THEORETICAL
APPROACHES
Studying Society 1.2
LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of session you will be able to:
 Recognise that there are different theoretical
approaches to studying society
 Compare conflict and consensus theories
 Recognise the significance of different types of
evidence in social research
WHAT IS A THEORETICAL
APPROACH?

Although all sociologists
look at the same picture of
society, what they see
depends on their
theoretical perspective.

Theoretical perspective:
looking at a social issue
through the eyes of one
particular type of theorist.
Karl Marx 1818-1883
STRUCTURALISM

Structuralists look at the big
picture and show how society
makes us what we are.

They concentrate on the way that
the structure of society has an
influence on our everyday lives.
INTERACTIONISM
Interactionists focus down
on smaller groups and
individuals
 They concentrate on the
way people behave within
society, how they interact
with others and how
people live their daily lives
which, in turn, makes
society what it is.

CONSENSUS
What is consensus?
 Some sociologists say that society is held together
because people share a set of key norms and
values that are passed down from one generation to
the next through the process we know as
socialisation.
 They are very positive about the organisations and
institutions in society and there is a general level of
agreement on the way that society should develop.
 This is the basis of the consensus approach to
sociology.
 Another word for consensus is agreement.
FUNCTIONALISM
Consensus & Functionalism
 The main group of sociologists that
follow these ideas are referred to as
functionalists.

Functionalists see all the different parts
of society working together like the
parts of a well-oiled machine.

Each part has a role to play in making
sure the machine works well – they all
perform a function and they all need to
work well in order for the machine to do
its job properly.
CONFLICT
What is conflict?
 Some sociologists see society as being organised
and structured so that some groups do better than
others.
 This means that some people have control and the
power to decide what others should do.
 A society organised in this way automatically
involves disagreement and conflict.
SOCIAL CLASSES

Social classes have
developed because wealth
and power are not shared
out equally in society.
CLASS CONFLICT

The group of sociologists who see
social class as the main cause of
conflict are referred to as Marxist
sociologists.

The differences that exist between
the ruling class and the working
class are the real reasons for
disagreement and conflict
MARXISM & SURPLUS
VALUE
 Workers
are paid a wage but
it is way below the value of
the goods they produce as
the capitalist class ‘creams
off’ the rest of the money in
the form of profits
 They
are seen to be
exploiting their workers.
FEMINISM

Some feminist sociologists
identify conflict between men and
women in society (gender
conflict) as their main concern.

Radical feminists see the root of
the problem as male power or
patriarchy and believe that this is
seen in all institutions in society
from the family through to the
world of work.
MARXIST FEMINISTS
Marxist feminists see the big
problem springing from the
fact that women ‘look after’
men who work in a capitalist
system.
 If women do work, what they
do is seen as less important
than the work of men.

SO HOW DO THESE THEORISTS
PRESENT THE ALL IMPORTANT
DATA?
Remember
sociology is a science
and therefore has to be rigorous
and systematic in its research and
data analysis
QUANTITATIVE & QUALITATIVE
DATA
Quantitative
 Information that is presented as numbers which can
be analysed using statistical methods.
Qualitative
 Information in the form of text or images, that is rich
in description and detail
INTERACTIONISTS
 Sociologists
taking an interactionist approach
would be likely to concentrate on qualitative
data and be interested more in discussing the
findings from observation and unstructured
interviews.
 Their data would not, for example, be looking at
graphs and percentages.
STRUCTURALISTS
Sociologists taking a more structural view would be
more likely to look at social surveys.
 The data that structuralists collect allows them to
compare responses between different groups in
society.
 The graphs and tables on the following slides are
examples of quantitative data that might be
generated from a social survey but the data doesn’t
speak for itself, it has to be analysed and
evaluated.

ANALYSING DATA
Using bar chart D, answer these questions:
What is the most striking trend in the data?
d) What surprises you about the data?
e) Do you understand the categories? What is the
difference between burglary and robbery?
f) Do you understand the title? What is an indictable
offence?
g) What ‘other offences’ can you think of that don’t fit
the main categories?
c)

Which subject shows the smallest percentage
difference between girls and boys achieving A* – C
GCSE grades?
QUESTIONS FOR HOMEWORK

From page 15 of your handout (1.2 How do we
understand the language that sociologists use?)
a
Why are interactionist sociologists more likely
to gather qualitative data?
What problems do radical feminists see with
patriarchy?
What is an analogy?
Explain what we mean when we talk of
analysing’ data.
a
g