Defining Religion | 2: PowerPoint
You know that thing they say about buses – you wait ages for one and then two arrive at once? Well, by what some might call a mysterious and inexplicable coincidence, the same seems to be true of PowerPoint Presentations on religion. Having seen neither hide nor hair of anything vaguely religious-looking on the site […]
Origins of Sociology: PowerPoint
This new PowerPoint Presentation introduces students to some (okay, 9) of Sociology’s founders, from the Big Three of Marx, Durkheim and Weber to lesser-known, but equally important in their own way, names such as Harriet Martineau and William Du Bois. And while Sociology Specifications in the UK no-longer feature discrete sections on the Founders of […]
Explanations for Crime and Deviance: 1. Functionalism
A short set of Notes covering a range of Functionalist explanations for crime and deviance, largely based around the concepts of anomie (both the Durkheimian and Mertonian interpretations) and Strain (Merton again plus Agnew’s General Strain Theory). There’s also a little bit of subcultural stuff thrown-in for good measure. Traditional Functionalism Functionalist approaches are based […]
Harry Potter and the Functions of Crime?
Teaching something like Durkheim and the Functions of Crime can sometimes be a little difficult for students to grasp, so one way to make it more accessible might be to teach it by associating it with something more well-known and accessible, such as the Harry Potter books. More-specifically, Jenn Simms has drawn parallels between the […]
Durkheim and the Functions of Crime
We’ve been busy on the film front these past few months making a range of crime and deviance films on Hate Crime, Crime and Gender, Situational Crime Prevention and Criminal Profiling (although the latter will probably have greater appeal to psychologists than sociologists) and a final offering in what people would probably be calling a […]
Of Methods and Methodology: 3. Realism
A methodology is a framework for research that focuses on how it is possible to collect reliable and valid data about, in this instance, the social world. It’s shaped by two main considerations: 1. Our beliefs about the fundamental nature of the social world (ontological concerns). 2. How we believe is possible to construct knowledge […]
Of Methods and Methodology: 1. Positivism
A methodology is a framework for research that focuses on how it is possible to collect reliable and valid data about, in this instance, the social world. It’s shaped by two main considerations: 1. Our beliefs about the fundamental nature of the social world (ontological concerns). 2. How we believe is possible to construct knowledge […]
The D.O.V.E. Protocol: 4 Functions of Religion
Classical functionalist theories of religion, associated with the work of writers like Durkheim (1912), Malinowski (1926), Alpert (1937), Parsons (1937) and more-latterly Luhmann (1977), generally see religion as a cultural institution: one mainly concerned with the creation and promotion of cultural values that function to support and maintain social order. Underpinning the notion of order, […]
Five Things To Know About…
I’ve long been a fan / proponent of the “5 Things I Know” approach to teaching sociological perspectives – the idea that if a student can grasp 5 significant things about a perspective they can apply that knowledge to answer just about any “theory / perspective” question they may encounter in an exam. Vicki Woolven […]
More Crime and Deviance Resources
Following on from the previous set of crime resources, this is a mixed-bag of PowerPoint Presentations and Word documents covering various aspects of crime and deviance. While there is coverage of various issues and debates here, the main emphasis is on student activities and tasks – and while there’s nothing particularly spectacular or cutting-edge about […]