• Man is a social Animal.

• The study of sociology starts from the basic premise that human life is
social life. Most of us are constantly involved in interactions with other
human beings.

• Sociology focuses on how they impact our lives, opportunities, and

options.

• The word sociology itself actually derives from the Latin word socius
(companion) and the Greek word logos (study of). Thus, sociology is most
literally the study of companionship.

• A textbook definition often expands that literal definition of sociology to read

something close to the scientific study of the development, structure,
interaction, and collective behavior of social relationships.

Sociology - Introduction
A sociology – its relevance to social set-up
 Sociology provides an understanding of social issues and patterns of
behavior.
 Sociology helps us understand the workings of the social systems within
which we live our lives.
 Sociology helps us understand why we perceive the world the way we do.

 Sociology helps us identify what we have in common within, and between,

cultures and societies.
 Sociology helps us understand why and how society changes.
 Sociology provides us theoretical perspectives for understanding research
methods that allow us to study social life scientifically.

 Sociology is not just common sense.

Sociology - Relevance
Theories in Sociology

Some of the major general sociological theories (and their variants) include:
• Conflict theory: focuses on the ability of some groups to dominate others, or
resistance to such domination.

• Critical theory: aims to critique and change society, not simply to document
and understand it.

• Ethno methodology: examines how people make sense out of social life in
the process of living it, as if each were a researcher engaged in enquiry.

• Feminist theory: focuses on how gender inequality has shaped social life.

• Functionalism: focuses on how elements of society need to work together to

have a fully functioning whole.

Sociology - Theories
Theories in Sociology
• Interpretive sociology: This theoretical perspective, based on the work of
Max Weber, proposes that social, economic and historical research can
never be fully empirical or descriptive as one must always approach it with a
conceptual apparatus.

• Network theory: A structural approach to sociology, most closely associated

with the work of Harrison White that views norms and behaviors as
embedded in chains of social relations.

• Social phenomenology: The social phenomenology of Alfred Schütz

influenced the development of the social constructionism and ethno
methodology.

• Positivism: Social positivists believe that social processes should be studied

in terms of cause and effect using 'the' scientific method.

Sociology - Theories
Theories in Sociology
• Postcolonial theory

• Rational choice theory: models social behavior as the interaction of utility

maximizing individuals.

• Social constructionism: is a sociological theory of knowledge that

considers how social phenomena develop in particular social contexts.

• Structural functionalism: also known as a social systems paradigm,

addresses the functions that various elements of the social system perform in
regard to the entire system.

• Symbolic interactionism: examines how shared meanings and social

patterns are developed in the course of social interactions.

Sociology - Theories
There is no clearly identifiable date when sociological theory began. However, the mid-
to-late 1800s marks the period when social thought turned to what we today call
sociology. There are currently three major theoretical concepts in sociology:

The structural-functionalist concepts,

The social-conflict concepts
The symbolic-interactionist Concepts

None of these three perspectives is singularly “right” or “wrong.” Each provides

a different way to view and analyze society. They can reveal different issues
and suggest different answers to tackling any problems they identify.
Two of the major paradigms, the structural functionalist and the social-
conflict perspective, take a macro perspective on society.
The third perspective, symbolic-interactionism, takes a micro perspective.

Sociology - Theories
• Structural-functionalism is the earliest sociological paradigm.

• Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) approached the study of social structures

through an “organic analogy”.

• In this model, Spencer viewed society as being similar to a body. In the most
simplistic terms, just as the various organs in the body work together to keep
the entire system functioning and regulated, the various parts of society (the
economy, the polity, health care, education, etc.) work together to keep the
entire society functioning and regulated.

• Spencer also saw similarities in the way physical bodies and societies evolve.

• Spencer actually coined the term survival of the fittest, which is often
incorrectly attributed to evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin.

Sociology - Structural-functionalism
Spencer influenced early French sociologist Emile Durkheim (1858– 1917).

Durkheim took this organic analogy and refined it into a perspective that would
become structural-functionalism.

The perspective is also called functionalism, or the functionalist paradigm.

According to this perspective;
 A social system’s parts are interdependent;

 The system has a “normal” healthy state of equilibrium, analogous to a

healthy body;

 When disturbed, the system parts reorganize and readjust to bring the
system back to a state of equilibrium.

Sociology - Structural-functionalism
Durkheim realized that society influences our human actions but that society is
also something that exists beyond individuals.

He felt that society must be studied and understood in terms of what he called
social facts.

These social facts include laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs,
fashions, rituals, and the myriad cultural and social rules governing social life.
Durkheim saw this system of social facts as making up the structure of
society.

Functionalism has been very influential in sociology. It was especially popular

in the United States when championed by Harvard sociologist Talcott Parsons
(1902–79) during the 1940s and 1950s. Parsons, is known for his grand
theory, an abstract level of theorizing that tried to explain the entire social
structure at once and was difficult, if not impossible, to test through research.

Sociology - Structural-functionalism
Robert K. Merton (1910–2003), Parsons’s student, who is also profiled below,
turned away from these grand theories in favor of what he called theories of the
middle-range.
These middle-range theories are theories that are more limited and can be
tested through research. They explain, for example, deviant, public opinion, or
how power is transmitted between generations.
He also showed that social patterns are complex, with the various parts of
society fulfilling different types of functions.
Some functions, which Merton called manifest functions, are obvious and
intended.
Other functions, called latent functions, are less recognized and unintended.
These functions may be either beneficial or neutral. However, some functions
may be undesirable.
These are called social dysfunctions

Sociology - Structural-functionalism
Disadvantages

• The functionalist focus on social order cannot adequately explain social

change.
• This focus on order discounts the conflicts and tensions that exist within
society and downplays the impact of factors such as race, class, and
gender that impact our lives and social positions.
• Some critics feel that the perspective also ignores the importance of
small-scale, micro-level interactions.
• Structural-functionalism is also criticized as being tautological, meaning
that it makes circular arguments. This criticism says functionalists argue
that, because something exists, it serves a function for the system, and
thus it exists. Such a view fails to satisfactorily explain how social
structures arise in the first place.

Sociology - Structural-functionalism
Social-Conflict Theory

The other major macro-sociological theoretical framework in sociological theory

is the social-conflict paradigm, also referred to as the conflict perspective.
Social-conflict theory focuses on competition between groups.

Whereas functionalists focus on balance and stability within a social system,

conflict theorists view society as comprised of social relations characterized by
inequality and change.

The economics of capitalism, Karl Marx felt, resulted in social classes that
were constantly in competition for society’s limited resources.

Society, as Marx saw it, was an ongoing struggle between the classes: the
“haves” and the “have nots” The result was social conflict and change as
those without resources challenged those holding the resources.

Sociology – Socio-Conflict Theory

Types of conflict theory
Conflict theory is most commonly associated with Marxism, but as a reaction to
functionalism and the positivist method may also be associated with number of
other perspectives, including:
•Critical theory
•Feminist theory
•Postmodern theory
•Post-structural theory
•Postcolonial theory
•Queer theory
•World systems theory

Sociology – Socio-Conflict Theory

Critical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing
from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities.

The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one
originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism.

This has led to the very literal use of 'critical theory' as an umbrella term to
describe theoretical critique. This is, as a theory which is founded on criticism.

Sociology – Socio-Conflict Theory

Feminist theory
“a theory must recognize gender as a system of inequality, assume that it is a mutable
rather than constant or necessary feature of human societies, and [support] a
commitment to a gender equitable system”.
Marxist feminism argues that capitalist economic structures favor men—for example,
with higher paying jobs. Solutions rely on eliminating capitalism as the source of the
problem.
Liberal feminism argues that in equalities in a lack of opportunity and education for
women as well as traditional views of gender that limit women’s roles. Liberal
feminists feel that if women are allowed to compete equally with men in all areas of
society, they will do so successfully.
Radical feminism argues that, regardless of economic system and other inequalities
women face in their lives male domination and violence is one key method of
controlling women. Solutions lie in eliminating all forms of violence and enhancing
women’s culture and lives.

Sociology – Socio-Conflict Theory

Postmodernism
Is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the
problematisation of objective truth and inherent suspicion towards global
cultural narrative or meta-narrative
It involves the belief that many, if not all, apparent realities are only social
constructs, as they are subject to change inherent to time and place. It
emphasizes the role of language, power relations, and motivations.
The term "postmodernism" comes from its critique of the "modernist"
scientific mentality of objectivity and progress associated with the
Enlightenment.
Modernism was primarily concerned with principles such as identity, unity,
authority, and certainty.
Postmodernism is often associated with difference, plurality, textuality, and
skepticism.
Post-structuralism
The movement is difficult to summarize, but may be broadly understood as a
body of distinct responses to structuralism, which argued that human
culture may be understood as a series of signs or symbols.
Existential phenomenology is a significant influence; one commentator has
argued that post-structuralists might just as accurately be called "post-
phenomenologists."
In phenomenology this foundation would be experience itself; in structuralism,
knowledge was to be founded on the "structures" that make experience
possible: concepts, and language or signs.
Post-structuralism, in turn, argued that founding knowledge either on pure
experience (phenomenology) or systematic structures (structuralism) was
impossible. This impossibility was meant not to be a failure or loss, but a cause
for "celebration and liberation."
Post-Colonialism
The ultimate goal of post-colonialism is combating the residual effects of
colonialism on cultures. It is not simply concerned with salvaging past worlds,
but learning how the world can move beyond this period together, towards a
place of mutual respect.
A key goal of post-colonial theorists is clearing space for multiple voices.
This is especially true of those voices that have been previously silenced by
dominant ideologies - subalterns.
Ultimately, however, Post-colonialism is a hopeful discourse. The very "post"
defines the discipline as one that looks forward to a world that has truly moved
beyond all that colonialism entails, together.
"The final hour of colonialism has struck, and millions of inhabitants of
Africa, Asia and Latin America rise to meet a new life and demand their
unrestricted right to self-determination."
— Che Guevara, speech to the United Nations, December 11, 1964
Queer theory
It is a field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of
LGBT studies and feminist studies.
Heavily influenced by the work of Jacob Edwards, queer theory builds both
upon feminist challenges to the idea that gender is part of the essential self.
Queer theory starts from critical analysis of the idea that any given sexuality is
"natural" and immutable. Theorist David Halperin wrote:
"Queer is by definition whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the
dominant.
There is nothing in particular to which it necessarily refers.
It is an identity without an essence.
World-systems theory
The world-systems theory stresses that world-systems should be the basic unit
of social analysis.
World-system refers to the international division of labor, which divides the
world into core, semi-periphery and the periphery countries.
Core countries focus on higher skill, capital-intensive production, and the rest of
the world focuses on low-skill, labor-intensive production and extraction of raw
materials.
This constantly reinforces the dominance of the core countries. Nonetheless,
the system is dynamic, and individual states can gain or lose the core status
over time.
World-system theory has attracted various criticisms; notably for being too
focused on economy and not on culture, and for being too core and state-
centric.
Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionism is the prevailing micro-theoretical framework in

sociological theory. Symbolic interactionism focuses on patterns of individual
interactions.
The society is actually created by people interacting together on a daily basis. It
is these smaller interactions that actually make up the larger social structures
that are of the focus of functionalists and conflict theorists.
According to this perspective, society and these larger social structures must be
understood through studying social interactions that are based on shared
understandings, languages, and symbols.
A symbol is something that stands for, represents, or signifies something
else in a particular culture. Symbols can be anything—gestures, words,
objects, or events—and they can represent any number of others things, ideas,
events, or emotions.
Symbolic interactionism is sometimes referred to as interpretive theory.

Symbolic interactionism is based partly on the writings of German sociologist

Max Weber.
Unlike other sociologists who had focused only on large structural relationships, Weber
was also interested in how individuals interact.

The aspect of his work that influenced the symbolic-interactionist perspective was his
focus on how we interpret and understand the situations we encounter and the
interactions in which we participate.

The main principles of symbolic interactionism are:

1 Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings that things
have for them
2 These meanings arise of out of social interaction
3 Social action results from a fitting together of individual lines of action
Sociologists have drawn from interpretative perspectives and even other
disciplines to develop more complex theories.

Rational-choice theories examine how people make choices purposely,

based on their preferences and evaluation of options and opportunities. In
simple terms, of all the options or courses of action a person sees as being
available, they act based on a calculation of pros and cons, related to rational
choice theories.

Exchange theories assume that people interact and trade the resources
(money, affections, etc.) that they bring to interactions in ways that
maximize benefits and reduce costs to themselves. These theories can
become complex as they examine how people weigh such factors as perceived
costs and benefits, the personal resources they can rely on (money, prestige,
personal connections, etc.) and other factors in making decisions and
determining courses of action.
Disadvantages

• Critics of symbolic interactionism often argue that the perspective focuses on

specific, small-scale situations while overlooking the effects of larger society.

• Critics also argue that symbolic interactionism focuses on rational and

conscious interactions at the expense of considering irrational or
unconscious behavior.