Sociology

Sociology Study Guide

The leading members of the Chicago School were: George Herbert Mead The study of how individuals fit into, interact with, and alter the roles in a social system. Robert Park Leading member. Lester Ward Focused on social progress guided by sociological knowledge. Talcott Parsons Viewed society as a stable but complex system of interdependent parts, each performing important functions in a system. Robert Merton Known for “middle-range theories,” an approach that aimed at integrating theory with empirical research. Peter Berger Developed “debunking,” or looking below the surface of social experiences. C. Wright Mills Challenged Parsons’ view. Established theories about the power elite which led to research on the American power structure. Table 1: Leading Members of Chicago School Today’s sociologists are not bound to study in one particular area of sociological perspective. Their professional roles are diverse (to be discussed in a later chapter) and the field of sociology is a well- established, legitimate discipline. Today’s sociologists are still deciding whether Weber’s value-free approach or Marx’s activist approach is correct, and perhaps both are depending on the situation. Whichever stance they take and whichever societal development they research, modern sociologists are still using the basis of many of the theories put forth by the originators of the field. 2.2 Sociological Theory A key component of the sciences is theory – an organized statement that lays out a set of concepts in a significantly relevant way in order to explain the relationship among them. If a theory is found to be valid, predictions about identical relationships can be made based on the known theory. Theories are important to scientific study because a solid theory allows the facts of research to be understandable; it allows events to be placed in a meaningful framework to identify cause and effect, to explain, or to predict. In sociology, theories vary widely because of the vast differences in the assumptions that each sociologists holds. Broad assumptions about society and social behavior that provides a point of view for the study of specific problems, a th oretical perspective, guide the formation of most sociological theories. Modern sociologymakes use of three general theoretical perspectives: functionalist, conflict, and interactionist points of view. Each perspective is based on certain assumptions and leads to different conclusions in the analysis of society.

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