SOC Chapter 2

A paradigm

A model or framework for observation and understanding which shapes both what we see and how we understand

Macrotheory

Deals with large, aggregate entities of society or even whole societies

Microtheory

Deals with issues of social life at the level of individuals and small groups

Mesotheory

An intermediate scale of analysis that deals with groups like organizations or communities

Early Positivism

Auguste Comte

Treat society as a phenomenon that can be studied scientifically

Auguste Comte fought for what…

so that sociology could be seen as just as scientific as biology or physics

Structural Functionalism

(August Comte) A social system is made up of parts, each of which contributes to the functioning of the whole.

Conflict Paradigm

(Karl Marx) Social behavior is best seen as the process of conflict: An attempt to dominate others and avoid being dominated

Focus on class, gender, and ethnic struggles

Feminist Paradigm

Focuses on gender differences and how they relate to the rest of a social organization

Reveals the treatment of women or the experience of oppression

Critical Race Theory

Based on an awareness of race and a commitment to racial justice

Roots in the civil rights movements in the ‘50s and ‘60s

Symbolic Interactionism

Charles Horton Cooley - primary group and the “looking-glass self”
George Herbert Mead - “generalized others” and the use of language and other symbolic systems

Ethnomethodology

People are continually creating social structure through their actions and interactions

Focuses on communication

The three main elements of the Traditional Model of Science

Theory

Operationalization

Observation

Theory

Systematic explanation for the observed facts and laws that relate to a particular aspect of life

Hypothesis

Specific expectations about empirical reality, derived from propositions

Operationalization

The process of turning abstract ideas or concepts into concrete, measurable variables

Operational

The concrete and specific definition of a concept or variable in terms of the specific procedures used to measure it.

Observation

Looking at the world systematically and making measurement of what is seen

The wheel of science: Induction

Observation → Emipirical generalization → Theories

The wheel of science: Deduction

Theories → Hypothesis → Observations

Research is used…

to test and develop new theories