Sociology in Our TimesThe Essentials, 4/e

Diana Kendall

Chapter 1The Sociological Perspective

Putting Social Life Into Perspective The Importance of a Global Sociological

Imagination The Origins of Sociological Thinking The Development of Modern Sociology Contemporary Theoretical Perspectives Comparing Sociology With Other Social

Sciences

Why Study Sociology?

Gain better understanding of ourselves and our social world.

See how behavior is shaped by the groups to which we belong.

Gain insight into society and the larger world order.

Early Social Thinkers

Emphasized social order and stability: Auguste Comte Harriet Martineau Herbert Spencer Emile Durkheim

Early Social Thinkers

Emphasized conflict and social change: Karl Marx Max Weber Georg Simmel

Sociology in the U.S.

The Chicago school - first department of sociology in the U.S.

Robert Park - asserted that urbanization had a disintegrating influence on social life.

Sociology in the U.S.

George Herbert Mead - founded symbolic Interactionist perspective.

Jane Adams - founded methodological approach used by sociologists for years.

W.E.B. Du Bois - noted that dual heritage creates conflict for people of color - double consciousness.

Functionalist Perspective

Assumes that society is a stable, orderly system.

Talcott Parsons - all societies must meet social needs in order to survive.

Robert Merton - distinguished between manifest and latent functions of social institutions.

Conflict Perspective

Groups in society are engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources.

Max Weber recognized the importance of economic conditions in producing inequality and conflict in society.

C. Wright Mills - formed the concept of the power elite.

Feminist Approach

Directs attention to women’s experience and the importance of gender as an element of social structure.

Assumes that gender is socially created and that change is essential for people to achieve their human potential without limits based on gender.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective

Society is the sum of the interactions of individuals and groups.

People communicate through the use of symbols and symbolic gestures.

Thoughts and behavior are shaped by social interactions with others.

Postmodern Perspectives

Earlier theoretical perspectives are unsuccessful in explaining social life in contemporary societies.

Emerged after WWII and reflected belief that some nations were entering a period of post industrialization.

Challenges existing perspectives, but tends to ignore central social problems.