Notes:
Sociological Perspective: the process of understanding and explaining how individuals and groups interact within society (HP).
Social Structures: the distinctive and stable arrangements of social patterns that form the society as a whole (HP).
Social Problems: societal conditions that harm segments of society (HP).
Sociological Imagination: the ability to see the details of our own lives in the context of larger social structures as opposed to merely personal choices or personal troubles (HP).
Social Change: the forces that change society’s organization and social structures (HP).
Auguste Comte is the father of Sociology. Created positivism.
Important foundational theories: Conflict, functionalist, and symbolic interactionism
Sociological theory-a set of interrelated ideas that provide a systematic understanding of the social world.
Three Views of Sociology:
Macro sociology-a level of analysis focusing on social systems and populations on a large scale.
Micros sociology-a level of analysis focusing on individuals and small groups within the larger social system.
Karl Marx: Conflict Theory
A sociological perspective emphasizing the role of political and economic power and oppression as contributing to the existing social order.
Emile Durkheim: Functionalist Theory
A macro view of how the parts of society serve to maintain stability.
Manifest functions-intentional and formally sanctioned functions of social institutions