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Week 3

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14 views18 pages

Week 3

Uploaded by

alytariq5
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sociology

Theoretical perspectives
Agenda
01
After studying this topic students will be able to:

02 .

03 Feminist perspectives

04 Levels of

analysis:micro&macro
Learning outcome
After studying this topic students will be able to
• Discuss and present their own views about different perspectives of
sociological ideas and theories.
• Analyze causes and impacts of different perspectives of sociology
• Present their ideas and reasons about different perspectives in
sociology
• Explain what sociological theories are and how they are used
• Understand the similarities and differences between structural
functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism
Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology
concepts

Sociologists study social events, interactions, and patterns. They


then develop theories to explain why these occur and what can
result from them.
Concepts
Theory

A theory is a way to explain different aspects of social inter-


actions and create testable propositions about society.

For example, Durkheim’s proposition that differences in sui-


cide rate can be explained by differences in the degree of so-
cial integration in different communities is a theory
Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology
Concepts

1. Functionalist
2. Conflict
3. Symbolic Interactions
4. Feminist
1. Functionalist Perspectives
 The central idea of Functional analysis is that society is a whole
unit, made up of interrelated parts that work together.
 or
 A theoretical approach that sees society as a structure with
interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of
individuals that make up that society.
To understand society, we must look at both structure, how the parts of society fit
together to make up the whole, the function, how each part contributes to society.
 Robert Merton used the term function to refer to the beneficial
consequences of people’s actions to keep society stable and
dysfunctions to refer to consequences that undermine stability.
 Functions can be either manifest (actions that are intended) or latent
(unintended consequences).
 In trying to explain divorce, functionalist would look at how
industrialization and urbanization both contributed to the changing
function of marriage and the family.
2. Symbolic interactions
 Symbolic interactions' views symbols, things to
which we attach meaning, as the basis of social life.
 Through the use of symbols people are able to
define relationships to others, to coordinate actions
with others, making social life possible, and to
develop a sense of themselves.
 A symbolic interactionist studying divorce would
focus on the changing meaning of marriage; family
and divorce have all contributed to the increase in
the rate of divorce in U.S. society.
3.Conflict perspective
 According to Conflict theory, society is viewed as
composed of groups competing for scarce resources.
 Karl Marx focused on struggles between the
bourgeoisie, the small group of capitalists who own the
means of production, and the proletariat, the masses of
workers exploited by the capitalists.
 Contemporary conflict theorists have expanded this
perspective to include conflict in all relations of power
and authority.
 Divorce is seen as the outcome of the shifting balance
of power within a family; as women have gained power
and try to address inequalities in their relationships,
men resist.
4.FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE
 According to Wilhelmina Drucker (1847–1925) who fought
for the vote and equal rights through political and feminist
organizations she founded. In 1917–1919 her goal of
women's suffrage was reached.
 Feminist sociology focuses on analyzing the grounds of the
limitations faced by women when they claim the right to
equality with men.
 One of the keen sociological insights that emerged with the
feminist perspective in sociology is that “the personal is
political.”
 Many of the most immediate and fundamental experiences
of social life—from childbirth to who washes the dishes to
the experience of sexual violence—had simply been
invisible or regarded as unimportant politically or socially
Levels of analysis: micro and
macro
 Macrosociology is an approach to sociology which
emphasizes the analysis of social systems and
populations on a large scale, at the level of social
structure, and often at a necessarily high level of
theoretical abstraction.

 Microsociology, by contrast, focuses on the


individual social agency.
 In the field of sociology, the study of individuals is
called microsociology, and the study of larger
organizations, communities and societies that
individuals live in, is called macrosociology
Examples
 Micro-level example: Individual thought,
action, and interaction, often coinciding with
social-psychological theories and models.
 Macro-level: social structures and those
forces that organize as well as divide
individuals into political, social or religious
organizations, ethnic populations,
communities, and nation-states and all
subcultures and influential forces.
Thank you

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