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The Sociological
Perspective
The Systematic Study of Human Society
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Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Global Map 1.1
Women’s Childbearing in Global Perspective
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
Sociology, 13 Edition by John Macionis
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Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
National Map 1.1
Suicide Rates across the United States
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Figure 1.1
Rate of Death by Suicide, by Race and Sex, for the United States.
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
Sociology, 13 Edition by John Macionis
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Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Applying Theory
Major Theoretical Approaches
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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.
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Figure 1.2
“Stacking” in Professional Football
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Sports as Interaction
• Following the symbolic-interaction
approach, sports are less a system than
an ongoing process.
• All three theoretical approaches—
structural-functional, social-conflict, and
symbolic-interaction—provide different
insights into sports. No one is more
correct than the others.
Sociology, 13h Edition by John Macionis
Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.