DESCRIPTION OF INTERACTIVE

Structural Functionalism.

Definition:

Structural Functionalism is a macro theory that looks at how all structures or institutions in society work together.  Examples of structures or institutions of society include: education, health care, family, legal system, economy, and religion. 

Key Concepts:

• Society is seen as an integrated whole, where all parts are interconnected. 
• Every structure in society works together to play a vital function to maintain stability and the well-being of its members.
• This theory focuses on the roles people perform and the idea that behaviour follows established norms, which helps to maintain social order.
• Institutions and people are interconnected;  when something shifts, either in the institutions or in the people, the other has to change or compensate to restore the equilibrium. 
• It can help to think of it this way: functionalists compare society to the human body;  each part of society serves a function, just like our organs do.
   

Key Figure:

Emile Durkheim: 1858-1917.
As a researcher and a theorist, Emile Durkheim is credited as the one who made studying sociology a science. He did this through systematic examination of the ways in which social institutions and human beings interact with each other and influence each other. Because he looked at the ways in which social institutions or structures function, this theory became known as structural functionalism.

Conflict Theory.

Definition:

Conflict Theory is a macro approach that examines the role that power plays in society and how it can be used to have control over others.

Key Concepts:

• Society is organized into two groups: those with and those without power.
• Those with the most power have the most wealth, prestige, and privileges, and therefore are able to limit the less powerful. Exploitation can result.
• There is constant tension between the classes of society. Conflict theorists ask for whom is society functioning?  For whom is it not? 
• Society is constantly experiencing change due to competition over resources, as observed during the Industrial Revolution, where the small number of wealthy factory and business owners were referred to as the bourgeoisie.  The working class were known as the proletariat.  Because they did not have wealth nor power, the proletariat were really at the mercy of the bourgeoisie who were maintaining their own position of power.  For more information, check out Wikipedia.

Key Figure:

Karl Marx: 1818-1883.
Marx observed power structures in society.  He saw the distribution of power as being top heavy; that is, power was tightly controlled by the few individuals at the top who had money and influence. They constructed society to keep themselves in power and to minimize the influence of the masses, creating class conflict. 

Feminist Theory.

Definition:

Feminist Theory examines social issues from both macro and micro perspectives, and focuses on the experience of gender.

Key Concepts:

• Focuses on women’s experiences, gender roles, and socio-economic inequalities between men and women.
• At the macro level, feminist theorists study the economic systems and societal ideologies (beliefs) that give rise to inequality.
• At the micro level, feminist  theorists study communication, attitudes, and values of men and women.
• Current focuses for feminist theorists also includes the discrimination, the rights, and equal status of the LGBTQ community.  For information, check out Wikipedia.

Key Figure:

Dorothy Smith: born 1926.

Dorothy Smith is one Canadian feminist theorist who has focused on how women have been marginalized in society. She works towards reframing a study of society that can reflect the realities and experiences of people beyond the confines of traditional constructs or concepts of gender, race, or economic status.

Symbolic Interaction.

Definition:

Symbolic Interactionism is a micro theory that concentrates on how individuals attach meaning to situations and how it influences behaviour.

Key Concepts:

• This theory focuses on how the human mind intervenes between what we observe and how we act.
• The human mind is impacted by life experiences and personal events.
• Behaviour is based on people’s thoughts of themselves and of others.

Key Figure:

George Herbert Mead: 1863 - 1931.

George Mead believed that individuals create meaning through their interactions with the world around them.  Specifically, a person develops a self-concept based on the ways in which he or she has interacted with others. This self-concept then also defines how the individual acts and behaves in society.