Paradigms

1 Pages 330 Words

Sociology is the systematic study of human society, so when sociologists begin thinking about issues and how to connect facts they developed the theoretical paradigm (Macionis 14). Sociology has three major paradigms: the structural- functional paradigm, the social-conflict paradigm, and symbolic-interaction paradigm.
The structural-functional paradigm is “a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability” (Macionis 14). The idea is that we have a stable social pattern most of the time, and that social structure gives our lives shape. This paradigm also looks for social functions. Rituals and simple courtesies keep society going (Macionis). The main characteristic of the structural-function paradigm is that society is stable. The conservative side of this paradigm is that we focus on stability even when there is conflict, which also led sociologists to develop the social-conflict paradigm.
The social-conflict paradigm is “a framework for building theory that sees society as an area of inequality that generates conflict and change” (Macionis 15). Sociologists in this paradigm link such things as race, gender, age, social class, and ethnicity to inequality among money, power, and education. Thus, leading to dominant people striving to stay on top, while the subordinate try to gain more for themselves. The problem with this paradigm as well as with the structural-functional is that everything is in such broad terms, so a third paradigm was developed which represents society in everyday experiences.
The symbolic-interaction paradigm is “a framework for building theory that sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals” (Macionis 17). In this paradigm sociologists believe that society is nothing more than when people interact with each other. That is, human beings live in a world of symbols attaching to ever...