Sociological Theory free essay sample

This assignment will outline the beginnings of sociological theory including historical development of the main theories, namely functionalism and Marxism, and a view of interactionism. The social context in which each of these theories emerged will be detailed with inclusion of possible effects of the social issues at the time. It is often said that sociology is the ‘science of society’. Society is commonly seen as the people and institutions, and the relationships between them. The patterns formed by relationships among people, groups, and institutions for the ‘social structure’ of a society. A series of political upheavals that were instigated as a result of the French Revolution in 1789 created social chaos and many early social theorists sought to analyse societal behaviour in order to ascertain whether the behaviour was a result of the unrest, or whether the political and social chaos was resultant of predetermined or learned behaviour patterns in the individual. We will write a custom essay sample on Sociological Theory or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This may have been an attempt at returning to old order or, more likely, an attempt to establish a new order in the modern society that was emerging. Functionalism sees society as a social system based on ‘consensus’. It stems from the assumption that society has certain basic needs which must be met if it is to survive. The most important being social order. Sociologists sought to answer such issues as what social order is based on, and how social order is possible. It is assumed by functionalists that a certain level of cooperation is needed which would be made possible by adherence to social norms and values. To ensure these norms and values are followed sociologists theorise that methods of ‘social control’ are implemented. Examples of formal methods of social control are Educational establishments, police force, and government and informal control can be family, peer pressure and media. The acknowledged ‘founding father’ of Functionalism in modern sociology was Emile Durkheim. Durkheim was greatly influenced by philosopher Auguste Comte who was in turn cited with founding the ‘positivism’ movement, and Durkheim’s sociological reflections were first expressed in The Division of Labour in Society (1893) and Suicide (1897). In this view, ethical and social structures were endangered by technology and mechanization. The industrial revolution in particular had a massive effect on the transformation of western societies, from largely rural and agricultural communities to predominantly industrial systems. Within this new society a few tended to profit greatly whilst the peasants who had left agriculture for factory work found only low wages, bad treatment, and poor living conditions due to such a massing of humanity and industrial waste. Accompanying these issues were a long list of problems created by this urbanisation which attracted the attention of early sociologists such as Durkheim. The division of labour produced alienation among workers, and the increased prosperity of the late 19th century generated greed and passions that threatened the equilibrium of society. Durkheim drew attention to anomie, or social disconnectedness, and studied suicide as a decision to renounce life. Following the Dreyfus Affair, a political scandal which divided France during the 1890s and early 1900s which involved the wrongful conviction of Jewish military officer Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935) for treason. Durkheim came to regard education and religion as the most potent means of reforming humanity and moulding new social institutions. His The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) is an anthropological study centring largely on symbolism of religion and the origins and functions of this, which Durkheim saw as expressing the collective conscience of a society and thus producing social solidarity. Durkheim’s functionalist theories were carried on and expanded throughout the 20th century, and theorists such as Talcott Parsons and his protige Robert K. Merton in the shape of structural functionalism, which began form the so-called problem of social order and posed the question of how society would hold together when all the individuals within it are self-interested and pursue their own wants and needs, often at the expense of others. However a reaction against the industrial system and capitalism led to the emergence of various ‘conflict’ theories, and the most well-known of these is ‘Marxism. This theory is similar in some ways to functionalism in that it sees society as a system and human behaviour to some extent is a response to that system. As the moniker suggests, conflict rather than consensus is the driving force behind this theory. Social groups are in conflict since their interests are in opposition and social order tends to be imposed by the powerful in society rather than encouraged and agreed by society as a whole. Some theorists such as propose that the concept of ideology is important to society. The ideology, or set of beliefs and values can be used to distort reality and ensure members of society see their world in terms of the ideology rather than the so-called truth of oppression and exploitation. This in turn would lead to social order to to a lack of awareness and pacivity of society. Marxism emerged as an alternative vision of a workers paradise, in which wealth was equitably distributed and was founded by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. This theory proposed freedom and equality for the ‘bourgeoise’ or working class. Marx theorised that the capitalist state would eventually succumb to revolution and a new socialist equilibrium would be introduced. This would do away with the haves and have-nots and a classless society would be born. In contrast to Karl Marx’ theories, Max Weber saw class conflict as less significant and in Weber’s view economic factors are important, but ideas and values can also help to bring about social change. Weber’s work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905) proposes that religious values were of fundamental importance in creating a capitalistic outlook. Unlike other early sociologists Wever argued that social action should be studied and meaning sought in individual actions. However, the interactions between people within society and social interactions should be considered. George Herbert Mead (1863-1891) is credited with laying the foundations for an approach to sociology called ‘symbolic interactionism’. One of his most famous books, Mind, Self, and Society ( ) is often taken as a guide for the symbolic interactionist approach. Along with Mead, two other important early sociologists who shaped the interactionist tradition were Charles Horton Cooley and William Isaac Thomas. The most influential contributor to the symbolic interactionist tradition was Herbert Blumer, who coined the perspective’s label in 1937. Blumer’s book, Symbolic Interactionism (  ) serves as another foundational work for the perspective, and Irving Goffman’s studies of mental institutions can be seen as one of the most successful interactionist studies. Goffman looked at the processes of stigmatization and the ways in which people resent their selves in social encounters. Whilst symbolic interactionism hovered on the fringes of sociological theo ry throughout the 20th century, it became prominent as a theoretical perspective in its own right during the 1960s and this, along with functionalism and conflict theory, is now regarded as one of the three distinctive models for understanding social life. Interactionists often reject the idea that social structures exist objectively and tend to dismiss them in this theory. In contrast to functionalism and conflict theory, symbolic Interactionism focuses of micro level interactions and the ways in which meanings are constructed and transmitted and in doing so it accentuates how symbols, interaction, and human agency serve as the cornerstones of social life Mead argued that the individual self is in fact a ‘social self’ produced during interaction processes rather than being biologically given. Mead’s theory traces the emergence of self through a series of stages in childhood and his ideas of the social self underpins interactionist research Interactionists stressed that sociologists could best understand social life’s core features by taking the role of the individuals or groups they were studying, particularly by engaging in participant observation. By the 1980s mainstream sociology had accepted much of the core of the symbolic interactionist approach, with its emphases on meaning, agency, and the interpretive analysis of interactional processes, as a legitimate and central part of the discipline. Thus, interactionism no longer represented a distinctive oppositional perspective as it had previously. In recent decades interactionism has grown in a number of new directions. With respect to methodology, its approach has broadened to include contextualized discourse analysis, ethnographic observation, content analysis, textual analysis, performance studies, and autoethnography. Interactionism has also become a more prominent perspective in a diverse array of disciplines. Another interactionist perspective worth noting is that of feminist theories. The history of feminist politics and theory is often cited as consisting of three â€Å"waves. † First-wave being women’s suffrage movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The second-wave feminism is associated with the women’s liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s where feminists began concentrating on less â€Å"official† barriers to gender equality, addressing issues like sexuality, reproductive rights, women’s roles and labor in the home, and patriarchal culture and finally, third-wave feminism is associated with feminist politics and movements that began in the 1980s and continue on to today. This emerged out of a critique of the politics of the second wave, as many feminists felt that earlier generations had over-generalized the experiences of white, middle-class, heterosexual women and ignored (and even suppressed) the viewpoints of women of colour, the poor, gay, lesbian, and transgender people, and women from the non-Western world. Feminist social theory has influenced and been influenced by the agendas and struggles of each of these waves. â€Å"First-wave† theorists like Mary Wollstonecraft and Susan B. Anthony were influential for their focus on how women’s lack of legal rights contributed to their social demotion, exclusion, and suffering. â€Å"Second-wave† theorists like Betty Friedan and Andrea Dworkin were prominent for their focus on women’s sexuality, reproduction, and the social consequences of living in a patriarchal culture. And â€Å"third-wave† theorists like Judith Butler and Gayatri Spivak are significant for critiquing the idea of a universal experience of womanhood and drawing attention to the sexually, economically, and racially excluded. Moreover, feminist social theorists in each wave have critiqued the male biases implicit in social theory itself, helping to construct social theory that draws on rather than excludes the experiences of women. Conclusion Ultimately, if feminism, broadly understood, is concerned with improving the conditions of women in society, feminist social theory is about developing ideas, concepts, philosophies, and other intellectual programs that help meet that agenda. Feminist social theory, like any theoretical tradition, is best seen as a continuing conversation of many voices and viewpoints. But feminist concerns that filtered into early sociology only on the margins. In spite of their marginal status, early women sociologists like Harriet Martineau and Marianne Weber wrote a significant body of theory that is being rediscovered today. This is in contrast to functionalism where moderns theorists are The ideas of sociologists such as Marx, Durkheim and Weber were formed during times of great social, political and economic change which their prespectives sough to understand. But sociological theory can