Question

9. Explain how the scientific method is used in sociological research?

10. Describe Durkhiem’s functionalist view of society

11. Explain how socialization occurs and recurs throughout life

12. Explain the advantages and concerns of media globalization

Answer 1

9. Sociological research is done to gain knowledge, collect information on different aspects of society and to analyse social behaviour . Scientific methods are used to acquire information, utilise systematic observation and carry out the experiments. Like in any scientific research, experiments are conducted to prove a hypothesis, surveys are done to analyse a proposed theory and lot of fieldwork is done, similarly sociological research also involves scientific methods of research to interpret and analyse data. Sociologists gather information, evaluate it, conduct experiments and then record the results. It provides limitations and boundaries to the type of study a sociologist would be doing. However, the interactions between a society are very divergent so it becomes difficult to explain them in a written format.

10.  Durkhiem argued that a society is capable to sustain its existing social conditions and to control the control the behavior of humans part of that society. His functionalist view of society assumed society as a separate entity having different parts which are responsible to maintain the stability of society. No part could function as an individual.

11. Socialization is not a one-time event. It keeps happening throughout the lifetime. As we age, we keep playing different roles in our lives, fulfilling different responsibilities during each phase of life once we become an adult. It recurs when we get into a new phase of life such as becoming an adult or getting old. This recurrence of socialization is termed as resocialization where people have to unlearn their old behaviours and prepare for new role.

12. i) Better exchange of information and enabling change in communication technologies

ii) Production and distribution of various media products by global media companies getting homogenised and standardized to a great extent

iii) De-regulation of the environment in which these companies operate

iv) Global access to media