THEORIES OF SOCIETY

HOW WE UNDERSTAND THE SOCIAL WORLD

WHAT IS A THEORY?
According to sociologists, a theory is an abstract proposition that both
explains the social world and makes predictions about future events.
Theories can and do change over time because theories seek to explain
society, which itself also changes over time.
 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—AUGUSTE COMTE
Auguste Comte is often only remembered for
coining the term, “sociology,” though his other
contributions to the discipline were also
significant.
He developed the theory of positivism, which
argues that sense perceptions are the only
valid source of knowledge.

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—AUGUSTE COMTE
He also began to imagine how the scientific method, a
procedure for acquiring knowledge that emphasized
collecting concrete data through observation and
experiment, could be applied to the study of social
affairs.

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—HARRIET MARTINEAU
Harriet Martineau was an English journalist and
political economist.

She traveled to the United States and studied

American society, which she believed was
flawed and hypocritical because of the
existence of slavery and the fact that both
women and blacks were denied equal rights.

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—HARRIET MARTINEAU (CONT)

Despite these impressive works, her most

important contribution may have been her
English translation of Comte’s Introduction to
Positive Philosophy.

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—HERBERT SPENCER
Herbert Spencer was the first great English-speaking
sociologist.
Spencer was an advocate of the idea of evolution, even
before Darwin made it famous and coined the phrase
“survival of the fittest.”
He believed that societies, like living organisms, evolve
through time by adapting to their changing
environment. His philosophy is often referred to as
“social Darwinism.”

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE—
CLASSICAL PERIOD
The era of the 1800s is referred to as
sociology’s classical period because it marked
the beginning of sociology as a substantive
discipline and the work done in this period
forms the theoretical foundations for all
sociological work that followed.

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—EMILE DURKHEIM
Emile Durkheim spent much of his life trying to
establish sociology as an important academic
discipline.
In his first major study, he demonstrated that
social bonds exist in all types of societies
(mechanical and organic).

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—EMILE DURKHEIM
He believed that agrarian, pre-modern societies
were held together by mechanical solidarity, a
type of social bond where shared traditions
and beliefs created a sense of social
cohesion.

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE—EMILE
DURKHEIM
On the other hand, industrial societies were held
together by organic solidarity, a type of social
bond based on a division of labor that created
interdependence and individual rights.
Ex: modern cities

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—EMILE DURKHEIM
In another study, Durkheim found that the more
firmly connected people are to others, the less
likely they are to commit suicide; thus
demonstrating that even suicide is impacted
by social forces.
Durkheim was probably important for
sociology…

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A NORMATIVE THEORY OF SUICIDE

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—KARL MARX
Karl Marx was a German philosopher and
political activist whose contribution to
sociology can be found in conflict theory.

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE—KARL MARX

Marx lived during the Industrial Revolution, when

major societal changes were leading to the
emergence of capitalism, the economic
system that is based on the private for-profit
operation of industry.

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—KARL MARX
Marx believed that capitalism was creating class
conflict and social inequality between the
bourgeoisie, who owned the means of
production (money, factories, natural resources,
land), and the proletariat, who were the workers.

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BOURGEOISIE AND THE PROLETARIAT

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—MAX WEBER
Max Weber was also interested in the shift from
traditional society to the modern industrial
society.

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—MAX WEBER
He was particularly concerned with the process
of rationalization, the application of economic
logic to all human activity, due to the
development of bureaucracies throughout
society.

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—MAX WEBER
Too much rationalization  iron cage of
rationality
Cloak to iron cage

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 SOCIOLOGY’S FAMILY TREE
—MAX WEBER
He believed that contemporary life was filled
with disenchantment, the inevitable result of
the dehumanizing features of bureaucracies
that dominated modern societies.

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 MODERN SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT—
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
Structural Functionalism or simply functionalism
begins with the assumption that society is a
unified whole that functions because of the
contributions of its separate structures. Its
origins can be traced to the ideas of Comte,
Spencer, and Durkheim.

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 MODERN SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
—STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM
Society is viewed as an ordered system of
interrelated parts, or structures, which are the
different large-scale social institutions that
make up society (family, education, politics,
the economy). Each of these different parts of
society meets the needs of society by
performing specific functions for the whole
system (society).

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 MODERN SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT—
FUNCTIONALISM
Robert Merton clarified the difference between
manifest functions, the obvious intended
functions of a social structure for the social
system, and latent functions, the less obvious
unintended functions of a social structure.

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 MODERN SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT—
CONFLICT THEORY
Conflict Theory sees social conflict as the basis
of society and social change, and emphasizes
a materialist view of society, a critical view of
the status quo, and a dynamic model of
historical change, emerged from the writings
of Marx.

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 MODERN SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT—
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
Symbolic Interactionism sees interaction and
meaning as central to society and assumes
that meanings are not inherent but are
created through interaction.
It is America’s unique contribution to sociology
and has proved to be the most influential
perspective of the twentieth century.

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 THREE TENETS OF SYMBOLIC
INTERACTIONISM
Symbolic Interactionism, the process by which things are
socially constructed:
1) Human beings act toward ideas, concepts and values on
the basis of the meaning that those things have for them.
2) These meanings are the products of social interaction in
human society.
3) These meanings are modified and filtered through an
interpretive process that each individual uses in dealing
with outward signs

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 SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM:
AN EXAMPLE
Are these the same? Do they have the same
meaning? What do you think of when you see
each?

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 NEW THEORETICAL APPROACHES—
FEMINIST THEORY

Feminist Theory looks at gender inequalities in

society and the way that gender structures the
social world.

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NEW THEORETICAL APPROACHES—
QUEER THEORY
Queer theory is a paradigm that proposes that
categories of sexual identity are social
constructs, and that no sexual category is
fundamentally either deviant or normal.

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 NEW THEORETICAL APPROACHES—
POSTMODERN THEORY
Postmodern Theory is a paradigm that suggests
that social reality is diverse, pluralistic, and
constantly in flux.
Critical of accounts of Truth – especially
traditional science

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 CRITICAL THEORY
Critical theory is a type of social theory oriented toward critiquing and changing society
as a whole, in contrast to traditional theory oriented only to understanding or
explaining
LABELING THEORY
Labeling Theory is one of the most important approaches to understanding deviant
and criminal behaviour. It begins with the assumption that no act is intrinsically
criminal. Definitions of criminality are established by those in power through the
formulation of laws and the interpretation of those laws by police, courts, and
correctional institutions.
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
Social learning theory is a theory that attempts to explain socialization and its effect of
the development of the self. It looks at the individual learning process, the formation of
self, and the influence of society in socializing individuals. Social learning theory is
commonly used by sociologists to explain deviance and crime.
 STRUCTURAL STRAIN THEORY
Robert K. Merton developed the structural strain theory as an extension of the
functionalist perspective on deviance. This theory traces the origins of deviance to the
tensions that are caused by the gap between cultural goals and the means people
have available to achieve those goals.
RATIONAL CHOICE THEORY
Economics plays a huge role in human behavior. That is, people are often motivated
by money and the possibility of making a profit, calculating the likely costs and
benefits of any action before deciding what to do. This way of thinking is
called rational choice theory.
GAME THEORY
Game theory is a theory of social interaction, which attempts to explain the interaction
people have with one another. As the name of the theory suggests, game theory sees
human interaction as just that: a game.