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Sociological theory (synoptic across H580)

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do feminism and interactionism challenge the structural theories, through gender and through the meanings of everyday interaction?

Synoptic: the feminist theories (liberal, radical, Marxist and difference or intersectional) and the interactionist or social action perspective (Mead, Goffman, Becker), and how each challenges structural consensus and conflict theory.
An OCR A-Level Sociology guide to feminism and interactionism. Covers the feminist theories (liberal Oakley, radical Walby, Marxist, difference and intersectional Crenshaw) and the social action perspective (Mead, Goffman's dramaturgy, Becker's labelling), and how each challenges structural theory, with the exam skills the theory questions reward.
15 min answer →

How do functionalism and Marxism, the two great structural theories, explain how society works and why it is unequal?

Synoptic: the structural consensus theory of functionalism (Durkheim, Parsons, Merton) and the structural conflict theory of Marxism (Marx, Gramsci, Althusser), and the debate between consensus and conflict views of society.
An OCR A-Level Sociology guide to functionalism and Marxism, the two structural theories. Covers functionalism (Durkheim, Parsons's value consensus, Merton's manifest and latent functions) and Marxism (Marx's class conflict, Gramsci's hegemony, Althusser's ideological state apparatuses), with the consensus versus conflict debate and the exam skills the theory questions reward.
15 min answer →

Have we moved from modern to postmodern society, and can the old grand theories still explain a fragmented, globalised world?

Synoptic: the debate between modernity and postmodernity, including postmodernist theory (Lyotard, Baudrillard) and theories of late or liquid modernity (Giddens, Beck, Bauman), and the implications for sociology.
An OCR A-Level Sociology guide to the modernity versus postmodernity debate. Covers postmodernism (Lyotard's incredulity towards metanarratives, Baudrillard's hyperreality), late and liquid modernity (Giddens, Beck's risk society, Bauman), and the implications for sociology, with the exam skills the theory questions reward.
15 min answer →

Are people shaped by social structure or free agents, and can sociology be a value-free science?

Synoptic: the structure versus agency debate, the question of whether sociology can be scientific and value-free (Weber, Gouldner, Becker), and the relationship between sociology, values and social policy.
An OCR A-Level Sociology guide to the structure versus agency debate and the question of value freedom. Covers structural versus social action theories, attempts to combine them (Giddens's structuration), and the debate about objectivity and values in research (Weber, Gouldner, Becker), with the exam skills the theory questions reward.
14 min answer →