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Word of sociology is derived from the Latin: socius, "companion", -ology, "the study of",
and Greek ȜȩȖȠȢ, lógos, "word", "knowledge". It was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist
Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (1748±1836) in an unpublished manuscript. Sociology was later
defined independently by the French philosopher of science, Auguste Comte (1798±1857), in
1838. Comte endeavored to unify history, psychology and economics through the scientific
understanding of the social realm and believed a positivist stage would mark the final era, after
conjectural theological and metaphysical phases, in the progression of human understanding.

In many ways, sociology is the study of things we see in everyday life, but that we do not
see in the same way. This is a characteristic of many sciences. In sociology, society is not
people. Individual persons carry society in their beliefs and actions and interactions, but are not
society in themselves. Society is a system of beliefs and actions carried by human beings, but it
is something which transcends those same carriers. That means that social organizations, such
as family or community, are not people. They are systems, or patterns, of beliefs and actions, by
people, which are carried by people. It is necessary to understand sociology. That means to be
able to understand the sociological perspective.

Tiffany Aliano is thought and seeing mean of sociology by wonder why natives from one
city or state attitudes, why language patterns and other behavioral patterns are different from
another place; or why certain behavior is appropriate in one place yet is frowned upon in
another. These thoughts all relate to a study that examines certain factors such as peoples or a
group of people's origins, current lifestyles, development, as well as other direct and indirect
factors that contribute to how they interact and behave.

After known and understand the key word of sociology then lets fine out what the true
meaning of Sociological perspective. There are many resources that define the best way of
understanding sociological perspective mean. Sociological perspective definition as
understanding human behavior by placing it within it is broader social context. This is a
systematic study of society, social behavior and human action. Pathways define sociological
perspective as a way of looking at and seeing or interpreting something. To have a perspective,
therefore, means to look at something whatever that µthing¶ might be in a particular way.



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Sociologists mean "thing" by looking at the social world and, in particular, the natures of
the relationships people form in their everyday lives. Thus, when they talk about "society" or "the
social world" as if it were something real and alive, what they are actually referring to is our
particular perception of the range and scope of the relationships that exist between people.

Otherwise, Art Vandaley defined the sociological perspective as deals with the
development of people and societies. Sociological thought focuses on the examination of how
people are influenced by the world around them. Sociological theory maintains that, with a few
biochemical exceptions, people are not born good or bad, happy or depressed, and intelligent or
ignorant, but are shaped into their personalities over time by the interactions that they have and
the situations with which they live. Numerous influences upon people shape their personalities
and their lives. This process is known as socialization. Among these socializing factors are
gender, economic status, attitudes of parents, level and quality of education, and the influence
of peers.

 



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 In the history and development of sociology, three separate perspectives were created
and elaborated. Sociologist has their different perspective to study development of society and
examination the human behavior. They believe that every change of individual, belief, and
pattern and around them will influence the social development. Sociologists today employ three
primary theoretical perspectives:

 
  

  
 


  

  
 
 


 


 
  
 . These perspectives offer sociologists theoretical
paradigms for explaining how society influences people, and vice versa. Each perspective
uniquely concept of society, social forces, and human behavior.

 
  

In sociological perspective, Functionalism define as seeking to explain social

organization and change in terms of the roles or functions performed by individual members,
groups, institutions and social relations. Functionalism perspective sees society as a system.
Functionalists identify the structural characteristics and functions and dysfunctions of institutions,
and distinguish between manifest functions and latent functions. Functionalists also assume that
most members of a society share a consensus regarding their core beliefs and values, norms,
and attitudes.

Functionalism is inspiration from the ideas of Emile Durkheim. He claim that social
cohesion and stability through the concept of solidarity. Then explain in more primitive society it
was   
 

mean that, everyone performing similar tasks to held society
together. Those societies tend to be segmentary, being composed of equivalent parts that are
held together by shared values, common symbols, or systems of exchanges. In other fact,
  
 
 is a form of social cohesion that arises when people in a society
maintain similar values and beliefs and engaged in similar types of work. Mechanical solidarity
most commonly occurs in traditional, simple societies such as those in which everyone herds
cattle or farms.

In modern, Durkheim explained complex societies members perform very different tasks,
resulting in a strong interdependence between individuals. He argued that modern complex
societies are held together by  
 
 means think interdependent organs.
 

 
 is a form of social cohesion that arises when the people in a society are
interdependent, but hold to varying values and beliefs and engage in varying types of work.



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The central concern of structural-functionalism is a continuation of the Durkheim task of
explaining the apparent stability and internal cohesion of societies that are necessary to ensure
their continued existence over time. Many functionalists argue that social institutions are
functionally integrated to form a stable system and that a change in one institution will
precipitate a change in other institutions. Societies are seen as coherent, bounded and
fundamentally relational constructs that function like organisms, with their various parts (social
institutions) working together to maintain and reproduce them. The various parts of society are
assumed to work in an unconscious, quasi-automatic fashion towards the maintenance of the
overall social equilibrium. All social and cultural phenomena are therefore seen as being
functional in the sense of working together to achieve this state and are effectively deemed to
have a life of their own.

According to current example, each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes

to society's functioning as a whole. The government, or state, provides education for the
children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state depends to keep itself running.
That is, the family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good jobs so
that they can raise and support their own families. In the process, the children become law-
abiding, taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the state. If all goes well, the parts of society
produce order, stability, and productivity. If all does not go well, the parts of society then must
adapt to recapture a new order, stability, and productivity. For example, during a financial
recession with its high rates of unemployment and inflation, social programs are trimmed or cut.
Schools offer fewer programs. Families tighten their budgets. And a new social order, stability,
and productivity occur.

Functionalism has been criticized because unable to account for social change because
it focuses so intently on social order and equilibrium in society. Functionalism has a difficult time
explaining why a function of some element of society might change or how such change occurs.



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The conflict perspective, which originated primarily out of Karl Marx's writings on class
struggles, presents society in a different light than do the functionalist and symbolic
interactionist perspectives. While these latter perspectives focus on the positive aspects of
society that contribute to its stability, the conflict perspective focuses on the negative, conflicted,
and ever-changing nature of society.

Unlike functionalists who defend the status quo, avoid social change, and believe people
cooperate to effect social orders, conflict theorists challenge the status quo, encourage social
change even when this means social revolution, and believe rich and powerful people force
social order on the poor and the weak. Conflict theorists, for example, may interpret an ³elite´
board of regents raising tuition to pay for esoteric new programs that raise the prestige of a local
college as self-serving rather than as beneficial for students.

Today, conflict theorists find social conflict between any groups in which the potential for
inequality exists: racial, gender, religious, political, economic, and so on. Conflict theorists note
that unequal groups usually have conflicting values and agendas, causing them to compete
against one another. This constant competition between groups forms the basis for the ever-
changing nature of society.

Critics of the conflict perspective point to its overly negative view of society. The theory
ultimately attributes humanitarian efforts, altruism, democracy, civil rights, and other positive
aspects of society to capitalistic designs to control the masses, not to inherent interests in
preserving society and social order.



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Ê 


 

Symbolic interactionists contend that society is possible because human beings have
the ability to communicate with one another by means of symbols. They say that we act toward
people, objects, and events on the basis of the meanings we impart to them.

According to the symbolic interactionism perspective, people attach meanings to

symbols, and then they act according to their subjective interpretation of these symbols. Verbal
conversations, in which spoken words serve as the predominant symbols, make this subjective
interpretation especially evident. The words have a certain meaning for the ³sender,´ and,
during effective communication, they hopefully have the same meaning for the ³receiver.´

In other terms, words are not static ³things´; they require intention and interpretation.
Conversation is an interaction of symbols between individuals who constantly interpret the world
around them. Of course, anything can serve as a symbol as long as it refers to something
beyond itself. Written music serves as an example. The black dots and lines become more than
mere marks on the page; they refer to notes organized in such a way as to make musical sense.
Thus, symbolic interactionism give serious thought to how people act, and then seek to
determine what meanings individuals assign to their own actions and symbols, as well as to
those of others.

Consider applying symbolic interactionism to the institution of marriage. Symbols may

include wedding bands, vows of life-long commitment, a white bridal dress, a wedding cake, a
Church ceremony, and flowers and music. American society attaches general meanings to
these symbols, but individuals also maintain their own perceptions of what these and other
symbols mean.

For example, one of the spouses may see their circular wedding rings as symbolizing
³never ending love,´ while the other may see them as a mere financial expense. Much faulty
communication can result from differences in the perception of the same events and symbols.

Critics claim that symbolic interactionism neglects the macro level of social interpretation
the ³big picture.´ In other words, symbolic interactionism may miss the larger issues of society
by focusing too closely on the size of the diamond in the wedding ring rather than the quality of
the marriage. The perspective also receives criticism for slighting the influence of social forces
and institutions on individual interactions.



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As a modern sociologist, we have to use a suitable sociological perspective to study

about society and human behavior. Between the three described sociological perspective,
conflict theory is the best theory to apply and understand society better.

This choice is influenced by society and human nature that likes to compete to achieve
certain goals. In conflict theory argues that society is not best understood as a complex system
for equilibrium but rather as a competition. Society is made up of individuals competing for
limited resources such as money, leisure, sexual partners, and more. Broader social structures
and organizations as example like religions, government, and etc. Reflect the competition for
resources in their inherent inequalities; some people and organizations have more resources
such as power and influence and use those resources to maintain their positions of power in
society.

Nowadays, there are significant differences between social classes of individual. Social
classes¶ are being made-up of very large social groups in society who each have different
experiences and interests. There are 3 different types of classes. These classes are defined in
terms of the different types of work that they do in society.

People with great wealth own factories, companies and so forth known as an  


  
 . These classes of people have a µpower¶ to influence society. Second types of
classes called a 
 . This class consists of professional workers such as lawyers,
doctors and accountants. These people do not own the businesses they work for and they
achieve their position through the gaining of educational qualifications. Then, a  


 
  is the people who do not own businesses and have few, if any educational
qualifications. This group is mainly manual workers in society.

From this perspective, people are seen to be encouraged, through the socialization
process, to be competitive. This is because everyone is trying to either get the most that they
can out of life or they are trying to prevent others taking away the things they have. In this
respect, Conflict sociologists emphasize conflicts in society between social classes, between
men and women, between different ethnic groups.

Although there are shared values in society, Conflict Theorists argue that this is because
the very powerful members of the ruling class are able to impose their values on the rest of



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society through institutions such as the media, religion and so forth. Different from other
perspective, conflict Theorists argue that society is a force that pressurises the individual to do
things like go to work, attend school, compete with and try to exploit others.

 



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