Sociologicaltheories. Lecture 2

1.

Lecture 2
Sociological
theories

2.

Content
• Introduction
• Social forces that have contributed to the development of sociological theory
• The development of sociological theories
• Major theoretical perspectives:
• Structural functionalism
• Conflict Theory
• Symbolic Interactionism
• Glossary

3.

Social forces that have contributed to the development of
sociological theory over time:
Social change
Political and economic structures
Culture and social norms
Social movements and activism
Technology and globalization

4.

French
Revolution
Industrial
revolution

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

The development of
sociological theories
Classical
sociology
Modern
sociology
Contemporary
sociology

10.

Major theoretical perspectives
Macro-level theories
relate to large-scale
issues and large groups
of people,
while micro-level theories
look at very specific
relationships between
individuals or small groups.

11.

Grand theories
Paradigms

12.

13.

Structural functionalism
sees society as a structure with interrelated
parts designed to meet the biological and
social needs of the individuals in that
society.
Auguste Comte; Emile Durkheim; Herbert
Spencer; Talcott Parsons; and Robert Merton

14.

He argued that
just as the various
organs of the
body work
together to keep
the body
functioning, the
various parts of
society work
together to keep
society
functioning
(Spencer, 1898).
Herbert Spencer

15.

Émile Durkheim
believed that society is a
complex system of
interrelated and
interdependent parts that
work together to maintain
stability (Durkheim, 1893)

16.

17.

Robert Merton
• Manifest functions are the
consequences of a social process
that are sought or anticipated,
while latent functions are the
unsought consequences of a social
process.
• Social processes that have
undesirable consequences for the
operation of society are called
dysfunctions.

18.

Conflict Theory
looks at society as a
competition for limited
resources
Karl Marx; W. E. B. DuBois; C. Wright
Mills; and Ralf Dahrendorf

19.

Karl Marx
saw society as being made up of
individuals in different social
classes who must compete for
social, material, and political
resources such as food and
housing, employment, education,
and leisure time.

20.

Max Weber
noted that different groups
were affected differently based
on education, race, and gender,
and that people’s reactions to
inequality were moderated by
class differences and rates of
social mobility, as well as by
perceptions about the
legitimacy of those in power

21.

Georg Simmel
• He said that the intensity of the conflict
varies depending on the emotional
involvement of the parties, the degree of
solidarity within the opposing groups,
and the clarity and limited nature of the
goals. Simmel also showed that groups
work to create internal solidarity,
centralize power, and reduce dissent.

22.

Symbolic interactionism
emphasizes the ways in which individuals
interact and communicate with one another,
and the meanings they attach to these
interactions
Max Weber; George Herbert Mead; Charles Horton Cooley;
Erving Goffman; George Homans; and Peter Blau.

23.

Symbolic interactionism (SI)
Language
Symbols
SI

24.

George Herbert Mead
Herbert Blumer
humans interact with things based on meanings
ascribed to those things; the ascribed meaning
of things comes from our interactions with
others and society; the meanings of things are
interpreted by a person when dealing with
things in specific circumstances

25.

26.

patterns of interaction between individuals

27.

Erving Goffman
• dramaturgical analysis
• used theater as an analogy for social interaction
and recognized that people’s interactions showed
patterns of cultural “scripts”

28.

29.

Symbolic interactionist
perspective are more likely to
use qualitative research
methods:
• in-depth interviews
• participant observation

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

Conclusion
Overall, each of these
perspectives offers a
unique way of
understanding and
analyzing the social
world, and each has
contributed to the
development of
sociological theory in
important ways.

35.

Glossary terms:
Sociological theory, industrialization, enlightenment, Industrial
revolution, French revolution, positivism, Comte's law of three
stages, capitalism, Manifest functions, latent functions, dysfunctions,
Structural functionalism, Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interactionism

36.

• Giddens, A., & Sutton, P. W. (2017). Sociology (8th ed.). Polity Press.