Download What is a Theory?

Chapter 2:Sociology’s Family Tree:
Theories and Theorists
1
What is a Theory?
• A set of assumptions
• Attempts to provide a plausible
explanation
• Of cause-and-effect (causal)
relationships
•Among observed phenomenon
Origin (from the Greek thorós, a spectator), stresses
that all theories are mental models of
perceived reality.
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Theory
• Vital to making sense of social life
• Facts make sense because we
interpret them using categories and
assumptions
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Categories
• Class of people or
things regarded as
having particular
shared
characteristics
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Assumptions
• Assumptions are
beliefs or ideas that we
hold to be true — often
with little or no
evidence required.
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Assumptions About Human
Nature
1.
2.
3.
4.
Selfish or Selfless
Aggressive or Compassionate
Competitive or Cooperative
Have basic needs:
•
•
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Food / Water
Companionship
Perception of control
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Formal Sociological Theory
Formal sociological theorizing makes
• Assumptions and categories explicit
• Open to examination
• Scrutiny, and
• Reformulation
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Practical Theory
• Our lives are filled with theories as
we try to understand the world
around us
• Examples:
• How do we make friends?
• How to succeed in college?
• How to get a job?
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Sociological Theories
• Explain the social world and
• Make predictions about future events
• Theories—Sometimes referred to as
Approaches,
• Schools of thought,
• Paradigms, or
• Perspectives
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Founders of Sociology
• Auguste Comte (1798–1857)
• Coined the term “sociology” in 1839
• Also used the term “social physics”
to refer to the new discipline and…
• His organic conceptualization of
society
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Auguste Comte
• Sociology is like other scientific
disciplines
• Groundwork for future sociologists
• Helped build the discipline
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Auguste Comte
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
Founders of Sociology
• Harriet Martineau (1802-1876):
• A social activist
• Supported labor unions
• Abolition of slavery
• Women’s suffrage
• Traveled around the United States
• Translated Comte’s work from
French into English
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Harriet Martineau
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
9/6 Founders of Sociology
• Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
• Believed that societies evolve by adapting
to the changing environment
• Coined the phrase “survival of the fittest”
• Philosophy is often referred to as “Social
Darwinism”
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Herbert Spencer
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
Founders of Sociology
• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
• Helped establish sociology as an
academic discipline
• Interested in the social factors that bond
and hold society together
• Social solidarity
• Mechanical solidarity
• Organic solidarity
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Emile Durkheim
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
Founders of Sociology
• Karl Marx (1818-1883)
• German philosopher
• Political activist
• Contributed significantly to
sociology’s Conflict Theory
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Videos about Marx
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ztVeUX8Hpo&feat
ure=related
• Marxism made simple
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUl4yfAB
E4&feature=related
• The Communist Manifesto Cartoon
Karl Marx
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
Marx Core Ideas
• Reaction to economic & social
conditions due to Industrial
Revolution
• Theory not only interprets the
world, but also changes it
Marx
• Focus: Economic classes
• Bourgeoisie--owners
• Proletariat--workers
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Founders of Sociology
• Capitalism created social inequality
• Between the bourgeoisie, who owned the
means of production (money, factories,
natural resources, land), and the
proletariat, who were the workers
• According to Marx, this inequality leads to
class conflict
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Founders of Sociology
• Max Weber interested in how society
was becoming industrialized and
• Rationalization
• Economic logic to human activity
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Max Weber
• Contemporary life filled with
disenchantment
• Dehumanizing of modern societies
• Bureaucracy
• Capitalism
• Oligopolies
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Weber: Dehumanizing Effect of
Modern Society
• Modern capitalism--lifelong entrapment of
individuals organizational structures
• Efficient accumulation of private wealth
as end in itself
• Humanity's increasing confinement within a
bureaucratized, "disenchanted" world, no
escape
• “The Iron Cage”
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Max Weber
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
Modern Schools of Thought
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•
•
•
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Structural Functionalism:
Society as:
Stable
Ordered system
Interrelated parts (structures)
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Structural Functionalism
•
•
•
•
•
Social institutions:
Family
Education
Politics
Economy
• Each meets a need of society
• Function
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Modern Schools of Thought
• Conflict Theory:
• Social conflict as basis:
• Of society and
• Social change
• Source of Conflict: Inequality
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Conflict theory
• Conflict and tension
• Basic to social life
• Disagreements over goals & values
• Struggles
• Resources
• Power
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Conflict theory
•
•
•
•
Focus on:
Dominance
Competition
Social change
33
Conflict theory
1. Materialist
• Labor and Economic reality
2. Critical of existing arrangements
3. Dynamic historical change
• Societal transformation
inevitable
34
Modern Schools of Thought
• Symbolic Interactionism:
• Interaction & Symbols
• Meaning not inherent in object
• Shared meaning through
• Face-to-face interaction
• Using symbols
35
New Theoretical Approaches
• Feminist Theory:
• Gender inequalities
• How gender structures social
world
• Remedies to inequalities
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New Theoretical Approaches:
Queer Theory
• Categories of sexual identity
are social constructs
• No sexual category is
fundamentally deviant or
normal
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New Theoretical Approaches
Postmodernist Theory
•
•
•
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Social reality is:
Diverse
Changing
No truth, reason, right, order, or
stability
• Everything relative & temporary
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Theory in Everyday Life
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
Theory in Everyday Life
Perspective
Level of Analysis
Focus of Analysis
Case Study
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company