Sociology Learners

Theoretical Perspective on Society

&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad3" id&equals;"quads-ad3" style&equals;"float&colon;left&semi;margin&colon;0px 0px 0px 0&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"d39b46b3f7ef22b4a3a221038394de7c" data-index&equals;"1" style&equals;"float&colon; left&semi; margin&colon; 10px 10px 10px 0&semi;">&NewLine;<script async src&equals;"&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js"><&sol;script> &NewLine;<&excl;-- Sociology Learners 336 X 280 Post Top --> &NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle" &NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;inline-block&semi;width&colon;336px&semi;height&colon;280px" &NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-7649183549375766" &NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1656902389"><&sol;ins> &NewLine;<script> &NewLine;&lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi; &NewLine;<&sol;script>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Many sociologist have presented theoretical outlooks to comprehend society&period; However&comma; three social thinkers form the foundation of modern sociological perspectives on society these include&comma; Emile Durkheim&comma; Karl Marx&comma; Herbert Mead and Max Weber&period; Their theories facilitated us to comprehend functions of society&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Structural functional perspective&semi;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Emile Durkheim was a functional social analyst&period; He defined sociology as the study of social facts&period; He argues that&comma; society is greater than the sum of its parts&period; He was of the view that society cannot be studied by simply analyzing an individual social behavior however&comma; In order to understand society we have to examine collective behavior of individuals within a given society&period; Besides&comma; collective behavior should be comprehended via&comma; determining the development&comma; maintenance and functions of social facts&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Social facts” refer to the social elements which regulate individual social behavior these include&comma; moral values&comma; social norms&comma; customs and beliefs&period; Social norms and values are shared by individuals within a society&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Emile Durkheim believed that&comma; individuals develop collective conscience via internalizing social facts&period; Individuals learn and internalize social facts through socialization process&period; Moreover&comma; he refers to collective conscience as a glue which holds societies together&period; When Collective conscience is developed among individuals&comma; they share similar sentiments and act in similar ways in different social situations&period; Collective sentiments bring people together as well as&comma; arouse the feeling of unity among them&period; According to Durkheim&comma; criminals are not punished in a given society because they have committed crimes however&comma; they are punished because they have offended collective conscience&period; He writes that&comma; if I do not act in accordance with social norms&comma; values and customs&comma; I will have to face social isolation&comma; ridicule and punishment with in a society&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Furthermore&comma; he wrote in his book &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The division of labor”&semi; collective conscience is stronger in traditional societies compare to modern society&period; As societies evolve from traditional to modern&semi; people become more divided&period; Due to the division of labor social order transforms from mechanical to organic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In preindustrial societies people have common line of work&comma; norms&comma; values and beliefs&comma; which bring them together and arouse feeling of unity among them&period; Durkheim categorized such social integration as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;mechanical solidarity”&period; Whereas&comma; in industrial society people have different professions and they don’t have collective cultural norms and values&period; However&comma; they are held together due to high division of labor and formal laws based on restitution&period; Everyone is expert in specific but distinct profession thus&comma; they rely on one another to fulfill their different needs within a society&period; Durkheim labeled such social integration as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;organic solidarity”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">During the transformation from mechanical to organic solidarity&comma; societies become norm less due to which&comma; chaos and confusion prevails within a societies&period; He called such outcome of social change or transition anomie&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Anomie” literally means without law&period; Collective conscience is weakened within a society therefore&comma; people become alienated from one another&period; The process of transition is completed when norms are reestablished and shared by the people&period; Consequently&comma; society achieve organic solidarity as well as&comma; anomie diminishes from societies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Conflict perspective&semi;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Karl Marx was a conflict social analyst&period; He is one of the most eminent and influential social thinkers in recent history&period; His social theories have as well as had influenced the political and economic structure of many societies&period; His work has been criticized by many social thinkers&period; Yet&comma; he is regarded as the father of sociology&period; Because His theories are still respected and studied in many formal disciplines including&comma; political science&comma; economics and sociology&period; He offered a new theoretical outlook to analyze society&period; He developed a theoretical framework of society&period; The framework was based on two elements these include&comma; base and superstructure&period; It portrays the notion that economy is the base on which the structure of society rest upon&period; Superstructure refers to government&comma; family&comma; politics&comma; religion and education&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Marx believed that&comma; dominant class of society has always exploited the working class for their personal gain&period; History of societies affirms the domination of upper class over the working class&period; Marx explained history of class conflict via&comma; analyzing the structure of preindustrial and industrial societies&period; The fundamental determinants of his analysis were&comma; relationship between employer and employee&comma; working conditions and modes of production&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In ancient societies the relationship between employer and employee was of master and slave&period; Lands and modes of production were owned by masters&period; Slaves were supposed to work in their master fields in order to produce surplus from their labor&period; Workers were not paid for their work in ancient societies because they were considered as a property rather than employees&period; In ancient societies masters were legally entitled to exploit their slaves for any purpose&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In feudal society’s kings&comma; aristocrat&comma; religious scholars&comma; soldiers and liege lords owned the agriculture land&period; Kings grated the lands to people on the basis of their position&period; In feudal societies relationship between employer and employee was of a lord and peasant&period; In feudal societies peasants were exploited by the lords to obtain more power and wealth&period; Peasants were allowed to cultivate their land in return of place to live and little portion of produce&period; Peasants share of produce was not even enough for their basic survival&period; Surplus of agriculture produce was distributed among individuals on the basis of their position and ownership rather than their work and effort&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Karl Marx believed that&comma; People within industrial societies are divided in to two social classes&semi; based on acquisition of power and resources these include&comma; bourgeoisie and proletariat&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Bourgeoisie” refers to the class of rich people who own means of production&period; Whereas&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Proletariat” refers to the class of poor people who work as labors in the factories which are owned by bourgeoisie&period; He argues that capitalist societies are in a state of conflict between bourgeoisie and proletariat&period; Bourgeoisie exploit the labor of proletariat in order to accumulate more wealth and power&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Social class conflict bring about social change as well&period; However&comma; class conflict lead to rapid social change rather than gradual social change&period; Karl Marx argues that&comma; when working class become aware of the exploitation they will overthrow capitalism and replace it with communism&period; Communism is a social system in which government owns the property and means of production&period; As well as&comma; the profit which is generated from production of goods and services will be vested on the welfare of people&period; There will no disparities among the people in Communist society it will be a classless society&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2 style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Symbolic interactionist perspective&semi;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Symbolic interactionist theory addresses that&comma; individuals social behavior hold subjective meanings and people in a given society share these subjective meanings&period; Symbolic Interactionist comprehend society via&comma; determining the process through which individuals develop and share subjective meanings&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Max weber was one of the greatest influential social thinker of is time&period; His social theories contributed a lot in the development of sociology as a formal discipline&period; Like Marx and Durkheim he was interested in analyzing the social changes transpired within western society due to the advent of industrialization&period; As well as&comma; the effect of industrialization on people social behavior&period; However&comma; his outlook of analysis was entirely different from Marx and Durkheim&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">According to Weber&comma; the foundation of social structure rest upon social class&comma; status and power&period; He argues that&comma; Society is divided between two social classes based on economic factors these include&comma; owners and workers&period; Whereas&comma; status is based on noneconomic components such as&comma; education&comma; religion and kinship&period; However&comma; social class and status are the main components which identify an individual power or influence over ideas&period; Unlike Durkheim and Marx&comma; Weber believed that the foundation of society is built upon ideas&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In his book &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The protestant ethics and spirit of capitalism” Weber associated the conception of capitalism with Calvinism&period; He asserted that&comma; unplanned influence of Calvinism was the force behind the formation and development of capitalism&period; However&comma; Protestants belief system was based on the idea that&comma; hard work and economic success are the signs of salvation&period; Protestants social ideas were inspired from their religious beliefs&period; Which led them to work hard and establish business ventures in order to achieve economic success&period; That explains&comma; why Protestants owned most of the businesses and enterprises at the time&period; Calvinists social actions inspired many people of secular societies as well&period; Consequently&comma; they established their own enterprises and engaged in trading&semi; intended to obtain economic prosperity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Weber explained social change through identifying types of legitimate authorities of pre modern and modern societies as well as&comma; the influence of ideas on the development of legitimate authorities&period; Pre industrial societies were governed by traditional authority&period; Where Leaders obtained power through inheritance or higher power&period; For instance&comma; people of pre industrial societies believed that God has granted the power to the king to lead and rule&period; As well as&comma; only royal family members have rights to become head of state&period; Beside&comma; when king reign is ended his son inherit the legitimate right to lead the people and rule over kingdom&period; However&comma; charismatic authority rests on the idea that leaders possess extra ordinary intelligence whether religious&comma; heroic or ethical&period; In simple words leaders inspire people from their personality&period; Whereas&comma; modern societies are governed by legal rational authority&comma; leaders are legally chosen on the basis of merit&period; Weber described the pure types of authorities however&comma; most societies have mixture of authority&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Weber argues that&comma; modern societies are based on rationalization&period; Rules and procedures of the business are based on the idea of merit and logic rather than tradition or customs&period; He believed that&comma; rationalization is effective for industrial societies&period; However&comma; it has negative effects on human social life&period; He assumed that&comma; in modern society human is trapped in iron cage&period; In other words&comma; people are trapped in bureaucratic system&period; Bureaucracy is a hierarchal system supported by norms&comma; which regulate human social behavior&period; He argues that&period; Bureaucracy set limits on freedom and equality which reduce individual rational self-determination&period; As a result&comma; individuals develop sense of disenchantment of the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Written by&semi; Khushdil Khan Kasi<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&excl;--CusAds0-->&NewLine;<div style&equals;"font-size&colon; 0px&semi; height&colon; 0px&semi; line-height&colon; 0px&semi; margin&colon; 0&semi; padding&colon; 0&semi; clear&colon; both&semi;"><&sol;div>&NewLine;<&excl;-- WP QUADS Content Ad Plugin v&period; 2&period;0&period;95 -->&NewLine;<div class&equals;"quads-location quads-ad2" id&equals;"quads-ad2" style&equals;"float&colon;none&semi;margin&colon;0px&semi;">&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;

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