The Real World
AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
2nd Edition
Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein
Chapter 2
Sociology’s Family Tree:
Theories and Theorists
Sociological Theories
• Theories in sociology are propositions that
explain the social world and help to make
predictions about future events.
• Theories are also sometimes referred to as
approaches, schools of thought,
paradigms, or perspectives.
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Figure 2.1 Sociology’s Family Tree
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
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Founders of Sociology
• Auguste Comte:
• Stated that sociology needed to be treated like
any other scientific discipline.
• Laid the groundwork for future sociologists and
helped build the discipline.
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Auguste Comte
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
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Founders of Sociology, continued
• Harriet Martineau:
• A social activist who traveled the United States
and wrote about social changes which were
radical for this time period.
• Martineau translated Comte’s work into English,
making his ideas accessible to England and
America.
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Harriet Martineau
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Founders of Sociology, continued
• Herbert Spencer was the first
great English-speaking sociologist.
• Spencer believed in evolution and
coined the phrase “survival of the fittest.”
• He believed that societies evolve through
time by adapting to their changing
environment. His philosophy is often
referred to as “social Darwinism.”
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Herbert Spencer
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Founders of Sociology, continued
• Emile Durkheim worked to establish
sociology as an important academic
discipline.
• Interested in the social factors
that bond and hold people together
• Studied the correlation between social
isolation and suicide
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Emile Durkheim
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
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Founders of Sociology, continued
• Karl Marx was a German philosopher and
political activist.
• Marx contributed significantly to sociology’s
conflict theory.
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Karl Marx
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
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Founders of Sociology, continued
• Marx believed that capitalism was creating
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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Founders of Sociology, continued
• Max Weber was also interested in how
society was becoming industrialized.
• He was concerned with the process of
rationalization, applying economic logic to
all human activity.
• He believed that contemporary life was filled
with disenchantment, the result of the
dehumanizing features of modern societies.
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Max Weber
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
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Founders of Sociology, continued
• Sigmund Freud is usually associated with
psychoanalysis, but his theories have helped
sociologists gain a better understanding of
social behavior.
• Freud developed the idea of the
subconscious and the unconscious mind,
which he believed controls most of our
drives, impulses, thoughts, and behaviors.
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Sigmund Freud
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
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Schools of Thought
• Your book refers to paradigms, or schools of
thought. Paradigms are ways of thinking or
theoretical umbrellas, meant to provide a
broad explanation for the way things work.
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Modern Schools of Thought
• Structural Functionalism:
• Society is viewed as an ordered system of
interrelated parts, or structures, which are
the social institutions that make up society
(family, education, politics, the economy).
• Each of these different structures meets
the needs of society by performing specific
functions for the whole system (society).
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Modern Schools of Thought, continued
• Conflict Theory:
• Sees social conflict as the basis of society
and social change.
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Modern Schools of Thought, continued
• Symbolic Interactionism:
• Sees interaction and meaning as central to
society and assumes that meanings are
not inherent but are created through
interaction.
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New Theoretical Approaches
• Feminist Theory:
• Looks at gender inequalities in society and
the way that gender structures the social
world, and considers remedies to these
inequalities.
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New Theoretical Approaches, continued
• Queer Theory:
• Proposes that categories of sexual identity
are social constructs and that no sexual
category is fundamentally either deviant or
normal.
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New Theoretical Approaches, continued
• Postmodernist Theory:
• Suggests that social reality is diverse,
pluralistic, and constantly changing.
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Theories and Theorists | Concept
Abstract propositions that both explain the
social world and make predictions about
future events are known as:
a. theories
b. social inequalities
c. ideas
d. social assumptions
e. means of production
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Theories and Theorists | Concept
What are paradigms?
a. broad theoretical perspectives
b. specific research methods
c. dominant sociological
applications
d. all of the above
e. none of the above
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Theories and Theorists | Concept
Marx believed that there was a class struggle
between:
a. groups of people who worked alongside one another
b. groups of people who practiced different religions
c. people who owned the means of production and people
who worked for a wage.
d. people who were born rich versus people who earned
their wealth
e. people who were born poor versus people who fell into
poverty due to poor work ethic
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Theories and Theorists | Concept
Which of these sociological
paradigms has proved to be the most
influential of the twentieth century?
a. structural functionalism
b. conflict theory
c. symbolic interactionism
d. world-systems theory
e. critical race theory
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Additional Art from Chapter 2
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Chapter Opener
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
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The Blind Men and the Elephant
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
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Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406)
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Charles Darwin
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
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Gender, Parenting, and Theory
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Talcott Parsons (1902–1979)
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Robert Merton (1910–2003)
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W. E. B. DuBois (1868–1963)
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Martin Luther King
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George Herbert Mead (1863–1931)
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Jane Addams (1860–1935)
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Hmong Cultural Center in St. Paul, Minnesota
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Blogger Mario Lavandeira, a.k.a. Perez Hilton
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The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
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Analyzing Wal-Mart
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Jacques Derrida (1930–2004)
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Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007)
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Michel Foucault (1926–84)
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Theory in Everyday Life (Table 2.1,top)
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Theory in Everyday Life (Table 2.1,bottom)
The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company
This concludes the Lecture
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Chapter 2
The Real World
AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
2nd Edition
Kerry Ferris
and
Jill Stein
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