Sociology 101 (Basics)

Criticism of Functionalist Perspective

* Could not explain why so many raid changes were taking place * Peaked during World War II and the Vietnam War; *Declined between 1960-1970's; *Sociologist believe that it is not useful as a macro-level theory

Symbolic Interactionism Criticism

* Difficulty in remaining objective * Narrowly focused on only symbolic interactionism

Conflict Theory Criticism

* Focus too much on conflict to the point it overlooked stability * This differed from the functionalist perspective that focused mainly on society's stability

Conflict Theory

* Macro-level perspective * Society is in competition for limited resources * This is broadly spread out among the social institutions ( money, jobs, politics, ETC) * Some organization and social institutions are able to reserve more power than others (i.e. religious groups, corporations, and government) * There are selected individuals that are able to reserve more resources than others * These individuals use their power to maintain elite statuses in society

Symbolic Interactionist Theory

*Evaluates the relationship of individuals within their respective societies * Focuses on communication and meanings through the exchange of language and symbols * This is how people interpret their social worlds * This is a micro- level perspective In some cultures, it is considered rude to make eye contact * While in others it is a sign of respect to look someone in the eyes while speaking

Sociology

A group of people whose member interact, reside in a definable area, and share culture.

Latent Function

Are the unsought consequences of a social process (ex: of college education - meeting new people-participating in extracurricular activities- or finding a spouse or partner) Dysfunction - social process that have undesirable outcomes for the function of society ( Ex: of dysfunction in education would be truancy, bad grades, suspension ETC)

Herbert Blumer

Coined symbolic interactionism with 3 premises 1. Humans act towards things on the basis of meanings they ascribe those things 2. The meaning of such things is derived from, or arise out of, the social interaction that one has with others and the society 3. These meanings are handled in, and modified through an interpretive process used by the person in dealing with the things he/she encounters

Auguste Comte

Father of Sociology; natural sciences; believed social scientists should work for betterment of society Coined the term positivism - study of social patterns

Culture

Includes groups and shared practices, values, and beliefs.

American Dream

Institutional norm; food, housing, money, health care

Max Weber

Introduced Verstechen - understanding in a deeper way. Proposed antipositivism - researches strive for subjectivity as they work to represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal value.

Robert K. Merton

Social theorist; coined the idea of deviance - when you cant reach the American dream you detour to other options such as, crime or underground employment

C. Wright Mills

Social theorist; coined concept of social lens/imagination

Erving Goffman

Symbolic interactionist mainly known for his concept of face work * Used theater as an analogy for social interaction and recognized that people's interactions showed patterns of cultural scripts * Each situation calls for an different role by the individuals involved * Since this is oftentimes unknown, the individuals may have to improvise as the role unfolds

Manifested Function

The consequences of a social process that are sought or anticipated (ex: college education- gaining knowledge- preparing for a career- )

Emile Durkheim

believed in a limit created by the law of justice; people receive and respect

Karl Marx

disagreed with positivism; society divided into haves and have nots

George Herbert Mead

founder of symbolic interactionism, but never published. Was popularized by his student Herbert Blumer

Herbert Spencer

functionalist - contributes give back to society

Quantative research

related to statistics and numbers. Sureveying a large froup of participants to uncover patterns of human behavior

Macro-level

theoretical perspective attempts to explain large scale relationships and answer fundamental questions such as why societies form and change

Micro-level

theoretical perspective; uses a smaller scale to evaluate very specific relationships between small groups or individuals

Qualitive

understands human behavior through interviews, focus groups, and analysis of content sources