1. The Sociological Perspective
Chapter 1
The Sociological
Perspective

2. What Is Sociology? Sociology is the scientific study of human society.
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3. What is the Sociological Perspective?
The sociological perspective is when you look for general patterns in the behavior of people. or
You look for the strange in the familiar.
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4. Sociological Perspective - Examples
Society shapes what we think and do. For example:
Marriage
Who do we marry?
Why do we marry?
When do we marry?
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5. Sociological Perspective - Examples
Families
When do have kids?
How many children should you have?
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6. Sociological Perspective
Sociological Imagination is turning personal problems into public issues.
For example: Poverty
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7. Sociological Perspective
Social change encourages sociological thinking, sociological thinking can bring about social change
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8. Global Perspective
Global perspective is defined as the study of the larger world and our society’s place in it.
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9. Global Perspective Different Nations in the World
High Income Countries (72)
Middle Income Countries (70)
Low Income Countries (53)
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10. Global Perspective
Global thinking is an important component of the Sociological Perspective because:
Where we live shapes our lives
Societies are increasingly interconnected
Problems faced in the United States are far more serious in other countries
Helps us learn more about ourselves
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11. Origins of Sociology
Sociology is a relatively new field of study in the social sciences (i.e. history, economics, political science, psychology)
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12. Origins of Sociology
Three major social changes during the 17th and 18th centuries led to the development of sociology:
Industrial Revolution
Emergence of large, thriving cities in Europe
French and American Revolutions
Promoted individual liberty and rights
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13. Origins of Sociology
The French Revolution symbolized the dramatic break with political and social tradition
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14. Origins of Sociology - Founder
August Comte (French Philosopher)
Positivism – a way to understanding based on science
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15. Origins of Sociology - Comte
Comte saw sociology as the product of a 3-stage historical development:
Theological Stage (Beginning of History to 1350 C.E.)
Metaphysical Stage ( )
Scientific Stage (1679 to Present)
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16. Sociological Theory
Theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are related.
How to explain social behavior in the real world
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17. Sociological Theory Three theoretical approaches to Sociology:
Structural-Functional Approach
Social-Conflict Approach
Symbolic-Interaction Approach
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18. Structural-Functional Approach
Society is guided by social structures (relatively stable patterns of social behavior)
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19. Structural-Functional Approach
Each social structure has social functions, or consequences, for the operation of society as a whole.
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20. Structural Functional Approach
Key Figures:
Auguste Comte
Emile Durkheim
Herbert Spencer
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21. Structural Functional Approach
Robert Merton
Manifest Functions are recognized and intended consequences
Latent Functions are unrecognized and unintended consequences
Social Dysfunctions are undesirable consequences
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22. Structural Functional Approach
Critical review: The influence of this approach has declined recently
It focuses on stability
It ignores inequalities such as social class, race, and gender
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23. Social Conflict Approach
Sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change
Society is structured in ways to benefit a few at the expense of the majority
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24. Social Conflict Approach
Factors such as race, sex, class, and age are linked to social inequality
Dominant group vs. disadvantaged group relations
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25. Social Conflict Approach
Key Figures – Karl Marx
The importance of social class in inequality and social conflict
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26. Social Conflict Approach
Feminism and the Gender Conflict Approach
A point of view that focuses on inequality and conflict between women and men
The advocacy of social equality for women and men
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27. Social Conflict Approach
Key Figures
Harriet Martineau
Jane Addams – Hull House in Chicago
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28. Social Conflict Approach
Race Conflict Approach
Point of view focuses on inequality and conflict between people of different racial or ethnic categories
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29. Social Conflict Approach
Key Figures
W.E.B. Dubois
He believed that race was the major problem facing the United States in the 20th Century.
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30. Social Conflict Approach
Critical Review
Popular but has several weaknesses
It ignores unity based on mutual interdependence and shared values
It cannot claim scientific objectivity
It views society in terms of broad abstractions
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31. Symbolic-Interaction Approach
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
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32. Symbolic-Interaction Approach
Key elements
Society is a shared reality that people construct as they interact with one another
Society is a complex, ever-changing mosaic of subjective meanings
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33. 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
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34. Who’s Who in the Symbolic-Interaction Paradigm
Erving Goffman
Dramaturgical analysis
George Homans & Peter Blau
Social-exchange analysis
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35. Critical Evaluation Structural-Functional Social-Conflict Too broad
Ignores inequalities of social class, race & gender
Focuses on stability at the expense of conflict
Social-Conflict
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36. Critical Evaluation Symbolic-Interaction
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
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38. Applying the Approaches: The Sociology of Sports
The Functions of Sports
A structural-functional approach directs our attention to ways sports help society operate
Sports have functional and dysfunctional consequences
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39. Sports and Conflict
Social-conflict analysis points out games people play reflect their social standing
Sports have been oriented mostly toward males
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40. Sports and Conflict
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
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42. Sports as Interaction Following symbolic-interaction approach:
Sports are less a system than an ongoing process
Structural-functional, social-conflict, and symbolic-interaction:
Provide different insights into sports.
No one is more correct than the others
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