1. The Sociological Perspectives
• The Structural/Functional Perspective
• The Conflict Perspective
• Symbolic/Interactionist Perspective
Structural - Functional
• Society is viewed as a complex system of parts (structures) that
interact to perform various necessary functions
• Shared values, norms, attitudes and beliefs (consensus)
• Change is generally viewed as disruptive and gradual
• Macrosociology
Conflict Theory
• Views society as a struggle for resources and power
• Change is inevitable, often beneficial and can be violent
• Conflict between the classes determines social change
• Some groups prosper at the expense of others
• Conflict is universal; social consensus is limited and
inequality is widespread
• Macrosociology
Symbolic Interactionism
• Studies society through interactions within individual
and small groups
• Interaction between individuals is negotiated through
shared symbols, gestures and nonverbal communications
• Humans are social animals and require interaction
• Asks the questions” “How do individuals experience
one another?” “How do they interpret the meaning of these
interactions?” and “How do people construct a sense of self
and the society as a whole?”
• Microsociology

2. Famous Theorists
(you should know)
Auguste Comte
(French)(1798-1857)
• Coined the term “sociology”
• Believed society could be studied like any other science
• Key concepts: positivism, sociology the “queen” of sciences,
social engineering
Harriet Martineau
English (1802-1876)
• Translated A. Comte’s work into English
• Concerned with social change and the plight of women
and children in English factories during the early phases
of industrialization
• First acknowledged female sociologist
• Examined emerging American society (c 1834)

3. Émile Durkheim
(French) (1858-1917)
• Founded sociology as an academic discipline
• Famous for his study on suicides (1897)
• Use of statistics in sociology
• Key concepts: social facts, social structure
social solidarity, collective conscience, mechanical and
organic solidarity, anomie
• Structural/functionalist theorist
Karl Marx
(German) (1818-1883)
• Founder of political / economic theory of socialism (communism)
• Considered the founder of the conflict perspective
• Wrote the Communist Manifesto and co wrote Das Kapital (with
Friedrich Engels)
• Key concepts: proletariat, bourgeoisie, capitalists, social class,
dialectics (thesis, antithesis, synthesis)

4. Max Weber
(German) (1864-1920)
• Believed that sociologist could never capture the reality
of society but should focus on ideal types that best capture
the essential features of aspects of social reality
• Key concepts: bureaucracy, verstehen, rationalization of the
modern world, people are becoming prisoners of new
technology, loss of individuality
Herbert Spencer
(English) (1820-1903)
• Structural/Functionalist
• Coined the term “survival of the fittest” in reference to human
social arrangements (Social Darwinism)
• Advocated against social reform efforts to poor people because
it disrupts the natural selection process of evolution

5. Jane Addams
(American) (1880-1935)
• Won the first Nobel Peace Prize (1931) given to an
American sociologist
• Founded Hull House for the poor in Chicago
• Influenced the “Chicago School” of applied sociology
(social problems)
• Pioneered the study of social problems
W. E. B. DuBois
(American) (1868-1963)
• First Afro-American PhD graduate of Harvard University
• Concerned with the social position of African-Americans in US
society.
• Wrote The Philadelphia Negro (1899) on race relations
• Used statistics to examine racial discrimination against blacks
Talcott Parsons
(American) (1902-1979)
• Reintroduced the theories of European sociologists while
teaching at Harvard University
• Structural/Functionalist
• Abstract “ivory tower” theoretician
• Emphasis on empirical research--not social reform

6. C. Wright Mills
(American) (1916-1962)
• Taught at Columbia University
• Marxist, structural/functionalist theorist
• Key concepts: power elite, radical social change, social
injustices, applied sociology, the “sociological imagination”
Robert K. Merton
(American) (1910-2002)
• Taught at Columbia University
• Sought to bridge the European “grand” theories and a
more focused research style
• Structural/Functionalist
• Key concepts: manifest & latent functions, “Strain Theory”
of deviance, dysfunctions
George Herbert Mead
(American) (1863-1961)
• Symbolic/Interactionist theorist
• Believed that the self was a social product acquired by
observing and assimilating the identities of others
• Key concepts: “I” & “me”, significant other, generalized other,
role taking, preparatory stage, play stage, game stage.

7. Charles Horton Cooley
(American) (1864-1929)
• Symbolic interactionist theorist
• We develop a sense of who we are in society based upon
interaction with others and how we feel others perceive us
• The “Looking Glass Self”
Erving Goffman
(American) (1922-1982)
• Symbolic interactionist theorist
• Believed we play roles and present a “face” for public view
• Key concepts: dramaturgical approach, frontstage & backstage
selves, presentation of self
Sigmund Freud
(German)(1856-1939)
• Psychoanalyst
• Key concepts: unconscious, id, ego, superego, psycho-sexual
stages, psychoanalysis, ego defense mechanisms, free association.
dream interpretation, seduction theory, libido, libidinal energy

8. Erik Erikson
(German/American)(1902-1994)
• Psychologist
• Eight Stages of Man (Psycho-social stages)
• Focused on ego conflict through the life span and
how they are resolved
Lawrence Kohlberg
(American)(1927-1988)
• Psychologist
• Expanded Piaget’s theory of moral development in children
• Key concepts: Stages of Moral Development, the “Heinz scenario”
Carol Gilligan
(American) (1936- )
• Social psychologist: former student of Lawrence Kohlberg
• Took a feminist perspective to moral reasoning, author of
In a Different Voice, which proposes that males and
females have different moral reasoning
• Key concepts: caring perspective (females); justice & law (males)

9. Albert Bandura
(American) (1925- )
• Social (cognitive) psychologist, performed classic study of
imitation and aggressive behaviors in children.
• Key concepts: social learning theory, imitation, models,
vicarious reinforcement, expectancies self efficacy, reciprocal
determinism
B(urrhus) F(redrick) Skinner
(American) (1904-1990)
• Psychologist, learning theorist, behaviorist. Taught at Harvard
University, probably the most famous American psychologist
• Wrote several books including: The Behavior of Organisms,
Beyond Freedom and Dignity, and Walden Two
• Key concepts: operant learning, positive & negative reinforcement,
punishment, shaping, schedules of reinforcement,
behavior modification, the Skinner Box