Sociology in Our Times The Essentials, 4/e

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Sociology in Our TimesThe Essentials, 4/e

• Diana Kendall

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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

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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.

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Early Social Thinkers

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

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Early Social Thinkers

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Feminist Approach

• Directs attention to womens 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.

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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.

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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.