Download sociological theory april 08 1

Key People
&
Contemporary Perspectives
What is the “glue” that
holds societies
together?
What provides
people with a sense
of belonging?
Why are these
bubbles coming
out of my head?
Emile Durkheim
Concerned with social order and stability
 People are a product of their social
environment
 Human potential is socially based, not
biologically based
 Societies are built on social facts
 Rapid social change produces social strain

Key Terms for Durkheim

Social Facts
 Patterned
ways of acting,
thinking, and feeling that
exist outside any one
individual but that exert
social control over each
person.

Anomie
 Social
control becomes
ineffective as a result of the
loss of shared values and a
sense of purpose in society
Provide Some Examples

Social Facts

Anomie
Conflict is necessary to
produce social change
and a better society
I think today I will
establish a free and
classless society
I, too, have these
bubbles popping
out my head!
Karl Marx

History is a continuous clash between
conflicting ideas and forces
 Economic

changes are most important
Class conflict between capitalist class
(bourgeoisie) and the working class
(proletariat)
 Alienation
 Fetishism
of Commodities
Society should be changed
 Criticized for too much emphasis on class
struggle

Click anywhere to play
Sociology should be
value-free – it should
exclude the researcher’s
personal values and
economic interests
It really isn’t possible
for sociologists to be
value-free is it?
Then, we need to
gain the ability to see
the world as others
see it
Max Weber

Bureaucracies – determines the social
relationships among people
 These

are destructive to human vitality and freedom
Rationalization – the modern world has become
dominated by structures devoted to:
 Efficiency
 Calculability
 Predictability
 Technological

Control
Emphasized the goal of value-free inquiry &
necessity of understanding how others see the
world
Structural Functionalist
Based on the assumption that society is a
stable, orderly system (Durkheim)
 Societal Consensus

 Common
set of values, beliefs, behavioral
expectations
Society composed of inter-related parts
 Social structures and institutions persist
because they help society persist
 Strains

Functionalism

Manifest Functions
 Intended
or overtly recognized by participants in a
social unit


Examples
Latent Functions
 Unintended
functions that are hidden and
unacknowledged by participants


Examples
Dysfunctions
 Undesirable

consequences
May threaten a society’s capacity to adapt and survive
Conflict Perspective


Groups in society are
engaged in continuous
power struggle for control
of scarce resources (Marx,
Weber)
Encompasses several
branches:
 Neo-Marxist
(class struggle)
 Racial-Ethnic (exploitation)
 Feminist (gender issues)
Symbolic Interactionist
Examines people’s day-to-day interactions
and their behavior in small groups (microlevel)
 Society is the sum of the interactions of
individuals and groups
 Subjective Reality

 Each
person’s interpretation or definition of a
given situation (shared or not shared
symbols)
Post-Modern



Existing theories have not
successfully explained
social life in a
contemporary society
Society focused on a shift
from production to
consumption
Postmodern Society
 Information
explosion
 Rise of a consumer society
 Global Village