Transcript The Sociological Perspectives

PART 1 SUMMARY :
The Sociological
Perspective
The systematic study of human society
What Is Sociology?
“...The systematic study of human society ”
• Systematic
• Scientific discipline that focuses attention on patterns of behavior
• Human society
• Group behavior is primary focus; how groups influence individuals and vice
versa
• At the “heart of sociology”
• The sociological perspective which offers a unique view of society
Why Take Sociology?
• Education and liberal arts
• Well-rounded as a person
• Social expectations
• More appreciation for diversity
• The global village
• Domestic social marginality
• Enhanced life chances
• Micro and macro understanding
• Increase social potentials
Benefits of the Sociological
Perspective
1. Helps us assess the truth of common sense
2. Helps us assess both opportunities and
constraints in our lives
3. Empowers us to be active participants in
our society
4. Helps us live in a diverse world
Importance of Global Perspective
• Where we live makes a great difference in shaping
our lives
• Societies throughout the world are increasingly
interconnected through technology and economics.
• Many problems that we face in the United States are
more serious elsewhere.
• Thinking globally is a good way to learn more about
ourselves.
Video 1: The sociological
Perspective
The Sociological Perspective
Peter Berger
• Seeing the general in the particular
• Sociologists identify general social patterns in the
behavior of particular individuals.
• Seeing the strange in the familiar
• Giving up the idea that human behavior is simply a
matter of what people decide to do
• Understanding that society shapes our lives
Durkheim’s Study of Suicide
• Emile Durkheim’s research showed that society affects even
our most personal choices.
• More likely to commit: male Protestants who were wealthy and
unmarried
• Less likely to commit: male Jews and Catholics who were poor and
married
• One of the basic findings: Why?
• The differences between these groups had to do with “social
integration.”
• Those with strong social ties had less of a chance of committing
suicide.
C. Wright Mills’
Sociological Imagination
• The power of the sociological perspective lies not
just in changing individual lives but in
transforming society.
• Society, not people’s personal failings, is the cause
of social problems.
• The sociological imagination transforms personal
problems into public issues.
The Origins of Sociology
• One of the youngest of academic disciplines, sociology has
its origins in powerful social forces.
• Social Change
• Industrialization, urbanization, political revolution, and a new
awareness of society
• Science
• 3-Stages: Theological, Metaphysical & Scientific
• Positivism–A way of understanding based on science
• Gender & Race
• These important contributions have been pushed to the margins of
society.
Sociological Theory
• Theory: a statement of how and why facts are
related
• Explains social behavior to the real world
• Theoretical paradigm: A set of fundamental
assumptions that guides thinking
• Structural-functional
• Social-conflict
• Symbolic-interaction
Structural-Functional Paradigm
• The basics
• A macro-level orientation, concerned with broad patterns that
shape society as a whole
• Views society as a complex system whose parts work together to
promote solidarity and stability
• Key elements:
• Social structure refers to any relatively stable patterns of social
behavior found in social institutions.
• Social function refers to the consequences for the operation of
society as a whole.
Who’s Who in the StructuralFunctional Paradigm
• Auguste Comte
• Importance of social integration during times of rapid change
• Emile Durkheim
• Helped establish sociology as a discipline
• Herbert Spencer
• Compared society to the human body
• Robert K. Merton
• Manifest functions are recognized and intended consequences.
• Latent functions are unrecognized and unintended consequences.
• Social dysfunctions are undesirable consequences.
Social-Conflict Paradigm
• The basics:
• A macro-oriented paradigm
• Views society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict
and social change
• Key elements:
• Society is structured in ways to benefit a few at the expense of
the majority.
• Factors such as race, sex, class, and age are linked to social
inequality.
• Dominant group vs. disadvantaged group relations
Who’s Who in the
Social-Conflict Paradigm
• Karl Marx
• The importance of social class in inequality and social
conflict
• W.E.B. Du Bois
• Race as the major problem facing the United States in
the 20th century
Feminism and the
Gender-Conflict Approach
• A point of view that focuses on inequality and
conflict between women and men
• Closely linked to feminism, the advocacy of social
equality for women and men
• Women important to the development of
sociology: Harriet Martineau and Jane Addams
The Race-Conflict Approach
• A point of view that focuses on inequality
and conflict between people of different
racial and ethnic categories
• People of color important to the
development of sociology: Ida Wells
Barnett and W.E.B. Du Bois
Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
• The basics
• A micro-level orientation, a close-up focus on social
interactions in specific situations
• Views society as the product of everyday interactions of
individuals
• Key elements
• Society is nothing more than the shared reality that
people construct as they interact with one another.
• Society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic of
subjective meanings.
Who’s Who in the
Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
• Max Weber
• Understanding a setting from the people in it
• George Herbert Mead
• How we build personalities from social experience
• Erving Goffman
• Dramaturgical analysis
• George Homans & Peter Blau
• Social-exchange analysis
Critical Evaluation
• Structural-Functional
• Too broad, ignores inequalities of social class, race &
gender, focuses on stability at the expense of conflict
• Social-Conflict
• Too broad, ignores how shared values and mutual
interdependence unify society, pursues political goals
• Symbolic-Interaction
• Ignores larger social structures, effects of culture, factors
such as class, gender & race
Applying the Approaches:
The Sociology of Sports
• The Functions of Sports
• A structural-functional approach directs our attention to
the ways in which sports help society operate
• Sports have functional and dysfunctional consequences
Sports and Conflict
• Social-conflict analysis points out that games
people play reflect their social standing.
• Sports have been oriented mostly toward males.
• Big league sports excluded people of color for
decades.
• Sports in the United States are bound up with
inequalities based on gender, race, and economic
power.
Sports as Interaction
• Following the symbolic-interaction approach,
sports are less a system than an ongoing process.
• All three theoretical approaches—structuralfunctional, social-conflict, and symbolicinteraction—provide different insights into sports.
None is more correct than the others.
Structural - Functional
• Society is viewed as a complex system of parts (structures) that
interact to perform various necessary functions
• Shared values, norms, attitudes and beliefs (consensus)
• Change is generally viewed as disruptive and gradual
• Macrosociology
Conflict Theory
• Views society as a struggle for resources and power
• Change is inevitable, often beneficial and can be violent
• Conflict between the classes determines social change
• Some groups prosper at the expense of others
• Conflict is universal; social consensus is limited and
inequality is widespread
• Macrosociology
Symbolic Interactionism
• Studies society through interactions within individual
and small groups
• Interaction between individuals is negotiated through
shared symbols, gestures and nonverbal communications
• Humans are social animals and require interaction
• Asks the questions” “How do individuals experience
one another?” “How do they interpret the meaning of these
interactions?” and “How do people construct a sense of self
and the society as a whole?”
• Microsociology
Famous Theorists
(you should know)
Auguste Comte
(French)(1798-1857)
• Coined the term “sociology”
• Believed society could be studied like any other science
• Key concepts: positivism, sociology the “queen” of sciences,
social engineering
Harriet Martineau
English (1802-1876)
• Translated A. Comte’s work into English
• Concerned with social change and the plight of women
and children in English factories during the early phases
of industrialization
• First acknowledged female sociologist
• Examined emerging American society (c 1834)
Émile Durkheim
(French) (1858-1917)
• Founded sociology as an academic discipline
• Famous for his study on suicides (1897)
• Use of statistics in sociology
• Key concepts: social facts, social structure
social solidarity, collective conscience, mechanical and
organic solidarity, anomie
• Structural/functionalist theorist
Karl Marx
(German) (1818-1883)
• Founder of political / economic theory of socialism (communism)
• Considered the founder of the conflict perspective
• Wrote the Communist Manifesto and co wrote Das Kapital (with
Friedrich Engels)
• Key concepts: proletariat, bourgeoisie, capitalists, social class,
dialectics (thesis, antithesis, synthesis)
Max Weber
(German) (1864-1920)
• Believed that sociologist could never capture the reality
of society but should focus on ideal types that best capture
the essential features of aspects of social reality
• Key concepts: bureaucracy, verstehen, rationalization of the
modern world, people are becoming prisoners of new
technology, loss of individuality
Herbert Spencer
(English) (1820-1903)
• Structural/Functionalist
• Coined the term “survival of the fittest” in reference to human
social arrangements (Social Darwinism)
• Advocated against social reform efforts to poor people because
it disrupts the natural selection process of evolution
Jane Addams
(American) (1880-1935)
• Won the first Nobel Peace Prize (1931) given to an
American sociologist
• Founded Hull House for the poor in Chicago
• Influenced the “Chicago School” of applied sociology
(social problems)
• Pioneered the study of social problems
W. E. B. DuBois
(American) (1868-1963)
• First Afro-American PhD graduate of Harvard University
• Concerned with the social position of African-Americans in US
society.
• Wrote The Philadelphia Negro (1899) on race relations
• Used statistics to examine racial discrimination against blacks
Talcott Parsons
(American) (1902-1979)
• Reintroduced the theories of European sociologists while
teaching at Harvard University
• Structural/Functionalist
• Abstract “ivory tower” theoretician
• Emphasis on empirical research--not social reform
C. Wright Mills
(American) (1916-1962)
• Taught at Columbia University
• Marxist, structural/functionalist theorist
• Key concepts: power elite, radical social change, social
injustices, applied sociology, the “sociological imagination”
Robert K. Merton
(American) (1910-2002)
• Taught at Columbia University
• Sought to bridge the European “grand” theories and a
more focused research style
• Structural/Functionalist
• Key concepts: manifest & latent functions, “Strain Theory”
of deviance, dysfunctions
George Herbert Mead
(American) (1863-1961)
• Symbolic/Interactionist theorist
• Believed that the self was a social product acquired by
observing and assimilating the identities of others
• Key concepts: “I” & “me”, significant other, generalized other,
role taking, preparatory stage, play stage, game stage
Charles Horton Cooley
(American) (1864-1929)
• Symbolic interactionist theorist
• We develop a sense of who we are in society based upon
interaction with others and how we feel others perceive us
• The “Looking Glass Self”
Erving Goffman
(American) (1922-1982)
• Symbolic interactionist theorist
• Believed we play roles and present a “face” for public view
• Key concepts: dramaturgical approach, frontstage & backstage
selves, presentation of self
Sigmund Freud
(German)(1856-1939)
• Psychoanalyst
• Key concepts: unconscious, id, ego, superego, psycho-sexual
stages, psychoanalysis, ego defense mechanisms, free association.
dream interpretation, seduction theory, libido, libidinal energy
Erik Erikson
(German/American)(1902-1994)
• Psychologist
• Eight Stages of Man (Psycho-social stages)
• Focused on ego conflict through the life span and
how they are resolved
Lawrence Kohlberg
(American)(1927-1988)
• Psychologist
• Expanded Piaget’s theory of moral development in children
• Key concepts: Stages of Moral Development, the “Heinz scenario”
Carol Gilligan
(American) (1936- )
• Social psychologist: former student of Lawrence Kohlberg
• Took a feminist perspective to moral reasoning, author of
In a Different Voice, which proposes that males and
females have different moral reasoning
• Key concepts: caring perspective (females); justice & law (males)
Albert Bandura
(American) (1925- )
• Social (cognitive) psychologist, performed classic study of
imitation and aggressive behaviors in children.
• Key concepts: social learning theory, imitation, models,
vicarious reinforcement, expectancies self efficacy, reciprocal
determinism
B(urrhus) F(redrick) Skinner
(American) (1904-1990)
• Psychologist, learning theorist, behaviorist. Taught at Harvard
University, probably the most famous American psychologist
• Wrote several books including: The Behavior of Organisms,
Beyond Freedom and Dignity, and Walden Two
• Key concepts: operant learning, positive & negative reinforcement,
punishment, shaping, schedules of reinforcement,
behavior modification, the Skinner Box
Question
• What do the following people have in common?
• Dan Akroyd (actor; comedian)
• Debra Winger (actress)
• Saul Bellow (novelist; Nobel Prize recipient)
• Joe Theissman (NFL quarterback)
• Rev. Jesse Jackson
• Robin Williams (comedian; actor)
• Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Ronald Reagan
Answer
• They were all sociology majors.
Disciplines of Sociology
• Psychology analyzes human behavior.
• Anthropology is the study of human
cultures.
• Political Science is the study of
politics.
Disciplines of Sociology
• Economics studies the production,
distribution and consumption of goods and
services.
• Social Work uses the social sciences to
serve people in need.
The Sociological Imagination
• Ability to see societal patterns that
influence life.
• C. Wright Mills wrote about sociological
perspective in The Sociological
Imagination.
• Sociology can reveal how society shapes
our lives.
Polling Question
•
Which sociological perspective do you
think is generally the weakest in
explaining things in our society?
A.) Functionalist
B.) Conflict Theory
C.) Symbolic interaction
Polling Question
• Which sociological perspective do you
think explains the concept of inequality in
our society the most accurately?
A.) Functionalist
B.) Conflict Theory
C.) Symbolic interaction
Quick Quiz
• 1. Sociology is the study of:
a. personality types
b.political philosophy
c. human behavior
d.the distribution of goods and services
Answer: c
• Sociology is the study of human behavior.
2. The ability to see the societal patterns that
influence individual and group life is
referred to as:
a.
b.
c.
d.
commonsense
social speedup
Wright's Theorem
the sociological imagination
Answer: d
• The ability to see the societal patterns that
influence individual and group life is
referred to as the sociological imagination.
3. The sociologist that first coined the term
sociology is:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Auguste Comte
Emile Durkheim
Karl Marx
Harriet Martineau
Answer: a
• The sociologist that first coined the term
sociology is Auguste Comte.
4. According to Karl Marx, the most important
influence on what humans think and how they
behave is:
a. the socio-emotional organization of
society
b. the economic organization of society
c. the political organization of society
d. the religious organization of society
Answer : b
• According to Karl Marx, the most important
influence on what humans think and how
they behave is the economic organization
of society.
5. Symbolic interactionism emphasizes:
a.
b.
c.
d.
the role of coercion and power
class struggles
face-to-face contact
the interdependent parts of society
Answer: c
• Symbolic interactionism emphasizes faceto-face contact.
Video: 2
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