The Real World, chapter 2

The Real World

2nd Edition

AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein

Chapter 2 Sociology’s Family Tree:

Theories and Theorists

2

Sociological Theories

• Theories in sociology are propositions that

explain the social world and help to make

predictions about future events.

• Theories are also sometimes referred to as

approaches, schools of thought,

paradigms, or perspectives.

Figure 2.1 Sociology’s Family Tree

The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, 2nd Edition

Copyright © 2010 W.W. Norton & Company

4

Founders of Sociology

• Auguste Comte:

• Stated that sociology needed to be treated like

any other scientific discipline.

• Laid the groundwork for future sociologists and

helped build the discipline.

Auguste Comte



6

Founders of Sociology, continued

• Harriet Martineau:

• A social activist who traveled the United States

and wrote about social changes which were

radical for this time period.

• Martineau translated Comte’s work into English,

making his ideas accessible to England and

America.

Harriet Martineau



8


• Herbert Spencer was the first

great English-speaking sociologist.

• Spencer believed in evolution and

coined the phrase “survival of the fittest.”

• He believed that societies evolve through

time by adapting to their changing

environment. His philosophy is often

referred to as “social Darwinism.”

Herbert Spencer



10


• Emile Durkheim worked to establish

sociology as an important academic

discipline.

• Interested in the social factors

that bond and hold people together

• Studied the correlation between social

isolation and suicide

Emile Durkheim



12


• Karl Marx was a German philosopher and

political activist.

• Marx contributed significantly to sociology’s

conflict theory.

Karl Marx



14

• Marx believed that capitalism was creating

social inequality between the bourgeoisie,

who owned the means of production (money,

factories, natural resources, land), and the

proletariat, who were the workers.

• According to Marx, this inequality leads to

class conflict.


15


• Max Weber was also interested in how

society was becoming industrialized.

• He was concerned with the process of

rationalization, applying economic logic to

all human activity.

• He believed that contemporary life was filled

with disenchantment, the result of the

dehumanizing features of modern societies.

Max Weber



17


• Sigmund Freud is usually associated with

psychoanalysis, but his theories have helped

sociologists gain a better understanding of

social behavior.

• Freud developed the idea of the

subconscious and the unconscious mind,

which he believed controls most of our

drives, impulses, thoughts, and behaviors.

Sigmund Freud



19

Schools of Thought

• Your book refers to paradigms, or schools of

thought. Paradigms are ways of thinking or

theoretical umbrellas, meant to provide a

broad explanation for the way things work.

20

Modern Schools of Thought

• Structural Functionalism:

• Society is viewed as an ordered system of

interrelated parts, or structures, which are

the social institutions that make up society

(family, education, politics, the economy).

• Each of these different structures meets

the needs of society by performing specific

functions for the whole system (society).

21

Modern Schools of Thought, continued

• Conflict Theory:

• Sees social conflict as the basis of society

and social change.

22

Modern Schools of Thought, continued

• Symbolic Interactionism:

• Sees interaction and meaning as central to

society and assumes that meanings are

not inherent but are created through

interaction.

23

New Theoretical Approaches

• Feminist Theory:

• Looks at gender inequalities in society and

the way that gender structures the social

world, and considers remedies to these

inequalities.

24

New Theoretical Approaches, continued

• Queer Theory:

• Proposes that categories of sexual identity

are social constructs and that no sexual

category is fundamentally either deviant or

normal.

25

New Theoretical Approaches, continued

• Postmodernist Theory:

• Suggests that social reality is diverse,

pluralistic, and constantly changing.

26

Theories and Theorists | Concept Quiz

Abstract propositions that both explain the

social world and make predictions about

future events are known as:

a. theories

b. social inequalities

c. ideas

d. social assumptions

e. means of production

27


What are paradigms?

a. broad theoretical perspectives

b. specific research methods

c. dominant sociological

applications

d. all of the above

e. none of the above

28


Marx believed that there was a class struggle

between:

a. groups of people who worked alongside one another

b. groups of people who practiced different religions

c. people who owned the means of production and people

who worked for a wage.

d. people who were born rich versus people who earned

their wealth

e. people who were born poor versus people who fell into

poverty due to poor work ethic

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Which of these sociological

paradigms has proved to be the most

influential of the twentieth century?

a. structural functionalism

b. conflict theory

c. symbolic interactionism

d. world-systems theory

e. critical race theory

30

Additional Art from Chapter 2

Chapter Opener



The Blind Men and the Elephant



Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406)



Charles Darwin



Gender, Parenting, and Theory



Talcott Parsons (1902–1979)



Robert Merton (1910–2003)



W. E. B. DuBois (1868–1963)



Martin Luther King



George Herbert Mead (1863–1931)



Jane Addams (1860–1935)



Hmong Cultural Center in St. Paul, Minnesota



Blogger Mario Lavandeira, a.k.a. Perez Hilton



Analyzing Wal-Mart



Jacques Derrida (1930–2004)



Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007)



Michel Foucault (1926–84)



Theory in Everyday Life (Table 2.1,top)



Theory in Everyday Life (Table 2.1,bottom)



© 2010 W. W. Norton Co., Inc.

The Real World

2nd Edition

AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY

Kerry Ferris and

Jill Stein

51

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