theory contemporary sociological perspectives
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i4 . ChFpter 1Sociological Perspectives
NO-1 ICE: THIS MATEIA! MA" #E POTECTE$ #" COP"I%HT
!A& 'TIT!E 1() *.S. CO$E+ complex social system models
showing how all parts of a society fit together to compose
the whole. Sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset (1994)
argues that despite the discipline's focus during this
period sociologists themsel!es remained politically
li"eral and were acti!ely in!ol!ed in social reform
mo!ements. #ne sociologist in particular $. %right Mills
(191&19&) la"ored against the conser!ati!e tide in the
19*s to +eep a li"eral perspecti!e ali!e in sociology.Mills tried to raise people's awareness of the connections
"etween their personal li!es and the social world. ,y
using what he called the sociological imagination Mills
"elie!ed that ordinary people could see the lin+s "etween
the personal trou"les they experienced in their e!eryday
li!es and the pu"lic issues that plagued their society.
#nce they did this they would come to understand that
most of their pro"lems were not caused "y their own
failings or limitaions "ut rather "y "roader social forces
"eyond their control as indi!iduals. -n other words Mills
said the sociological imagination helps us to grasp the
relationship "etween history and "iography (Mills 199).
$. %right Mills was only fortysix years old when he
died in 19&. ad he li!ed he pro"a"ly would ha!e rel
ished what happened to sociology in the 19&*s. /ntiwar demonstrations the ci!il rights and women's mo!ements
%atergate and the disco!ery of large poc+ets of po!erty
in the 0nited States led some sociologists to see their
field as "eing too conser!ati!e. hey as+ed their colleagues 2%hose side are we on32 and called for more
radical social acti!ism (,ec+er 19&). ,itter
disagreements and ideological di!isions erupted which
may ha!e hurt sociology's prestige and credi"ility as ascientific discipline (Lipset 1994). 5e!ertheless dis
agreement led to the de!elopment of new sociological
perspecti!es which as we will see shortly included the!oices of pre!iously marginali6ed groups.
7.. E .... ...L The Origins and Development of Sociology
1. ow is sociology a social product3
. /lthough similarities were drawn "etween8urope and the 0nited States what do you
thin+ are the most important differences "etween early 8uropean and /merican
sociology3. -f you had to pic+ a 2sociology hero or
heroine2 from among those we ha!e
discussed so far who would it "e3 %hy3
4. -f you thin+ a"out the sociology department atyour college or uni!ersity would you say that
the participation of women and racial and
ethnic minorities in sociology is different today
STEPNICK. SOC 101. Packet 2
CONTEMPORARY SOCO!O"CA!PERSPECT#ES
/ theory is a set of interrelated statements that explainhow two or more phenomena are related to one another.
/merican sociology today is composed of se!eral
different theoretical perspecti!es each of which has
"een influenced "y the 8uropean founding theorists aswell as "y pioneering 0.S. sociologists and "y !arious
e!ents in this country and a"road during the twentieth
century. -n this part of the chapter we will discuss four
contemporary sociological theories: structuralfunctionalism conflict theory sym"olic interactionism
and feminist theory. 8ach offers a lens through which
to !iew the social world; howe!er <ust as changing the
lenses on a camera alters the image that appears in a photograph so do each of these theories pro!ide
differing insights into social life.
fj^Ch t)n4MSr ) JorAStr$ct$ral %$nctionalism
-f any one sociologist may "e credited with the de!elop
ment of a particular theoretical perspecti!e it is
ar!ard sociologist alcott =arsons. =arsons was the
chief architect of the contemporary sociological theory
+nown as structural functionalism. e was <oined inthis wor+ "y 7o"ert Merton one of his students who
went on to "e a prominent sociologist in his own right.
,oth theorists as we will see were strongly influenced
"y 8mile >ur+heim's ideas especially >ur+heim'semphasis on social order and social integration.
=arsons "egan with the assumption that a society is
made up of interrelated parts. 8ssentially these parts aresocial institutions or structures. hey include the economy go!ernment family education religion and the
health care system. 8ach institution has a function or role
to play in +eeping society running smoothly. ?or exam
ple each institution in its own way promotes coopera tionamong the mem"ers of society and helps preser!e social
order. =arsons saw these in fact as two of the most
important functions of any society's ma<or social institu
tions or structures.Merton ela"orated on this point "y distinguishing
"etween two types of functions: manifest functions and
latent functions. Manifest functions are o"ser!a"le
conse@uences or outcomes that are intended; that is
they are supposed to happen. Latent functions areo"ser!a"le conse@uences or outcomes that are
unintended or unexpected. ?or example parents send
their children to +indergarten to learn some "asicacademic s+ills such as the /,$s and to ac@uire
social s+ills such as learning to share with others; these
are manifest functions of +indergarten. ,ut in in
teracting with one another in +indergarten manychildren also learn "eha!iors that their parents and
teachers consider undesira"lecalling each other names
for instance
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t u might a structural functionalist describe what is hap~rurtin this picture? What concepts and questions would ~, ro st
relevant? For instance, how does the scene depict nrrativeconsensus? In contrast, how might a conflict
- , ~Jrist describe what is happening in relation to the
larger .r! < onte"t? For instance, what competing
interests and r1i iacqualities might be involved? #owwould a s$md%, nleractionist go about stud$ing the
situation?
n#using to touch certain people or things "ecausethey iA c 2cooties.2 &eer sociali'at ion or social learning
from luhlrcn their own age whether positi!e or
negati!e is a Btcrtt function of +indergarten.
-the institutions of a society function together 1111'(t the
society's "asic needs which results in social d,r ~,r, asfunctionalists would say a state of equilib
(rr "alance. -n addition the mem"ers of the
society a Cct of !alues customs and expectations forap'2hrtate "eha!ior that functionalists call the
normati!e mAcnsus. owe!er Merton recogni6ed
that at times !ar 11 tn titutions and !alues of the social
system may not '*urn well for all the society'smem"ers so he stressed 'rcc(l to study dysfunctions as
well as functions. >ys 'anktirais are any conse@uences or
outcomes produced "y the social system that lower
social integration. 2D.tmple in the 0nited States we!alue family pri!acy ' --- : premium we place on pri!acy
hides the a"use 2'C'2 and children often suffer in the
home and lea!es 2' rcrt unaccounta"le for their crimes.2rtctural functionalists emphasi6e the orderlywor+' 2r t 11*ciety and see the sociologist's <o" as
studying 2 t'callB how particular structures
contri"ute to order E '.thilita tas+ not without
merit. owe!er it iserliphasis on order and consensus that
draws 'sm. $ritics point out that our society and
many 2F arc di!ided along lines of social classrace and 2ex age and sexual orientation. 7ather
than
$ontemporary Sociotogical =erspecti!es
.
producing e@uili"rium and agreedupon !alues these di
!isions generate considera"le tension at "est and widespread ine@uality conflict social unrest and e!en
!iolence at worst. ,y focusing on order and consensus
functionalists help to preser!e the status @uo instead of
promoting social change and o!erloo+ or downplay themany sources of strain and di!isi!eness in a society.
Conflict Theory
Structural functionalism en<oyed tremendous popularity
from the 194*s to the early 19&*s when the social cli
mate of the 0nited States was decidedly conser!ati!e.owe!er as noted earlier sociology was not untouched
"y the social unrest that swept the country during the
19&*s. $ertainly it appeared then that society was char
acteri6ed more "y conflict than "y order and thereseemed to "e little agreement among !arious segments of
the population regarding !alues. -n one study for
instance people were as+ed whom they consider
2de!iant.2 he researcher recei!ed more than *different answers including some we would expect such
as criminals alcoholics and drug addicts "ut others that
should surprise us: women young people >emocratsand men with "eards (Simmons 19&9).
-n the midst of antiwar protests pu"lic
demonstrations demanding e@ual rights for women and
,lac+ /mericans and a widespread @uestioning of whatconstituted core /merican !alues many sociologists
turned to the study of social conflict and ine@uality. he
sociological perspecti!e +nown as conflict theory
de!eloped from their wor+. $onflict theorists owe muchto the writings of the classical social theorists Garl Marx
and Max %e"er especially their analyses of social class.
$onflict theory's emphasis on studying and sol!ing social
pro"lems also "ears the influence of the $hicago School./nd although he wrote "efore the theory "ecame popular
$. %right Mills is often identified as a founding conflict
theorist largely "ecause of his focus on the struggles
"etween the powerful and the powerless. Mills (19&)argued that the political influence wielded "y top
corporate and military leadersthe power elite, as he called
themwas undermining democracy "ecause it drowned
out the !oices of the rest of the population denying themany say in decision ma+ing. /lthough his research to
"ac+ up his claims was later critici6ed for its lac+ of
precision his analysis of class conflict pro!ided a strong
foundation for conflict theorists to "uild on ($oser19).
$onflict theorists "egin with the o"ser!ation that so
cieties are characteri6ed "y ine@uality. hat is societies
are arranged in such a way that resources and rewards areune!enly distri"uted among the population. his in
e@uality gi!es rise to conflict. $onflict from this per
specti!e is not necessarily "ad for society since it is a
source of social change "ut ine@uality itself has serious
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16 Chapter 1 Sociological Perspectives
consequences in the lives of individuals.Most people in our society suer from the-eects of inequalit! "hile a fe" reaptremendous #ene$ts from it. Moreover!those fe" at the top of the hierarch canuse their greater economic and politicalresources to preserve their advantageousposition. Con%ict theorists tell us that instuding societ! sociologists mustcarefull consider the competing interestsof the haves and have-nots.Con%ict theorists also argue thatsociological research should not #eseparated from sociological practice. &othe con%ict theorist! separatingsociological research from the "as in"hich the research can #e used isirresponsi#le. &he sociologist's (o# is not tostud societ (ust for the sa)e of increasing)no"ledge! #ut rather to use the )no"l-edge gained to develop strategies forma)ing societ #etter. &o the con%icttheorist! a *good* societ is a societ in"hich resources! re"ards! andopportunities are distri#uted equita#l.&he con%ict perspective! though popular! isnot "ithout its critics. Some sociologistsargue that focusing on con%ict and changee+aggerates their importance in the overall"or)ings of the social sstem "hiledo"nplaing the signi$cance of order!sta#ilit! and consensus. ,thers #elievethat in advocating the rights of theoppressed! con%ict theorists loseo#(ectivit and are thus #lind to alternativepoints of vie". nterestingl! still otherscharge that "hile con%ict theor focuseson inequalit! it does so in an unequal "a!not giving suicient attention to "omenand other oppressed groups.
Another criticism! though! has #een
Symbolic Interactionism
hile structural functionalism and con%icttheor ma #e characteri/ed as top-do"n
approaches to the stud of social life andsocial organi/ation! sm#olic interaction-ism ma #e vie"ed as a #ottom-upapproach. 0 this "e mean that sm#olicinteractionists start "ith the assumptionthat culture! organi/ations! and socialstructures are created through dailcommunications and interactions among
tions #ecome so much a part of peoplives that the do them almostautomaticall! li)e actors plaing a "rehearsed part. t is onl "hen thepatterns or rules are #ro)en as in th2oing Sociolog #o+ on page 13! thasocial actors #ecome consciousl a"athe rules' e+istence-and their importain everda life.Social realit! then! is constructed. &h"hat "e recogni/e as social life and!indeed! the social lives "e lead.. arelargel products of a multitude of socinteractions that have ta)en place ovtime. 4rom a sm#olic interactionistperspective! there can #e no societ"ithout a group of individuals "horoutinel interact "ith one another.Moreover! interacting generates smthat have a shared meaning among thmem#ers of the group. A sm#ol isanthing that stands for something eSm#ols can ta)e man forms-fore+ample! "ords! sounds! gestures!o#(ects-#ut no sm#ol has intrinsicmeaning. 5ather! the meaning of a sis assigned to it # the people "ho dethat the "ord! sound! gesture! or o#(ehas signi$cance. 4or instance! there nothing inherent in the color red thatpeople the must stop their cars "hethe see a light that color. nstead! inparticular societies! that meaning ha#een assigned to red lights # peoplehave decided to use them for thispurpose.t "as sociologist eorge 7er#ert Me8196:-1;:1< "ho $rst emphasi/ed thimportance of sm#olic communicatifor understanding human interaction7o"ever! it "as 7er#ert 0lumer "hodeveloped Mead's ideas into the theosm#olic interactionism. 0lumer 81;pointed out that people's actions deri
from their interpretation of "hat goearound them! and much of thisinterpretation is learned throughinteracting "ith others. e do not crne" meanings ever da= this "ould dail life #urdensome at #est! chaotic"orst. nstead! as "e live in a societlearn the meanings that have #een
C
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What Does Rule Breaking
Teach You about Rules?
ocial life we ha!e said is
go!erned "y a set of rules a"out
"eha!ior that de!elops out of people'songoing interactions with one
another. hese rules "ecome so
routine that most people are unawareof themuntil they are "ro+en. -ndeed
some sociologists ha!e de!ised
experiments in which rules of social
interaction are deli"erately "ro+en inorder to re!eal them for more careful
study.
he leading ad!ocate of this approach
is arold Harfin+el (19&) whoas+ed his students to !iolate some of
the most "asic unspo+en rules of
social interaction. -n one experiment
for example students "eha!ed li+e
door and waited for an answer "efore
entering the house; they addressed
their parents or roommates "y formaltitles such as 2Mr.2 or 2Mrs.2; they
as+ed for permission to watchtele!ision or ta+e something from the
refrigerator. -n other experimentsHarfin+el's students would mo!e
closer and closer to the person they
were tal+ing to until they were
practically touching or they would "oard an ele!ator and instead of loo+
ing politely at no one would stare di
rectly at a fellow passenger.
5one of these experiments too+ muchtime either "ecause the experimenter
felt too uncomforta"le to continue for
long or "ecause the unwitting partic
ipants in the experiments reacted sostrongly. 7egardless of the specific
experiment participants responded in
much the same way: hey were usu
all sur rised and confused "ut soon
$ontemporary Sociological =erspecti!es
4
em"arrassed and others appearedafraid @uestioning the experimenter's
sanity. /ccording to Harfin+el such
reactions re!eal the significance of these ta+enforgranted rules of
interaction in e!eryday liferules we
don't reali6e we !alue until they are
Harfin+els' experiments are
straightforward and easy toreplicate. ry one yourself. Ioucould go into a department store
and try to "argain for an item or
you could use one of the ex
periments we'!e discussed here. -f you need more ideas consult
Harfin+el's "oo+ (tudies in
)tbnomethodolog$. %hate!er
experiment you choose "e sure torecord in a note"oo+ the rule you
"ro+e and others' reaction to you
as well as how long you were a"le
to carry out the rule "rea+ing andyour own feelings during the
experiment. Sharing your results in
class will enerate some
nant !alues and rules of the larger society and the !ery
organi6ation of the society. So for example we mayteach our children that racism is wrong "ut if they li!e in
racially segregated neigh"orhoods and go to racially seg
regated schools where their text"oo+s teach only a"outthe accomplishments of %hite people they are li+ely togrow up with many of the same pre<udices as pre!ious
generations. hus while social learning can contri"ute to
social change its effect is limited without simultaneous
efforts to "ring a"out macrole!el change.
Feminist Sociology
Iou may ha!e noticed that all of the mainstream sociol
ogists we ha!e discussed in this chapter shared se!eralcharacteristics: %ith few exceptions they wereJare all
%hite men of 8uropean ancestry. he fact that this social
group has dominated the discipline means that to a largeextent mainstream sociology has "een "oth 8urocentricand androcentric ($hafet6 199). -t is 8urocentric in that
it has tended to focus on "eliefs and concerns rele!ant to
%estern societies with 8uropean roots. -t is androcentric
"ecause it traditionally has "een malecenteredsociological research and writing has "een done primarily
"y men using mostly men as research su"<ects
producing findings and theories from a male perspecti!e.
Sociologist Lyn Lofland (19) for instance re!iewed thesociological research on ur"an communities and found
that it focused on settings in which men were li+ely to "e
present such as city street corners or neigh"orhoodta!erns whereas areas of ur"an life where women wereli+ely to "e found such as playgrounds with their children
or grocery stores were almost entirely o!erloo+ed.
$onse@uently although these ur"an sociologists claimed
to "e studying community they were studying malecommunity not human community. 2Most of what we
ha!e formerly +nown as the study of society is only the
male study of male society2 (Millman K Ganter 19 p.
!iii).>uring the 19&*s an increasing num"er of sociologists
"egan to call for a more inclusi!e sociology one gi!ing
!oice to multiple perspecti!es particularly those from
groups that had historically "een silenced or marginali6ed./lthough some of these sociologists were men the
ma<ority were women inspired "y their personal expe
riences in society and the discipline as well as "y the writ
ings and actions of those in!ol!ed in the women's orfeminist mo!ement (Laslett K horne 199). $onse
@uently the perspecti!e that these sociologists de!eloped
is called feminist sociology.
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>! Chapter 1 Sociological
I TABLE 1.2
*evel of
&erspective +nal$sis
Structural Macro
u!ctio!alis"
Co!#ict Theor$MacroLevel
S$"%olicMicroLevel
I!teractio!is"
e"i!ist MacroLevel
Sociolog$ or "icro
level
the gro"th of the discipline. 2iversitpromotes dialogue! not al"as friendl!that can help us to see the social "orldin'alternative "as. &his is especialldiicult #ecause sociologists are part of "hat "e stud e are participants in the
social "orld. t's li)e the $sh "ho doesn't)no" its environment is "et. &his ma)es iteven more important to include a pluralitof voices in sociolog! especiall those of people "ho have traditionall #eenconsidered *outsiders * #ecause the often
4or useful resources for stud
CON N E C T I O N S
mpact of social
mpacts of se+and race in the
Sociological
+ssumptions
Societ$ is "a&e up o' i!terrelate& parts(each o' )hichco!tri%utes to the'u!ctio!i!g o' societ$as a )hole.
Societies are arra!ge&i! such a )a$ that re*sources a!& re)ar&sare u!eve!l$&istri%ute& a"o!g thepopulatio!( a!& thisi!e+ualit$ pro&ucesco!#ict.
,ealit$ is sociall$ cre*ate& through people-sever$&a$ i!teractio!sa!& s$"%olicco""u!icatio! )ith
o!e a!other.e!&er is a ce!tralorga!i/i!g 'actor o' the social )orl&.
7o" do social locating factors such as age! se+! people's e+periences as mem#ers of a societ? n
ho" does occupation relate to "ealth! po"er! and1@! ho" does gender orientation relate to
2ierences in social locating factors form the #asisn Cha ter 1@! ho" do the conce ts of lass ceilinillustrate gender inequalit? n Chapter 11! ho" does
discrimination relate to racial
S 8 = 5 - $ G . S # $ 1 * 1 = a c + e t
asic uestion
hat 'u!ctio!&oes a specici!stitutio! provi&e'or societ$ as a)hole
ho %e!etsa!& )ho loses'ro" a particularsocialarra!ge"e!t
hat are theshare& "ea!i!gso' a particulari!teractio! 'or the"e"%ers o' a
social group3o) &oes ge!&ershape people-ssocial
As our "orld gro"s ever smaller#ecause of the increasing num#er of glo#al ties that #ind us! sociolog gro"sever more important. n fact! at least oneo#server has argued that sociolog isentering a ne" *golden age* 8*Sociolog's
e" olden Age!* 1;;;<. t is anessential tool for anal/ing andunderstanding our personal lives and oursocial interactions and theirinterconnectedness. ,ur goal in this te+t!
Chapter 1 'on our Biving
e$ &eople
5urkhei"(Parso!s(
Mar4(e%er( Mills
Mea&(6lu"e
"a!i'est'u!ctio!s( late!t'u!ctio!s(!or"ative
co!se!sus(
i!e+ualit$(
s$"%ol
ge!&er(
e$ /oncepts