Understanding Society and Sociological Paradigms

Key Questions on the Nature of Society

Is society a smoothly functioning whole, a jumble of competing groups, or just individuals trying to get by?
There isn't a single answer; these models provide different perspectives:
- Society as a well-oiled machine
- Society as a group of competing interests
- Society as individuals interacting

Paradigm: A model or framework for thinking about something, consisting of concepts and theories that shape one's perspective.
In sociology, theoretical paradigms are fundamental assumptions guiding research and interpretation.
- Raw facts do not interpret themselves and need paradigms for interpretation.
- Different paradigms provide different perspectives useful in various situations.

All scientific disciplines need assumptions and perspectives.
Perspectives guide the types of questions asked in fields like physics and math.
Raw facts require perspective to be useful.

Macro Orientation: Focus on large-scale social structures.
- Example questions: "What caused the transition from feudalism to capitalism?"
Micro Orientation: Focus on individual interactions.
- Example questions: "How do certain group members build a group identity?"
Connection between macro and micro levels: micro interactions inform macro patterns and vice versa.

Structural Functionalism
- Originated with Emile Durkheim.
- Analogy with an organism: society's parts work together for stability and order.
- Social Structures: Stable patterns of behavior that fulfill social functions (e.g., family, religion).
- Social Functions: Manifest (intended) and latent (unintended).
- Social Dysfunction: Patterns disrupting society.
- Critiques:
  - Poor at explaining change.
  - Can justify harmful societal structures.
Conflict Theory
- Focuses on society as a composition of competing groups over scarce resources.
- Class Conflict (Karl Marx): Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat.
- Race-Conflict Theory (W.E.B. DuBois): Inequality due to racial group conflicts.
- Gender-Conflict Theory: Social inequalities between genders.
- Emphasizes change as fundamental.
Symbolic Interactionism
- Micro-focused paradigm.
- Originated with Max Weber's focus on understanding individual social situations.
- Society as a product of everyday interactions and shared meanings.
- Emphasizes interpretation of gestures and symbols (e.g., waving, handshake).

Each paradigm provides different insights into societal functions.
Necessary to use multiple paradigms to comprehensively study sociological questions.

Theoretical paradigms help sociologists interpret the social world through various lenses.
Next steps involve applying these paradigms to sociological research.