9. lesson
•When we look at something we often see different
things
•In Sociology people look at society and see
different things about it
•They take a particular perspective and from it
develop a particular theory or model of society
•The perspectives we are interested in today are:
Feminism, Functionalism, The New Right,
Interactionism and Postmodernism –
10. GROUP INSTRUCTIONS
GROUP 1 Explain the NEW RIGHT perspective in PICTURE FORM
GROUP 2 Explain the FEMINIST perspective in PICTURE FORM
GROUP 3 Explain the POSTMODERN perspective in PICTURE FORM
GROUP 4 Explain the FUNCTIONALIST perspective in PICTURE FORM
GROUP 5 Explain the INTERACTIONIST perspective in PICTURE FORM
GROUP 6 Explain the NEW RIGHT perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER STYLIE
GROUP 7 Explain the FEMINIST perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER STYLIE
GROUP 8 Explain the POSTMODERN perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER STYLIE
GROUP 9 Explain the FUNCTIONALIST perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER
STYLIE
GROUP 10 Explain the INTERACTIONIST perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER
STYLIE
GROUP 11 Explain the POSTMODERN perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER
STYLIE
11. NEW RIGHT
•Conservative political perspective
•Belief in self-reliance and individual choice
•Anti welfare-state
•Believe that generous welfare benefits encourage
the growth of a criminal underclass
•Bad people are the result of faulty socialisation
(bought up badly)
12. FEMINISM
•Focuses on women’s oppression and the
struggle to end it
•Studies society from a female perspective
•Highlights patriarchy – society based on male
domination
13. POSTMODERNISM
•Rejects all other ‘modernist’ perspectives
and their claims to have found ‘true’
knowledge
•Sees a new postmodern society
characterised by instability, choice and
diversity
•Society is too complicated and fast moving
to produce absolute explanations.
Sociology should concentrate on reflecting
and celebrating social diversity
14. FUNCTIONALISM
•A consensus perspective
•Society is based on shared values
into which members are socialised
•Society is like an organism (for
instance the human body) with each
part performing functions to
maintain the system as a whole
15. INTERACTIONISM
• Perspective which focuses on small scale (micro level) interactions
between individuals and groups, rather than on the large-scale
workings of society
• Interactionists seek to understand the meanings that social actors
give to actions and situations; for example the individual
meanings people give to rioting or getting married and divorced
16. Sociological Perspectives and Divorce.
PERSPECTIVE KEY IDEAS DIVORCE – see page 60 books
FUNCTIONALISM
NEW RIGHT
POSTMODERNISM
FEMINISM
INTERACTIONISM
17. Which perspective?
1 All men are pigs
2 Society has changed and we need a new theory to express and recognise the changes
3 Society is like a well-oiled machine – made up of different parts which work together in
harmony
4 This perspective is interested in the meanings people give to acts for instance what does
marriage mean to individuals?
5 Small scale, micro perspective
6 One parent families are very bad for society because children in these families are often
not socialised correctly and end up causing problems
7 A consensus theory – for society to function correctly people need to have similar values
8 Believes strongly in the nuclear family – two parents plus children
9 Society is characterised by diversity (difference) and choice
10 Believes society is characterised by patriarchy – a system in which men control women
for their own ends. For instance a wife is a domestic servant and a sexual slave
