PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIOLOGY

 Historical development of sociology  Relationship between sociology and other

 Sociology and social policy social sciences
 Sociology as a science  Theoretical perspectives

What is sociology?

Sociology is a term which was coined by Aguste Comte from two words: - The

o Latin word: -socius meaning associate or companion and

o Greek word - logia meaning study of).

Frenchman Aguste Comte in the 1830s proposed a synthetic science uniting all knowledge about human
activity. Sociology is considered one of the social sciences. Several scholars have defined sociology; the
following are some of the definitions of sociology.

1. “Sociology may be defined as the study of society – web of human interactions and relationships
“(Ginsberg, 1939)
2. Sugarman 1968 defines sociology as “the objective study of human behaviour in so far as it is affected
by the fact people live in groups”
3. Sociology is the scientific study of human society through the investigation of people’s social behaviour”
(Giner, 1978)
4. “Sociology is the study of individuals in a social setting ... Sociologists study the interrelationships
between individuals, organizations, cultures and societies”. (Ritzier 1979)
5. Giddens (1989 defines sociology as the study of human social life, groups and societies.
 Sociology is therefore the study of human behaviour in groups (human societies).
 It is the systematic study of human beings and human behaviour in groups that make up society.
 Society consists of individuals belonging to groups of different sizes.

Sociology studies the interaction between the self (the individual) and groups and interaction between groups.
The individual (self) may affect certain groups and is affected by groups. Durkheim and Mills concur that
society shaped individuals; while at the same time individuals contribute to shaping the society. Twentieth
century French Sociologist Emile Durkheim considered that the individual was a product of his or her society.
Both Durkheim and Mills strongly believed that ‘the most intimate features of the person are socially patterned
and even implanted.

Sociology being the “study of human society”; there is need for one to know a number of concepts and terms
used in the subject. There are three main areas one has to consider;
1. Social structures (e.g. the family, education, social stratification, etc.): -
 This deals with the way our individual lives are built around social relationships and the rules we
have developed to govern such relationships.
 Sociologists argue that our individual choices of behaviour are shaped by the relationships we
form or that have been imposed on us.
2. Social systems (e.g. culture and identity, agents of social control, etc.)
 Our individual choices are patterned by the cultures and subcultures that we share in our social
groupings
 There are also agents of social control like religion that regulate human behaviour
 Behaviour is also regulated by our identity for example gender
3. Social issues (e.g. the causes of crime, marital breakdowns and the impact of unemployment, etc.)
  THE
Page | SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION (Wright Mills, 1959)
 This was coined by Wright Mills (1959).
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 Realises the relationship between individual lives and society which people often fail to notice.
 Mills assets that ‘many great public issues as well as many private troubles are described in terms of
the ‘psychiatric’ (individual) – thus ignoring and avoiding the larger problems of modern society.
 Durkheim’s study of suicide offers a relevant example. Durkheim argues that social forces and
structures were responsible for driving individuals to suicide. Suicide is not merely the result of mental
and psychological disorders.
 Mills and Durkheim both believed that society shaped individuals, but they also believed that individuals
contributed to shaping the society.
 Mills noted that people may blame themselves for troubles they face without taking into account social
forces and the effects they have on their lives.
 The sociological imagination enables us to distinguish between personal troubles and public issues.
 According to Mills (1959) troubles are private matters that affect the individual. They have to do with
one’s self and with one’s limitations.
 Mills (1959) goes on to asset that issues go beyond (transcend) individual problems but affect the
larger society. An issue is thus a public matter, dealing with aspects of large society or structure
involving a crisis in institutional arrangements.
 Let us consider the examples of unemployment as demonstrated by Mills.
 He explains that if an ordinary man is unemployed he will automatically consider this situation as
his or her personal failure (personal trouble). He may even be condemned by the society as a
lazy person.
 However, if there are thousands of other individuals in the same situation, then it becomes a
public issue and should be treated as such.
 Another good example of this is divorce. If only a few divorces occur in society then it can be seen as
personal troubles of the people involved. When a relatively high percentage of people are getting
divorced every year then divorce becomes a public issue where institutions like marriage and law need
to be looked at. (Mills 1959:13)

The significance of sociological knowledge

 Sociology makes a scientific study of society: 

 Scientific study of the society has been possible through sociology; it is based on many of today’s
world problems.
 Sociology studies role of the institutions in the development of the individuals: 
 It is through sociology that scientific study of the great social institutions and the relation of
the individual to each is being made.
o The home and family, o the state and government,
o the school and education, o industry and work,
o the church and religion, o the community and association,

 These are institutions through which society functions.

 Sociology studies these institutions and their role in the development of the individual and suggests
suitable measures for strengthening them with a view to enable them to serve the individual better.
 Sociology helps in understanding and planning of society: 
 For effective planning for society knowledge of the mechanism of society is important.
 It helps us to determine the most efficient means for reaching the goals agreed upon within
society, a certain amount of knowledge about society is necessary before any social policies can
be carried out.
 Sociology works in the solution of social problems: 
 The present world is suffering from many problems which can be solved through scientific study
of the society.
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 Page |  It is the task of sociology to study the social problems through the methods of scientific
research and to find out solution to them.
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 The scientific study of human affairs will ultimately provide the body of knowledge and
principles that will enable us to control the conditions of social life and improve them.
 Sociology has drawn our attention to the intrinsic worth and dignity of man: 
 Sociology helps us know and appreciate other people in other areas.
 Sociology has changed our outlook with regard to the problems of crime etc.:
 It is through the study of sociology that our whole outlook on various aspects of crime has
change.
 The criminals are nowadays treated as human beings suffering from mental deficiencies and
efforts are accordingly made to rehabilitate them as useful members of the society.
 Sociology has made great contribution to enrich human culture: 
 Human culture has been made richer by the contribution of sociology.
 According to Lowie most of us harbour the comfortable misconception that our way of doing
things is the only sensible if not only possible one.
 Sociology has given us training to have sensible approach to questions concerning oneself, one's
religion, customs, morals and institutions.
 It has further taught us to be, critical and objective.
 It enables man to have a better understanding both of one and of others.
 Sociology helps in solutions to international problems: 
 The world today is viewed as one village because of progress made by physical sciences, however
in the social field the world has been left behind by the revolutionary progress of the science.
 The world is divided politically giving rise to stress and conflict. Men have failed to bring in
peace. Sociology can help us in understanding the underlying causes and tensions and thus find
solutions.
 Sociology keeps us update on modern situations: 
 It adds to the knowledge of the society.
 It helps the individual find his relation to society.
Sociology has a strong appeal to all types of mind through its direct bearing upon many of the initial problems
of the present world.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

The development of the discipline was a result of two major forces.

 Intellectual forces and

 Social forces
A. Intellectual forces: -
 Modern day sociology is rooted the works philosophers and scientist of the great enlightenment dating
back to the scientific discoveries of the 17th century.
 Development of modern science is often credited to Newton after he developed the laws of motion and
gravity.
 Sociologists today argue that just as such laws that have been developed in the natural world there are
also laws to explain the social world.
 Comte stressed the importance positivism which is the belief that the world can best be understood
through scientific inquiry. He talks of the laws of social dynamics and social statics or the law of
progress and order, change and stability.
 The social world and the social man according to Comte were supposed to be studied in the same
scientific manner as the work of nature.
 The new social science (sociology) that Comte sought to model, he first called social physics and later on
sociology, the use of social physics made it clear that Comte sought to model sociology after the hard
or natural sciences.

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  During
Page | the period of the enlightenment, there was a replacement of: -
- the supernatural and the natural;
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- of religion by science;
- of divine decree by natural law and
- priest by philosophers;
 There was the approval of reason guided by experience as the instrument that would solve all problems.
B. Social forces: -
 Related to the intellectual forces because they are the effects of the enlightenment. There are six of
them.
1. Political revolution
 A long series of political revolutions ushered in by the French Revolution in 1789 carrying over
through the 19th century was the most immediate factor in the rise of sociological theorising
 What attracted the attention of many were the negative effects or changes brought about by
such revolutions.
 The writers were united by a desire to restore order to society.
2. Industrial revolution and the role of capitalism
 This revolution was about interrelated developments that led to the transformation of the
western world form a largely agricultural to a largely industrial system. During this period large
numbers of people left farms for factories.
 In the capitalist system a few profited greatly while the majority worked long hours for low
wages.
3. Rise of socialism
 Although same sociologist favoured socialism as a solution to industrial problems others were
opposed to it.
 Karl Marx was as an active supporter of the overthrow of capitalism and its replacement by a
socialist system.
 Durkheim and Max Weber opposed socialism.
4. Urbanisation
 Partly as a result of the industrial revolution, large number of people were uprooted from, their
rural homes to urban areas.
 The expansion of cities produced a number of problems such as: -
o Overcrowding.
o Pollution.
o Noise.
o Traffic etc.
 This attracted the attention of early sociologist such as Max Weber and Sociologists at the
Chicago School
5. Religious change
 Many early sociologists came from religious background and were actively involved in religion.
6. The growth of science
 As sociology was being developed there as an increasing emphasis on science.
 Thus sociologist from the beginning wanted to model sociology after the successful physical and
biological science.
 Debate soon developed between those who whole heartedly, accepted the scientific model and
those who thought that the unique characteristic of social life makes it difficult to apply the
scientific model.

Sociology has seen its development also a result of the contribution of what we can call the founding fathers.
These are the people who because of the problems highlighted above began to theorize in an effort to find
solutions to the new problems that faced social life. Today most of our ideas are guided by the theorizing of
the founding fathers of the discipline.

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FOUNDING
Page | FATHERS OF SOCIOLOGY
4 COMTE (1798-1857) Functionalist
AUGUSTE

 He coined the term “sociology."

 He believed the study of social phenomena should employ scientific techniques.
 Comte was disturbed by the chaos of French society and was critical of the enlightenment and the
French revolution.
 For Comte it was intellectual change that was needed and not social or revolutionary change.
 Comte focused on the larger groupings for analysis e.g. the family rather than the individual.
 It was Comte’s view that society is not mainly characterised by conflict between the workers and
capitalist as Karl Marx did.
 Comte developed an evolutionary theory of social change in his law of the three stages.
o He argued that social disorder was caused by ideas left over from the idea systems of earlier
stages.
o Only when a scientific footing for the governing of society was established would the social
disorders of his time cease.
 Comte also stressed the orderly character of society and accorded great importance to the role of
consensus on this he influenced scholars like Spencer and Parsons.
 Comte argued for the need to do sociological research through observation, experimentation and
comparative historical analysis. Comte also identified four methods of sociology. To this day, in their
inquiries sociologists continue to use the methods of observation, experimentation, comparison and
historical research. These beliefs made Comte a forerunner of positivism and reformism in classical
sociological theory.
 Aguste Comte’s ideas continue in many ways to be important to contemporary sociology although they
have their weaknesses.
 First and foremost, Comte's positivism - the search for invariant laws governing the social and natural
worlds - has influenced profoundly the ways in which sociologists have conducted sociological inquiry.
Comte argued that sociologist (and other scholars), through theory, speculation, and empirical research,
could create a realist science that would accurately "copy" or represent the way things actually are in
the world.
 Furthermore, Comte argued that sociology could become a "social physics" that is a social science on a
par with the most positivistic of sciences like physics.
 Comte believed that sociology would eventually occupy the very peak of a hierarchy of sciences.
 While Comte did write about methods of research, he most often engaged in speculation or
abstract/mental theorizing in order to attempt to discover invariant laws of the social world.
Social statics and dynamics
Comte separated social statics from social dynamics.
 Social statics are concerned with the ways in which the parts of a social system (social structures)
interact with one another, as well as the functional relationships between the parts and to the social
system as a whole. This gives a stable environment which leads to maintenance of the status quo. There
is therefore no change.
 Comte therefore focused his social statics on the individual, as well as such collective phenomena as the
family, religion, language, and the division of labour.
Comte placed greater emphasis on the study of social dynamics, or social change.
 His theory of social dynamics is founded on the law of the three stages; i.e., the evolution of society is
based on the evolution of mind through the theological, metaphysical, and positivist stages.
 He saw social dynamics as a process of progressive evolution in which people become cumulatively more
intelligent and in which altruism/selflessness eventually triumphs over egoism/selfishness.
 This process is one that people can modify or accelerate, but in the end the laws of progressive
development dictate the development of society.

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  Comte's
Page | research on social evolution focused on Western Europe, which he viewed as the most highly
developed part of the world during his times.
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Comte's "law of the three stages"
The law of three stages is an example of Comte’s search for invariant laws governing the social world. Comte
argued that the human mind, individual human beings, all knowledge, and world history develop through three
successive stages.
1. The theological stage is dominated by a search for the important nature of things.
 People come to believe that all miracles are created and influenced by gods and supernatural
forces.
 Monotheism is the ultimate belief of the theological stage.
2. The metaphysical stage is a transitional stage in which mysterious, abstract forces (e.g., nature)
replace supernatural forces as the powers that explain the workings of the world.
3. The positivist stage is the last and highest stage in Comte's work.
 In this stage, people search for invariant laws that govern all of the wonders of the world.
 Comte also used the term positivism in a second sense; that is, as a force that could counter the
negativism of his times.
 Positivism, in Comte's philosophy, would bring order and progress to the European crisis of ideas.
 Comte's philosophical idealism thus separates his views from those of his contemporary Karl Marx
(1818-1883), who was a materialist.

KARL MARX (1818-83)

 Founder of Marxism although he personally said he was not a Marxist.

 For Marx there is central conflict between different groups, Classes in society.
 This conflict is on-going and persistent and not temporary as Functionalists would propose.

Basic Ideas
1. How is Society Constructed?
 Marx noted that in order to survive we enter relationships in order to ensure production.
 The forces of production and the social relationship to this form the economic basis or infrastructure
of society.
 The other aspect of society, known as the superstructure (e.g. education system) is shaped by the
infrastructure (economic base).
 The Education system (super structure) is shaped by economic factors according to Marx.
 Any change in the infrastructure according to Marx will thus lead to changes in the superstructure.
 Marx claims that all societies today contain contradictions.
 He believed that such a position could not continue forever.

 According to Marx, society is constructed from classes.

 In all societies, except the simplest, there are two major classes.
 It is people’s relationship to the means of production that determines which class they belong to.
 The most powerful class is that which owns the means of production, (land, labour, factories) and
the least powerful is that which has to sell its labour to make a living.
 This creates conflict of interests, as one social group, the owners of the factors of production
benefits on the back of the others (the workers).
 One group exploits another social group.
How a society operates or functions. Explaining the Contradictions/conflict
1. The First Conflict: Wages versus Profit Achieved by the
Bourgeoisie

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 Page |
 6 In Marx’s view,
o Society operates mainly through class conflict.
o In a capitalistic society the bourgeoisie and the proletariat are fundamentally opposed.
o Real wealth was only created by the labour power of the workers. Yet the wages that are paid to
them is well below that taken in profit by the people who own the factors of production. This is a
major contradiction that results in societal conflict.

2. The Second Conflict: Organization versus the Nature of Ownership

 In capitalism large numbers of workers, acting collectively achieve production.
 In contrast, just one individual owns the factors of production and the profits do not flow to the
workers who have organized themselves collectively.
What Causes Social Change?
 Major changes according to Marx are a result of new forces of production.
 He used the change from Feudal society run by the lords, ministry, and commoners and based upon
heredity.
o There was little movement within the Feudal system.
o Feudalism was based upon ownership of the land.
o The commoners who worked the land had to give part of their produce to the landowners; in return,
the landowners protected them to rival noblemen.
o The change between this system to capitalism resulted in contradictions/conflicts. For example,
capitalism is based upon wage labour, whereas feudalism was based upon mutual obligations.

o As the new order, capitalism took over; it removed the old social relationships of feudalism and replaced
them with the new. Marx called this a new Epoch.
 Eventually Marx believed there would be a final Epoch where a communistic or socialist society would
take over from capitalism.
 This will not be the result of a new force of production, but will get rid of the contradictions/conflicts
that so far characterized change between Epochs.
 Collective production would remain but ownership would change dramatically.
 Instead of the Bourgeoisie, owning the factors of production ownership will be by all.
o Members would share wealth that their labour produces.
o This new infrastructure would not be based upon exploitation and contradictions, instead a new final
epoch would be born, one, which would have no need to change.
o It would thus result in the end of history because in Marx’s view history of man is history of class
struggle.
Why Capitalism has survived in these massive Contradictions?
 Capitalism has remained durable; in the West it has survived for 200 years.
 Marx claimed this is the result of the role of the superstructure, which is shaped by the
infrastructure. So for example, the ruling elite have monopolized political power, laws, and other
institutions to maintain their control.

 Propagating the ideas of equality and freedom has done this. For example, the relationship between
the worker and the owner of the factors of production is seen as equal exchange. However, in reality
it is not. Although there is a degree of choice of who to work for, in reality we must work to survive.
 In Marx’s words, all we can do is exchange one form of wage slavery for another.
 More importantly, the ruling choice are able to dominate the ideology of the time.
 They are able to produce a false picture of the world as it is moreover to stop us seeing the
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 Page contradictions.
| We see our exploitation as just, natural, and proper; Marx calls this a false
consciousness of reality.
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 They have thus managed to legitimate their power and hide from the people the true nature of their
exploitation.

HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1930)

 Born in 1820 during the period of the industrialism.

 Spencer was sickly in his youth, all eight of his other siblings died at a young age.
 He was weak throughout his life, and he would later suffer from nervous breakdowns which he never recovered
from.
 Herbert Spencer described society as a system; a whole made up of interrelated parts this makes him a
functionalist.
 One of the main reasons why Herbert Spencer was important to sociology was because of his views and ideas
about evolution: -
o Charles Darwin is always given credit for the idea of survival of the fittest, but it was Spencer who
coined this phrase.
 This phrase was almost always used to explain part of science, but in Spencer's work it took on some political
meaning as well.
 Spencer had many very extreme political views and grew to despise government programs that were aimed to
help the poor.
 In the end it was his harsh views on politics that held his ideas back from being accepted right away.
 Spencer was like Darwin in some ways, but when it came down to the theory of evolution, Spencer took it one
step further than Darwin by saying that it involved much more than just biology.
 Social Darwinism is Spencer's application of evolutionary notions and the concept of survival of the fittest to
the social world.
 Spencer’s theory of society does represent an advance over Comte’s theory even though Spencer like
Comte, characterized himself as a positivist and derived his 5 concepts of structure and function from
the field of biology.
 Furthermore, Spencer was more interested in studying the progress of the external world or objectivity, while
Comte focused more on the subjective nature of the progress of human conceptions.
 Finally, there are important political differences between Spencer and Comte. : -Spencer had little regard for
centralized political control and believed that the government should allow individuals the maximum freedom to
pursue their private interests. Comte, on the other hand, desired society to be led by the high priests of
positivistic religion.
 Herbert Spencer died in 1903. He left behind many wonderful ideas to the world of sociology, including one that
states that “because we are part of a society and culture we are therefore part of nature”.
 He also set forth an evolutionary theory of historical development

EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917) Social Integration and Social Facts

 David Emile Durkheim was born on April 15, 1858 in Epinal, capital town of the department of Vosges, in
Lorraine in a family of Rabbis (Teachers).

 One of the greatest sociologists of the late 19th century, Durkheim grew up in France after it lost the
war with Germany in 1870.
 Durkheim legitimized sociology in France and became a dominant force in the development of the
discipline worldwide.
 Much of his work is concerned with what holds society together, and what makes people work
together.
 Émile Durkheim was especially concerned with social unity, differentiating between mechanical and
organic solidarity.
 He opposed that the characteristic subject matter of sociology should be the study of social facts,
which is the importance of the collective awareness.
 Durkheim’s
o “science of morality" offended truth-seekers’
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 Page | o his "science of religion" offended Catholics, and
o His appointment to the Sorbonne offended those on the political Right; the appointment also
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gave Durkheim enormous power, they believed.
 Durkheim was an administrator, who sat on the Council of the University as well as on many other
councils and committees throughout the University and the Ministry of Public Instruction. Most of his
personal friends were powerful politicians although he was opposed to politics himself.
 This caused Durkheim's enemies to complain of his power, accusing him of using advantaged position to
extend his influence.
 On August 3, 1914, Germany launched its invasion of Belgium and northern France.
 Despite poor health already induced by overwork, Durkheim devoted himself to the cause of national
defence during the war, organizing a committee for the publication of studies and documents on the
war, to be sent to neutral countries in the effort to undermine German propaganda.
 Several patriotic pamphlets were written by Durkheim himself, and sent to his fellow-countrymen in the
effort to maintain the national pride.
 Durkheim was at first unaffected by the war until he was shocked by his son's death on the war front
in 1916; he withdrew into an "aggressive silence”, forbidding friends from even mentioning his son's
name in his presence, he collapsed from stroke and recovered but on November 15, 1917, died aged 59.
 Today he is mainly remembered for four books. Namely:
1. The Rules of Sociological Method: -
o Concerned with the differences between sociology and the other social sciences.
o This book helped to establish sociology as a university discipline.
2. The Division of Labour in Society: -
o Concerned with the transition between traditional agricultural societies and modern urban
industrial societies, and the differences in social organization between them.
3. Suicide: -
o Perhaps his most famous book
o Where he asks the question why people kill themselves.
o For this book he gathered a mass of statistical information from government records. (Scientific
method)
4. Elementary forms of religion
 In this later work, Durkheim turned to the religion of primitive societies to demonstrate this.
o Here, Emile Durkheim examines religion in society in terms of animism, naturism, totemism, myth,
and ritual. 
o Durkheim questions the origin of religion, which for him means discerning the ever-present
elements that underlie the essential forms of religious thought and practice.
o Durkheim's choice of out-dated religion as a frame of reference for the analysis and explanation
of all religion was to him the one approach best adapted, not only to final understanding of the
religious nature of man, but also to revealing an essential and permanent aspect of humanity.
o Durkheim concluded that religion, philosophy, and morals can be understood only as products of the
social condition of man:
 That the source of religion and morality is in the collective mind of society and not inherent in
the isolated minds of individuals.
o His methods and conclusions must be grasped by anyone seeking understanding of the bases of
religion and society.

 Although Durkheim was politically liberal, he took a more conservative/traditional position intellectually,
arguing that the social disorders produced by striking social changes could be reduced through social
reform.
 Durkheim argued that sociology was the study of structures that are external to and coercive over, the
individual; for example, legal codes and shared moral beliefs, which he called social facts.
 In Suicide Durkheim demonstrated that social facts could cause individual behaviour.

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  He
Page | argued that societies were held together by a strongly held collective morality called the collective
integrity.
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Because of the complexity of modern societies, the collective conscience had become weaker, resulting in a
variety of social problems.
How does a society function?
An examination of Emile Durkheim's theories of functionalism, anomie, and division of labour will help us
answer this question.
Society Structure & Social Facts
 Emile Durkheim was a well-known sociologist famous for his views on the structure of society.
 His work focused on how traditional and modern societies changed and function.
 Durkheim's theories were founded on the concept of social facts, defined as the norms, values, and
structures of a society.
 Durkheim's theories were founded on things external in nature, as opposed to those internal in nature,
such as the motivations and desires of individuals. This is how he differs from other sociologists of his
time.
 According to Durkheim, joint consciousness (collective conscience), values, and rules are critical to a
functional society.
Functionalism
 Emphasizes a societal balance.
o If something happens to disrupt the order and the flow of the system, society must adjust to
achieve a stable state.
 According to Durkheim, society should be analysed and described in terms of functions.
o Society is a system of connected parts where no one part can function without the other.
o These parts make up the whole of society.
o If one part changes, it has an impact on society as a whole.
 For example, the state provides public education for children.
 The family of the children pay taxes, which the state uses for public education.
 The children who learn from public education go on to become law-abiding and working citizens, who
pay taxes to support the state.
 Let's look at this example again.
 The state provides public education for children. But if a disturbance or imbalance in the education
system occurs - perhaps the children drop out and become criminals. The system adjusts in order
to improve the education and attempts to rehabilitate the criminals (through jail or other means)
in order for them to become law-abiding and taxpaying citizens.
 To Durkheim crime and antisocial behaviour are a normal and necessary occurrence in the social
system. He proposed that crime led to reactions from society about the crime.
 These shared reactions were used to create a common consensuses of what individuals felt were
moral and ethical norms by which to abide. EG people unite to fight against crime. These commonly
held norms and values led to boundaries and rules for the society.
Division of Labour
 Durkheim's concept of the division of labour focused on the shift in societies from a simple society to
one that is more complex.

 Durkheim argued that traditional societies were made up of similar people that were more or less the
same in terms of values, religious beliefs, and backgrounds.
 Modern societies, in contrast, are made up of complex division of labour, beliefs, and backgrounds.

 In traditional societies, the collective awareness ruled, social norms were strong, and social behaviour
was well regulated.

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  In
Page | modern societies, common consciousness was less obvious and the regulation of social behaviour was
less corrective and more restrictive aiming to restore normal activity to society.
10
Mechanical & Organic Solidarity
1. Mechanical solidarity 
 Occurs when individuals within structural units are alike and self-sufficient. For example, in traditional
societies, people grew their own food, made their own clothes, and had little need for extensive social
contact with others because they did not have to rely on others for daily needs.
2. Organic solidarity 
 When a large population is stratified into smaller structural units.
 There's a high level of interdependence among individuals and structures, but there's still a division of
people along lines of labour type. (There is specialization under organic solidarity giving rise to professions
such as nurses, doctors bankers teachers etc.)

 Durkheim recognized that things like increased communication, transportation, and interaction with
others resulted in the social change from a mechanical solidarity to organic.

 If societies develop too quickly from traditional to modern, a breakdown of norms and collective
consciousness occurs. The concept of community and social constraints becomes weakened, and this
leads to disorder, crisis, and anomie.
Anomie
 The concept of anomie refers to the breakdown of social norms and guidance for the citizens of a society.
 Anomie occurs when society has little influence on individuals' tendency to follow rules and norms, and
individuals are, therefore, left without moral guidance.
 Individuals do not feel attached to the collective society.
 Anomie causes the feelings of alienation among individuals because they feel like their only attachment is
to the system in which they don't believe or they don't feel a part of it.
 It also causes feelings of frustration and a sense of deprivation.
 Durkheim's work entitled Suicide is a clear demonstration of the concept of anomie.
 Durkheim argued that individuals have a certain level of attachment or social integration within their
societal groups.
 Abnormally high or low levels of social integration may result in suicide.
o High levels cause people to feel like they are a burden on their social group, leading them to kill
themselves
o Low levels of social integration result in feelings of being lost or in a disorganized society, resulting in
suicide.
MARX WEBER (1864-1920) Rationality and modernity, methodology of social investigation, religion and
economic development

 Born on April 21 1864 being the eldest in a family seven children.

 Both parents were of protestant backgrounds and were refugees of catholic persecution in the past
who had become successful business persons.
 Max Weber was intelligent yet sickly, shy and withdrawn.
 His teachers complained about his lack of respect for authority and lack of discipline.
 His father ruled the home with an iron fist.
 In his youth he identified with his father even though his mother made efforts to draw him to her side.
 At eighteen and in university he was one of “the boys” joining his father’s duelling fraternity and
studying law like his father (he was taking after his father).
 Besides law he studied economics, history and philosophy; Weber also read a great deal of theology.
 When he joined military service Weber was influenced by his mother’s sister and uncle, he began
appreciating his mother’s religious values.

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  Weber
Page | saw sociology as a comprehensive science of social action.
 Unlike Spencer, Durkheim, and Marx who focused on social structures Weber focused on the individual
11
human actors.
 His primary focus was the personal meanings that human actors attach to their actions in their
mutual/joint/shared orientations within specific social historical contexts.
 Argued for a sociological inquiry that generated its theory from: -
- rich,
- systematic,
- empirical,
- Historical research.
 This approach required, first of all, an examination of the relationships between, and the respective
roles of history and sociology in inquiry.

Weber argued that sociology was to develop concepts for the analysis of concrete phenomena, which would
allow sociologists to then make generalizations about historical phenomena.

History, on the other hand, would use sociological concepts in order to perform causal analysis of particular
historical events, structures, and processes.

 According to Weber, sociology and history are interdependent.

 Weber argued that understanding, or verstehen, was the proper way of studying social phenomena.
 The method of verstehen strives to understand the meanings that human beings attribute to their
experiences, interactions, and actions.
 Weber took verstehen as a methodical, systematic, and rigorous form of inquiry that could be employed
in both macro- and micro-sociological analysis.
 Weber’s creation of causation stresses the great variety of factors that may precipitate the
emergence of complex phenomena such as modern capitalism.
 Weber argued that social scientists, unlike natural scientists, must take into account the meanings that
actors attribute to their interactions when considering causality.
 Weber’s greatest contribution to sociology is known as the ideal type.
 The ideal type
o Basically it is a theoretical model constructed by means of a detailed empirical study of a phenomenon.
o An ideal type is an intellectual construct that a sociologist may use to study historical realities by
means of their similarities to, and divergences/differences from, the model.
o Ideal types are not ideals or images of what the world ought to look like.
 Weber did argue, however, that the values of one’s society often help to decide what a scholar will
study.
 He contended that, while values play this very important role in the research process, they must be
kept out of the collection and interpretation of data.
Class, Status and Power
 Weber developed a multidimensional theory of stratification that combined class, status and party.
o Class is determined by one’s economic or market situation (i.e., life chances), and it is not a
community but rather a possible basis for communal action.
o Status is a matter of honour, prestige, and one’s style of life.
o Parties, according to Weber, are organized structures that exist for the purposes of gaining
domination in some sphere of social life e.g. political parties.
 Class, status, and party may be related in many ways in a given empirical case, which provides the
sociologist with a very sophisticated set of conceptual tools for the examination of stratification and
power.

Types of Authority

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 Weber
Page | made a profound contribution to the study of obedience with his ideal types of legitimate
domination or authority.
12
1. Rational–legal authority rests on rules and law.
o Often associated with bureaucracy.
2. Traditional authority rests on belief in established practices and traditions.
o This authority is legitimate because it is exercised the way it has always been exercised.
o Associated with gerontocracy, patriarchalism, patrimonialism, and feudalism.
3. Charismatic authority rests on the belief in the extra ordinary powers or qualities of a leader.
o Associated with a charismatic form of organization. E.g. Makandiwa and Magaya
o The dilemma of charismatic authority, however, consists of the difficulty of maintaining charisma
when the charismatic leader dies.

BUREAUCRACY

According to Weber, bureaucracy is the most efficient form of organisation. The organisation has a well-
defined line of authority. It has clear rules and regulations which are strictly followed. On his ideal types
Weber came up with an ideal type of bureaucratic arrangement. The characteristics of a bureaucracy according
to Weber are: -

1. There is a high degree of Division of Labour and Specialisation.

2. There is a well-defined Hierarchy of Authority.
3. It follows the principle of Rationality, Objectively and Consistency.
4. Relies on written records.
5. There are Formal and Impersonal relations among the member of the organisation.
6. Interpersonal relations are based on positions and not on personalities.
7. Rule of rules. There are well defined Rules and Regulations. There rules cover all the duties and rights
of the employees. These rules must be strictly followed.
8. There are well defined Methods for all types of work.
9. Meritocracy. Selection and Promotion is based on Technical qualifications.
10. Only Bureaucratic or legal power is given importance.
Criticism of Bureaucratic Organisation
Bureaucratic organisation is a very rigid type of organisation. It does not give importance to human relations. It
is suitable for government organisations. It is also suitable for organisations where change is very slow. It is
appropriate for static organisations.
Bureaucratic organisation is criticised because of the following reasons: -
1. Too much emphasis on rules and regulations. The rules and regulations are rigid and inflexible.
2. No importance is given to informal groups. Nowadays, informal groups play an important role in all
business organisations.
3. Bureaucracy involves a lot of paper work. This results in lot of wastage of time, effort and money.
4. There will be unnecessary delay in decision-making due to formalities and rules.
5. Bureaucratic model may be suitable for government organisations. But it is not suitable for business
organisations because business organisations believe in quick decision making and flexibility in
procedures.
6. Too much importance is given to the technical qualifications of the employees for promotion and
transfers. Dedication and commitment of the employee is not considered.
7. There is difficulty in coordination and communication.
8. There is limited scope for Human Resource (HR).
Rationality

 Weber also argued that rationalization is a long-term historical process that has transformed the
modern world.

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 Page |  He was most concerned with processes of formal and substantive rationalization, especially as
driven by capitalism and bureaucracy.
13
 Weber argued that rationalization has occurred in many spheres, including the economy, law,
religion, politics, the city, and art.
 Weber’s arguments regarding rationalization are demonstrated in his studies of religion and
capitalism. His studies inquire into the ways in which religious ideas, the spirit of capitalism, and
capitalism as an economic system, are interrelated.
 According to Weber, Calvinism as a rational, methodical system of religious beliefs and
practices was an important factor in the emergence of modern capitalism in the Western world.
 The economic ethics of other religions, such as Hinduism and Confucianism, inhibited the
emergence of modern capitalism in India and China.
 Once modern capitalism emerged in the Western world, however, it spread the effects of
rationalization worldwide.

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979)

 In Europe, Marx, Weber, and Durkheim developed the major theoretical approaches to an analysis of
the social world.
 While they were not as comprehensive in their analysis of the social world as is present-day sociology,
these old writers defined the discipline of sociology and developed models and methods which
contemporary sociologists must consider.
 Contemporary/Morden sociologists have taken several lines of development. Some develop and update
the ideas of classical sociology, while others combine ideas from several classical sociologists.
 Still others reject many of the classical approaches, but even here the ideas of classical sociology serve
as a point of debate and departure (starting point).
 Parsons and the functionalist approach to sociology occupy an intermediate position between classical
and contemporary sociology.
 Functionalist theory and the sociology of Talcott Parsons must be studied in order to understand the
development of sociological thought.
 In addition, some of the ideas of Parsons have proved to be useful to the study of the contemporary
social world.
Social Order.
 Much like Durkheim, Parsons was concerned with the problem of social order.
o How order could be maintained if individuals were really separate entities pursuing their self-interest.
o How could there be anything but disorder?
o In practice, people do cooperate, and there is a degree of social integration.
 For Parsons this comes from the values of society and of social actors – the basis of social action can be
termed voluntarism.
 People act on the basis of their values;
o their actions are oriented and constrained/forced by the values and norms of people around them;
and
o these norms give the basis of social order
 The importance of values can be seen by looking at how social actors view ends and means within the
context of values.
Ends.

13 | P a g e
  Parsons
Page | noted that while individuals pursue their self-interest and their own satisfaction there is a
strong measure of agreement among people, people do get along with each other, and they cooperate
14
with and help each other.
 The wants and desires of people are socially derived.
 The goals that people pursue are based on shared values and norms, and these are "adopted in the
motivational systems of individuals"
Means.
 The manner in which particular ends are pursued is usually not the technically most efficient manner
rather are socially and morally regulated, with views of right and wrong, proper and improper, and
appropriate and not.
 In the view of the structural functionalists, "without the normative regulation of means, society would
be afflicted by chaos, anomie, and apathy ... social disorder" (Ritzier, p. 239).
 Note also that these are carried out within a system of controls, or there are various conditions placed
on individual action.
Function.
 The shared values and norms, the institution of the family, and the generally agreed upon means for
accomplishing ends were viewed by Parsons as being functional for the operation of society as a system.
 Critics argue that this is not really social analysis but description and justification, because it makes
the institutions appear to be necessary and the only ones that could exist.
 As a result, there appears to be strong conservative and consensus assumptions built into this
approach.
 While the degree of consensus can be overestimated, people make attempts to get along with each
other,
o They do not have random sets of ends, and
o There is a range of appropriate means in any given society.
o There is a degree of social integration in society, and it comes not only from powerful groups
with interests imposing their wills against the interests of the mass of the population.
o Wealth and power determine some aspects of societal structure, but at both the micro and
macro level there are many commonly shared norms and values that contribute to social stability
and social integration.
Theory.
 The sociology of Parsons was primarily theoretical, with little empirical content.
 Parsons wrote several long theoretical treatises, integrating concepts and theories from the classical
sociologists with his own ideas and interpretation.
 Unlike Marx, Weber, or Durkheim, Parsons does not lay out a methodology for the study of sociology or
the social sciences.
 Instead, he attempted to build large theoretical frameworks which dealt with concepts from all the
social sciences.
William Isaac Thomas (13 August 1863 – 5 December 1947)

 Was an American sociologist.
 Working with Polish sociologist Florian Znaniecki, W.I. Thomas developed innovative work on the
sociology of migration.
 Thomas then went on to formulate a fundamental principle of sociology, known as the Thomas theorem.

14 | P a g e
  Through
Page | his theorem, Thomas contended that, "If men define situations as real, they are real in their
consequences".
15
 From 1880, Thomas studied literature and classics at the University of Tennessee.
 He developed an interest in ethnology and social science after reading Herbert Spencer's Principles
of Sociology.
 While in Germany, he furthered his interest in ethnology and sociology under the influence of German
scholars such as Wilhelm Wundt.
 In 1894, Thomas was invited to teach a class in sociology at the University of Chicago where he
would teach for nearly the next 25 years.
 From 1895 until 1917, he also co-edited the American Journal of Sociology.
 1907 saw the publication of Thomas's first major work, Sex and Society.
 Despite a biological bias that would nowadays be considered sexist by many the book was progressive
for its time.
o Anthropologists ... regard women as intermediate between the child and the man
 In "Sex and Society", Thomas speculated that women's intellect might actually be superior to men's
"due to their superior cunning" and "superior endurance".
 Thomas never published any material on the subject, but did use it as lecture material.
 When explaining about sociologists who influenced him, Thomas writes "I do not feel that I have been
greatly influenced by any of my teachers of sociology. My interests, as I have indicated, were in the
marginal fields and not in sociology as it was organized and taught at that time.
 Considered a pioneer of the biographical approach in social research and migration studies,
 Thomas employed methods of field observation that ethnographers had developed previously to study
non-literate societies.
 According to a story told by Thomas himself, it was an accident that inspired him to use personal
written material as primary ethnographic sources and to develop the biographical approach to sociology
that would make his lasting reputation in the field.
 He spent the next several years collecting oral and written reports from Chicago's Polish community as
well as from Poles in their native land.
 Thomas utilized newspaper reports, archives of organizations, personal letters, and diaries, which he
acquired by placing advertisements in Chicago's Polish-language press, offering, for example, 10 or 20
cents for each mailed letter collected from Poland.
 Further, Thomas introduced the important concept of the 'definition of the situation', which was later
referred to as the Thomas theorem
o It is not important whether or not the interpretation is correct — if men define situations as
real, they are real in their consequences.
o If people view somebody as great, then he is.
 An example of this major contribution is if James is convinced that George hates him then he will act
towards George in a way that will sour their relationship, regardless if George's hatred is real or
imagined.
 What really counts is the way the actor defines the meaning of the symbol, not what the symbol may
mean to the sociologist investigating the actor's actions.
 Thomas and Znaniecki used a biographical approach to understanding culture in general.
 Furthermore, Thomas and Znaniecki's work developed an approach to understanding ethnicity in
particular, which in many respects was ahead of its time and is currently being rediscovered in the
context of transnational studies in migration.
 One of Thomas' greatest contributions to the study of sociology was presented in his highly
acclaimed work, The Unadjusted Girl (1923).
 In The Unadjusted Girl, Thomas introduced and developed the influential concept of the
"definition of the situation".
 According to Thomas' "definition of the situation", prior to making a decision, people "generally
examine and deliberate about occurrences before acting".

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 |  Along with the ideas of George Herbert Mead, Thomas's concept of the "definition of the
Page 
16 situation" later proved to be an important part of the rebellion of symbolic interactionism
against structural functionalism.
 Thomas died on 5 December 1947.

GEORGE HEBERT MEAD (1863-1931) (Symbolic interactionism)

 Mead’s work was greatly influenced by Charles Horton Cooley and John Dewey whom he met when he got
a post at the University of Michigan.

Mead's Theory of “The Self”:

 Developed a theory of the social self, which is based on the central argument that the self is a social
nascent/budding.
 The social beginning of the self- entails that individual selves are produced by social interaction.
 The self is not initially there at birth, but arises in the process of social experience and activity.
o This experience is leant through socialization which is the way children come to know and learn
different roles in life.
o As children play they continually try to re-enact what they see in everyday life. E.g. they can
take roles of the teacher, police officer, mother, father etc. children tend to take the role of
the significant other, (people we tend to model our behaviour towards or whose behaviour we
want to avoid).
o These roles can be swiftly shifted in child play showing their awareness of the role sets.
o Play stage is very important in a person’s development of social behaviour.
 George Herbert Mead is also well-known for his concept of the “I” and the “me.”
 According to Mead:
o The “I” is the immediate response of the individual to others.
 It is creative and unpredictable,
 it is revolutionary and therefore a major source of change and innovation in society
o The “Me” is an adoption of the generalised other; a combination of society’s members. It
represents the voice of society and is taken in by individuals as conscience.
 The “Me” is characterised by conformity and thus society dominates the individual
through the “Me”.
 For Mead individuals carry the generalised other within them and it is this that allows
them, through self-criticism to control themselves.

Sociology and social policy.

Three theoretical perspectives guide sociological thinking on social problems.

 These perspectives look at the same social problems, but in different ways.
 Their views taken together offer a better understanding of social problems than any of the views can
offer alone. 
 This will guide the development of effective social policy measures
 Below is a snapshot of the theories and how each approaches problem solutions: -

Theoretical
Major assumptions Views of social problems
perspective

Functionalism  Stability is necessary for a strong society.  Social problems weaken a society’s stability but do
 Socialization and social integration help maintain not reflect major faults in how the society is
social stability. organized.
 Social institutions perform important functions  Solutions to social problems should be gradual
to help ensure social stability. social reform rather than sudden but far-reaching.
 Social change is slow and desirable that way.  Social problems often also serve important

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Theoretical
Page |
Major assumptions Views of social problems
perspective
17
 Rapid social change threatens social order. functions for society.

 Society is characterized by pervasive inequality  Social problems arise from essential faults in the
based on social class, race, gender, and other structure of a society and both reflect and
Conflict factors. reinforce inequalities based on social class, race,
theory  Far-reaching social change is needed to reduce gender, and other dimensions.
or eliminate social inequality and to create an  Successful solutions to social problems must involve
egalitarian society. far-reaching change in the structure of society.

 People do not merely learn the roles that society

 Social problems arise from the interaction of
has set out for them but they construct them.
individuals.
 Individuals negotiate their definitions of the
Symbolic  People who engage in socially problematic
situations and socially construct the reality of
interactionis behaviours often learn these behaviours from
these situations.
m other people.
 Symbols such as words and gestures help to
 Individuals also learn their perceptions of social
reach a shared understanding of social
problems from other people.
interaction.

Social problems

 Poverty
 Social exclusion

Social policy initiatives

 Free education
 Adult education
 Beam
 Health provision
 Food provision

Relationship of sociology and other social science subjects

 Sociology is wide and broad in scope.

 It is related and interlinked with many other social sciences.
 Sociology is the science of society and many kinds of things happen.
 Cooperation between social sciences happen in the following ways: -
History Science
 Sociology is one of the most genuine fruits of history to which it is intimately connected.
 History being the reconstruction of man’s past is a story of the experience of mankind and the record
of human past.
 Sociology is the science of society; on the other hand, it is interested in the present.
o Tries to analyse human interactions and interrelations with all their
complexity and diversity.
o It also tries to view historical developments of societies.
 History with its record of various social events of the past offers data
facts to sociologists who are interested in the present.
 According to G.E Howard, History is past sociology and sociology is
present history.
Anthropology

17 | P a g e
  Concerns
Page | individual cultures in a society, rather than the society as a whole.
 Traditionally, anthropology focuses on what might be termed “primitive” cultures, such as the Yanomamo
18
people of the South American jungle,
 Anthropologists place special emphasis on language, kinship patterns, and cultural artefacts.
 Sociology borrows heavily from anthropology; like on cultural patterns and configurations.
 Anthropology is closely related to sociology that in many cases it is indistinguishable.
Political science

 Sociology is the younger science while political science is the older science.
 Concerns the governments of various societies.
 It considers what kind of government a society has, how it formed, and how individuals attain positions
of power within a particular government.
 Political science also concerns the relation of people in a society to whatever form of government they
have.
 We do not have any well-defined boundaries marking political science off from sociology.

Psychology
 Sociology and psychology are contributory sciences.
 Psychology has been defined as the study of human behaviour.
 It takes the individual out of his or her social circumstances and examines the mental processes that
occur within that person.
 Psychologists study the human brain and how it functions,
 Considers issues such as memory, dreams, learning, and perception.
 Social psychology places the individual’s behaviour in the social context. i.e. in society
 It helps a great deal in facing several social problems.
 It is the study of the way in which the individual becomes members of and their functions in social
groups.
 Sociology analyses social processes but social psychology analyses mental processes of man.

Economics

 Sociology and economics as social sciences have very close relations.

 Sociologists have contributed to the study of different aspects of economic organisation.
 Focuses on the production and distribution of society’s goods and services.
 Economists study why a society chooses to produce what it does.
 Economists are interested in how money is exchanged.
 How people interact and cooperate to produce goods.
 Sociology studies all kinds of social relationships but economics deals with only social economic
relationships.

Is Sociology a Science?: Positivist, interpretive and post- modernist perspectives

An examination of what constitutes a science makes it easy to answer this question.

Scientific Method
o Others can repeat the method.
o Others can replicate/reproduce the experiment and so, it gives the method a claim to power.
Science must be:-

Objective:

o avoids any bias or value judgement

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Empirical:
Page |
19 o based on practical investigations – empirical evidence
o Know through the senses – tested physically
o Rely on accurate gathering of information to get reliable measurable data.

Testable:
o have testable concepts
o Can be verified or refuted: - Falsification is the most important characteristic as far as Karl
Popper is concerned.
o Inductive as used by Durkheim; formulating a theory and using data to test the theory
o Sociology cannot use laboratory experiments to test theories, it cannot isolate the variables in a
situation but this is true of cosmology, meteorology, volcanologist and animal behaviour which
are also open systems. This does not stop theories being tested by observation.
o Sociologists claim that comparative methods allow testing of a result (triangulation)
Theoretical:
o be able to make generalisations based on the research conducted to establish universal laws
o Sociology can predict how groups of people will react.
o The proposal of patterns is something that can be tested.
Cumulative
o Both the evolution of theories and collection of data is cumulative in sociology
o Theories change and become more complicated over time.
o Longitudinal studies gather large amounts of facts.
Sociology is a science because:
1) Investigation is possible:

 Sociology conducts many experiments indirectly and employs scientific methods such as scales of socio
meter, schedules, questionnaire, interview and Case History etc.
 In these methods quantitative measures are used to measure social phenomenon.
 Sociologists use statistical methods in their analyses. For example, if we want to know about families
with low incomes have more deaths, we collect data.
 The difficulty lies in getting the data for process are very costly.

2) Experimentation and Observation is possible:

 It is not possible to put human beings into a laboratory and observe them. Although there is no
laboratory for human observation the whole social world is its laboratory.
 In laboratory, experiments are conducted to measure the relationship between two variables, keeping
other factors constant. In sociology, we do the same, but not in a formal laboratory. We do it through
statistics.
 Laboratory experiments are not the only criteria for science. Had it been so then Astronomy would not
have been qualified to be science and Newton and Archimedes did not invent their laws inside a
laboratory.
 The obstacles for a sociologist is not subject matter itself but from the limitations placed on him by his
own society.

3) Comparison is possible:

 Sociologists use comparisons between groups, communities and societies.

 Comparative method is one of the important methods in scientific investigation.

4) Generalisation is possible:

19 | P a g e
  The
Page | view that generalisation is not possible in sociology as in natural sciences is not true.
 Sociologists seek universal generalisations. For example, incest taboo (prohibition of sex relationship
20
between mother and son, brother and sister, and father and daughter) is a universal general truth.
 Sociology makes laws and attempts to predict. It tries to discover laws that are generally applicable in
all the societies, irrespective of actual differences. A regulation of marriage in certain manner to
prevent incest is one such example.

5) Accurate measurement is possible:

 It is possible to measure social relationships by employing statistical method, scales measurement and
sociometry etc.

6) Prediction is possible:

 Critics point that since human beings have their indulgence and free choice, this behaviour is not
predictable, if individuals are not largely predictable, life prediction is therefore not possible.
 However, the concept of exact prediction is an out-dated notion of science most scientific theories are
now based on probability.
 Moreover, no science can boast making reliable predictions. In some areas of social life prediction to a
limited extent has been possible. There is a good deal of information on family relationships and the
personality of children. With the growth and maturity of sociology it would be possible to understand
more fully, the principles underlying human behaviour and make more accurate prediction about it.

7) Objectivity is possible:

 Every idea of man is subjective because it originates form a person and belongs to him. A scientist while
approaching his subject matter relies on his experience and knowledge to get the desired results.
 No value judgment is personal. The statement the dowry is a social evil is a scientific judgment.
 Social surveys and careful studies confirm ill Social values are based on careful observation and analysis
of social facts. They are product of scientific research as social issues.

8) Probability of cause and effect relationship:

 Sociology tries to analyse cause and effect relationship. In its study of family, it has traced the
relationship
o between family disorganisation and divorce,
o between urbanisation and family disorganisation,
o family disorganisation as one of the causes of divorce.
 Thus sociology traces cause and effect relationship in social organisation.
 It tries to find out the "how" and "why" of social relationships and social processes.

CONCLUSION
 The scientific nature of sociology is a hot issue which has acquired greater dimensions. From the above
it follows that sociology is a science in its own right.
 Science is after all a method of discovery through observation and experimentation. The result of
these observations and experiments are arranged and organised in the fields of knowledge.
 The term science in other words is the classification of facts and recognition of their sequences.
 Science is a process which tries to get at the facts and tries to understand them.
 Science helps us to face facts.
 It is mostly concerned with a mass of knowledge regarding a particular subject acquired by systematic
observation, experience and study analysed and classified into unified whole.
 It is approach rather than the content that is the real test of science.
 According to Lundeberg, "Science is a procedure for discovering conditions under which events occur".

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  According
Page | to Max Weber, "Sociology is a science which attempts at interpretative understanding of
social action in order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of its cause and effects".
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 Sociology studies its subjects matter scientifically.
 It tries to classify types and forms of social relationship, of institutions and associations.
 It tries to determine the relation between different parts and factors of social life.
 It tries to deduce general laws from a systematic study.
 Sociological principles are then applied to the solution of social problems.
 Sociology is thus as much a social science like psychology, Economics, political science and other social
sciences concerning man.

Positivist Sociologists
o Believe that science can explain the universe.
o They use hypo-deductive reasoning to test their beliefs
 This is when scientists present a theory and invite others to prove them wrong
o It is based on the concept that nothing can be proven to be 100% true but theories can be proven
false.
o It is reasoned that if a theory cannot be proven wrong it has an increased likelihood of being
correct/true (but we will never be 100% sure)
o According to positivists, for theories to be scientific they must be testable /falsifiable.
o Positivists believe for a theory to be valid it must be backed by a scientific approach because this has
hard evidence.
o Positivists see the world as being full of concrete testable realities and use quantitative methods to
support their theories.
o But even amongst positivists there is no agreement as to whether a theoretical subject such as
sociology should be considered to be truly scientific
Interpretivists
o Disagree with the positivists’ scientific claims.
o They see the world as a largely socially constructed place.
o Reality only exists because of agreed shared concepts. Knowledge itself is whatever we agree it to be.
 For example, most people would recognize a chair as something useful to sit on but if you took
it to a very aggressive tribe who had been isolated from the rest of the world they may view it
as a shield with spikes on!!!
o When we are trying to understand/interpret a situation context is a very important aspect.
o Interpretivists don’t think that scientific methodology is useful to the study of human interactions or
sociology in general
o They see it as invalid because it often removes the context or interferes in some way with the subject
matter
o Interpretivists use qualitative research techniques such as ethnographic techniques, observations and
unstructured interviews.
Science and the modern world: the postmodernist criticism
o By claiming a monopoly on explanation, scientists have replaced priests as the sources of truth however
there are many questions that are asked that science fails to answer.
 What is life for?
 What is justice?
 Are we responsible for other people?
o By posing as having an answer for everything science is making life cheap.

 People like Schultz, Billing and Bauman suggest that Sociology can’t and shouldn’t be a science.

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIOLOGY

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 Page |  These are perspectives (view points) to social life.
 A theory attempts to explain, describe and predict social events.
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 It is like lenses that are used to view social occurrences
 There are three major theoretical perspectives in sociology.
 The interactionist,
 functionalist and
 Conflict perspective.
 The fourth is the multi-dimensional approach/view of society.
 These theoretical perspectives are like lenses or glasses used to analyse social matters.
 In life people differ, the ways they see things but these different views all explain social reality. (Have
you ever considered how soccer fans have different views of the same player in single match?) This in
the same with theoretical perspectives explaining social life.
 Theoretical perspectives take basic assumption: -

Examples of these basic assumptions:

 Society is a unified whole that seeks stability. (functionalism)

 Society is composed of groups competing for scarce resources. (conflict)
 Social life can be measured through observing daily interactions. (Interactionist)
 Sociology should be used to enact social change.
 Sociology should be value free

FUNCTIONALISM (CONSENSUS)

 Macro-level focus. (Give importance to social structures).

 Prominent in the works of Augustine Comte, Emile Durkheim, Robert Merton and Talcott Parsons.
 Characterised by value consensus, stability, order, and pattern maintenance.
 Society is a stable arrangement of parts that fit together: -
o Based on the assumption that society is a stable orderly system characterised by societal
consensus; it is this value consensus that gives order and stability because members of
society will be in agreement on what is wrong and right.
o Society is glued together by shared values Talcott Parsons, 1902-1979. (value consensus)
o Functionalist views society as a system i.e. a set of interconnected parts which together form
a whole. Each part of society performs functions contributing to the overall function of
society as a whole.
o The concept of function refers to the contribution of the part to the whole.
 Social structures or institutions persist because they play a major part in helping society to survive
(they are functional).
o Parts of the society are functional in so far as they maintain the system and contribute to its
survival.
o The contribution of each part to the whole makes it survive i.e. religion survives because it
serves important functions for the survival of society like social integration.
 These institutions include the family, education, judicial, religion etc.
 The basic unit of analysis for functionalist is society and its parts are understood in terms of
the relationship to the whole e.g. the family and religion are understood in reference to the
contribution that they make in the system as a whole.
 The function of family is to ensure the continuity of society by reproducing and
socializing new members.
 Religion is to integrate individual in the social system by reinforcing common values.
 Talcott Parsons emphasised that all societies must make provisions for meeting social needs
in order to survive
 E.g. Division of labour between husband and wife is essential for family stability and order.
 Robert Merton (another functionalist) talked of the manifest and latent functions.
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 Page | o Manifest – intended functions
o Latent – unintended – hidden – unacknowledged
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 A good example is on prostitution.
 Manifest functions of prostitution is to get money by participation.
 Latent functions – save marriages.
 Functionalists also employ the concept of dysfunction to refer to the effects of undesirable
consequences of any social institution which detracts from the maintenance of society. However,
functionalist concentrated on functions rather than dysfunctions this has led critics to argue that
functionalism has a built in conservative bias which supports the status quo.
 Functionalists also liken society to a human body: - This comparison is referred to as the organic
analogy. They believe that social institutions function in combination with one another and for the
benefit of society as a whole just as the various parts of the human body function in relation to the
whole body;
 They argue that just as an organism has basic needs which must be satisfied if it is to survive,
so society has basic needs which have to be met if it is to continue existing.
 These basic needs are known as functional pre-requisites of society.
 Functionalism stresses cooperation and stability
 Change is seen to take place through adaptation and integration: -
o Adaptation: -when an institution readjusts to meet new needs a
o Integration: - occurs when society adopts new element and makes it part of itself.
 To the functionalist’s change is evolutionary and not revolutionary.
 The basis of order in society is value consensus
 Functionalist in society stress the importance of teaching values in maintaining order. The values
are transmitted by institutions such as: -

o the family
o the church
o the school
o the work place

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  There is no room for the individual to control his or her own life let alone change
society.
 Disorder such as civil wars are regarded as abnormal states and are compared to
sicknesses in a living organism.

An overview of functionalism would therefore reflect that:-

 Stability is necessary for a strong society.

 Socialization and social integration help maintain social stability.
 Social institutions perform important functions to help ensure social stability.
 Social change is slow and desirable that way.
 Rapid social change threatens social order.
Criticism of the functionalist perspective

 There is an over emphasis of consensus in society.

 Although some values overlap no values are common to all members of society.
 Stability may be a result of manipulation or false consensus as in the case of force by the
police and army.
 Consensus may yield negative results; when people agree on destructive activity it brings
disorder rather than the desired order.
 As people compete for scarce resources there is conflict instead of consensus.
 Likening organisms and society may not be proper as the organism is biological and has a
natural life process and society is not.
 According to Parsons the needs of society are not the needs of society but the needs of
those in power within society.

 INTERACTIONIST PERSPECTIVE (INTERACTIONISM)

 Micro-level analysis of society. (Gives importance to the individual.)
 Prominent in the works of George Herbert Mead and Charles H. Cooley.
 People interact through shared symbols (physical ones and intangible ones like body language)
which gives meaning in social interactions•
 All reality is based on shared subjective agreement. (Herbert Blumer, 1900-1987)

 Explains human behaviour by examining the way that people interpret the actions of others
and act in terms of meaning.
 Social communication is therefore important from an interactionist point of view.
 Interactionist believe that people attach meanings to everyday life solutions and these
means differ from are person to another as a result they believe that there is no one single
truth in life.
 E.g. A naked person in the dark kneeling in front of a lit candle may be viewed differently
by different people.
 Depending on religions background one can argue that the person is performing a
ritual or they could be praying.
 These views could be true (both) and this is how interactionist explains social life
according to meanings.
 The interactionist perspective is based on the assumption that society is the sum of
interaction of the individuals and groups.

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  George Herbert Mead a founder of this perspective emphasized that a key feature that
distinguish humans from other animals is the ability to communicate in symbols (language is a
symbol) hence symbolic interactionism.
 The interactionist perspective studies how social structures are created in the course of
human interaction generating questions about:
 How people behave in groups.
 How social roles are learned.
 How society is constructed through interactions.

Criticism of the Interactionist perspective

 This perspective however fails to explain the way society shapes human interaction, because
human interaction takes place in social and cultural context.
 Assumes interaction takes place in a vacuum; fails to consider the wider structural factors
that create the context in which the interaction takes place.
 Fails to explain the origins of meanings that people attach upon actions.
 It fails to explain the source of norms and why people follow guidelines when they have
freedom.
 Ignores the idea of power and class domination. Liberty freedom and individuality are a
myth.

Real World Application:

Symbolic Interactionism and Marriage

 Symbolic interactionists would suggest that couples negotiate their particular roles.
Through verbal and non-verbal interactions,
 they can negotiate things like:
o If and how many children, they will have
o How domestic chores should be split
o How will they divide time for themselves from time with other couples and friends?

An overview of symbolic interactionism would show that:-

 People do not merely learn the roles that society has set out for them but they construct them.
 Individuals negotiate their definitions of the situations and socially construct the reality of these
situations.
 Symbols such as words and gestures help to reach a shared understanding of social interaction.

CONFLICT THEORY

 Macro-level focus. (Gives dominance to social structures)

 A theory associated with the German economist/historian Karl Marx and may be called
Marxist perspective.
 According to Karl Marx:
o Humans depend on each other for survival, protection, companionship and affection.
o Individuals differ in temperament, likes and dislikes, goal and desires.
o Change in society is brought by competing interests of various social classes resulting in
conflict.

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 o Conflict in society emanates from unequal access to economic resources.
o Conflict is normal; stability and order is not. (Karl Marx, 1818-1883)
 Max Weber adds that power and prestige also result in conflict.
 Conflict theorists, asset that groups in society are engaged in a continuous struggle for
scarce resources. Karl Marx believed that economic conditions were important in producing
inequality and conflict in society.
 Marx believed that society is constructed from classes: - it is peoples’ relationship to the
means of production that determine which class they belong.
 According to Marx those who own the means of production are the powerful in society and
these are the bourgeoisie or the capitalist also called the ruling class, this is the dominant
class in society. The subordinate class is the working class or the proletariat who own nothing
but their labour in order to survive.
Means of production: - basis for survival e.g. land for Agricultural societies,
industry for industrial societies/capitalist system.
Mode of production: -tools and machinery.
 Marx believes that in a capitalist society the capitalist is the ruling class while the working
class is the subordinate class.
 In Marx’s view society operates mainly through class conflicts; each class pursues its own
interests and this brings about conflict with other classes. “The history of all hitherto in
societies is the history of class struggle” Karl (Marx).
 In a capitalist society the capitalist and the working class are fundamentally opposed.
 Marx believed this will be okay as a result of class conflict.
 Max Weber believed that Karl Marx over emphasized the importance of class groupings.
 He recognised the importance of class groupings but considered political parties and status
groups to be powerful forces in society that do not necessarily derive their power on classes.
 Today there is a new group of theorist the neo- Marxist who follow the Marxist perspective.

Conflict theory therefore reflects the following major assumptions:-

 Society is characterized by pervasive inequality based on socio-economic factors such as social class,
level of income race, ethnicity, gender, identity and religion
 Far-reaching social change is needed to reduce or eliminate social inequality and to create an egalitarian
society.
Criticism of the conflict perspective.

 Conflict does not only occur between classes but even within classes, basing on sex,
race, ethnicity and religion.
 Marx’s concept of economic determinism places a lot of stress on economy as
determining all social life, giving power to economic structure while ignoring individual
creativity and freedom.
 Marx ignores women and their positions in society, Feminists argue that under capitalism
women suffer more than men as they are exploited by men.
 Ralf Dahrendorf (1959) sees the Marxist idea of history as basically a record of
class conflict as an oversimplification.
 Dahrendorf assets that in Morden industrial societies, conflict emanates from
authority relationships rather than economic interests.

Multidimensional view of society

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  This perspective believes that there is no single unifying set of theories explaining how
societies are formed and why they change.
 Social life involves a lot of issues thus it is doubtful whether a single set of theories will
ever explain everything.

TOPIC 2: SOCIALISATION:

 Theories of socialisation
 The process of socialisation
 Nature and nurture debate
 The nature of people without socialisation

The process of learning roles and the norms and values appropriate to members of society from
those around them is called socialization”.

 Socialization

Because people are born into an existing society they need to learn (be socialized) into the way of

the people (culture) of the people thus learning to be human

 Socialization is the process starting from birth ending at death.

o It is a process whereby humans become self-aware, knowledgeable and
skilled in the ways of the culture into which they are born.
o Psychologists believe that a child mind is born empty and as a result
everything that a person becomes is learnt through associating with
others; that is the socialization process.
 Socialization is the development of the social self; it is the way in which we
acquire the social and cultural knowledge of our society. Human personality is
developed and shaped through socialization.
 Society, through socialization inculcates in us what makes us feel guilty, anxious
or happy.
 The individual being socialized acquires a social self, an awareness of other
persons and their expectations and a social personality that reflects/mirrors
socially relevant patterns of behaviour, traits and values.
 Socialization therefore makes possible the transmission of culture from one
generation to the next and in this way culture is reproduced in the next
generation
 It is indeed a lifelong process as we learn new rules in new groups and new
situations ending only when one dies.
 Primary and secondary socialisation
 There are two type of socialization that take place in the life of individuals and these are:

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 o Primary socialization
 First socialization that takes place in a child’s life.
 Achieved through agents that are present at birth and early childhood such
as parents, brothers, sisters, guardians (family) and relatives and family
friends who frequent the household.
 Takes place by face to face interaction within the family and other intimate
groups in a child’s social environment.
 In this respect the family is the agent of primary socialization.
 The child learns the following in the home:
 To walk
 To talk
 To use various tools such as forks and knives.
 To know the difference between right and wrong
 How to relate properly with others.
 Gender roles: what it is to be masculine or feminine. (Through dress
and toys in early life and later through duties assigned.)
 Once the child learns to speak its through language that the child acquires
the rest of the culture.
 Many things learnt through primary socialization stay with us for life.
o Primary socialization is important to us as it helps us we can apply what we learn to
new and different situations. For example, we don’t just learn how to relate with
adults but to distinguish between different types of adults on the basis of their
status and relationship to us (Familiar and unfamiliar adults mean differently to the
child).
o Children tend to be quiet and shy to strangers; this is even seen in teen agers when
they meet strangers: it is because they are not sure of how to behave to these
strangers.
o Secondary socialization
 This socialization that takes place when the child leaves the family and
interacts with people outside the household.
 This is done by agents such as:
- School
- Church
- Peer group
- Mass media
- Work place
o Secondary socialization is important to us because we start to learn about the
nature of the social world beyond our primary contacts. There an unemotional
relationship outside the family and other primary agents of socialization.
o Talcott Parsons claimed that one of the main purposes or functions of secondary
socialization is to: “liberate the individual from a dependence upon the primary
attachments and relationships formed within the family group.”
 By this Parsons meant that the majority of people we meet in modern society
are strangers to us; we therefore have to deal them in terms of what they
can do for us and what we can do for them in particular situations.

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  In our primary social attachments there is love, trust, affection and so
forth, this cannot apply in our secondary social attachments.
 Primary and secondary socialization should reinforce each other but sometimes this is not
the case for example when we talk of peer pressure; what is learn in the home differs from
what the peers are giving the new member of society.
The theoretical dilemma
 Human beings have the ability to think about and reflect upon the nature of social world and
their position in that world.
 This ability allows people to develop values and norms that characterise the culture of
society.
 The fact that we are able to do this means that the cultural values and norms that we
create reflect back upon us.
o We are forced to recognise their existence and this, in turn, shapes the way we
think and act through the general socialization process in society.

This therefore creates a theoretical dilemma for all social science

 Our consciousness makes us able to create societies and shape them in any way we choose
thus people create society.
 On the other hand, the societies we create take on a life of their own that that is separate
from each individual. Society thus becomes a force we experience influencing our choice of
behaviour.
 If we have to be socialized into becoming a recognisable human being and this
socialization process reflects the values and norms of cultures and subcultures,
effectively society is creating us and not us creating society.
1. On one extreme we have Structuralists sociologist who argue that we are products of
society: - society shapes people in its own image.
 However, people do have individual levels of consciousness, creativity, and
understanding.
2. At the other extreme end are the Interactionist sociologists who emphasize the creative
aspects of human individuality: - people shape society in their own image.
 However, for all our supposed individuality we demonstrate very clear and broadly
patterns of behaviour that can only have been imposed on us by the social world.
 These are the two theoretical paradigms that show the relationship between the
individual and society.

THE CONCEPT OF THE SELF

Nurture/Nature debate: - this debate about whether what we come to be; our personality,
achievement, way of interacting with others and other aspects of our behaviour is influenced by our
genetic make-up (Nature) or by the social environment in which we are brought up (Nurture).

A story is told about triplets who were brought up by three different families only to meet for the
first time at college. Many people who knew them as brothers at college agreed that they
resembled each other not only physically but also with their mannerisms, likes and dislikes, sense of
humour and many more.

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  The similarity of physical appearance, personality and mannerisms seems to offer evidence
such traits may be genetic components (nature side of the debate); which attributes
individual characteristics largely to biological factors.
 In the case of the triplets, because each child was raised in a comfortable home with caring
parents they became good humoured (the nurture side of the debate).
 Sociologists argue that despite the role played by biological factors in shaping human
behaviour the social environment plays a major part.
 The discovery of untamed or feral children showed that children raised in extreme isolation
revealed lack of socialization.

Development of the self-Mead’s Theory of “The Self”:

 According to Mead, there are three activities through which the self is developed:
o Language,
o Play.
o Game.
1. Language allows individuals to take on the “role of the other” and allows people to
respond to his or her own gestures in terms of the symbolized attitudes of others.
2. During play, individuals take on the roles of other people and pretend to be those
other people in order to express the expectations of significant others.
o This process of role-playing is important to the generation of self-
consciousness and to the general development of the self.
o Children in their play they take roles of their parents, soldiers, police
officers nurses and so on.
o Children thus take the role of the significant other (People who appear large
to our lives) in their play.
o The significant other is the person whose behaviour we seek to model or
avoid.
o Even though children will be playing the play stage is important in the
development of a person’s social behaviour
3. In the game,
o The individual is required to internalize the roles of all others who are
involved with him or her in the game and must comprehend the rules of the
game.
o A person is able to evaluate his or her own behaviour according to the
group’s ideas of how a role should be performed.
o The generalised other is therefore a composite of all the roles of all the
participants in a game.
o It represents the voice of society which is internalised as a sense of right
and wrong (conscience).
 Mead’s concept of the “generalized other” is also essential to his theory, which he defines
as an organized and generalized attitude of a social group.
 The individual defines his or her own behaviour with reference to the generalized attitude
of the social group(s) they occupy.
 When the individual can view himself/herself from the standpoint of the generalized other,
self-consciousness in the full sense of the term is attained. The concept of the generalised
other can therefore be used to refer to expectations and standards of the overall society.

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 The “I” and the “Me”

The ways we choose to behave are conditioned by the social context of that behaviour. Mead
argued that our behaviour as individuals is conditioned by two aspects of our self-awareness (the
ability to see ourselves as others see us and react accordingly).

 According to Mead, the self has two sides.

1. The “me” represents the expectations and attitudes of others (the
generalized other).
o It is the organized set of attitudes of others that the individual assumes.
o The individual is dominated by society through the “me”.
o The “me” allows an individual to live comfortably in society.
o Conformists are dominated by the “me”.
o According to Mead individuals carry society within them and it is this that allows them to
control themselves through self-criticism. (what will people say if they hear I did this and
that)
2. The “I” is the response to the “me,” or the person’s individuality.
o The “I” is unpredictable and creative (revolutionary).
o It is selfish and does not think of what will happen (it challenges society).
o We are never totally aware of the “I” until we surprise ourselves and others with our
actions.
o We only come to know the “I” after the act has been carried out.
 The “I” is a major source change and innovation in society as it does not always
conform.
 According to Mead, the generalized other (internalized in the “me”) is the major instrument
of social control for it is the mechanism by which the community exercises control over the
conduct of its individual members.

An example of how the “I” and the “Me” operate.

If you accidentally put your hand in a fire;

1. The “I” aspect of the self is expressed by the way you react to the pain that you feel.
2. The “Me” aspect of the self, however specifically conditions the choice of your response to
the pain that you feel.
i. Who you are (social factors such as gender, age and so forth).
ii. Where you are (at home, in public etc.).
iii. Who are you being with (family, friends, people you don’t know, alone, etc.).
Thus
a. If you are a child your reaction may be to cry.
b. If you are a young man you may feel crying is not socially acceptable, so you
may swear loudly instead.
c. Swearing loudly may be if you are at home by yourself or with someone who
accepts the fact that you swear on occasions. Swearing may not be
acceptable if for example you are fixing a stranger’s fire as part of your job.

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 d. If you had been messing around with friends when you burnt your hand, their
reaction may be to laugh and make fun of your pain: laughter would not be an
acceptable reaction if it was your child that had burnt their hand.

The looking glass self by Charles H. Cooley

 Like Mead Cooley believed the individual is a social product.

 Individuals tend to reflect the behaviour of others towards them thus the individual
is a mirror image of society.
 Individual behaviour is shaped by what the individual believes is what the larger
society expects from them.
 We are continually attentive of the behaviour cues of others e.g. when dressing we
wonder whether they say we look good or whether we are expressing ourselves well.
 Cooley saw how the centrality of other people’s opinions becomes a dominant aspect
of our identity; the centrality of the role of others in defining the self.
 Cooley believes through these processes we actually come to be what we believe
other people think we are.
 To Cooley the individual and society are one; neither can be the understood without
the other

Functionalist views on socialisation

Parsons

 Socialisation helps to produce value consensus

 Creation and maintenance of value consensus allows society to meet basic needs; ( functional
prerequisites)
 Helps individual to internalise society’s values i.e. they become part of the individual’s
personality.
 Socialisation helps in pattern maintenance ( common culture)
 Socialisation therefore helps achieve the following
o Provides people with common goals
o Appropriate behaviour for particular roles e.g. mother, teacher, friend, pastor etc.
o Teaches social life norms.

The impact of lack of socialisation

Socialization is the process whereby infants and children develop into social beings. Among other
things;

 Children develop a sense of self, memory, language, and intellect.

 They learn from their elders the attitudes, values, and proper social behaviors of the
culture into which they were born.
 Becoming socialized benefits the individual by giving him or her tools needed for success in
the native culture. Socialization also benefits the society by providing continuity over time
and preserving its essential nature from generation to generation; Socialization connects
different generations to each other.

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Stories of children found after years of living in the “wild” without any human contact occasionally
appear in the literature. One of the most commonly cited examples is the Boy of Aveyron who
emerged little more than a “beast” from a forest in France in 1798.
“Unsocialised” children such as this boy typically: -
 look more animal than human,
 prefer to remain naked (at least at first upon being discovered),
 lack human speech,
 have no sense of personal hygiene,
 fail to recognize themselves in a mirror,
 show little or no reasoning ability, and
 Respond only partially to attempts to help them change from “animal into human.”
The phenomenon of feral (literally wild or untamed) children sparks much discussion regarding the
nature versus nurture debate because research shows that the state of these children seems to
suggest the important role that learning plays in normal human development.
Social scientists emphasize that socialization is intimately related to cognitive, personality, and
social development. They argue that socialization primarily occurs during infancy and childhood,
although they acknowledge that humans continue to grow and adapt throughout the lifespan.
Sociologists also refer to the driving forces behind socialization as socializing agents, which include
family, friends, peers, school, work, the mass media, and religion. 

TOPIC 3
FAMILY
 Various forms of families in Zimbabwe
 Perspectives on the family
 Changes in family and household patterns
 Changing patterns of marriage

 Domestic violence

Introducing Families and Households

Kinship, Households and Marriage
Sociologists recognise that it is no simple matter to define what is meant by a Family. It is first
useful to define the terms Kinship, Marriage and Household in order to analyse some of the
controversies surrounding the definition of "The Family".
 Kinship:  a relationship between people who are related to each other by blood, marriage or
adoption.
o These are often the same people we regard as our family but because our kin
relationships may spread very widely we may not regard our distantly related kin as
part of our family or certainly not as close family members. For example, would you

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 regard the children of your brother's wife's cousin as part of your family? Do you
know their names?  Have you ever seen them?
o Kin relationships generate patterns of obligations and expectations. However kin
obligations may not always be met and kin expectations may be frustrated.
 Household: this includes all of those who share a dwelling.
o These people may also be kin but may include others who are not joined by ties of
kinship.
o Sometimes none of the inhabitants who share a dwelling are related kin as, for
example, when a group of students or other young adults share a dwelling.
o Social Trends 2004 defines a household as "a person living alone or as a group of
people who have the same address as their only or main residence and who either
share one meal a day or share the living accommodation."
o An increasing percentage of adults living alone or sharing households are
nevertheless members of families living in other households and they have regular
contact with these family members so that although they live alone they still feel
very much part of their family.
  Marriage:  a socially approved union between a man and a woman such that children born to
the union are recognised as the legitimate offspring of both parents.
o In industrial societies with codified systems of law a marriage is also a legally
recognised union but in other societies without such codification a marriage may be
socially but not legally recognised.
  Different forms of marriage exist in different cultures.
o Monogamy is whereby one woman marries one man common in western societies.
However, because divorce is relatively common, adults may practise serial monogamy
where they have only one marital partner at any particular time but may divorce and
marry other partners at fairly regular intervals. The film star Elizabeth Taylor was
quite a famous serial monogamist having had about 8 husbands.
o Polygamy is an accepted form of marriage in other societies; one individual may have
with two or more partners concurrently. We may distinguish also between two types
of Polygamy:
a) Polyandry where a woman has more than one husband as may occur, for
example in Tibet. It should be noted that polyandry occurs more rarely than
polygyny and that most polyandry is fraternal where individual women marry
one or more brothers.
b) Polygyny where a man has more than one wife as in some Muslim societies.
Obviously, families based upon Polyandry and Polygyny is significantly
different from Western style families. It should be noted that in societies
where polygyny is practised it is practised almost entirely by relatively rich
men who can afford to support more than one wife and that the vast
majority of married men and women practise monogamous marriage.
Bearing in mind the above information on Kinship, Households and Marriage we can now begin to
analyse various approaches to the definition of the family and of families.
We could define the family as containing all related Kin: that is: as all individuals who are related by
blood, marriage and adoption. However, this definition of the family would exclude couples with or

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without children who are cohabiting rather than married since clearly the couple are not related by
blood, marriage or adoption and it would also include very distant relatives whom we might not
necessarily think of as family members.
THE FAMILY
The family is a social group characterised by common residence, economic cooperation and
reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved
sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted of the sexually cohabiting adults
( Murdock, 1949).  
For G P Murdock the family is “a social group” characterised by
o common residence,
o economic co-operation and
o Reproduction.
It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual
relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted of the sexually cohabiting adults".
Murdock also distinguished between
o Nuclear families [parents and dependent children]
- defined as a heterosexual couple and their children, natural or adopted, usually living
together in the same household. Nowadays they may also produce children via the
use of new reproductive technologies.
- This type of family is the dominant form in modern industrial societies because it
the one tha is functional.
o Extended families [comprising parents, children and other relatives]
- Typical of pre-industrial societies.
- The classic extended family is a nuclear family plus one or more additional
relations living in the same household. These families may be horizontally extended
to include, say siblings of the adult members of the nuclear family or vertically to
include grandparents or grandchildren.
- The modified extended family is a family in which members of a nuclear family
retain connections with other relatives who live apart from members of the nuclear
family.
- It is argued that where marriage is based on polygyny or polyandry special types of
extended families are created containing additional wives or husbands.
- We should note in relation to the nuclear family that the heterosexual couples may
be married or cohabiting.
- We should note that some families are defined as reconstituted families
- Some gay and lesbian couples may live with their children from previous
heterosexual relationships or they may adopt children or they may produce children
via the use of new reproductive technologies
Murdock claimed on the basis of his study of 250 societies of various types that "the nuclear family
is a universal social grouping.
According to Murdock the family performs the following functions for societies:
o the sexual,
o reproductive,
o economic and

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 o Educational functions.
These functions are seen as “essential for social life since
o without the sexual and reproductive functions there would be no members of
society;
o without the economic function, involving, for example, the provision of food, life
would cease and
o Without education, a term Murdock uses for socialisation, there would be no culture.
Which of the above mentioned personal relationships may reasonably be defined as Families? 
The Functionalist Perspective on the Family
The Functionalist View of Society
Functionalists regard society as a system made up of different parts which depend on each other.
Different institutions each perform specific functions within a society to keep that society going,
in the same way as the different organs of a human body perform different functions in order to
maintain the whole.
In functionalist thought, the family is a good thing; it is functional both for the individual members
and the wider society.
The family is a particularly important institution as this it is the ‘basic building block’ of society
which performs the crucial functions of:-

 Producing new members of society.

 socialising the young and
 Meeting the emotional needs of its members.
 Stable families underpin social order and economic stability.

Functionalists argue that the nuclear family is universal because it is functional for society and
because it operates in accordance with the natural characteristics of males and females. By
implication it seems that other family forms are inferior.  
A. George Peter Murdock – The four essential functions of the nuclear family
After studying 250 different societies Murdock argued that family was universal (in all of them).
Suggested there were ‘four essential functions’ of the family:

1. Stable satisfaction of the sex drive – within monogamous relationships

2. The biological reproduction of the next generation – without which society cannot continue.
3. Socialisation of the young – teaching basic norms and values
4. Meeting its members’ economic needs – producing food and shelter for example.

Criticisms of Murdock
1. Feminist Sociologists argue that arguing that the family is essential is ideological because
traditional family structures typically disadvantage women.
2. It is feasible that other institutions could perform the functions above.
3. Research has shown that there are some cultures which don’t appear to have ‘families’ – the
Nayar for example.
A. Talcott Parson’s Functional Fit Theory
- Parson’s has a historical perspective on the evolution of the nuclear family.

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 - His functional fit theory is that as society changes, the type of family that ‘fits’ that
society, and the functions it performs change.
- Over the last 200 years, society has moved from pre-industrial to industrial – and the main
family type has changed from the extended family to the nuclear family.
- The nuclear family fits the more complex industrial society better, but it performs a
reduced number of functions.
 The extended family consisted of parents, children, grandparents and aunts and uncles
living under one roof, or in a collection of houses very close to each other.
- Such a large family unit ‘fitted’ pre-industrial society as the family was entirely responsible
for the education of children, producing food and caring for the sick – basically it did
everything for all its members.
 In contrast to pre-industrial society, in industrial society (from the 1800s in the UK) the
isolated “nuclear family” consisting of only parents and children becomes the norm.
- This type of family ‘fits’ industrial societies because it required a mobile workforce.
- The extended family was too difficult to move when families needed to move to find work to
meet the requirements of a rapidly changing and growing economy.
- Furthermore, there was also less need for the extended family as more and more functions,
such as health and education, gradually came to be carried out by the state.

Criticisms of Parson’s Theory of Functional Fit

- Basically – it’s too ‘neat’ – social change doesn’t happen in such an orderly manner:
- Laslett found that church records show only 10% of households contained extended kin
before the industrial revolution. This suggests the family was already nuclear before
industrialisation.
- Young and Wilmott found that Extended Kin networks were still strong in East London as
late as the 1970s.

 Parsons – The two essential or irreducible functions of the family

 According to Parsons, although the nuclear family performs reduced functions, it is still the
only institution that can perform two core functions in society –
1. Primary Socialisation and
2. The Stabilisation of Adult Personalities.

1. Primary Socialisation – The nuclear family is still responsible for teaching children the norms and
values of society known as Primary Socialisation.

o An important part of socialisation according to Functionalists is ‘gender role socialisation.

o If primary socialisation is done correctly, then
- Boys learn to adopt the ‘instrumental role’ (also known as the ‘breadwinner role) –
they go on to go out to work and earn money.
- Girls learn to adopt the ‘expressive role’ – doing all the ‘caring work’, housework and
bringing up the children.

2. The stabilisation of adult personalities refers to the emotional security which is achieved within
a marital relationship between two adults.

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 o According to Parsons working life in Industrial society is stressful and the family is a place
where the working man can return and be ‘de-stressed’ by his wife, which reduces conflict in
society. This is also known as the ‘warm bath theory’

General Criticisms of Functionalism

1. Downplaying Conflict
- Both Murdock and Parsons paint a very rosy picture of family life, presenting it as a
harmonious and integrated institution. However, they downplay conflict in the
family, particularly the ‘darker side’ of family life, such as violence against women
and child abuse.
- It is argued that Murdock and later functionalists have overstated the
effectiveness of the nuclear family and neglected its possible disadvantages.
- According to its critics the nuclear family may, in several respects, be dysfunctional
2. Being out of Date
- Parson’s view of the instrumental and expressive roles of men and women is very old-
fashioned.
- Today, with the majority of women in paid work, and the blurring of gender roles, it
seems that both partners are more likely to take on both expressive and
instrumental roles
3. Ignoring the exploitation of women ( Ferminists)
- Women suffer from the sexual division of labour in the family this is ignored by
functionalists.
- Even today, women still end up being the primary child carers in 90% of families, and
suffer the burden of extra work that this responsibility carries compared to their
male partners.
- Gender roles are socially constructed and usually involve the oppression of women.
There are no biological reasons for the functionalist’s view of separation of roles
into male breadwinner & female homemaker. These roles lead to the disadvantages
being experienced by women.
4. Functionalism is too deterministic –
- It ignores the fact that children actively create their own personalities. An
individual’s personality isn’t pre-determined at birth or something they have no
control in.
- Functionalism incorrectly assumes an almost robotic adoption of society’s values via
our parents; clearly there are many examples where this isn’t the case.

- It is argued that the nuclear family is not a universal social institution.

- In the case of advanced industrial societies, it is argued that lone parent families,
heterosexual couples without children, gay and lesbian couples with or without
children and strong friendship groups can reasonably be defined as families.
- It is claimed that because other types of family arrangement exist both in advanced
industrial and elsewhere in the world it is illogical to assume that the operation of
the nuclear family derives from the requirements of human nature.

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 - Cross-cultural variations in family forms suggest that family forms are socially
constructed rather than determined by some universal human nature which is
invariant as between different societies
The sexual, reproductive, educational and economic functions performed by in
-
nuclear families can also be performed efficiently in other family forms in other
societies.
- Family functions may be fulfilled and perhaps in organisation which in some respects
are presented as alternatives to families. Check your textbooks for information on
Kibbutzim and Communes
 Marxist views on the Family
 Adopts a structuralist perspective
 The family is examined by looking at its relationship with the wider social structure by
focusing on:-
i. The influence of the economic base on the family
ii. The role of the family as part of the super structure in producing the class system.
The family as a product of the economic base
The family development through successive stages of history was traced by Engels and later by
Marxist this makes useful contrast with the ‘march of progress’ functionalist views.
The family as part of the superstructure
 It reproduces labour power: - physical and ideological reproduction at no cost to the
employer.
 Married women are a reserve army of labour, available for work when required but not seen
as having the right to work.
 Family is a refuge from brutality and alienation of working life: - members become obsessed
with love, sex, marriage and home comforts.
 Family is consumer base for modern capitalism as families demand family cars, consumer
durables, etc.
Feminist views on the family
 The family is not a voluntary unit based on love and choice but van economic unit which
creates and maintains female dependence.
 The family is not efficient in performing its functions as many women, children and old
people eventually depend on the state institutions for support and care.
 Child care is explained, not in terms of family relations, but its functions in industrial
society.
 Women are exploited by men as housework is real productive work. ( unpaid domestic work)
 Economic dependency makes and keeps women falsely conscious.
 Household Diversity and Family Diversity
 Household diversity has increased for the following reasons. [ In each case it is necessary to
analyse why these developments have occurred.]
1. More heterosexual couples choose to cohabit rather than marry although cohabitation may
be an introduction to subsequent marriage.
2.  More heterosexual couples, whether married or cohabiting, may choose to remain childless.
3.  More heterosexual couples make use of new reproductive technologies to produce children,

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 4. More Gay and Lesbian couples may choose to cohabit or to register their relationships as
civil partnerships and it is possible also that new legislation may soon be introduced to
enable Gay and Lesbian couples to marry.
- These couples may be childless;
- they may live with their children from previous heterosexual relationships or
- they may produce children via new reproductive technologies.
5. Increases in the rate of divorce and the growth of never married, non-cohabiting parents
have led to an increase in the number of lone parent families.
6. Increased divorce and remarriage results in the growth of reconstituted families containing
new partners' children from previous relationships perhaps as well as their own biological
children.
7. Extended families continue to exist: in some cases, extended kin live within the same
household but more often members of vertically extended and/or horizontally extended
families live in different households in what are sometimes called modified extended
families.
8. Increasing access to Higher Education and/or later marriage means that increasing numbers
of young adults live alone or with friends in shared households. Some sociologists have
argued that these friendship groups amount to primary groups which may involve sexual
relationships and/or very strong platonic friendships so that the group in effect takes on
some of the functions associated with families.
9. Also some adults who live alone may very well form committed relationships with partners
who live separately. Such people might be said to be "living alone together" and some would
describe such relationships as families.
Family diversity
1. Today an increasing number of individuals live in lone parent families containing a lone parent
[usually but not always a mother] and her/his children.
2. Some individuals live as childless couples, heterosexual gay or lesbian, married, cohabiting or
in civil partnerships.
3. Some individuals share households as friendship groups
4. Some individuals live alone.

 Family type Main Characteristics

 2 generations: parents and children [own or adopted] usually living in the same
household;
   parents may or may not be married;
Nuclear Families  either parents or children may be living away from the family household
  temporarily;
 relationship between parents may be patriarchal/asymmetrical or symmetrical;
 both, neither or one of the parents may be in paid employment
 Include all kin including and beyond the nuclear family.
Extended
 Distinctions are made between 
Families
- classic extended families where family members either share the same
household or live close by and
- Modified extended families where members live far apart but keep in
touch by phone etc.
 Distinctions are made also between

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 - vertically extended families and
- horizontally extended families

 There are different causes for the existence of lone parent families:
o divorce /separation of married partners,
o the ending of a cohabiting relationship,
Lone Parent o Death of a partner, single lone parenthood [i.e. never married, never
Families cohabiting parents.]
 Lone parents are more likely to be female than male.
 Lone parenthood is usually temporary and  many absent parents,  [usually fathers]
may still take some responsibility for the care of the child/children.

 One or both partners has been married previously [or has children from a
Reconstituted [or
cohabiting relationship];
blended or step]
 Children from previous relationship[s] live in the reconstituted family.
Families
 Possibly with children produced by the newly formed couple.
 Same sex couples living together with children.
 They may be cohabiting or may have registered the relationship as a Civil
Partnership and there is a possibility also that legislation may soon be introduced
to allow marriage between same sex couples.
Gay and Lesbian
 Gay and/or lesbian partners may bring children from previous heterosexual
Families;
relationships or may adopt or may produce children with the help of new
reproductive technologies.
 Gay and Lesbian couples with children are nowadays defined as families as for
example in Social Trends publications.

Childless
Heterosexual  Childless heterosexual couples whether married or cohabiting are nowadays usually
Couples= Childless defined as families, as for example in Social Trends publications.
Families

Childless Gay and

 Childless Gay and Lesbian couples whether married or cohabiting are
Lesbian  Couples=
nowadays usually defined as families, as for example in Social Trends publications.
Childless Families

 Couples may be married or cohabiting but could also be lone parents. A female may
be fertilised by a male other than her partner;
Families and the  May carry the baby herself or the fertilised egg may be implanted in another
impact of new woman... Even occasionally in the woman's mother.
reproductive  The question is raised whether the biological parents should be seen as part of the
technologies family and, in some cases who the biological mother actually is.
 Couples or lone parents who have produced children via new reproduction
technologies are defined as families.

Multi-Family  Contain more than one family: the families may be of differing types as defined
Households above

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  Young individuals living alone might still see themselves and be seen by their
One Person
parents as part of a nuclear family even though they are not living in a nuclear
Households:
family.
Individuals Living
 They might also be living alone together [LATS] and hence in a relationship which
Alone
approximates a family relationship but without common residence.

Households with  According to some sociologists some households with two or more unrelated adults
Two or More actually contain primary groups which take on some of the important functions of
Unrelated Adults families.

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