Interdisciplinary in the Social Sciences
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InterdisciplinarityintheSocialSciences.docxInterdisciplinarity in the Social Sciences
Stember, an author who has studied the interdisciplinary perspective, argues that "the practical argument for interdisciplinarity is that problems of the world are not organized according to academic disciplines." Stember says further that..."Topics concerning human motives, family, groups, institutions, and political and economic life, for example, are the focus of many social science disciplines...Understanding and finding solutions to pressing problems such as health, pollution, communications, and defense require perspectives and knowledge across several disciplines."
Your tasks for this discussion are to:
1. Choose an important, relevant, timely social issue that you think can be studied by sociology as a discipline.
2. Describe the social issue and the units of analysis, research methods, and topics of concern the sociologist would be interested in.
3. Discuss how adding the analysis of a second social science discipline and one of its research methods or methods of data collection (either psychology, anthropology, or gerontology) would contribute to an interdisciplinary analysis of the same social issues and what it would contribute to a greater understanding of the social issue. For example, what would the addition of a psychologist, or an anthropologist, or a gerontologist to the study team add to our understanding of this social issue and why? Do you think we would really learn more about this social issue if we approached the issue using an interdisciplinary perspective and a second data collection approach?
Reading materials and links for references :
Gerontology versus Sociology comparison chart
Samples of Sociology and Gerontology Theories
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Sociology Theories |
Gerontology Theories |
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Exchange theory: The premise this theory is based on is that individuals and groups act to maximize rewards and minimize costs (I do something for you; you do something for me) |
Exchange: the shift in roles and resources that accompanies aging is used to explain interactions. Older people typically have fewer resources (material and non-material) with which to exchange in their social relationships. When unequal exchanges occur between older persons and other members of a society, the older person experiences withdrawal and social isolation. Conversely, a balance of interactions determines personal satisfaction. |
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Conflict theory: Conflict between classes is commonplace because it is in the interest of the ruling class to exploit the working class and it is in the interest of the workers to seek to overcome this exploitation. |
Conflict: The elderly as a non-dominant group competes and struggles for resources in a society. The inequalities between the elderly group and the dominant group(s) cause conflicts that, in turn, can result in the reorganization of the social system. |
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Structural Functionalism: Society is made up of interdependent social institutions or subsystems that operate together to achieve stability and social order. Individuals, including older persons, can disrupt the smooth functioning of a society; thus, social institutions respond/adjust to restore equilibrium. |
Activity: Explains life satisfaction as a function of activity/role involvement.
Age Stratification: Examines how location within a society’s changing age structure/cohort influences the individual’s status, behavior, and attitudes. This is an age-graded system of expectations and rewards.
Disengagement: Life satisfaction as one ages relies on disengagement from roles. This disengagement is mutually beneficial for the individual and society.
Modernization: The status of older people is determined by the extent of industrialization in that society. As societies become more industrialized, the status of old people in that society diminishes. |
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Symbolic Interaction: Individuals learn roles, the value of these roles, and norms from other people. Sense of self results from social experience or from social interactions. Thus, the meanings of age and aging emerge from our interactions with others. |
Labeling: Elder derive their self-concepts from interacting with others. Once others have defined elders, they react to the elders on the basis of these categorizations.
Social Breakdown/Competence: Breakdown cycle begins with elders’ role loss, resulting in social impotence, causing elders to act on stereotypic images of being old. Competence cycle begins with the freeing of elder from economic entrapment, followed by providing caring societal institutions, resulting in the empowerment of elders. |
Introducing Research Methods to Gerontology Students In Community Colleges
http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=5254309&site=eds-live&scope=site
Linking Social Gerontology with Quantitative Skills: A Class Project Using US Census Data
de Medeiros, K. (2016). Narrative gerontology: Countering the master narratives of aging. Narrative Works, 6(1). Available at: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/NW/article/view/25446/29491
Chinese Family Panel Studies
The article Chinese Family Panel Studies on the Wikipedia website is used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0Unported license. UMUC has modified this work and it is available under the original license.
Chinese Family Panel Studies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) is designed by representative experts from all social sciences departments, schools, and institutes in Peking University, PKU. It’s funded by the national 985 program and started in the early of 2007.
CFPS has 16,000 sample households in nation wide. In each of the sample household, CFPS interviews all members of the family.
CFPS collects data individuals, family, and community and has 4 questionnaires: Community, Family, Adolescent and Adult.
The themes cover social, economic, education, health and so forth. CFPS has covered most questions in 4 panel surveys (PSID, CDS, HRS, and NYLS) in US.
The basic idea of CFPS is to understand social and economic changes in general through data in individual, family, and community.
CFPS has done its pretest in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hebei Province in 2007. Currently CFPS is doing pilot survey in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong Province in total samples: 96 communities, 2,400 households, and about 10,000 individuals.
See also
· Social Study of Information Systems
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· Articles lacking sources from July 2008
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