SS-1065D

Dr. Ala Sirriyeh

Room E39, Richmond Building Office hours: Tuesdays 4-5pm and Wednesdays 11am-12pm

This week
Introduction to module
Thinking sociologically Sociological approaches to understanding

how society operates What are social divisions? How do things change..or not? Next week...

Module aims and learning outcomes

Module aims In this module we will explore what social divisions exist in British society and how they intersect. We will begin to critically evaluate the impact of these divisions on the lives of individuals and groups. Learning outcomes describe the main social divisions in modern British society; - understand the relevance of social divisions for individual and social groups in British society; - utilise secondary data to support analysis of social divisions in modern British society.

Organisation
2hr class every week for Semester

One lecture, break, group work Attendance Preparation Behaviour Assessment

Attendance
Compulsory
Register late attendance will be counted as non-

attendance If you are unable to attend any of your classes lecture, seminar or tutorial - through good cause, such as illness, you should email me and Laurinda (administrator) Absences from any teaching sessions may be reported to Boards of Examiners meetings so that this can be taken into account when deciding progression and the award of degrees. Continued absences, without good cause, can result in you failing modules.

Preparation
PowerPoint for each class will be available on

Blackboard on Monday mornings. Print off before class. Read the literature assigned under essential reading + some further reading. Sometimes additional tasks may be set At the end of each lecture I will go through what you need to do for next week

Sociology
Studying human society, the structures of social relations, the relationships between individuals and collectives. Society = the cluster of institutionalised modes of conduct. Models of belief or behaviour that occur and reoccur across long spans of time and space. The sociological imagination works between the personal troubles of milieu and the public issues of social structure (C. Wright Mills 1959)

Thinking sociologically
Reflecting critically on the norms, values and opinions we hold about the social world
Making a problem out of what we often refer

to as common sense Making the familiar unfamiliar videos Public Sociology

Social difference and divisions How does society operate?

Structural-Functionalism
Society as essentially cohesive and integrated. People interact and negotiate with each other within institutional frameworks towards the common good (Braham & Janes 2002)

Marxism
Society has been constructed in a way that is essentially conflictual because it is divided by (primarily) social class

Post-modernism
The end of certainty Questioning traditional

metanarratives Individualisation Choice Risk

Social Divisions
Middle range theory Substantial differences that run throughout society dividing people into two or more categories. Includes class but not just about class as there are multiple kinds of divisions. Power, hierarchy and inequality

Questions
What potential social divisions

can you think of apart from class? Think of some examples of inequalities that might result from these divisions?

What are social divisions?

Society wide distinctions between two or more groups of people.
One category has advantageous position and

more resources than others as people in that category have greater power over the way our society is organised.
unequal opportunities of access to desirable resources leading to different life-chances and lifestyles.

What are social divisions?

Engender shared identities in terms of perceived difference from those in an alternative category of the same social division.
Long-lasting and sustained by dominant cultural

beliefs, the organisation of social institutions and the situational interaction of individuals.
Socially constructed, not purely biological or natural Multiple and intersecting divisions
(Payne 2006: 348)

Other related terms

Social difference not necessarily about

different power status and access to resources. Social inequalities the difference in peoples share of resources Stratification structured, systematic social inequalities. Subset of social divisions usually used to talk about class, status and power.

Structure and agency

Structure Society is the patterns of social

relationships that emerge and develop between its members. Social structure is the concept used in sociology to describe the organization of these patterns and the forms they take. Agency society is a collection of individuals who are not passive, but rather actively think and interact with other individuals to create society. To what extent do we make structures or do structures make us?

Identity
Who am I? How do I see myself? But alsohow do others see

me? Link between the personal and the social What makes us the same or different from other people? Identity is different from personality as there is an active engagement on our part. We choose to identify with a particular identity or group. (See Woodward, K. (Ed.) (2000) Questioning Identity)

QUESTIONS

Falling apart or holding together?

If social divisions act to keep groups and individuals from one social category separate from those of other categories, how does society persist without high levels of overt conflict? Does it??

If social divisions are as firmly entrenched as suggested, and if individuals are socialised into accepting the status quo, how does change occur?

Overview
Sustained society wide divisions between

two or more categories of people. Socially constructed Unequal access to resources Multiple and intersecting Payne, G. (Ed.) (2006) Social Divisions, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Next week
Topic: Class and stratification
Read: Payne, G. (Ed.) (2006) Social Divisions, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan (Ch. 2)

For intro to social divisions see Ch. 1 of the same book

Have a look at: The Great British Class Survey

https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/class/ Also, if you like, have a look at: podcasts/video/READING on Blackboard