Theories of Sociology
1.0 Sociology Theory
Sociological perspective provide us with a unique view point on a certain social issues however the needs to have sociology theory is to have a proper explanations or linkage as to the observation made. There are three most used theory used by sociologist and researchers today in studying the pattern that exist in society and to explain how society influences people and vice versa.
Structural functional approach or also known as functionalism, observe society in a much bigger picture. Each part or institution of the society are relying on one another in contributes to the society as a whole. In this perspective, society is seen as the human body with every part of the organs need to work cooperatively in order to sustain the health or in this matter to sustain the well-balanced society system. During 1940’s and 1950’s, functionalism achieves great support by American sociologist of that time. Among these American functionalist sociologists is Robert Merton who categorizes the functions of human behaviour into two types. Manifest functions which are intentional and made obvious while latent functions are unintentional and not obvious.(1)
Second theory is the social-conflict approach which originated out of Karl Max’s writing on class struggle. This theory is generally about competition for scarce resources. This theory points out how the elite control the poor and weak in today’s social system. Social changes are determine by all the conflicts that can occur in a society when there is inequality regarding gender, social status, race, religion, etc.
Third theory is the symbolic interactionist theory also known as symbolic interactionism. Unlike the two previous theories, this approach is focused more into microscopic point of view and the spotlight shift from the society into understanding individual. According to this theory’s perspective, people attach meaning to each symbols and symbolic interactionists give serious thought to how people
Sociological perspective provide us with a unique view point on a certain social issues however the needs to have sociology theory is to have a proper explanations or linkage as to the observation made. There are three most used theory used by sociologist and researchers today in studying the pattern that exist in society and to explain how society influences people and vice versa.
Structural functional approach or also known as functionalism, observe society in a much bigger picture. Each part or institution of the society are relying on one another in contributes to the society as a whole. In this perspective, society is seen as the human body with every part of the organs need to work cooperatively in order to sustain the health or in this matter to sustain the well-balanced society system. During 1940’s and 1950’s, functionalism achieves great support by American sociologist of that time. Among these American functionalist sociologists is Robert Merton who categorizes the functions of human behaviour into two types. Manifest functions which are intentional and made obvious while latent functions are unintentional and not obvious.(1)
Second theory is the social-conflict approach which originated out of Karl Max’s writing on class struggle. This theory is generally about competition for scarce resources. This theory points out how the elite control the poor and weak in today’s social system. Social changes are determine by all the conflicts that can occur in a society when there is inequality regarding gender, social status, race, religion, etc.
Third theory is the symbolic interactionist theory also known as symbolic interactionism. Unlike the two previous theories, this approach is focused more into microscopic point of view and the spotlight shift from the society into understanding individual. According to this theory’s perspective, people attach meaning to each symbols and symbolic interactionists give serious thought to how people