SOC 100 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Verstehen, Symbolic Interactionism, Social Change
Document Summary
Sociological theory asks the big questions: what is society, what causes social change, why is there injustice/inequality, how is the individual related to others, how does one approach the study of society (sociology) The original schools: conflict (weber and marx, functionalism (durkheim, symbolic interaction (mead) And views the original schools missed: race and gender. Positivism vs. verstehen: positivism- uncovering natural laws (comte, look for laws that govern society, standing back, marx, relies heavily on objective on natural science. I can see it, i can believe it: verstehen- subjective, understating the experience of the subjects, weber, give deeper understanding by getting close up and talking to people, but risk of loss of objectivity. Approach knowledge and the way we gather knowledge is flawed, we can"t generate the way we get knowledge: can science be influenced by larger culture-> is it used to please people in power of culture- connect to social.
