Реферат: Basic perspectives and schools of developing sociology in the XX century

Phenomenology – a philosophical doctrine proposed by Edmund Husserl based on the study of human experience in which considerations of objective reality are not taken into account.

Populism – a doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite.

Positivism – a dominant theory in sociology of the XIX century that genuine knowledge is acquired by science and that metaphysical speculation has no validity. It was based largely on the ideas of the French philosopher Auguste Comte, which were further elaborated in works of D. Mills, H. Spenser and other researchers.

Postmodernism – contrasted by modernism, whose authors attempted to come to new terms with old ideas in attempt to find the “deep structure” of the human experience, postmodernism is identifiable by authors who were highly skepticalof any “deep structure,” regarding all structures as subjective and ideologically tainted.

Rationalization – the move away from supernatural to rational and empirical modes of thought.

Social conflict – a confrontation of social powers.

Social Darwinism – an attempt to adapt Charles Darwin natural selection principles to human society, thus producing a culture that embraces the “survival of the fittest”. Natural selection, when applied to a society, also includes such factors as organizational ability, talent to inspire others, creativity, perseverance, mental flexibility, etc., in addition to physical fitness.

Social exchange theory – a theory that focuses on the exchanges that cohere individuals with each other and with groups; it is based on a central premise that the exchange of social and material resources is a fundamental form of human interaction.

Social equality – everybody’s equality to be subject to law, equal rights to occupy public posts, equal political rights (as those of freedom of speech, conscious, union etc.) and equal rights to education (by P.A. Sorokin).

Social mobility – any transition of an individual or social object from one social position to another.

Social psychology – a sub-discipline of both sociology and psychology which involves the intersection of the social and the individual where the individual is influenced by the social and, in turn, interacts with the social and affects it as well.

Social stratification – division of the society into strata (layers) that differentiate from each other by their wealth, activities, political views, cultural orientations etc.

Sociometry – the quantitative study of social relationships;a way of measuring the degree of interpersonal relationships between people.

Structural functionalism – a theoretical perspective headed by T. Parsons with a particular emphasis on function, interdependence, consensus, equilibrium, and evolutionary change. The structure part of the approach is that institutions and structures exist in the society as a whole. The functional part is that different parts of each society contribute positively to the operation or functioning of the system as a whole. These parts usually work together in an orderly manner, without great conflict. Different parts are usually in equilibrium, or moving toward equilibrium, with consensus rather than conflict governing the inter-relationships of the various parts. Change tends to be orderly and evolutionary, rather than revolutionary or with dramatic structural breaks.

Symbolic interactionism – a sociological perspective which studies how individuals and groups interact, focusing on the creation of personal identity through interaction with others. Of particular interest is the relationship between individual action and group pressures.

Weberian sociology – a doctrine elaborated by M. Weber which is based on the concept of social action understood as behaviour to which humans attach a specific meaning or set of meanings; it is to interpret and suggest understanding of what subjective motives of human actions are, that’s why Weberian sociology is called Interpretive or Understanding sociology.

Additional literature

· Blau P. Exchange and Power in Social Life. (3rd edition). – New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers, 1992. – 354 p.

· Bourdeiu P. Logic of Practice. – Cambridge: Polity Press, 1990. – 382 p.

· Coser L. The Functions of Social Conflict. – Glencoe, Ill: Free Press, 1956. – 188 p.

· DurkheimE.The Division of Labour in Society. – New York, NY: Free Press; 1997. – 272 p.

· DurkheimE.Suicide. – New York, NY: Free Press; 1951.– 345 p.

· Goldthorpe J. H. Class Analysis and the Reorientation of Class Theory. – British Journal of Sociology , 1996, # 47.

· Homans G.Elementary Forms of Social Behavior. (2nd edition) – New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974.