SOC101Y1 Chapter Notes -George Herbert Mead, George Ritzer, Symbolic Interactionism
Document Summary
Human behaviour is governed by relatively stable social structures, ex. Social structures maintain or undermine social stability, ex. Growth of industry lowers social solidarity and creates social instability, leading to suicide. Social structures are based mainly on shared values. Re-establishing equilibrium can solve most social problems, ex. Social stability can be restored by creating unions. Some social structures may have different consequences for different categories of people: conflict theory. Focuses on large, macro-level structures such as class relations, ex. Shows how patterns of inequality in society produce social stability or change. Stresses how members of privileged groups try to maintain their advantages while subordinate groups try to increase theirs. Usually leads to the suggestion that decreasing privilege will improve human welfare and decrease conflict: symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism focuses on face-to-face interaction a micro level, such as between friends or family, ex. It emphasizes that understanding human behaviour requires understanding of the subjective meanings people attach to their social world.
