SOCI 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Conflict Theories, Relate, Harrison White
19 Nov 2018
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Document Summary
Relational approaches to sociology put the relation at the core of social theory. The relation is a basic unit of analysis. Different ideas of what relation means, but there is a widespread agreement about what it is not. Not society (or an established part of society) Often, top-down sociology takes the view that the core unit of analysis should be a large superstructure. People do what they want because of the function of society as a whole and their particular institutional context. People do what they do because of their relationship to systems of economic production. Most sociology explains behaviour using the individual as the base unit. Irreducible pieces out of which relations, institutions and society as a whole are built. Individuals are confronted with situations and choose how to behave based on internal preferences. People act based on the values associated with their cultural background and individual needs.
