THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

1. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

2. Functionalism • maintaining the status quo—mainstream—dominant group—wealth, privileges, power, prestige • Conservative orientation—cultural determinist—individual achievement

3. Social Theorists • French:August Comte—coined the word “Sociology”David Emile Durkheim—brainchild of modern sociology • Americans: Talcott Parsons—Harvard SchoolRobert Merton—critique of functionalism—dysfunctions: two concepts: 1. Manifest--intended and 2. Latent--unintended

4. Conflict • Germans:Karl Marx—class divisions—working class and capitalist class—timeless Dominant group v. subordinate group (people of color)—power dimension Power is Aphrodisiac (economic determinism)—race and genderMax Weber—multi-dimensional view: social, political and economic

5. American:C. Wright Mills—Sociological imagination—macro perspective • The classical theories—ethnocentricClass—race—gender

6. Labeling theory • Stereotypes • Racial profiling • Middle Range theory • Social theorist--Howard Becker

7. Symbolic Interactionism • Chicago school—micro-sociologyAmericans:George Herbert MeadRobert ParkHerbert Blumer—coined S.I.

8. Middle range theories--specific • Phenomenology, i.e., “what people think”—Alfred Schutz • Ethnomethodology, i.e., “what people do”—Harold Garfinkel • More homocentric

9. Exchange –social exchanges • Americans:George Homans—rewards, i.e., intrinsic (intangibles) e.g. recognition, satisfaction, etc and extrinsic (tangibles) e.g. pay--$1 to .82 cents • Peter Blau—social exchanges—marriages, e.g., wedding rings

10. Evolutionary: social change • Mankato: from1980s to 2002—racial diversity • August Comte--French • Herbert Spenser—English • Talcott Parsons—American • Gerhard Lenski—American