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HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY?

HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY?. Society is pictured as an overarching system that works down on individuals and groups to shape the social order. Society is understood as a reality “sui generis” It operates according to its own logic distinct from the will of individuals.

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HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY?

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  1. HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • Society is pictured as an overarching system that works downon individuals and groups to shape the social order. • Society is understood as a reality “sui generis” • It operates according to its own logic distinct from the will of individuals. • This orientation has assumed different names: • Macro • Holistic • Objectivist • Structuralist • Collectivist © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

  2. HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • Individuals and groups create, re-create, or alter the social order that produces society. • This position grants more autonomy to actors • As relatively free to reproduce the patterns and routines of social life (i.e., the social order) or transform them. • This orientation has several names: • Micro • Elementarism • Subjectivist, • Individualist (textbook). © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

  3. Basic Theoretical Continuum as to the Nature of Social Order © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

  4. HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • Regarding the question of action, there are two answers--nonrationaland rational. • Action is primarily nonrational when guided by: • Values • Morals • Norms • Traditions • The quest for meaning • Unconscious desires • And/or emotional states • The rationalist --Individual and group actions are motivated primarily by attempt to maximize rewards while minimizing costs. © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

  5. Basic Theoretical Continuum as to the Nature of Social Action © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

  6. Theorists’ Basic Orientation © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

  7. HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • The four cells are identified as: • Individual-nonrational • Individual-rational • Collective-nonrational • Collective-rational • These four coordinates are “ideal types” • Theorists and theories are never “pure.” © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

  8. HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • This map is something youapply to the theories in order to better analyze and understand them. • All of theorists address the questions of order (stability) and action (change). • However, they generally do not use these terms in their writing. © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

  9. HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • These maps enable you to: • (1) Recognize general tendencies within each theorist’s work • (2) Compare and contrast (and argue about) the general theoretical orientations. © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

  10. HOW CAN WE NAVIGATE SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY? • It is essential to remember that this four-cell table is an analytical device • Helps us: • Understand • Compare • Contrast theorists • It does not mirror or reflect reality © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

  11. Why Do People Stop at Red Traffic Lights? © 2010 Sage/PineForge All rights reserved

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