Paradigms, Theory, and Research
Cutting across all social paradigms:
Macrotheory
•aggregates or large groups
•entire societies
Microtheory
•diads, triads, families
•social life of small groups
Early Positivism
•Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
•coined term “sociology”
•positive philosophy==>positivism
•evolution of social thought
from religion to natural law to
a reliance on observations on
the five senses
Conflict Paradigm
•Karl Marx (1818-1883)
•social behavior is seen as
attempts to dominate or avoid
domination
•Class Conflict -- Proletariat Vs.
Bourgeoisie
•Utopian Society
Symbolic Interaction
•Simmel, Mead, and Cooley
•Primary Group
•Looking-Glass Self
•Taking The Role of the Other
•Common understanding of
symbols
•interpreting symbols in
context
Ethnomethodology
•reality is tentative
•actors try to anticipate behavior
on the basis of roles -- but social
reality is continually being
constructed when “rules” are
broken
•establish expectations -- rule
breaking experiments
Structural Functionalism
•social systems theory
•components of society arise
from structure and function
•functions reaffirm society and
societal values
Feminist Paradigm
•gender differences in social
organization
•men control and dominate
social processes to their
advantage
Threats to Rational Objectivity
•internal frame of reference
•peer pressure or group
norming
•agreement reality
Two Logical Systems
•Deductive Theory
•theory
•hypotheses
•observations
•empirical generalizations
•Inductive Theory
•observations
•empirical generalizations
•theory
•hypotheses