Berger and Luckmann (1967:15-22) argue that social relativity is inherent in reality and knowledge, hence, its collection is defined by social contexts imperative for sociological analysis. They contend that analysis should be conscious of varieties of knowledge in human societies to maintain their position on the social construction of reality. For them, there is a relationship between human thoughts, history and social context. They draw on Mannheim’s work that society is imperative for the content of human ideas to argue that knowledge is always from a particular position. The influence of ideology can only be mitigated by the analysis of diverse socially
In the position as a student of sociology, I believe the Functionalist theory best describes society. The functionalist theory is viewed to sociologist as society to a living organism. Each part serves an important role in keeping society together. Many sociologist classify this theory as macro-level; large in scale. Including social institutions, a system of behavioral and relationship patterns, having specific roles to perform to make society.
Symbolic Interactionism: How Reality is Created Symbolic interactionism emphasizes the micro-processes through which people construct meanings, identities, and joint acts. In doing so it accentuates how symbols, interaction, and human agency serve as the cornerstones of social life. Is a theorical approach to understanding the relationship between humans and Society. The basic notion of symbolic interactionism is that human action and interaction are understandable only through the exchange of meaningful communication or symbols. In this approach, humans are portrayed as acting as opposed to being acted upon.
Adler used a holistic approach that the person is a whole and cannot be treated in parts. The most significant concept that Adler presented is social interest and community feeling. Social interest incorporates the involvement of the individual to better the future of society. Community feeling is the ability of the individual to be connected with others. Adler’s consideration of birth order and sibling relationships is a unique contribution.
The results indicated that that the most important factors affecting identity ranked in their order of importance are cohesiveness, voice and consensus respectively Introduction Social identity refers to how human beings make sense of each other. As such, social identity is critical to the construction of culture and by extension society (Turner, 1985). Human beings need to know the affiliations, beliefs, intentions of others to interpret their actions and/or predict their future behavior (Turner et al. 2008). While the qualities aren’t observable directly, they can be externally manifested through signals revealing of internal self (Turner et al.
The impact on the personality of the individual, it has the characteristics of participation in the life of the community. The variety of contacts, relationships and active participation in the life of the surrounding general give shape to the human personality. There are two types of social structure, macro and micro which allows the individual to notice, whatever man is constantly in contact, which affects the shape of humans’ personality. One of the most important perspectives of sociological theories is the distinction between structural and social action. Structural action, in other words structuralism, is a perspective which is concerned with the overall structure of society and sees individual behavior molded by social institutions like the family, the educations, the mass media and work.
Turning back to the original formulation of this relationship by Husserl, we discover problems of transcendental intersubjectivity, of type and essence, and of objectivism. We then point out the existence of sociologies which do not share the shortcomings of what is called phenomenological sociology, yet which make use of the perspective and approach of phenomenology. We then focus on one of these sociologies, ethnomethodology in its relation to phenomenology. We find parallels in their methodology and domains of inquiry, and divergency in their approaches to intersubjectivity. There is increasing interest in something called "phenomenological sociology."
Knapp describes how "people act on the basis of their values; their actions are oriented and constrained by the values and norms of people around them; and these norms and values are the basis of social order" ( 1994:191-192). As this essay progresses, the comparison of both Parson’s and Goffman’s theory’s will be expressed in order to understand the way in which society controls the actions and goals of people in their everyday lives and how both functionalist and symbolic interactionist views can be linked to social order and norm expectations. Erving Goffman was a key micro-sociologist and symbolic interactionist who was interested in the ways in which people were influenced and affected by their surroundings
The cultural aspect of the sociological imagination involves the “learned ideas, values, knowledge, rules and customs shared by members of a collectivity” (Holmes et al, 2003, pg 11). Culture in the sociological imagination allows the comprehension of why people hold certain ideas and values, and follows certain rules and customs. The critical aspect of the sociological imagination stipulates the initiative to analyze. Although it is, by human nature, to assume the meaning of actions carried out by people, C. Wright Mills claims that assumptions are not enough. Through assumptions, many things are taken for granted and the true meaning is not revealed.
They suggest norms and values are flexible guidelines. We apply meanings to social behaviour and are aware of how others see that behaviour and how we should act in a given situation. ----------------------- Social action theory Phenomenology Symbolic interactionism Ethnomethodology Structuration theory Weber Blumer Meaning Goffman Cooley Mead Schutz Garfinkel Giddens Structural and action approaches are both important to fully understand human behaviour. To get a full sociological explanation involves two levels: The level of cause and the level of meaning. (E.g.