Focus on order and stability in society

Society is a system of interrelated, interdependent parts, e.g. social institutions or structures, population groups, organizations, etc..., e.g. a part may be family, education, economic, religion, women, men, the government, etc…

The function of a part is its contribution to the system, and its effects on other parts, all contributing to the stability of the social system

The needs of society are to be identified and determining how the parts satisfy the needs

Each part functions to maintain an orderly and predictable system, preserving social order

There is a normative consensus where members of society share a set of values and norms

An analogy is the human body

Key sociologists: Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, Robert Merton

May justify and legitimize the existence of a part of society, e.g. poverty or unemployment

Helps to preserve status quo by overlooking or downplaying sources of tension and inequality

Efficiency of a part may not be questioned

Origins of social conflict and instability not accountable or are considered dysfunctional

Focus on conflict as inevitable part of social life,

Societies are characterized by inequality and thus there is an emphasis on the role of competition in producing conflict

Conflict is not necessarily a negative aspect of society since it produces social change

Society comprised of dominant and subordinate groups which compete for resources – the have and the have nots

Who benefits at whose expense is the question

Key sociologists: Karl Marx, Max Weber

Marxism is essentially a sub-theory of conflict theory but it was the originator of conflict theory as well: focus was on class conflict, believing that the economic system was the primary determinant of a society, and within the economic system there existed two classes - the bourgeoisie(owning or ruling class) and the proletariat (working class); class membership was determined by relationship to means of production; belief that the proletariat would organize and precipitate a revolution because of this inequality and thus capitalism would be transformed into socialism and eventually communism.

overemphasize tensions and divisions

relationship between groups more complex

situations exist where subordinate groups control the interactions are ignored

Focus is on how people themselves define reality, how they make sense of the world, how they experience and define what people are doing

Assumption is that social structures are created through interactions among people so that patterns and standards of behaviour emerge, i.e. social reality is a construction by people

Focus on meanings assigned to actions and symbols, how meanings are learned and modified

Inquires into factors that influence how we interpret what we say and do, and patterns that give rise to same interpretation for many

Actors in a play in an analogy – dramaturgy, a sub-theory of interactionism

Key sociologists: George Herbert Mead and Herbert Blumer

No systematic frameworks for prediction or persistence/evolving of meanings

Potential for subjectivity in analysis greater