Transcript Sociological Theories & Methods

Montclair State University
4/12/2016
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
What is Sociology?
 What pops into your mind when you think about
Sociology?
 What do sociologists study?
 How is sociological thinking different from other
social science disciplines?
4/12/2016
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
4/12/2016
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
Thinking Like a Sociologist
4/12/2016
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach
 Sociology focuses on how social forces
influence individual behavior, actions, and
feelings.
 AND
 Sociology examines how the interaction of
individuals and small groups influence the
economic or social change?
 Humans viewed as both puppets and puppeteers
4/12/2016
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
Thinking like a Sociologist
In this class, we will focus on how
families are influenced by the
larger social structure

4/12/2016
Social structure: is a stable framework
of social relationships that guides our
interaction with others
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.?
4/12/2016
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?
4/12/2016
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%
4/12/2016
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
4/12/2016
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach
Macro Level
Micro Level
4/12/2016
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach –
The Macro Level
 Social institutions




4/12/2016
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
MAKE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS
CONCEPT OF SOCAIL INSTITUIONS!
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach – The Macro Level

Family sociologists examine how these SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS interact
and how they influence behaviors, attitudes, and opportunities in families
Economy
Government
Education
Families
Religion
4/12/2016
Healthcare
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach
– The Macro Level
 The macro level comprises:
Social Status
 Social statuses are:
 the social positions people occupy and
 the privileges and constraints that are
attached to these positions
4/12/2016
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach
– The Macro Level
 This hierarchical arrangement of people in
terms of power, prestige, and resources is
called social stratification
 These hierarchies in the U.S. are often based
on race/ethnicity, education, income, and
gender
 Think about how your race or gender or
age has blocked your from an opportunity
or given you an advantage
4/12/2016
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach –
The Micro Level
 Micro level deals with issues of social life at
the level of individuals or small groups
 At the micro level we focus on patterned
behaviors of people that are due to the
social conditions in which we find ourselves
 We act differently in different settings and
places
 Micro level analysis focuses on personal
choices
4/12/2016
Sociological & Policy Perspectives on Families
The Sociological Approach –
The Micro Level
 Micro level deals with issues of social life at
the level of individuals or small groups
 Micro level analysis focuses on personal
choices
 Think of an example of a personal choice
you made recently and how it was
influenced by the larger society, your social
status, the economy, the government, the
culture of Montclair?
4/12/2016
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
4/12/2016
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
4/12/2016
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
4/12/2016
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
4/12/2016
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
4/12/2016
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
4/12/2016
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
4/12/2016
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?
4/12/2016
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
4/12/2016
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?
4/12/2016
Major Sociological Theories
 Gender Theory
 Operates at both macro and micro level
 Central concept is gender—the social and
cultural characteristics that distinguish women
and men in society.
4/12/2016
Major Sociological Theories
Gender Theory 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.
Read more for Assignment 3 in Chapter by
Cherlin on Theories
4/12/2016