...In what ways does Garfinkel’s study of Agnes demonstrate the ethnomethodological approach to social life? by Adrienne Carpenter Harold Garfinkel is recognized as the founder of ethnomethodology. The term ethnomethodology means the methods used by people in accomplishing their daily lives. (University of Regina, 2003, Gingrich) The ethnomethodological approach studies social interactions while focusing on how the interaction was conducted by the people involved, rather than examining the meaning and interpretation in interaction, which id how symbolic interactionists would study interactions. The ethnomethodological approach attempts to analyze social interaction in particular situations and contexts, attempting to describe and understand the methods, procedures, and considerations involved in social interaction. For ethnomethodologists, social interaction is seen as a set of common sense procedures people use to deal with...
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...Katie Hulse Professor Nekervis Intro to Sociology 29 November 2014 Ethnomethodology Explanation & Prediction: “Ethnomethodology is the study of the ways in which people make sense of their social world. A favored technique among ethnomethodologists is to temporarily disrupt the world which people take for granted and see how they react. The point of this is to expose background assumptions that have been accepted as reality for a long time.” (Nekervis) For this project, I decided on performing an action that did just that. I have a pet pig. Even though the trend of having pet pigs is becoming popular, it is still not viewed as “normal,” especially around where I live in Brick town. I decided to take my pig, Phoebee, for a walk around the Brick township reservoir, which isn’t something you see everyday. There is a sign posted directly before the ramp to enter, which basically expresses that DOGS are welcome as long as they are cleaned up after. There are no signs discussing the rules regarding pigs obviously, but I didn’t think I would have a problem. I predicted I would receive a few strange looks and definitely some questions and some people, probably children that would like to interact with Phoebee. I thought that is wouldn’t be accepted completely but I felt like the people who witnessed me walking my pig would be open to the idea and it would get them thinking. Conclusion: I went to the reservoir with Phoebee on a sunny Wednesday when the temperature...
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...Functionalism, feminism, and conflict c. Functionalism, conflict, and social learning d. Functionalism, conflict, and symbolic interactionism 2. True/False Norms provide guidance so that we can align our actions with those of others when situations are unclear or ambiguous. a. true b. false 3. Which sociologist proposed that forming a triad by adding one person to a dyad is far more consequential that adding one person to any other size group? a. John James b. George Simmel c. George Herbert Mead d. Muzafer Sherif 4. Procedures that people employ in making social life and society intelligible to themselves and others is the definition of: a. groupthink b. dyad c. social loafing d. ethnomethodology 5. A classic study by social scientist ___________ showed us how sociology can reveal new levels of social reality. a. Elliot Liebow b. C. Wright Mills c. Auguste Comte d. Herbert Spencer 6. Who is commonly credited with being the “founder of sociology”? a. Elliot Liebow b. C. Wright Mills c. Auguste Comte d. Herbert Spencer 7. The definition of socialization is: a. actions through which people observe, interpret, evaluate, communicate with, and attempt to control themselves. b. the set of concepts we use in defining who we are. c. a process of social interaction by which people acquire the knowledge, attitudes, values, and behaviors essential for effective participation in...
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...Assess the contribution of different ‘action’ theories to our understanding of society today Social action theories are known as micro theories which take a bottom-up approach to studying society; they look at how individuals within society interact with each other. There are many forms of social action theories, the main ones being symbolic interactionism, phenomenology and ethnomethodology. They are all based on the work of Max Weber, a sociologist, who acknowledged that structural factors can shape our behaviour but individuals do have reasons for their actions. He used this to explain why people behave in the way in which they do within society. Weber saw four types of actions which are commonly committed within society; rational, this includes logical plans which are used to achieve goals, traditional-customary behaviour, this is behaviour which is traditional and has always been done; he also saw effectual actions, this includes an emotion associated with an action and value-rational actions, this is behaviour which is seen as logical by an individual. Weber’s discovery of these actions can therefore be seen as useful in the study of society. Weber discovered these actions by using his concept of verstehan, a deeper understanding. However, some sociologists have criticised him as they argue that verstehan cannot be accomplished as it is not possible to see thing in the way that others see them, leaving sociologists to question whether Weber’s social action theory is useful...
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...Action Theories - Theory and methods This is not a structural theory. Action theories focus on individual behaviour in everyday social situations. This is a bottom up approach – looking at meanings and interpretations of actions. There are many branches of action theories; Symbolic interactionism, Labelling theory, Dramturgical model, Phenomenology, Ethnomethodology, Structuration theory and Webe’rs integrated approaches Key features: 1. Society and social structures/ institutions are socially constructed (family does not exist externally to our daily lives) 2. People have free will to do things and form their own identities 3. Prefer to research on small groups of individuals (micro) 4. People’s behaviour is driven by their beliefs, meaning and emotions gives to a situation. e.g how mother interprets crying of baby, meaning of the cry will affect her actions and the babies behaviour will affect the mother Symbolic interactionism This focuses on how we create the world through our interactions. Our interactions are based on the meaning we give to situations and we can convey this through symbols like language. G. H. Mead – The Role of Others – Symbols vs Instincts Symbols versus instincts: * Animals are guided through instinct whereas we are guided by our responses to the world in the form of meanings we attach to significant things. * We create the world by attaching symbols to meanings we have attached. The symbol of putting a finger to your...
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...usefulness of interactionist approaches to the study of society- 33 marks Interactionism is an action theory which is based on the micro level, they are bottom-up approaches which focus on the actions of individuals. They emphasise free will as they are more voluntaristic than structural theories. Whereas, structural theories such as functionalism are macro, top down and deterministic. They believe that individuals are puppets who are manipulated by society. There are four important action theories which all emphasise action but differ in how far they see a role for structural explanations of behaviour. Webers social action theory and symbolic interactionism assume that the social structure can influence how we act. Phenomenology and ethnomethodology reject the idea that there is a social structure, they believe that society is a social construct instead of it being a real thing. Weber(one of the founding fathers of sociology) attempted to classify actions into four types. Instrumentally rational action is where the individual figures out the most efficient way of achieving the goal. An example of this is how businesses may calculate that the most efficient way of maximising profit would be to pay low wages. Value rational action is what the individual does in the belief that the action is desirable for their own sake. An example of this is a believer worshipping their god in order to get to heaven despite having no way of knowing whether it will gain him/her salvation. Traditional...
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...Examine sociological contributions to understanding the causes of suicide (21) Suicide is the ultimate deviant act. Ending your own life deviates far from the social norm of wanting to preserve and improve your life instead of wanting to end it, so naturally sociologists want to understand what makes people want to end their own lives so that we can try to prevent it. It was only up until 1961 that suicide was made legal in the UK and it has been an extremely understudied topic up until recently due to Durkheim's study in 1897 as it was so successful that sociologists didn't think there was anything else to contribute to the topic – the fact that up until fairly recently it has been an extremely taboo subject, especially in religious countries, has also contributed to the understudying of this topic. There have been four main sociologists who have contributed to our understanding of the causes of suicide: Durkheim, who used a positivist approach and Atkinson, Taylor and Douglad who used an interpretivist approach. Durkheim was the first sociologist to study to the topic of suicide and he used a positivist approach which is strange when studying such a seemingly interpretivist and personal topic, but he did this in order to try to prove that sociology can and should be studied as a science and that we can see cause and effect by using observable patterns or regularities. Durkheim discovered and notes four regular patterns when using official suicide statistics and from this...
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...Participant Observation Research 1. Participant observation is one type of data collection method typically done in the qualitative research paradigm. It is a widely used methodology in many disciplines, particularly cultural anthropology, less so in sociology, communication studies, human geography and social psychology. Its aim is to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such as a religious, occupational, sub cultural group, or a particular community) and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their cultural environment, usually over an extended period of time. The method originated in the field research of social anthropologists, especially Bronisław Malinowski in Britain, the students of Franz Boas in the United States, and in the later urban research of the Chicago School of sociology. 2. Direct observation, also known as observational study, is a method of collecting evaluative information in which the evaluator watches the subject in his or her usual environment without altering that environment. Direct observation is used when other data collection procedures, such as surveys, questionnaires, etc., are not effective; when the goal is to evaluate an ongoing behavior process, event, or situation; or when there are physical outcomes that can be readily seen. Direct observation can be overt, when the subject and individuals in the environment know the purpose of the observation, or covert, when the subject and individuals...
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...One-way of evacuation was through ferries. There were two ferries, one, which carried civilians and the other, carried prisoners. All of a sudden, both boats lost power and communication. There were bombs on both boats placed by the Joker. Each boat was given a detonator to the other boats bombs. Joker had left instructions that if one boat didn’t explode by midnight he would detonate both bombs killing both civilians and prisoners. This caused tremendous tension due to the fact the boats could not communicate with each other or anyone on the outside world. Both passengers of the boats were in fear. The civilians boat began to talk about taking the prisoners lives to save themselves. This is an example of Ethnomethodology Theory. Ethnomethodology Theory is an investigative and observational approach that focuses on how people make sense of everyday social activities and experiences. The theory also states that during our interactions only when the social order is disrupted we begin to question. The civilians would have never thought of killing these prisoners and questioning if their lives mattered more than the others if the Joker had not disrupted the social...
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...Assess the different sociological explanations of suicide- (21 marks) Suicide is define different by many sociologists. The overall definition is for an individual to cause harm to themselves, with the intent to kill themselves. Many different sociologists believe in different reasoning to acts of suicide and uses different research methods including qualitative and quantitative data. I will uses sociologists such as Durkheim, Douglas, Atkinson and Taylor to assess this view. Durkheim takes a positivist view and believes that social factors is the main factor for why people commit suicide. He suggests that suicide rates are social facts. He used quantitative data (official statistics) and discovered certain patterns: that suicide rates remained constant over time, the differed in different society, if rates did change it was coincided with other changes and within society, the suicide rates differ in different social groups. He believes the social factors are social integration and moral regulations. Social integration is when the individual feels apart of a group, and has a stronger bond. Moral regulations suggest strong norms and values in which individuals desire to follow. Durkheim say without these, people’s desires are infinite and incapable of satisfaction. Durkheim states four types of suicide: egoistic, altruistic, fatalistic and anomic suicide. Egoistic is when an individual has too little integration and becomes selfish and isolated in which they feel they do not...
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...For my ethnomethodological experiment I tested how my roommate would react if I ate food off the floor or licked things off the counter. A disclaimer: I made sure both surfaces were clean before I did this. I looked up the definition of ethnomethodology and it is “the study of methods people use for understanding and producing the social order in which they live” (Wikipedia). There are set social ‘norms’ that everyone accepts and breaking these can gain you some weird reactions. I searched for other examples of breaking social norms, and society does and doesn’t accept along the lines of behavior. For the licking stuff off the counter, I was pouring some tea and I spilled it. When my roommate went to go get a paper towel to clean it up, I liked...
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...a traditional Monopoly board game rather than the electronic game for this exercise to work. Once you are certain that everyone understands the rules of Monopoly tell them you are changing the way the game is played. Put everything back together as though you were starting the game and then tell them you are giving them 15 seconds to divide into social classes. Be sure to review the instructions for Monopoly in a Stratified Society so you can explain the instructions to the group. Go to the Monopoly Discussion Forum and answer the questions. Complete your Monopoly Reaction Paper. Instructions are listed on the last page of the Monopoly directions. Email your paper to me by the designated date in the syllabus. Read the two Ethnomethodology examples (I & II) and watch the clips Students Invading Personal Space (right click and open in new tab) & Along Came Polly (in folder). These samples are provided to further illustrate reactions of stepping outside of your comfort zone and what it means to break a social folkway. Status symbols are a large part of our social structure. Go to the discussion forum Status Symbols and answer the questions provided. Controversy continues over the use of symbols such as the Confederate flag. Members of the South Carolina Council of Conservative Citizens were very displeased when the flag was removed from atop the dome of the state capitol in Columbia, South Carolina. Other groups applauded the removal of the flag, which they believe...
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...Suicide is the action of intentionally killing oneself. According to statistics, there has bee a significant increase of 80% suicides, since the previous year. Durkheim believed that suicide rates were dependent on social factors, related to both scientific laws and facts, such as religion, education and the media. Durkheim conducted a range of research to prove these predictions. For example, he found that Catholics had lower suicide rates than Protestants. From these findings concluded that suicide is caused by social factors such as too little/too much social integration and too little/too much moral regulation. Within the Catholic Church suicide is seen as a sin therefore due to this religious tie Catholics are less likely to commit suicide. Additionally, an example of suicide based on too much moral regulation is Palestinian suicide bombings. According to Durkheim, these two social factors create a typology of suicide. Altruistic suicide is due to too much social integration. Egoistic suicide is due to too little social integration. Fatalistic suicide is due to too much moral regulation. Anomic suicide is due to too little moral regulation. Furthermore, many positivists have built on Durkheim’s work. Including Sainsbury who found that social disorganisation, Anomic suicide, was the most popular type of suicide and Hallowach who found urban to rural changes make Egoistic suicide more likely. Durkheim’s work, being a Positivist, made making generalisations possible...
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...Chapters 3-6 Midterm Study Guide * Norms- specific rules of behavior, agreed upon and shared that prescribe limits of acceptable behavior * Achieved status- conferred upon us by virtue of birth or other significant factors not controlled by our own actions or decisions; people occupy them regardless of their intentions ex. Family positions * Ascribed status- acquired as a result of the individual’s actions ex. Students, professor, garage mechanic, race car driver, artist, prisoner, bus driver, husband, wife, mother or father * Triad- two against one alliance; three members * Dyad- the smallest group contains only two members * Ego, ed, super ego(which one represents norms and values) * Difference between conflict and competition * Conflict- people join in forces to achieve a common goal; people in conflict struggle with one another for some commonly prized object or value * Competition- form of conflict in which individuals or groups confine their conflict within agreed-upon rules; common form of interaction * Generalized others- the viewpoints, attitudes, and expectations of society as a whole or a community of people whom are aware of and who are important to us * Secondary groups- characterized by much less intimacy among its members. Has specific goals, is formally organized and is impersonal * Primary groups- interaction between members who have an emotional investment in one another and in a situation, who know one...
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...Breaching Experiment Name Class Affiliation Instructor Date In social psychology and sociology field, a breaching experiment is one that evaluates the reaction of people to violation of accepted norms. The experiments consist of the exhibition of conscious engender, and social structure analysis that make the social reaction possible. In today’s world, it seems everybody owns a mobile phone, and when people are in public areas, particularly a library, it is a social norm to either put it off or put it in a silent mode. But for my breaching experiment I wanted to break this social norm by going to the library and put my phone on, on full volume and see how people around me would react. Some of the reactions were surprising, but others were not. The people’s reaction made me think how much one can trust a person to help you in time of need, and the reason some people act in the a manner that they do. I did my breaching experiment on a Saturday afternoon, I went into a study library in the university, put my headphones in the phone, (in order to convince people I was listening to music), and begun to read. After some time, my friend came so that to assist me in accomplishing the experiment. He was to assist me by calling my number. When he got in I knew everything was ready for my experiment. After he settled he started calling my phones without anybody else’s knowledge. My friend told me he did that by making it look like he was texting, and from his observation none...
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