Download The Sociological Perspectives

The Sociological Perspectives
• The Structural/Functional Perspective
• The Conflict Perspective
• Symbolic/Interactionist Perspective
And those exciting guys and gals who
brought it to our attention!!
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 (What is Macro?)
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, nonverbal, and VERBAL
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
Brother, boyfriend, sister, girlfriend
• Suppose that you fallen madly in love. Finally, after what
seems forever, it is the night before the wedding. As you
are contemplating tomorrow’s bliss, your mother comes
to you in tears. Sobbing, she tells you that she had a
child before she married your father, a child she gave up
for adoption. Breaking down, she says that she has just
discovered that the person you are getting married to is
this child.
Famous Theorists
(you should know)
Auguste Comte
(French)(1798-1857)
Silent
comedian
in Paris
night club
scene.
• 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)
Pulling for
Hillary
• 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)
Clearly
suffered
from
constipation
• 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)
Gave every kid
the exact same
present while
playing Santa
Clause!
• 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)
Why so
angry
Max!
• 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)
Mother
still loved
him!
• 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
Watching
another
Chicago
winter suck
the life out of
her
(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
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W. E. B. DuBois
(American) (1868-1963)
1st AfricanAmerican
male to lose
his hair
• 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)
Hemingway’s
twin brother
from another
mother.
• 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)
Imagined
himself as
the queen
of
Denmark
• 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)
He thought
he was better
looking than
Kennedy
• 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)
Role played
once with
Queen
Victoria as
her puppy
“Charlie”
• 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)
Use to pretend
he was
Cinderella in
the mirror
• 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)
First to
undergo a
face
transplant
• 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)
Use to cry for
“Mommy” while
snorting cocaine
• Psychoanalyst
• Key concepts: unconscious, id, ego, superego, psycho-sexual
stages, psychoanalysis, ego defense mechanisms, free association.
dream interpretation, seduction theory, libido, libidinal energy
B(urrhus) F(redrick) Skinner
(American) (1904-1990)
Rang a bell
when he had
to potty at
the old folks
home
• 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