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Unlock This CourseImagine looking at a building. If you stand in front of it, you see one view. Move to the side and you see something completely different. Sociological perspectives work the same way - they're different angles from which we can look at society to understand how it works.
Sociologists use these perspectives like special lenses to make sense of the social world around us. Each perspective focuses on different aspects of society and asks different questions about why things are the way they are.
Key Definitions:
Society is complex! No single theory can explain everything about how people interact, why inequalities exist, or how social change happens. Different perspectives help us see the full picture, just like how scientists might study the same problem using different methods to get a complete understanding.
The perspective a sociologist uses influences what they study, how they study it and what conclusions they draw. For example, someone using a feminist perspective might focus on gender inequalities in education, while someone using a Marxist perspective might focus on how education reproduces class inequality.
While there are many sociological perspectives, three have been particularly influential in shaping how we understand society: Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism. Let's explore each one.
Functionalism sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote stability and social order. Think of society like a human body - each organ has a specific function that keeps the whole body healthy.
Emile Durkheim's study of suicide (1897) showed how a seemingly individual act could be explained through social factors. He found that suicide rates were higher in Protestant communities than Catholic ones and higher during economic booms and busts than in stable times. This demonstrated how social integration and regulation affect individual behaviour - a classic functionalist analysis.
Marxism focuses on how economic factors shape society and create inequality. It sees society as divided into classes that are in conflict with each other over resources and power.
Marxists argue that schools prepare working-class children for working-class jobs by teaching obedience and punctuality rather than creativity and critical thinking. They point to differences between private schools (which teach leadership) and state schools (which focus more on following rules) as evidence of how education reproduces class inequality.
Feminism examines how gender shapes social experiences and focuses on understanding and challenging gender inequality. It looks at how society is organised in ways that privilege men over women.
In the UK, women earn on average about 15.5% less than men (Office for National Statistics, 2020). Feminist sociologists examine factors behind this gap, including occupational segregation (women concentrated in lower-paying jobs), the "motherhood penalty," and workplace discrimination. This analysis shows how gender inequality persists in modern society despite legal equality.
Strengths: Explains how different parts of society work together; helps us understand social stability.
Limitations: Downplays conflict and inequality; can justify social problems as "functional."
Strengths: Highlights inequality and power; explains social change and conflict.
Limitations: Focuses too much on class; can be deterministic about economic factors.
Strengths: Reveals gender inequality; shows how personal experiences connect to social structures.
Limitations: Different strands sometimes disagree; some critics say it focuses too much on women's experiences.
Let's see how each perspective might analyse the same social issue: family change in the UK.
Would see changing family forms (like more single parents) as potentially disruptive to society. Might focus on how new family types still perform important functions like socialisation and emotional support.
Would examine how economic factors (like both parents needing to work) shape family life. Might argue that family changes reflect changing needs of capitalism.
Would look at whether changing family patterns have reduced gender inequality. Might examine the "second shift" where women work but still do most housework.
No single perspective gives us the full picture of society. By using multiple perspectives, sociologists can develop a more complete understanding of social issues. It's a bit like the story of the blind men and the elephant - each one feels a different part and comes to a different conclusion about what an elephant is like. Only by combining their perspectives do we get a complete picture.
When you read news stories about social issues (like educational achievement, crime, or family change), try to identify which perspective is being used. Is the article focusing on how society functions as a whole? On economic inequality? On gender differences? Being able to recognise different perspectives will help you develop a more critical understanding of social issues.