01:920:101 Chap.2 Sociological Theories and Paradigms
Sociological Theories and Paradigms
Theory is the part of the course the review sheet tells you never to put away. It names Durkheim, Marx and Weber as the key theorists and functionalism, conflict theory and symbolic interactionism as the key paradigms, and says they provide the framework for integrating every later topic. This chapter treats them as tools for explaining a pattern, each with a question it is good at and a blind spot.
Durkheim asked what holds a society together. His concepts of social facts and anomie, and his study showing that suicide rates vary between groups, established that even personal acts have social causes. Marx asked who owns and who works, and saw capitalism as a system of class conflict; the review sheet asks how today's wealth gap fits his ideas.
Weber added culture and organisation, describing rationalisation as the spread of efficiency and technical rules through bureaucracy, science and technology. The paradigms turn those founders into approaches. Functionalism explains institutions by the needs they meet and separates manifest from latent functions. Conflict theory explains arrangements by the interests of powerful groups.
Symbolic interactionism looks at how people create meaning through symbols in everyday exchange, and rational choice theory treats action as a weighing of costs and benefits. The chapter adds feminist theory, intersectionality and W. E. B. Du Bois's idea of double consciousness, all listed on the review sheet.
Recitation practises theory by giving each group a scenario, such as the pay gap between executives and ordinary workers, and asking for two competing explanations. The full chapter works that exact exercise and shows how to end an answer with an observation that would separate the two theories.
Theory questions on Exam 1 usually describe a claim and ask which theorist or paradigm it belongs to, or give a paradigm and ask for its limitation. The review sheet also asks for a modern example of Marx's ideas and how different theories can be applied to life events, so practise short applications as well as definitions.
Rational choice theory and the concept of a symbol appear on the sheet too, even though they receive less lecture time, and they are easy points if you learn their one-line definitions.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Durkheim: social facts, anomie and suicide
- 02
Marx: capitalism and class conflict
- 03
Weber: rationalisation
- 04
Functionalism, conflict theory, interactionism and rational choice
- 05
Feminist theory, intersectionality and double consciousness
- 06
Applying two theories to one scenario
Worked example · free
Two theories explain a fast-food habit
- 3Functionalist account: the need that cheap, fast meals meet for busy households.
- 3Conflict account: who profits, and where healthier food is scarce or costly.
- 2Separating test: an observation only one account predicts.
Key terms
- Anomie
- Durkheim's term for normlessness, the condition when rapid change leaves the old rules unable to guide behaviour and new ones are not yet settled.
- Rationalisation
- Weber's term for the reorganisation of social, economic and cultural life around efficiency and technical knowledge, visible in bureaucracy and science.
- Latent function
- An unintended and often unrecognised consequence of an institution, as opposed to its manifest, intended purpose.
- Double consciousness
- Du Bois's description of seeing oneself both through one's own eyes and through the eyes of a society that devalues one's group.
- Intersectionality
- The idea that race, class, gender and other positions combine to shape experience, rather than adding up as separate disadvantages.
- Social construction of reality
- The process by which people create shared definitions of the world through interaction, so that categories feel natural and have real effects.
Sociological Theories and Paradigms FAQ
How can I tell functionalism and conflict theory apart in an exam option?
Look for the verb. If the option explains an arrangement by the need it serves or the stability it provides, it is functionalist. If it explains the arrangement by who benefits, who controls resources or who is disadvantaged, it is conflict theory.
What did Durkheim's study of suicide show?
It showed that suicide rates differ systematically between social groups, depending on how strongly people are integrated into and regulated by them. That made an apparently individual act evidence for social causes, which is why it is cited as a founding study.
Why does sociology keep several theoretical perspectives?
Each paradigm answers a different kind of question well: stability, power, meaning or choice. A strong answer picks the perspective whose assumptions fit the case and says what it leaves out, instead of treating one theory as universally correct.
Exam move
Build a one-page grid of the three founders and four paradigms with one concept, one example and one limitation each. Then take any later chapter topic and write two sentences explaining it with two different paradigms. Test yourself by covering the names in your grid and identifying each theorist from a single concept.
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