HSOC 011

PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIOLOGY/ WAYS OF

SEEING?
 Perspectives in Sociology(Ways of Seeing;
Ways of Imagining Society)
- In sociology, there several perspectives(theories) that guide the way
we understand and explain society or social phenomena.
- We use these perspectives or theories to help us explain what we
observe, see or whatever we are interested in.
- Perspectives or theories are thus a set of ideas which explains how
something works. Perspectives or theories are thus simply
EXPLANATIONS of society, action and human behaviour. They are
several of these theories in sociology and here we are going to focus
on the most dominant ones.
a. Functionalism(The Functionalist
Perspective)
- Functionalism as a theoretical perspective in sociology first emerged
in Europe in the 19th century.
- The work of French sociologist, Emile Durkheim was fundamental in
giving rise to functionalism. In the US, Talcott Parson further
developed the theory and it became dominant and popular within
American sociology especially during the 1940s and 1950s.
- As its central idea, functionalism view society as analogous to human
biology. In biology, if biologist wanted to know how the human body
functions, they will look at how each part of the human body is
functioning towards the biological function of the WHOLE body
- As such the way the heart, liver or kidney functions can never be
understood in isolation to the way the other parts of the human body
are function. The key assumption in biology is that each part of the
human body has a significant function to play. The failure of one part
of the body( heart for example) to function might mean that the
entire body will not function.
- Functionalists adopt a similar approach in the way they examine and
understand society.
- They see society is composed of various interdependent parts which
all contribute to the normal functioning of society.
- Each part of society has a specific role or function to play. The failure
of one part of society to fulfil its function might mean that the entire
society will not function. This is so because ALL the various parts of
society depend on each other(FUNCTIONAL INTERDEPENDENCE).
- Therefore, for a functionalist, in order to understand a particular
society, there is need for every part of that society(family, religion,
schools, government etc.) to be examined in relation to other existing
parts of that particular society. We can never understand society by
merely focusing or studying only a single part of that society(the
family for example).
Functionalism: Key ideas
(i) Structure : Functionalists make an assumption that human
behaviour within society is structured. By this they mean that
relationships between members of society are organised in terms of
social rules(formal or informal) which regulate on how individuals are
expected to behave. In any society, rules can be informal and formal.
Informal rules : are not written down but are known by those living in a
particular society. These informal rules are what we call NORMS (how
to dress, to eat, how to behave at a funeral etc.). Norms differ from
formal rules(laws for example) because norms are not written down
- For functionalist, social relationships are patterned and sustained
over time because of the existence of rules, norms and values.

Values : provide general guidelines for behaviour; they provide the

overall beliefs about what is considered good or bad , desirable or
undesirable in a society.
- What gives society its structure, is the normative behaviour that
guides social or human relationships(or the relationship between
certain institutions of society).
(ii) Function: We have established that functionalists study the
structure of society(the sum total of normative behaviour in a society).
Besides studying the structure of society, functionalists are also
concerned about how the structure functions. In other words, they
study the relationship between the different parts of society and how
each part relate to the entire society. They examine and study the
functions of each social institution(family, school, government etc.).
Function: The word ‘function’ might mean the contribution that each
part or institution of society makes to the maintenance of social order
or stability.
(iii) Value Consensus: The way in which social order or stability is
achieved or maintained in society is seen as an outcome of the way in
which every member of society agrees to uphold existing values or
rules within society. The reason why functionalist view society is devoid
of any conflict is largely out of the view that in any society there is an
agreement on rules and values. It is this agreement that we call “value
consensus”. Value consensus( or agreement ) brings about a degree of
unity or social cohesion with society.
(iii) Social Order: A major concern for functionalist scholars is to
examine how social order within society can be achieved, maintained
and preserved. To explain how social order or stability is achieved,
maintained and preserved, functionalists see value consensus is
integral in the process. Value consensus integrates the various parts of
society; it forms the basis of social solidarity; and its also provides the
foundation of cooperation among members of a particular society.
Members of society are often seen as cooperating in pursuit of shared
goals or values.
Questions

(a)Are they any weakness of the functionalist perspective that you

can identify?
(b) Who are the leading sociologist whom we can classify as following
under the functionalist perspective?
b. The Conflict Perspectives/ Radical/
Marxism
- The conflict perspective is also known as the radical or Marxist
perspective.
- As a perspective, it largely draws on the work and writings of Karl
Marx.
- In the same way the functionalists emphasize the importance of
structures within society, conflict theorists also consider the social
structure as important in examining and understanding society.
However, conflict theorists differ from functionalists in fundamental
ways.
- Firstly, conflict theorists dismiss the claim that functionalists make on
the absence of conflict in society due to value consensus.
- Conflict theorists argue that conflict is an endemic feature of all
society and there highlight that in any society, they always divisions or
differences among groups or classes within society. These differences
are seen as the source of conflict.
- It is important to state that they are various conflict theories in
literature. Notable examples include Marxism and Feminism.
- The existence of conflict within society is attributed to the presence
of sectorial interests between primarily two groups : (a) the owners of
the means of production and (b) the poor working class.
- The owners of the means of production(the bourgeoisie class) are
seen as exploiting those who do not own the means of production(
the poor working class).
- By means of production we refer to : land, labour and wealth
- Conflict theorists consider the unequal distribution of resources as a
cause of social inequality.
- Let us now look at the two dominant versions of the conflict
perspectives
Marxism
- Marxist theory is credited for offering a radical alternative to
functionalism. The approach became dominant in the 1970s falling
the gradual decline in influence of functionalism.
- The word ‘Marxism’ was derived from the name of the founder of this
approach; Karl Marx who was a German philosopher.
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Key features of Marxist theory/ Marxism
(i) Contradiction and Conflict

- A key feature of Marxism is the observation that in order to survive,

humans beings must produce food and material objects. In order for
them to produce, they have to enter into social relationships with other
people(relations of production).
- The production of food and material objects also involve a technical
component; the forces of production.
FORCES OF PRODUCTION: These involves the apparatus that human
beings use for them to produce. Examples of forces of production
include, technology; raw materials; the labour power of the workers
and the scientific knowledge that human beings use in the process of
production.
- The forces of production plus the relations of production (all taken
together) will make up what is called the ECONOMIC BASE of society
or what Marx calls the INFRASTRUCTURE.
- Thus, for Marx society is a composition of the base and the
superstructure.
Infrastructure / Economic Base : Relations of productions and forces of
production

Superstructure: The political, legal, family, religious institutions of

society
- For social change to occur, the change has to start at the bottom, that
is at the economic base of society. “ It is the base that shapes the
superstructure”
- Marx argues that in any society conflict and contradictions are
inherent. These contradictions involve the exploitation of one
group(class) by the other. In modern society for example, the owners
of the means of production(bourgeoisie) exploit the workers(the
proletariat).
- This exploitation of one group by the other creates conflict and this
conflict needs to be resolved
- Thus Marxist consider society as ridden by conflict and contradictions
particularly between two major groups(employers and workers).
(ii) Exploitation and Oppression

Marxists consider society as ridden by the exploitation and oppression

of the workers or proletariat by the owners of the means of
production. Workers are exploited because the capitalists want to make
profit from the process of production. In other words, they want to
make profit. The means of production are privately owned and the
profits are enjoyed by individuals. This creates conflict and
contradictions within society.
(iii) Social Change

Marxists argue that the system of capitalism that is dominant in

modern society is not sustainable and will eventually lead to its own
demise. For this to happen, workers need to unite and stage a
REVOLUTION that will result in the formation of a new society where
the means of production will be owned communal. So
communism/socialism appears to be the answer to Marx and his
followers.
Feminism
- While Marxist focus largely on economic inequalities with society,
feminist scholars are mostly concerned about gender disparities or
imbalances between men and women in society.
- For feminist scholars, women position within society has been
subordinated to male authority and privilege leaving them
disadvantage in terms of social, political and economic opportunities.
- As such, these scholars contest the dominance of men in every
sphere of society
- Feminist scholars seek to rediscover and capture the voices of women
and other subordinated groups in society(children and the poor). Their
belief is that such voices have been silenced by men.
- For these scholars, male patriarchy and chauvinism are the root cause
of the oppression of women in society and as such they propose
radical means of contesting these(male patriarchy and chauvinism).
- A male chauvinist is someone who believes that women are less
important than men.
C. Symbolic Interactionism
- The term ‘symbolic interactionism’ originated with Herbert Blumer in
in an article he wrote in ‘Man and Society’.
- By coining the terms, Blumer was interested in showing how the
individual develops socially as a result of participating in group life.
- Symbolic interactionism is thus a social psychological perspective that
focus on the “individual self” and on the interaction between a
person’s internal thoughts, emotions and his behaviour.
- It focuses on small-scale interpersonal-relationships.
- Building on Blumer, the work of George Herbert Mead has been very
influential.
- For Mead, the central concern in symbolic interactionism is the way
humans use LANGUAGE to communicate(language and shared
meaning).
- He argues that language allows humans to become self-conscious.
- Through language, we use certain SYMBOLS to express whatever we
want to.
- A symbol is generally something that stands for something else. The
words that we use to refer to certain objects are in actual fact
symbols which represent what we mean. For example, the word
‘clothes’ is a symbol that we use to refer for something that we use to
cover our bodies.
- Non-verbal gestures or forms of communication(waving your hand,
nodding your head etc.) are all example of symbols.
- For Mead, human being rely on shared symbols and understandings
in their interactions with one another.
- All interactions between human beings involve the exchange of
symbols.
- As a perspective, symbolic interaction focuses on the interpersonal
interactions or relationships between humans and how this
interaction is used to make sense of the what other say and do. The
argument here is that an individual discovers himself or herself
through the process of interacting with others. The ‘self' is an
outcome of the process of interaction.
- An individual who know who he or she is through interacting with
other in a group.
Symbolic Interactionism as ‘MICRO-sociology’
- Thus, symbolic interactionists stress much on the role of social
action(everyday face-to-face interaction) in making sense of human
behaviour and any form of social arrangement.
- For that reason, symbolic interactionism is a form of what we call
‘micro-sociology’. This is so because in sociology, we have two levels
of analysis( levels of understanding human behaviour and society).
- Micro-sociology(associated with symbolic interactionism) involves
the analysis of minute(small-scale) everyday face-to-face behaviour
or interactions.
On the other hand, Macrosociology involves the study or analysis of
large-scale social systems, like the political or the economic system.
Both Functionalism and Conflict theories are largely concerned about
large-scale social systems(macro-sociology)
Leading figures in Symbolic Interactionism
• Herbert Blumer
• George Herbert Mead
• Robert Park
• Charles Horton Cooley
• Georg Simmel
• Marx Weber(to some extent)
- The perspective was systematized by mainly Herbert Blumer and
George Herbert Mead.
Beyond Durkheim, Marx and Weber
POSTMODERNISM: Functionalism, Conflict Theory and Symbolic
Interactionism are often referred to as “MODERNIST”
theories(Modernism) given the way the placed emphasis on
understanding the changes in modern society(mainly Western society).
- However, their relevance continue to be challenged by some scholar.
- Postmodernists are among those who challenge these theories.
- Postmodern scholars dismiss the claim that there is a standard or
rather universal way of understanding history or human progress as
Marx , Weber or Durkheim ought to have suggested.
- For postmodernists, society is considered as being very diverse,
composed of different groups, different opinions and a diverse set of
relationships.
- In actual fact, society is build on an idea of “difference”
- They are also multiple ways of examining and understanding
society(multiple realities; Multiple Modernities).
- Some talk of postmodernism in terms of what is called
POSTSTRUCTURALISM: a movement that rejects the idea that society
has some form of structure.