How sociologists approach the study of society

What sociology is

Why do some students do better at school than others? Why do families look so different today? Sociology studies how society shapes people, and how people shape society. This lesson covers the big approaches sociologists use: the main perspectives, and the debate about how to study society scientifically.

Structure and action

Structural approaches say society's structures, such as the economy, the family and education, shape how people behave. Action, or interactionist, approaches say people create society through their everyday interactions and the meanings they give to things. Most sociologists accept that both matter.

Functionalism

Functionalists, such as Durkheim and Parsons, see society like a human body: each part, or institution, has a function that helps the whole survive. They stress consensus: shared norms and values hold society together. Critics say they ignore conflict and inequality.

Marxism

Marxists, following Karl Marx, see society as based on conflict between the ruling class, who own the means of production, and the working class, who sell their labour. Institutions such as education and the law serve the interests of the ruling class. Critics say they focus too much on class, and too little on gender or ethnicity.

Feminism and interactionism

Feminists argue that society is patriarchal: dominated by men, so women are disadvantaged in the family, at work and in politics. Interactionists focus on small-scale interactions, such as how teachers label students. Each perspective gives a different explanation of the same issue, so exam answers often compare them.

The perspectives

The four perspectives side by side.

Positivism

Positivists believe sociology should be scientific, like the natural sciences, looking for patterns and causes. They prefer quantitative methods: questionnaires, structured interviews and official statistics, which give numbers that can be compared. They value reliability: if repeated, the research should give the same results.

Interpretivism

Interpretivists argue people are not like objects in a laboratory: they have feelings and meanings that must be understood. They prefer qualitative methods: unstructured interviews, participant observation and personal documents. They value validity: a true picture of what people really think and do.

Is sociology a science?

For: sociologists use systematic methods, collect evidence, and test theories, like scientists. Against: people change their behaviour when studied, experiments are rarely possible, and values can bias research. Many conclude sociology can be scientific in its methods, but cannot predict people as precisely as physics predicts objects.

Values and ethics

Value freedom means researchers should keep their own opinions out of their research. Ethics: participants should give informed consent, stay anonymous and confidential, and not be harmed or deceived. Covert research, where people do not know they are studied, raises ethical problems.

Mistakes that lose marks

Mistake one: mixing up reliability and validity. Mistake two: naming a perspective without explaining its key idea. Mistake three: a 10-mark essay with arguments on only one side, or no conclusion. The fix: define terms, explain views, and conclude.

The full-marks tip

The full-marks tip: link each method to its approach: positivists to numbers and reliability, interpretivists to meanings and validity. In 10-mark questions, give two arguments for, two against, and a conclusion.

On one card

So, on one card: sociological approaches. Keep it for revision.