ASC101 Quiz Notes PDF

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ASC101, basic notes that may help during the first quiz. ...

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ASC101: Sociology Week 1 – 4 Quiz Notes Structure-Agency Debate 

Whilst we may believe we are free agents making independent decisions about our lives, how free are our choices? If we were a different gender, age, lived in another part of the world would we still make the same choices?

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While we all make our own decisions about how we live our lives - what sociologists refer to as human agency - we do not make them entirely free of social constraints and influences.

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Agency – the ability of people, individually and collectively to influence their own lives and the society in which they live.

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Social structure – the recurring patterns of social interaction through which people are related to each other, such as social institutions and social groups.

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Structure-agency debate – a key debate in sociology over the extent to which human behaviour is determined by social structure.

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Social institutions – formal organisations that address public needs such as education, healthcare, government, welfare.

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Essentially the structure-agency debate is about the extent to which humans can exercise free will as opposed to their thoughts and actions being determined by external factors. Humans are seen as social animals who are substantially influenced by the way their social environment is organised – individuals are shaped by the social structures they inhibit, create and reproduce.

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How much agency do we have? Sociologists maintain that structure and agency are interdependent (dependent on each other) rather than mutually exclusive. Individuals both shape and are concurrently shaped by society. Although we are born into a world that is not of our personal making, socialised through a particular culture and exposure to social institutions we are not puppets on a string. As sentient (self-aware) beings we have the capacity to think and act individually and collectively to change the society we live in. We have the ability to consider ‘alternate futures’.

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It’s important not to have positive or negative associations of structure and agency. Structures can be both constraining and enabling of human nature – laws and policies for example can facility our lives by protecting us. Social structures are essential parts of any society and can enable us to exercise our agency better and can protect us from the unconstrained agency of others to potentially harm or exploit us.

Sociological Thinking 

Sociological imagination – term coined by C. Wright Mills to describe the sociological approach to analysing issues. We see the world through a sociological imagination or think sociologically when we make a link between personal troubles and public issues.

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Sociologists aim to imagine the connection between individuals and larger social processes. No matter how personal or individual we may think our experiences are they are significantly influenced by larger social forces, such as the political, economic and cultural factors that set the social context un which individual experiences occur.

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Example – unemployment. When one person is unemployed it is a personal trouble that could be explained in terms of skills, motivation and opportunities. Alternatively if hundreds of thousands of people are unemployed within a nation, unemployment is no longer a matter of personal failure but rather a public issue that requires economic and political interventions.

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When personal troubles are experienced collectively, sociologists highlight the underlying social patterns and social influences. Where social factors can be identified, social interventions may be possible to alleviate collectively experienced personal troubles such as in the form of environmental, occupational and health and education policies and regulations.

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Mills did not mean to look at what happens as if we have no influence on the course of our own lives. Rather, if we are conscious of the impact of social forces on our own lives we are able to recognise that the solution to our personal problems are not just a matter of changing our situation but changing what’s happening in society.

Sociological Imagination Template: Model of sociological analysis 

The sociological imagination can be conceptualised as involving four interdependent sensibilities; historical, cultural, structural and critical.

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Doing sociology involves considering the role of the four factors and asking these questions: o

Historical factors – how have past events influenced the present?

o

Cultural factors – what influence do tradition, cultural values and particular belief systems have on our behaviour and social interaction? In what ways has cultural change occurred? What subcultures exist? How does our own cultural background influence our sociological gaze?

o

Structural factors – how do various forms of social organisation and social institutions affect our lives? How do these vary over time and between countries and regions?

o

Critical factors – why are things as hey are? How could they be otherwise? Who benefits and who is disadvantaged by the status quo? What alternative futures are possible? How do sociological insights relate to our life experiences?

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This model simplifies the practise of sociological analysis. In reality the four features of the model are interrelated and overlapping so it may not be useful always to differentiate historical factors from structural and cultural factors. Some aspects may feature more prominently than others depending on what’s studied. Nevertheless, the sociological imagination template provides a useful starting point for sociological analysis and highlights the issues and questions that need to be considered.

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Adopting a sociological imagination or applying a sociological gaze to the world involves challenging the status quo and the taken for granted aspects of our lives. It is important to be reflexive about sociological knowledge and remember that the sociological gaze turns inwards as well as outwards. Keep in mind the following reflexive questions: o

How do you react to an idea you have never heard of before? Do you wholeheartedly embrace it, resist it, or evaluate each side of an argument?

o

How do you form views on particular issues? Does your view depend on where it came from – for instance from the media, government, your parents or celebrities?

o

How flexible are you about changing your views? When was the last time you changed your opinion about a significant issues? What made you change your mind?...