Sociological Theories (4)

Salam..

Sociological theories are just different views about how society works. There are four different theories in Sociology that you need to know about. These are: 

1) FUNCTIONALISM

2) MARXISM

3) FEMINISM

4) INTERACTIONISM

Reference: SIXTHSENSE-SOCIOLOGY

1) FUNCTIONALISM

- Functionalists are very POSITIVE about society and always see the GOOD in everything. They even think that crime is good for society!

- They look at society on a MACRO scale [this means that they look at society on a large scale]. They want to generalise their ideas to the whole of society. For example they look at what education does for society as a whole not just certain people in society.

- Functionalists also believe that society is based on CONSENSUS, this means agreement, i.e. we are all SOCIALISED [brought up] to agree on how to behave [known as NORMS] and what is right and wrong [known as VALUES].

- Functionalists believe that each part of society has a FUNCTION [a job to do] to make sure that society runs smoothly and everything stays in harmony. For example education has a function to make sure people are educated to be good at the job they will get after school.

2) MARXISM

- Marxists are very NEGATIVE about the society we live in and always see the BAD in everything. Marxists believe that society is dominated by the ruling class.

- They look at society on a MACRO scale [this means that they look at society on a large scale]. They want to generalise their ideas to the whole of society. For example they look at what education does for society as a whole not just certain people in society.

- Marxists also believe that society is based on CONFLICT, this means disagreement. The conflict is between the CLASSES – the WORKING CLASS [called the proletariat] are in conflict with the RULING CLASS [called the bourgeoisie].

- They are interested in CAPITALIST SOCIETIES e.g. Britain, Western Europe and the USA. These societies are based on some people wanting to make as much money as possible no matter how they treat people to get this. They believe that the ruling class make all the money as they exploit the working class and pay them low wages.

- Marxists believe that there will eventually be a REVOLUTION and the working class will realize they are being exploited and get rid of the ruling class and capitalism. A new society will be created where there will be no classes, no private property and everyone will be equal. This type of society is called COMMUNISM.

3) FEMINISM 

- Many feminists are very NEGATIVE about the society we live in and always see the BAD in everything. Most feminists believe that society is male dominated – this is called PATRIARCHY. 

- They look at society on a MACRO scale [this means that they look at society on a large scale]. They want to generalise their ideas about males and females to the whole of society.

- Feminists also believe that society is based on CONFLICT, this means disagreement. The conflict is between the SEXES – males and females. They believe that women have been disadvantaged in society and that men have more power than women and that this is not right.

- There are lots of different feminist theories not just one. They all share one thing in common – they look at the differences in society between men and women and try to see how these problems could be solved.

4) INTERACTIONISM

- Interactionists look at society on a MICRO scale [this means that they look at society on a small scale]. They do not want to generalise their ideas to the whole of society.

- Interactionists study how people behave in small scale situations. For example they would not look at what education does for the whole of society, but they would look at one class in a school and look at how the teachers and pupils treat each other. They would then look at how this affects exam results.

- Interactionists are interested in looking at how people interact with each other [i.e. how people behave with each other] in different situations, e.g. in school, at home and at work.