1. INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY
WHAT IS A SOCIETY?
WHY DO WE NEED SOCIOLOGY?
SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES:
Functionalism
Marxism
Micro Theories
Prepared by:
Sara Chookolingo

2. THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY

3. THE SCIENCE OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociology is a Science, more specifically a social science.
Sociology is the scientific study of human activity in the society.
Sociology is one of 6 social sciences.
A social science studies human behaviour, institutions, or functions of human society in a scientific manner.
Other social sciences include:
Anthropology
Psychology
Economics
Political Science
History

4. The belief that sociology is a science is called positivism.
It is important to note that sociology is extremely complex because social life is complex.
So although traditional sociologists may have applied the characteristics of a science, it is not as simple as a conventional science to investigate.
People are very complex creatures.

5. What makes sociology a science?
Empirical – observable facts
Theoretical – a set of ideas used to explain a phenomenon
Cumulative – builds on previous knowledge
Objective – bias-free, not influenced by personal opinion
Value-free – free from criteria

6. WHAT IS A SOCIETY?

7. What is a society?
A society is any set of people living together in a group comprising of a single community and whose members are interdependent (Mustapha 2009, 23).
Sociology = Studies human society and social behaviour in a scientific manner.

8. Society is divided into:
Social interactions – how people relate to one another and how they influence each others behaviour.
Social Institutions – a group of people banded together for a common purpose.
Social Phenomena – observable facts or events that occur in human society.

9. SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS
In the social sciences, institutions are the structures and mechanisms of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human collectivity.
Institutions include the family, religion, education, peer group, economic systems, legal systems, penal systems, political systems, and the media.

10. SOCIAL PHENOMENA
There are many issues and phenomena that are addressed in sociology. These include:
Crime
Stratification
Poverty
Technology
Racism
Social Media
Inequality
Population
Illiteracy
Corruption
Underdevelopment
Sexuality

11. WHY IS SOCIOLOGY IMPORTANT?
Understand how behaviour is influenced by social factors.
Learn how to view the world through other’s eyes (sociological perspective).
Attempt to connect the larger world with personal life (sociological imagination).
Find your place both within society and history.

12. SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
A theory is a set of ideas that seeks to explain how something works.
A sociological theory seeks to explain how society or aspects of society work.
Most “facts” as we understand it in today’s society are based on theory.

13. Theories are extremely selective and as such varying perspectives have its own priorities.
Thus, only a partial or one-sided view of reality is presented.

14. Structural (Macro) Theory
Analyses society as a whole and how it functions.
Human behaviour is affected or influenced by the institutions, structures and society as a whole.
Society  Human Behaviour (interaction)
Life, interactions and social behaviour are all determined by the institutions (school, religion, government) and structures (norms, values, customs, traditions) of society.
One such Macro theory is Functionalism.

15. FUNCTIONALISM

16. INSTITUTIONS  BEHAVIOUR
FUNCTIONALISM
One of the first sociological theories to evolve.
Became most dominant social theory in the 1940s & 50s, especially in the USA
Society can be compared to a living organism – INSTITUTIONS resemble ORGANS
Functionalism investigates the impact society and institutions have on the individual and behaviour.
INSTITUTIONS  BEHAVIOUR

17. FUNCTIONALISM Three Major Assumptions:
View society as a system of highly interrelated parts that function together harmoniously.

18. FUNCTIONALISM Three Major Assumptions:
Although societies differ and culture is relative, Functionalists believe in a general consensus (agreement) in society.

19. FUNCTIONALISM Three Major Assumptions:
Society seeks stability and the status quo and avoids conflict. Conflict is dysfunctional or pathological.

20. FUNCTIONALISM – Critique
Functionalism has been critiqued over the years for the following reasons:
Too deterministic and ignores diversity
Too ideal or perfect
Too functional – minimizes conflict

21. CONFLICT THEORY - MARXISM

22. CONFLICT THEORY - MARXISM
Like the Functionalists, conflict theory is a structural or Macro- sociological perspective.
However, this is their ONLY similarity.
Marxism offers a radical or revolutionary alternative to Functionalism.
Their MAIN tenet is that society is in a perpetual state of conflict because there are different groups with different needs and interests.
According to Tischler (2007, 21), conflict theorists view society as constantly changing in response to social inequality and social conflict.

23. MARXISM Conflict is normal and desirable
Social equilibrium or order is the dominant or ruling class ploy of maintaining control
According to Marxists, there are two groups in contemporary society:
Ruling Class (BOURGEOISIE or Capitalists)
Lower/Subordinate Class (PROLETARIAT or Working class)
History always had two groups opposing each other with differing interests (dialectic materialism)

24. MARXISM - Critique
Conflict theory has been condemned by several critics:
Too ideologically based
Too economically deterministic
There are more than two classes (growing middle class)

25. INTERPRETIVE (MICRO) THEORIES

26. SOCIAL ACTION
While Functionalism and Marxism insist that the structure or institutions are responsible for the manner in which individuals behave, social action or interpretive perspectives see structure as being influenced by the action of individuals.
Max Weber challenges the view that society exists outside or independently of the individual.

27. SOCIAL ACTION Max Weber (1864-1920)
Social Action or Individual Behaviour should be the focus of the study of society.
THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM (1904)
Social Action is an action carried out by an individual to which a person attached meaning.
It is as a result of conscious thought where an individual logically and rationally gives a reason to an action in a public sphere.
Verstehen – understanding of the meaning attached to an action.

28. SOCIAL ACTION Also remembered for his work on Bureaucracies.
A bureaucracy was the dominant institution on industrial society.
It is a rational organization with a hierarchy of paid, full-time professionals who formed a top-down chain of command.
Bureaucracies are everywhere – government, church, schools.
Humans rationally & logically think before they act.
Saw three spheres that affect life – economic, political and cultural.

29. OTHER INTERPRETIVE (MICRO) THEORIES
Symbolic Interactionism (by George H Mead)
Society is the product of interaction between people which takes place through the use of symbols which have meaning for the individuals involved.

30. OTHER INTERPRETIVE (MICRO) THEORIES
Dramaturgy (by Erving Goffman)
It is the belief that life is a stage and we are all players or actors. We are not our “real” selves in public.

31. OTHER INTERPRETIVE (MICRO) THEORIES
Ethnomethodology (by Harold Garfinkel)
Society has a particular order in life based on certain rituals that people use in order to make sense of their world.

32. OTHER INTERPRETIVE (MICRO) THEORIES
Phenomenology (Alfred Schutz)
How people make sense of their environment and surroundings by classifying objects based on their understanding.