chapter 2:sociology’s family tree: theories and theoristsfaculty.winthrop.edu/solomonj/spring...

Chapter 2:Sociology’s Family Tree:Theories and Theorists

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What is a Theory?A set of assumptions that attempts to provide a plausible explanation of cause-and-effect (causal) relationships among a group of observed phenomenon.

Origin (from the Greek thorós, a spectator), stresses that all theories are mental models of perceived reality.

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Theory

• Vital to making sense of social life

• Facts make sense because we interpret them using categories and assumptions

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Categories

• A class of people or things regarded as having particular shared characteristics

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Assumptions

• Assumptions are beliefs or ideas that we hold to be true — often with little or no evidence required.

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Formal Sociological Theory

• The importance of formal sociological theorizing is that it makes assumptions and categories explicit

• Thus, open to examination, scrutiny, and reformulation

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Practical Theory

• Our lives are filled with theories as we try to understand the world around us• Examples: • How do we make friends?• How to succeed in college?• How to get a job?

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Sociological Theories• Are propositions that explain the social

world and• Help make predictions about future

events

• Theories are sometimes referred to as approaches, schools of thought, paradigms, or perspectives.

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Founders of Sociology

• Auguste Comte (1798–1857)• Coined the term “sociology” in 1839

• Also used the term “social physics” to refer to the new discipline and…

• His organic conceptualization of society

Auguste Comte

• Sociology is like other scientific disciplines

• Laid groundwork for future sociologists

• Helped build the discipline

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Auguste Comte

The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd EditionCopyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company

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Founders of Sociology• Harriet Martineau (1802-1876):

• A social activist • Supported labor unions• Abolition of slavery• Women’s suffrage

• Traveled around the United States

• Translated Comte’s work from French into English

Harriet Martineau


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• Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)• Believed that societies evolve by adapting

to the changing environment

• Coined the phrase “survival of the fittest”

• Philosophy is often referred to as “Social Darwinism”

Herbert Spencer


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• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)• Worked to establish sociology as an

academic discipline

• Interested in the social factors that bond and hold people together

• Social solidarity• Mechanical solidarity• Organic solidarity

Emile Durkheim


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Founders of Sociology, continued

• Karl Marx (1818-1883)• German philosopher

• Political activist

• Contributed significantly to sociology’s Conflict Theory

Videos about Marx

© 2010 Sage/Pine Forge All rights reserved

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ztVeUX8Hpo&feature=related

• Marxism made simple

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUl4yfABE4&feature=related

• The Communist Manifesto Cartoon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ztVeUX8Hpo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ztVeUX8Hpo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUl4yfABE4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUl4yfABE4&feature=related

Karl Marx


Marx Core Ideas

© 2010 Sage/Pine Forge All rights reserved

• Reaction to economic & social conditions due to Industrial Revolution

• Theory not only interprets the world, but also changes it

Marx• Focus: Economic classes

• Bourgeoisie--owners

• Proletariat--workers

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• Capitalism created social inequality

• Between the bourgeoisie, who owned the means of production (money, factories, natural resources, land), and the proletariat, who were the workers

• According to Marx, this inequality leads to class conflict


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• Max Weber interested in how society was becoming industrialized and

• The process of rationalization• Applying economic logic to all

human activity

Max Weber

• Believed that contemporary life was filled with disenchantment

• The result of dehumanizing features of modern societies• Bureaucracy • Capitalism• Oligopolies

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Weber: Dehumanizing Effect of Modern Society

• Modern capitalism--lifelong entrapment of individuals within organizational structure

• Efficient accumulation of private wealth as an end in itself

• Humanity's ever increasing confinement within a bureaucratized, "disenchanted" world, from which there is no escape• “The Iron Cage”

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Max Weber


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Modern Schools of Thought• Structural Functionalism: Society is an

ordered system of interrelated parts (structures)

• Social institutions make up society (family, education, politics, the economy)

• Each structure meets the needs of society

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Modern Schools of Thought,continued

• Conflict Theory: • Social conflict as the basis:• Of society and• Social change

• Source of Conflict: Inequality

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1/26 Modern Schools of Thought, continued

• Symbolic Interactionism:• Interaction and meaning as central to

society

• Assumes that meaning is not inherent in object or symbols

• Shared meaning is created through interaction using symbols

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New Theoretical Approaches

• Feminist Theory: • Gender inequalities in society

• How gender structures the social world

• Considers remedies to inequalities

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New Theoretical Approaches, continued

• Queer Theory:• Proposes that categories of sexual

identity are social constructs

• No sexual category is fundamentally deviant or normal

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New Theoretical Approaches, continued

• Postmodernist Theory:• Social reality is:• Diverse• Pluralistic• Constantly changing• No truth, reason, right, order, or stability• Everything is relative, temporary etc.

Theory in Everyday Life


Theory in Everyday Life


Perspective Level of Analysis Focus of Analysis Case Study

chapter 2:sociology’s family tree: theories and theoristsfaculty.winthrop.edu/solomonj/spring...

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