316) · Foucault - that social order is produced through the power of knowledge and discourse (that which is talked about), which are the products of historical processes (Silva, E, pg. 319) Buchanan’s and Monderman’s views on ordering public space will be used to further illustrate Goffman’s focus on the way people negotiate interactions with each other, his interactional order and Foucault’s emphasis on authoritative knowledge and application of order by authorities or experts. The two propositions are similar in that both are concerned with the wider questions of understanding how society is produced and reproduced and specifically how social order is made and remade. Goffman and Foucault both sought to make the often invisible social order visible albeit through differing mechanisms, Goffman through metaphor and Foucault through historical analysis. Similar claims were made around the ways of understanding singular issues in interaction, although Foucault focuses on the power of historical precedent and powerful discourse on shaping the individuals and society while Goffman focuses on individuals shaping society through their interactions, rituals and habits.
Marx believed that societies grew and changed due to struggles of different social classes. Durkheim believed in studying the “social facts,” which would help determine if a society was healthy or pathological. Weber’s focus on the structure of society included the elements of class, status and power. Each sociologist had a great influence in the field of sociology, but took different approaches to studying societies. Sociology enables us to understand how society functions and under which circumstances.
I looked at Goffman’s theory, he believes social order is produced through actions of individuals and their practises through living there lives. (Cited Goffman in Silva 2009) Foucault believes that social order is produced through discourse and the power of knowledge) in disciplining individuals. (Foucault cited in Silva 2009) These two theorist whilst asking the same question of how social order is made and remade, they drawn upon different ways of gathering evidence and the end outcome is two completely different theories that even though they are quite different ,both explain the connections between society and how individuals make and remake social order. The differences of these two theorists are very contrasting in that Foucault uses Macro social experiences in where large scale structures, patterns or systems and discourse affect the ordering of social life. He focuses with the historical side of social order and why, how and by who these interactions are authorized through power and knowledge.
Structural theories such as functionalism and Marxism are macro (large scale), and deterministic: they see society as a real thing existing over and above us, shaping our ideas and behaviour – individuals are like puppets, manipulated by society. Social action theorists use qualitative research methods to gather an in-depth understanding of human behaviour and the reasons behind such behaviour. This method investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where and when, for example, covert or overt participant observations and unstructured interviews. Structural approaches use methods that are scientific, as they want quantitative data (e.g. questionnaires and surveys).
The aim of sociological research is to establish causal explanations of social behaviour and the functions of social facts, this means if you can find the causes of negative behaviour, you can eliminate it and better the human condition. Durkheim’s theory on social facts is based on the belief that sociology can be treated like the natural sciences i.e. that laws and trends can be established that apply to everyone. The answer to this question depends on your interpretation of the term ‘science’ and your sociological perspective. According to Parsons, society is based on a value consensus, which is a set of agreed goals, values and roles that standardise and determine behaviour.
Social policy is government principles and legislation designed to deal with social problems like crime and poverty. However opinions from sociologists all vary on this matter because some believe that their research should feed into policy; whereas others are in the opinion that sociologists must find out what is happening, why it is happening and what can be done to solve the problem. There are many things that influence sociology on policy for example globalisation and policy preferences of the government at the time. This essay is going to examine the relationship between sociology and social policy. Positivists and functionalists such as Durkheim and Comte view sociology as a science and they argue that sociology can discover all the social problems.
Sociological Positivism vs. Social Constructionism Social phenomena exist and deserve explanation. Sociological Positivism and Social Constructionism are two differing social theories that seek to explain the cause of social phenomena. Although these theories are often in direct discourse, they are both highly accepted and are used frequently. Sociological Positivism was first theorized my Auguste Comte. It is described by Structural Anthropologist Edmund Leach as follows: "Positivism is the view that serious scientific inquiry should not search for ultimate causes deriving from some outside source but must confine itself to the study of relations existing between facts which are directly accessible to observation.
If you simply want to take a look into the behaviors of individuals then you will want to use qualitative research methodology. However, if you want to look at the statistics or percentage aspects of a situation then it is important that you use the quantitative research methodology. Mixed method research is actually where the use of quantitative and qualitative research method is both being used together to conduct a research and using both forms of data to come to a conclusion. It is appropriate to use both if a researcher wants to look at an issue in a 360 degree manor meaning they would like to see how many people the issue is actually affecting, as well as why it is affecting them. Scientifically sound research actually supports the function of a human service manager because the results or findings of this research is often backed up and proved successful by science laws, as well as being backed up by facts.
These big ideas can be categorized under social thinking, social influence, or social relations. The idea that we construct our social reality falls under social thinking, it describes the natural human urge to explain behavior, by attempting to attribute it to a cause, in order to make it seem orderly, predictable, and controllable (Myers, 2010). According to social psychology our social intuitions are powerful and sometimes perilous, suggesting that the human ability to understand something immediately, molds or influences behavior because it also shapes fears, attitudes, impressions, and relationships (Myers, 2010). It is also believed that social influences shape behavior as does behavior shape social influences. Myers (2010) provides an example as to how behavior is shaped by social influences making humans social creatures, “We speak and think in words we learned from others (Social psychology, p. 7).
Nature is our DNA/genes. It is all about the biological factors that affect development. Nurture is how we are brought up. It is all about the socioeconomic and environmental factors which affect development. Historically, some philosophers and theorists have argued that we are born to be the way we are.