Classic Collection, The (9 Parts)

Synopsis

The ‘inside story’ of eight classic sociological studies. Steve Taylor discusses with author of each study the origins, methodology and content of their study, and reflects on its significance at the time and its relevance today.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Uses

Introductory and more advanced sociology courses

Subjects

Education; Media studies; Sociology; Women’s studies

Keywords

research methods; social behaviour; socioeconomic problems; sociological theory

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 2 PAL

Price

£49.00 (DVD), £20.00 (1 Year Digital Licence), £49.00 (3 Year Digital Licence)

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

25 minutes each

Year

2010

Sections

Title

Eileen Barker on the Making of a Moonie

Synopsis

Founded in Korea by Reverend Moon in the 1950s, the Moonies, or Unification Church, now have followers and business interests in Asia, America and Europe. Core member live away from their families in Church centres and work full time for the movement, selling things and looking for new recruits.

Seen by believers as a new Messiah, Moon tells his followers: "I am a thinker. I am your brain. When you join, you do everything in utter obedience to me. Because what I am doing is done under God’s command."
To believers, the movement offers truth, enlightenment and the prospect of spiritual unification of the world.
To critics, it’s an evil form of bondage, where vulnerable young people are reduced to a mental condition where they can only follow the orders of the organisation...

Eileen Barker’s seven-year study of the Moonies tried to find the reality behind the headlines, why people become Moonies and whether they choose to do so or are brainwashed. Her book, ‘The Making of a Moonie’, is seen as a classic, not only for its contribution to the sociological study of religion, but also for its exemplary research methods...

Duration

25 mins

Title

Stanley Cohen on Folk Devils and Moral Panics

Synopsis

One bank holiday in 1964 groups of bored young people became disruptive and roared up and down the seafont on scooters and motorbikes. Stan Cohen, a young sociology graduate from South Africa studying reactions to deviance, decided to find out why the media reaction to the events was so extreme. His book on the subject, ‘Folk Devils and Moral Panics’, came to be seen as a landmark in the sociology of deviance, the media and popular culture.

Duration

25 mins

Title

Paul Willis on Learning to Labour

Synopsis

In the 1970s Paul Willis began a detailed ethnographic study of a small group of non-conforming, working class boys at school. While many sociological studies saw educational failures as rather passive victims of socialisation, social deprivation or unfavourable labelling by the school, Willis’ work painted a rather different picture of some working class kids actively failing themselves by developing cultures of resistance opposed to the school. Paul Willis’ ‘Learning to Labour’ has come to be seen as a sociological classic not only for its contribution to the sociology of education, but also for its linking of culture and social action to wider structural processes. This video looks at how the research was done, its conclusions and its relevance today.

Duration

25 mins

Title

Sue Sharpe on Just like a Girl

Synopsis

In all societies there have been clear differences in the roles of women and men. For example men have tended to dominate the public sphere of society, while women have had the major responsibilty in running the domestic life and nurturing the young. For many, these divisions were natural, a product of our biology. This view was challenged by Sue Sharpe. In her research with schoolgirls in West London in the early 1970s, she argued that ‘femininity’ may be more a product of culture than of biology. Her book, ‘Just Like a Girl’, published in 1976, has influenced many later studies and has come to be seen as a classic in the sociology of gender, education and socialisation.

Duration

25 mins

Title

Jock Young on the Drugtakers

Synopsis

Jock Young’s classic sociological study, ‘The Drugtakers’, is one of the clearest and most dramatic examples of deviance amplification. It’s innovative theoretical model and combination of documentary sources and first hand participant observation illustrates graphically how media fantasies were translated into realities as soft and hard drug users were driven closer together by a common sense of injustice and alienation. In this video Jock Young talks about the origins of the research and how it was influenced by the rapidly developing interactionist tradition, discusses some of the problems involved in researching your own social scene and explains its key concepts. He also reflects on the contemporary relevance of the study and the ‘irony’ that its central message remains as relevant today as it was when the book was written over 30 years ago.

Duration

25 mins

Title

Peter Townsend on Poverty in the UK

Synopsis

It was widely believed that poverty in Britain had been all but eliminated with the construction of the welfare state, full employment and the growth of the ‘affluent society’ that after the Second World War.
But while politicians were telling people that they had ‘never had it so good’, social scientists were ‘re-discovering’ poverty. The most influential of these was Peter Townsend, whose study of poverty in the 1960s & 70s was one of the most detailed quantitative research studies ever undertaken in Britain. Poverty in the UK became a classic sociological study not only for its scope and ground breaking research methods, but also because of the major part it played in forcing poverty back on to the political agenda.

In this programme Peter Townsend discusses the issues he was addressing in the book, his definition and measurement of poverty, and his findings which were very different from the ‘official measures’. He also looks back at the book and talks about the consequences of failing to address growing poverty in the contemporary world.

Duration

25 mins

Title

Anthony Giddens on Capitalism and Modern Social Theory

Synopsis

Sociology began as an attempt to make sense of what’s been called the great transformation from traditional to modern society: the development of industrial production, the mass movement of people from the land to cities and towns and the rise of a new economic order, modern capitalism. Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber were three of the greatest sociological thinkers of this new capitalist age. Writing more than thirty years ago, Anthony Giddens’ ‘Capitalism & Modern Social Theory’ is still celebrated as the clearest and most incisive analysis of their work. In this video Anthony talks about the writing of this book and its significance and relevance today.

As Anthony Giddens says in this video: ‘Marx taught us about the economy, how the economy influences the rest of out lives. Weber taught us about government and the state, that was one of his main theses. Durkheim taught us about social solidarity, how you keep a society together’

Duration

25 mins

Title

Michele Stanworth on Gender and Schooling

Synopsis

Despite many women working outside the home during the war, most returned to the home during the 50s. It was assumed to be natural for men and women to have separate roles in life. The education of both sexes reflected that view even though overtly supporting the concept of equal opportunities. This was called into question in the 1960s. New feminisms were calling for more equality. The tripartite system of education was being replaced by a comprehensive system. More schools were becoming co-educational. But was this having an effect on the education of boys and girls? Michelle Stanworth was one of a group of feminists who set out to explore these issues. She had been working as a teacher for eleven years in secondary school before embarking in 1979 on a study of sexual divisions in the classroom. The result was the classic ‘Gender and Schooling’ which became the benchmark for the feminist approach to sociological issues in education

Duration

25 mins

Title

Ann Oakley on Housework

Synopsis

Ann Oakley talks about how she started her research on housework and the opposition she encountered. She goes on to discuss her sampling methods, her interview techniques, the importance of keeping some social distance as well as avoiding leading questions, and why she highlighted particular case studies. In the second part of the programme, Oakley talks about her findings: her surprise at the number of hours women were spending on housework and the isolation and dissatisfaction many of her interviewees were expressing. Finally, she looks back on the book and discusses its relevance today and some of its conclusions, such as breaking the cycle by ‘abolishing the family’.

Duration

25 mins

Production Company

Name

Halovine Video

Email

enquiries@onlineclassroom.tv

Web

http://www.onlineclassroom.tv/ External site opens in new window

Phone

0845 505 0664

Fax

0845 505 0664

Address

PO Box 104
Hinkley
Leics
LE10 2WW

Notes

In 2008 Halovine rebranded and became part Online Classroom

Distributor

Name

Classroom Video

Notes

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