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HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY?. Society is pictured as an overarching system that works down on individuals and groups to shape the social order. Society is understood as a reality “sui generis” It operates according to its own logic distinct from the will of individuals.
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HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • Society is pictured as an overarching system that works downon individuals and groups to shape the social order. • Society is understood as a reality “sui generis” • It operates according to its own logic distinct from the will of individuals. • This orientation has assumed different names: • Macro • Holistic • Objectivist • Structuralist • Collectivist © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved
HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • Individuals and groups create, re-create, or alter the social order that produces society. • This position grants more autonomy to actors • As relatively free to reproduce the patterns and routines of social life (i.e., the social order) or transform them. • This orientation has several names: • Micro • Elementarism • Subjectivist, • Individualist (textbook). © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved
Basic Theoretical Continuum as to the Nature of Social Order © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved
HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • Regarding the question of action, there are two answers--nonrationaland rational. • Action is primarily nonrational when guided by: • Values • Morals • Norms • Traditions • The quest for meaning • Unconscious desires • And/or emotional states • The rationalist --Individual and group actions are motivated primarily by attempt to maximize rewards while minimizing costs. © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved
Basic Theoretical Continuum as to the Nature of Social Action © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved
Theorists’ Basic Orientation © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved
HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • The four cells are identified as: • Individual-nonrational • Individual-rational • Collective-nonrational • Collective-rational • These four coordinates are “ideal types” • Theorists and theories are never “pure.” © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved
HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • This map is something youapply to the theories in order to better analyze and understand them. • All of theorists address the questions of order (stability) and action (change). • However, they generally do not use these terms in their writing. © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved
HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • These maps enable you to: • (1) Recognize general tendencies within each theorist’s work • (2) Compare and contrast (and argue about) the general theoretical orientations. © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved
HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • It is essential to remember that this four-cell table is an analytical device • Helps us: • Understand • Compare • Contrast theorists • It does not mirror or reflect reality © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved
Why Do People Stop at Red Traffic Lights? © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved