Social Theory : A New Understanding Of The World Around Us

As described above, chapter five takes a look at the notion of theory, the book breaks down this chapter explain what is theory, making a theory, theory and contemporary social work and lastly expanding the theoretical possibilities. The textbook views on what a theory is that it can analysis of facts that can explain phenomena, it can describe anything values, oppression and grief. The making of a theory consists of developing different perspectives, critiquing existing approaches, question social exclusion and challenging social realities. Theory and contemporary social work is to evaluate theories, like social systems and ecosystem perspective and compare it to social

Positivism and interpretivism are two approaches of interpreting social reality, that each employ different methods of research and data collection to better help understand the study of human lived experiences. The positivist-interpretivist debate revolves around the ways in which human behavior should be conceptualized and studied (Pruss 1996: 4). Positivism is the most widely practiced research approach in social science, which regards the nature of social reality independent of consciousness. Positivists believe social reality can be studied independently from the researcher and that social life can be represented using numbers that according to positivists reveal features of social reality. On the other hand, interpretivists favor partipcant observation, interviews and social interaction where the researcher immerses into the informant’s reality to gain knowledge of their everyday human lived experiences.

Sociological imagination is the way in which individuals realize the connection between their own experience of reality and the experiences of society as a whole. This realization allows people to make sense of the world around them. When one applies sociological imagination, they are stripping their own personal experiences from their thoughts to analyze the social world around them. It allows one to understand different perspectives of the world without the narrow lens of personal experience and bias. This is extremely important in modern society. For instance, in politics, it is very important to hold back personal beliefs when it comes to law-making. A politician who refrains from applying her own moral beliefs to her political agenda in attempt to create a better society is practicing the use of sociological imagination. She removes her own personal views of the world in order to see society’s views as a whole, and acts accordingly. In other words, sociological imagination is “taking the role of the other” to gain a wider understanding of a perspective other than one’s own.

Everyone in the world has a theory about why something happens or how it happens, but in sociology there are many different types of theories that often contradict each other. Theory is defined as “a statement of how and why specific facts are related” (Macionis, 2013). Most theories explain why people act in certain ways and explains why a person in a group may act different than someone that is alone. When building sociological theories most sociologist ask their selves two different questions: “What issues should we study?” and “How should we connect the facts?” (Macionis, 2013). By answering these questions the sociologist is led to a road map, or a theoretical approach. Theoretical approach is described as “a basic image of society that

I can use my newly developed sociological perspective in my everyday life by identifying the cultural beliefs and biases utilizing through a sociological lens.

In sociology, a few theories provide broad perspectives that help to explain many different aspects of social life. These theories are so prominent that many consider them paradigms. Paradigms are philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them. Three of these paradigms have come to dominate sociological thinking because they provide useful explanations: structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.

Theories are meant to explain an unknown phenomena. Scientific laws are statements or equations that accurately describes a recurring process. Grand theories explain large-scale relationships why societies form and change. Micro-level theories explain small-scale relationships between individuals or small groups. There are three main theoretical perspectives in sociology, which are functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionism. They all attempt to explain how society functions through ideals that have formulated to be true. And, for each perspective, the ideas are different and conflicting, but they attempt to explain society. Functionalists see society as an integrated system of cogs that are all relevant to the constant progression of society. If an outside social force effects one, it will halt all the other parts. Functionalism encourages stability, and dysfunction cause instability. There are two types of social functions; manifest and latent. Manifest function is the intended or anticipated effects that a part has on the existing social order. Latent function is the unintended or unanticipated effects that a part has on the existing social order. Conflict theory tries to explain society through instability. A conflict theorist looks at

Sociology is the function of the human society, and social problems among us. There are three different theories that I will be discussing in this essay. The theories are symbolic interactionism, The conflict theory and functional analysis perspectives. These perspectives help make up the way society thinks as a whole. All three of these perspectives are alike, as much as they are different.

As humans, in order for us to understand or make sense out of our life experiences and the facts we have acquired, we place them into a framework of somewhat related ideas; it makes reality simpler for us. Sociologist also do this in their own unique way; sociologists place their observations into a conceptual framework called a theory. According to the textbook, Essentials of Sociology, a theory is a general statement about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work. In another sense, a theory is an explanation of the relationship or correlation of two or more facts. Sociologist have developed three theories that have helped be the lens through which we can view social life: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis, and

Sociological theories are the core and underlying strength of the discipline. They guide researchers in their studies. They also guide practitioners in their intervention strategies. And they will provide you with a basic understanding of how to see the larger social picture in your own personal life. Theory=a set of interrelated concepts used to describe, explain, and predict how society and its parts are related to each other. The metaphor I’ve used for many years to illustrate the usefulness of a theory is what I call "The goggles metaphor." Goggles are a set of inter-related parts that help us see things more clearly. Goggles work because the best scientific components work together to magnify, enlarge, clarify, and expand to our view the

Daily social interactions are saturated by gender perceptions and expectations. At a very young age, children are capable of observing social behaviors. As they age, children are able to cognitively process and draw conclusions on how they should behave according to these observations (Bussey and Bandura, 1999). There are many theories that attempt to explain why gender stereotypes may hold true or at the very least impact our social interactions within Western culture. Sociological theories maintain that gender is entirely a social construct. Biological theories discuss the evolutionary benefits of sex and its importance as an adaptation. Social cognitive theory focuses on the influence of evolutionary factors in congruence with social and technological innovations creating selection pressures as to desired traits within the sexes (Bussey and Bandura, 1999). There are other social psychological theories that attempt to explain the reasons for gender differentiation including implicit personality theory. Implicit personality theory as applied to gender focuses on people expanding their perception of a person based of a central trait such as male or female (Ashmore and Del Boca, 1979). However, the commonality seen in the social psychological theory is that they focus on gender as a concept that is partially learned in addition to the influence these preconceptions have on our interpersonal relationships, specifically romantic partnerships. Socially conditioned

The Social Interactionist Theory is a term used to describe how people react to toward things or events based on what they think that particular situation means to them (Stevens, pg 62, 2011). This theory explains in many ways why some criminals act hostile toward police officers even in instances where an arrest was not initially necessary, human beings act toward things on the basis of the meaning they have (http://www.csun.edu/~whw2380/542/Symbolic%20Interactionism%20Lecture.htm). In a study performed by John Kavanagh, he investigated over 1,000 arrests made in New York City’s bus terminal, and the study found that in most cases the police officer was in some disrespected by the suspect which resulted in the arrest. This study proves

The social structure theory deliberates delinquency as a gathering of the person’s dealings with numerous groups, organizations, and process in the society. Any person irrespective of their prominence in life is likely to become delinquents if they continue with negative social affiliations. Every aspect of the society, social and economic must be viewed using the social structure theories to find the cause of crime and deviance. The social structure theories consist of four types which include social disorganization theory, anomie theory, differential association theory, and labeling theory. Several theories offer different answers to this delinquent of influential the key features of a social group.

In the reading by Reiner “A Journal of Social and Political Theory” in 2014, a quote a that summarized her whole meaning of what she calls ‘police fetishism’ referring to a popular ideology is “police are a functional prerequisite for social order so that without a police force chaos would ensue”. Communities rely on police for security and personal safety. Even sovereignty needs to ensure security, as capitalism and the wage system have relied on police power, publics also demand it and call on officers for direct threats to security and to negotiate those conflicts believed to weaken security. The majority of police activity is indeed directed toward responses to calls from citizens who request the presence of officers. Another reason I chose this quote is because without police, chaos would ensue. Who would individual call if they were being domestically abused, or to keep drugs off the streets, or guns, a murder? Most important thing

Theories in sociology provide us with different perspectives with which to view our social world. A perspective is simply a way of looking at the world. A theory is a set of interrelated propositions or principles designed to answer a question or explain a particular phenomenon; it provides us with a perspective. Sociological theories help us to explain and predict the social world in which we live.