Social Structures: Macrosociology vs. Microsociology

Social Structures - Macrosociology vs. Microsociology: Macrosociology is the large scale, where you look at large phenomena and patterns that can affect everybody on a societal level Functionalism looks at society as a whole and how the institutions that make up society adapt to keep society stable and functioning Conflict theory is the idea that societies are made up of institutions that benefit the powerful and generate inequalities (conflict is present until power is distributed equally) Microsociology looks at the smaller scale, day to day interactions between individuals or even small groups (since its a sample, it’s more of an interpretive understanding of society) Basically, microsociology looks at smaller groups to see how it affects society as a whole and macrosociology looks at the big picture to see how it affects individuals Social Institutions: Institutions meet the needs of society (i.e. schools, police, walmart, etc. but also includes, families, legal system, etc.) and continue on even after individuals are gone/dead - - Social Institutions - Education, Family, & Religion: Educational institutions show us more than just equations and language, we learn how to stand in line, how wait our turn to ask questions, how to interact with and treat others, etc. Family institutions can vary greatly, such as a rural large family and an urban small family. They can include families with straight parents or those with gay parents (no one uniform type of family) Religious institutions can also vary greatly from going to church every week to reading the bible sometimes Churches are established religious bodies, like the Roman Catholic Church Sects tend to be smaller and are established as a “revival” that breaks away from a church Cults are more radical, they break away and reject the values of outside society, undergoing a complete religious renovation (rise when there is a breakdown of societal belief systems but they’re usually short lived since they depend on an inspirational leader who will only live for so long) Secularization is the weakening of social and political power of religious organizations (religion is declining) Fundamentalism is when people go back to the strict religious teachings and beliefs and can create social problems when individuals become too extreme (i.e. they strictly uphold religious scriptures) Social Institutions - Government, Economy, Health, & Medicine: Some governments respect the will of the people in the form of democracies while others are authoritarian and under the command of one singular dictator (without the consent of the citizens). There is also communism which is a classless, moneyless system where all property is owned by the community and a monarchy is where there is a king/queen in charge Medicalization occurs when human conditions get defined and treated as medical conditions, and become a subject of medical study, diagnosis, and treatment (i.e. people are becoming overdiagnosed with depression & ADD) → turning a “bad” behavior into a “sick” behavior Sick role is the expectation in society that allows you to take a break from responsibilities in order to get better when you’re sick (if you don’t come back or don’t get better, then you are viewed as deviant and harmful to society) Functionalism: Functionalism is a system of thinking based on the ideas of Emile Durkheim that looks at society from a large scale perspective and examines the necessary structures that make up a society and how each part helps to keep the society stable (i.e. society looks to reach equilibrium) Manifest functions are recognized and intended consequences of institutions Latent functions are unrecognized and unintended consequences of institutions As a community grows, people begin to specialize (not everyone needs to grow food, so some go to teach, others make food, etc.) Conflict Theory: Conflict theory is a way of studying society that focuses on the inequalities of different groups in a society (based on the ideas of Karl Marx where a society evolves through different steps, including feudalism, capitalism, and finally socialism) Karl Marx believed that the inequalities generated between the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat would lead to a change in society (redistribution of good) → class consciousness occurs once the majority of the proletariats realize they are on the same page Social Constructionism: Social constructionism is a theory that knowledge and many aspects of the world around us are not real in it of themselves and only exist because we give them reality through social agreement (i.e. nations, books, money, etc.) → which don’t exist in the absence of human society - Weak social constructionism proposes that social constructs are dependent on brute facts (which are the most basic/fundamental that don’t rely on other facts) → institutional facts are those that we have given purpose to (such as money) - Strong social constructionism states that the whole of reality is dependent on language and social habits (i.e. all knowledge is a social construct and that there are no brute facts → there are no facts that just exist), only explains reality through the thoughts of humans - 1. 2. 3. Symbolic Interactionism: Symbolic interactionism takes a small scale view of society and focuses on the small scale perspective of the interactions between individuals (i.e. hanging out with a friends as opposed to looking at large scale institutions such as the law) We act based on the meaning we give to something We give meaning to things based on social interactions (same thing can have different meaning for different people) The meanings we give something is not permanent, it can change over time due to everyday interactions Rational Choice-Exchange Theory: Rational choice theory is the idea that everything people do is rational (meaning that they weigh the costs against the benefits) and has 3 main assumptions: Completeness which is the idea that all actions can be ranked (A > B > C) Transitivity says that if A > B and B > C, then A > C Independence of irrelevant alternatives says that if an additional choice is available, such as X, then it won’t change the previous ranking (A > B > X > C shows that the previous statements are still correct) Exchange theory is an application of rational choice theory to social interactions (looks at society as a series of interactions between individuals) and is often used to study family relationships, work relationships, partner selection, etc. If you do something that leads to social approval, you’ll keep doing it and if you do stuff that leads to social disapproval will lead you to not do it as much Extra Notes: Patrilocal family lives with or near the husband’s family/tribe Neolocal family lives away from both of the couples’ families/tribes Ambilocality is the custom that the post-martial couple can reside with or near either of the couples’ families/tribes Matrilocal family is the custom of living near the wife’s family/tribe Demedicalization is the normalization of a “sick” behavior