Download Anthropology – An Introduction

Sociology – Schools of Thought
*Please note that there are some overlaps between that of the
Anthropological and Sociological Schools of Thought
Structural-Functionalism – the premise of Structural-Functionalists is
that society must exist to provide its members with certain fundamental
requirements in order for it to function. A Structural-Functionalist will not
look to change society but instead look at how each system allows human
society to function.
These sociologists will look at how our social systems work together
(sometimes unknowingly) to create social cohesion and stability. Within
society there are specialized systems (like our education system) that exist to
fulfill particular needs.
*A sociologist will study these systems while an anthropologist may look at
the differences from culture to culture*
Dysfunctional – social institutions are those that fail to perform
their intended purpose.
Neo-Marxism – is a sociological school of thought that focuses on the ideas
proposed by Karl Marx. He believed that society is best understood by
looking at its economic system and the struggle for economic power. In
addition, it is the economic power that controls political power. This system
looks at society as ever-changing. As a result social change comes from
changes made to the economic system.
Neo-Marxists believe that it is the economic system that creates inequality in
society. The free-market (or capitalist) society then creates an
unavoidable rift between the rich and the power, the powerful and the
powerless. In particular Neo-Marxists often study the effects of
globalization on lesser developed countries.
Symbolic Interactionism – basically put this is the way in which we as
humans interact with others. Specifically though it is our ability to adjust
our behaviour to the actions of others. This is possible due to our ability to
interpret for ourselves the stimuli that we receive in daily life.
Interpreting stimuli – to the symbolic interactionist each individual
will interpret the stimuli they receive in a different manner. Different
perceptions thus mean varying emphasis on what is important to each
individual. For example, one sibling may value money while the
other values charity. Both have received the same messages from
their parents but have interpreted the stimuli in a different manner.
Symbolic Interactionism – focuses on the face-to-face interaction of
humans rather than on the social institutions.
Feminist Theory – looks at the tradition of discrimination against women in
society. Feminists will agree that, in the past, women have been
marginalized via male dominated institutions. However, disagreement now
exists in looking at the extent of the problem today (ie: does it still exist and
to what extent?)
4 Types of Feminists:
Liberal Feminists – do not actively challenge the role of men in
society. Their belief is that chance can be brought about via legal and
social reform. The idea here is that of equity or “sameness” and that
women should be given the right to decide certain issues for
themselves. Examples of issues that liberal feminists tend to support
are: same-sex marriage, pro-choice movement and the legalization of
prostitution.
Marxian Feminists – believe that the capitalist society is the root of
inequality and oppression of women. The rich class of working men
created the undervalued (and unpaid) work of domestic women. The
result (according to Marxian Feminists) is that even after entering the
workforce women were not paid the same as their male counterparts.
Radical Feminists – to the radical feminist society is seen as an
oppressive patriarchy in which men dominate most institutions.
Radical feminists will often clash with liberal feminists because they
don’t think that legislation will bring about change. They feel that
society has to be changed at its core. Radical feminists wish to
completely destroy societal patriarchy. Sometimes radical feminists
believe that they must rage a war against men, patriarchy, and the
gender system which confines them to rigid social roles. They
completely reject these roles, all aspects of patriarchy, and in some
cases, they reject men as well.
Social Feminists – share some beliefs with radical feminists in that
both believe that the social state of patriarchy needs to be dissolved.
A key difference though is that they believe men and women need to
work side by side as equals. To accomplish this they take from the
beliefs of Marxian feminists in that capitalism needs to first be
overthrown.
Inclusionism – is not a gender-based school of thought but instead looks at
issues of race and religion. Historically most sociologists looked at society
as being assimilationist (that the culture of the majority would eventually
absorb racial, ethnic and religious minorities through public institutions).
Multiculturalism – as Canada became more ethnically diverse
sociologist began looking at the diversities within society.
Furthermore they wished to study the experiences of visible minorities
and the barriers they face. Inclusionism looks at the political
involvement of visible minorities and their ability to obtain racial
equity in the workplace (status, promotion and pay equity).