Various moments in time have triggered an act of urgency and produced endless questions that center around the complexity of how the world is structured and its impact on the present and past society. These questions then become a vital part of the creation of social theory. Through the different lenses of the countless theorist, the binary questions that are made to deconstruct the theoretical perspective that the anti-intellectuals present to the public, create a different framework for how the people define structure and "play". Through the viewpoints of W.E.B Dubois and Elie Pariser, the discussion of the social imagination and intellect are revealed. By integrating concepts from Dubois and Pariser, we can further analyze the structure of society and how the relationship with the past supplied the foundation for the perspectives of the classic theorist.
It is essential to understanding the social constructivist theory that you understand Gergen’s view of the subject. Gergen supports a form of social constructivism referred to as social constructionism. This theory is very similar to the social constructivist theory on how people create knowledge One problem that Gergen identifies is the problem of knowing other minds (1995). This is essential to his theory, because like social constructivism, social constructionism requires two separate actors. Gergen (1995) suggest, “that the contents of these minds are expressed in words and actions, how are we to determine what internal states these words and actions are attempting to express?
Nor is it constrained by instrumental goals. In addressing concerns about the validity of interpretive sociological research, the noted sociologist Anthony Giddens proposed three kinds of sociological imagination, which he hoped would further understanding of social structure. He categorized them as: historical, cultural and critical. Given that the sociological imagination can be described as an attempt to understand what is going on around us in order to “seek to understand the present”, Gidden (1997, p. 578) notes that the complexity of human behavior means that “it is very unlikely that a single theoretical perspective could cover all its
These ideas then create behaviors that influence and form a society. People influence each other through social relationships, which consequently play a role in ethics and validity. Sociology studies, social cultures in ways which affect or add value to a group which in turn affects quality of life. “Utopia,” is an ideal society which has no problems, today our world operates with injustice and differences which cause a “dystopia,” kind of society. Sociology involves different aspects concerns and values of a group which make up some of the key components in the field of sociology.
This theory was based off Sutherland’s differential association theory, which had nine propositions outlining the process by which individuals acquire attitudes favorable to criminal or delinquent behavior with the basic idea that people tend to associate with others in which they come into contact. However, social learning theory puts more of an emphasis on definitions and applied the idea of operant conditioning by using positive and negative reinforcement. Thus, the theory assumes people are blank slates; people are not entirely good or entirely bad. They are either neutral or fall somewhere on the spectrum between good and bad. This theory also assumes that people are then molded into a criminal or a non-criminal since people end up in one group or the other based on people learning through
This metatheory of social constructionism was first introduced in 1966 by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s The Social Construction of Reality. This book established a new ground of psychological knowledge, “As the combined product of a sociologist (Berger) and philosopher (Luckmann), this book set the stage early for the relevance of an SC approach to multiple disciplines and for the emphasis on the role of language in shaping human understanding of the world” (Leeds-Hurwitz). This book is referred to as the obvious choice for a place to start if you what to begin and the beginning. The subject of social constructionism was deemed as the work of post-modernist. This theory of social constructionism is so relevant to the field of psychology because it directly deals with how people think.
Whereas, Weber owed his approach much to the Neo-Kantian Philosophy. Therefore, When Durkheim talked about (Social Facts- indicated that there were forces beyond individual control that affected their behaviour in any society.) society’s objective and measurable emphasises on individual. Weber was more interested in explaining the subjective interpretation and meaning that individual put on their behaviour to understand the society (Symbolic Interactionism). Both called for using the “scientific methods” to the study of society, while placing the stress over objectivity, however, their interpretation and ideology behind of “Objectivity” were profoundly different.
The original sociologists assumed that the study of sociology would help society to progress to better understanding and this would therefore in turn help to shape better human systems. The concept of positivism dominated sociological thinking from the early part of the 19th century until the early 1960s. Many of the ideas originated with Emile Durkheim who in turn was influenced by Auguste Comte. They both adopted a holistic approach and assumed that in the same way that biologists could improve their study of their subject by studying populations of living creatures (whether it was comparatively simple organisms or much more complicated ones), then this could also be true of human social organisms. They assumed that we would gain more data so that we could in turn test this data
He argued that one of the main tasks of sociology was to transform personal problems into public and political issues or vice versa. To have sociological imagination is to have “vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society" (Mills 2). Overall, sociological imagination is the concept which is based on social locators. As mentioned previously, there is a difficulty to grasp control on class, gender, and race because a person is born into these three categories. In a practical sense, my personal choices are shaped by my social locators.
As we open Weber’s theory there were three areas of importance within the stratification of society. He looks at economic power, similar to Marx, but also adds in social status and party to this determination. With the three of these determinants, there becomes multiple possible positions within society in contrast to Marx and his ‘bipolar model’ (Giddens, 2013:486). Weber found more than the mere economic. He found this to be,”” naked” money power” and felt it did not recognise a basis to people’s social honour in society.