WEEK 3:
B E YO N D T H E
INDIVIDUAL:
W H AT M A K E S
SOCIAL
R E S E A RC H
SOCIAL?
SOCIAL PROBLEMS,
SOCIOLOGICAL RESPONSES
ASSIGNMENT UPDATES
THIS WEEK’S LEARNING
OBJECTIVES
• Improve our understanding of ‘social analysis’, including with a focus on:
– Critical theories
– Social structures vs individual agency
– ‘Social constructionism’ as an epistemology
• Refine our topics for our written assignments
• Understand the roles of a literature review and how to conduct one, and
what is required for the literature review component of the first written
assignment.
LECTURE OUTLINE
Recap of Week 2 Social analysis Assignments: What
is a literature
review and how do I
do one?
RECAP OF WK 2: VOICE,
REPRESENTATION AND QUALITY IN
SOCIAL RESEARCH
• Who an author is (whether a person or an institution) affects the kinds of
research they can produce, because they too are shaped by social forces
which means:
– They have particular worldviews which shape their questions, the way the
understand the world, and their values
– They have particular agendas that they seek to fill through conducting research
• Peer reviewed academic research is also subject to problematic social
contexts (like perverse incentives, personality traits, politics, etc), but on
the whole, is one of the most trustworthy sources of information because of
processes put in place to make it that way.
• Marginalised people also have important expertise regarding their own
situations, and they are also important voices to include (in research and in
social conversations generally).
RECAP: NEOLIBERALISM
AND THE POLITICAL
COMPASS
• Ideologies include values (what we care about), and these develop into belief systems about how
the world works (ontologies)
• Neoliberalism (“new-liberalism”) cares about individual freedom, specifically, individual freedom
from government intervention in their economic actions and choices.
– Hence, this is also termed a belief in the ‘free market’
– The free market, in theory, allows everyone to pursue their own self-interest, and through the financial
incentives that market competition provides, producers will meet all the demands and needs of
consumers.
• This ideology is so dominant in many parts of the developed world now that we barely notice it,
and it gets applied to things that have otherwise been considered ‘public goods’ – and these then
end up being managed through private corporations who seek to make profit.
– E.g. now public transport is run by private companies; private health insurance and private schools are
other examples where the theory is that, people will be motivated to work hard so that they can afford to
buy the best option.
RECAP: POLITICAL
Social regulation and control
COMPASS
Economic regulation and
Economic freedom
redistribution
Social freedom
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
• In so many social issues, it has become normal to see the individual as the
source of problems and solutions.
– Obesity, gambling, welfare, waste/recycling, transport, crime, drug use, etc.
• Our task as sociologists/social scientists is to look past this emphasis on
individualism, to identify the social structures at play.
• Reminder: social structures can include:
– intangible cultural things like norms, narratives, ideologies,
– but also more tangible rules like policy, regulation, laws, taxes;
– and formal power hierarchies (e.g. parliament)
– as well as intangible ones (such as homophobia)
Food cultures
EXAMPLES IN Intergeneratio that
encourage
nal poverty
SOCIAL LIFE (incl. racism) high calorie
diet
Bullying/toxic High cost of Increased
Food exercise work hours
culture in
deserts classes, and busy life
sports clubs training,
equipment
High-stress Agricultural
lifestyles, and land use
daily policy
(globe,
• But also!
• - What gets framed as a
crime?
• - For example, in SG,
marital rape was
criminalised only in
2020 (discussions
began in 2007)
• - Which crimes do we
care about?
• - Scams?
• - Money laundering?
• - Drug smuggling?
• - Rioting?
• - Abuse of workers?
• - Who gets to say?
SO HOW DO WE DO SOCIAL
RESEARCH?
• The key is to ask questions about:
– The social structures that produce a phenomenon
– And/or
– Differences in experiences of a phenomenon, which are distributed
according to social differences
• E.g. ‘Why do people commit crime?’ Can be asked as:
– What motivates individual criminals to take criminal action (not a very
social question, but could be analysed in a way that answers the following
question:)
– What social structures lead to some people engaging in criminal
behaviour? And, how could we change those social structures to reduce
crime? Or,
– What social structures frame what gets counted as crime, and is this
appropriate?
• Individuals and Mental Health
– From ‘individuals (employees, students, etc) should
become resilient and responsible for taking care of
their own mental health’ to ‘what changes in
EXAMPLES
organizations’ structures and practices can best
support people’s emotional and mental health?’
• Precarious Workers
– From ‘X% of precarious workers feel anxious about
income during this inflation and we should help
them feel better’ to ‘how is precarious work
created and manipulated by politicians and
industrialists?’
A FRAMEWORK FOR
‘MAKING IT SOCIAL’.
FOCUSING ON:
• Formal structures, such as taxes, laws, regulations, policies, rules: why they exist,
what impacts they have, whether and how to change them.
• Informal structures like narratives, discourses, norms and ideologies: why they exist,
what impacts they have, whether and how to change them.
• Social difference, groups, identities and belonging: either the causes or impacts of it:
– i.e. how a social practice reproduces, erases or changes social difference, or,
– How a social phenomenon is experienced differently by different people – because of
social structures
• A focus on inequalities: how they are experienced, the impacts of them, and the
causes of them, as well as ways to reduce inequalities
• A focus on power: who has it, how is it working, what are the effects of it, how could
we distribute it more fairly?
• Social change and how to achieve it: social movements, activism, cultural change.
ASSIGNMENTS
PROBLEM
OUTLINE AND
L I T E RAT U R E
REVIEW
MARKING CRITERIA:
Clear and focused outline of the social problem which demonstrates a
critical social analysis of the issues (6 marks)
Comprehensive analysis of the issue’s stakeholders and their stake in the
issue, including a reflection on your own positionality (8 marks)
Comprehensive literature review that accurately outlines the current state
of knowledge regarding the issue and any significant gaps in existing
knowledge (8 marks)
Well supported by a range of high quality references, including at least 10
peer-reviewed sources (8 marks)
Clearly and persuasively written in your own voice (5 marks)
Logically structured and easy to follow (5 marks)
SUGGESTED GENERAL
STRUCTURE
1. Outline of the context and importance of the social problem. 100-200 words
2. Literature review. 600 – 700 words.
3. Stakeholder analysis. 600 – 700 words.
4. Very brief suggestion of a potential research question and method
(not assessed, just so you can receive feedback).
5. Reference list.
Note: you could switch the order of 2 and 3 but I think lit review first makes sense. The
above structure is a suggestion not a rule.
This assignment is not an essay, but will have some similar elements (your literature review
does develop an argument but it is specifically an argument about the state of the
literature).
LITERATURE REVIEW: WHAT
IS IT AND WHY?
• A literature review provides an overview of the established knowledge on a
topic/issue
• It should conclude with an assessment of what is not yet known, and what
research questions and projects should be prioritised
• It helps the reader and the researcher learn what they need to know to get
started in understanding the topic
• It helps researchers explain why their research project is important
• It makes sure we don’t repeatedly do the same research over and over
again.
LITERATURE REVIEW: HOW TO
DO IT P.1
• Start with a fairly focused topic (see previous weeks for guidance).
• Read what you can from non-academic literature, to get started (i.e. news
articles, NGO websites, etc) for some basic background information. Make a
note of any really useful non-academic work you find, and store that wherever
you will store your research. (I recommend using a referencing software
package such as Endnote or Zotero – it will save you heaps of time later).
• Develop a list of keywords. Use those to search for academic articles in the uni
library’s website, and/or Google Scholar. As you go, see if you need to expand
or refine or edit your list of keywords.
• Identify which are the most useful article you have found. Read them and make
notes on:
– Useful statistics or facts about the context they provide
– The conceptual or theoretical frameworks used to understand the issue
– Key findings of the papers, including the findings of their literature reviews: what do they
think needs to be investigated? What do they say is already well known?
LITERATURE REVIEW: HOW TO
DO ITsearch
• Refine your P.2terms, and search again. See what else comes up.
Read, take notes.
• Review all your notes. What similarities are there across the articles?
What points of contention or difference are there? What do these
similarities or differences have to say about what you could focus on?
A mind map could be really helpful here.
• These similarities or differences could be about:
– Conceptual, theoretical or political approach (maybe everyone has taken a
human rights approach, but only one person has thought about animal rights or
democratic participation)
– Methodological approach (e.g. maybe everyone has done interviews, no one has
done an ethnography?)
• Note the above process will be iterative (you read, develop themes,
read more, refine the themes, read more, repeat, etc).
LITERATURE REVIEW: HOW TO
•DO ITfeelP.3
When you confident you have read enough to present this,
develop 3 – 4 key claims you want to make about the literature. A
claim is your assertion, based on your analysis, about the
themes and the state of the literature.
• E.g. you might say
– Claim 1: this issue has mostly been studied in psychology, and there is little
sociological literature on the topic
– Claim 2: most research uses X conceptual framing, though a small number of
authors theorise this through Y framework
– Claim 3: all research reviewed agrees that there is a critical need for urgent
policy intervention.
• These claims will form the structure of your paragraphs in your
literature review. i.e. each claim will become a topic sentence of
WHAT MATERIAL FOR WHICH
BITS?
• Its unlikely you will find academic research on your particular topic if you have
chosen a specific place and have a really focused topic (which you hopefully
will do)
• You can use academic research to:
– Look at other case studies on similar topics, and extrapolate as to which bits of those
studies will be relevant to yours.
– Understand the trends, likely patterns, causes, impacts etc of this issue generally, in other
places
– Look at which methods are useful for studying this kind of issue
– Learn about some theories and concepts that might be useful for understanding your
issue
• You can use non-academic research/information to:
– Provide the contextual information you need about the particular place or people
• Your task will be to bring these sources of information together and articulate
the likely state of the issues in the location/cohort of people you are focusing
on. Your stakeholder analysis (more info next week) will develop this.
EXAMPLE LIT REVIEW:
• Following
paragraphs taken
from this paper:
• Note how there
are key CLAIMS
about the
literature in each
of the 4
paragraphs, and
the rest of the
paragraph
EXPLAINS and
EVIDENCES the
PARAGRAPH 1:
• General
overview,
focus on
the
agreement
s in the
literature.
PARAGRAPH 2
Outlines
dominance of
one discipline
(psychology)
and lack of
research in a
particular
another
(environment
al education)
PARAGRAPH 3
Identifies a
key issue
and
discusses
different
approaches
to it
PARAGRAPH 4
• Identifie
sa
research
gap;
after
this, the
paper
moves
into the
research
question
.
YOUR TURN
• Spend 5 minutes revisiting where you are up to with defining your research
topic.
– Remember: 1 aspect of 1 Contemporary Research Problem; focus on a social
element; refine by a particular place.
• Develop a list of 10 keywords you could use as a basis for searching for
literature. Put a few in the Library search engine, or Google Scholar, and
see what you can find. Choose 1 article that seems useful.
• Share in small groups the above: your topic keywords, and 1 article you
have found that looks useful, and why you think it will be useful to you.
• Identify any questions you have for me about the assignment.
HOMEWORK
• Check out Zotero or Endnote, if you don’t already use a
referencing software program:
– https://www.zotero.org/
– https://www.uow.edu.au/library/endnote/
• Read week 3 readings and prepare to discuss in class if you
haven’t already. Do the PRACTICE Quiz.
• Read week 4 readings and prepare to discuss in class.
• Start working on your literature review: aim to find 5 useful
papers, and read and take notes from 2 – 3 by next week.
