materi ajar_02_the sociological perspective

8/10/2019 Materi Ajar_02_The Sociological Perspective

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The Sociological Perspective

Sumber: John J. Macionis, Sociology: 14thEdition(UpperSaddle River: Pearson, 2012), Chapter 1.

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Learning Objectives

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Remember the definitions of the key terms highlighted in boldfaced

type throughout the chapter, including the sociological perspectiveand sociologys major theoretical approaches.

Understand the sociological perspective and how it differs from whatwe think of as common sense. What is the importance of a globalperspective?

Apply sociologys theoretical approaches to specific social patterns,

such as sports. What are the benefits of sociological thinking to yourpersonal life and your career?

Analyze sociology in terms of when, where, and why the disciplinedeveloped.

Evaluate everyday assumptions and common stereotypes, usingsociological evidence.

Create a more complex and realistic appreciation of your ownpersonal life and social surroundings by using sociological thinking.Can you imagine new and different social arrangements that mightdevelop in our society or in the world as a whole?


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CHAPTER OVERVIEW

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Why do couples like Tonya and Dwayne marry? it is a safebet that almost everyone would reply, People marry becausethey fall in love.

Sociologists have found that people, especially when they areyoung, are very likely to marry someone close in age, andpeople of all ages typically marry others in the same racialcategory, of similar social class background, of much the samelevel of education, and with a similar degree of physicalattractiveness

People end up making choices about whom to marry, butsociety narrows the field long before they do

When it comes to love, the decisions people make do notsimply result from the process philosophers call free will

Sociology teaches us that the social world guides all our lifechoices in much the same way that the seasons influence ourchoice of clothing


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The Sociological Perspective

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Understand Sociology is the systematic study of human society

At the heart of sociology is a special point of view

called the sociological perspective


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Seeing the General in the Particular

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One good way to define the sociological perspective isseeing the general in the particular

This definition tells us that sociologists look for general

patterns in the behavior of particular people

Although every individual is unique, a society shapes thelives of people in patterned ways that are evident as we

discover how various categories (such as children and

adults,women and men, the rich and the poor) live very

differently

Obviously, what women expect in a marriage partner has

a lot to do with social class position

Yet the sociological perspective shows us that factors

such as age, sex, race, and social class guide our

selection of a partner


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sociology & sociological perspective

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Sociology:

the systematic study of

human society

Sociological perspective:

the special point of view of

sociology that sees general

patterns of society in the

lives of particular people


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Seeing the Strange in the Familiar

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At first, using the sociological perspective may seem likeseeing the strange in the familiar

Because we live in an individualistic society, learning tosee how society affects us may take a bit of practice

For instance, most U.S. college students are young,

generally between eighteen and about thirty Why? Because in our society, attending college is linked

to this period of life. But more than age is involved,because fewer than half of all young men and womenactually end up on campus

Another factor is cost. Because higher education is soexpensive, college students tend to come from familieswith above-average incomes


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Seeing Society in Our Everyday Lives

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How society shapes personal choices

Emile Durkheim (18581917), one of sociologys pioneers,showed that social forces are at work

Men, Protestants,wealthy people, and the unmarried hadmuch higher suicide rates than women, Catholics and Jews,the poor, and married people

Durkheim explained the differences in terms of socialintegration:

Categories of people with strong social ties had low suiciderates, and more individualistic categories of people had highsuicide rates

In Durkheims time, men had much more freedom than women But despite its advantages, freedom weakens social ties and

thus increases the risk of suicide

Likewise, more individualistic Protestants were more likely tocommit suicide than more tradition-bound Catholics and Jews,whose rituals encourage stronger social ties


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Durkheims four types of suicide

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Seeing Sociologically: Marginality and Crisis

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Two situations help people see clearly how societyshapes individual lives: living on the margins of societyand living through a social crisis

All people at the margins of social life, including not justracial minorities but also women, gay people, people withdisabilities, and the very old, are aware of social patterns

that others rarely think about C. Wright Mills believed that using what he called the

sociological imagination in this way helps peopleunderstand not only their society but also their own lives,because the two are closely related

Just as social change encourages sociological thinking,sociological thinking can bring about social change

The more we learn about how the system operates, themore we may want to change it in some way


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The Importance of a Global

Perspective (1)

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A global perspective, the study of the larger world andour societys place in it

Global awareness is a logical extension of thesociological perspective

Sociology shows us that our place in society shapes our

life experiences Four reasons:

1. Where we live shapes the lives we lead

2. Societies throughout the world are increasingly

interconnected3. Many social problems that we face in the United States

are far more serious elsewhere

4. Thinking globally helps us learn more about ourselves


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The Importance of a Global

Perspective (2)

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GlobalPerspective

the study ofthe largerworld and

oursocietys

place in it

High-incomecountries

thenationswith thehighestoverall

standardsof living

Middle-incomecountries

nationswith astandardof livingabout

average

for theworld as awhole

Low-incomecountries

nationswith a lowstandard

of living inwhichmost

peopleare poor


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Applying the Sociological

Perspective

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Applying the sociological perspective is useful inmany ways:

1. Sociology is at work guiding many of the laws and

policies that shape our lives

2. On an individual level, making use of thesociological perspective leads to important

personal growth and expanded awareness

3. Studying sociology is excellent preparation for the

world of work


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Sociology and Public Policy

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Sociologists have helped shape public policythelaws and regulations that guide how people incommunities live and workin countless ways, fromracial desegregation and school busing to lawsregulating divorce

For example, in her study of how divorce affectspeoples income, the sociologist Lenore Weitzman(1985, 1996) discovered that women who leavemarriages typically experience a dramatic loss of

income Recognizing this fact, many states passed laws that

have increased womens claims to marital propertyand enforced fathers obligations to provide supportfor women raising their children


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Sociology and Personal Growth

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By applying the sociological perspective,we are likelyto become more active and aware and to think morecritically in our daily lives

Using sociology benefits us in four ways:

1. The sociological perspective helps us assess thetruth of common sense

2. The sociological perspective helps us see theopportunities and constraints in our lives

3. The sociological perspective empowers us to beactive participants in our society

4. The sociological perspective helps us live in adiverse world


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Careers: The Sociology Advantage

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Most students at colleges and universities today are very

interested in getting a good job

A background in sociology is excellent preparation for theworking world

A basic difference is that sociologists focus on difficulties not inthe personality but in the individuals web of socialrelationships

But sociology is not just for people who want to be sociologists

People who work in criminal justicein police departments,probation offices, and corrections facilitiesgain the

sociology advantage by learning which categories of peopleare most at risk of becoming criminals as well as victims,assessing the effectiveness of various policies and programsat preventing crime, and understanding why people turn tocrime in the first place


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The Origins of Sociology

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Like the choicesmade by individuals, majorhistorical events rarely just happen

The birth of sociology was itself the result of powerful

social forces


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Social Change and Sociology

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Three kinds of change were especially important inthe development of sociology:

1. the rise of a factory-based industrial economy (a

new industrial economy)

2. the explosive growth of cities (the growth of cities)3. new ideas about democracy and political rights

(political change)

A New Awareness of Society The new discipline

of sociology was born in England, France, andGermanyprecisely where the changes were

greatest


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Science and Sociology

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And so it was that the French social thinker AugusteComte (17981857) coined the term sociology in1838 to describe a new way of looking at society

We now realize that human behavior is far morecomplex than the movement of planets or even the

actions of other living things We are creatures of imagination and spontaneity, so

human behavior can never be fully explained by anyrigid laws of society

In addition, early sociologists such as Karl Marx(18181883), were troubled by the strikinginequalities of industrial society


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Comtes Three Stages of Society

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Theological Stage (the Church in the Middle Ages): the theological stage,from the beginning of human history to the end of the European Middle Agesabout 1350 C.E., people took a religious view that society expressed Godswill

Metaphysical Stage (the Enlightenment and the ideas of Hobbes, Locke,and Rousseau): metaphysical stage of history in which people saw societyas a natural rather than a supernatural system

Scientific Stage (physics, chemistry, sociology): positivism, a way ofunderstanding based on science. As a positivist, Comte believed thatsociety operates according to its own laws,much as the physical worldoperates according to gravity and other laws of nature


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Sociological Theory

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A theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are

related

The job of sociological theory is to explain social behavior

in the real world

Sociologists test their theories by gathering evidence

using various research methods

In building theory, sociologists face two basic questions:

What issues should we study? And how should we

connect the facts?

Think of a theoretical approach as a basic image of

society that guides thinking and research

Sociologists make use of three major theoretical

approaches: the structural-functional approach, the

social-conflict approach, and the symbolic-interaction


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The Structural-Functional Approach (1)

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The structural-functional approach is a framework forbuilding theory that sees society as a complex systemwhose parts work together to promote solidarity andstability

As its name suggests, this approach points to social

structure, any relatively stable pattern of social behavior Social structure gives our lives shapein families, the

workplace, the classroom, and the community

This approach also looks for a structures socialfunctions, the consequences of any social pattern for

the operation of society as a whole

All social structures, from a simple handshake to complexreligious rituals, function to keep society going, at least inits present form


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The Structural-Functional Approach (2)

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August Comte and Emile Durkheim

Herbert Spencer (18201903) compared society to thehuman body

Just as the structural parts of the human bodytheskeleton,muscles, and various internal organsfunctioninterdependently to help the entire organism survive,

social structures work together to preserve society The structural-functional approach, then, leads

sociologists to identify various structures of society andinvestigate their functions

Robert K.Merton (19102003) expanded our

understanding of the concept of social function bypointing out that any social structure probably has manyfunctions, some more obvious than others


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Social Functions

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social functions: the consequences of a socialpattern for the operation of society as a whole

manifest functions: the recognized andintended consequences of any social pattern

latent functions: the unrecognized andunintended consequences of any social pattern

social dysfunction: any social pattern that maydisrupt the operation of society


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Evaluate

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The main idea of the structural-functional approach is its

vision of society as stable and orderly The main goal of the sociologists who use this approach,

then, is to figure out what makes society tick

In the mid-1900s, most sociologists favored thestructural-functional approach

In recent decades, however, its influence has declined

By focusing on social stability and unity, critics point out,structural-functionalism ignores inequalities of socialclass, race, and gender, which cause tension and conflict

In general, its focus on stability at the expense of conflictmakes this approach somewhat conservative

As a critical response, sociologists developed the social-conflict approach


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Social-Conflict Approach (1)

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The social-conflict approach is a framework for buildingtheory that sees society as an arena of inequality thatgenerates conflict and change

Unlike the structural-functional emphasis on solidarityand stability, this approach highlights inequality and

change Guided by this approach, which includes the gender-

conflict and race-conflict approaches, sociologistsinvestigate how factors such as social class, race,ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and age are linked

to a societys unequal distribution of money, power,education, and social prestige

A conflict analysis rejects the idea that social structurepromotes the operation of society as a whole, focusinginstead on how social patterns benefit some people whilehurting others


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Social-Conflict Approach (2)

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Sociologists using the social-conflict approach lookat ongoing conflict between dominant anddisadvantaged categories of peoplethe rich inrelation to the poor, white people in relation to peopleof color, and men in relation to women

Typically, people on top try to protect their privilegeswhile the disadvantaged try to gain more forthemselves

Karl Marx championed the cause of the workers in

what he saw as their battle against factory owners Marx asserted, The philosophers have only

interpreted the world, in various ways; the point,however, is to change it.


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Feminism and the Gender-Conflict

Approach

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One important type of social-conflict analysis is thegender-conflict approach, a point of view thatfocuses on inequality and conflict between womenand men

The gender-conflict approach is closely linked to

feminism, support of social equality for women andmen

The importance of the gender-conflict approach liesin making us aware of the many ways in which our

way of life places men in positions of power overwomen: in the home (where men are usuallyconsidered head of the household), in theworkplace (where men earn more income and holdmost positions of power), and in the mass media(how many hip-hop stars are women?)


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The Race-Conflict Approach

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Another important type of social-conflict analysis isthe race-conflict approach, a point of view thatfocuses on inequality and conflict between people ofdifferent racial and ethnic categories

Just as men have power over women, white people

have numerous social advantages over people ofcolor, including, on average, higher incomes, moreschooling, better health, and longer life expectancy

Like most people who follow the social-conflict

approach (whether focusing on class, gender, orrace), William Edward Burghardt Du Bois believedthat sociologists should not simply learn aboutsocietys problems but also try to solve them


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Social-Conflict Approach

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social-conflict approach: a framework for building theory thatsees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflictand change

gender-conflict approach: a point of view that focuseson inequality and conflict between women and men

race-conflict approach: a point of view that focuses oninequality and conflict between people of different racialand ethnic categories

feminism: support of social equality for women and men


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Evaluate

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The various social-conflict approaches have gained a large

following in recent decades, but like other approaches, theyhave met with criticism

Because any conflict analysis focuses on inequality, it largelyignores how shared values and interdependence unifymembers of a society

In addition, say critics, to the extent that the conflictapproaches pursue political goals, they cannot claim scientificobjectivity

Supporters of social-conflict approaches respond that alltheoretical approaches have political consequences

A final criticism of both the structural-functional and the social-

conflict approaches is that they paint society in broadstrokesin terms of family, social class, race, and so on

A third type of theoretical analysisthe symbolic-interactionapproachviews society less in general terms and more asthe everyday experiences of individual people


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The Symbolic-Interaction Approach (1)

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The structural-functional and social-conflict approaches share

a macro-level orientation, a broad focus on social structuresthat shape society as a whole

Macro-level sociology takes in the big picture, rather likeobserving a city from high above in a helicopter and seeinghow highways help people move from place to place or howhousing differs from rich to poor neighborhoods

Sociology also uses a microlevel orientation, a close-upfocus on social interaction in specific situations

Exploring urban life in this way occurs at street level, whereyou might watch how children invent games on a schoolplayground or how pedestrians respond to homeless people

they pass on the street The symbolic-interaction approach, then, is a framework for

building theory that sees society as the product of theeveryday interactions of individuals


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The Symbolic-Interaction Approach (2)

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How does society result from the ongoing experiences

of tens of millions of people?

One answer is that society is nothing more than the

shared reality that people construct for themselves as

they interact with one another

Human beings live in a world of symbols, attaching

meaning to virtually everything, from the words on this

page to the wink of an eye

We create reality, therefore, as we define our

surroundings, decide what we think of others, and shapeour own identities

Max Weber, George Herbert Mead, Erving Goffman,

George Homans, and Peter Blau


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Evaluate

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Without denying the existence of macro-level social

structures such as the family and social class, the

symbolic-interaction approach reminds us that

society basically amounts topeople interacting

That is, micro-level sociology tries to show howindividuals actually experience society

But on the other side of the coin, by focusing on

what is unique in each social scene, this approach

risks overlooking the widespread influence of culture,as well as factors such as class, gender, and race.


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macro-level orientation

micro-level orientation

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macro-level orientation:abroad focus on socialstructures that shape

society as a whole

structural-functional approach: a

framework for building theory that seessociety as a complex system whoseparts work together to promote solidarity

and stability

social-conflict approach: a frameworkfor building theory that sees society asan arena of inequality that generates

conflict and change

micro-level orientation: aclose-up focus on social

interaction in specificsituations

symbolic-interactionapproach:a frameworkfor building theory that

sees society as the

product of the everydayinteractions of individuals


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Major Theoretical Approaches

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Structural-Functional

Approach

Social-Conflict

Approach

Symbolic-Interaction

Approach

What is the levelof analysis? Macro-level Macro-level Micro-level

What image of

society does the

approach have?

Society is a system of

interrelated parts that

is relatively stable.

Each part works to

keep society operating

in an orderly way. Members generally

agree about what is

morally right and

morally wrong.

Society is a system of

social inequalities based

on class (Marx), gender

(feminism and gender-

conflict approach), and

race (race-conflictapproach).

Society operates to

benefit some categories of

people and harm others.

Social inequality causes

conflict that leads to social

change.

Society is an ongoing

process.

People interact in

countless settings using

symbolic communications.

The reality peopleexperience is variable and

changing.

What core

questions does

the approach

ask?

How is society held

together?

What are the major

parts of society?

How are these parts

linked?

What does each part

do to help societywork?

How does society divide a

population?

How do advantaged

people protect their

privileges?

How do disadvantaged

people challenge the

system seeking change?

How do people

experience society?

How do people shape the

reality they experience?

How do behavior and

meaning change from

person to person and from

one situation to another?


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Applying the Approaches:

The Sociology of Sports

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Who doesnt enjoy sports?

Children as young as six or seven take partin organizedsports, and many teens become skilled at three or more

Weekend television is filled with sporting events forviewers of all ages, and whole sections of our

newspapers are devoted to teams, players, and scores In the United States, top players such as Alex Rodriguez

(baseball),Tiger Woods (golf), and Serena Williams(tennis) are among our most famous celebrities

Sports in the United States are also a multibillion-dollarindustry

What can we learn by applying sociologys threetheoretical approaches to this familiar part of everydaylife?


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The Functions of Sports

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The manifest functions of sports include providing recreation

as well as offering a means of getting in physical shape and arelatively harmless way to let off steam

Sports have important latent functions as well, which includebuilding social relationships and also creating tens ofthousands of jobs across the country

Participating in sports encourages competition and the pursuitof success, both of which are values that are central to oursocietys way of life

Sports also have dysfunctional consequences

For example, colleges and universities try to field winningteams to build a schools reputation and also to raise money

from alumni and corporate sponsors In the process, however, these schools sometimes recruit

students for their athletic skill rather than their academic ability


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Sports and Conflict

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A social-conflict analysis of sports points out that the

games people play reflect their social standing

Some sportsincluding tennis, swimming, golf,

sailing, and skiingare expensive, so taking part is

largely limited to the well-to-do Football, baseball, and basketball, however, are

accessible to people at almost all income levels

Thus the games people play are not simply a matter

of individual choice but also a reflection of theirsocial standing


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Sports as Interaction

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At the micro-level, a sporting event is a complex,face-to-face interaction

In part, play is guided by the players assignedpositions and the rules of the game

But players are also spontaneous and unpredictable

Following the symbolic-interaction approach,we seesports less as a system than as an ongoing process

From this point of view, too, we expect each playerto understand the game a little differently

Some players enjoy a setting of stiff competition; forothers, love of the game may be greater than theneed to win

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