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Complete samenvatting 'Advanced sociological theory'

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This is a complete summary of advanced sociological theory, including lectures, articles, and images

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  • October 25, 2024
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Complete samenvatting
Advanced sociological theory
Week 1 – The structure of sociological explanation
Problems are the starting point for theory formation and empirical research:
- Problem  theory  empirical research  new problem  …

Inequality problem = openness/closure of educational/health systems
Cohesion problem = amount of contact between members of a religious group
Cultural problem = use of online resources and networks

Common sense argumentation: the routine knowledge we have of our everyday world and
activities
- Illusory superiority effect = people rate themselves higher in different abilities

Types of explanations:
1. Covering law explanations = the phenomenon is explained by a causal law
2. Statistical explanations = the phenomenon is explained by a statistical relationship
3. Mechanism explanations = the phenomenon is explained by means of an action-based
explanation

Explanations should make understandable how macro-conditions affect individual behavior
and how behavioral reactions of many lead back to macro-outcome.




Syllogism = building block of a theory or model

Five important aspects of theory building:
1. Be precise
2. Avoid black boxes
3. Include micro level
4. Model the micro-macro transformation
5. Behavioral theory


Week 2 – Cooperation in social dilemmas (I)
Iban Khaldun
 Cooperation is necessary for people’s survival and to become more productive
 Close contact and affection is necessary for cooperation
 ‘Stick of the loyal authority’

Thomas Hobbes, three causes of conflicts:
1. Competition
2. Mistrust
3. Thirst for glory
Solution: we need a leader who takes control
Emile Durkheim, critique of ‘utilitarianism’:

, - Mechanical solidarity = social integration of members of a society who have common
values and beliefs
- Organic solidarity = social integration that arises out of the need of individuals for one
another’s services

Game theory is designed to address situations in which the outcome of a person’s decision
depends not just on how they choose among several options, but also on the choices made by
the people they are interacting with.

A game is any situation with the following aspects:
- There is a set of participants (players)
- Each player has a set of options for how to behave (strategies)
- For each choice of strategies, each player receives a payoff (the higher, the better)

Best reply = the best choice of one player, given a belief about what the other player will do
Dominant strategy = strategy that is a best response to every strategy of the other player
Nash-equilibrium = a strategy combination
Pareto optimality = if there is no other strategy combination that yields payoffs that are not
lower for any player and at least one player earns a higher payoff

Pure strategy = choose a specific option (C or D) with certainty
Mixed strategy = choose between options with a certain probability (randomly choose C or D)

Security dilemma = nations often seek their own security through means which challenge the
security of others


Week 3 – Cooperation in social dilemmas (II)
The repeated prisoner’s dilemma:
- PD gets played 10 times, after each round they get updated about another’s behavior
(C or D) from the last round
- The payoff for the RPD is the count of his or her payoffs in each round

T>P>R>S
T: temptation of defection
P: mutual cooperation
R: mutual defection
S: if you cooperate against a defector

Strategies:
- All D = always defect
- Tit-for-Tat = start with cooperation and play whatever the other played in the round
before
- Tit-for-two-Tats = defect only after the other player defects on the preceding two moves

Crucial trade-off:
- Short term gains for defection higher
- Long-term gains for cooperation higher

When is cooperation possible?
- Strategies are conditional: cooperation is rewarded by cooperation, defection is
punished through defection
- Dependence of players on each other is strong enough: enough rounds to be played
- Long-term benefits of cooperation are larger than the short-term temptation to defect
- All D is always and equilibrium

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