18/12/2021
What is Sociology?
Sociology is the study of human social relationships and institutions. Sociology’s subject matter is diverse, ranging from crime to religion, from the family to the state, from the divisions of race and social class to the shared beliefs of a common culture, and from social stability to radical change in whole societies. Unifying the study of these diverse subjects of study is sociology’s purpose of understanding how human action and consciousness both shape and are shaped by surrounding cultural and social structures.
What is a sociological perspective?
“The perspective of sociology involves seeing through the outside appearances of people’s actions and organisations” (Berger, 1963). The sociological perspective is one that observes society through a lens without personal opinions. It generalizes the causes and actions of individuals into patterns and categories. However, it not only observes these patterns of society but also tries to explain such patterns or behaviours. Sociologists are not concerned with personal characteristics; instead, they aim to find common attitudes and features as well as hidden patterns in those characteristics and behaviours across millions of people. One of the main objectives of the sociological perspective is to find and understand patterns behind recurring features of social interaction, as well as to examine the social impacts of these. With this objective in mind, there have developed many sociological perspectives but there are three major perspectives that have gained popularity.
Symbolic Interactionism:
The symbolic interactionist perspective, also called symbolic interactionism, encourages researchers to explore symbols and nuances, their meanings, and their influence on the interactive relationships of daily life. As per this perspective, symbols are connected with their meanings, and these symbols are perceived in a subjective manner. Communication and the exchange of meaning through words and symbols are thought to be the method by which humans comprehend their social environments.
Symbolic interactionism as a perspective helps people understand each other’s viewpoints and also helps with the smooth functioning of society. It promotes commonality and motivates the development of society. Symbols such as flags are used during international conflicts, by politicians and broadcasters, to encourage the concepts of unity, social cohesion among citizens and seek their support to the armed forces. Society has promoted the cultivation of symbols for various occasions. In western countries, the symbols of carved pumpkins and horror stories are associated with Halloween.
Structural functionalist:
In sociology and other social sciences, structural functionalism serves as a thought school in which each institution, relation, position, and convention, that together make up a society, has a purpose and each is essential for the sustained functioning of other members and society in general. Social change has been seen in structural-functionalism to be an adaptive reaction to some of society’s difficulties. If one element of the interwoven social structure changes, friction is produced which is addressed by the change in the other areas between this and other aspects of the system.According to the sociologist Durkheim, social cohesion was brought about by the interrelationship between the various components present in society, which is a complex system that has its own dynamic traits, external to people, but that influences their actions. According to this perspective, different institutions, structures, and processes have a particular purpose, one that is beneficial to the members of society. This includes education contributing to the development of society, the legal systems check the deviations in society, the government governs people and protects citizens, families contribute to reproduction and many others. Even processes that others may regard through a negative lens have a purpose from the functionalist’s perspective. A criminal is someone who is normally thought to be harmful to society, but structural functionalists believe that criminals motivate people to behave morally and keep the justice system running.
Conflict theory:
Conflict theory argues that when assets, power and social reputations are divided unfairly across sections of society, then disputes develop and these conflicts form the source of social change. Power may be viewed in this sense as the control of productive capacity and acquired riches, the influence over political and social institutions, and the social position of everyone else. The theory of conflict emerges from Karl Marx’s writings, which concentrated on the determinants and consequences of the bourgeois-proletarian class conflict in a capitalist society. This system reinforced an uneven social order, producing a unanimity of values, objectives and standards by the intellectual compulsion of the bourgeoisie. When the proletariat’s social and economic situation deteriorates, Marx predicted that they will become aware of the class system, implying that the rich capitalist class exploits them, resulting in a revolution with a demand for social change. This perspective has evolved from Marx and includes a wide array of conflicts and disputes that contribute to social change in society. Even wars between nations are perceived to be caused by material or ideological differences and the settlement of these leads to structural change. Sociological perspectives like Marxism and Feminism are derived from conflict theory and they both focus on particular conflicts, differences, and their impacts on society.
