Sociology and Social Problems

18 POINTS

Pyschological perspective

Individual-level factors (ex. Motivations, needs, personalities, biological mechanisms, attributions, personal beliefs and immediate situations). Looking more personal and individually.

Sociological perspective

Behavior must be understood within a larger social context. (Looking more larger groups)

Institutional discrimination

Denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that results from normal operations of a society.

Sociological imagination

• Assumes that social appearances often aren't what they seem

• Emphasizes links between history and biography

• Transforms personal problems into public issues

Findings from Durheim’s suicide study

• More men, protestants, and unmarried have higher suicide rates than women, jews and Catholics, and married due to them having more alone and no one to really talk to.

• The differences between these two groups had to do with “Social integration”

Functional Analysis

• Society as composed of interrelated parts, each serving a specific function

Manifest Functions (Part of Functional analysis)

(Want to happen) The intended and recognized consequences of any social pattern

Latent functions (Part of functional analysis)

(Unintentional and don’t want to happen) The unintended and unrecognized consequences of any social pattern.

Social dysfunction

Any social pattern that may disrupt the operation of society

Conflict theory (Bigger issues)

Society is composed of groups that engage in competition for score resources. Focuses on social tension and social change

Symoblic interactionism (More smaller issues)

A close up focus on everyday social interaction in specific situations; Analyze how behaviors depend on the symbols we use to define ourselves and others

Thee theoretical perspectives in sociology

Functional analysis, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism