SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACHES
WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?
“...The systematic study of human society ”

Systematic


Scientific discipline that focuses attention on patterns of behavior
Human society

Group behavior is primary focus; how groups influence individuals
and vice versa
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL
System whose parts work together
 Consequences serve as function of society

 Manifest
 Latent
 Dysfunctions
MANIFEST

Intended consequences
 Students
learn content as a results of a teacher’s
careful lesson planning
LATENT

Unintended consequences
 Students
learn socialization skills through group
work portion of the assignment.
DYSFUNCTION

Manifest : anticipated negative disruptions
 Ex:

groups will be off task
Latent: unanticipated negative disruption
 Ex:
class doesn’t finish assignment in allotted time.
WHO’S WHO IN THE STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONAL
PARADIGM

Auguste Comte


Emile Durkheim


Helped establish sociology as a discipline
Herbert Spencer


Importance of social integration during times of rapid
change
Compared society to the human body
Robert K. Merton



Manifest functions are recognized and intended
consequences.
Latent functions are unrecognized and unintended
consequences.
Social dysfunctions are undesirable consequences.
SOCIAL CONFLICT
Society is structured in ways to benefit a few at
the expense of the majority.
 Society is structured around inequality. That
conflict generates change.

 Ex:
underperforming students are targeted for
special programs.
WHO’S WHO IN THE
SOCIAL-CONFLICT PARADIGM

Karl Marx


The importance of social class in inequality and social
conflict
W.E.B. Du Bois

Race as the major problem facing the United States in the
20th century
FEMINISM & GENDER CONFLICT APPROACH

A point of view that focuses on inequality and
conflict between women and men

Closely linked to feminism, the advocacy of
social equality for women and men

Women important to the development of
sociology: Harriet Martineau and Jane Addams
RACE CONFLICT APPROACH
•
A point of view that focuses on inequality and
conflict between people of different racial and
ethnic categories
•
People of color important to the development
of sociology: Ida Wells Barnett and W.E.B. Du
Bois
SYMBOLIC INTERACTION

Society is the product of interactions. These
are subjective, as each person has their own
views, experiences, memories, thoughts and
expectations.
 Ex:
school is the interaction of teachers and
students and the relationship they build.
WHO’S WHO IN THE
SYMBOLIC-INTERACTION PARADIGM

Max Weber


George Herbert Mead


Understanding a setting from the people in it
How we build personalities from social experience
Erving Goffman

Dramaturgical analysis
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF EACH APPROACH

Structural-Functional


Social-Conflict


Too broad, ignores inequalities of social class, race &
gender, focuses on stability at the expense of conflict
Too broad, ignores how shared values and mutual
interdependence unify society, pursues political goals
Symbolic-Interaction

Ignores larger social structures, effects of culture, factors
such as class, gender & race (too much emphasis on microlevel)