Sociology

The expansion of elementary level, public school, and university education in the nineteenth century did little to eradicate class differences, but this changed with the introduction of the Education Act of 1944, which promised free secondary education for all, regardless of wealth or family background. However, private schools continued to exist alongside these state schools, and it could be argued that this too reproduced the class structure of British society. 330-331

Scott argues that we can evaluate documentary sources on the basis of four criteria. Authenticity refers to whether the document is genuine, ‘sound’, or complete, and of known authorship: the original or a reliable copy. Credibility refers to whether the information contained in the document is true and valid. Representativeness is determined by how many of the original documents survived: is this one typical? Finally, the researcher must be able to understand the meaning of a document, at both a literal and a deeper, conceptual level. 90-93

The queer movement of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries suggests a blurring of the boundaries between sexual identities. The term ‘queer’ was originally used in a pejorative sense, but has been reclaimed by many non-heterosexual people as a matter of pride. Queer Theory challenges the notion that heterosexuality is normal or natural, or that everyone could be fitted neatly into one category or another. If sexual behaviour is merely a lifestyle choice, then sexual identities are fluid and people can move back and forth between them. 187-188

Weber was interested in the relationship between religious ideas and economic action. He studied a group of ascetic Protestants called the Calvinists, who believed that only some people had been chosen by God to be rewarded in the afterlife; this created a ‘salvation anxiety’ as each individual worried about their fate. Weber argued that the Calvinists resolved this anxiety by working hard and reinvesting all of their profits into their businesses; economic gains could be interpreted as a sign of being in God’s favour. In Weber’s view, this form of economic action driven by religious beliefs formed the basis of capitalism. 411-412

Attitudes to homosexuality have changed dramatically over time. With the rise of the ‘two sex’ model in the eighteenth century, physical intimacy between two men or women became recognised as a new problem. By the nineteenth century, there was a real stigma attached to homosexual identities, insofar as they posed a threat to the ‘traditional’ role expectations of men. The term ‘homosexual’ came to mean a distinct group of men rather than the activities in which they engaged. 171-173

The term ‘leisure’ represents a relatively new ways of thinking about recreational activities that have always existed in society. In pre-industrial times, work and non-work time were not distinct from each other, but this changed as industrial capitalism made many forms of work feel boring and monotonous; leisure time meant time away from this. However, state intervention meant that leisure time became increasingly regulated, for example through laws about pub opening hours. Some new leisure activities were introduced through the civic, municipal culture of the cities: publicly funded libraries, museums and galleries were intended to be morally ‘improving’ for the middle and ‘respectable’ working classes. 688-690

When the overseas empires collapsed, new nation states emerged in the twentieth century, and many joined the United Nations. However, many ex-colonial countries remained unstable places to live, because there was a great deal of conflict between ethnic groups and they lacked a sense of national identity. The United Nations called on countries in the developed Western world to give economic aid to poorer countries, for example those in sub-Saharan Africa. However, this was problematic because the aid was given as a loan, with heavy rates of interest that drove the poorer countries further into debt. 635-636

Decentralization is associated with dedifferentiation, the process by which parts of the city have become less specialized in the functions and services they provide: the urban centre is replaced by numerous industrial estates. This is due to the movement of shops and leisure services to the periphery of the city, along with networks of motorways and railway lines. The inner city then becomes a place that is amenable to women and the middle classes, who move back into it. 511-512

Terrorism can be defined as political action against a state and its citizens through the use of extreme violence on a large scale. It is often associated with political conflict between states on an international level, and as such has far-reaching effects. An example of this is the sequence of events linked to Islamist ideology in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11 2001. By contrast, the Chicago School studied smaller scale crime and delinquent subcultures in the 1920s and 1930s. 266-268

While sociology may not be like a natural science, it is generally regarded as a social science, because it follows some scientific principles. Sociologists construct theories that are different from common sense, by drawing on a range of data that they collect in a logical, disciplined, and systematic way. Their knowledge claims are supported by evidence from this data, which to some extent ‘speaks for itself’. Other researchers can scrutinize their ideas and research findings, and most sociologists are also reflexively self-critical. 16-17