Sociological Perspectives

What is a sociological theory?

A body of knowledge or general outline that explains how aspects of society works.

A way of explaining different aspects of social interactions and to create testable propositions about society.

What is society?

A group of people living together as a single community whose members are interdependent.

How does society work?

Sociologists study society using different assumptions, approaches, and methods → sociological perspectives

What is social structure?

The organized arrangement of institutions (family, education, religion) shaping interactions.

Major sociological perspectives

• Structural Theories (macro) → focus on large-scale social structures (e.g., functionalism, conflict theory).

• Interpretivist Theories (micro) → focus on individuals, meanings, and interactions. (phenomenology, ethnomethodology, symbolic interactionism)

• Postmodernism → challenges traditional theories, emphasizes diversity, fragmentation, and fluidity in modern societies.

What is socialization?

• process by which individuals learn the cultures of their society

• involves learning acceptable and unacceptable behavior from birth throughout adult life.

How do individuals learn values? [Socialization]

• Observing and imitating others

Primary & Secondary Socialization:

• Primary socialization: family — basic skills/values, occurs in daily life.

• Secondary socialization: school/media — societal roles, influences of larger institutions, occurs later in life

What are the basic sociological theories?

Classical:

Structural Functionalism [Macro/mid] — How each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole.

Conflict Theory [Macro] —- How inequalities contribute to social differences and perpetuate differences in power.

Symbolic Interactionism

Explain the general concept of functionalism [& key influences]

• each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to society’s stability and functioning as a whole

• Key influences: Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Émile Durkheim.

What is the view of the functionalists?

• each part of society is performing a function(s)

• necessary for maintaining order

• views society as a complex system made up of institutions working together to promote solidarity and stability.

The perspective mainly focuses on

• social order, functions, systems, institutional relationships

• investigates how the relationship among institutions contribute to this order and the survival of society as a whole.

Functionalism: Functions & the organic analogy

• Society = system of interrelated institutions (e.g., state, family, religion, economy, education).

• Each institution contributes to the functioning of society

• For example, the family performs tasks such as

  reproduction: procreation takes place and the population is maintained

Organic analogy:

• It compares the social system to that

  of a living organism whose function

  depends upon the collaboration of

  the different parts to maintain the

  whole

Functionalism: Interdependence

• principle of reciprocity and mutuality.

• all parts of society are interconnected, change in any part will affect the other parts

• Each individual has a status (social position) and associated roles (expected behaviors).

• Smooth functioning of society depends on individuals performing their roles.

Functionalism: Equilibrium

• Society seeks a state of balance/order based on shared norms and values (collective conscience).

• Change must be orderly: disruption in one institution prompts adjustment in others → society moves toward a new equilibrium.

• example from economics is that when there are shortages of a product, the price of the product rises, and this induces producers to produce more of the product, thus eliminating the shortage.

• When there is a disturbance in the social world, the various roles and organizations have means to return the society to a more normal state of affairs

Functionalism: Consensus

• Agreement upon shared values

• Functionalism is characterised by the idea that society

  requires shared norms and values in order for it function properly.

What was the view of Emile Durkheim?

Viewed society as a balanced system made up of inter-related and interdependent parts.

Compared society to the likeness of a living organism

What concepts did Durkheim introduce?

• Organic solidarity: societies are secular and individualistic due to the specialization of each of our tasks. More complex with a higher division of labor. → social solidarity due to interdependence

• Social Order:

• Collective consciousness

• Social Facts: external, unwritten rules that shape and control individuals’ thoughts and actions

• Advocated for positivisim

• first to apply scientific methods to social research

Durkheim’s anomie?

a feeling of disconnection from the moral norms and rules of society

not enough moral regulation to counteract [risks forgetting to tell individuals what they can and cannot do] individualism

Durkheim’s sacred and profane

• religion is about the separation of the sacred and profane

• sacred: collective representations that are set apart from society/transcent the hundrum of everyday life.

• profane: everything else, all the mundane things

What was Talcott Parsons’ view?

• viewed society as a system made up of interrelated parts

• system with functional prerequisites: adaptation, goal attainment, integration, pattern maintenance [latency]

• society changes in order to adapt to their changing needs

Robert Merton’s view

Institutions can be functional [useful], non-functional [neutral], or dysfunctional [harmful]0

refined parson’s functionalism

• criticized the assumption that all existing social phenomena are functional