paradigms

Wednesday march 5th:

Theoretical paradigms:

• Fundamental assumptions that scholars have about the social world

• Sociology has three main paradigms which can all be traced back to some of the early sociologists

  • Structural functionalism

  • Conflict perspectives

  • Symbolic interactionism 

Remember durkheim?

Concerned with the “problem of social order”

• How does society hold together?

• How does it endure periods of intense change?

• What is normal and abnormal functioning of society?

• Can we diagnose and deal with dysfunction?

Society is like an organism, made up of different parts

• All parts have to function together to be healthy

• Society is greater than the sum of its parts 

Structural functionalism as a paradigm

Society is a complex system whose parts work together to promote stability and social order

• Structures: patterned social interactions and persistent social relationships (family education religion govt ect)

• Fulfill certain social functions: consequences that can be observed

  • Help the system adjust or adapt

• These are interconnected and affect each other as well as individuals 

Functional theory of stratification (davis moore)

• Inequality and stratification are universal and necessary because they are functional for society

• How does a society motivate people and place them in their proper positions in a stratified society?

  • Some jobs are more/less

  • Some jobs are more

  • People have different 

Functional theory of stratification (davis-moore)

Without unequal rewards, few people would want to pursue jobs that require personal sacrifice

Functional imperatives (parsons) 

• Four functions are necessary for all social systems in order for the system to survive AGIL

  • Adaption A

  • Goal attainment G

  • Integration I 

  • latency/pattern maintenance L

AGIL social systems

• Systems but adapt to its environment and

• A system seeks to regulate the interrelationships of its component parts

• A system must defined and achieve its primary goals 

• Pattern maintenance:latency is the need to furnish motivation of individuals 

• Pattern maintenance supplies

  • That support latency