Sociology

Scott analyzed the ways in which political power in Britain is linked to class advantage through interlinked structures and social institutions. The capitalist state is linked to a state elite, for its members are often in lead positions in the government, parliament, civil service, military, para-military and judiciary. Scott argued that a power elite exists whenever a state elite recruits its members from a power bloc, or alignment of classes with shared interests in exercising state power. He identified four types of power elite: exclusive, inclusive, segmented and fragmented. 832-833

Sampling means selecting a relatively small subsection of a population on which to conduct your research. Probability samples have known mathematical properties, so the researcher knows how representative they are of the target population. These techniques include simple, systematic, stratified, cluster, and multi-stage random sampling. Non-probability samples may be less representative because each member of the population does not have an equal chance of being selected. Snowballing, for example, means asking those in an initial sample to introduce you to other potential respondents. 93-96

In the nineteenth century, the rise of industrial capitalism was combined with minimal state interference and deregulation: what Adam Smith called the free market. Those in poverty were offered little state protection until the Factory Act and Public Health Act. The origins of the welfare state can be traced back to this period, when the labour movement became more powerful. A policy of ‘incorporation’ meant that working class organizations were included in institutions of bargaining and political representation, and so socialist ideas were introduced to the parliamentary agenda. 590-592

The ‘ideal’ image of femininity changes over time and varies between cultures. In contemporary Western societies, the cultural ideal, fuelled by fashion and advertising, is a woman who is slim, attractive, and self-assured. Many women whose bodies do not conform this ideal seek to change them, through regimes of diet, exercise, and increasingly, cosmetic surgery. Davis suggested that women who do this are responding to the perceived stigma of a particular body part, rather than striving for absolute, perfect beauty, but that their perceptions were skewed by unrealistic images of the ‘normal’ female body. 306-309

Foucault talked of the rise of a disciplinary society, which exercised power over its members through regulation (demographic control) and discipline (anatomical control of individual bodies). The terms he used to refer to these processes were ‘biopolitics’ and ‘anatomo-politics’, respectively. 276-279

The Structural-Functionalist perspective, exemplified by the work of Talcott Parsons, refers to the ‘social system’. This is comprised of mutually dependent roles, institutions and organizations, each of which fulfils a function that contributes to the system and maintains it over time. Social order is established through a normative framework of beliefs and values, which shape people’s behaviour in social roles. 45-46

A key feature of globalization is the movement of large numbers of people across national borders, for example through migration and global tourism. The latter has become a whole industry, based upon cheaper and more widely available international travel, greater media representation and cultural awareness of ‘other’ countries, and the circulation of money between countries. The darker side of global tourism, however, involves sex tourism, prostitution and trafficking. While this can provide a crucial source of income for those in poorer countries, it also leaves these workers vulnerable to exploitation. 649-651

Not all theorists agree that the mass media have become globalized and standardized through ‘Americanization’. Sreberny-Mohammadi (1996) identifies a number of ways in which national cultures actively resist such media imperialism and thereby create a state of cultural pluralism. ‘Home-produced’ television programmes, for example, will always be of interest to members of each society insofar as they reflect cultural trends and values. Ex-colonial countries can generate a ‘reverse flow’ of products to the USA and UK, such as Bollywood films. Local producers can create equally powerful transnational corporations, and governments can limit the amount of media products that they import. 396

Organizational surveillance, a key feature of Foucault’s disciplinary society, has been enhanced by the development of new technologies. For example, CCTV and webcams make it easier for employers to watch their employees, electronic tagging has allowed prison populations to be decarcerated while still being punished, and ‘private’ information about individuals’ health status, finances and spending patterns can be stored, monitored and shared between organizations. Lyon therefore argues that we are living in an information driven, electronic ‘surveillance society’. 571-573

There are various explanations of the relationship between the mass media and social attitudes and behaviour. Mass Society theory focuses on the idea of manipulation and domination: audiences are seen as passive ‘cultural dupes’ who can be persuaded to believe whatever they are told. This can be traced back to the processes of urbanisation and industrialisation, which created a new form of society as a mass of isolated individuals: lacking traditional ties to the family and community, we become increasingly vulnerable to manipulation through our interest in consumption. 364