How is getting dressed in the morning a social activity?

Three Theoretical Paradigms• Structural Functionalism– Society is viewed as composed of various parts, each

with a function that, when fulfilled, contributes to society’s equilibrium

• Conflict Theory– Society is viewed as composed of groups that are

competing for resources

• Symbolic Interactionism– Society is viewed as composed of symbols that people

use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world, and communicate with one another

Harold Garfinkel

Talcott Parsons

Functionalist!

“Parsonian Functionalism”

• Major theoretical perspective in mid-20th century– Attempts to explain how societies maintain stability

and order• Focuses on roles of social institutions, and how

they maintain social stability• People have internalized rules and norms, that’s

why we see orderly behavior• If behaviors exist, they are there because they

serve a function maintaining order

“Top-Down”

When a scientist looks through a “top-down” lens, she sees:

Objective, pre-existing social forces(such as norms)

Cause/produce

An orderly society

Any sociological theory used to explain social phenomena

is a top-down approach to sociology.

Harold Garfinkelhad some problems

with top-downapproaches.

Garfinkel Said:

• Functionalism assumes that only people with the correct theoretical lenses can make sense of society

• Ordinary people do see the world as orderly; as a sensical place

• Functionalists like Parsons were ignoring all the work that ordinary people do every day to make sense of the world

Garfinkel Said:

• Everyone has procedures they use to make sense of the world, and

• PEOPLE ACHIEVE THE ORDER OF THE SOCIAL WORLD!

This is a “bottom-up” approach

to sociology.

When a scientist looks through a “top-down” lens, she sees:

Objective, pre-existing social forces(such as norms)

Cause/produce

An orderly society

People’s sense-making activities and procedures

Produce/achieve

The appearance of an orderly society(and the very reality/objectivity of the social world)

THE WORKIS THE ORDER!

So while top-downsociological approaches ask:

Why is the social world the way it is?What are the social forces at work?

The bottom-upsociological approach asks:

How do we achieve a social world that seems objectiveand pre-existing?

These are fundamentally different questions, seeking

different answers.

Both, top-down and bottom-up, are valid and useful approaches

to sociology.

WE DO

Ethnomethodology

• Ethno = members• Methodology = methods• Members’ methods for achieving social order

“Knowledge kept privateis powerless,

and experience unsharedis nothing."

-- Amelia Hill

Story Time!

Here’s another example:

Gender

• In a top-down approach, a sociologist might ask: “Why don’t males cry as often as females?”

Gender roles (males are taught not to show emotions)

Affect

Behavior (males don’t cry as often as females)

Gender

• In a bottom-up approach, an ethnomethodologist might ask: How is the reality of gendered behavior produced?

The reality of “gendered behavior”

Produce/achieve

People’s sense-making activities/procedures (what we do)

¿Preguntas?