SOC 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Social Inequality, Ethnomethodology, Conflict Theories

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 1101
• Professor: Greg Flynn

Document Summary

Altruistic suicide: occurs in settings that exhibit high levels of social solidarity (durkheim), results from norms very tightly governing behaviour. Anomic suicide: occurs in settings that exhibit low levels of social solidarity (durkheim), results from vaguely defined norms governing behaviour. Conflict theory: focuses on large, microlevel structures (ie. relations between/among classes), shows how major patterns of inequality in society produce social stability in some circumstances and social change in others. Stresses how members of privileged groups try to maintain their advantages while subordinate groups struggle to increase theirs. Typically leads to the suggestion that eliminating privilege will lower the level of conflict and increase human welfare. Democratic revolution: 1750, suggested that people are responsible for organizing society and that human intervention can therefore solve social problems. Dysfunctional consequences: effects of social structures that create social instability. Egoistic suicide: results from a lack of integration of the individual into society because of weak social ties to others.