Sociology 1020 - Lecture Two

Perspectives in Sociology

This lecture will cover the main perspectives used in sociology.  The main perspectives addressed here (functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionist) all cover different aspects of society. Like all individuals, sociologist have experiences that shape their perspective. Page 21 in your text gives you an overview of the three important perspectives used in sociology.

 Chapter one gives you an overview of some of the classical social theorists. These theorists provided us with important ways of seeing the world.  I am not as interested in understanding the great writers but their ideas.  We need to operate with the  idea that classical sociology is still relevant today.    

You will also need to be acquainted with how the chart on page 21 breaks down the perspectives.  In this course I will use examples of Hispanic immigration into east Tennessee.  This issue provides a good background for understanding Morristown's changing cultural composition.  

I. What is a Theory? What is a Perspective?

A theory explains events. It tells how facts and events are related. We use theories in our daily lives to assist us in interpreting how the world works. Sociologists use social theory to do the same thing. They use social theory to understand social systems and societies and explain how they operate. 

Theories must be tested. However they cannot be proven.  Theories can only be disproved.  The theory that survives testing most effectively explains the world.     

 Theories are used to explain events or empirical situations.  Empirical means something which can be explained by the senses.  (Visual, Hearing, Touch)  Social theories provide frameworks for understanding events. Sociology often goes against our common sense understanding of an event.  We will see examples of this throughout the course.

Perspectives are a set of guiding principles.  They are frameworks to help us interpret the world.  For instance the sociological imagination introduced in chapter one is a perspective.  It is the idea that people's thoughts and actions are influenced by the social realities and groups in which they belong.  This section introduces three perspectives that are used throughout the text.  Again the chart on page 21 in the text provides a good outline of the perspectives. 

1) Functionalism

The structural-functionalist perspective is a macro level perspective.  This means that the perspective examines social systems. The key ideas of the functionalist perspective is that society is made up of parts which support the system as a whole and that changes in one part of society (such as the family) changes other parts of society (such as education).  For instance if we start having less children then the education system will be effected.

The focus of the functionalist perspective is on how a part contributes to the survival of the whole.  The key to functionalist thought is that society is characterized by order and stability.  Functionalist tend to be conservative in their outlook arguing that widespread social change can be very destructive for social systems.  For instance in the industrial revolution in Western countries urbanization and demographic movements led to high crime levels, increased suicide, and changing social relationships based on relations between strangers.

Functionalism emerged through the work of Comte, Durkheim, and Spencer. (see the text) These early social theorists experienced the social changes in the 1800s.  The changes (urbanization, industrialization, and democracy) had profound influences on human behavior and organization.  Sociology emerged as a science to try to explain these changes.  Functionalist were interested in the negative changes in the new social order.  A key feature of change includes social disorganization.  Anomie or normlessness is a characteristic of urban life.  Anomie means lacking guiding principles.  City life was chaotic in the early period of industrialization with mass immigration in London, Manchester, or New York.   Functionalist wanted to understand how to preserve a stable social order.  Today we must apply the perspective to the reality we face for it to be relevant.      

The functionalist perspective has often been termed the sunshine perspective.  This is because it takes a pro-society stance. It can assume that because something exists it is functional for society.  Your text points out that poverty create jobs for some workers and assists society to use all of its products.  It is of course dysfunctional.  It costs society much more.  This level of theorizing is useless.  Functionalism does give us a perspective on society that we can use in daily life.  

2) The Conflict Perspective

The conflict perspective takes as given that conflict, social inequality, and power/powerlessness are all key aspects of society.  Coming form the work of Karl Marx, perspectives using a conflict approach assume that some groups within society exploit other groups within society.  Marx lived during a time when workers faced miserable conditions in the workplace, had little access to resources or possessions, and had little power to shape their lives.  The great movement into cities and the factory system by peasants in the 1800s lead to a mass labor force which was exploited by a emerging capitalist class in Europe and eventually America.  Labor struggle is a key idea for conflict theorists.  

Conflict theorists' assume that some groups benefit more than others from social arrangements.  Unlike functionalist who believe that society is based on order and consensus, conflict theorists argue that the driving force of society is  conflict over scarce resources and power arrangements.  The conflict perspective is a macro level perspective.  it is assumed that exploitation occurs on a large scale level between groups.  The resources controlled by dominant groups within society come in many forms.  Wealth and money are one type of resource within society.  Other types include social status (positions valued within society), access to social institutions (health care or education), or the mass media.  The mass media gives groups within society the ability to define and construct situations.  This in turn gives the powerful the ability to shape how the world works.   Examples include the means of production (land, tools, technology) which produces goods and services.   In an information society the ability to control technology has become a main source of power and wealth.  Think of Bill Gates for instance.  

Today, where is the proletariat?  The proletariat are third world workers who provide labor that makes our products cheaper.  The clothes you wear. The electronics you use.  The car you drive all are affordable because of the far reaches of capitalism.  To recap, conflict theorists use the ideas of exploitation, power and powerlessness, and conflict between groups to explain the social world.    

3) Symbolic Interactionism

Unlike Conflict or Functionalism, social theorist using the symbolic interactionist perspective focus on the individual and the creation of the mind, self, and individual behavior.  Advocates of this perspective assume that society.  A key idea is  social interaction which is made up of individuals who shape it through  constant interaction using symbols.  It is where two or more people respond to each other to create meaning and then act on this meaning.  

Symbolic interaction refers to the process whereby people create their sense of self and the extent to which they are conscious that they are creating their sense of self.  Much of what human use as symbols are nonverbal.  Body language for instance is an important type of signal.  Often in my classes girls and boys sit differently.  Girls sit with their legs crossed and take up very little space.  Boys sit all over the place.  They are taught to take up more space than girls.  Girls are taught to share.  Boys are socialized to take up space. Socialization is the basis of the perspective.  

We often have communication problems as human beings.  We will look at some of the research on how communication impacts couples who are dating or are married.  Definitions of the situation are important as we will see later.  For some a star might be a famous person like Brad Pitt or Madonna.  For others a star is a ball of hot gas.  We might also conclude they over lap.  But that is my opinion.

Ideas from symbolic interactionism are used in psychology, social work, human services, and family studies.  In this course we will look at the creation of the self, the mind, and impression management.  We will also like at gender socialization and the impact of identity on individuals.

Research Sites

Surveys and Statistics

http://www.asanet.org/media/surveyspols.html          Making Sense of Surveys

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~abelson/                   Survey Search Engine

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/                                     Census 2000 Search

http://stats.bls.gov/                                                   Bureau of Labor Statistics

http://www.researchresources.net/                            Survey  Research Database

http://www.researchresources.net/socio.htm             Sociology Statistics

Oral Histories

http://www.uccb.ns.ca/mikmaq/oralhis.html              Oral Histories

http://www.uky.edu/Libraries/Special/oral_history/     Oral History University of Kentucky

http://www.mtsu.edu/~library/wtn/wtn-oral.html         Oral History: Tennessee Women

http://www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html   How to Do Oral History

Ethnography

http://www.aaanet.org/resinet.htm                              Resources in Anthropology

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~i9248809/cultural.html     Resources in Anthropology

http://home.bredband.no/perdeh/fieldwork.htm           Fieldwork

http://www.slis.ualberta.ca/guides/canthro/anthro.htm  Internet Resources for Anthropology