Friday, 3. August 2007, 11:58:59
English, Sociology
Societies seem to be firmly established but change rapidly. We seem to be under the control of organisations but organisations are constantly restructured. Sociologists attend to these kinds of puzzles. They investigate the structure of societies, organisations and groups. Their subject matter ranges from the intimacy of the family; the criminal gang; activities at the rugby game and rock festival through to divisions of ethnicity, gender and class. All of these and many more areas, including globalization, post-colonialism, cities, technologies, environment, health, the production and consumption of food, and the social organisation of death are included in the sociology programme taught at Canterbury.
The programme uses multi-media styles of teaching delivery and draws on interdisciplinary and innovative approaches including cultural analysis, feminism, post-colonialism, and the analysis of human-machine interactions. Students can follow different ‘pathways’ and put together their own options and can combine courses in sociology with those in anthropology or options from other programmes.Read more...
Tuesday, 24. July 2007, 23:49:50
Term, English, Sociologist
Social life comes from a double source, the likeness of consciences and the division of social labor.
(Durkheim, 1933, p.226)
Mechanical Solidarity - Social cohesion based upon the likeness and similarities among individuals in a society, and largely dependent on common rituals and routines. Common among prehistoric and pre-agricultural societies, and lessens in predominance as modernity increases.
Organic Solidarity - Social cohesion based upon the dependence individuals in more advanced society have on each other. Common among industrial societies as the division of labor increases. Though individuals perform different tasks and often have different values and interests, the order and very survival of society depends on their reliance on each other to perform their specific task.Read more...
Thursday, 19. July 2007, 08:28:18
English, Term, Sociologist
Key terms and ideas critical to understanding Durkheim and his work.
Altruisitic Suicide - Suicide as a result of social bonds that are too strong or smothering. Suicide as an act of duty when an individual feels they are a burden on society at large or when they cannot cope with the demands of a society.
Anomic Suicide - Suicide as a result of weak or contradictory messages given to an individual by the social group or groups they belong to.
Anomie - The breakdown of the influence of social norms on individuals within a society. The weakening of the social bond. Read more...
Thursday, 19. July 2007, 08:25:09
Term, English, Sociologist
...The state of anomie is impossible whenever interdependent organs are sufficiently in contact and sufficiently extensive. If they are close to each other, they are readily aware, in every situation, of the need which they have of one-another, and consequently they have an active and permanent feeling of mutual dependence.
(1972, p. 184 [excerpt from The Division of Labor in Society])
Durkheim defined the term anomie as a condition where social and/or moral norms are confused, unclear, or simply not present. Durkheim felt that this lack of norms--or preaccepted limits on behavior in a society--led to deviant behavior.
Anomie = Lack of Regulation / Breakdown of Norms Read more...
Thursday, 12. July 2007, 13:50:44
Info, English
Émile Durkheim (April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French sociologist whose contributions were instrumental in the formation of sociology and anthropology. His work and editorship of the first journal of sociology (L'Année Sociologique) helped establish sociology within the academy as an accepted "science sociale" (social science). During his lifetime, Durkheim gave many lectures, and published numerous sociological studies on subjects such as education, crime, religion, suicide, and many other aspects of society. As one of the earliest founders of modern sociology, he is sometimes referred to as "The Father of Sociology".Read more...
Thursday, 12. July 2007, 11:46:29
Info, English
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) is by far one of the most important and prolific sociologists in the history of the field. Durkheim himself is credited with making sociology a science, as he used an empirical methodology in his own studies, especially in regard to his study of suicide rates and issues of European nations.
Durkheim coined the term "anomie," and shed light on the inner workings of society that his predecessors had overlooked. He showed that all the aspects of human society work together much like the parts of a machine, and this concept is referred to today as sociological functionalism. This idea of functionalism--societal organization playing the major role in the lives of humans--has become the very paradigm of most sociological study today. (
http://durkheim.itgo.com/main.html )
Read more...
Monday, 21. May 2007, 23:49:56
Inequality, English
Health differences in mortality rates. For instance, according to Robert Fogel, in 1875 the life expectancy of the British elite exceeded that of the rest of the population by some 17 years.
CDC's "Health and Selected Socioeconomic Characteristics of the Family: United States, 1988- 90
Identity and Socialization What are the relationships between social inequality and human motivation?
on exploitation and alienation
Language Belief systems Americans' attributions of why the poor are poorExperiential realms
how perceptions of
time & space are shaped by positions in status orders
aesthetic sensitivities:
class differences in music preferences emotionsRead more...
Monday, 21. May 2007, 15:37:50
English, Inequality
An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.
--Plutarch
A 1979 Carnegie study ("Small Futures: Children, Inequality, and the Limits of Liberal Reform", Richard de Lone principal investigator) found that a child's future to be largely determined by social status, not brains. Consider Bobby and Jimmy, two second-graders, who both pay attention in the classroom, do well, and have nearly identical I.Q.s. Yet Bobby is the son of a successful lawyer; Jimmy's works infrequently as custodial assistant. Despite their similarities, the difference in the circumstances to which they were born makes it 27 times more likely that Bobby will get a job that by time he is in late 40s will pay him an income in the top tenth of all incomes in this country. Jimmy had about one chance in eight of earning even a median income.Read more...
Sunday, 15. April 2007, 11:01:16
English, Stratification
Ref to:
SOCIAL CLASS & STRATIFICATIONFrom "Dangerous Classes" by Lydia Morris (1993 Routledge) 
HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDThe underclass is an old historical phenomenon. Malthus (1810) explained it in terms of "the over-production and over-population of the lower classes", and saw the solution as encouraging the lower class not to breed. It was a moral problem - they should be taught "self-reliance". Marx saw them as "lumpen proletariat" - a vast army of illiterate workers, to hold down wages - a "reserve army of the unemployed, and of industrial labour". He had a low opinion of them: "the scum of the deprived elements of all classes". They were too ignorant and unorganised to achieve "class consciousness". Mayhew, in 1851, deplored the state of the London poor, and the Victorian Poor Laws were designed to control what was seen as a "predisposition to idleness". The Eugenics Movement of the early 20th century likewise saw it as a "moral" problem - morality and culture cause the problem of the "undeserving poor".Read more...
Sunday, 15. April 2007, 10:51:11
English, Stratification
Ref to:
SOCIAL CLASS & STRATIFICATIONKEY ISSUES:-
WHAT ARE THE MAIN TYPES? WHAT ARE THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MOBILITY? WHAT ARE THE RATES AND PATTERNS OF MOBILITY?
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SOCIAL MOBILITY occurs whenever people move across social class boundaries, or from one occupational level to another.
Mobility can be
upwards or downwards.
INTERGENERATIONAL mobility compares parents levels to that of their children.
INTRAGENERATIONAL mobility plots career shifts within a persons lifetime.
Read more...
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