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Sociology in Our Times The Essentials, 4/e. Diana Kendall. Chapter 1 The Sociological Perspective. Putting Social Life Into Perspective The Importance of a Global Sociological Imagination The Origins of Sociological Thinking The Development of Modern Sociology
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Sociology in Our TimesThe Essentials, 4/e Diana Kendall
Chapter 1The Sociological Perspective • Putting Social Life Into Perspective • The Importance of a Global Sociological Imagination • The Origins of Sociological Thinking • The Development of Modern Sociology • Contemporary Theoretical Perspectives • Comparing Sociology With Other Social Sciences
Why Study Sociology? • Gain better understanding of ourselves and our social world. • See how behavior is shaped by the groups to which we belong. • Gain insight into society and the larger world order.
Early Social Thinkers Emphasized social order and stability: • Auguste Comte • Harriet Martineau • Herbert Spencer • Emile Durkheim
Early Social Thinkers Emphasized conflict and social change: • Karl Marx • Max Weber • Georg Simmel
Sociology in the U.S. • The Chicago school - first department of sociology in the U.S. • Robert Park - asserted that urbanization had a disintegrating influence on social life.
Sociology in the U.S. • George Herbert Mead - founded symbolic Interactionist perspective. • Jane Adams - founded methodological approach used by sociologists for years. • W.E.B. Du Bois - noted that dual heritage creates conflict for people of color - double consciousness.
Functionalist Perspective • Assumes that society is a stable, orderly system. • Talcott Parsons - all societies must meet social needs in order to survive. • Robert Merton - distinguished between manifest and latent functions of social institutions.
Conflict Perspective • Groups in society are engaged in a continuous power struggle for control of scarce resources. • Max Weber recognized the importance of economic conditions in producing inequality and conflict in society. • C. Wright Mills - formed the concept of the power elite.
Feminist Approach • Directs attention to women’s experience and the importance of gender as an element of social structure. • Assumes that gender is socially created and that change is essential for people to achieve their human potential without limits based on gender.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective • Society is the sum of the interactions of individuals and groups. • People communicate through the use of symbols and symbolic gestures. • Thoughts and behavior are shaped by social interactions with others.
Postmodern Perspectives • Earlier theoretical perspectives are unsuccessful in explaining social life in contemporary societies. • Emerged after WWII and reflected belief that some nations were entering a period of post industrialization. • Challenges existing perspectives, but tends to ignore central social problems.