Download the four major theoretical perspectives

THE FOUR MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
ESSENTIAL LEARNING: Students will be able to explain the four major theoretical
perspectives and the historic foundation of sociology.
1. Functionalist Perspective: In the view of functionalists, society is like a living organism in
which each part of the organism contributes to its survival. Therefore, the functionalist
perspective emphasizes the way that parts of a society are structured to maintain its
stability.
Talcott Parsons
 For over four decades, Talcott Parsons dominated sociology in the United States
with his advocacy of functionalism. Parsons saw any society as a vast network of
connected parts, each of which contributes to the maintenance of the system as a
whole. The functionalist approach holds that if an aspect of social life does not
contribute to a society’s stability or survival, it will not be passed on from one
generation to the next.
 Equilibrium Model: Parson s viewed society as naturally being in a state of
equilibrium (state of stability or balance). According to the equilibrium model, as
changes occur in one part of society, there must be adjustments in other parts.
 Four Processes of Social Change: All four processes stress consensus – societal
agreement on the nature of social organization and values.
i. Differentiation: increasing complexity of social organization
 “medicine man” to physician, nurse and pharmacist
ii. Adaptive Upgrading: social institutions become more specialized in their
purposes
 division of labour among physicians into obstetricians, internists and
surgeons
iii. Inclusion: including groups into society that were previously excluded
because of factors such as gender, race, and social class background.
 medical schools admitting increasing numbers of women and visible
minorities
iv. Value Generalization: development of new values that tolerate and
legitimate a greater range of activities.
 Acceptance of preventive and alternative medicine
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THE FOUR MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Robert Merton
 Manifest Functions : Manifest functions of an institution are open, stated,
conscious functions. They involve the intended, recognized consequences of an
aspect of society.
 College/university’s role in certifying academic competence/excellence
 Latent Functions: Latent Functions are the unconscious or unintended functions
and may reflect hidden purposes of an institution.
 Universities and college hold down unemployment and provide a
meeting group for people seeking marital partners.
 Dysfunctions: Functionalists acknowledge that not all parts of a society
contribute to its stability all the time. A dysfunction refers to an element or a
process of society that may actually disrupt a social system or lead to a decrease
in stability.
2. Conflict Perspective: In contrast to functionalists’ emphasis on stability and consensus,
conflict sociologists see the social world in continual struggle. The conflict perspective
assumes that social behaviour is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between
competing groups. Such conflict and change need not be violent; they can take the form
of labour negotiations, gender relations, party politics, and competition between religious
groups for members or disputes over the federal budget. Conflict theorists contend that
social institutions and practices persist because powerful groups have the ability to
maintain them. Change has crucial significance, because it is needed to correct social
injustices and inequalities.
Karl Marx: Although Marx accepted the evolutionary argument that societies develop
along a particular path, he did not view each successive stage as an inevitable
improvement over the previous one. History, according to Marx, proceeds through a
series of stages, each of which exploits a class of people. Ultimately, through a socialist
revolution led by the proletariat, human society will move toward a final stage of
development: a classless communist society.
Expanding on Marx’s work, conflict theorists are interested in how society’s institutions
including the family, government, religion, education, and the media may help to maintain
the privileges of some groups and keep others in a subservient position. One important
contribution of conflict theory is that it has encouraged sociologists to view society through
the eyes of those segments of the population that are rarely afforded the opportunity to
influence decision-making, minority groups and women.
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THE FOUR MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
3. Feminist Perspective: Feminist perspectives attempt to explain, understand, and change
the ways in which gender socially organizes our public and private lives in such a way as to
produce inequality between men and women. Feminist perspectives vary greatly. Despite
differences feminist theories often share four elements:
i. a desire to understand how gender is part of all aspects of social life
ii. a belief that gender, as well as class, race, and sexuality, is socially
constructed, producing inequality in the workplace, at home, in leisure
actives, and in society at large
iii. a belief that gender relations are not “natural”, but are products of history
and culture
iv. an advocacy for social change
Types of Feminism
a. Liberal Feminism: advocates that women’s equality can be obtained through the
extension of the principles of equality of opportunity and freedom. Rather than
advocating structural change to the capitalist economy or attempting to eliminate
patriarchy (the system and practice of male domination in society), liberal feminist
approaches assume that extending women’s opportunities for education and
employment, for example, will result in greater gender equality.
b. Marxist Feminism: places the system of capitalism at fault for the oppression of
women. Marxist feminists believe that women are not oppressed by sexism or
patriarchy, but rather by a system of economic production that is based on unequal
gender relations in the capitalist economy.
c. Socialist Feminism: Gender relations, according to socialist feminism, are shaped by
both patriarchy and capitalism. Socialist feminists, unlike Marxist feminists, who
believe that the elimination of class distinctions will bring about gender equality, see
patriarchy’s grip in the home as well as the public sphere.
d. Radical Feminism: The root of all oppression, according to radical feminism, is
embedded in patriarchy. Some radical feminists have based their view of women’s
oppression on reproduction, arguing that women’s freedom from reproduction will
lead to overall emancipation.
e. Transnational Feminism: recognizes that capitalism and systems of political power
have severe consequences and oppress women around the world. This form of
feminism embraces the multiplicity of cultures, languages, geographies, and
experiences that shape the lives of women and highlights the Western/non-Western
hierarchy that continues to exist in thought and practice.
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4. Interactionist Perspective: The interactionsist perspective generalizes about fundamental
or everyday forms of social interaction in order to understand society as a whole. While
functionalist and conflict theorists both analyze large-scale society-wide pattern s of
behaviour, the interactionist perspective generalizes about everyday form of social
interaction in order to understand society as a whole. It is sociological framework for
viewing human beings as living in a world of meaningful objects. The “objects” may include
material things, actions, other people, relationships, and even symbols.
George Herbert Mead:
 Mead is widely regarded as the founder of the interactionist perspective. He
was interested in observing the most minute forms of communication – smiles,
frowns, nodding the head – and in understanding how such individual behaviour
was influenced by the larger context of a group or society.
 Theory of the Self: According to Mead, the self begins as a privileged, central
position in a person’s world. Young children picture themselves as the focus of
everything around them and find it difficult to consider the perspectives of
others. As people mature the self changes and begins to show greater concern
about the reactions of others. Those who play a major role in shaping the
development of the self are called
 Significant Others: Mead used the term significant others to refer to those who
play a major role in shaping the development of the self.
 Generalized Other: The term Mead used to refer to the attitudes, viewpoints,
and expectations of society that a child takes into account. This concept
suggests that when an individual acts, he or she considers an entire group of
people.
Erving Goffman
 He popularized a particular type of interactionist method known as the
dramaturgical approach. The dramaturgist compares everyday life to the setting
of the theatre and stage. Just as actors project certain images, all of us seek to
present particular features of our personalities while we hide other qualities.
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