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Structural Functionalist : Classical And Contemporary

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Structural Functionalists – Classical and Contemporary
Sociology, in general, is the study of human social relationships and institutions. It came to existence in the nineteenth century, much later than other social sciences. It was influenced by Enlightenment period. Auguste Comte, French philosopher, used the term sociology to study society in a different approach. Comte believed that society can be studied systematically like any other sciences. Its main focus is to study social structures by analyzing, evaluating, and critiquing the social aspects of society (Dillon 2014:12-13; 17). The way society behaves affect the individuals in it. Based on scholars, society is not just about the collection and groups of individuals; it includes social relationships, social patterns, and social organizations (Dillon 2014:81). These are social aspects that impact the way individuals think and feel. There are two important methodological approaches that were used in Sociology: positivist tradition and interpretative tradition. Positivist tradition explains social phenomenon by looking at possible indicators and statistically analyzing the relation between these indicators. Interpretative tradition, on the other hand, explains social phenomenon by looking at the everyday individuality of a person in social situations (Dillon 2014:21-22). Both of these methods are significant in trying to understand society and how it works. Sociological theories can be considered “good theory” if it

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