly alarming as hackers can use these networks to download pornographic material or illegal images, and only the legitimate owner of the wi-fi account is likely to be tracked down.

From a sociological perspective however, crime statistics can be viewed very differently according to the sociological viewpoint you are coming from. For example, interpretivists would blame the shortcomings of official statistics purely on the labelling theory – that is, that police target particular groups of society such as ethnic minorities and would point to statistics that show that the majority of convicted criminals in England and Wales, and the majority of people stopped for crimes are young, black males, who are stereotyped to be the typical criminal in some people’s eyes. On the other hand, a positivist approach to this subject would be that all early sociological theories of crime and deviance in society are based on the universal assumption that all crime statistics are accurate. This therefore challenges the traditional stereotype of believing what we see. Positivists only trust research that they have conducted through the logic of confirmation, otherwise known as verificationism, which means that a fact can only be believed when there is completely firm evidence supporting the fact. Working on this assumption, positivists therefore are very open minded, and read into statistics in a number of ways.

ALSO: Here is a rough plan if you were to get a big quessie on official statistics :wink:

Intro is usually definition - so numerical data produced by the government.

Para one - positivists like them because they're reliable, representative, cheap and easy, give background on what you're studying etc...

Para 2 - They may also be used on larger scale than a sociologist can do eg the census. That's 31 million homes and every 10 years... but interpretivists would accuse the census of lacking validity because people may lie, invent religions etc... Also marxists dislike this, they see it as the govt 'spying' on us.

Para 3 - Marxists go on to say how stats may me manipulated to serve the govts interests, eg the tories in the 1980's lowered unemployment stats in 3 main ways, so a claimant count may be better.

Para 4 - The main criticism though is the lack of validity eg crime stats and the "dark" figure. Cicourel and social constructs "there is no crime out there to count", lack of reporting etc so maybe a self report test or victim survey is better.

Para 5 - Suicide: Durkheim vs Taylor vs Atkinson vs Douglas.

Conclusion - use triangulation.

Reply 12

screaming_pickle

Could anyone help me with action and strustctural theories? i dont know what perspectives go in each theory

Reply 13

missrosiex

1

hello screaming_pickle x

if i was to give a quick summary!:
Perspectives such as Functionalism,Marxism,Feminism are Structuralist perspectives because they believe social structures are the most influential and important to our behaviour & hence it would make sense to study them,and the easiest way to think of structural theorist views is like seeing people as puppets where society pulls the strings.-i.e society is the most influential factor on individuals behaviours.

Action theories are generally associated with the ''Interactionist" perspectives - "action" is purposeful, meaningful, behaviour and it reflects the idea that people always have a choice about how to behave - nothing is ever fixed,individuals make their own choices and how they behave,but it is still important to remember althought action theories believe this,they dont completely discount the idea that social structures influence individuals-although they think it is a much less influencing factor on individuals.

hope this helps you abit :smile:

x

Reply 14

jenny_flum

is anyone also doing theory and methods on friday? aaaah stress!!

Reply 15

missrosiex

1

jenny_flum

is anyone also doing theory and methods on friday? aaaah stress!!

hello x im not doing it,but i did it in summer and used some notes i got off this site,just had a look & found them! ive pasted them for you x.
i litrally just learnt the minimal of these and got a B,your be ok honestly,in this exam i just thought,ahh dont know much so just went on about what i did know,like the different theorys and guessed how they could relate-like if you can back up what your saying however random it is!
good luck lovely hope these help you xx

A2 AQA Sociology – Theories and Methods
Methodology Revision
Assessing Research Findings
Qualitative and Quantitative Methods and Data
Validity and Reliability
Triangulation
Reflexivity
Dialogic Research
Methodological Pluralism
Sociology and Science
Auguste Comte – Positivism
Durkheim – Sociological Methodology
Karl Popper – Deduction and Falsification
Realist Approaches (Open and Closed Systems)
Interpretivist Sociology
Max Weber (Social Action, Verstehen)
Blumer – Symbolic Interactionism
Phenomenology
Two Sociologies?
Postmodernist Methodology
Feminist Methodology
Sociology, Methodology and Values
Values and the Study of Deviance
Relativism
Sociology and Social Policy
The Founding Fathers
Shaping Social Policy
Sociology, Social Policy and Labour (Giddens – Third Way)

Theories Revision
What is Sociological Theory
Classical Sociology and Modernity
The Enlightenment
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Establishment of Sociological Theory
Functionalism (Parsons and Merton)
Marxism (Gramsci and Althusser)
Symbolic Interactionism (Mead, Blumer and Goffman)
Structure and Action in Sociology
Structuralism (Levi-Strauss and Barthes [Semiotics])
Ethnomethodology (Garfinkel) and Phenomenology
Unification of Structure and Action (Giddens)
Challenges of Sociological Theory
Globalisation (Giddens, Beck)
Postmodernism (Lyotard)

Methodology Revision

Assessing Research Findings
Qualitative and Quantitative Methods and Data
Quantitative Data – numerical (questionnaires, structured interviews) – i.e. official statistics
Qualitative Data – written (unstructured interviews, observation)

Validity and Reliability
Validity – refers to accuracy – data is valid if it gives a true picture of social life. It could be
argued that qualitative data gives a truer picture of social life than quantitative data.

Reliability – methods and data are reliable when different researchers using the same methods
obtain similar results. A reliable method allows studies to be replicated.

Triangulation
Triangulation is a means of testing the validity and reliability of methodology and data (Denzin,
1970)
=Investigator Triangulation – Using different researchers (observers / interviewers)
=Data Triangulation – Collecting data at different times, in different places and from different people.
=Methodological Triangulation – there are two types of methodological triangulation. ‘Withinmethod’
is using the same method with different approaches – i.e. open and closed interviews. The
other is ‘Between-method’ using a combination of research techniques – interviews, observation,
questionnaires etc.

Reflexivity
Reflexivity is recognition of the reflexive nature of research. Researchers should question whether
their presence affects the actions of the people they are studying. This awareness will help to produce
a more valid picture of society.

How Can Sociologists Reduce Their Influence On Research?
Asking the Researched – Whyte (1955) studied an Italian-American gang in Boston, he
discussed his findings with the leader of the gang (Doc). Doc assessed Whyte’s interpretation from an insider’s point of view.

Playing the Part – Cicourel (1976) spent four years studying probation officers in California. Part
of this time was spent as an unpaid probation officer. His aim was to discover the meanings used by
probation officers to define young people as delinquent.

Presenting the Data – In ‘The Social Organisation of Juvenile Justice’, Cicourel presents lengthy extracts from conversations between probation officers and juveniles giving other researchers the
opportunity to assess Cicourel’s interpretations.

Comparing Results – if researchers look at similar studies they can question their results and
findings and the extent to which their own beliefs and values may have affected the research.
Critical Self Awareness – None of these methods is fool-proof but they do encourage a critical
self-awareness which can only benefit the validity of research.

Dialogic Research
Awareness of reflexivity has also led some sociologists to examine the relationship between the
researcher and the researched. They argue that the relationship is unequal.
Dialogic Research involves dialog between the researched and researcher. The researcher lets go of
power and inviting the researched to set the agenda, to decide what’s important and how to express it
(Puwar, 2001).

Cohen (1996-97) – provides an example of this research methodology. He gave young people in
East London cameras and tape recorders and asked them to record their social world in their own
way.

Dialogic Research offers an opportunity to capture people’s outlook, priorities, hopes and anxieties
with a minimum of intrusion by the ‘official’ researcher.

Methodological Pluralism
Methodological pluralism recognises the strengths and weaknesses of different research methods and
aims to build up a fuller picture of social life by combining different research methods and different
types of data.
Eileen Barker’s (1984) study of The Moonies shows the strengths of methodological pluralism.
She conducted in-depth interviews, participant observation and questionnaires. Barker claimed that
combining different methods gave her a fuller picture than if she had just used one method or data
source.

Sociology and Science
Auguste Comte – Positivism
Comte (1798-1857) invented the word sociology. He argued sociology should be based on the
methodology of the natural sciences. This would result in a ‘positive science of society’. He insisted
that only observable ‘facts’ were acceptable evidence for his science of society. The facts of society
should be objectively measured and quantified.

Durkheim's Methodology
Durkheim saw society in terms of ‘social facts’ that could then be quantified and be subject to
statistical analysis. Durkheim’s famous study of suicide (1897) argued that rate of suicide was
found in society, not the psychology of individuals. Suicide rates are social facts, as well as the
product of other social facts. Durkheim examined official statistics on suicide from a number of
European countries and he found that:
1. Suicide rates within each country were fairly consistent over a number of years.
2. There were significant differences between societies and between social groups within the
same society.

Durkheim found correlations between suicide rates and a number of social facts – for example –
religion, location, age and family situation.
Protestants < Catholics
City Dwellers < Rural Dwellers
Older Adults < Younger Adults
Unmarried < Married
Married with Children < Married without Children

Karl Popper – Deduction and Falsification
Durkheim argued that theories should come from evidence – gathering, describing, classifying and analysing social facts – from this theories can be generated. This is an inductive approach.
A deductive approach reverses Durkheim’s inductive approach. It starts with a theory and uses
data to test that theory.

According to Popper rather than looking for evidence that confirms their theories, scientists should
do their best to disprove their theories (falsification). Popper argues that Marx’s theory of history
fails in this respect because it cannot be falsified and is therefore unscientific.
Realist Approaches (Open and Closed Systems)

Sayer (1992) distinguishes between open and closed systems – laboratories are closed systems.
This allows them to reveal “more clearly the operation of mechanisms”
Because human behaviour takes place in an open system it is more difficult to predict its course with
any degree of accuracy.
However, structures constrain human behaviour but human beings are not simply directed by
structural constraints. Realists accept the Marxist view of false consciousness – that socially
constructed meanings can distort reality (Blaikie, 1993).

Interpretivist Sociology

Max Weber (Social Action, Verstehen)
Weber defined sociology as “a science which attempts the interpretative understanding of social
action in order to thereby arrive at a casual explanation of its course and effects” (1964).
Social action is action that involves other members of society – it is based on the meanings of in the
minds of the social actors which direct their actions. Weber was particularly interested in motives
and direct social action to achieve certain goals.

Verstehen – translated as empathetic understanding, the researcher places themselves in the
position of the researched to try and understand their motives within social action. (Criticism: this is
not reflexive!)

Blumer – Symbolic Interactionism
Symbolic Interactionists tend to focus on small scale interactions and the meanings within these
situations. Blumer (1962) developed a methodology for the study of social interaction.
Symbolic Interactionists accept that to some extent social interaction is structured and meanings are
not constantly reinvented, social interaction is often routine and repetitive but this doesn’t mean that
negotiation and interpretation aren’t important aspects of interaction.
See Also: Symbolic Interactionism in Theories

Phenomenology
Phenomenologists argue that as a human being our only reality consists of meanings. The job of
the sociologist is to find those meanings.
This approach can be found in Atkinson’s study ‘Discovering Suicide’ where he seeks to discover
who deaths are categorised as suicide. He sees ‘suicide’ as a meaning and has no reality beyond this.
Atkinson’s reach attempted to discover the meanings used by coroners to classify suicides.

Atkinson’s research does not concentrate on ‘social facts’ as in Durkheim’s study. They do not
believe that suicides are objective facts that can be explained, they are meanings. To try and discover
the causes of suicide will simply result in uncovering meanings that are used to classify suicides.

Two Sociologies?
Halfpenny (1984) argues that there are ‘two sociologies’ one based on scientific methodology
and ‘hard’ quantitative data (positivism) and the other based on interpretivist methodology and
‘soft’ qualitative data (interpretivism).
However, Pawson (1989) rejects this view; he sees the distinction as a ‘methodological myth’.

Postmodernist Methodology

Postmodernists challenge the entire basis of research methodology in the social sciences. They
question the possibility of making definite statements about social reality. They argue that findings in
research reports are simply sociologist’s construction of reality rather than a valid
description of society.
From a postmodernist view, research reports are not objective they are constructions which are
designed to persuade, to give the impression of rational, analytical thinking and to convince the
reader that the researcher’s view is ‘the truth’ (Alvesson, 2002).
Postmodernists are particularly hostile to metanarratives which try to give a single explanation to
the entire make up of social reality, such as Marxism and functionalism. For postmodernists there are
multiple (if not infinite) interpretations of the social world, who is to say which is ‘right’ or ‘best’?

Feminist Methodology
The ‘weak thesis’ (Pawson, 1992) in feminist methodology states that androcentricity (a malecentred
view of the world which assumes male dominance and superiority) and over generalisation
are found in all aspects of the research process.
Research methods in themselves however are not sexist but sociologists need to learn how to
conduct their research and their methodology in a non-sexist way.
The ‘strong thesis’ (supported by Oakley, 1981) states that feminism requires its own research
methods – for example, feminist interviewing.
Postmodern feminism rejects feminism as a single perspective it emphasises diversity and variation
between different women (such as black, working class and homosexual).

Sociology, Methodology and Values

Values and the Study of Deviance

Becker (1970) argues that it is impossible to conduct research “uncontaminated by personal and
political sympathies”. He believes that interactionist theories and methods are infused with left-wing
value judgements.

Gouldner (1975) also believes that value-free sociology is impossible. Gouldner argues that values
underlie every sociological perspective; these values influence the way sociologists picture and
examine the social world.

Relativism
Relativists see all knowledge as relative, there is no such thing as objective knowledge since
everything is seen through the lens of our values and culture.
Sociology and Social Policy
The Founding Fathers
The founding ‘fathers’ of sociology believed it should play a part in society, in reforming social
problems and improving the social condition. Comte (d.1857) saw sociology as a practical subject
that should be applied to wider society. Durkheim (d.1917) also focused on the question of order in
society; he was interested in the break down of value consensus due to industrialisation. He saw
sociology as a way of restoring order and strengthening order and social integration. Marx (1818-
1883) saw sociologists working with governments to improve existing societies but he also looked
forward to the overthrowing of governments and their replacement with communist societies.

Shaping Social Policy
During the 19th century the dominant view of poverty was the poor were to blame for their poverty
(Page, 2001). In 1899, Rowntree conducted a systematic study of poverty in York and found
differently, research such as this influenced Liberal governments in the 1900s.
Examples: Old Age Pensions Act (1908) – pensions for over 70s; National Insurance Act
(1911) – sick benefits to manual workers.

Governments listen to sociologists when it suits them, this can be seen from Thatcher’s
Conservative government (1979-1990) – she had no time for sociology except the American rightwing
sociologist Charles Murray and David Marsland from the UK.

The Thatcher and Major governments attempted to end a dependency culture (‘nanny state&#8217 :wink:

by
reducing welfare benefits and introducing measures such as the Job Seekers Allowance and The Child
Support Agency (Page, 2001).
Donnison (2001) claims that “major shifts in policy come about, not when the old questions are
finally answered but when new questions are asked”. For example:

1. Initially people asked: Does the death penalty deter people from killing each other? Then
from about 1963, a new question was asked – Is the death penalty acceptable in a civilised
society? Two years later, the death penalty was abolished.
2. Rowntree’s early study of York looked at absolute poverty. By this definition in the 1960s
poverty was dwindling. Then Abel-Smith and Townsend (1965) developed a new
concept relative poverty and the emphasis of poverty shifted from the old to those on low
incomes with dependant children, this directed a shift in resources to the low paid with
young children.
Sociology, Social Policy and Labour (Giddens – Third Way)
When New Labour came to power in 1997, they offer the ‘Third Way’, neither the left-wing policies of
Old Labour nor the right-wing policies of the Conservatives in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Much of this was influenced by Giddens’ book ‘The Third Way’ (1998), it stressed the importance
of social solidarity and social cohesion. He also saw social exclusion as the main threat to social
order and solidarity.
He believed that exclusion of the poor could be prevented by providing welfare benefits and better
public services (particularly health and education) as well as opportunities to move out of poverty.
Without these measures the poor would be excluded from mainstream society and solidarity would be
threatened (Giddens, 1998; Bennett, 2001).
Giddens’s Third Way is reflected in Labour’s social policy. In their first years of government, Labour
set up the Social Exclusion Unit to find solutions to the problems of exclusion in society. It is
directly responsible to the Cabinet and it attempts to ensure that all policies – health, education,
poverty, crime and urban renewals – are part of a coordinated strategy to deal with social exclusion
(MacGregor, 2001).

Reply 16

missrosiex

1

Theories Revision

What is Sociological Theory?
There are two essential elements to sociological theories – models and propositions.
Theories can be evaluated in two ways – logical evaluation (checking for contradictions) and
empirical evaluation (using evidence).
Empirical evaluation is problematic because of people have false consciousness; evidence based on
their statements may not be valid.

Classical Sociology and Modernity
Sociology emerged in the 19th Century; political revolutions in France and the Industrial Revolution
in England (and later elsewhere) signalled a radical change in society and the advent of modernity.

The Enlightenment
The enlightenment was the change from religious superstition to scientific rationalisation in Europe
from 1800 onwards. The Roman Catholic Church lost control over people’s lives and emphasis was
placed on the human ability to create knowledge, rather than relying on the teachings of the church.

Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Marx did not see himself as a sociologist but his work has had a profound effect on the discipline.
Marx believed that society was based on a conflict between the proletariat and the capitalist
class. The capitalist class (bourgeoisie) exploit the working class by gaining from the surplus value
(profit) that the working class create through their labour. In effect, the working classes are
underpaid by the capitalist class.
He also predicted that the working class would gain class consciousness and would rise up against
the bourgeoisie and replace the capitalist system with communism.
Marx and other Marxist sociologists have identified a number of things that prevent class
consciousness and a communist revolution. Marx saw the state as having a key ideological role. The
state gives the appearance of working in the interests of society as a whole yet, in reality; it is working
in the interests of the capitalist class.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
See Also: Durkheim in Methodology Section
Durkheim saw society in terms of functions (functionalism). Durkheim argued that only by
examining the contribution which each of a society’s parts makes to its overall functioning can we
arrive at a complete understanding of these parts.

Max Weber (1864-1920)
Weber emphasised the importance of taking into account the points of view of social actors, and the
meanings which they attribute to their own behaviour and that of others.
Weber would say that people’s actions are meaningful, they are not just the product of external forces
over which you have no control, but they are the result of your own interpretations of the world
around you and of the conscious choices you make about your future.
See also: Verstehen

Four categories of action:
1. Instrumentally Rational Action – the actor assesses both their goals and the means by
which they should be achieved.
2. Value-rational Action – unlike instrumentally rational action the goal cannot be
abandoned no matter how difficult. Rejecting it would be an example of instrumentally
rational action.
3. Traditional Action- this does not involve the assessment of goals or means, it is carried
out just because tradition dictates it.
4. Affective Action – this action is the result of an emotion, Weber believed this was
becoming less significant in industrial societies.
Weber argued that modern societies are characterised increasingly by a process of rationalisation.
In industrial development the increasing adoption of bureaucracy produces a trend towards
disenchantment (or the more literal translation: “taking the magic out of things”) and the
progressive removal of non-rational elements from all spheres of life.

Establishment of Sociological Theory
Functionalism (Parsons and Merton)
Parsons - in his book entitled ‘The Social System’ (1951) Parsons believes that all social systems
inevitably face four problems, which must be solved for the system to survive.

1. Adaptation – the need for social systems to adapt to their surroundings and environment
and create some mechanism which ensures food and shelter can be obtained. Adaptation
requires normative regulation; in simple societies this is through the existence of customs
and norms, in more advanced societies this is through regulated economies.
2. Goal Attainment – this refers to the goals that need to be set by societies towards which
the activities of their members are directed. In simple societies, this could be producing
sufficient food to maintain the population. In an advanced society these could be more
complex economic goals such as seeking profit.
3. Integration – the need to maintain cohesion within society and to deal efficiently with
deviance which threatens the overall stability of the society.
4. Pattern Maintenance – the need to maintain the pattern of value commitments amongst a
society’s members. Crucial to this is socialisation and the institutions that this takes place
within – the family and education.

Equilibrium – this relates to the balance of the four elements above. For Parsons, this means that
a change in one part of the social system will produce a change elsewhere in the system such that it
will return to a state of equilibrium. Social systems are therefore, self-regulating.

Social Evolution – all social systems are involved in an evolutionary process of development from
more simple to more complex systems. The central concept to explain this Parsons called
structural differentiation – the tendency of social institutions to become more specialised.

In advanced societies with greater specialisation there is a need for increasingly broad and general
values capable of regulating a wider range of activities. In modern industrial societies, such values
include a belief in universalism and in achievement.

Merton (1957) – rejects Parsons’ idea of functional unity - that all parts of society are connected
and beneficial (functional) to the running of that society. Merton believes that in a highly
differentiated society there is some degree of functional autonomy.
Merton also challenges ‘universal functionalism’ that all parts of the social system fulfil
someone positive function and this should not be assumed in advance, as Parsons did.

Marxism (Gramsci and Althusser)
Gramsci (d.1937) also highlighted the importance of ideology in ensuring the maintenance of
capitalism. Gramsci’s notion of hegemony (intellectual and moral leadership), argues that the
capitalist class exercise hegemony because their ideas and values are dominant. As a result they are
able to persuade others to consent to their rule. According to Gramsci:
“Revolution is only possible if the working class challenge the hegemony of the ruling class.”
However, he also says that sometimes the working class can force concessions from their rulers.
These concessions can only come from organised working class pressure (sometimes called power
blocs) - for example, the NHS and the welfare (benefits) system. While, these concessions reduce the
profits of the capitalist class (because of increases in taxes), they temporarily prevent a revolution
and maintain the capitalist system, which is in the long term interests of the bourgeoisie.
Althusser – believes that societies exist on three levels: the economic, the political and the
ideological. The later two are not mere reflections of the economic level (as Marx believed – economic
determinism) but they have ‘relative autonomy’ although still having an effect on the economy.
Althusser (1971) – also identifies two kinds of state apparatus used to help maintain the position of
the capitalist class:
‘Ideological state apparatus’ – education and the mass media
‘Repressive state apparatus’ – the army and police

Symbolic Interactionism (Mead, Blumer and Goffman)
Blumer – it is simply not legitimate to see human behaviour as resulting from the operation of
measurable variables. Instead, individual actions need to be examined from the point of view of the
actor’s interpretation of the situation in which they find themselves.
Goffman (1959) – Sees society as a drama “dramaturgical analogy”
Impression Management - Goffman argues that in everyday social interaction individuals are not
just expressing themselves but also trying to create impressions of themselves in the minds of the
audience.

Structure and Action in Sociology
Structuralism (Levi-Strauss and Barthes [Semiotics])
Ethnomethodology (Garfinkel) and Phenomenology
Documentary Method – taking certain aspects of a situation from an infinite number which could
have been selected, and then using them to define them in a particular way, and this definition is
evidence for some underlying pattern; for example Atkinson’s study of coroner’s and suicide. The
underlying pattern was here was this commonsense view of what constituted a suicide.
Indexicality – people make interpretations of actions based on the context of the situation. (i.e. joke
told at a comedy night, at a convent).
Unification of Structure and Action (Giddens)
Duality of Structure – Action and structure are two ways of looking at the same thing. Structures
are produced by action and action maintains structure.

Challenges of Sociological Theory
Globalisation (Giddens, Beck)
Chernobyl, Beck (1992) – “risk society”
Giddens (1990) – globalisation does not bring about generalisation and uniform action but
opposing tendencies:
1. Cultural homogenisation vs. differentiation
AQA A2 Sociology – Theories and Methods Revision
2. New identities vs. Old identities
3. Centralisation vs. decentralisation

Postmodernism (Lyotard)

Criticisms of Postmodernism:
Philo and Miller (2001):
1. People are able to make judgements about what is right or wrong
2. People are aware of the images beyond the media. They recognise that media images are
often one-sided, partial and distorted.
3. Many people are not free to create their own identities – cannot afford expensive goods.
Lyotard (1992) – criticises metanarratives, this postmodern rejection of metanarratives has also
meant a questioning of science (as a metanarrative). In postmodernism there is a change to hear the
voices

Reply 17

spinelli

thank you missrosie, and jenny_flum i am doing the theory and methods paper and also the power and politics (both AQA resits) im stressing sooo bad tooo :frown:

Reply 18

jenny_flum

missrosiex

hello x im not doing it,but i did it in summer and used some notes i got off this site,just had a look & found them! ive pasted them for you x.
i litrally just learnt the minimal of these and got a B,your be ok honestly,in this exam i just thought,ahh dont know much so just went on about what i did know,like the different theorys and guessed how they could relate-like if you can back up what your saying however random it is!
good luck lovely hope these help you xx

A2 AQA Sociology – Theories and Methods
Methodology Revision
Assessing Research Findings
Qualitative and Quantitative Methods and Data
Validity and Reliability
Triangulation
Reflexivity
Dialogic Research
Methodological Pluralism
Sociology and Science
Auguste Comte – Positivism
Durkheim – Sociological Methodology
Karl Popper – Deduction and Falsification
Realist Approaches (Open and Closed Systems)
Interpretivist Sociology
Max Weber (Social Action, Verstehen)
Blumer – Symbolic Interactionism
Phenomenology
Two Sociologies?
Postmodernist Methodology
Feminist Methodology
Sociology, Methodology and Values
Values and the Study of Deviance
Relativism
Sociology and Social Policy
The Founding Fathers
Shaping Social Policy
Sociology, Social Policy and Labour (Giddens – Third Way)

Theories Revision
What is Sociological Theory
Classical Sociology and Modernity
The Enlightenment
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
Max Weber (1864-1920)
Establishment of Sociological Theory
Functionalism (Parsons and Merton)
Marxism (Gramsci and Althusser)
Symbolic Interactionism (Mead, Blumer and Goffman)
Structure and Action in Sociology
Structuralism (Levi-Strauss and Barthes [Semiotics])
Ethnomethodology (Garfinkel) and Phenomenology
Unification of Structure and Action (Giddens)
Challenges of Sociological Theory
Globalisation (Giddens, Beck)
Postmodernism (Lyotard)

Methodology Revision

Assessing Research Findings
Qualitative and Quantitative Methods and Data
Quantitative Data – numerical (questionnaires, structured interviews) – i.e. official statistics
Qualitative Data – written (unstructured interviews, observation)

Validity and Reliability
Validity – refers to accuracy – data is valid if it gives a true picture of social life. It could be
argued that qualitative data gives a truer picture of social life than quantitative data.

Reliability – methods and data are reliable when different researchers using the same methods
obtain similar results. A reliable method allows studies to be replicated.

Triangulation
Triangulation is a means of testing the validity and reliability of methodology and data (Denzin,
1970)
=Investigator Triangulation – Using different researchers (observers / interviewers)
=Data Triangulation – Collecting data at different times, in different places and from different people.
=Methodological Triangulation – there are two types of methodological triangulation. ‘Withinmethod’
is using the same method with different approaches – i.e. open and closed interviews. The
other is ‘Between-method’ using a combination of research techniques – interviews, observation,
questionnaires etc.

Reflexivity
Reflexivity is recognition of the reflexive nature of research. Researchers should question whether
their presence affects the actions of the people they are studying. This awareness will help to produce
a more valid picture of society.

How Can Sociologists Reduce Their Influence On Research?
Asking the Researched – Whyte (1955) studied an Italian-American gang in Boston, he
discussed his findings with the leader of the gang (Doc). Doc assessed Whyte’s interpretation from an insider’s point of view.

Playing the Part – Cicourel (1976) spent four years studying probation officers in California. Part
of this time was spent as an unpaid probation officer. His aim was to discover the meanings used by
probation officers to define young people as delinquent.

Presenting the Data – In ‘The Social Organisation of Juvenile Justice’, Cicourel presents lengthy extracts from conversations between probation officers and juveniles giving other researchers the
opportunity to assess Cicourel’s interpretations.

Comparing Results – if researchers look at similar studies they can question their results and
findings and the extent to which their own beliefs and values may have affected the research.
Critical Self Awareness – None of these methods is fool-proof but they do encourage a critical
self-awareness which can only benefit the validity of research.

Dialogic Research
Awareness of reflexivity has also led some sociologists to examine the relationship between the
researcher and the researched. They argue that the relationship is unequal.
Dialogic Research involves dialog between the researched and researcher. The researcher lets go of
power and inviting the researched to set the agenda, to decide what’s important and how to express it
(Puwar, 2001).

Cohen (1996-97) – provides an example of this research methodology. He gave young people in
East London cameras and tape recorders and asked them to record their social world in their own
way.

Dialogic Research offers an opportunity to capture people’s outlook, priorities, hopes and anxieties
with a minimum of intrusion by the ‘official’ researcher.

Methodological Pluralism
Methodological pluralism recognises the strengths and weaknesses of different research methods and
aims to build up a fuller picture of social life by combining different research methods and different
types of data.
Eileen Barker’s (1984) study of The Moonies shows the strengths of methodological pluralism.
She conducted in-depth interviews, participant observation and questionnaires. Barker claimed that
combining different methods gave her a fuller picture than if she had just used one method or data
source.

Sociology and Science
Auguste Comte – Positivism
Comte (1798-1857) invented the word sociology. He argued sociology should be based on the
methodology of the natural sciences. This would result in a ‘positive science of society’. He insisted
that only observable ‘facts’ were acceptable evidence for his science of society. The facts of society
should be objectively measured and quantified.

Durkheim's Methodology
Durkheim saw society in terms of ‘social facts’ that could then be quantified and be subject to
statistical analysis. Durkheim’s famous study of suicide (1897) argued that rate of suicide was
found in society, not the psychology of individuals. Suicide rates are social facts, as well as the
product of other social facts. Durkheim examined official statistics on suicide from a number of
European countries and he found that:
1. Suicide rates within each country were fairly consistent over a number of years.
2. There were significant differences between societies and between social groups within the
same society.

Durkheim found correlations between suicide rates and a number of social facts – for example –
religion, location, age and family situation.
Protestants < Catholics
City Dwellers < Rural Dwellers
Older Adults < Younger Adults
Unmarried < Married
Married with Children < Married without Children

Karl Popper – Deduction and Falsification
Durkheim argued that theories should come from evidence – gathering, describing, classifying and analysing social facts – from this theories can be generated. This is an inductive approach.
A deductive approach reverses Durkheim’s inductive approach. It starts with a theory and uses
data to test that theory.

According to Popper rather than looking for evidence that confirms their theories, scientists should
do their best to disprove their theories (falsification). Popper argues that Marx’s theory of history
fails in this respect because it cannot be falsified and is therefore unscientific.
Realist Approaches (Open and Closed Systems)

Sayer (1992) distinguishes between open and closed systems – laboratories are closed systems.
This allows them to reveal “more clearly the operation of mechanisms”
Because human behaviour takes place in an open system it is more difficult to predict its course with
any degree of accuracy.
However, structures constrain human behaviour but human beings are not simply directed by
structural constraints. Realists accept the Marxist view of false consciousness – that socially
constructed meanings can distort reality (Blaikie, 1993).

Interpretivist Sociology

Max Weber (Social Action, Verstehen)
Weber defined sociology as “a science which attempts the interpretative understanding of social
action in order to thereby arrive at a casual explanation of its course and effects” (1964).
Social action is action that involves other members of society – it is based on the meanings of in the
minds of the social actors which direct their actions. Weber was particularly interested in motives
and direct social action to achieve certain goals.

Verstehen – translated as empathetic understanding, the researcher places themselves in the
position of the researched to try and understand their motives within social action. (Criticism: this is
not reflexive!)

Blumer – Symbolic Interactionism
Symbolic Interactionists tend to focus on small scale interactions and the meanings within these
situations. Blumer (1962) developed a methodology for the study of social interaction.
Symbolic Interactionists accept that to some extent social interaction is structured and meanings are
not constantly reinvented, social interaction is often routine and repetitive but this doesn’t mean that
negotiation and interpretation aren’t important aspects of interaction.
See Also: Symbolic Interactionism in Theories

Phenomenology
Phenomenologists argue that as a human being our only reality consists of meanings. The job of
the sociologist is to find those meanings.
This approach can be found in Atkinson’s study ‘Discovering Suicide’ where he seeks to discover
who deaths are categorised as suicide. He sees ‘suicide’ as a meaning and has no reality beyond this.
Atkinson’s reach attempted to discover the meanings used by coroners to classify suicides.

Atkinson’s research does not concentrate on ‘social facts’ as in Durkheim’s study. They do not
believe that suicides are objective facts that can be explained, they are meanings. To try and discover
the causes of suicide will simply result in uncovering meanings that are used to classify suicides.

Two Sociologies?
Halfpenny (1984) argues that there are ‘two sociologies’ one based on scientific methodology
and ‘hard’ quantitative data (positivism) and the other based on interpretivist methodology and
‘soft’ qualitative data (interpretivism).
However, Pawson (1989) rejects this view; he sees the distinction as a ‘methodological myth’.

Postmodernist Methodology

Postmodernists challenge the entire basis of research methodology in the social sciences. They
question the possibility of making definite statements about social reality. They argue that findings in
research reports are simply sociologist’s construction of reality rather than a valid
description of society.
From a postmodernist view, research reports are not objective they are constructions which are
designed to persuade, to give the impression of rational, analytical thinking and to convince the
reader that the researcher’s view is ‘the truth’ (Alvesson, 2002).
Postmodernists are particularly hostile to metanarratives which try to give a single explanation to
the entire make up of social reality, such as Marxism and functionalism. For postmodernists there are
multiple (if not infinite) interpretations of the social world, who is to say which is ‘right’ or ‘best’?

Feminist Methodology
The ‘weak thesis’ (Pawson, 1992) in feminist methodology states that androcentricity (a malecentred
view of the world which assumes male dominance and superiority) and over generalisation
are found in all aspects of the research process.
Research methods in themselves however are not sexist but sociologists need to learn how to
conduct their research and their methodology in a non-sexist way.
The ‘strong thesis’ (supported by Oakley, 1981) states that feminism requires its own research
methods – for example, feminist interviewing.
Postmodern feminism rejects feminism as a single perspective it emphasises diversity and variation
between different women (such as black, working class and homosexual).

Sociology, Methodology and Values

Values and the Study of Deviance

Becker (1970) argues that it is impossible to conduct research “uncontaminated by personal and
political sympathies”. He believes that interactionist theories and methods are infused with left-wing
value judgements.

Gouldner (1975) also believes that value-free sociology is impossible. Gouldner argues that values
underlie every sociological perspective; these values influence the way sociologists picture and
examine the social world.

Relativism
Relativists see all knowledge as relative, there is no such thing as objective knowledge since
everything is seen through the lens of our values and culture.
Sociology and Social Policy
The Founding Fathers
The founding ‘fathers’ of sociology believed it should play a part in society, in reforming social
problems and improving the social condition. Comte (d.1857) saw sociology as a practical subject
that should be applied to wider society. Durkheim (d.1917) also focused on the question of order in
society; he was interested in the break down of value consensus due to industrialisation. He saw
sociology as a way of restoring order and strengthening order and social integration. Marx (1818-
1883) saw sociologists working with governments to improve existing societies but he also looked
forward to the overthrowing of governments and their replacement with communist societies.

Shaping Social Policy
During the 19th century the dominant view of poverty was the poor were to blame for their poverty
(Page, 2001). In 1899, Rowntree conducted a systematic study of poverty in York and found
differently, research such as this influenced Liberal governments in the 1900s.
Examples: Old Age Pensions Act (1908) – pensions for over 70s; National Insurance Act
(1911) – sick benefits to manual workers.

Governments listen to sociologists when it suits them, this can be seen from Thatcher’s
Conservative government (1979-1990) – she had no time for sociology except the American rightwing
sociologist Charles Murray and David Marsland from the UK.

The Thatcher and Major governments attempted to end a dependency culture (‘nanny state’) by
reducing welfare benefits and introducing measures such as the Job Seekers Allowance and The Child
Support Agency (Page, 2001).
Donnison (2001) claims that “major shifts in policy come about, not when the old questions are
finally answered but when new questions are asked”. For example:

1. Initially people asked: Does the death penalty deter people from killing each other? Then
from about 1963, a new question was asked – Is the death penalty acceptable in a civilised
society? Two years later, the death penalty was abolished.
2. Rowntree’s early study of York looked at absolute poverty. By this definition in the 1960s
poverty was dwindling. Then Abel-Smith and Townsend (1965) developed a new
concept relative poverty and the emphasis of poverty shifted from the old to those on low
incomes with dependant children, this directed a shift in resources to the low paid with
young children.
Sociology, Social Policy and Labour (Giddens – Third Way)
When New Labour came to power in 1997, they offer the ‘Third Way’, neither the left-wing policies of
Old Labour nor the right-wing policies of the Conservatives in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Much of this was influenced by Giddens’ book ‘The Third Way’ (1998), it stressed the importance
of social solidarity and social cohesion. He also saw social exclusion as the main threat to social
order and solidarity.
He believed that exclusion of the poor could be prevented by providing welfare benefits and better
public services (particularly health and education) as well as opportunities to move out of poverty.
Without these measures the poor would be excluded from mainstream society and solidarity would be
threatened (Giddens, 1998; Bennett, 2001).
Giddens’s Third Way is reflected in Labour’s social policy. In their first years of government, Labour
set up the Social Exclusion Unit to find solutions to the problems of exclusion in society. It is
directly responsible to the Cabinet and it attempts to ensure that all policies – health, education,
poverty, crime and urban renewals – are part of a coordinated strategy to deal with social exclusion
(MacGregor, 2001).

Thank you so much :biggrin:

x

Reply 19

jenny_flum

spinelli

thank you missrosie, and jenny_flum i am doing the theory and methods paper and also the power and politics (both AQA resits) im stressing sooo bad tooo :frown:

gahh it's the last time they'll be doing this module so hopefully they'll be nice? :/ good luck for both :smile:

Sociology A2 Crime and Deviance exam AQA 2010 - Revision/Discussion

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