Three Sociological Theories to Explain What's Going on in the World

Sociology has its unique perspectives and each perspective makes sense on its own basis. From the three perspectives which are called conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and functionalism the one that makes most sense to me is symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism as stated in the book is, “[A] theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world and communicate with one another.” The sociological perspective of symbolic interactionism was developed by Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead. Symbolic interactionism is analyzed at a microsociological level unlike conflict theory and functionalism.

Sociologically you can break the way we view this world down into three major categories. Those categories include structural functionalism, conflict theory and symbolic interactionism. These terms may seem intimidating when you first see them but they are fairly easy to understand. Let’s take a step back and understand what a theory is before we jump into the explanations of the three sociological viewpoints. A theory, according to the text is a set of ideas that tries to explain the known facts of a subject in a way that almost everyone can understand. A way to test a theory is to determine whether it explains all known facts in a sensible and reasonable way.

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.

In my opinion, the functionalist theory is the most accurate. Functionalism views society as interdependent parts that work together to keep everything stable. By definition, sociology is the study of the structure of society. The functionalist theory views society as different parts, so it is the perspective that is most close the definition of the word sociology. If you asked someone to observe and make conclusions about a large group of people, they would naturally most likely look at them through a functionalist lense more than any of the other 2 options. For example, if you were studying a school, you would observe people as groups such as cliques, classes, grades, etc. It makes gathering information and coming to conclusions about people

Sociologists employ three major theoretical perspectives in sociology today. They are the structural-functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective, and the symbolic interactionism. The structural-functionalist perspective is done at a macro level and its focus is on the relationships between the parts of society. The Conflict perspective is done at a macro level and its main focus is on how the wealthy controls the poor and weak.

One sociological perspective is the Functionalist theory. Functionalism is one of the earliest sociological theories. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) was a professor and was interested in how society was possible and how society remains stable. This theory focuses on the macro-level of social structure rather than micro-level of everyday life. Functionalism sees society in parts which form a system, the parts depend on each other. Functionalist theory looks at the parts of society such as

Theoretical perspective is the basic assumptions about how society functions, the role of sociology, and the application of specific set theories in studying social life. Functionalism, the conflict theory and symbolic interactionism are three distinct and common sociological perspectives that share differences and similarities due to the methods in which they evaluate society. Several sociologists, including Durkheim, Karl Marx and Max Weber, contributed to these extensive, diverse theories. Functionalism, the conflict theory and symbolic interactionism is the study of functions, social inequality and symbolic meanings, respectively. There are three major theoretical perspectives of

Sociology is the study of human society and relationships. In sociology there are a couple different theoretical perspectives. The structural- functional perspective states that there are independent facets of society that work together to function as a whole. An example would be paying taxes on things like Social security and disability. The taxes are paid so when it is needed it the government can turn around and begin paying the individuals back. Functionalism prides itself on consistency to keep society positive and they shy away from change or what they see as they negative.

Sociology is the study of society, it uses its methods in systematic way, and are usually empirical. Since it is the study of scientific society, human social life, more than aggregate of individuals. In order to understand any issue related to sociology such as race, gender, caste, culture and marriage etc. We need to understand its three main perspectives, functionalist perspective, conflict theory and symbolic interactionism. Functionalist Perspective is all about progress in the society through harmony, because society has a system which is interconnected Therefore, we need to maintain a state of balance and social equilibrium for the whole Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton have largely contributed to functionalism. Conflict Theory views life as competition, distribution of limited resources, power. Its main criteria is to maintain social order by dominance and power instead of harmony. Karl Marx is the one to put forward the conflict theory. Unlike conflict theory and functionalist perspective, symbolic interactionism neither deals with harmony in the society nor with the society with dominance or power. In fact it deals with the interaction that includes gestural communication. Max Weber contributed for the symbolic interactionism. Sociology was first coined in 1780 in France. Then, it was again independently defined by the one of the founding fathers of sociology, Auguste Comte. Comte was successful in bringing scientific

Three Sociological Theories In the first chapter of Introduction to Sociology we learned of three major sociological theories; they are varied but, help us see the complexity of our social world. Most sociologist today are guided by one of more of the following theories: functionalist, conflict or interactionism (Sullivan 2016). The Functionalist Perspective is essentially where society is viewed in the same light that a living organism is viewed.

Social conflict also focuses on macro-sociology. Symbolic interaction paradigm says society functions well through interactions. Communication is spreaded through symbols created by society. Social interaction is important, because it causes social change. Many variables such as behavior events are explained through social contact with others. The people are the ones who determine what is reality, and what is not reality. Life works in a dramatization point of view. Symbolic interaction paradigm focuses on the small issues that affect communities in society, therefore making it a micro-level orientation. Functionalist paradigm sees society as a well integrated, self-regulating system that meets people’s needs. While Social conflict views society having many groups that are self reliant, with their own goals and needs. Symbolic interaction explains society is shaped, and constructed through interaction, and communication with others.

Sociology gives us the tool to understand our own lives and how we are interconnected with society. In order to correctly do sociology, you have to keep your mind open with certain ways of thinking. Like every other single theory out there, sociological theory is a selective theory is selective in terms of their priorities and perspectives and the data that is defined as significant. As a result of this way of thinking, they provide a partial and particular view of reality. There is a variation of sociological theories, and they can be put together according to various criteria. One of the very important group distinctions is the macro and micro perspective of looking at society. These are ways differ in the way that they approach the analysis of society. The macro perspective is perspective looks at structural part of society. On the other hand, the micro perspective looks at the social actions of people. Functionalism is an example of the macro perspective, it analyses the way society as a whole fits together whereas symbolic interactionism is a micro perspective because it stresses the meaningfulness of human behavior and denies that it is primarily determined by the structure of society. There are two influential sociologists around the 1950s that talk about these two different perspectives, Talcott Parsons and Herbert Blumer.

The four-major sociological theoretical paradigms are; structural-functional, social-conflict, symbolic- interaction, and postmodern perspectives. Structural-functional paradigm is based on the system being stable, where most of the community believe in the same set of values, beliefs and behavioral expectations (Kendall, 2017, p. 17). Society has put together social structures that play a large role in aiding in the survival of the society. These social structures include; family, education, government, religion as well as the economy. If something unfavorable happens to any of these social structures then the system cannot work properly.

Sociology is a standardized study of social interaction and societies to determine the influences they have on each other and how one helps to shape the other. This allows the awareness to view the relationship between individual perspectives and an overall picture of society as a whole. Based on geographical location in which the individuals included are subject to the same political and cultural standards results in a society. A link between personal and social experience arises when applying this to everyday life. Society’s expectations influence the thoughts, views, actions, and behaviors of each individual. In turn, an individual's subjective thought and views affect his or her actions and behavior which then results in affecting the society as a whole, as well. Both components affect one another indirectly and directly. There are several different theories to arrive at an explanation of the relationship between society and social interactions. The theories discussed include symbolic interactionism, structural functionalism, and conflict theory.

In sociology, there are three major theories; critical theory, functionalism and symbolic interactionism. These theories express the structure of society in which each theory looks at a different aspects of sociology. Sociologists apply these theories in the study of society, but it becomes difficult if only one theory is applied. For that one applied theory, would only look at the aspect to which it is confined to. To successfully study sociology all three theories must be applied together.