SOC 101 Study Guide - Final Guide: George Herbert Mead, Herbert Blumer, Symbolic Interactionism

• School: Bishop's University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 101
• Professor: Barry Mc Clinchey

Document Summary

View the social world as a dynamic system of interrelated and interdependent parts. View human society as being similar to an organism. Society is made up of structures that work together for the good of the collective. Assumes that changes in one area of society may lead to changes in others. Functionalists assert that change is possible when the system faces challenges or dysfunctions. Based on the assumption that society is grounded upon inequality and competition over scarce resources that ultimately result in conflict, which often inspires social change. Power is the core of all social relationships am dos scarce and unequally divided among members of society. Social values and the dominant ideology are vehicles by which the powerful promote their own interests at the expense of the weak. How society is characterized by how power defines and influences virtually all human interactions.