What Are The Four Sociological Theories

Sociologists develop theories to explain and analyze society at different levels and from different perspectives. Sociologists study everything from the micro level of analysis of small social patterns to the “big picture” which is the macro level of analysis of large social patterns.

Explain the three major sociological perspectives of functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. Identify which perspectives use a macro level or a micro level of analysis. Apply each perspective to socialization.

This essay will compare and contrast and contrast two leading sociological theories: Marxism and Functionalism. Marxists predominantly believe that within society inequality and prejudice are rife, whereas Functionalists live under the impression that society operates in a state of social equilibrium wherein class and social status are necessities which we allow to transpire. This essay will explore the different viewpoints each theories take on subjects such as religion, community, family and education.

The use of research in the field of sociology has led to many breakthroughs in us as humans understanding both ourselves and our culture around us. As we as society continue working to develop a better understanding of how and why we act and interact with our surroundings we need to continue completing research to answer these questions. Research in sociology has created a better understanding of society and will continue to provide clues into the human mind. However, research must be completed properly and ethically along with proper research methods. Without proper procedures of completing research we as society may receive wrong information or biased answers about questions we want answered. There are four types of research that sociology uses to give us answers about our society and careful consideration must be taken to follow the rules of these research types.

Social entrepreneurship which has been applied in so many different ways by so many different analysts that it’s depth of vast complexity is still being unraveled and it seems it is still in infancy. It is a multi-interpretable concept and although the use of the term is widespread its use is either overrated or misused. Hence, it is important to firstly understand what social entrepreneurship really is.

Throughout history, including today, minority groups such as African Americans and Hispanics have been discriminated. These two groups are being discriminated by the higher power class such as the elite whites. African Americans and Hispanics have been murdered by whites committing such violent acts against them. It is seen that today there is no longer slavery and segregation system, but it has been reported by the mass media that African Americans have committed and have the highest homicide and crime rates. Not only do African Americans have high homicide and crime rates, but high rates of killing among themselves for example gang killings. In order to support these claims, there are four relevant sociological theories. There are several common factors within the four theories which are father’s education, father’s occupation, and ability for African Americans to make a change. The four sociological theories are Human Capital Theory, Social Functionalist Theory, Cultural Deficiency Theory, and Intergenerational Mobility Theory. These theories will help answer why African Americans have higher crime rates among any other group.

Sociological theory creates ways to understand the social world by having different theories to explain understand social life. It aids to make sense of this social world. It draws together a wide range of perspectives to help provide the fullest picture. (Macionis & Plummer p.36) It shows that one theory can explain something that another cannot. My aim is to answer this question with reference to both functionalism and conflict theory. This will be done by comparing and contrasting both theories in relation to their perspectives on both suicide and gender discrimination as social issues relevant to this day and age. Functionalism and conflict perspectives are both macro theories. This means that they focus on the big picture, for

There are three theories that sociologist hold responsible to explain and describe what’s going on in the world. The three theories are functionalist theory, conflict theory and symbolic interactionism theory. Each theory has a different perspective for how the world works. Functionalist look at different parts of society to see how each part of society can function effectively. By looking at different parts of society functionalist try to achieve balance and harmony. The conflict theory sees society as being in a competition for scarce resources. Conflict theorists consider everything that is limited not just money. Lastly, the Symbolic interactionism theory sees society as being recreated everyday by having social interactions with one another. Symbols are what make society what it is. For instance Language is a symbol used constantly to communicate with one another. From what I have learned this semester in sociology, I believe that the Functionalist theory explains how the world works. Without one of the five basic social institutions: family, economy, education, religion and government, society would fall apart. Religion and education shapes families and depicts ones morals and values. Religion also plays a role in families political views. Without politics there would be no government and without government there would be no economy. Each social institution plays a huge effect on one another.

As previously mentioned, this study included a preliminary questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. All participants read and signed informed consent forms, then interview times were scheduled. All interviews last approximately one hour. Participants were asked to reflect as well as be descriptive about the process of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Participants were asked to consider the resources, benefits, and networks through social cohesion that made certain economic achievements available. Within forty-eight hours of the interview, data was transcribed and coded from the voice recorder. The interview method was a semi-structured face-to-face interview environment using open-ended questions.

Even though a well-informed person might question why the study of sociology is related to my chosen field as an accountant I know how valuable the study of sociology is with regards to the attention to detail and person-to-person human interactions I am committed to in my field. There are important links between working with financial data and interacting as a team member polished in interpersonal communication skills. Accountants are not always holed up in quiet rooms with no windows, keeping the books for small businesses or a well-established company. Accountants are an important spoke in the wheel that drives a team, and their ability to achieve a greater awareness of themselves though learning important sociological concepts including knowledge of organizational citizen behaviour (OCB) and perceived organizational support (POS).

Following the underpinning philosophical perspectives mentioned earlier, the researcher decided to choose qualitative research method, as theories are developed by people involving their routines daily (Flick, 2009). This is very much related to the view of social constructionism view for the research. In order to ensure the research to become rigorous and to achieve the comprehensible objective, qualitative method will be a practical way of conducting research (Tracy, 2010). Studying entrepreneurship makes it sensible for qualitative research method because it involves “real-world situation” (Yin, 2010) and contains collaboration with the community. This research will use case study with the application of constructivist grounded theory method (Charmaz and Smith, 2003; Glaser et al., 1968) as it intended to develop theory from the emerging themes and interests (Charmaz, 2008). It is the most relevant method to apply as the researcher has similar background and interests with the participants (Charmaz and Smith, 2003) plus similar passion making it highly impossible for her to make use of the their background stories and natural proclivities (Mills et al., 2006). Charmaz (2008) emphasises that Glaser and Strauss are both “objectivists” (Easterby-Smith et al., 2012) and do not comply with a subjectivist’s view of research.

Human beings have always shown various behaviors as they go about with their day to day interactions and other activities. These actions are influenced by various accepted social norms and change with time and from society to society (Sullivan, 2007). Sociology as a field aims to study the patterns that determine human behavior to create a theoretical view of social processes that people are involved in (Ashley& Orenstein, 2005). It is this organization of human beings and those showing predictable behavior based on various norms that enable the society to properly function.

Entrepreneuring individuals and groups often solve technological and other problems because they are internally motivated to change their worlds. The emancipatory perspective suggests that understanding the

There are several key concepts at the heart of network analysis that are fundamental to the discussion of social networks that should be clarified for discussing social networks and social network data that are required in the network analysis. These concepts are actor, relational tie, group, relation, and network. The first concepts, actors are discrete individual, corporate, or collective social units that applicably focus on collections of actors that are all of the same type, such as member of entrepreneurs’ group, or an organisation (Wasserman & Faust, 1994). However, some methods allow looking at actors of conceptually different types or levels, or from different

Inter – organizational network, as a distinct from personal network of entrepreneurs have been discussed by O’donell (2001). The factors those are responsible for the process of Inter-organizational network have been divided into- Reciprocity, Legitimacy, Stability and Resources, according to Kimberly (2005).