Theoretical perspectives of sociology

LEARNING OUTLINE
Follow this Learning Outline as you read and study this chapter .

 Major sociological perspectives.

 Functionalist, Conflict, Symbolic
Interactions
 and Feminist
 Levels of analysis: micro sociology
and macro sociology

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Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology
 Sociologists study social events, interactions,
and patterns. They then develop theories to
explain why these occur and what can result
from them. In sociology, a theory is a way to
explain different aspects of social interactions
and create testable propositions about society
(Allan 2006). For example, Durkheim’s
proposition that differences in suicide rate can
be explained by differences in the degree of
social integration in different communities is a
theory.
Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology

1. Functionalist
2. Conflict
3. Symbolic Interactions
4. and Feminist
 Functionalist Perspectives

 The central idea of Functional analysis is that

society is a whole unit, made up of interrelated parts
that work together.
 or
 a theoretical approach that sees society as a
structure with interrelated parts designed to meet
the biological and social needs of individuals that
make up that society

 To understand society, we must look at both

structure, how the parts of society fit together to
make up the whole, the function, how each part
contributes to society.
 Functionalist Perspectives
 Robert Merton used the term function to
refer to the beneficial consequences of
people’s actions to keep society stable and
dysfunctions to refer to consequences that
undermine stability. Functions can be
either manifest (actions that are intended)
or latent (unintended consequences).
 In trying to explain divorce,
functionalist would look at how
industrialization and urbanization
both contributed to the changing
function of marriage and the family.
 Symbolic interactions
 Symbolic interactions' views symbols,
things to which we attach meaning, as
the basis of social life.
 a) Through the use of symbols people
are able to define relationships to others,
to coordinate actions with others, making
social life possible, and to develop a
sense of themselves.
 b) A symbolic interactionist studying
divorce would focus on the changing
meaning of marriage; family and
divorce have all contributed to the
increase in the rate of divorce in
U.S. society.
 Symbolic Interactionism
 Blumer coined the term “symbolic
interactionism” and identified its three
basic premises:
1. Humans act toward things on the basis of
the meanings they ascribe to those things.
2. The meaning of such things is derived from,
or arises out of, the social interaction that
one has with others and the society.
3. These meanings are handled in, and
modified through, an interpretative process
used by the person in dealing with the things
he or she encounters (Blumer 1969).
 Conflict perspective
 According to Conflict theory, society is viewed as
composed of groups competing for scarce resources.
a) Karl Marx focused on struggles between the
bourgeoisie, the small group of capitalists who own
the means of production, and the proletariat, the
masses of workers exploited by the capitalists.
 b) Contemporary conflict theorists have expanded
this perspective to include conflict in all relations of
power and authority.
 c) Divorce is seen as the outcome of the
shifting balance of power within a family; as
women have gained power and try to address
inequalities in their relationships, men resist.
 FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE
 According to Wilhelmina Drucker (1847–1925) who
fought for the vote and equal rights through political
and feminist organizations she founded. In 1917–1919
her goal of women's suffrage was reached. Feminist
sociology focuses on analyzing the grounds of the
limitations faced by women when they claim the right
to equality with men.
 One of the keen sociological insights that emerged
with the feminist perspective in sociology is that “the
personal is political.” Many of the most immediate and
fundamental experiences of social life—from childbirth
to who washes the dishes to the experience of sexual
violence—had simply been invisible or regarded as
unimportant politically or socially
Levels of analysis: micro sociology and macro sociology
 Macrosociology is an approach to sociology
which emphasizes the analysis of social
systems and populations on a large scale, at
the level of social structure, and often at a
necessarily high level of theoretical
abstraction. Microsociology, by contrast,
focuses on the individual social agency.
 In the field of sociology, the study of
individuals is called microsociology, and the
study of larger organizations, communities
and societies that individuals live in, is
called macrosociology
Examples
 Micro-level example: Individual thought,
action, and interaction, often coinciding with
social-psychological theories and models
 Macro-level: social structures and those
forces that organize as well as divide
individuals into political, social or religious
organizations, ethnic populations,
communities, and nation-states and all
subcultures and influential forces