WHAT REALY DECIDES THE
QUALITY OF OUR LIVES:
The Perspective of Sociological Theory
Auguste Comte, the Father of Sociology
2016-03-18
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© Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri 2016
Presentation Outline
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1. Introduction: The Central Question, Main Thesis, Major Concepts
and Main Argument
2. Introduction: Seeing the Invisible
3. Paradigm: Methods and Theories
4. Explaining Human Behaviour and Condition: Biology, Psychology
& Sociology
5. The Sociological Paradigm Shift
6. Models of Sociological Explanation
6. Major Paradigms of Sociology:
– Functionalism
– Social Conflict
– Interactionism
– Feminism
– Postmodernism
7. Application of the Paradigms
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INTRODUCTION
CENTRAL QUESTION:
 Why does sociological theory matter?

MAIN THESIS:
 Sociological Theory matters because
it uses science to reveal (makes
visible) the unseen macro and micro
social forces that explain and predict
human behaviour/condition and
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?
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=
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INTRODUCTION: MAIN ARGUMENT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wan0IJuXlys
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While social forces are themselves invisible
(unless revealed by sociological
paradigms/theories), they produce effects that are
seen and felt in every act of people.
» Everything we see/feel/experience in the social
world is an effect of invisible social forces.
CAUSE (X)
INVISIBLE
EFFECT (Y)
VISIBLE
Discovering or revealing the invisible is the objective of paradigms (research
and theorizing)
Introduction: The Major Concepts
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Social Forces as invisible variables/factors
Paradigms
Sociological Paradigm Shift
Sociological Paradigms:
– Functionalism
» Homeostasis, cultural consensus, functional, dysfunctional, manifest
function, latent function, gemeinschaft, gesellschaft
– Social Conflict:
» Competition, Inequality, social class, social closure (prestige and
privilege), political economy (power and property), conflict
– Interactionism:
» Human agency, looking-glass self, definition of the situation, symbols,
social interaction, sympathetic introspection
– Feminism:
»
Gender, patriarchy, inequality, oppression, sexism, gender conflict and gender relations,
intersectionality
– Postmodernism:
2016-03-18 » Centered power, cultural hegemony, cultural diversity/pluralism, multiculturalism,
deconstruction, reality, hyperreality, universalism, normality
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INTRODUCTION:
SOCIOLOGY SEEING THE INVISIBLE
CAUSE (X)
INVISIBLE
(Unmanifest)
MACRO SOCIAL FORCES
MICRO SOCIAL FORCES
-
- Human Agency
Culture
Political Economy
Social Closures
Patriarchy
SOCIOLOGICAL
IMAGINATION
-
Functionalist Paradigm
2016-03-18
Social
Conflict Paradigm
Macro Feminist Paradigm
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION
OF REALITY
- Interactionist Paradigm
- Micro Feminist Paradigm
- Postmodernist Paradigm
EFFECT (Y)
VISIBLE
(Manifest)
- Human Behavior
- Human Condition
- Human Destiny
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INTRODUCTION:
SEEING THE INVISIBLE
1. Invisible macro and micro social forces are the X (independent
variables or the “Unmanifest”) or causal factors and what we see,
feel, think and experience are all Y (dependent variables or the
“Manifest”) or effects.
2. The theories dimension of Sociological Paradigms identify and
name these invisible social forces
3. The invisible macro social forces are Culture, Political
Economy, Social Closures and Patriarchy; The invisible micro
social force is Human Agency
4. The macro sociological paradigms of Functionalism, Social
Conflict, and Feminism reveal the macro social forces; The micro
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sociological paradigms of Interactionism and postmodernism
PARADIGM:
A SYSTEM OF THEORY & METHODS
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The term PARADIGM was first used by Thomas Kuhn (1962) to
represent a particular way of thinking and seeing the world that is
shared by a community of scholars, researchers, or scientists, and
also one that is used to represent commitments, worldviews,
beliefs, values, methods and approaches that are shared across a
discipline (Chilisa 2012, pp. 19-20).
THEORY = Scientific Explanation or Proposition Statement on
relationships between/among concepts.
METHODS = Design and process for research
Methods Theory Methods
Theory PARADIGM
Theory
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Methods
Theory
Methods
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THEORY DIMENSION OF PARADIGMS
“Theory is a set of propositions that
suggests why events occur in the manner
they do”…Theories consist of concepts and
the linkages or relationships between them
(Kenneth R. Hoover 1980, p. 37 and 38).
 Examples:
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» E=mc² in the Physical Sciences
» S(p) in Sociology
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THE UTILITY OF THE THEORY
DIMENSION OF PARADIGMS
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THE UTILITY OF PARADIGMS
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A paradigm is constructed and “used by scientists
to provide logical explanations for why things
happen the way they do” (Ballantine 1993: 5).
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As explanations and predictions, paradigms or theoretical
perspectives in sociology suggest CAUSES for behaviors,
events, human conditions, human destiny, and social
structures, including culture.

The higher the abstraction the a) more particular
social circumstances it could explain and predict
with little and b) the more one can know without
much memorization of information. Examples:
E=mc²; S(p).
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THE UTILITY OF PARADIGMS

“Identification of causes is at the heart of
theories and, of course, knowledge about
causes is of practical importance if we are
interested in creating, enhancing,
reinforcing, reducing, or eliminating a
given situation or behavior” (Hurst 2005,
p. 6).
» Paradigms help to change lives and communities
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EXPLAINING HUMAN BEHAVIOR:
A Contested Terrain
EFFECT (Y)
CAUSE (X)
INVISIBLE
(Unmanifest)
SUPERNATURAL FORCES
- Religion
NATURAL FORCES
- Biology
- Psychology
VISIBLE
(Manifest)
- Human Behavior
- Human Condition
- Human destiny
SOCIAL FORCES
- Sociology
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EXPLAINING HUMAN BEHAVIOR:
A Contested Terrain
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Why do people behave the way they do and why is the human
condition the way it is?
Specifically, why do we have technology, the Internet, sickness,
love, dating, sex, marriage, family, schools, successful people, the
poor, volunteers, charity, happy people, capitalism, child abuse,
terrorism, sexism, racism, violence, financial crises, homelessness,
globalization, equal access to health care in Canada, suffering,
crime, etc.?
Providing the correct answer to the question as to what
determines human behaviour and human condition has been a
contest among biological, psychological and sociological
paradigms.
– A PARADIGM IN BIOLOGY: Inside the body: DNA
– A PARADIGM IN PSYCHOLOGY Inside the brain: Mental
Processes/Personality Type/Self-esteem
– SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGM: Outside the body: The Social
World (Social Structure, culture and human agency).
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THE SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGM SHIFT:
– Sociology has caused a paradigm shift about the world
and human behavior/condition because of the
Sociological Theories that Sociological Research has
helped to create.
» Paradigms connect Research Methods and Theories
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THE SOCIOLOGICAL
PARADIGM SHIFT
S(p)
 The
personal (or particular
behavior/condition/experience) is a
function of Social Forces.

This formula points to the Physics roots of
Sociology: Auguste Comte, the father of
sociology, was a physicist and the original
name given to sociology was “Social
Physics”.
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SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGM SHIFT
Main Theory Similarities and differences in peoples’ behavior and
conditions are a function of SOCIAL FORCES, namely, the
S(p)
invisible structures and dynamics of the social world
Social Closures
Culture
Human Agency
HUMAN
BEHAVIOR &
CONDITION
Patriarchy
Political Economy
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MAJOR PARADIGMS OF SOCIOLOGY
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MAJOR PARADIGMS OF
SOCIOLOGY
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The sociological perspective is dominated by four
major paradigms:
–
–
–
–
–
Structural Functionalist Paradigm (FUNCTIONALISM)
Social Conflict Paradigm (SOCIAL CONFLICT)
Interactionist Paradigm (INTERACTIONISM)
Feminist Paradigm (FEMINISM)
Postmodernist Paradigm (POSTMODERNISM)
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DIFFERENT EMPHASIS OF THE MAJOR
PARADIGMS OF SOCIOLOGY
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Functionalism and Social Conflict paradigms are Macro Models of sociology
and connect with the concept of Sociological Imagination.
Interactionist Paradigm is a Micro Model of sociology and connects with the
concept Social Construction of Reality .
Feminist Paradigm is both Macro and Micro, but mainly Macro.
Postmodernism is both Macro and Micro, but mainly Micro
STRUCTURE
CULTURE
(Macro)
HUMAN (Macro)
AGENCY
(Micro)
FUNCTIONALISM & POSTMODERNISM emphasize CULTURE in the Social Structure
SOCIAL CONFLICT emphasizes STRUCTURE (Political Economy & Social Closures) in the Social Structure
FEMINISM emphasizes STRUCTURE (Patriarchy) and HUMAN AGENCY, but mainly PATRIARCHAL
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STRUCTURE
INTERACTIONISM emphasizes HUMAN AGENCY
PREVAILING MODELS OF
SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION

MACRO MODEL (Sociological Imagination):
Culture, Political Economy,
Social Closures, Patriarchy
Variation in
Social Structure
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Variation in
Behavior &
Human Condition
MICRO MODEL (Social Construction of Reality):
Definition of Interaction Situation
Variation in Human Agency
Variation in
Behavior &
Human Condition
FUSION or COMPOSITE MODEL (Structuration):
A
B Variation in
Behavior &
Structure of Situation
Definition of Situation
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Human 21
Condition
CONNECTIONS
Paradigms
Sociological Theory
S(p)
Social Forces
Major
Concepts
1. Functionalism
Macro Social Force
CULTURE
2. Social Conflict
Macro Social Force
Sociological
STRUCTURE: Political Economy Imagination
& Social Closures
3. Interactionism
& Postmodernism
Micro Social Force:
HUMAN AGENCY
4. Feminism
Mainly Macro Social Forces:
STRUCTURE: Patriarchy
STRUCTURATION PARADIGM
“..our background and circumstances may
have influences on who we are but we are responsible
for whom we become” (Rosin 2012, p. 114)‘
Sociological
Imagination
Social
Construction
of Reality
Sociological
Imagination
QUIZ 1
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Your friend is seeking an answer to his question, “In
what ways do social institutions or structures–like the
criminal justice system—serve the needs of the
powerful over the powerless”. What model of the
sociological paradigm would be the most appropriate in
providing the framework to produce the correct
answer to your friend’s question?
A) Spirit Model
B) Micro Model
C) Macro Model
D) Fusion or Composite Model
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QUIZ 2
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“If people in Canadian society are concerned
about the high divorce rate and want to fix it,
they must focus on individual action; they must
not focus on social structures and social
arrangements”. This viewpoint on divorce is
representative of what sociological model?
A) Meso Model
B) Micro Model
C) Macro Model
D) Fusion or Composite Model
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FUNCTIONALIST
Paradigm or Theoretical Perspective
HOMEOSTASIS:
INTEGRATION, HARMONY AND COHESION
The Cultural Approach to the Study of Integration (Homeostasis):
The
world is user-friendly
of cultural consensus
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Culturalbecause
Consensus
Functionalism’s Story:
Universal homogenous culture
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Storyline #1. Society is made up of objective
social system that seeks agreement and consensus
over culture--shared meanings, values and beliefs
among its subsystems.
Storyline #2. People’s private behaviour and
thinking are pushed and pulled by culture--the
shared meanings, values and beliefs developed
through socialization (Russell Westhaver 2013, p.
xix).
Storyline #3: Anything that exists and persists in
the social structure is functional for the system.
Dysfunctional phenomena are eliminated.
FUNCTIONALIST PARADIGM
EFFECT (Y)
CAUSE (X)
Homeostasis need of
Society: Cultural
Interrelated parts of society,
CONDUIT
including people, their
Social Relationships
behaviors, experiences,
Conditions, and destinies.
Macro Social Force
UNMANIFEST
MANIFEST
FUNCTIONALIST PARADIGM
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FOCUS:
Macro: Social Structure, particularly CULTURE.
MAIN CONCEPTS: Homeostasis (Equilibrium, Social
Solidarity, Social Order, Social Stability, Integration,
Consensus), Function, Dysfunction).

MAIN THEORY:

Society, like a biological organism, is an evolving
complex structure of interrelated parts/processes each
of which serves a function (manifest or latent) by
contributing to homeostasis which is the overall
stability and integration of society for the benefit of the
whole. The stability is characterized by a social
consensus whereby members of the social structure
share a common culture. Dysfunctional parts/processes
causing conflicts and contradictions are eliminated.
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 “…actors
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[people] are motivated to achieve a goal or end as defined
by the cultural system in which they live.” (Talcott Parsons).
FUNCTIONALIST PARADIGM
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1. FUNCTION(AL): Contributes to social
order or stability or social solidarity, that is,
homeostasis needs (universal and homogenous
cultures) of the whole social structure.
Two types of functions: Manifest & Latent
a) MANIFEST FUNCTION
– Functions of societal elements and processes that are
intended and obvious or commonly recognized (e.g.,
Education transmits knowledge and skills).
 b) LATENT FUNCTION
– Functions of societal elements and processes
unintended and often provide hidden contributions
to societal homeostasis (e.g., Education serves as
babysitter and marriage market).
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
FUNCTIONALIST PARADIGM
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2. DYSFUNCTION(AL): Contributes to disorder or
instability (E.g., ANOMIE).
Simultaneously Dysfunctional and Functional:
– E.g., CRIME subsystem is dysfunctional in
that it causes violence, loss of property and
fear to some individuals and groups.
However, crime is also functional for society
because it leads to heightened awareness of
shared moral bonds, increased social
cohesion and economic benefits.
QUIZ 3

In your sociology of sports class you learned that from
the perspective of colleges, college/university athletes
have these functions: enhancing school spirit, providing
recreation and exercises for students, and helping to
publicize the name of the college or university. One of
your classmates suggests to you that these stated
functions constitute “manifest functions”. Do you think
your classmate is right in labeling these as manifest
functions instead of latent functions?

A). Yes
B). No
C). Correct
D) Wrong
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FUNCTIONALIST PARADIGM
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VIEW OF INDIVIDUAL: People are socialized in a culture to perform
societal functions.
– Individual behavior and experiences as well as the human condition
are determined by the social structural need (universal and
homogenous) for homeostasis.
VIEW OF THE SOCIAL ORDER: Society seeks stability and integration
because rapid changes and conflicts in culture are dysfunctional—they
disrupt homeostasis: EG: Anomie causes suicide
– This order is maintained through cooperation or cultural consensus
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VIEW OF SOCIAL CHANGE: Change is gradual, predictable and
reinforcing of homeostasis
PROPONENTS:
–
–
–
–
Emile Durkheim
Herbert Spencer
Talcott Parsons
Robert Merton
CRITIQUING FUNCTIONALISM
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See Page 50 of Ravelli and Webber 2014
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SOCIAL CONFLICT
Paradigm or Theoretical Perspective
The Structural Approach to the Study of Conflict:
The world is not user-friendly for the majority because of
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Conflicts generated by structural hegemony and its resistance
Social Conflict’s Story
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Storyline #1. Society is made up of subgroups that are in
ruthless competition for scarce resources, particularly
property (money/wealth), power and prestige.
Storyline #2. Because of competition, society is never
harmonious; conflict is normal in a society where there are
inequalities and oppression.
Storyline #3. Power and property play a disproportionate
role in shaping the structure of society and the behavior
and experiences of individuals and groups within it.
Storyline #4: People’s private behaviour and thinking are
pushed and pulled by their struggle over scarce resources
and differences in power, authority and control (Russell
Westhaver 2013, p. xix).
SOCIAL CONFLICT PARADIGM:
Structural Approach to the Study of Conflict
CAUSE (X)
STRUCTURE
Scarce Political,
Economic & Social
Resources:
-Power
-Property
-Prestige
-Privilege
EFFECT (Y)
CONDUIT
Competitive & Unequal
Social Relationships
Conflict & Change in
-Social Structure
-Culture
-Behavior
-Experiences
-Human condition
-Change
Macro Social Force
UNMANIFEST
MANIFEST
SOCIAL CONFLICT PARADIGM:
Structural Approach to the Study of Conflict
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FOCUS: MACRO: Social Structure, particularly POLITICAL
ECONOMY (power and property/wealth) and SOCIAL
CLOSURE (structured inequalities or prestige and privilege of
status groups):
MAIN CONCEPTS: Competition, Inequality, Conflict and
Change
MAIN TEORY
Socio-structural forces, particularly the dialectics of capitalist
political economy and social closures, through the ideology of
scarcity, create competition over valued resources that produces
inequalities in property (wealth), power, privilege, and prestige
(status) resulting in conflict among social groups, particularly
social classes, that create conflict which dictates human behavior,
culture, condition, experiences, access to resources, and possible
revolutionary social change.
Feminist theories, Post-Structural Theories, Queer Theory, PostColonial Theory, Anti-Racist Theories, and Globalization Theories
are responses to or offshoots of the Social Conflict Paradigm.
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SOCIAL CONFLICT PARADIGM
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VIEW OF THE INDIVIDUAL: People are shaped
by power, money and prestige.
VIEW OF SOCIETY: Tension and struggle
between groups.
VIEW OF SOCIAL ORDER: Maintained through
force or threat of force.
VIEW OF SOCIAL CHANGE: Inevitable and
revolutionary.
PROPONENTS:
– Karl Marx
– W.E.B. Du Bois
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– Ida Wells-Barnett
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CRTIQUING SOCIAL
CONFLICT PARADIGM
See page 57 of Ravelli and Webber
2014.
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INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM
“Looking-glass Self”
Whether or not “the world” is user-friendly depends on the
2016-03-18 individual or group: Because of differences in human40agency,
there are multiple worlds
 Looking-glass
self:
–“What we think of ourselves is
influenced by how we imagine
other people see us”. “Ultimately
we may become the kind of
person we believe others see us
as”—a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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Interactionism’s Story
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Storyline #1: Society is made up of shared or contested
subjective meanings generated through ongoing social
interaction (Russell Westhaver 2013, p. xix)
Storyline #2: People’s private behaviour and Thinking are
shaped by how they understand different symbols.
Depending on their understanding of the symbols, they
may agree with, resist, or change the meaning of those
symbols (ibid.).
Storyline #3: Through the power of choice, people create
their own images/identities and their worlds.
INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM

President Obama’s eulogy for Nelson Mandela, Johannesburg, December 10, 2013
We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. But let me say
to the young people of Africa, and young people around the world you can make his life’s work your own. Over thirty years ago, while
still a student, I learned of Mandela and the struggles in this land. It
stirred something in me. It woke me up to my responsibilities - to
others, and to myself - and set me on an improbable journey that
finds me here today. And while I will always fall short of Madiba’s
example, he makes me want to be better. He speaks to what is best
inside us. After this great liberator is laid to rest; when we have
returned to our cities and villages, and rejoined our daily routines, let
us search then for his strength - for his largeness of spirit somewhere inside ourselves. And when the night grows dark, when
injustice weighs heavy on our hearts, or our best laid plans seem
beyond our reach - think of Madiba, and the words that brought him
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comfort within the four walls of a cell:

INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM

President Obama’s eulogy for Nelson Mandela, Johannesburg, December 10, 2013

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.


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What a great soul it was. We will miss him deeply. May God
bless the memory of Nelson Mandela. May God bless the
people of South Africa.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/transcript-remarks-president-barack-obama-nelsonmandela-service-article-1.1542986#ixzz2nHdMZEsf
INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM

People respond to their definition of
a situation rather than to objective
situations.
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INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM
EFFECT (Y)
CAUSE (X)
Human Agency:
-Capacity for thought
- Self-indication
- Definition of the
Situation/Symbols
- Looking-Glass Self
Micro Social Force
UNMANIFEST
CONDUIT
Social Interaction
Groups & Societies:
-Behaviors
-Experiences
- Image/Identity
-Culture
- Human condition
MANIFEST
INTERACTIONIST
PARADIGM




FOCUS: MICRO: Individual and group interactions:
MAIN CONCEPTS: Human Agency, Definition of
Situation, Symbols, Looking-glass Self, Interaction
MAIN THEORY:
Through the process of the looking-glass self,
Individuals and groups as human agents define
(assign subjective meanings to) situations
(symbols), and align their interactions with the
definitions to construct their behavior,
experiences, access to resources, social conditions,
images/identities, cultures, and worlds to
make/manage impressions.
People are action units or active agents, not passive beings or products
of objective macro social forces; they are active beings who engage 47
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with others to organize their world and give it meaning.

INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM: KEY CONCEPTS



VIEW OF INDIVIDUAL: To understand individual
and group behavior, social scientists must see
the world from the eyes of that individual or
group--verstehen (Max Weber).
a. Human Agency and Definition of the Situation:
– People are action units or human agents who through
participation in social acts construct their
identities/images, cultures, and worlds to make/manage
impressions to maximize their advantages and minimize
disadvantages.
b. Looking-glass self:
– “What we think of ourselves is influenced by how we imagine
other people see us”. “Ultimately we may become the kind of
person we believe others see us as”—a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM: KEY CONCEPTS




VIEW OF SOCIETY: Individual interactions
construct society
Definition of the Situation: Thomas Theorem:
– Sociologist W.I. Thomas (1931) highlighted the
importance of definitions/meanings in social
behavior. People respond to their definition of
a situation rather than to objective situation or
society.
Therefore:
A) situations people define as real become real in
their consequences (W.I. Thomas).
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INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM: KEY CONCEPTS

VIEW OF SOCIAL ORDER: Focuses more on
fluidity than stability. When there is stability it
emerges and maintained through Sympathetic
Introspection:
 Sympathetic Introspection
– When people attach the same meanings to symbols (situations,
behaviours or reality) in the same way, stable relationships or
institutions result.
 Human interaction operates on SYMBOLS:
– labels, signs, gestures, objects, words, sounds, values,
beliefs, and colors that are given meaning by the
interacting parties.
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 5. Hence, SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM:
INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM: KEY CONCEPTS


VIEW OF SOCIAL CHANGE: Individuals negotiate
social change through their interaction with each other and
symbols.
Proponents:
– Marx Weber
– Georg Simmel
– George Herbert Mead
– Charles Horton Cooley
– Erving Goffman
INTERACTIONIST PARADIGM: Society is a
complex of symbols that people’s human agency
constructs, interprets and use to make and/or manage
impressions.
Ideas
Signs
DEFINITION
OF THE
SITUATION
Self & Others
Objects
THE SITUATION:
Complex of Symbols
HUMAN BEHAVIOR
& EXPERIENCES
Events
Clothing
Statuses &
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Roles
Sounds
Language
Other
Representations
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CRITIQUING THE INTERACTIONIST
PARADIGM
 See
page 61 of Revelli and Webber
2014.
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FEMINIST
Paradigm or Theoretical Perspective
Male Dominance?
Resistance to Patriarchy:
The Gender Gap
The world is not user-friendly for women and minorities because
of conflicts generated by patriarchal hegemony and its resistance
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Feminism’s Story







Storyline #1: Society is made up of subgroups of males/men and
females/women that struggle over scarce resources and differences in
power, authority and control
Storyline #2: Society is never harmonious; conflict between men and
women is normal in a society where there are inequalities and
oppression against females.
Storyline #3: Society is gendered, meaning that women almost always
experience inequality and subordination when compared to men
(Russel Westhaver 2013, p. xix).
Storyline #4: People’s private behaviour and thinking are shaped by
ideas and practices that favour men over women. Men are able to act
and think because they can access important resources; women act and
think because they do not have access to these resources (ibid.).
Storyline #5: Gender conflict is intersected by social class, racial,
ethnic, age, sexuality, etc. conflicts.
Storyline #6: Within any particular society, there are subgroups of (and
individual) men and women who cherish different and conflicting
interests.
Storyline #7: The “Gender Risk” is higher for women than men
FEMINIST PARADIGM
EFFECT (Y)
CAUSE (X)
Patriarchy:
Men’s social power
and social privilege
CONDUIT
Social Relationships
Women’s Inequality
and Oppression
- Sexism
-Gender conflict
- Social change
Macro Social Force
MANIFEST
UNMANIFEST
FEMINIST PARADIGM

FOCUS: MACRO & MICRO: Patriarchy and the micro
responses of men and women to it.

MAIN CONCEPTS: Patriarchy (Male Dominance), Inequality,
Oppression, Sexism, Conflict and Change:

MAIN THEORY
Society is a complex economic, political, cultural and
micro interaction system of male dominance or
patriarchy that privileges boys/men and produces
inequality, oppression and sexism against girls/women.
The macro and micro resistance of girls/women to these
gender inequality and oppression produces gender
conflict. Social change may result from these processes.

FEMINIST PARADIGM




VIEW OF THE INDIVIDUAL: Differs according to
social class, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, and
physical ability.
VIEW OF SOCIETY: Patriarchal system
VIEW OF SOCIAL ORDER: Maintained through
standpoints that do not include those of women.
VIEW OF SOCIAL CHANGE: Social change through
reforms or revolutions is essential in order to bring about
equality.
PROPONENTS:
 Betty Friedan
 Dorothy Smith
 Margrit Eichler
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 Nellie McClung

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FEMINIST PARADIGM

KEY CONCEPTS:

1. PATRIARCHY:--a system of male dominance
that works to the advantage of males and to the
disadvantage of females.
2. Status quo gender relations embodies
SEXISM that causes and reflects
INEQUALITY against and OPPRESSION of
women.

– Sexism:--belief that the male sex is superior to the
female sex.
– Gender Inequality:--skewed access to wealth, power,
and prestige in favor of males.
– Gender Oppression:--Restrictions on women’s lives.
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FEMINIST PARADIGM

3. Gender inequality and oppression underlie
GENDER CONFLICT and such conflict is the
impetus to changes in GENDER RELATIONS.
– Gender Conflict:--The clash of the interests (particularly
economic and political) of males and females.

4. INTERSECTIONALITY: Gender is
textured by social class, race, ethnicity, age,
sexuality, etc. –Triple or Multiple Jeopardy
experienced by certain women.
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CRITIQUING THE FEMINIST
PARADIGM
 Women-centered
and as such
overly biased and explicitly
ideological.
–Feminism is a form of political
activism and therefore it is more
of a social movement than
scientific theory of society.
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POSTMODERNIST PARADIGM:
Cultural Approach to the Study of Conflict: Multiculturalism
& Hyperreality
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The world is not user-friendly for the majority because of
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Conflicts generated by cultural hegemony and its resistance
POSTMODERNIST PARADIGM:
Cultural Approach to the Study of Conflict: Multiculturalism
& Hyperreality

There is no universal, normal and homogenous cultural reality
(Tepperman 2015, p. 15). What exists is hyperreal culture in the
form of language, fashion, movies, literature, art, music, artifacts,
etc. constructed by the powerful to control the rest of society and
the resistance thereof.
– “Reality” is fragmentary—disjointed and often conflicting:
Multiculturalism (cultural silos), but centered power reconstructs
this as homogenous and harmonious. This reconstructed version of
society is a “hyperreality”.
» Deconstruct the modernist dominating or hegemonic
ideology of universal, homogeneous cultural truth,
» Centered power constructs hegemony which creates
illusions or hyperreality (relationships and images
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that have no concrete or substantive existence).
POSTMODERNIST PARADIGM:
Cultural Approach to the Study of Conflict: Multiculturalism &
Hyperreality:
There are always counter-hegemonic spaces (Antonio Gramsci). Therefore,
“people are more often the agents of their own destiny, than structuralists ever
imagined” (Robert Brym 2015 SOC+ derived from Jacques Derrida 2004)
EFFECT (Y)
Conflict from Domination
and Resistance:
Centered Power
CULTURAL
Construction of Hyperreal Culture - Hegemony
of the Dominant
Classes
- Homogeneity
- Essentialism
- Normality
- Universalism
UNMANIFEST
- Diversity/pluralism
CAUSE (X)
Source: Adu-Febiri 2015: Designed with information from Jean Bauldrillard (1998),
Antonio
Gramsci (1957 & 1971), Michel Foucault (1973, 1977, 1988)
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MANIFEST
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MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAJOR
SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGMS
SOCIAL CHANGE
METHODOLOGY
FOCUS
FUNCTIONALISM
Positivism
Quantitative
Deductive
Macro:
Culture
SOCIAL CONFLICT
Criticalism
Quantitative
Deductive
Macro: Political Revolution
INTERACTIONISM
&
POSTMODERNISM
Interpretism
Qualitative
Inductive
Micro:
Human
Agency
Individual
adaptation &
innovation
Liberal:
FEMINISM
Feminist/Critical
Quanti/Quali
Deduct/Inductive
Micro & Macro:
Patriarchy
Evolution
Revolution
Radical: Social
Engineering:
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Equity Legislation
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Evolution
Economy & Social
Closure
POLICY
Conservative
Modernization
Assimilation
Radical: Social
Engineering:
Equity
Legislation
Individual
choices &
freedom
QUIZ 4

In your encounters with human behaviour and
conditions, you have come to the conclusion that
people construct their own worlds through the
processes of negotiating the meanings of symbols
in human society. Which of the four major
sociological paradigms would agree with your
conclusion?

A) Social Conflict Paradigm
B) Functionalist Paradigm
C) Interactionist Paradidm
D) Feminist Paradigm



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Identify the paradigms applied in
1-3
1. I feel crazy (or stupid or fearful or
overwhelmed), so something must be wrong
with my genes.
 2. I feel crazy (or stupid or fearful or
overwhelmed), so something must be wrong
with my mental processes.
 3. I feel crazy (or stupid or fearful or
overwhelmed), so something must be wrong
with the society I inhabit.

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Identify the paradigms applied in
4&5

4. I feel crazy (or stupid or fearful or
overwhelmed), so something must be wrong with
the meaning I put on (or how I construct the
realities of) the culture and/or money snd/or power
and/or prestige and/or social interactions of the
society I inhabit .

5. I feel crazy (or stupid or fearful or
overwhelmed), so something must be wrong with
the culture of the society I inhabit.
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Identify the paradigms applied in
6 -8



6. I feel crazy (or stupid or fearful or
overwhelmed), so something must be wrong with
male power of the society I inhabit.
7. I feel crazy (or stupid or fearful or
overwhelmed), so something must be wrong with
the reality of the society I inhabit.
6. I feel crazy (or stupid or fearful or
overwhelmed), so something must be wrong with
money and/or power and/or prestige of the society
I inhabit.
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CONCLUSION

The Social World is made up of manifest
and unmanifest variables/factors. The
manifest factors are the effect of the
unmanifest factors. The objectives of
sociological paradigms are to discover and
identify the unmanifest factors (causal
factors or predictors) and use them to
explain, and where necessary to predict and
change, the manifest factors (the effect).
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