Saturday, October 13, 2012

The Major Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology

The Major Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology

A. SOCIAL THEORIES are explanations of social phenomena.

B. EVOLUTIONARY THEORY suggests that societies, like biological organisms, progress through stages of increasing complexity.

1. Early theorists, such as Spencer, were opposed to intervention, whereas contemporary evolutionists view evolution as a process that does not necessarily result in change for the better.

2. The premise of evolutionary theory that social systems tend to become more complex over time can be useful in providing better comprehension of current trends and even help to predict the future.

C. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM focuses on the STRUCTURES, the parts of the social systems, and the FUNCTIONS or the purposes of these structures.

1. A STATUS is a socially defined position. A SOCIAL SYSTEM is a set of interrelated statuses of positions. Some statuses are ASCRIBED whereas others are ACHIEVED. Sets of interrelated statuses or positions are SOCIAL SYSTEMS.

2. The functionalist perspective assumes that social systems have an underlying tendency to be in equilibrium or balance. Any system that fails to fulfill its functions will result in an imbalance or disequilibrium.

3. A social system can have both MANIFEST and LATENT FUNCTIONS. Manifest functions are intended and recognized. Latent functions are neither intended nor recognized.

4. According to Merton, a system can be FUNCTIONAL, tending to maintain the system, or DYSFUNCTIONAL, leading to the instability or the breakdown of a system.

5. Structural functional theory is used by academic sociologists to study and analyze every form of social system. It can be particularly useful for applied sociologists as a means to understand and resolve problems in a wide variety of social systems and situations.

D. CONFLICT THEORY today assumes that conflict is a permanent feature of social life resulting in societies being in a state of constant change.

1. Classical conflict theorists, mainly Marx, argued that the structure of society is determined by its economic organization, particularly the ownership of property. The history of societies, then, is the story of class struggle.

2. Contemporary theorists, such as Dahrendoff and Coser, have focused on the integrative nature of conflict — its value as a force
that contributes to order and stability.

3. One major contrast between functionalist and conflict theorists is that functionalists believe that the social process is a continual effort to maintain harmony. Conflict theorists believe that the social process is characterized by constraint, conflict and change.

4. Conflict theory suggests that conflicts in organizations or among individuals can often be resolved by recognizing that conflicts exist. Conflict theory can be used to help create techniques to deal with conflict or used constructively in the workplace or in one’s personal life.

E. SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM is a microsociological orientation that stresses interaction between people as well as the social processes that occur within the individual that are made possible by language and internalized meanings.

1. A SYMBOL is something that is used to represent something else. LANGUAGE is a shared system of symbols that represent physical objects or concepts and that can be used for communication.

2. Mead argued that it is the human ability to use symbols that distinguishes us from animals. Through social interaction humans learn to share meanings and to communicate symbolically with words and gestures.

3. The interactionist perspective examines patterns and processes of everyday life that are generally ignored by many other perspectives.

4. Because symbolic interaction theory emphasizes that people act on the basis of their interpretation of the language and symbols in a situation and not the situation in and of itself, the perspective is useful in pointing to the importance of shared definitions in resolving social problems.

F. EXCHANGE THEORY attempts to explain social behavior in terms of reciprocity of costs and rewards. It assumes that life is a series of reciprocal exchanges and that voluntary social interactions are contingent upon rewarding or punishing reactions from others.

1. Homans’ view represents the behaviorist’s perspective of exchange that emphasizes actual observable behavior, not on processes that can be inferred from behavior.

2. Blau is an advocate of the interactionist perspective of exchange. He contends that exchange is more subjective and interpretive.

3. Homans’ distributive justice and Blau’s fair exchange theories reflect the importance of each party in the exchange receiving mutually-held expectations of reciprocation.

4. In exchange theory, social life is viewed as a process of bargaining or negotiation. Social relationships are based on trust and mutual interests.

G. Additional theoretical perspectives include SOCIOBIOLOGY, HUMANISM and FEMINISM.

1. The SOCIOBIOLOGICAL perspective studies the biological and genetic determinants of social behavior. This theory maintains that social influences would not greatly modify behavior.

a. The origins of social behavior are therefore linked to genetic or biological factors.

b. One criticism of this theory is that wide variations exist in sexual domination, nurturance and other behaviors.

2. HUMANISTIC theories maintain that social science cannot and should not be value free. Sociologists should be actively involved in social change.

a. Efforts should be made toward achieving social justice and equity for everyone, irrespective of gender or race.

b. SECULAR HUMANISM disputes the religious focus on a god or on supernatural powers and maintains that social problems are solved by humans through their own efforts.

3. FEMINIST theories and perspectives hold the belief that gender is basic to all social structure and organization.

a. Feminist theories argue that the experiences of women are different from those of men … that women are less privileged or unequal to men and that women are actively restrained, subordinated, used and oppressed by men.

b. Similar to the views held by humanists, feminist theory argues that truly objective research and study is neither possible nor appropriate.

4. Other perspectives, such as NETWORK theory, EXISTENTIALISM and PHENOMENOLOGY are similar to those discussed in this chapter

COMPARING THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES



The Development of Sociology in America

The Development of Sociology in America

 

A. The first department of sociology was established in 1893 at the University of Chicago. Most of the earlier American sociologists shared with their European forerunners an interest in social problems and social reform.

B. The University of Chicago was the leading sociological training and research center in the US. The city itself provided a living laboratory for the study of many early social problems.

1. One leading figure, Robert E. Park (1874–1944), authored several important books, as well as one of the early textbooks in sociology. He established a multidisciplinary approach to the study of urban communities that became known as social ecology.

2. After World War I, a group of scholars known as the Chicago School developed an approach to social psychology that emphasized
the importance of social interaction in the development of human thought and action. Cooley, Mead and Thomas were all instrumental in this development.

3. In the midst of the societal crisis of the 1930s, sociology developed its service relationship to national public policy with its theoretical focus on macro-level systems and its methods of large-scale quantification.

C. In the 1940s, the center of sociological research shifted from Chicago to Harvard and Columbia in the East.


   

   1. Talcott Parsons (1902–1979) became the leading social theorist in the US with his broad general theory of action.










   


   2. Robert K. Merton (1910-2003) was concerned with linking general theory to empirical testing, an approach that came to be known as the MIDDLE-RANGE THEORY.

The Development of Sociology in Europe

The Development of Sociology in Europe


A. The study of sociology is a recent development in social history. Most 19th century practitioners were interdisciplinary, drawing their ideas from philosophy and the natural sciences. These early writers had great faith in the power of reason, but their ideas were put to a test as the Industrial Revolution presented new challenges and social problems.


B. Auguste Comte (1798–1857) is usually credited with being the father of sociology because he coined the term SOCIOLOGY.

   1. He first called this new social science social physics, believing that society could be studied in the same scientific manner as the world of the natural sciences.

  2. He believed that by using empirical methods to discover basic laws of society, the conditions of all of humankind could be improved.

  3. Comte developed the LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS, which states that all human intellectual growth passes successively through three distinctive states: the theological, the metaphysical and the scientific.

  4. Comte viewed society as a type of organism that evolves from simpler to more complex forms. Sociology should study both the structure of the organism (SOCIAL STATICS) and the organism’s processes and forms of change (SOCIAL DYNAMICS).

5. Comte believed that sociology could produce a more just and rational social order.

6. Comte believed scientific analysis had both professional and personal applications.



  C. Herbert Spencer (1820–1903), born in England, coined the phrase survival of the fittest, which demonstrated his concern with the evolutionary nature of changes in social structures and social institutions. He was the first to stress that human societies evolved according to the principles of natural laws, similar to Darwin’s theory of natural selection.

    1. Spencer’s evolutionary theory of society favored a policy of noninterference in human affairs and society; his view tended to favor the status quo.

   2. Because of this view, Spencer’s ideas had the support of people of wealth and power.

   3. Spencer was one of the earlier writers to be concerned with the special problems of objectivity in the social sciences.



  D. German-born Karl Marx (1818–1883), a committed socialist, had a profound sense of moral outrage at the social conditions of his time. Those who have power, he argued, dominate and exploit those who do not.

    1. He believed that SOCIAL CONFLICT was at the core of society and the source of all social change.

   2. As a proponent of ECONOMIC DETERMINISM, he believed that social change, social conditions and even society itself are based on economic factors. He declared that economic inequality results in class struggles between the BOURGEOISIE and the PROLETARIAT.

3. The conflict between the owners and the workers lead to feelings of ALIENATION, a sense of disconnection from work and life among the workers. This recognition among the workers then develops CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS, which ultimately leads to revolution and results in the improvement of social conditions.

4. Many academic sociologists use Marx’s ideas of inequality as a premise for interpreting a variety of social and personal problems.


   E. Emile Durkheim (1859–1917), the first French academic sociologist, attempted to explain social phenomena via the idea of SOCIAL FACTS, those things that have distinctive social characteristics and determinants.

   1. Durkheim believed that individuals are more the products of society than the creators of it, and that society itself is external to the individual.

   2. Durkheim’s work Suicide is most significant for several reasons.

   a. It provided a unique model for social research.

  b. It clearly demonstrated that human behavior can be understood only by investigating the social context in which the behavior takes place.

c. It established the fact that the more a person is integrated into intimate social groups, the less likely he/she is to commit suicide. Social integration, Durkheim argued, is achieved through people’s mutual dependence and acceptance of a system of common beliefs.

d. Durkheim not only played a key role in the founding of sociology; he also made sociology a legitimate academic enterprise.


   F. Max Weber (1864–1920), born in Germany, and trained in law and economics, believed that sociologists should study SOCIAL ACTIONS — external objective behaviors — as well as the SUBJECTIVE meanings that people attach to their own behavior and the behavior of others.

   1. According to Weber, the goal of social research is to achieve a sympathetic understanding of the minds of others through an approach known as VERSTEHEN. This approach is evident in Weber’s interpretation of social class, which contrasts with Marx’s view that class is rooted in economic determinism.

    2. Weber’s concept of verstehen is a vital tool used by both academic and applied social researchers, as well as individuals, trying to interpret and solve a variety of personal and social problems.

Academic Sociologists

Academic Sociologists


A. Academic Sociologists — more sociologists are employed as teachers than in any other capacity.

1. Most teaching sociologists also serve as researchers, administrators or social critics.

2. Most of these researchers engage in basic or pure research.

B. Professional Sociologists in the Workplace - According to Peter Rossi and William Foote Whyte, two prominent applied sociologists, sociology can be applied to the workplace in three major ways.

1. Through APPLIED SOCIAL RESEARCH, which utilizes the use of sociological knowledge and research skills to obtain information for various groups and organizations. Most of this research uses three specific types: DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES, ANALYTICAL, and EVALUATIVE STUDIES.

2. Through SOCIAL ENGINEERING, which attempts to change the way a society, community, organization, institution, or group is arranged so that a particular goal may be achieved.

3. Through CLINICAL SOCIOLOGY, which utilizes sociological perspectives, theories, concepts, research and methods for consulting and providing technical assistance to individuals, groups, or organizations.

C. Nonsociologists in the Workplace

1. The study of sociology offers valuable preparation for other types of careers.

2. Sociology is useful in developing research skills, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, interpersonal skills, and communication skills. All of these skills are important in most occupations.

D. Nonsociologists in Society and Other Social Environments

1. The understanding of sociological principles should interest every social being.

a. Sociology concentrates on an enormous range of topics and events.

b. Sociology teaches us to consider perspectives other than our own and to look beyond the individual in our efforts to understand individual behavior.

c. Sociology helps us to understand ourselves.

2. C. Wright Mills wrote that the “sociological imagination” enables one to distinguish between personal troubles and public issues. By understanding how our own personal problems are generated by social forces, we are better able to deal with the problem.

3. Sociology can help us with most of our important personal decisions, such as whether to get married, whether to have children, whether to buy a home, what type of career to pursue and when to retire.

4. In summary, sociology is certainly relevant to a college education; it can provide a tool for improving the quality of one’s own life and the lives of others as well.

Social Philosophers

SOCIAL PHILOSOPHERS:

AUGUSTE COMTE(1798-1857) French Philosopher




  • Comte was the first social philosopher to coin and use the term sociology
  • He was also the first to regard himself as a sociologists
  • He defined sociology as the scientific study of social dynamics and social static
  • New science of society could and should make a critical contribution towards a new and improved human society.
  • Comte defined sociology as the study of social dynamic and social static, the former signifying, the changing, progressing and developmental dimensions of society, while the latter refers to the social order and those elements of society and social phenomena which tend to persist and relatively permanent, defying change.

KARL MARX(1818-1883) German

  •  

  • Marx was a world-renowed social philosopher, sociologist and economic historian.
  • He introduced concepts in sociology like social class, social class conflict, social oppression, alienation and etc.
  • Introduced one of the major perspective in sociology, call social conflict theory.
  • Accdg. to Marx, economic forces are the keys to underestimating society and social change. He believed that the history of the human society has been that of class conflict. 





HARRIET MARTINEAU(1802-1876) British
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
  • At a time when women were greatly stereotyped and denied access to influential socio-political and academic arenaa.
  • She was an active advocated of the abolition of slavery and she wrote on many crosscutting issues such as racial and gender relations.            











HERBERT SPENCER(1820-1903) British




  • Spencer was a prominent social philosopher of the 19th century.
  • He viewed society as an organic system having its own structure and functioning in ways analogous to the biological system. Spencer's ideas of the evolution of human society from the lowest("barbarism") to the highest form("civilized") according to fixed laws were famous. It was called "Social Darwinism", which is analogous to the biological evelolutionary model. Social Darwinism is the attempt to apply by analogy the evolutionary theories of plant and animal development to the explanation of human society and so









EMILE DURKHEIM(1858-1917) French

  • Durkheim was the most influential scholar in the academic and theoretical development of sociology. He laid down some of the fundamental principles, methods, concepts and theories of sociology.
  • He defined sociology as the study of social facts.










Occupational and Personal Uses of Sociology

Occupational and Personal Uses of Sociology

A. Sociology is not only for sociologists.

1. Sociological skills and knowledge are used in many jobs by many different types of people, and also in individuals’ personal lives.

2. One of the fascinating and exciting things about sociology is its diversity of applications.

B. Four uses of sociology

1. Academic sociologists

2. Professional sociologists in the workplace (nonacademic)

3. Nonsociologists in the workplace

4. Nonsociologists in society and other social environments

Deeper Meaning of Sociology

I. What is Sociology?
     A. Sociology is the study of social relationships, social institutions and society
  1. the term itself- often credited to Auguste Comte, the founder of sociology - is derived from two root words: "socius" which means companion or associate and "logus" which means word. Basically, the term sociology means "words about human association or society:.
  2. Sociologists investigate many areas, such as racial and ethnic relationships, prejudice and discrimination, power and politics, jobs and income, families and family life, school systems and the educational process, social control, organizations, bureaucracies, groups and group dynamics, leisure, health-care systems, military systems, women’s movements and labor movements. It is an extremely broad field.
 B. The SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE involves a conscious effort to question the obvious, to remove ourselves from familiar experiences and to examine them critically and objectively. This type of EMPIRICAL investigation enables sociologists to determine whether generalizations made about society are accurate. The sociological perspective operates at two levels:
  •  MACROSOCIOLOGY deals with large-scale structures and processes, such as broad social categories, institutions and social systems.
  • MICROSOCIOLOGY is concerned with small-scale units, such as individuals in small-group interaction.
C. Sociology allows us to distinguish between truth and popular wisdom. Social research provides the way to distinguish what is actually true from what our common sense tells us should be true.

D. Sociology is one of several disciplines in the social sciences. The SOCIAL SCIENCES all study human behavior, social organizations or society.



1. ECONOMICS is the study of how goods, services and wealth are produced, consumed, and distributed within societies.

2. POLITICAL SCIENCE is the study of power, governments and political processes.

3. ANTHROPOLOGY is the study of the physical, biological, social and cultural development of humans, often on a comparative basis. The two major fields of anthropologists consist of PHYSICAL and CULTURAL (or SOCIAL) anthropology.

4. PSYCHOLOGY is concerned primarily with human mental processes and individual human behavior. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY is the study of how individuals interact with other individuals or groups and how groups influence the individual.

5. HISTORY, considered either a social science or one of the humanities, is the descriptive study of the past.

6. GEOGRAPHY is the study of the physical environment and the distribution of plants and animals, including humans. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHERS investigate climate, agriculture, the distribution of plant species and oceanography. SOCIAL and CULTURAL GEOGRAPHERS investigate how the distribution of people in a particular area influences social relationships.

7. SOCIAL WORK is technically not a social science but is an APPLIED SCIENCE in which the principles of the social sciences are applied to actual social problems. The PURE SCIENCES seek knowledge for its own sake.