Sociologists have covered a vast amount of material in their accumulated studies. Some, like Karl Marx, studied broad issues related to all societies. He theorized that the root of human misery lies in the unequal distribution of wealth in society. Others, like Emile Durkheim, focused on more concise topics. He concentrated much of his effort on determining why certain sects of people are more likely to commit suicide than others. Still others, like Max Weber, studied patterns in culture throughout history to determine how much a social group can affect one’s life. Although many sociologists study different topics, they all use their recorded data to produce theories. These theories suggest how certain parts of the world fit together and how they function. If you break the theories down further, you can classify them into three distinct categories: symbolic interactionism, functional analysis, and conflict theory. All three can use different observations to prove the same point.
First, symbolic interactionism. This theory initially posited that one evaluates oneself based on the behavior of others. Over the years, symbolic interactionism has also shown that people use symbols to encapsulate their experiences. Symbolic interaction generally takes place at the microsociological level. That is, it examines patterns of social interaction on a small scale. For example. If you think of a family member as an aunt or uncle, you will behave in a certain way. If the person is a best friend, you will behave quite differently. Without symbolic interaction, we would have no way of defining relationships and would be reduced to a level of animal interaction. In short, symbolic interactionists analyze how our behaviors depend on the ways we define ourselves and others.
Functional analysis basically states that society is a whole made up of independent parts working together. A sociologist mentioned earlier in the paper, Emile Durkheim, was one of the most prominent sociologists associated with this view. His work pointed out that although all of society works together, individual sects of people may be more likely to do certain things than others. Most notable of all his studies is probably his work to find social factors that may contribute to a person’s likelihood of suicide. He observed that how strong or weak social ties are has a strong impact on the suicide rate in a social group. For example, women and Protestants are more likely to commit suicide because their ties to their social groups are weaker. In addition, he pointed out that if the bonds are too strong, the risk of suicide also increases. A man who loses his spouse may be more likely to commit suicide because he sees death as a better option than living without his wife. In this case, his feelings were deeply embedded.
Finally, there is conflict theory. This theory arose as a result of Karl Marx’s studies on social equality. He concluded that the key to human history is class struggle. This meant that a small group of people controlled the media, while a much larger group of workers was exploited for their benefit. This, of course, was recorded at a time when workers’ rights, labor laws, and capitalism were in their infancy. For the most part, workers were at the mercy of their employers. Marx suggests that if all wealth were shared equally, humans could coexist in harmony.
These three theories not only explained human interaction when they were created many years ago, but can also be applied to more modern situations today. For example, Emile Durkheim. His studies of human interaction indicated that the group of people one is surrounded by determines how one behaves. If Durkheim were alive today and intended to undertake a study of gangs, he would probably begin by looking at what kinds of external factors lead to an individual’s desire to join one. Outside forces, such as parental abandonment, lack of friendship, and lack of social activity, could be considered legitimate reasons for one to join a gang. Upon entering, Durkheim would follow various gang members and see how drastically a person’s values would change to fit the gang’s lifestyle. In short, he would show that weak ties to family feed the desire for strong ties to another source, whether that source is a positive or negative influence.
The three sublevels of Theoretical Perspectives help us better understand how sociologists make their theories and how they will experiment to try to test them. Although there is no single way to produce sociological theories, each of the subcategories listed in this essay can offer a legitimate explanation for almost any sociological problem.