Sociology

A totalitarian society is one in which every aspect of social life is controlled by the state, which is run by a ruling elite. The state is therefore a centralized system of power: the economy is centralized rather than a free market, people have no individual freedom in terms of movement around the country, expressing opinions and exercising choice over their lifestyles. The media are infused by the values of the elite through indoctrination and propaganda. 834

Mosca and Pareto criticized Marx for his economically determinist view of social classes and political action. They argued that those with political authority formed an independent elite group, which could recruit people from various social backgrounds. Once established, the elite excluded the rest of the population from participating in political decision-making, and so maintained their power. A ruling elite was a coalition of social forces, as members circulated between high status positions in the various spheres of society, and filled all of the top positions. 822-823

Organized crime is that which operates like a business enterprise, through the systematic use of administrative mechanisms, formal coordination alliances and joint ventures, in relation to markets of goods and services. One example of this is the Mafia, a network of Italian and Sicilian gangs that proliferated in American cities in the 1930s. 261-263

The construction of a good questionnaire is a long and complicated process, involving many redrafts and revisions. This is because it is easy to write questions that are ambiguous, confusing, or that suggest particular answers. For this reason, most researchers who use this method try to pre-test (or ‘pilot’) their questionnaire before embarking on the actual study. By asking a small number of people to try answering the questions, they can quickly identify any that are problematic, and rewrite them. 80

One of the pioneers of social theory was Auguste Comte, who invented the term ‘sociology’ and defined it as a ‘positive science’ of society. Comte saw positivism as the last of three stages in the development of knowledge, and said that it was based on direct observation, the search for causal relationships between phenomena, and theoretical laws to predict events. When applied to the study of society, this means that sociologists should try to be rational, objective, and critical. 24-27

Wirth identified the defining characteristics of the city as its large population, high population density, and social diversity. His account of the ‘urban way of life’ described social relationships in the city as ‘segmental’ because people only saw each other within the context of particular roles or settings, not as whole, rounded individuals. 493

The Italian Marxist Gramsci was interested in the ways in which the values and interests of the capitalist class came to be accepted by the whole of society. He argued that the power of a capitalist class was greatest where its economic dominance was matched by political and cultural dominance. When a ruling class dominated all spheres of a society in this way, Gramsci said that they had ‘hegemonic’ power. 821

The middle class emerged as an intermediate stratum in the early nineteenth century. It lay between the upper and working classes, but the boundaries at either end were blurred and there was much social mobility within it. The middle class tended to be concentrated in towns and cities and were involved in public life, through civic bodies and voluntary associations. Many of this group worked in ‘white collar’ occupations: non-manual, clerical, office-based work. It was a large and diverse group, and so lacked the class consciousness that characterized the two other classes. 793-796

Pluralist theorists, such as Dahl, suggest that in contemporary industrialized countries, power is dispersed between different interest groups, pressure groups and associations, who must compete to win the support of their citizens. The electorate are therefore viewed as consumers, rather than passive recipients of a dominant ideology, and so politicians must appeal to their ability to make intelligent, well informed choices. 838-839

The Education Act of 1944 created a tripartite structure of three types of institution: grammar schools, secondary moderns and technical schools. Pupils were selected for one of these by their performance in the 11+ exam, taken at the age of 11. However, it can be argued that the grammar schools were elitist and recruited those who possessed what Bourdieu called the ‘cultural capital’ needed to succeed, while secondary moderns essentially provided elementary education for the working classes. 330-331