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TRADITIONAL SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGMS
(aka theories or perspectives)
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- Functionalism (also known as
Structural Functionalism) – Macrosociological level theory
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 | Focus on order and stability in
society |
| Society is a system of interrelated,
interdependent parts, which are social institutions or structures,
e.g. a part may be family, education, economic, religion, etc… |
| The function of a part is its
contribution to the system, and its effects on other parts |
| The needs of society are to be
identified and determining how the parts satisfy the needs |
| Each part functions to maintain an
orderly and predictable system, preserving social order |
| There is a normative consensus where
members of society share a set of values and behaviours |
| An analogy is the human body |
| Key sociologists: Emile Durkheim,
Talcott Parsons, Robert Merton |
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| Criticisms |
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| May justify and legitimize the
existence of a part of society, e.g. poverty or unemployment |
| Helps to preserve status quo by
overlooking or downplaying sources of tension and inequality |
| Efficiency of a part may not be
questioned |
| Origins of social conflict and
instability not accountable or are considered dysfunctional |
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| 2. Conflict Theory –
macrosociological level theory |
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| Focus on conflict as inevitable part
of social life, |
| Societies are characterized by
inequality and thus there is an emphasis on the role of competition
in producing conflict |
| Conflict is not necessarily a
negative aspect of society since it produces social change |
| Society comprised of dominant and
subordinate groups which compete for resources – the have and the
have nots |
| Who benefits at whose expense is the
question |
| Key sociologists: Karl Marx, Max
Weber |
| Marxism is essentially a sub-theory
of conflict theory but it was the originator of conflict theory as
well: focus was on class conflict, believing that the economic
system was the primary determinant of a society, and within the
economic system there existed two classes - the bourgeoisie(owning
or ruling class)
and the proletariat (working class); class membership was determined by
relationship to means of production; belief that the proletariat
would organize and precipitate a revolution because of this
inequality and thus capitalism would be transformed into socialism
and eventually communism. |
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| Criticisms |
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| overemphasize tensions and divisions |
| relationship between groups more
complex |
| situations exist where subordinate
groups control the interactions are ignored |
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| 3. Interpretivism (also
known as symbolic interactionism or interactionism) –
microsociological level theory |
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| Focus is on how people themselves
define reality, how they make sense of the world, how they
experience and define what people are doing |
| Assumption is that social structures
are created through interactions among people so that patterns and
standards of behaviour emerge, i.e. social reality is a construction
by people |
| Focus on meanings assigned to actions
and symbols, how meanings are learned and modified |
| Inquires into factors that influence
how we interpret what we say and do, and patterns that give rise to
same interpretation for many |
| Actors in a play in an analogy –
dramaturgy, a sub-theory of interactionism |
| Key sociologists: George Herbert Mead
and Herbert Blumer |
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| Criticisms |
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| No systematic frameworks for
prediction or persistence/evolving of meanings |
| Potential for subjectivity in
analysis greater |
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