Cambridge International As and A Level Sociology

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and A Level
AS Level
AS Level and A Level
Sociology: AS Level and A Level Sociology
Sociology
9780521532143 Barnard, Burgess & Kirby: Sociology: AS Level and A Level CVR C M Y K
Andy Barnard, Terry Burgess and Mike Kirby Andy Barnard, Terry Burgess
and Mike Kirby
Sociology: AS Level and A Level meets the requirements of the
University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) syllabus for
Andy Barnard, Terry Burgess and Mike Kirby

AS Level and A Level Sociology.
Written in a lively and accessible style, the book presents the main
theoretical perspectives, and encourages the development of a
searching and critical approach to sociology.
Features include:
● questions at the end of every section of each chapter
● detailed coverage of postmodernist ideas and other recent developments
in sociology
● past examination questions
● a bibliography and glossary
The book is also suitable for students following UK exam board

specifications, as well as for undergraduates and people on vocational
courses in nursing, social work, education and management training.
This publication was formerly available as Sociology Explained

(0521 426715). It has been substantially revised and updated to
match the CIE syllabus.
Endorsed by
University of Cambridge
International Examinations
For use with the GCE Advanced
Subsidiary Level and Advanced Level
Sociology syllabus.
Endorsed by University of Cambridge
International Examinations
AS Level and A Level
Sociology
Andy Barnard, Terry Burgess
and Mike Kirby
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ANDY BARNARD
Midway through the writing of the first edition of this book, Andy was
admitted to hospital. He died after a short illness in November 1993.
This book is for Linda, Natalie, Erika, Stefan and Daniel.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Terry Burgess would like to thank all those who have helped in the production of this
book, particularly the staff at Cambridge University Press, and Christine, to whom he
owes everything, including a few holidays.
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Figure 9.5 by permission of the University of Chicago Press; Table 8.1 reprinted with the
permission of The Free Press, a Division of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group,
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Free Press, copyright renewed 1977, 1985 by Robert K. Merton, all rights reserved;
Table 3.4 by permission of HarperCollins; Table 3.3 is reproduced by permission of
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Contents
1 The sociological perspective
The study of society 1
Sociology and the social sciences 2
Sociology and social policy 3
Sociology and science 7
Is science scientific? 9
Values and sociologists 11
Sociological perspectives 13
Functionalism 14
Marxism 16
Weberianism 20
Symbolic interactionism 22
Ethnomethodology 23
Feminism 24
Post-modernism 25
Values, norms, roles and status 30
Socialisation 32
Socialisation in childhood 36
The construction of social identities 37
Social order and control 42
Culture 45
Culture and subculture 49
2 Sociological methods
Types of data 54
Research methods 55
The stages of research design 61
Theory and methods 62
Key concepts in research 64
Methodological pluralism and methodological purism 65
3 Social stratification and differentiation

Dimensions of inequality 67
Elements of social stratification 67
Social versus natural inequality 69
Systems of stratification 70
Theories of social class 71
Functionalist theories of stratification 71
The Marxist view 73
The Weberian view 74
Measuring social class 76
Social mobility 77
Dimensions of class 81
The ruling class 81
The working class 82
The middle class 85
The underclass 87
New directions in class analysis 89
The death of class? 91
Sex and gender 92
Explaining gender divisions 93
Race and ethnicity 95
Stratification and age 98
Youth 98
Old age 99
4 Health, welfare and poverty

The social construction of health 101
Inequalities in health 102
Health and social class 102
Health and region 104
Health and gender 105
Health and ethnicity 106
Doctors and patients 107
Mental health 109
Poverty and the Welfare State 110
The sociology of poverty 113
The measurement of poverty 114
Why does poverty exist? 116
Perspectives on the Welfare State 118
5 The family
Sociology and the family 120
Household and family types 120
Functionalism and the family 121
Alternatives to the family 126
Marxism, feminism and the family 126
The family and conflict 130
Industrialisation and the changing structure of the family 132
Power and labour in the family 136
The family and social policy 139
The family today 141
Do marriage and family life have a future? 143
6 Education
What is education? 144
Why do we go to school? 145
Functionalist explanations 145
Marxist explanations 146
The State and education in Britain 149
The new vocationalism: the future of education? 150
Differential educational achievement 151
Explanations for differential educational achievement 153
Intelligence 153
The home 155
Language codes 156
Cultural deprivation 157
The school and the classroom 158
The hidden curriculum 159
Knowledge and status 161
Post-modernist perspectives on education 161
Counter culture 162
Gender 164
Ethnicity 168
7 Religion
Problems of definition 170
Religious movements 171
Theoretical perspectives on religion 174
Functionalism 174
Marxism 176
Weber 176
Church, denomination and sect 177
Religion and stratification 180
Secularisation 181
A secular world? 184
Religion, fundamentalism, modernity and post-modernity 186
Fundamentalism 187
8 Crime and deviance

Defining crime and deviance 189
Crime statistics 190
Women and crime 193
Ethnicity and crime 195
White-collar crime 196
Theories of crime and deviance 198
Functionalist theories 201
Marxism and crime 205
Interactionism 207
Control theory 210
More recent theories of crime 211
Post-modernist perspective 215
Suicide 216
Murder 220
9 Work, organisations and leisure

Problems of definition 222
The founding fathers and industrialisation 223
The occupational structure 224
Occupations and the labour market 224
Patterns and trends in the occupational structure 226
Women and work 228
Ethnicity and work 231
Age 233
The management and organisation of work 233
The post-industrial society thesis 233
The labour process and the control of labour 234
Bureaucracy and changing organisational cultures 238
Modernism and post-modernism 241
Technological change and work 241
Industrial relations and conflict 243
The experience of work 246
Work satisfaction and orientation 246
Blauner 246
Goldthorpe and Lockwood 249
Mallet 249
Gallie 249
Beynon 250
The human relations response 251
Trade unions and professional associations 252
Trade unions 253
Professional associations 255
Work and non-work 256
Unemployment 256
Measurement of unemployment 256
Causes of unemployment 259
The effects of unemployment 261
Leisure 263
Perspectives on leisure 263
The changing pattern of leisure activities 264
Unemployment and leisure 266
10 Mass media
Social patterns in listening, viewing and reading 267
Pluralist, Marxist and post-modernist theories of the nature
and role of the mass media 269
The pluralist perspective 269
Marxist perspectives 270
Post-modernism 273
Ownership and control of the mass media 273
The mass media, the State and the political process 275
Representations of gender, disability, age and ethnicity 280
The effects and uses of the mass media 283
The mass media, violence and the amplification of deviance 287
Issues in researching the mass media 290
11 Politics and power

Power and authority 292
Theories of power 293
Functionalism 293
Marxism 294
Elitism 296
Pluralism 298
What is the State? 299
Who controls the State? 300
Political parties and ideology 303
The Conservative Party 304
The Labour Party 304
The Liberal Democrats 305
Voting behaviour 305
Past examination questions 310
Further reading 314
Bibliography 317
Glossary 331
Index 340
1
The sociological perspective
Introduction
This chapter begins with a discussion of the origins of sociology, its key concepts and theories
and its differences from and similarities with other social science subjects. The relationship
between sociology and social policy is examined and this is followed by a discussion of whether
sociology can and should be based on the methods of the natural sciences. The chapter continues
with a review of the main sociological theories, including the functionalist, Marxist,
interactionist, feminist and post-modernist perspectives. This is followed by a discussion of the
concept of socialisation and the processes involved in the construction of social identities. The
concepts of social order and social control are examined and the chapter concludes by
considering what is meant by culture and subcultures.
The study of society prejudices influence his or her work. Sociologists seek
to define terms precisely and to use appropriate
Sociology has been studied as an academic discipline
methods of investigation. Most importantly, they are
for around 150 years. The factors that brought about
committed to looking beyond commonsense
industrialisation, urbanisation and the growth of the
explanations and beyond ‘the official view’ in an
nation-state in the nineteenth century also provided
effort to explain why things are as they are in a
the context in which the idea of studying society in a
society and why they change.
detailed and systematic way first gained acceptance.
Auguste Comte (1798–1857) is credited with
formulating the word ‘sociology’. He derived it from Concepts and theories
‘socius’ – a society (Latin) and ‘logos’ – knowledge, or Like the other social sciences – economics, politics,
word (Greek). Comte believed that sociology was to psychology and anthropology – sociology has its own
be the crowning glory of human studies – the ‘Queen theories, concepts and methods of investigating social
of the Sciences’. Although modern sociologists are behaviour. Sociologists do not simply collect ‘facts’
rather more modest in their claims, there is still a about social behaviour – crime rates, patterns of
sense that sociology is something special and quite divorce, voting habits and so on. By themselves such
different from other subjects. items of information tell us little about how a society
A basic definition of sociology is: ‘The systematic operates. They need to be interpreted to be of interest
study of human society, dedicated to the to the sociologist and this is where theory comes in.
understanding of social interaction as people form Theory provides a framework for fitting together the
groups, communities and societies’. To say that miscellany of facts with which sociologists are
sociology is a ‘systematic study’ implies that it is not bombarded.
‘just common sense’, and is more than statements of It is important to understand the nature of theories.
the obvious. There is a great difference between being Let’s begin with concepts: these are general ideas such
an observer of social life as it happens – everyone does as ‘authority’, ‘ethnicity’, ‘social class’, etc. Theories
that – and undertaking a systematic study based on are concepts brought together in order to explain
sociological theories and methods. Sociology is an something. They set out to explain the relationship
academic discipline, and as such it is bound by certain between one set of concepts or facts and another, e.g.
rules of evidence. Moreover, the sociologist tries to be theories have been put forward to explain the high
objective and not let personal opinions and rate of certain types of crime associated with young
working-class males. Much sociological research sociological theory is to answer three basic
involves taking theoretical concepts and questions about the nature of society:
operationalising them or exposing them in such k How do societies hold together, or what is the basis
a way as to make them measurable. of order in society?
k What are the sources of conflict in society?
Perspectives k How do societies change?
When a number of similar theories are drawn There are two broad schools of macro theory: consensus
together into a single approach, we term this a and conflict, distinguishable by the different answers
‘perspective’. The main perspectives in sociology – they give to these questions. In contemporary sociology
functionalist, Marxist, feminist, interactionist, and functionalism is the main representative of the
post-modernist – are outlined later in the chapter. consensus school and Marxism of the conflict school.
Quite simply a perspective is a way of looking at Micro theories focus on the individuals who make
things that helps us to understand what is going on. up a society, rather than on the society itself. There
We can liken a perspective to a pair of glasses: when are two main forms of micro theory: symbolic
we put them on, we see things more clearly. So we interactionism and ethnomethodology. Symbolic
can put on our functionalist glasses (the perspective interactionism is concerned with the principles of
made up of various functionalist theories) to help us face-to-face interaction. Unlike macro theory, which
understand the consensus and harmony that we find tends to view the individual as a product of his or her
in society. Alternatively, we can put on the conflict society and tries to show the various ways in which
perspective to understand disharmony or strife. The the behaviour of individuals is determined by the
interactionist perspective acts like a magnifying glass, social structure of which they are a part, micro theory
enabling us to understand small-scale human regards the social structure as something created by
interactions. Each perspective enables us to view individuals as they interact in socially meaningful
society in a slightly different way. Likewise, the ways. Ethnomethodology is the study of how
competing perspectives all have their relative individuals experience and make sense of the society
strengths and weaknesses. in which they live.
Methods of investigation
Sociologists employ a range of techniques to collect Sociology and the social sciences
data. Data are necessary to verify theory. Sociology is The boundary line between sociology and the other
empirical – it seeks to make statements about social social sciences is not a clear or permanent one. There is
behaviour that can be corroborated by evidence from a substantial overlap in subject matter between many
the real world. It is the data which sociologists collect of the social sciences and several of them use similar
that provide such evidence. methods. To help identify the points of similarity and
As you will discover in the next chapter, different difference with sociology, we will take a brief look at
techniques of investigation produce different types of the other major social sciences – anthropology,
data. Generally speaking there are two types of data: psychology, political science and economics.
quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative data are
statistical in form and are generated by the survey Social anthropology
technique. Social surveys are normally large-scale Social anthropology and sociology can be said to have
studies that obtain data by either structured almost identical theoretical interests, since they both
interviews or questionnaires. Qualitative data are investigate social and cultural aspects of group
generated by a range of non-statistical techniques behaviour. Additionally, social anthropologists believe
including open interviews and participant human beings are fundamentally alike and share the
observation. same basic interests. They therefore study systems of
beliefs, and examine the relations between beliefs,
Sociological explanation customs and institutions and actions.
There are basically two branches of theory within However, there are two important differences
sociology – macro and micro. Macro theories focus on between sociology and social anthropology.
society as a whole and aim at establishing the general Sociologists concentrate more on social relationships
characteristics of societies. The aim of macro- than on culture, whereas the social anthropologist is
very interested in ideas and beliefs (religious and sociologists. In many ways, therefore, there is very
symbolic) as well as social relationships. The other little to separate the two disciplines. Indeed, political
difference is that social anthropologists typically work science could be seen as a branch of sociology, though
in communities that are small scale, simpler the distinctive nature of its subject matter usually
technologically and less familiar socially and means that it is taught as a separate subject in
culturally. They have thus pursued an interest in total universities. This emphasises the rather arbitrary
social systems, in which all of the members know divisions that are made between the social sciences.
each other, which is difficult to parallel in complex,
large-scale societies. Economics
Economics has been defined as the study of the twin
Psychology factors of scarcity and choice in the satisfaction of
Some psychologists focus on biological processes in human wants. It differs from sociology in its area of
explaining human behaviour, while others place greater interest, the perspective through which the subject
emphasis on environmental factors. This latter group matter is viewed, and in its methodology. Economics
clearly overlaps with sociologists in terms of fields of is solely interested in one sphere of society, only
interest. Stanley Milgram (1992), for example, in his taking into account others such as the political
studies of conformity and obedience to authority, has domain and education insofar as they affect economic
developed many ideas of interest to sociologists, and it activity. Sociology is much more widespread in its
is at this point that the divide between the two interests, examining the inter-relationships between
disciplines becomes somewhat artificial. all aspects of society.
Psychology has, however, adhered to a more This leads to the two disciplines having a different
scientific approach, seeing the laboratory experiment focus on a particular social phenomenon, e.g. a strike.
as the most effective means of investigation. By Economists will be interested in the effects the strike
contrast, most sociologists see the laboratory as too might have on levels of demand and supply,
isolated from reality to give an adequate description, unemployment and so on, while sociologists may also
explanation and prediction of everyday behaviour. be concerned with the personal interactions leading
Another difference between the two subjects arises up to the strike situation, its significance for family
from the fact that sociology is the study of the life, and its possible implications for the power
attitudes and behaviour of people as a result of the structure of society. Economics has also developed
influences of groups and of the whole society. This more in the direction of being a science, with one
emphasis on the communal dimension contrasts whole body of theory, and the use and accumulation
sharply with psychology, which is more concerned of statistics are seen as important. Sociology has less
with studying individual characteristics and which agreement on methodology, and many sociologists
tends to assume the important role of internal factors treat the use of statistics with a great deal of suspicion.
such as personality and intelligence that may be In a number of ways, however, these differences
inherited from parents. should not be exaggerated. There is an increasing
realisation of the value of studies combining several
Political science techniques and approaches. The development of
Political scientists are interested in the study of econometrics (the collection of evidence about
power, of authority, and of how we decide whether economic trends) within economics has meant a
power is legitimate or illegitimate. Sometimes, greater emphasis on the empirical collection of
therefore, they focus on the political institutions of information, a practice firmly embedded in the
national and local government and sometimes on sociological tradition.
other behaviour which indicates how political
ideology affects what we do, for example the
relationship between voting and social class. Sociology and social policy
Questions on the origin and nature of power, Social policy refers to the actions that are taken by the
explanations of voting behaviour and so on are clearly government to maintain and improve the welfare of its
of interest to both political scientists and sociologists. citizens. It includes social security, health and welfare
Moreover, political scientists use many of the same services, State pensions, housing, education, and
methods of research – questionnaires, interviews, crime and its treatment. Social policy aims to deal with
participant observation – that are available to
what are defined as potential or actual social problems. suffering from it. It may cause anxiety, tension, stress
Poverty and crime are both examples of social or depression. Such subjective feelings may be caused
problems that have far-reaching consequences for the by poverty or unemployment, for example. At the
individuals concerned and for the society as a whole. same time unemployment is an ‘objective’ reality in
It is sometimes wrongly assumed that sociology is that it transcends the individual and has structural
the study of social problems. This misconception arises causes. Its solution lies in collective action and
from the idea that all sociologists are motivated in relatively large amounts of investment and spending.
their work by a concern to find solutions to the The concept of a social problem is relative. What
various dilemmas and ills that beset society. It is true constitutes a social problem in one society may not be
that social problems are part of what sociologists regarded as such in another. Poverty is an example of
study. It is also the case that there are some this. Even within a particular society social problems
sociologists who want to use sociology as a vehicle for can be and often are viewed differently. For example,
changing society. some groups in our society may regard immigration as a
However, it is important to recognise that there is a problem while others may regard racism as a problem.
distinction between sociological problems and social
problems. A social problem is some aspect of social Voluntary and involuntary problems
behaviour that gives rise to conflict in society and/or Some social problems are ‘voluntary’, for example
misery for particular individuals. Unemployment is a divorce and vandalism. Other social problems are
clear example of a social problem. However, ‘involuntary’ such as being elderly or being a member
sociologists do not confine their studies just to social of a minority group. This distinction between the
problems. Rather, they are interested in studying any voluntary and the involuntary may be criticised as
pattern of relationships in society that calls for an many social problems are a mixture of the two.
explanation. Any social phenomenon, be it ‘nice’ or Behaviour is patterned, follows social trends and is
‘nasty’, that requires explanation is a sociological influenced by structural forces. To what extent
problem. Social problems (i.e. something identified as therefore is divorce or unemployment voluntary?
harmful to society and needing something doing Equally it is not so much the involuntary growing old
about it) are merely one type of sociological problem. or being a member of a minority group that matters
Thus, divorce is both a social problem and a so much as society’s ‘voluntary’ attitudes and response
sociological problem, whereas marriage (which to these phenomena.
sociologists also study) is a sociological problem only.
It is questionable whether there is a general Power
consensus about what are the most important social It is important to discover where the power lies in the
problems, but the important questions for sociologists process of identifying and dealing with social problems.
to consider are: This emphasis on power is made largely by Marxists
k What is considered a social problem? but is accepted by interactionists. The role of the media
k Why is it a social problem? in developing our ‘awareness’ of certain social
k Who says it is a social problem? problems to the exclusion of others should not be
k Why is this issue being considered to the exclusion underestimated and has been highlighted in the work
of others? of the Glasgow Media Group, Stan Cohen’s work on
k What are the policies proposed and who will mods and rockers (1972) and others (see chapter 8).
benefit from them? The poorest in our society and those marginalised
within it have great difficulty in getting their definitions
Subjective and objective elements of the situation accepted by the wider society and the
Social problems tend to have a subjective and an agenda setters. This could be due to lack of economic
objective element, with interactionists emphasising resources or to ideological subjugation and exclusion
the former while structuralists emphasise the latter. from the media and seats of power.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
the origin of social problems was located in Social policies
individuals. To some extent this perspective re- The existence of social problems suggests that not all
emerged in the 1980s. Individuals may experience a members of society are equal beneficiaries of its
problem subjectively – it is their problem and they are wealth and institutions. Some may be regarded as
victims of society or trouble-makers within it. What scientific humanism that would unravel the laws of
may be at stake is a conflict of ideologies and human society and lead to rational social planning.
interests. In the formulation of social policy there are Yet Comte’s sociology was profoundly conservative
many possible means to achieve a given end. The in nature and advocated a ‘wise resignation to the
means chosen depend largely on the ideology of those facts’. Such social facts were not open to reason.
with the power to determine social policy. In order to Comte’s sociology was therefore unlikely to give rise
reduce poverty, some policies (particularly those on to a social policy that played a radical or reforming
the left) advocate a redistribution of wealth, a role, despite his wish that sociology should influence
minimum wage and a minimum income. Others rational social planning.
argue that in order to reduce poverty we must Some sociologists of the late nineteenth century and
encourage economic growth; this may lead to early twentieth century, such as Rowntree and Booth,
increasing inequality but the wealth will trickle down adopted a much more empirical approach in their
and everyone will benefit. Social policies may have sociological investigation of a particular social
unintended side effects: some right-wingers argue that problem. Even here, though, the relationship between
a minimum wage will have the unintended effect of sociology and social policy is quite crude – the main
increasing unemployment and poverty by increasing method employed by these sociologists in their
industry’s costs. On the other hand, increasing wealth demonstration of poverty at the turn of the century in
and income at the top may result in lower England was that of the exposé.
productivity due to a lack of incentive to work. It may Importantly, the period 1930–1960 is marked by the
also result in the creation of an underclass with no increasing attempt by sociology to be accepted as a
vested interest in the social and economic system and discipline into the academic world. As part of this
which therefore poses a threat to social stability. (largely successful) process the scientific nature of the
The list of questions and policy options is endless. discipline was stressed. This included a need to detach
Consider the following: the subject from its perceived link with the
k Is crime best reduced by ‘short sharp shocks’ or by identification of social problems and consequent
the creation of more alternatives to custody social reform.
schemes? There is a great deal of controversy within sociology
k Do we need more police in patrol cars or more as to whether sociologists should have any direct
police walking the street? input into the study of particular social problems or
k Are the interests of the elderly or mentally ill best should be involved in espousing particular social
served by the process of deinstitutionalisation? policies. This is due to the desire on the part of some
There is much evidence, for example, that such a sociologists to produce value-free sociology and
process places a great burden on the family and themselves remain neutral. Such a desire is linked to
particularly women in the family. This may be conceptions of what constitutes science and indeed
regarded as an unintentional consequence or it may what constitutes social science or sociology. It is also
be regarded as the result of patriarchal attitudes linked to a desire to be accepted into the academic
by those in positions to make decisions. It is also establishment, to secure adequate funding and to get
necessary to note that the process of one’s research actually used.
deinstitutionalisation – community care – arose due
to economic pressure on the Welfare State and Weber
the problems associated with institutions. Writing in the early part of this century, Max Weber
k Should welfare be provided by the State or by the (1904–5) was at pains to clarify the role of sociology
private sector? in social research. He makes a clear distinction
k Should welfare benefits be universal or should they between research and researcher when he states that
be targeted at those who most need them? ‘To apply the results of [sociological] analysis in the
making of decisions … is not a task which science can
Historical development undertake; it is rather the task of the acting, willing
The relationship between sociology and social policy is person: he weighs and chooses from among the values
not particularly clear from a reading of the writers involved according to his own conscience and his
who laid the foundations of sociological thought. For personal view of the world. Science can make him
Auguste Comte, sociology was the new religion, the realise that all action and naturally, according to the
circumstances, inaction imply in their consequences Undertaking research

the espousal of certain values and … the rejection of Of course the underdogs in society are not in much of
certain others.’ a position to initiate social policy research themselves.
Weber accepted that it is within the role of a Indeed much social policy research is carried out for
sociologist to choose the social problems they wish to various interested parties. These include:
consider but emphasised that the actual research must k government – both national and local, who may
be strictly objective. He also wished to distinguish want to try out ideas on a small scale before
sharply between sociology and social policy which he applying new social policies;
saw as two different ‘worlds’, both of which are k government – both national and local, who wish to
valuable but whose distinctions and ways of working assess the impact of existing social policy;
should be made clear. In discussing Weber on this k business interests – wishing to develop market
subject, James Coleman (1979) draws on the analogy research into present and future lifestyles;
of the two worlds of discipline and action, with k business interests – wishing to develop raw data
sociology being in the world of discipline and social which support a particular lobbying position that
policy being in the world of action. The term promotes their interests, e.g. Adam Smith Institute;
‘discipline’ in this context means an area of academic k promotional interest groups – wishing to influence
study. The world of discipline is pure and value-free; government, public opinion, or gain media time,
the world of action is impure, laden with conflicting e.g. Friends of the Earth;
interest groups, may be secretive and is not value- k sectional interest groups – establishing the effects of
free. The sociologist treads a wary line between the current or future social policy on a particular social
two worlds. group, e.g. trade union support of the Low Pay Unit
Weber’s conception of the relationship between or Child Poverty Action Group;
sociology and social policy is that sociology provides k independent researchers – rarely.
the technical information from which policy makers
decide social policy. In this respect Weber is a Results
technician. Much of American empirical sociology
One argument that seems to present itself here is that
since the Second World War has been of this technical
social policy research does not necessarily reduce
nature. Clearly not all sociologists take this view.
conflict between interested parties and produce social
Marx said that ‘Philosophers have interpreted the
laws as Comte might have hoped, but such research
world. The point is to change it.’ So Marx himself
may make the conflicting interest groups better
did not share the same concern about being value-
informed – if the information is freely available.
free and on the contrary wished to join in the world
of action.
Social policy and power
Other sociologists see a place for values in
On the relationship between social policy research and
sociology and a place for the sociologist in the making
power there are of course different positions. Some
of social policy. Robert S. Lynd (1939) does not quite
sociologists have argued that the increased knowledge
go this far but he does argue that values are relevant
gained will enable those with power to strengthen
in the choosing of an important social problem and in
their hold by manipulating their subjects. The
the guiding of policy makers on the likely outcome of
increased information may help those in power to
their decisions. C. Wright Mills (1959), too, against
respond to public wishes and remain in power.
the trend of contemporary American sociologists, took
Alternatively policy research may undermine those in
an anti-technician stance and argued for the place of
authority by revealing the gap between their claims
values in sociological research. Howard Becker, the
and the actual outcome of their policies. However, in
interactionist (1967), argues not only for the place of
order for this to be the case such policy results would
values in sociology but for a particular set of values
have to be placed in a context where they could be
which promote a favourable outcome in social policy
published and utilised by alternative decision makers.
terms for disadvantaged members of society. This
Social policy has different and competing goals.
position is one shared by many European left-wing
There are also different means of achieving the same
sociologists such as Peter Townsend, Stuart Hall and
policy goal. Sociology has had an uneasy relationship
Jeremy Seabrook.
with social policy. This was seen in Comte’s
Sociology and science 7
conservatism, the attempt to disassociate sociology unmeasurable – the extent of integration and moral
from social problems and the controversy over values. regulation in society. Strictly speaking, then, positivism
Conflicting interests sponsor research. The effects of in sociology corresponds to the narrow definition of
research on those in authority are uncertain, as are science as quantifiable, generalisable and concerned to
the uses to which research is put. identify clearly observable causes and correlations.
Theorists such as Marx and Durkheim were working
Questions towards a broader view of this scientific project.
1 What is meant by the term ‘social policy’? Positivist and structural sociology
2 What are the differences between sociology and
Positivism is one of the key concepts in social science.
social policy?
Unhelpfully, it is used differently in subjects such as
3 Is there likely to be a link between the findings and
law (‘positive’ law), economics (‘positive’ economics)
recommendations of a piece of research and the
and sociology. In sociology, positivist sociology and
agency funding it?
structural (or ‘realist’) sociology are often thought of
as the same thing.
Positivist sociology is similar to the concept of
Sociology and science empiricism. It is mainly interested in pursuing a
In the early nineteenth century the French research programme that is parallel to that of the
mathematician, Auguste Comte (1798–1857), natural sciences, seeking to discover patterned and
impressed by the achievements being made in natural regular events in the social world whose occurrence is
sciences such as physics, chemistry and geology, either caused by another event, or strongly correlated
argued that there were three discernible stages in the with that event. A social mechanism may be clearly
evolution of human thought. The first stage, which he identified and measured, for example the relation
called the ‘theological’ or ‘fictitious’ stage, explained between attendance at parents’ evenings and the
events as God’s work, for example thunder occurring educational attainment of the children.
when God is angry, or famines being the result of not Structural sociology is thought to be concerned with
worshipping him enough. The second stage was the cause of events at such a deep level that they may
characteristic of the middle ages with explanations not be observable in a simple way so that it is not
involving subtle emissions from the divine and mystic possible to say that one event causes another to happen.
influences. He called this the ‘metaphysical’ stage. The Causes exist in the structure of power and social
third stage was based on the evidence of the previous relations. Society is not made up of a simple series of
two hundred years which appeared to demonstrate mechanisms as a complex machine is. Empirical
that the natural world is subject to the rule of definite research therefore becomes much more difficult.
laws that can be observed through experiment and However, the idea of formulating a science of
the collection of ‘positive facts’. society was attractive to many, and by the mid-
His boldest assertion was to take this one stage nineteenth century writers were beginning to claim
further and state that the systematic collection of facts this status for their social theories. Marx, for example,
and the search for laws should not be limited to the in outlining historical materialism, describes ‘the
natural world. Everything, even human society, obeys material transformation of the economic conditions of
laws of behaviour. He foresaw a new science of production which can be determined with the
society which would discover these laws and become precision of natural science’. He contrasted his own
the ‘queen’ of all science. In anticipation he called this view of how socialism would emerge from capitalism
as yet unresearched science ‘sociology’. When all with that of others, claiming that his view was
human thought was based on science then the scientific and theirs merely utopian. They might wish
positive stage would be complete. it to happen, but he could identify how it was written
Many sociologists are unhappy with the idea that the into the laws of historical development. By the turn of
work of writers such as Marx and Durkheim can be the century Durkheim could show that suicide in
called positivist in any meaningful way. They point to society could be understood through the collection of
studies such as Durkheim’s Suicide (1897), which argues ‘social facts’ and the identification of external
that the real cause of suicide is not religion, the family variables determining human behaviour. His
or the contemporary political situation but something contemporary, Weber, though, had profound
reservations about the search for general social laws, At this stage, an attempt is made to predict the
believing each society to be a unique formation. He result of a test.
also wrestled with the problem of determinism, k Testing: The hypothesis must be rigorously tested
suggesting instead that humans have some control under controlled conditions through an experiment
over their lives. to show whether it can be proved wrong or not.
Although a ‘positivist’ sociology clearly now exists, k Generalisation: If the hypothesis has not been proved
scepticism exists both inside and outside sociology as wrong by the test, it shows that the conjecture
to how successful and valid it is. Social science has not explains the occurrence of the observation. It can
achieved anything like the degree of unanimity, then be generalised, either into a law-like statement
certainty or ability to predict of the natural sciences. (for example, light rays bend at an angle dependent
Its methods are nothing like as rigorous. It cannot, for on the density of the medium they enter) or a
example, use laboratory experiments in the same way probabilistic statement (for example, there is a 70
to derive its data. Aside from the ethical problems of per cent probability that x will occur when y is also
placing people in artificial situations, it only makes present under conditions z).
sense to study people’s behaviour in an existing social k Theory formation: A number of generalisations are
setting. The closest sociologists can get to orthodox ordered into a coherent model or theory, which
scientific methods is to use field experiments – for explains a given range of phenomena.
example gauging reactions by posing as old when
The hypothetico-deductive method further requires
you’re young, or black when you’re white – or by
that the researcher be totally neutral at all times, and
making comparisons between different groups,
in no way allow their own views or prejudices to
societies and cultures (the comparative method).
colour any aspect of the research programme. If they
These, of course, are difficult to repeat or have other
don’t remain objective but become subjective, then
researchers verify. With these limitations, social
their work ceases to be scientific and becomes
scientists have far greater difficulty in establishing the
corrupted and distorted.
cause or causes of events. At best, all that can be
established are strong correlations. It lacks the
The realist approach
precision of natural science.
Sociologists have responded to these criticisms in a An altogether different view of science has emerged
number of ways. From a positivist point of view, while from what has been termed the ‘realist’ school. This
many of the above criticisms are accepted, the argues that it is misleading to typify science as being
argument remains that what most sociologists do is, based on experiment and that, outside the laboratory,
nevertheless, scientific in that sociology constitutes a scientists are faced with as many uncontrollable
body of organised knowledge developed through variables as social scientists. Although men have
systematic enquiry, using techniques that approximate landed on the moon with great scientific precision,
to those of natural science, yielding data of similar meteorologists, with banks of technical equipment,
reliability and validity. cannot tell you with certainty whether it will rain or
not in a month or even a day’s time, or for how long.
The hypothetico-deductive method Nor is it the case that scientists work solely on the
Many scientists would argue that good science is basis of observation. They cannot see viruses
based on the hypothetico-deductive method, spreading from human to human or continents
which proceeds through the following stages: drifting apart, but they are able to surmise these facts
k Observation: All scientific activity depends on from the evidence of epidemics striking people down,
systematic observation, recording and description of or from earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The real
its subject matter. causes are often knowable only by their effects. This,
k Conjecture: In order to explain any given observation the realists claim, allows social scientists to claim that
scientists must think up a plausible reason for its they, too, are engaged in the same scientific project
occurrence. where many and complex variables are at work.
k Hypothesis formation: The conjecture must be
‘operationalised’, in other words it must be put in a The phenomenological approach
form that will allow the scientist to determine how Phenomenologists regard the question of the
well it explains the occurrence of the observation. relationship between sociology and science with great
Is science scientific? 9
scepticism. Whatever the claims of natural science, At first sight, it seems easy enough to assume that
there is a crucial difference between people and what natural scientists do is to systematically record
inanimate objects in that humans think for observations of the patterns of behaviour and
themselves and have reasons for their behaviour. This, movement of matter, without preconceptions of what
in turn, enables them to make active sense of their they might find. As many philosophers of science
world. Sociologists should be concerned with have pointed out though, the process is more complex
interpreting this view. Whether social causation exists – and less objective – than it first appears.
or not is irrelevant.
Scientists themselves, from the phenomenological Popper
point of view, are as involved in interpreting reality as The very idea of deriving conclusions from the process
any other group in society. All knowledge is simply of making observations is itself problematic. Although
the product of interaction between human beings. It is 999 white swans may have been observed floating
more valid – as well as more interesting – to analyse past a point on a river, it is a logical mistake to assume
science as a set of subjectively held meanings. Events that the next swan to swim past will also be white.
are not passively observed. To understand anything, This is what Karl Popper (1963) identifies as the
whether tribal life in the South Pacific or the messages problem of induction. It cannot be assumed that
across VDUs sent by radio telescopes, a theoretical what has always happened in the past will always
framework has to be imposed on what is observed. happen in the future. It follows, for Popper, that
Forming this framework is a creative process, derived collecting more and more data about an event will not
from ideas of what is thought to be already there. All prove a proposition to be true, as there is no reason
knowledge is socially constructed. why past events should predict the future. The black
There are at least three positions, then, on the swan of scientific data may well be around the corner,
debate about the scientific status of science. Positivist waiting to drift into view.
sociologists claim that the methods they use, while Instead, Popper argues that scientists should
not identical to those of the natural sciences, proceed by looking, not for the proof of their
approximate closely enough to them. Social science hypotheses, but for their disproof. Although it cannot
can be like natural science. The realists claim that in be proved that something is true – only that
both branches of science, similar problems are faced in something has always happened that way in the past
postulating the influence of unseeable structures and – the best evidence will be that it has not yet been
forces. For phenomenologists, the search for causes disproved or ‘falsified’. Science must abandon the
and laws is dismissed and science itself is studied as a inductive method of attempting to make theories fit
social construct. facts and adopt a deductive method where facts are
only admitted into a theory through the process of
Questions falsification.
1 What differences are there between natural and
social science? Kuhn
2 What is the realist view of science? In one of the most important books on this subject,
3 What does it mean to say that knowledge is socially Thomas Kuhn (1962) asks whether scientists do
constructed? indeed allow the possibility of their theories being
falsified, and examines how new scientific theories
emerge. According to Kuhn, scientists work not as
Is science scientific? individuals but as part of a community. Within this
While there has been considerable pressure on scientific community a consensus exists about the
sociologists to consider what they mean by their use nature of the world they are investigating. Kuhn calls
of the word ‘science’, the use of this word by natural the theoretical framework that results from this
scientists has also come under the microscope. What consensus a paradigm. For long periods of time the
does it mean to call their work scientific? Are they scientific community engages in activity designed to
any more objective, rigorous or closer to ‘the truth’ bear out the validity of this paradigm. Kuhn calls this
than social scientists? Even if objectivity is possible, a time of ‘normal science’. Eventually, though,
should these scientists want to claim detachment from individuals or groups working outside the dominant
the objects they study? paradigm will put forward alternative theories that
can be supported by equally valid evidence. They will the knowledge that the application of this
have to be outside of the dominant paradigm to do methodology produces.
this. There then follows a period of revolutionary or
‘multi-paradigmatic’ science where the rival Medawar
paradigms struggle for supremacy, and advocates of Medawar (1985) has argued that the real sequence of
alternative theoretical frameworks are overthrown or scientific research is inspiration then observation not
beaten off. observation then inspiration as implied by the
An example of what Kuhn had in mind would be hypothetico-deductive method. Normal science consists
the challenge mounted against Newtonian physics by of problem solving with the results anticipated because
Albert Einstein in the early part of the twentieth they will fit into the existing jigsaw. As the data is
century, where intense battles were unsuccessfully collected it impinges on a mind already anticipating it.
waged by the ‘normal’ scientists to maintain scientific What Medawar is suggesting is that the actual
orthodoxy. If long-standing paradigms can be process of research may follow no logical pattern but
overthrown, then the defeated scientists have to admit this reality is hidden from the public, because
that the theories they were working with were not so scientific papers omit false starts, changes in direction
much ‘true’ as merely ‘very useful’ in helping them and dead ends.
make sense of the data they had gathered. Some scientific evidence has been found to be
It is not the case, then, that those who are working fallacious. Lynch (1993) studied the work of scientists
within paradigms of normal science approach what who were carrying out laboratory investigations into
they examine with open minds, or are prepared to the brain functioning of rats. He found that the types
look anew each time at what they are observing. of feature they were looking for and expected to find
Some commentators have argued that the problem is influenced many of their conclusions. In other words,
more deep-set than this, in that all scientists, by they were using the data they collected to confirm
definition, start off with the unfalsifiable assumption their theories, rather than keeping an open mind and
that every event has a cause. Furthermore, from the seeking to test their ideas objectively.
realist point of view, not every event – or every
possible cause – is observable or knowable. The study ‘Big’ science
of plate tectonics and earthquakes by geologists, for Sociologists have argued that scientific knowledge in
example, requires a series of guesses to be made about the natural world arises from an objective and
what is probably happening in the earth’s structure. independent search for truth and also from the
The problem of causation, of identifying specific priorities and values of those who have funded the
causes, is as much of a problem for natural scientists research. For Leslie Sklair (1973), what most people
as it is for social scientists. think of as scientific knowledge is better thought of as
In the same vein, it is no less true to say that, ‘big’ science – research undertaken to further the
although the subject of natural scientific study may be control and interests of the military-industrial state
inanimate or non-human, scientists themselves are over its people. Examples of this would include
human beings who have to impose a structure on what research into space and weapons technology, or
they see in order to make sense of it and they have to business-led research into systems whose sole aim is
select some facts from others to put a theory together. profit-maximisation. The resulting popular image is of
In this way, scientists are as prone to imposing their scientists as men in white coats, developing large-scale
own subjective views of the world as any other and impersonal structures on multi-billion pound
humans. That they need to choose to prioritise some projects without regard for how their creations will be
data means that they are making value judgements used. Their technology is thought to be part of an
about which data is most helpful to test their objective science because of the power and prestige of
hypothesis. When they start making choices about the those who fund them. Their concerns are thought to
status of facts, then they have, strictly speaking, ceased be our concerns.
to be objective. Facts have become values.
Questions have been asked not only about the Science and ideology
methodology of the natural sciences but also their Feyerabend (1998) argues that scientists have no
ethics. Radical and feminist critics have brought into special method and that they frequently change what
the debate not only the methodology of science but they are doing and the approach used. He suggests
Values and sociologists 11
that science is basically an ideology completely shaped themselves have to become accountable for their
at any moment in time by its historical and cultural actions. Technology will be seen not as ‘value-free’
context. Despite scientists’ claims to the contrary, the but assessed in terms of the impact it has in bringing
rule in science is that anything goes. about meaningful change in social relations. Men, as
Support for this view comes from Gomm’s study of well as women, would be seen as capable of
Darwin’s theory of evolution. Roger Gomm (1982) reproduction. Given that scientific advance has relied
argues that Darwin’s views about evolution and as much on inspired guesses as its own methodology,
natural selection were poorly supported by the a feminist perspective would reintroduce and
available evidence and in some respects were clearly relegitimise the intuitive approach. In this way science
not true. Nevertheless, Darwin’s ideas gained will become a means of enhancing human freedom
widespread support in the nineteenth century because rather than being a threat to survival as at present.
they fitted closely with the ideologies of dominant What has been a defensive and conservative discipline
social groups in Britain. For example, the idea of will become healthy and liberatory.
‘survival of the fittest’ and ‘natural selection’ could be It can be argued, then, that there are a number of
used to justify the free-market capitalist system and ways in which the supposed objectivity of science can
the harsh treatment of the poor. be questioned, to such an extent that belief in
objectivity in science – within and without the
Feminism scientific world – is now crumbling. If this is the case,
For feminists, science is a male world from which then it begs the question of the status of sociology as a
women have always been excluded. Scientific social science, conceived specifically to emulate the
achievements and scientific knowledge reveal only achievements and aspirations of natural science.
male priorities in which nature, always characterised
as female, has to be brought under control. Areas of Questions
traditionally female knowledge of previous centuries
1 What does Kuhn mean by ‘paradigms’ in science?
such as healing and midwifery have become the
2 How do feminists view science?
brutal male domains of medicine and obstetrics. For
3 What is the ‘inductive method’?
Hilary Rose (1982), it is male science that has brought
about ‘the mechanisation of childbirth through
routine induction, massive pollution of the
environment and the ultimate terror of nuclear Values and sociologists
holocaust’, as well as forms of contraception based on One of Max Weber’s main aims in setting up the
controlling women’s – rather than men’s – fertility. German Society for Sociology was to establish
Male science is not objective if objectivity is thought sociology as a discipline free from value judgements.
only to concern how scientific research is done, and What he meant by this was clear from the society’s
not the reason why that research came into existence, statute, which demanded the advancement of
or what the social consequences are. Sandra Harding sociology as a science, giving equal space to all
(1987) states that ‘Defining what is in need of directions and methods in sociology, without at the
scientific explanation only from the perspective of same time advancing any specific religious, political or
bourgeois, white men’s experiences leads to partial ethical goals.
and even perverse understandings … an androcentric
[male-centred] picture of nature and social life Weber
emerges from the testing by men of hypotheses In this aim he has been frequently misunderstood and
generated by what men find problematic in the world misinterpreted. He did not mean that sociologists
around them.’ It was, after all, this very same male- could not be politically active, that they should not
centred science that claimed to have ‘proved’ that hold opinions about the worth or relevance of their
women were biologically and socially inferior to men. work or that they should not be interested in the
Furthermore, it is men alone who have produced the values and opinions of the people they studied. What
technology to make chemical and nuclear weapons. he really wanted was for sociologists to recognise that
If women are to enter the exclusive world of male facts and values are separate phenomena. ‘These two
science then, feminists have argued, science must be things are logically different and to deal with them as
reconceptualised and made more humane. Scientists though they were the same represents a confusion of
entirely heterogeneous problems.’ Weber believed that phenomena are studied. Scientific and moral
sociologists should propagate facts, not values, questions are inseparable. Some people may want to
although he knew it was not easy to recognise where disguise their morals as science, because it gives their
the line between the two should be drawn. moral stance greater weight. Instead he suggests that
Nevertheless, Weber argued that values in sociology those opposed to the status quo ‘whose sympathies I
are important in that they help guide sociologists share, should attack injustice and oppression directly
towards relevant areas of research. These will be and openly, rather than pretend that the judgement
decided by what are seen as the dominant cultural that such things are evil is somehow deducible from
problems of the age, and will change over time. In sociological first principles, or warranted by empirical
this, he anticipates the possibility of paradigmatic findings alone … we sometimes begin with the actions
change in all forms of science. Value freedom, we want to take and the people we want to help, as a
however, is not the same as objectivity. Values basis for choosing problems and methods’. This does
concern the choice of subjects studied; objectivity not necessarily mean to say that how something is
refers to the collection of data without bias or studied is lacking in objectivity, even if values
prejudice. Yet objectivity is only possible within a determine which social phenomena are studied.
framework of values. An example given by Becker is the disproportionate
Sociologists need to recognise that the choice of amount of research into juvenile behaviour and crime
studying ethnic minorities in education rather than girls which is conducted. According to Becker, most
in education; working-class rather than middle-class researchers begin by asking ‘what is wrong with the
deviance; or dependence on the Welfare State rather kids of today?’ This shows an immediate bias towards
than the distribution of wealth is an evaluative one. the status quo, reflecting the views of the police,
Clearly, some choices are affected by the researcher’s parents and social workers. Resulting explanations, if
own values. What Weber was concerned with was that allowed to masquerade as value-free science, take on
these values should be recognised and clearly stated. the status of ‘truth’. This could be to the detriment of
Only then can data be gathered and conclusions those involved, particularly the young. Openly
reached in an objective way. If values still influence the partisan, Becker sympathises with the underdog,
process then the researcher is guilty of making ‘value suggesting that it would be equally valid to ask the
judgements’ and the status of the resulting research question ‘what is wrong with the parents of today?’
must be called into question. Often the ‘facts’ which a
sociologist unearths are picked out because they suit his Marxism
or her values, while other, perhaps equally relevant, A similar campaigning thrust exists among Marxists,
‘facts’ are ignored. Facts are often established because taking their cue from Karl Marx’s statement (1845):
they fit in with an underpinning theory. ‘The philosophers have only interpreted the world in
different ways; the point is to change it.’ Marxism is
Functionalism openly value-laden in its examination of social
For Alvin Gouldner (1970), the functionalism of dynamics, being anti-capitalist and pro-communist,
Parsons and Merton is a good example of although Marxists nevertheless believe that their
misunderstanding Weber. What these writers have depiction of reality is objective and scientific: the
done is claim a value-free status for their work, progression from capitalism to communism is
projecting an image of political and ideological inevitable.
neutrality. They saw their work as above politics and
non-partisan and, to that extent, as value-free. This Feminism
can be construed as a form of intellectual dishonesty: Likewise with feminism, which criticises existing
the truth is that it is a conservative ideology presented sociology for reflecting male values and male methods.
as social science, believing in the inherent harmony Explicitly feminist knowledge, it has been claimed
and stability of the status quo. Hiding this confuses (Harding, 1987), ‘emerges for the oppressed only
objectivity with value freedom. through the struggles they wage against their
At the other extreme are the openly partisan oppressors. It is through feminist struggles against male
sociologists, for example Howard Becker and many domination that women’s experience can be made to
Marxists and feminists. In Becker’s work (1967 and yield up a truer (or less false) image of a social reality
1973), values dominate the choice of which social than that available only from the perspective of the
social experience of the ruling class races. Thus a

Sociological perspectives
feminist standpoint is not something anyone can have
Most sociology textbooks, this one included, present
by claiming it, but an achievement. (A standpoint
sociology as a divided discipline, with a marked
differs in this respect from a perspective).’
cleavage between two philosophical traditions. Figure
Ann Oakley (1981) argues that feminism demands a
1.1 reflects the commonly accepted structure of
particular rationale of research, which breaks down
sociological perspectives.
patriarchal approaches by seeing respondents as
equals, to whom information is divulged by the Figure 1.1
researcher as willingly as it is given by the respondent.
Positivism Social action theory Phenomenology
Feminist theory therefore has a built-in inclination e.g. Weberianism
towards qualitative methods.
macro micro
The problem of objectivity and value freedom is
unlikely to be easily solved. Because sociology is the
study of humans by other humans, the problem of structure action
consciousness and selective perception will always be

present. Whether this jeopardises the possibility of a consensus conflict Symbolic Ethnomethodology
‘scientific’ status for sociology depends on how both e.g. Functionalism e.g. Marxism interactionism
sociology and science are defined.
Positivism and phenomenology
Post-modernism Positivism and phenomenology are the philosophical
Post-modernist theorists argue that language is value roots or traditions from which the main perspectives
laden, and social phenomena cannot really be defined in sociology have evolved. Positivism, a term first
in a value-free way. For example, knowing what to brought into use by Auguste Comte (1798–1857),
include in a study of the sociology of art depends on a holds that all knowledge can be based on science and
value judgement as to what constitutes, or does not scientific thought, and that all behaviour, whether of
constitute, art. A similar problem is encountered in objects or of people, is subject to general laws. The
the study of poverty. Shipman (1981) argues that possibility of identifying these laws inspired a
values are implicit in the selection and use of generation of mid-to-late nineteenth-century theorists
established evidence, a body of work which in many areas of knowledge, although the extent of
constitutes what he terms ‘the mythodology of the its influence on writers such as Marx and Durkheim
subject’. Some studies are frequently mentioned yet remains under dispute.
the evidence on which they are based is frail. The term phenomenology is most closely associated
Shipman gives the example of the Hawthorne with Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), and in sociology
experiments of the 1930s, which examined the with Alfred Schutz (1899–1959). In this tradition the
importance of human relations in the workplace. He belief is that positivism’s search for social causes is
argues that the superiority of good human relations in illusory, falling into the trap of determinism.
the workplace over good material conditions and Phenomenology denies that social behaviour, like the
financial regard does not seem justified by the results movement of atoms and molecules, is determined by
of the experiment, but it was a ‘comfortable’ external forces which are beyond human control. All
conclusion to draw. This is ultimately because of the that can realistically be achieved is an understanding of
support that it gave to other values in our culture. how people, individually and collectively, interpret,
understand and place meaning on their social reality.
Questions Phenomenologists assert that people possess a greater
1 You have read the section on sociology and values. degree of free will than positivist sociologists are
Now try to define the following terms: willing to admit.
(a) objectivity (b) subjectivity
(c) value freedom (d) ideology Structure and action
(e) patriarchy The debate between the two camps of sociology can
2 Are sociological perspectives value free or should also be seen as one between the concepts of structure
they be viewed as ideologies? and action. For the structuralists, sociology should be
the study of the effects of the structure of society on
social life – the macro or large-scale view. Patterns
created by structures such as religion, the family, Whether intended or not, the end result is an
organisations or, for Marxists, capitalist relations of intellectual condition known as ‘perspectivitis’, whose
production, are seen to be the starting point in main symptoms are the obsessive need to label a piece
explaining anything in society. The analysis begins at a of sociological research positivist or phenomenological,
structural level. Hence some may argue that an Marxist, functionalist or Weberian, interactionist or
increase in unemployment can lead to an increase in ethnomethodological. The truth is, however, that such
the crime rate, or that social disintegration is the simplistic labelling can be misleading.
cause of suicide. ‘Social facts’ exist as definite realities.
Other sociologists, taking the micro or small-scale ‘Good’ sociology
view, doubt the validity of this position. The idea of a While it is certainly true to say that clearly discernible
social structure is an abstract one, assuming a world sociological traditions of thought do exist, very few
‘out there’ for us to investigate. The truth is that we writers begin their sociological research solely in order
are already in that world, with each of us having very to contribute to the body of knowledge of a given
different assumptions of what it looks like. They argue perspective. What they are principally trying to create
that the search for structural clues to social causes and is ‘good’ sociology, attempting to answer the question:
effects should be abandoned in favour of piecing ‘How much can we reliably and validly know about
together the way individuals and groups make sense human societies?’ If they find that the best way to do
of the world they live in. This involves the analysis of this is by drawing on the theoretical assumptions and
social action, not the intangible structures they are methodological techniques of the dominant
thought to inhabit. ‘Social facts’ do not exist but are sociological traditions, then so be it. There is no
created and constructed in the process of social reason, as Paul Willis (1977) found, why someone
interaction. using observation techniques, typical of the
These two approaches can be compared to a interactionist perspective, should not come to
telescope. One end will show everything in enlarged conclusions informed by Marxism. Similarly, feminism
form and in great detail (the microview), the other draws from all perspectives, while at the same time
will display a world that is small and distant (the being both critical and sceptical of the inherent male
macroview). Both are ‘true’ pictures of the same bias in sociological theory and research to date.
thing. In sociology, there is no agreement about which
approach is best or how the two can be made Questions
compatible.
1 You have looked at a discussion of sociological
Marxism and functionalism perspectives. Now try to define the following terms:
(a) a sociological perspective
Marxism and functionalism are seen as two
(b) positivism
perspectives both of which look at how the structure
(c) phenomenology
of society determines behaviour.
2 What is meant by ‘structure’ and ‘action’ in sociology?
Symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology
Symbolic interactionism and ethnomethodology are
presented as perspectives emphasising small-scale Functionalism
understanding of how groups and individuals No one has ever seen a society. All they can ever see
structure their perception of action and meaning in is small parts at work at different times in different
society. These perspectives are often referred to places. The nearest anyone could come would be to
collectively as interpretive sociology. Somewhere in observe a small community, preferably with what
between the two is the tradition emanating from Max seems to be a simple way of going about their
Weber, which explores the possibility of uniting everyday life. It should then be possible to work out
theories of structure and action in society. what the importance of the things these people do is
This view of sociology is certainly common. A to the way their community works. Some anthropol-
typical exam question, implicitly or explicitly, ogists, who themselves come from industrial societies,
amounts to ‘Compare and contrast Marxist and have undertaken studies of pre-industrial societies still
interactionist views of sociology’, and most textbooks in existence. Among the best known is A. R. Radcliffe-
are written to cater for this demand. Brown (1881–1955). A central part of the way he
observed these pre-industrial societies was his belief involved in digestion and so on. Each organ has a
that social activity, if it was recurrent, must be function which contributes to the working of the
functional to the working of that community. In other greater whole. So too with society, where the organs
words, an observable pattern of group activity must might be the family, education, the system of religion,
help maintain the life of that community: it must work, etc. Any examination of these institutions should
have a function. If, for example, a group of people are begin by asking the question: ‘What does it do to help
regularly observed sitting around smoking pipes the wider society function?’ Homeostasis is the term
communally, this activity may function to bind applied to the way in which an organism regulates
together or integrate the group as a community and itself to cope with changes in internal and external
reinforce the values of friendliness and co-operation. conditions. For example, after exercise, the heated-up
If the men taking part in this activity are elderly then body sweats to help the body temperature to stay
it may be one way of maintaining their social power, stable. When this concept is used to understand how
and a respect for age. equilibrium is maintained in society, then the organic
In this way, a wider picture of how society works analogy becomes more effective.
can be built up. Like many sociologists before him, The analogy also has many limits, however. It is
Radcliffe-Brown made great use of what is called the difficult, for example, to compare the way organisms
organic analogy in his examination of the way grow to the way societies grow and change. Is there a
societies work, though this idea really comes from social equivalent to DNA, the genetic programme
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) and was also used by present in every species? Does a society really have a
Emile Durkheim. series of complementary institutions which work
together to make the whole function smoothly to the
EMILE DURKHEIM (1858–1917) mutual benefit of all? In the same way that the skin
holds a human body together, so too do norms and
values bind society together. But does this help us
understand who determines the norms and values by
which we live and how the wider society is organised?
Another way of looking at society is to compare it
to a mechanism in the way it works, where all the
small parts, such as in a clockwork watch, function
together to achieve the aim of demonstrating the time
of day. Similarly, when people pull together in society,
they can achieve collectively held goals such as
improvement in the overall standard of living.
Parsonian functionalism
French sociologist who did much to establish sociology as a This is close to Talcott Parsons’ (1902–79) view of the
discipline, particularly with works such as Suicide (1897). He way society functions, and in the 1950s and 1960s
emphasised the importance of examining society as a whole Parsonian functionalism was virtually the dominant
and the role of the ‘collective conscience’. He strongly paradigm in sociology. The model of society he put
influenced the work of Talcott Parsons and the development forward has been subsequently heavily criticised, but
of American structural functionalism. it is important to understand how his model of society
worked in order to understand the criticisms.
Parsons argues that any society has four functional
The organic analogy needs or prerequisites that need to be met for it to
The idea behind the organic analogy is that societies survive: these are adaptation, goal attainment,
can be compared to the way a biological organism integration and latency (AGIL). It is hard to believe
works. Someone who had no idea how the body works now that sociologists were excited by the bland and
might find, from slicing a human apart, that there were fruitless way that Parsons went about examining
various organs inside that make humans work. The society, but many US college students went into their
heart functions to pump blood around the veins and exams with the four letters AGIL stuck in their heads
arteries, the kidneys clean the blood, the intestines are (or on the palms of their hands).
Secondly, because it focuses on the way in which

TALCOTT PARSONS (1902–79)
different members of society integrate and work in
American sociological theorist and leader of the functionalist harmony around a value consensus, functionalism
school that dominated American sociology from the 1940s to lacks any real power to explain social change. One
the 1960s. In his famous work The Social System (1951) concept that attempts to overcome this is Merton’s use
Parsons tried to show how consensus based on shared values of the concept of dysfunction: the way in which some
is essential to social order. The stratification system is crucial aspects of society work against its overall harmony
and consensus. Functionalism leans heavily towards
in maintaining consensus in society.
describing society in a stable condition, and seems to
emphasise the status quo: inequality is inevitable;
They then would have given Parsons’ view that,
poverty is inevitable; the media reflect all views;
firstly, all societies must have ways of adapting to
women are domestically orientated; marriages are
change, whatever that change might be (A); they
happy. Functionalists such as Parsons and Merton
must have social aims that everyone wants which
appear to be using their own middle-class, middle-
help the society determine the direction it’s going in
American view of the world and saying this is what
(G); they must have ways of binding their members
society is like.
together to identify with and realise these collective
Functionalism should not be dismissed too quickly,
goals whether through religion or newspapers or
however. Functionalists argue that advanced
marriage or whatever (I); and there must be a way in
industrial societies are stable: people do seem to have
which a society’s way of living can survive through
faith in their political system in a democracy;
generations of people (L). This scheme can be found
industrial conflict is diminishing; and the major
detailed in works of his such as The Social System
political parties are competing for the same middle
(1951). People born within this system are
ground. It is not difficult even now to make a strong
socialised into it and come to take on the roles the
case for arguing that a value consensus exists in
system demands: the whole is greater than the sum
advanced societies.
of its parts.
Manifest and latent functions Question

One of the key additions to Parsons’ structural- You have now looked at an introduction to
functionalism has been made by his American functionalism. Try to define the following terms:
contemporary, Robert Merton (born 1910). This is the (a) the organic analogy
distinction between manifest and latent functions. A (b) functional needs
manifest function is evident when an institution (c) the mechanical analogy
achieves the goal it clearly intended, for example the (d) a manifest function
way a family socialises its young. A latent function (e) dysfunction
would be an unintended consequence of an aspect in
society. No one commits a crime with the deliberate
intention of revealing the boundaries of normative Marxism
behaviour to the rest of society! Nevertheless, a latent At first sight, Marxism seems difficult to understand.
function of their criminal behaviour is to demonstrate It seems to use more new words and phrases than any
the limits of socially acceptable behaviour. other perspective in sociology. This is not because
Marx was being awkward, but because of the richly
Criticisms of functionalism creative nature of his thought. He needed a number of
One of the most frequent criticisms of the new terms to describe his ideas.
functionalist perspective is of a logical problem it
embraces: if something in society is recurrent, Marx’s historical materialism
functionalists say that it must be meeting a need. But Marx did not want to simply analyse the world; he
how do we know that this need exists? Because of the wanted to play a part in changing it. His life’s work
phenomenon that we observe! It exists because it was devoted to understanding the way in which
exists; it is because it is. In philosophy, this type of modern industrial societies change. Marx’s theory is
going-nowhere argument is known as a tautology. sometimes described as ‘historical materialism’. The

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qxd 12/7/10 16:33 Page 1

Andy Barnard, Terry Burgess and Mike Kirby

● detailed coverage of postmodernist ideas and other recent developments

● a bibliography and glossary

The book is also suitable for students following UK exam board

This publication was formerly available as Sociology Explained

© Cambridge University Press 2004

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception

First published 2004

ISBN 978-0-521-53214-3 Paperback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or

3 Social stratification and differentiation

4 Health, welfare and poverty

8 Crime and deviance

9 Work, organisations and leisure

11 Politics and power

circumstances, inaction imply in their consequences Undertaking research

social experience of the ruling class races. Thus a

consciousness and selective perception will always be

Secondly, because it focuses on the way in which

Manifest and latent functions Question

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