MAJOR THEORETICAL

PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIOLOGY
Dr.NC VAMSHI KRISHNA
FACULTY FOR SOCIOLOGY
INTRODUCTION

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.

A perspective is simply a way of looking at the world.

Sociological theories help us to explain and predict the social world in

which we live
INTRODUCTION
 Macro-level theories
relate to large-scale
issues and large groups
Theories vary in scope
of people, while micro-
depending on the scale
level theories look at
of the issues that they
very specific
are meant to explain.
relationships between
DEVELOPMENT individuals or small
groups.

OF
PARADIGMS.... In sociology, a few
theories provide broad
Paradigms are
philosophical and
theoretical frameworks
perspectives that help
used within a discipline
explain many different
to formulate theories,
aspects of social life, and
generalizations, and the
these are called
experiments performed
paradigms.
in support of them.
 CLASSICAL PARADIGMS

FUNCTIONALISM/ CONFLICT APPROACH. INTERACTIONIST

CONSENSUS APPROACH. APPROACH
 NEW OR EVOLVING
PARADIGMS

• POST MODERNISM
• FEMINISM
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM

• In the functionalist perspective, societies

are thought to function like organisms,
with various social institutions working
together like organs to maintain and
reproduce societies.
• Functionalism draws its inspiration from
the ideas of Emile Durkheim.
• Durkheim was concerned with the
question of how societies maintain
internal stability and survive over time.
• Further developed by Talcott Parsons,
Robert Merton etc.
Click to add
text
 Social institutions are functionally
integrated to form a stable system, a
HOW DO change in one institution will precipitate
a change in other institutions.
SOCIETIES
IMBIBE
CHANGE? Dysfunctional institutions, which do not
contribute to the overall maintenance of
a society, will cease to exist.
CRITICISMS...

DOWNPLAYING THE ROLE OF NON SATISFACTORY ACCOUNT JUSTIFIES EXISTING SOCIAL

INDIVIDUAL ACTION. FOR SOCIAL CHANGE. ORDER.
CONFLICT APPROACH

• The conflict perspective, or conflict theory,

derives from the ideas of Karl Marx, who
believed society is a dynamic entity constantly
undergoing change driven by class conflict.
• According to the conflict perspective, society
is made up of individuals competing for
limited resources (e.g., money, leisure).
• Competition over scarce resources is at the
heart of all social relationships. Competition,
rather than consensus, is characteristic of
human relationships.
• Change comes about through conflict
between competing interests, not consensus
or adaptation
 • MAINLY TWO MAJOR SUB TYPES
IN SOCIAL CONTEXT • A) Marxism
• B) Feminism.
MARXIST VIEW
OF SOCIETY
SOCIAL CHANGE
IS THE ENGINE
OF HISTORY
MARXIST
APPROACH
OVERVIEW
 Exagerrated View: critics acknowledge that
societies are in a constant state of change,
but point out that much of the change is
minor or incremental, not revolutionary.

CRITICISM
Determism.
SYMBOLIC
INTERACTION

• Micro approach.
• The basic notion of symbolic
interactionism is that human action and
interaction are understandable only
through the exchange of meaningful
communication or symbols.
Click to add text
• Symbolic interactionism is a
perspective that emerged
chiefly from the work of
American tradition of
pragmatism, philosophy and
social psychology
• Society is thought to be
socially constructed through
human interpretation.
• People interpret one another’s
behavior, and it is these
interpretations that form the
social bond. These
interpretations are called
the “definition of the
situation.” or Social
Constructivism.
EXAMPLE
 However the perspective is often labelled
as highly subjective.

Unscientific.

CRITICISM Carl Rogers (1973) accused interactionists of examining

human interaction in a vacuum, focusing on small-scale
face-to-face interaction, with little concern for its
historical or social setting.

Skidmore (1975) found that interactionists failed to

explain why people consistently chose to act in given
ways in certain situations.