Download 2. Three Classical Sociological Perspectives

1. The Three Classical Sociological Perspectives
Korpics 2013
THREE CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
In the history and development of sociology, three separate perspectives were created and elaborated.
They all owe their origins to thinking about applying the scientific method to the study of society in the
middle and late nineteenth century.
Karl Marx, who never called himself a sociologist, was concerned with the underlying competition
between resources. He concentrated on the differences between the class of people who owned the
factors of production, the bourgeoisie, and the class of people who had only their labour to sell in return
for survival, the proletariat.From his analysis has grown the perspective in sociology which we now call
"Conflict." The dynamics and changes in society are linked to various conflicts.
Emile Durkheim took a different approach. He argued that we can look at rates of behaviour and find
explanations outside the individuals who are doing the acting.He saw some sort of a conscience which
acted as if it were external to individuals even though it was carried in the thoughts of individuals.He
argued, in contrast to Marx, that various characteristics of social elements contribute to the living and
growing of society and its institutions.This idea is carried through today as the "Functionalist"
perspective in sociology.
Max Weber also disagreed with Marx, but went in a different direction. He said we can not understand
society unless we understand the meanings that people put on their actions and beliefs.He argued that
the industrial revolution was caused by a shift in values and beliefs associated with the ideas of John
Calvin and the Protestant Reformation.From his analysis is derived the third main sociological
perspective, "Symbolic Interaction."
For over a century, sociologists have fought great battles based on these three radically different ways
of perceiving society. Sometimes those battles are echoed in debates today.Like the famous feuding pair
of Appalachian extended families, the Hatfields and McCoys, the battles have been now put to rest, and
there is much effort put in finding ways to reconcile them.
All three are valuable, and we should try to internalize them as merely different ways of looking at the
same things.
1. What was Karl Marx concerned with?
2. What is Marx’s theory referred to today?
3. Who believed in the “Functionalist” perspective?