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Objectives of Unit 2:
 Discuss findings/experience of Assignment 1: “Doing
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Nothing”
Reflect on the concept of “theory” in Sociology
Introduce the ‘classical’(traditional) perspectives in Sociology
Introduce the newer perspectives in Sociology
Introduce a global perspective in Sociology (unit 3 & 9)
Introduce briefly common methodological approaches (tools)
in Sociology
Assignment 1: “Doing Nothing”
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A theory is…. Hmmm !?
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What is a Theory?
 Attempts to understand the (social) world and our place in it, has led to
the development of theories
 Theories are abstract propositions about how things are as well as
how they should be; an explanation of how we think things work
 We refer to theories as approaches, schools of thought,
paradigms or perspectives.
 This implies that they are different approaches!
 Social theories are guiding
principles or abstract models that
attempt to explain and predict the social world
 A theory is comparable to a map. When you discover new
places, you have to modify this map
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Is there something like ‘down’ or ‘above’?
‘down’ and ‘above’ become relative…
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Example of a theoretical model:
“the social change model”
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Theories are dynamic, they change…
 Theories have to be tested:
 That’s what scientifically research is all about!
 We develop theories and test them, modify them to fit the
reality better, why?
 Theories will change over time, because their area of study
they seek to understand and explain:
Society, itself changes over time
 Theories seek to understand society in periods of both order
and change
 Social change makes theoretical change a continual necessity
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The object of study is on the move
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Different theoretical perspectives
 In attempting to develop theories about humans and
societies, sociologists face a wide range of choices:
 What issues should we study? How should we link facts together to
form theories?What assumptions might underpin our theories?
 I.e. what theoretical maps guides the study of phenomena?
 =Theoretical Perspective
 This is a basic image that guides thinking and research
 There exists an array of basic images that guide
thinking and research!
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The elephant metaphor:
poem by John Godfrey Saxe (1816-18-87)
Wall
Fan
Snake
Rope
Spear
Tree
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The poem/parable’s moral:
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‘Classical’, traditional perspectives in Sclg
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3 classical perspectives in Sclg:
Macro-level perspectives:
1. Structural Functionalism
2. Conflict theory
Micro-level perspective:
3. Symbolic interactionism
Structural Functionalism
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Key tenets Structural Functionalism
society as a
complex system whose parts work together to
promote solidarity and stability
1. Our lives are guided by social structure
 Is a framework for building theory that envisages
 i.e. relative stable patterns of social behaviour
2.
This frameworks understands social structure in terms of its social
functions
 i.e. functions/consequences for the operation of society
3.
ordered system of
interrelated parts of the social structures. Each structure
Society is stable, an
has a function that contributes to the continued stability of society.
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Founding Fathers of Structural Functionalism:
“ To promote
social
integration
during times of
radical change”
Auguste
Comte
“Society is
comparable to
the human
body”
Herbert
Spencer
“I focus on
social
solidarity”
Emile
Durkheim
Key tenets Structural Functionalism
 The SF perspective organizes sociological observations by
identifying various structures of society and studying the
function of each one.
 E.g. of social structures (social institutions) are: the family,
the educational system, politics, religion, mass media systems
and the economy
Other theorists that have contributed to SF perspective
“Society is a system,
with parts that have
basic tasks, all
members should be
socialized to maintain
order”
Talcott Parsons
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“Social functions
can be expanded
in manifest,
latent and
dysfunctions”
Robert Merton
Social functions expanded (Merton)
1.
The consequences of any social pattern are likely to
members of society
differ for various
 E.g. traditional families provide crucial support for the development of children but also
confer privileges on men while limiting the opportunities for women
2.
We don’t always perceive all functions of a particular social structure:
 Manifest functions: the recognized/intended consequences of any social
pattern
 Latent functions: consequences that are largely unrecognized and
unintended
3.
Not all the effects if any social structure turn out to be useful: Social
Dysfunctions
 i.e. any pattern’s undesirable consequences for the operation of
society
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(dys)functions of….?
What are the main functions (in terms of manifest and latent)
and dysfunctions of the following social structures:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
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The family
Education
Religion
Mass media
The economy
Jail
Gaming
Critique on Structural Functionalism
 How can we assume that society has a natural order when
social patterns vary from place to place and change over
time?
 By focusing on social integration and harmony SF tends to
overlook/hide social inequalities based on social
categories such as: ethnicity, gender, age and social class
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Conflict Theory
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Key tenets Conflict Theory
society as an arena of
inequality that generates conflict and change
 It highlights divisions in society based on inequalities
 Inequalities based on social class, ethnicity (or race), sex and age
 Theory focuses on dominance, competition and social change
 Conflict between categories of people (social groups): dominant vs.
 Is a framework for building theory that envisages
disadvantaged categories. E.g. Rich vs. poor
 Aim is not only to understand how inequality is rooted in the way
society is organized, but
inequalities:
also to do reduce
 By promoting and bring about
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Social Change
Conflict Theory
 has a
materialistic view of society. It focuses on labor
practices and economic reality
critical stance towards existing social
arrangements (labor market, democracy, inequality between
 takes a
social groups)
 doesn’t believe that science can be objective: “all theoretical
approaches have political consequences ”. i.e. theories
have hidden agendas
 Believes that
transformation of society is inevitable
(social change)
Founding father of Conflict theory:
“My main task is not to just
analyze how society
reproduces inequality, but my
task is to change this!”
Karl Marx
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Critique on Conflict Theory
overlooks how shared
values or interdependence generate unity
 CT highlights inequality and
among members of society
 CT sometimes pursuits
explicitly political goals (it
wants to bring social change) and because of this it sometimes
lacks scientific objectivity*
* The objectivity of science is a much disputable notion in science on itself
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Critique on how SF & CT approach
‘Society’
 Both the SF and CT envisage society in very broad
terms. “Society becomes a thing on itself ” describing our
lives as a composite of for example: “family” or “social class”
 we have criticized this notion in unit 1!
 Both SF and CT are considered
(gone out of fashion!)
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conservative theories
Symbolic Interactionism
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3. Symbolic Interactionism*

Is a theoretical framework that envisages
society as the product of
everyday interactions of people doing things
together

social action perspective
Is influenced by Weber’s
. i.e. a perspective
that emphasizes the need to understand a setting from the point of view of people in it.
 Human meanings and action shape society
 We act toward things on the basis of their meanings
 Individual/social groups
give meaning to the experience of life
 Meaning is process of constant
 i.e. meanings can
negotiation:
change or be modified through interaction and through time
*SI is the most influential sociological perspective!
Founding father & inspiration of SI
“I look at how we
assemble our
sense of self over
time based on
social experience”
George Mead
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“Meanings and action shape
society. Modern society is
the product of a new way of
thinking, not just of new
technology and capitalism”
Max Weber
Key tenets of Symbolic Interactionism
process of finding meaning in our
surroundings, we define our identities, bodies and feelings, and
come to socially construct the world around us.
Society as a mosaic of subjective meanings and
variable responses:
 Through the human

 E.g. the meaning of the membership of a gang member:
 The one perceives being part of a gang as something to be proud of, you get
symbolic ‘status’ in an other part of society, you are appreciated by fellow
gang members, they are your family.
 The other sees gangs as something to be feared, a menace for society, a
collection of organized crime, peer pressure and stupidity
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Changing meanings of the concept of beauty for teenagers
(1975 vs. 2010):
Critique on Symbolic Interactions
 By focusing on day-to-day experience/interactions we
overlook the workings of larger social structures
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Conclusion so far…
 Not one single perspective can cover in its totality the dynamic
character of society and social experience.
 A some what more better understanding of society comes from
the combination of different perspectives:
 Sociology examines the social world by looking
at functions and dysfunctions, conflicts and
consensus, actions and meanings
 And still, as we will see, some other angles are lacking!
 Because all 3 traditional perspectives have weakness as well as
strengths, they will probably never fully explain the totality of
social phenomena, even when taken together…
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Contemporary, emerging perspectives
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3 new perspectives in Sociology
 New perspectives will, and indeed must, continue to rise.
Changes in society, bring changes in our conceptual way of
studying it:
 Each is linked to a major contemporary social
transformation:
 Changing ideas about gender roles
 Changing notions of sexual identity
 Changes associated with a post-industrial,
technologically based society
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Feminist Theory
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First female sociologist
“I can be considered the first female in
sociology. My area of expertise is the
study of urban life, I am one of the
pioneers of the Chicago School”
Jane Addams
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1. Feminist theory
 Looks at gender inequalities in society and the way gender
structures the social world
 Gender is a social construct
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E.g. A feminist analysis of female fairy tale characters
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Queer Theory
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2. 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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Post-modernism
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2. Postmodern theory
 Suggests that there is no universal, knowable truth: realities
are fluid and diverse
 The kaleidoscope metaphor
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“It has all been done. The extreme
limit of possibilities have been
reached. It has deconstructed its
entire universe. So, all that are left
are pieces. All that remains to be
done is play around with the pieces:
that is post-modern”
Baudrillard
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Perspective
Focus of Analysis
Structural- Functionalism
Assumes that society is a unifies whole that functions
because of the contributions of its separate structures
Conflict theory
Sees social conflict as the basis of society and social
change emphasizes a materialist view of society, a
critical view of the status quo and a dynamic model
of historical change
Symbolic interactionism
Asserts that interaction and meaning are central to
society and assumes that meanings are not inherent
but are created through interaction
Feminist theory
Looks at gender inequalities in society and the way
gender structures the social world
Queer theory
Questions the basis of all social categories, including
but not limited to those involving sexuality
Postmodernist theory
Suggests that social reality is diverse, pluralistic and
constantly in flux
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Global perspective in Sociology
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Global perspective
 The study of the larger world and each society’s place in it
 Importance of interrelations
 Importance of contexts
 We will continue with this theme in unit 3 and unit 9
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Common methods in Sociology
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“There is no absolutely objective
scientific analysis of culture….or social
phenomena independent of special and
one-sided viewpoints according to
which …they are selected, analyzed and
organized” (Weber, 1949: 72)
Max Weber
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 Distinction between Quantative and Qualitative research
methods
 Quantative: uses data that can easily be converted into
numbers, such as a survey or an experiment
 E.g. Censo 2010
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 Qualitative: involves data that cannot easily be converted to
numbers, such as observation or informal interviews.
 Most sociological research uses the scientific method
 This is the standard for acquiring and verifying empirical
scientific knowledge:
 After conducting a literature review, a researcher forms a
hypothesis stating a potential relationship between 2 or more
variables:
 The number of friendships at the work & the level of job satisfaction
 e.g. more friendships at the workplace increases job satisfaction
 Variables must be clearly defined so that they can be
measured
 Finally data is collected and the hypotheses tested (deductive)
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Steps of the scientific Method
Starting from 1 to 7
= Deductive research
1. Identify a
problem or ask
a question
7.Dissemina
te findings
2. Conduct a
literature
review
3. Form a
hypothesis: give
operational
definitions to
variables
6. Analyze
data
Starting from 5 (4) to
1 = Inductive research
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5. Collect data
4. Choose
a research
design or
method
1. Ethnographic methods
 One way to collect data is through ethnography, a method
based on studying people in their own environment in order
to understand the meanings they attribute to their activities
 It involves:
 Active participation in and observation of a naturally occurring setting
and a written account (field notes) of what goes on there.
 In participant observation the research observes and becomes a member
in the social setting
 Anthropology uses this method often
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Ethnography:
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Snow white joined the 7
dwarfs in their private
homes, here she could
observe their social
practices
2. Interviews
 Involves direct, face-to-face contact with respondents.
 The researcher identifies the target population that she
wishes to study and then selects a sample of people to be
interviewed from that population
 close-ended questions:
 E.g. Are you for or against the legislation of abortus? (yes-no)
 open-ended question:
 What is your opinion about legalizing abortus? please elaborate…
 What do you think of married couples cheating on each other?
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3. Surveys
 Surveys are questionnaires that are administrated to a sample
of respondents selected from a target group population
 Tend to look at Large-scale social patterns and employs statistics
methods of analysis
 http://www.censo2010.aw/
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URL: www.censo2010.aw
4. Experimental methods
 Experiments are formal test of whether an independent
variable causes the dependent variable that are performed in
a controlled setting where all aspects of the situation can be
controlled.
 Comparison between experimental group vs. control group
(sample without intervention)
 Experiments in social science are very difficult to conduct
because of ethical questions:
 Twins separated at birth, one grows-up in a nice family, one in a
dysfunctional family?
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Pill to make you dance at a party when you
don’t like dancing
Control: she takes a
placebo pill
Experiment: she
takes the to be
tested pill
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5. Emerging research tools:
A. Life stories (narratives)
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
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Diaries
Logs and time-budgets
Letters
Visual sociology: Photography
Visual sociology: Film and video
Issues in Social science research
 Social scientists/researches should be
Value-free
 Code of ethics to avoid bias, protect respondents from
harms, privacy issues and unethical behavior in the name of
science etc.
 On the wikispace you can find examples of different code of
ethics for social sciences
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E.g. Unethical research
Article trackback:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02
/health/research/02infect.html?_r=1&r
ef=todayspaper
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Awakening the
sociological
imagination:
“Studying = feeling like
a space traveler,
flying above earth,
fascinated by its
organizing ecology &
exploring its encoded
meanings”
N.D.L.
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Social Scientists…
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Assignment 2:
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Understanding the London Riots
 See Assignment 2 on the wikispace: “Free-styling”
sociological imagination: Understanding the London Riots.
 As sociologists-in-training we will attempt to understand the
riots carefully. Follow the instructions for this assignment on
the wikispace.
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