Transcript Sociological Theories & Methods

Montclair State University
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Sociological Inquiry
 Families do not exist or evolve in isolation
 Rather, they react to and have an influence on the
social world around them
 The sociological perspective on families
emphasizes the rules, roles, and relationships that
are created an maintained by the larger society
 How do sociologists examine family life?
 Theoretical perspectives
 Methods of social analysis
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach
 Sociology focuses on the family from the
outside in rather than the inside out
 Sociology looks “behind the scenes” to
explain patterns of behavior
 Sociology looks for general processes that
produce an individual experience
 For example how does the U.S. society
influence the job we choose or the type of
family in which we live?
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Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
Thinking Like a Sociologist
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Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach
Levels of Analysis
 The macro level comprises:
 Society – a population of people that is
organized in a cooperative manner to carry out
the major functions of life
 Culture – All modes of thought, behavior, and
production that are communicated to members
of a society through all forms of
communication
 How would you describe the culture of the
U.S.?
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Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach
Levels of Analysis
 The macro level comprises:
 Analysis at the macro level focuses on large-
scale
 social institutions
 social structures
 comparisons between entire societies
 How does one society differ from another?
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Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach –
The Macro Level
 For example: How are families different in
Japan compared to the U.S. ??
 The divorce rate in the U.S. is 50%
 The rate in Japan is 27%
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Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach –
The Micro Level
 The micro level includes interactions among
individuals, small groups, and families
 The micro level focuses on our individual
actions, thoughts, and choices
 Think of this as the smaller picture
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Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach
Macro Level
Micro Level
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Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach –
The Macro Level
 Social institutions
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A social institution is a major sphere of
social life with rules and roles that define a
social unit of importance to society
A social institution is a visible structure that
people can recognize and understand
Families are a social institution
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach – The Macro Level
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Family sociologists examine how these social institutions interact and how
they influence behaviors, attitudes, and opportunities in families
Economy
Government
Education
Families
Religion
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Healthcare
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
Social
Science
Research
 How do we know what we know?
 Most of us understand the world around us through
our personal experience -- the people and situations
we have been in or have seen
 This personal experience leads to your conclusions
about the world
 While there is nothing wrong with these ways of
knowing -- social scientists are skeptical about relying
ONLY on these sources because:
 An individual’s experience of those around them is not
representative of the broader society
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Social Science Research
How do we know what we know?
Social scientists use a systematic and more scientific
mode of investigation
Social scientists rely on:
 Observations of the social world based on
representative samples
 Example: If we wanted to study why people in the U.S.
get married, we should not just survey college students
 We avoid the error of overgeneralization: i.e. using
what we know about a small group of people to
conclude something about all people
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Sociological Theories
 Social science theories explain or help us make sense
of patterns in social life
 Theories shape and direct research – they point us in a
direction
 That direction influences what we look for, what we
find, and how we explain it
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Sociological Theories
 Theories about families and relationships are made up
a set of statements that explain why certain
relationships occur
 For example: The age at first marriage has increased
because more women are graduating from college and
starting careers before marrying
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Macrolevel theories
 Macrolevel theories focus on:
 a whole society or a large part of it
 the BIG PICTURE
Example:
How has the decline in real male wages influenced
husbands’ and wives’ involvement in the paid labor
force
 Research might examine cost of living and employment
rates by gender and compare data from 1960 to 2000
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Sociological Theories
Theories used to explain relationships at a more
personal level are micro level theories
Examples:
A researcher wants to know how often husbands
and wives argue on a weekly basis
 They might observe a husbands and wife in their
home – or tape their conversations over the week
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Major Sociological Theories
 Structural Functionalism
 Operates at the macro level
 Structural functionalists view society as a social
system with interacting parts
 The functionalist perspective views society as a vast
organism whose parts are interdependent or
interrelated
 Think about how social institutions interact: families
and the economic system
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Major Sociological Theories
Structural Functionalism
Operates at the macro level
Structural-Functionalists focus on how social
institutions like families meet the basic needs or
functions of a society.
The family as a social institution is analyzed from two
perspectives:
1) How does the family contribute to the maintenance
of the larger social system ?
2) And, in what ways does society and other social
institutions (like education or economic system) affect
families?
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Major Sociological Theories
Exchange Theory
Operates at the micro level
Similar to economic theories that view humans as
rational beings who make decisions about the
exchange of goods and services
In doing so, they weigh the costs and benefits of
exchanges
Emphasis is on efficiency
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Major Sociological Theories
 Exchange Theory
 Operates at the micro level
 In relationships, for example, people have some
resource that is valued by the other person
 This is when exchange can take place
 In relationships -- what do women hold of
value?
 How about men?
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Major Sociological Theories
 Gender (Feminist) Theory
 Operates at both macro and micro level
 Central concept is gender—the social and
cultural characteristics that distinguish women
and men in society.
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Major Sociological Theories
Gender (Feminist) Theory
Oriented toward power in relationships.
Feminist theory argues that differences between
men and women are socially constructed to
maintain power of men over women.
Emphasizes culture, rather than biology.
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Summary
 Sociologists seek to understand how macro-level
forces, norms and social institutions influence
interaction, choices, and behavior at the micro-level
 For example, how has the downturn in the economy
influenced the choices you and your family have made
 W use theories to point us in a direction to study
families
 These theories shape what we study and how we
explain our findings
 Theories can focus on the macro-level (the big picture)
or the micro level (the smaller picture).
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