17 | Religion: Part 2
No sociological analysis of religion would be complete without looking at the role it plays in society and, as luck would have it, this particular chapter examines the role of religion from a number of different perspectives – both inclusive and exclusive – whose main ideas are outlined and briefly evaluated: • Functionalist • Neo-Functionalist […]
14 | Youth: Part 3
One area of social life in which the relationship between youth and specific types of behaviour is particularly clear is that of offending behaviour. Young people – principally young, working class, men – are hugely over-represented in the crime statistics and since this series of chapters is linked by ideas about Youth Culture and Subculture […]
13 | Youth: Part 2
The notion of “youth” as a fairly recent (i.e. modernist) phenomenon leads to the question of exactly why this type of life-stage geminates in the transition from pre-modernity to modernity and comes into full-flower in late-modern / postmodern societies? In other words, what Is the role played by youth culture / subcultures in society? The […]
7 | Families and Households: Part 4
The final part of the Family chapter looks at “Roles, responsibilities and relationships within the family” through the media of: • Domestic division of labour • Power relationships • Children and parents • Functionalist / Marxist / Feminist explanations of family roles • Demographic trends and changes As with previous chapters I can’t emphasise strongly […]
The Sociological Detectives: We Have A Situation…
This PowerPoint Presentation brings together a couple of ideas, one of which – the idea of “students playing the role of detectives” I’ve previously explored in a slightly different way. The other – a situation-based application – is one I’ve adapted from a couple of recent sources: Firstly, the AQA Crime and Methods exam question […]
5 | Families and Households: Part 2
This part of the family chapter examines the role of family in society through two different and opposing structural approaches: Functionalism / Neo-Functionalism and Marxism / Neo-Marxism. The content covered, in no particular order of significance, includes: • Family functions and orientations • The link between individuals and society • Family dysfunctions (the “Dark side […]
2 | The Process of Socialisation
Chapter 2 builds on the “culture material” in the first chapter by exploring how culture is created in one of two ways: 1. Through the influence of instincts, a largely non-sociological (‘nature’) approach to understanding culture. 2. Through the influence of our social environment, a conventional sociological approach that outlines different types and agencies of […]
NotAFactsheet: More Deviance
Three new NotAFactsheets to add to your growing collection covering: 1. Interactionism (labelling theory, personal and social identities, master labels) 2. Deviancy Amplification (an outline of the model plus the role of the media) 3. Critical Theory (Instrumental and Hegemonic Marxism, Critical Subcultures) Each NotaFactsheet is available in two flavours: with and without short (1 […]
Sociology Stuff: DEA
If you’re sitting comfortably, I’ll tell you a story. A long, long, time ago, when the Internet was still young, there existed a web site, created by Mark Peace, called Sociology Stuff. This web site specialised in producing high quality sociology stuff (hence the name. Probably. I’m guessing) for a few years before Mark got […]
Modernity and Sociological Theory
This is the first part of a two-part series looking at the relationship between modernity, postmodernity and the development of sociological theory. In Part 1 (Modernity) the focus is on: Part 2 (Postmodernity) is available here. Sociology and Modernity “Sociology”, according to Taylor (2000), “is a product of modernity”; its origins as an academic discipline […]