...The Roles of the Sociologist Like all scientists sociologists are concerned with both collecting and using knowledge. As a scientist the sociologist's foremost task is to discover and organize knowledge about social life. A number of full time research sociologists are employed by universities, government agencies, foundations or corporations and many sociologists divide their time between teaching and research. Another task of the sociologist as a scientist is to clear away the misinformation and superstition which clutters so much of our social thinking. Sociologists have helped to clear doubts about hereditary, race, class, sex differences, deviation and nearly every other aspect of behaviour. By helping replace superstition and misinformation with accurate knowledge about human behaviour sociologists are performing their most important role. Sociologists make sociological predictions. Every policy decision is based upon certain assumptions about the present and future state of the society. Most social science prediction consists not of predicting specific developments as the astronomer predicts an eclipse but of forecasting the general pattern of trends and changes which seem most probable. All such predictions or forecasts should be offered with certain humility for no certainty attends them. Instead social scientists offer them as the best most informed guesses available upon which to base our policy decisions and expectations for the future. Sociological prediction...
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...Key Roles of Sociologist: 1. Is to organize and discover knowledge about social life. 2. is to clear away the superstition and misinformation which hinder so much of our social thinking. 3. To deals more with group problems. 4. With a higher degree, they teach it at a college or university. 5. To work in the human resources development, training and development and also in research. 6. The sociologists studies the society, sociologists are interested in the processes in the society, they study the interaction between people and what are the reasons for the different things that happen. They try to answer different questions as why is there racism, how does religion affects the morals of the society, who is going to be president etc. Using sociology you try to uncover the things that stay unseen in the everyday life. Sociology searches the factors of high crime rate and others. 7. Sometimes his duty is voluntarily but most often He is paid by Organization. 8. To do research and they get hired and paid by a research company. 9. A sociologist is someone who's like a psychologist, but rather than studying the nature of one person, they study the nature of a group of people in society. 10. Sociologists study patterns of human behavior. 11. To study social trends, some even work in the advertising industry. 12. You could be a teacher, or work at an institution that conducts research, or you could be a writer of your own books, or you...
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...Examine the ways in which feminist sociologists have contributed to our understanding of family roles and relationships Feminists as a whole take a critical view of the family and they argue that family life oppresses women. They mainly focus on issues such as the unequal division of labour and domestic violence against women. Feminists believe that gender inequality is neither natural nor inevitable but something that society created. Feminists belief in the symmetrical family, which promotes the roles of husbands and wives being, not identical, but similar. Feminism does not cover all the beliefs of the different types of feminists and each approaches family life in a different way and provides varied solutions for each problem or issue. There are many feminists who argue that, despite women having jobs and working, there is little or insufficient evidence of a “new man” who helps out and does an equal share of domestic labour. Women seem to have simply acquired the burden of both paid work and unpaid housework, which is known as the dual burden. So the family still remains to be patriarchal; men are benefiting from their wives or partners unpaid housework. Further support comes from Elsa Ferri and Kate Smith (1996) who provide evidence of the dual burden. They found that the employment increase of women outside of home has had little impact on the domestic division of labour between the sexes. Liberal feminism is an individualistic form of the feminist theory, which...
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...Assess functionalist views of the role of education (20 marks) There are multiple views in society of the education system. The first view is functionalist – they believe that the education system is positive. The second view is Marxism – they believe that education in negative. The final perspective is feminism and they believe that again education is a negative thing. Functionalists such as Durkheim believe that the education system is positive because it gives us a shared sense of belonging, he also believes that due to history in education we are all bonded together because we all share the same past. Moreover, he also said that education gives us social solidarity because we’re all functioning together in society due to education giving us specialised skills for the workforce and later life. Additionally, functionalists such as Parsons believe that education is vital because it’s a bridge from the family to society. He also believes that there is equality of opportunity in society and in education this means there is a meritocracy and social mobility. Moreover, he said that education encourages individual achievement and this achievement is measured by role allocation and setting. This means that those who do well in school (those in the top sets) will be pushed to go for the highest jobs. He also said that education develops a value consensus in society this means that society has a shared set of norms and values. Davis and Moore examined role allocation. They believe that...
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...(3)Discuss as to what a social problem is and the different approaches to studying social problems? Social problem means that problems which occurred in society. It may affect or damage the society. When individual or a group of people violate the norms and values found in society it becomes a social problem. Also we can find out it as a condition that at least some people in a community view as being undesirable. In early days sociologist thought behaviors of the bad people create the social problems. They thought lack of education, incomplete socialization, and mental disorders made people bad. They identify mainly murder and suicide as social problem. There are 2 sociological definitions for social problems; - A social problem is created by here being a gap between the objectives of society and the actual condition prevailing in that society - A social problem is a situation in society that a majority of people living in that society consider to be a problem Different societies have different social problems. Sometimes, a behavior which normal in one society may be a significant social problem in another society. Now think everyone believe murders, suicides are social problems. In other hand school gang sing in the back seat of the bus may be consider as an undesirable social condition by some other people. But that school gang never considers it as an undesirable act. Taking alcohol in Galle face, non drinkers consider it...
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...evaluate the view that the division of labour and power relationships are now equal in modern life (20 marks) There are several different views that sociologists hold regarding the equality of the division of labour in couples and power relationships in modern life. Some sociologists such as march of progress sociologists see greater trends towards equality whilst other sociologists such as feminists believe there is a lot of changes both in the public sphere and private sphere that need to take place before the division of labour, and the hold of power in couples can become equal in modern life. Functionalist sociologists Young and Willmott developed a theory in the 1970s called the symmetrical family. The symmetrical family described a family life which was improving for all of its members, becoming more equal and becoming more democratic. Young and Willmott argue that there has been long-term trend away from segregated conjugal roles and towards joint conjugal roles and the symmetrical family. Segregated and joint conjugal roles are distinguished between by sociologist Elizabeth Bott. Segregated conjugal roles resemble Talcott Parsons’ instrumental and expressive role theory, in which a couple have separate allocated roles such as the male being a breadwinner and the female a homemaker. Joint conjugal roles are where the couple share tasks such as housework and childcare and spend their leisure time together. Thus, Young and Willmott’s symmetrical family would ...
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...assess the view that gender roles and relationships have become more equal in modern family life (24 marks) The domestic division of labour refers to the roles that men and women take in relation to housework. These roles are often referred to as conjugal roles; roles which display roles within marriage itself. Segregated conjugal roles described the situation of man and wife having separate roles within the house where the man would more often be the breadwinner and the woman would be the homemaker. This notion supported Parsons idea of expressive roles, but is the centre of debate for feminist sociologists. There are also joint conjugal roles which represents the idea that couples share tasks such as housework, child rearing and decision making etc. Joint conjugal roles also describe the couple as sharing leisure time together, rather than independently. Within these marriages relationships also vary. One of the most deviant and misunderstood issue within the married couple is the idea that coercive power is used to control the other; usually the male using physical power (according to statistics). Domestic violence can be defined as any kind of physical, psychological, sexual or financial violence that takes place within the family toward an intimate partner. Domestic violence is seen as a method of control amongst partners, to display dominance and/or authority. It is often under-reported so national statistics are not always valid. Some sociologists would argue that changes...
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...Assess the relationship between sociology and social policy In order to understand the role of sociology in relation to social policy, it is important to firstly distinguish between social problems and sociological problems. According to Peter Worsley, a social problem is some piece of social behaviour that causes public friction and private misery and calls for collective action to solve it. According to Worsley, a sociological problem is “any pattern of relationships that calls for explanation.” In other words, it is any piece of behaviour that we wish to make sense of. However even when sociologists conduct research into social problems, there’s no guarantee that policy makers will study their findings, or that any solutions they propose will find their way into social policies. Many factors may affect whether or not sociological research succeeds in influencing policy. Some of these include electoral popularity, interest groups, globalisation and cost. Different sociological perspectives hold different views of the nature of the state and their social policy it produces. As a result, each perspective tends to take a different view of the role of sociology in relation to social policy. Early positivists such as Comte and Durkheim took the view that sociology was a science and would discover both the cause of social problems and scientifically based solutions to them. As such, their approach was part of the Enlightenment project to use science ad reason to improve society...
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..."(Using material from item 2B) Assess the view that gender roles and relationships have become more equal in modern family life " (24 Marks) Most sociologists in today's world would argue that yes, the gender roles and relationships have become more equal in recent years- but that they still have a way to go before they are completely equal. The more widespread view is that most people still cohere to the idea of instrumental and expressive roles in the family- because of the idea that the nuclear family is the most idea for society. In recent years, it can be argued that gendered roles in society have begun to disappear. Since the equal rights and pay acts were passed, women in particular have begun to reap the benefits of a much more equal society. Better grades and opportunities for young women, mean they are able to choose a professional career over a domestic lifestyle and- in theory- receive equal position and pay to their male colleagues. Research by sociologists Young and Willmott (1973), suggests that "the roles of men and women have become much more similar". According to other sociologists- such as Gershuny (1994)- "wives who work full time do less domestic work" as this is shared between the husband and wife more equally. This is the idea of a symmetrical family- where both partners spread the workload equally. However, there are some sociologists that believe these views to give "too rosy" a perspective on how work is actually shared in a relationship. Warde...
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...or prostitutes. According to Worsley (1977) a social problem is some piece of social behaviour that calls for collective action to solve it. In turn, policies help tackle social problems e.g. increasing payment for foster/ adoptive careers to reduce vulnerable children getting involved with crime. The founding fathers of sociology believed that sociology had a central part to play in society – in reforming social institutions, solving social problems and improving human condition. Comte (1798-1857) saw sociology as a practical subject, not confined solely to universities, but being applied to wider society to gain social progress. Emile Durkheim believed sociology contributing to social policy can solve question of order in society. Sociologists such as Giddens place a great emphasis on the practicality of studying sociology. The most significant outcome of sociology is that it allows us to understand the world around us, providing us with knowledge and insights. This understanding can take the form of factual knowledge which provides us with facts which allow us to form a judgement, or develop a theory. It also provides us with theoretical knowledge which provides us with an explanation why something is happening. He feels that it is important to study and understand social situations. These social situations could involve analysing social problems such as poverty. An example of this is the issue of poverty in...
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...Beck and Beck-Gernsheim’s research demonstrate the view of there being a crisis in masculinity due to women reaching out to alternative lifestyles involving serial monogamy, economic independence, and pre-marital sex. The qualities of women stated in their research are recognised to be associated with men traditionally, which links back to the point made earlier regarding the mixing of gender roles being the reason of domestic violence. Sociologists Dobash and Dobash take a more diverse approach to the issue, stating that marriage legitimises domestic violence and is triggered by trivial challenges to the husband’s authority as husbands don’t allow their wives to instruct them on what to do. However, statistics reveal that in 2011, 54% of divorces granted to women were due to unreasonable behaviour (Relate, 2014). This conveys that more than half women simply do not put up with unreasonable behaviour any longer, which supports the view of feminists that women’s attitudes are...
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...Families and Households There is a large debate amongst many Sociologists in relation to gender divisions of labour within families and households. Factionalists such as Murdock accomplished that family is so beneficial to society that it is unavoidable and global. This view is not shared by all sociologists. Feminists would dispute what functionalist’s state. Most feminists believe family exploits and discourages women. Parsons, a functionalist argues that there is a strong detachment of work between husbands and wives based on biological changes. He claimed that these detachments are favourable to men, women, children and wider society. Parsons believes women have the sensitive role designed towards homemaking and childcare. Men hold the instrumental role designed towards work and being the breadwinner. The New Right supports Parsons, they believe that the division of gender is normal and beneficial to family and furnishes the children to integrate to modern society. However many sociologists such as Young and Willmott claim that men are now sharing domestic roles and more wives are now becoming breadwinners as well. Feminist’s sociologists disagree with Parsons they claim that this only benefits men and the division of labour is not natural. Willmott and Young conducted a study in the 1950’s with a group of working class extended families which confirmed that conjugal roles have become more segregated. However in the 1970’s they conducted another study of...
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...(JUNE 2012) 01: Explain what is meant is meant by the ‘correspondence principle’. (2 marks) By ‘correspondence principle’ sociologists, Bowles and Gintis, mean the close similarity between the social relationship in the classroom and the workplace. This correspondence (similarity) is important as it prepares the new generation to accept their roles in a capitalist society. 02: Suggest three criticisms that other sociologists may make of the functionalist view on education system. (6 marks) The first criticism by other sociologists would be by Melvin Tumin (1953), who criticises Davis and Moore for their role allocation theory. He says that this argument is seen to be circular, as we know which job is important by which one is more highly rewarded and the highly rewarded jobs are more important. Therefore, how do we really know which jobs are important and which aren’t, as bin collecting jobs are not seen to be important however they earned £24,000 and £26,000 and are seen to get bonuses up to £4, 000 but their job isn’t seen to be important in society or doesn’t require such skill. So how do we really know which jobs are important in society? The second criticism against Davis and Moore is that the New Right argues that the state education system fails to prepare young people adequately for work, so it is highly unlikely that the individual will get to the job they are best suited for. This is because the state control of education discourages efficiency, competition and...
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...For the most part of human civilisation families were always considered as being male dominated or patriarchal, however since the mid 1950\'s and onwards families have slowly become a lot more women orientated. Some sociologists argue that now women have a lot more power in the home and as they become more equal to men in society they also have more power in the marriage and the way the household operates, these sociologists say that modern day families are no longer male dominated as they were last century and before. However other argues that Patriarchal family does exist. In the 19th century, it was a patriarchal unit, where father/husband was the head of the family. He would often have little involvement in the care of his children and children might see relatively little to their parents and generally children had low status in the family and were expected ‘to be seen and not heard’. However now in 21st century the amount of time parents spend with their children has more than doubled since the 1960s and children’s welfare is seen as the major family priority. Feminists claim that families are essentially Patriarchal (dominated by men). Several sociologists have looked at how and by whom decisions are made in families. Sociologists such as Stephen Edgell in 1980 carried out a study in which he found that wives dominated decision making in interior decoration, children’s clothes and spending on food. These decisions are seen as frequent and not important whereas men made...
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...Possible sociology questions January 2012 Item 2A Sociologists analyse the domestic division of labour in many different ways. Parsons describes the division of labour in the traditional nuclear family in terms of an expressive role and an instrumental role. However, this traditional arrangement may have changed as families have changed, and many feminists use the term ‘dual burden’ to describe the woman’s role in the family today. Item 2B Government policies and laws include tax and benefit policies as well as legislation such as relating to divorce and marriage. Sociologists have different views on the impact of these policies and laws on families. For example, feminists argue that social policies assume that the ideal family is a patriarchal nuclear family, and that government policies and laws therefore favour this sort of family. On the other hand, the New Right argue that the benefit system undermines traditional nuclear families by actively encouraging lone parents. 0 6 Explain what is meant by the ‘dual burden’ (Item 2A). (2 marks) 0 7 Explain the difference between the expressive role and the instrumental role (Item 2A). (4 marks) 0 8 Suggest three ways in which the differences between children and adults are becoming less clear in society today. (6 marks) 0 9 Examine the reasons for, and the effects of, changes in family size over the past 100 years or so. (24 marks) 1 0 Using material from Item 2B and elsewhere, assess sociological views of the impact...
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