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Sociology2014: Answer Writing Challenge 22 INSIGHTSWednesday, December 3 2014, 1:08 PM

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Sociology2014: Answer WritingChallenge – 22BY INSIGHTS · SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

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26 September 2014

1) Write short notes on ALL of the following (each answershould not exceed 200 words):

(a) Alienation in modern society.(b) “Value Problem” in sociological research.

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(c) “Social Action and Pattern variables.(d) Socialization and the Self.

2) What are the major postulates in functional analysis? Is the frameworkconservative or radical in its approach to the study of social phenomena?Substantiate your view. (300 Words)

3) Discuss how the sociologists have tried to solve the problem ofdifferentiating the nature and scope of their discipline from the subjectmatter of other social sciences. (300 Words)

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sachin • 2 months ago

Socialisation and self

Society is the product of self and self is the product of society said G.HMead.With an entirely different approach from that of his predecessors , Meadargued studying the presentation of self is the subject matter of sociology.

Society helps in creating ones self is through the process of socialisation for whichfamily is the foundation.For instance a child in a family learns to take the role ofothers during his growth . In play stage he takes single roles in sequence ,whereas in game stage he goes on to take multiple roles simultaneously.

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Mead further argues that , by presenting the self and through interation with hiscoactors ,an individual in evaluating oneself constantly. Consequently , hemodifies his action according to the situation.This happens with all theindividuals making way for action and interation.Such multiple interactions forrtsociety and hence society is also product of selves.

Thus , in his words , socialization through family helps a person to be reflexive ofones action which is not present in case of animals. It further nurtures the I (Innovative ) and Me ( Confirmist )parts of ones self which is both a subject inthe form of future anticipations as well as object in the form of continuousevalution in pursuit of achieving subjective goals.

Friends pls review . Ignore Typo

Sahil Garg • 2 months ago> sachin

Perfect

Madforias • 2 months ago> sachin

very well written


The intervention of values and its interplay in sociological analysis has been inconstant debate in the discourse of sociology. Accordingly , various schools ofthought reflect on this issue in a different manner.

Positivists argue that there should be complete disengagement of values fromresearch. They say that intervention of values takes away scientific rigour ofsociological analysis. And thus people like Durkheim calls of studying societalelements as things through empirical observation.

However , the phenomenological school led by Wilhelm Dilthey says that it isimpossible to keep values out of research. They believe that subject matter ofsociology is human beings who acts in a situation according to motives and hencevalues intervene in the interpretation of such action.

Futher , max weber gives a distinctive analysis saying that values play a role inchoosing a field of study . But the researcher must strive to be value free whileanalysing his study in the sense that value preference is allowed but not valuejudgement . For weber , one can always strive for objectivity but attainingcomplete objectivity is impossible.

Friends pls review . Ignore Typo









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manish • 2 months ago> sachin

what about value problem...a example needs to be put in...

Kiran • 2 months ago> manish

I felt .. the debate on whether value intrevenes or not is itself aproblem faced by sociologists ? Let me know if it is otherwise. Butas you said an example would have been better .

noboundriz • 2 months ago

Karl Marx introduced the concept of alienation . In a capitalist society, theworker experiences alienation because of loss of control over production processand the product. Because of this he loses interest in the work.

So according to Marx , in modern society, the alienation is expected because themode of production is capitalistic but all the sociologist are of not the same view.Some sociologists like herbert blauner concluded that skilling and automation ofworkers lead to less alienation . Others like Mills report the alienation in whitecollar jobs as well. Also alienation is found to be different in different industries.

There are many things which have changed since Marx had written aboutalienation . Todays workers don't work under too bad conditions. They havereasonable social security. The welfare state has helped in this respect. Similarly,majority of workers are knowledge workers whose jobs are innovative andinteresting so they are less likely to feel alienation .

So the alienation as a concept is still applicable to some sectors and industries inmodern society also but the workers are unlikely to redeem themselves off byrevolution as suggested by Marx .

Sahil Garg • 2 months ago> noboundriz

Good one...so points with regard to alienation from product and societycan be included also

noboundriz • 2 months ago> Sahil Garg

Thanks sahil

Rauf Lala • 2 months ago> noboundriz

also, can include Herbert marcuse objectification of man.

sachin • 2 months ago> noboundriz

Good one . I am stealing some points from your answer . Keep writing :)

































noboundriz • 2 months ago

Socialisation and selfsocialisation is process in which an individual gets to know and understandabout the norms and values of the society. Socialisation happens at two stagesone is primary socialisation, which happens at home and the secondarysocialisation which happens outside home like schools, offices etc.

While socializing one gets to know about others as well as himself. According tosymbolic interactionists like Blumer, realising about self is the most importantstage of socialisation. One gets to know about himself or develops the image ofself only in social interaction.

According to Mead, the self develops in stages like play, game and imitation.While developing self, he takes role models from society. Meads uses the termgeneralised other and particular other to denote those role models. A person alsodevelops the consciousness of I and Me. I refers to individual self and Me refersto the socialised self.

It is important to realise that family and society plays a major role in thedevelopment of a person. So that he will become a part of society.


Could have brought the relationship between self and socialisation in abetter way . You are telling what but not how. Also I feel the points of Iand Me is not required for this question . Keep writing and reviewing


Sociological study was the outcome of revolutions of 18th and 19th centuryeurope.It struggled to carve its own niche in its initial phases. Though sociologistslike Comte and spencer triend to bring out a discipline out of it , they are notmuch successful , as their theories were laced with philosophical overtones. It wasonly with the work of Emile Durkheim that sociolgy found an ability to stand onits feet.

In his works durkheim made a distinction between psychology and sociology. Hesays that society is sui generis and important than Individualwhich was thefocus of psychologists and hence sociology is the study of society. He furtherargued that social facts are the subject matter of sociology and hence strived tomake sociology a scientific discipline.

Futher , the scope of sociological study was enhanced by max weber through hissocial action approach. His take on interpretive study of social actiondistinguished sociology from a common belief that it can be studies in the sameway of natural sciences.













Karl marx , to his credit , said that though economy is the base of societies , it isthrough social relations that socities survive and change happens . Hebroadened the arena of sociology from that of history and economics and hishistorical materialism is not just economic determinism , as commonlyunderstood.

In this context , the contributions of george SImmel is of importance as he triedto draw boundaries between sociology and other social sciences like history ,psyghology and philosophy

Finally , it was GH Mead who departed from his predecessors and acted as abridge between sociology and psychology.He said that study of presentation ofself is subject matter of sociology. Thus , classical sociologists contributed to givesociology a unique place in social sciences. Nevertheless , the subject drawsimmensely from its sister disciplines for its analysis and growth

Please review . Ignore Typo

noboundriz • 2 months ago> sachin

Good answer. Durkheim did talk about diff b/w sociology andphilosophy also along with psychology. How the sociologists are able toprove that sociology as a separate discipline is needed has not come outclearly. For example Durkheim said suicide is not psychological butsocietal thus he maintained the need of sociology apart from psychology.Those example might have been good. Review my answers also.


@noboundriz. Thanks for your review . Yes the suicide examplesshould have been there . Point taken

Sahil Garg • 2 months ago> sachin

U need to focus on nature of subject scietific, non scientific and antipositivist.With regard to , formal and synthetic schools must be quoted. Weberwaale point mei, add that he promoted interdisciplinary approach.Phenomelogy went way ahead of all

sachin • 2 months ago> Sahil Garg

Thanks Sahil . Yeah I missed schools of thought and othercomments noted down.






















manish • 2 months ago

1(1)


1(2)

sachin • 2 months ago> manish

Bro , u need to focus on what exactly Alienation is , as described by karlmarx . That is the soul of the question. Then u can add view of otherthinkers . Plus , you can check my comments for Rawone and includethem if you feel they are relevant

Sahil Garg • 2 months ago> manish

U should not talk about durkheim . Further marx shall b quoted inmodern concept. Feminist point is good. But talk about how rather thanwhat


1c(1)


1c(2)

Rawone • 2 months ago

Alienation in modern society.

Alienation is propounded by Karl marx in which he said that alienation is aprocess in which a worker is separated from his fruits of labour , from societyfrom his self & ultimately get depressed & loss his meaningful existence.

Max weber said about alienation in the modern society in his theory forbureaucracy in which he said it require impersonal relation for optimumefficiency which lead to alienation from society.For example a receptionist on a store has to attend the clients with smile all thetime which is not her inner happiness but fake as she may be depressed in innerself.

Pls review





























sachin • 2 months ago> Rawone

Though you have got your points you could have explored more. In capitalisticsociety even capitalists are alienated because they have to produce according tomarket needs and not what they want . Further , a few lines on how marxsuggested to resolve such condition and how it is related to technology andliesure as given by robert blauner and henry braverman. As it is a short notequestion , there is flexibility to explore in different dimension


“Value Problem” in sociological research.

Values are the guiding force for an action. Values are the perception of aperson about right & wrong for an object or situation.

Positivist thinker like Auguste comte, Spencer argue that values of socialresearcher should be unbiased, neutral & should be based on facts alone whiledoing research. But this is difficult to be value neutral in sociology as for ex. aresearcher studying family is probably get influenced by his values as he himselfis a member of the family.In different sociological research like phenomenology i.e. from researcher pointof view & ethnomethodological perspective i.e. from the view of the society beingresearched, researcher should take care of not to get engulfed in the ethnocentricview.Further interpretationist like weber said it is not possible to study the completeobjective reality of subjective thing.

As researcher uses his values to decide about research topic, make generalisationbut as research is funded by the elite section of society so that may also influenceby the conservative values of elite class . For ex a govt. conducting research maydeliberately try to show that condition of women improved in society.

Value problem can be overcome by the researcher by getting an outside view i.eby seeing research through the eyes of others. By providing information of social background of researcher, by enlisting thepoints the researcher has followed so that other can follow that and see whetherthe result are same or not. Thus the problem of values in sociology can beminimised.

Pls review

Madforias • 2 months ago> Rawone

good one Rawone... buying from you















manish • 2 months ago> Madforias

good one..:)


“Social Action and Pattern variables.

Social action as per Talcott parson are those action which full fill the followingconditionIt is towards attainment of goalsIt is occur in situationIt is according to the values & norms of societyIt needs some energy or motivation to invest.For example a lady going to temple by car for worshipping it is a social action asit toward attainment of goal of worshipping, it consist of situation of driving onroad, it is as per norms of society, the lady is also investing her energy in drivingto reach temple.

Patter variables provide the different ways of acting in situation as given byTalcott parson, he provided following pattern variableCollectivistic v/s specific orientationDiffuseness v/s specificityAffectivity v/s affective neutralityUniversalism v/s particularismAscription v/s achivement

For example a mother child relationship is more guide by affectivity, diffusenesswhereas doctor patient relationship is guided by affective neutrality, specificity.

Pls review


“Social Action and Pattern variables.Social action as per Talcott parson are those action which full fill the followingconditionIt is towards attainment of goalsIt is occur in situationIt is according to the values & norms of societyIt needs some energy or motivation to invest.For example a lady going to temple by car for worshipping it is a social action asit toward attainment of goal of worshipping, it consist of situation of driving onroad, it is as per norms of society, the lady is also investing her energy in drivingto reach temple.Patter variables provide the different ways of acting in situation as given byTalcott parson, he provided following pattern variable













Collectivistic v/s specific orientationDiffuseness v/s specificityAffectivity v/s affective neutralityUniversalism v/s particularismAscription v/s achivementFor example a mother child relationship is more guide by affectivity, diffusenesswhereas doctor patient relationship is guided by affective neutrality, specificity.

pls review

sachin • 2 months ago> Rawone

I feel you need to bring out the interrelationship between social action andpattern variables.

mantis • 2 months ago

question 2

Functionalism as a methodology of sociological research is concerned withfunctional prerequisites and various structures and substructures which helpmaintain the system or society itself.In doing so it comes remarkably close to considering society as organic (biological)in nature where various structure individually help maintain the stability of thesystem and social order.Thus when durkheim a functionalist says religion is a social fact which helpsmaintain social solidarity critics cry foul that his theory is having a potentialconservative bias.Religion has been a divisive force in so many socieites theyargue.When functionalist argue that power is a resource held by the society which isguided towards achieving collective goals ,education helps act as a bridgebetween family and society achieving it is bound to arouse criticism.The conflict perspective says that social conflict is a dominant force in everysociety rather than social order.Another conservative bias functionalist are accused of is that they consider societyas an independent force to which individual members comply.They miss out thecreative potential innate in individuals to both structure society and in turn bestructured by it.No doubt some of the criticism has been addressed by merton anotherfunctionalist through his emphasis on middle rangetheories,functions,dysfunctions,latent and manifest functions.Howeverfunctionalism can never get rid of the conservative tag altogether.There is nothing wrong in it.The matter of fact is that functionalism as amethodology is equally true as any other methodology in sociological discipline.











sachin • 2 months ago> mantis

Postulates of functional Analysis ?? You can refer merton for he is the once whorejected them and gave his own views.

Madforias • 2 months ago> mantis

functional analysis is different from functionalist.. IMHO

mantis • 2 months ago

value problem in sociology

One of the many dilemmas in sociological research has been to ensure thatresearcher's value to not pollute his sociological research.Thus sociological research has to be guided by the interpretation ofvalues ,preferences of actors,individual a researcher studies while trying toreduce his value dispositions.However values do enter sociological research in each and every step.A researchers preferences guide in choosing the topic of research,hypothesis heor she formulates,methodology adopted,interpretation done.While durkheimconsidered that by constraining sociology as a study of social facts one can ensurethat it develops as a discipline close to natural science devoid of particluaristicvalue.Weber on the other hand considered that sociology could become valuefree by studying social action using ideal types and interpretative methodology.However when we reflect their work we find that their social context,believes, values play a major role in their understanding of society.Phil carlspecken considers that instead a sociologist should make his values clearrather than proclaim value free status and use them in guiding and changingsociety .

Madforias • 2 months ago> mantis

please read Rawone's he has written it well


It would be nice if someone reviews my answer on Question 3 ( subject matter ofsociology ) . @ Sahil @madforias @anyone :)

Sahil Garg • 2 months ago

Ans


Alienation

































Good one . Probably could have added Weber 's Iron cage of rationality (a kind of alienation ). Para 2,3 and 4 could have been condensed formore space on different views.


Pattern variable


Nice . Perfect . Especially the point on 2 sets of pattern variables

Madforias • 2 months ago

Alienation in modern society

sachin • 2 months ago> Madforias

I feel first paragraph needs to be replaced with Marx 's conception onalienation . 2 and 3 fine . Not sure about last paragraph as I felt it is notneeded here . Instead you could have added the measures taken inmodern society to overcome alienation .

Madforias • 2 months ago −> sachin

thanks Sachin the third point is mentioned in Harlambos... yes Iagree I should have added on how to remove and currentscenario a bit


“Value Problem” in sociological research.

noboundriz • 2 months ago> Madforias

Lucid answer.


Socialization and the Self

sachin • 2 months ago> Madforias

I feel ,there is some misunderstanding in I and Me arguments. In playstage a child would not have developed both I and Me . And in gamestage both will have continuous interaction. The relationship between selfand socialisation could have been brought out in a better way ( thoughyour points are valid and correct )









































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