Rather long but as simple as I can get it for now. Constantly under revision. es

5.  To briefly explain, there are what are called
Macro and Micro theories (perspectives) in
sociology.
 Macro looks at very large sectors of society or
the society in its entirety.
 Micro looks at elements that explain how the
macro formations came about.

6.  Think of macro as taking a picture from an
airplane at 30,000 feet. You see large squares,
some green, some brown. You see blue pools of
water. You see mountains, and you see cities.
You begin to se patterns of where the squares
are usually located in relation to where the
cities are. And even some of the pools of water
appear to be related to the cities.

7.  Now you are in a car driving through those
areas you have seen from above. The green
squares, you discover, are crops growing on
farmland. The brown squares are farmland too,
but fallow between plantings. The pools of
water are not all the same. Some are reservoirs,
and some are recreational lakes. One large on is
even a lake of salt water.

8.  From the plane you saw the big picture. And
in such a view of society we look at the big
influences on society such as the economy,
ethnic conflicts, power struggles. From the
car you see the origins of the squares and that
they were constructed by people, and not the
other way around. The social world is
constructed by people and society from this
perspective is based upon the interaction of
individuals and groups with each other.

9.  Conflict and Functionalism, both macro, work
on the ideas of how societies evolve, change,
and hold together in terms of economics,
history, and politics.
 Symbolic Interactionism is interested in how
we create social structure through language
and social interaction. The way humans
construct the larger features of society.

15. But, a discussion of Social Darwinism and its
most sinister spin-offs in more recent history is
important to think about.
What does the word “eugenics” mean to you?
How about “The Bell Curve” by Herrenstein and
Murray? (this article is a bit long, but look for
the parts on how it is flawed.)

23.  Before we
leave the world
of Structural
Functionalism,
a word about
Merton. His
addition to the
concept is
important.

25. the consequences of a social process that
are sought or anticipated.
A manifest function of college education,
for example, includes gaining
knowledge, preparing for a career, and
finding a good job that utilizes that
education.
(Citation lost)

26. the unsought consequences of a social
process.
Latent functions of your college years
include meeting new people,
participating in extracurricular
activities, or even finding a spouse or
partner. Another latent function of
education is creating a hierarchy of
employment based on the level of
education attained.
(Citation lost)

27. Again, the unsought consequences of a
social process.
This would be unintended consequences
such as those, in the education
example, of the creations of cliques and
the reinforcement of class structure.
Bullying. Stereotyping.

28. Unfortunately,
functionalism was unable
to explain a number of
features of American
society, such as poverty,
social change, dissent, and
the continuing influence
and political and economic
power of the wealthy.

30. Here is a really short list:

31. Thus we have the perspective of
Conflict Theory

33.  Conflict view: Where functionalists see
stability and consensus, conflict sociologists
see a social world in continual struggle.
 Think in terms of “who benefits” from social
conflict. In ecological conflict between
business and the environment, who
generally wins? Who is really winning the
war in Iraq?

34.  Marx viewed struggle between classes as
inevitable.
 Thus he applied the philosopher, Hegel’s
concept of the dialectic, but applying it to
the real world – materialism..

35. Dialectics is the method of reasoning which
aims to understand things concretely in all
their movement, change and interconnection,
with their opposite and contradictory sides in
unity.
~Encyclopedia of Marxism

36. Class struggle is the central contradiction to be
resolved by Marxist dialectics, because of its
central role in the social and political lives of a
society.

37. John L. Heineman
https://www2.bc.edu/

38. John L. Heineman
https://www2.bc.edu/

39.  Conflict theorists are interested in how
society’s institutions—including the family,
government, religion, education, and the
media—may help to maintain the privileges
of some groups and keep others in a
subservient position.
 Does the crash of the US economy best fit
the functionalist viewpoint or that of conflict
theory?

40.  Emerged from the classic conflict
perspective is the feminist perspective. It is
one of conflict itself. This view sees
inequality in gender as central to all
behavior and organization.

41.  Drawing on the work of Marx and Engels,
contemporary feminist theorists often view
women’s subordination as inherent to
capitalist societies. However a cursory view
of middle eastern (and other) societies
shows that it is not atypical for women to be
in a culturally subordinate position to men
in other cultures as well. That this happens
in developed capitalistic societies is what is
most remarkable.

42.  As in traditional understandings of conflict
perspective, feminism looks at who benefits
from the social arrangement. Clearly it is
men who benefit from sexist practices. These
practices go deep into our cultures and
permeate the business climate as well.
 Think about your home-life and
professional life and the division of gender
roles. How are they at times equal and
unequal. Five minute writing and break into
groups for discussion.

43. This is a micro theory. It is a view that looks at the
interaction of individuals with one another in
varying size groups.
It is not necessarily at odds with macro
perspectives but rather is a viewpoint of
humans with agency.

46. 1863-1931

47. George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) is
considered one of the founders of
symbolic interactionism, though he
never published his work on it (LaRossa
& Reitzes 1993). It was up to his student
Herbert Blumer (1900–1987) to interpret
Mead's work and popularize the theory.
Blumer coined the term “symbolic
interactionism” and identified its three
basic premises:

48. 1. Humans act toward things on the basis of
the meanings they ascribe to those things.
2. 2. The meaning of such things is derived
from, or arises out of, the social interaction
that one has with others and the society.
3. 3. These meanings are handled in, and
modified through, an interpretative process
used by the person in dealing with the
things he/she encounters (Blumer 1969).

50.  First: Pragmatism is a wholly American school
of thought that examines the human
relationship to the environment, contrasting it
with the relationship of other animals to their
environment. What is real for humans always
depends on our own active intervention – our own
interpretation or definition.

51.  Second, to the pragmatist, knowledge is
judged by how useful it is in defining the
situation we enter.
 Third, things in situations are defined
according to the use they have for us at the
time.
 Fourth, it tells us something about how
philosophers and social scientists should
study the human being. Start with action. It is
what human beings do in real situations that
matters.

52.  Pragmatism and Symbolic Interactionism

53.  We must regard the human being in
naturalistic terms. While a god may exist,
nature should be understood on its own terms,
as subject to natural laws.
 Mead, as Darwin, saw human development as
part of the evolutionary process.

54.  Certain elements of humans make them
unique from other animals: a highly
developed brain; highly developed vocal
chords and facial muscles that make it
possible to create many subtle and
sophisticated sounds; a helplessness in
childhood that makes it essential to rely
heavily on society and socialization.
 Such qualities, when combined, make humans
able to use language, and language, in turn,
allows them to reason.

55. But Mead went further than Darwin: To
Darwin evolution in nature is passive. That
is, changes in the environment and in
genetic makeup together influence the
changes in the animal kingdom.
But for Mead: Once language and the ability to
reason arose in nature, the resulting being was
able to turn back on nature itself, actively
directing how the natural forces act.

57.  Mead was a behaviorist because, as a
pragmatist, he agreed that humans must be
understood in terms of what they do rather than
who they are.
 Mead believed that without an understanding
of mind, symbols, and self, human behavior
cannot be understood for what it actually is.

58. Humans have a “permanent
nature,” inborn or learned. The
human is born, is shaped, and, as
an adult, is directed.

59. Charles K. Warriner describes
another view that he calls the
“emergent-human view,” which
in fact is the symbolic
interactionist view we are
describing here.

60. In this view the “actor rather
than as a being, treats [the
human being] acts as symbolic
in character rather than
primarily physical, and views
interaction as the basic social
and psychological process
from which personalities and
societies emerge, through
which they are expressed, and
by which they are maintained
as continuities.” (From
Warriner in Charon)

61. Further, it is “the symboling process, in
the capacity of [the human being] to
see things not as they are but as they
have been or might be in the future,
in the capacity of [the human being]
to use sound and marks on paper as
conventional signs and thus to
communicate with others, in the
capacity of [the human being]
through these functions to create
worlds that never existed in physical
reality. (ibid)

64.  With interaction, people attempt to maximize
benefits from the relationship and minimize
disadvantages. Specifically, the “moral worth
of an action is determined by its resulting
outcome.” (WIKI)
 Among others, attributed to John Stuart Mill
(1806-1873), and Jeremy Bentham (1748-1842).

65. Note that this is also attributed to Adam Smith
(and others) and is used to justify elements of
the capitalist system. Specifically:
“unintentionally human selfishness oriented
toward the good of society.”
(http://biography4u.com/adam-smith.html)

66. •Feminism
•Critical Theory
•Postmodernism

70. Gloria Steinem founder of Ms Magazine
Liberal feminism

71. Ecofeminism

72. Liberal feminism

73. Socialist Feminism

74. Why do we need the study of feminism?
Consider that women constitute the fifty-one
percent minority but are still mostly dominated
by a male majority.

75.  Adorno
 Horkheimer
 Expatriates of Germany during WWII

76.  An emphasis upon mass culture.
 A dissatisfaction with sociology as not
considering the agency of the individual.
 Critical of Marxism because it did not
consider the importance of culture.
 Mass culture as a product of capitalist
society cannot be truly representative of the
people of that culture.

77.  There are many interpretations and definitions
of postmodernism.
 One states that it is everything after so-called
“modernism” which is ending now or has
already ended.

78.  Other interpretations and arguments posit
that postmodernism is a phenomena unto
itself and that it specifically represents the
present (and probably the future).
 It can be a positive phenomenon or a
negative one.
 Most positions are dystopic.

79.  On the positive side, the individual has
agency (self direction and choice) and can
navigate among the monolithic society.
 On the other hand, the individual is
constantly bombarded by corporate
advertisements which reduce him to a mere
consumer.
 Science is greatly mistrusted as not being as
value free as it claims, rather having an
agenda that conforms to the status quo.

80.  We are no longer a goods-producing society,
but rather one which disseminates images.
 Consider the ones and zeros of the computer
era. Most of what we look at and hear is
digital. It is reduced to nearly nothing. And
we pay for it with
 Ones and zeros from our credit and debit
cards.

81.  It differs from Conflict theory and
Functionalism in that it does not assume
history to be deterministic.
 Much like Social Constructionism, the
historical makeup of society is shown to be
the work of people—groups and individuals
and not some deterministic force. Which
leads to the social construction of reality.

82. Which takes us to Social
Constructionism (also related to,
but different from, Social
Constructivism which is a
psychological phenomenon).
Constructionism is a position
largely attributed to Peter Berger
and Thomas Luckman.

83. It is another micro perspective that asks how
a social problem is defined rather than what
the problem is.
Also it challenges the objectivity of science
and places importance on the subjective
influence—much like postmodernism.
#

84. Functionalism Conflict Perspective Interactionist Perspective
View of society Stable, well integrated Characterized by tension
and struggle between
groups
Active in influencing and affecting everyday
social interaction
Level of analysis
emphasized
Macro Macro Micro analysis as a way of understanding the
larger macro phenomena
View of the
individual
People are socialized to perform
societal functions
People are shaped by
power, coercion, and
authority
People manipulate symbols and created their
social worlds through interaaction
Key concepts Manifest functions; Latent
functions; Dysfunction
Inequality; Capitalism;
Stratification
Symbols; Nonverbal communication; Face-to-face
View of the social
order
Maintained through cooperation
and consensus
Maintained through force
and coercion
Maintained by shared understanding of
everyday behavior
View of social
change
Predictable, reinforcing Change takes place all
the time and may have
positive consequences
Reflected in people’s social positions and
their communications with others
Example Public punishments reinforce
the social order
Laws reinforce the
positions of those in
power
People respect laws or disobey them based on
their own past experience
Proponents Emile Durkheim; Talcott
Parsons; Robert Merton
Karl Marx; W.E.B. Du
Bois; Ida Wells-Barnett
George Herbert Mead; Charles Horton
Cooley; Erving Goffman

85. Dialectics is the method of reasoning which
aims to understand things concretely in all
their movement, change and interconnection,
with their opposite and contradictory sides in
unity.
~Encyclopedia of Marxism

86. Class struggle is the central contradiction to be
resolved by Marxist dialectics, because of its
central role in the social and political lives of a
society.

87. John L. Heineman
https://www2.bc.edu/

88. John L. Heineman
https://www2.bc.edu/