1) What is the point of theory?
2) What is the danger of theory?
3) Comte, Marx, Durkheim, Weber: identify something about them that is unique from the others.
a) Power/property/prestige
4) What is the most important part of a worldview/paradigm?
5) What are the worldviews we talked about in class?
Understanding a worldview or paradigm is important to understanding the history of sociology as well as understanding the sociological theory. A worldview or paradigm is a perspective in which one views the world around them. Many also refer to this as the lens in which one looks through to view different worldly theories. The theories that are found within these paradigms vary on different aspects. These aspects include focus, basic assumptions, common goals, predications made, and types of theories generated research methods utilized. Understanding these theories is also vital in organizing knowledge and determining where we should be looking.
ReplyDelete-Chelsea Pudimott
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ReplyDeleteAmeerat olatunde
ReplyDeleteThe point of theory is to help us identity what is important and how we ask ourselves why and how facts are about the social world are related. The most important part of a worldview/paradigm is how we analyze and interpret the world we're living in. Theories are generated with different types of worldview like basic assumptions, primary goals, predictions, types of theories and types of theories generated research methods utilized.
Paradigms are like mirrors that show us how the society is acting and responding at any given situation. They are red-letter information for sociologists who are able to analyze the situation by the means of ideologies like Structural order, Conflicts, Symbolic Interactions, Rational Choices and the Post-Modern ideology. Structural order and Conflicts deal with the wider perspective of the society and the interaction among its members while the latter ones deal with the individual's thinking. roots of conflicts like wars and crisis are basically self-centered people who want to be in power. Symbolic interaction shows how a person relates his ideas with other person using images or objects. Sociologists often use subjects' rational choices to comprehend the decision making process and the possible outcomes while facing any situation. These were various types of ideologies of worldviews that are often talked about.
ReplyDelete-Lionel
Theories help to identify what is important, what should be looked at, and where to start looking. Theories are a helpful way to organize knowledge. Theories may be comprised of stereotypes used as heuristics, mental short cuts to generalize information about a group based on prevalent characteristics.
ReplyDeleteTheories are generated within world views. World views vary by focus, basic assumptions, primary goals, predictions, types of theories generated, and the research methods utilized. World views are the more general ways in which the world may be observed and help determine what is used in basic assumptions. Though it involves stereotyping, it does so through probability and is not based upon a naturalization fallacy in which attachment of characteristics of groups on average is applied at the individual level
DeleteTheory is the process of applying stereotypes to certain individuals or groups based on generally accepted societal judgements. The danger of theory is that by stereotyping, you can potentially apply a judgement to an individual based on things such as gender, skin color, or nationality that does not apply to the individual. Just because it may be true for some, applying such stereotypes can lead to false generalizations.
ReplyDeleteWorldviews are defined as the perspective through which we view the world. An example of a worldview we talked about in class is Structural Functionalism which understands society on a macro-level, specifically how the elements of society function together and allow the world to balance by equilibrium. For example, society is made up of institutions such as governments, schools, stores, etc. that when all working properly allow the world to function. When one of these elements are taken away, the equilibrium is thrown off and society has to adjust to a new way of functioning.
ReplyDeleteAuguste Comte was a renowned French philosopher. He was the founder of the term sociology and declared sociology as a science. He heaviliy focused on social problems such as crime, poverty, and war in his studies. He also came up with the idea of 'positivism' which states that we can measure the relationship between things. Overall Comte greatly contributed to the study of sociology.
ReplyDeleteWorldviews or paradigms are assumptions about the nature of reality and the status of human knowledge. It is also the kinds of methods used to answer research questions. Some worldviews are conflict, past modern, symbolic interaction, and rational choice.
ReplyDelete-Ruby22
Trang Le
ReplyDeleteEmile Durkheim focused on social facts that hold groups and society together: tradition, values, laws, religious ideology an population density. He was determined that these external factors affect the behaviors of people, thus allowing for sociological explanations rather than biological or psychological reasoning. Therefore, he established fundamental aspects of sociology in social behavior and social bond.
Theories can be dangerous when they're based on assumptions that aren't universally true. For example, if you watch professional basketball, you may notice that many of the players are significantly taller than the national average height. You may then generalize these observations, using your inductive reasoning to make assumptions about humans in general. In this case, you would probably theorize that taller people are better at basketball. But say you are in gym class and are picking teams for your next basketball game. On one hand, you have seen Jill play basketball, and she is pretty good. On the other hand, you have never seen Jack play, but he's very tall. You pick Jack to be on your team because you assume he will be better than Jill, but it turns out he has no hand-eye coordination whatsoever and causes your team to lose the game. In this situation, the "danger" of your theory is relatively low, but this same concept can be relevant in much more serious situations such as national security.
ReplyDeleteNicole Mair
Emile durkheim focused on social facts, which in turn can affect peoples behavior, Examples of social facts are religion, value, and tradition. He focused on ascribed vs achieved characteristics, and social integration; which is what holds groups together.
ReplyDelete-Sarah Sakhi
Theory is the process of stereotyping. It has to do with making generalizations about groups of people. Theory can lead to the Naturalization Fallacy, which is taking characteristics that generally embody groups of people and applying them to an individual. For example it accepted that on average, men are stronger than women. By the Naturalization Fallacy… Person A is strong because they are a man. This can be dangerous because it leads to false generalizations about a certain person instead of groups of people.
ReplyDeleteThe danger of theory is that it can cause people to take in stereotypes and accept them as truth or fact that applies to every single instance. Stereotypes are widely accepted ideas or images of people based on their race, religion, sex, etc. While, in some cases, they may apply to some people and be correct, they definitely do not apply in every case. These stereotypes can cause people to overgeneralize certain groups of people and to have false images of those people.
ReplyDelete-Simon Chang
Augustus Comte created the term sociology as a science. He also developed the idea of positivism and focused on social problems. Karl Marx is credited for creating the Conflict theory which states that society is always in conflict. Came up with Communism. Durkheim is credited for his work with social control, religion, and deviance. Max Weber is most credited for his concept called Protestant Work Ethic. Herbert Mead is famous for his idea of the "generalized other" and "symbolic interaction."
ReplyDeleteComte focused mainly on the idea of positivism and that sociology has became a science while focusing on different social problems such as crime, poverty, and war. Karl Marx is mainly seen for his work with the Conflict Theory. He worked a lot with the Communist Manifesto and has identified individuals as being either part of the proletariat or the bourgeois. Emile Durkheim studied mainly the relationship between social control and deviance as well as social integration. Lastly, Max Weber studied power, prestige, and property.
ReplyDelete-Chelsea Pudimott
Theories come from worldview and theories is about determine a individual by stereotype or general ideas. The danger of theory is that, every individual is different in some point. So the theory may not be accurate when we apply it on someone.
ReplyDelete-Qiao Mi
The danger of theory is that it may steer us from benefits that approach us. As we discussed in class, the hairy man concept is a good example of this. Although he may be approaching you to help you, you may cringe or avoid him because of his physical appearance. Theory makes assumptions that assign one label to a group that shares a characteristic. Also making assumptions may get us in trouble because we make a choice based on that assumption and we may not receive the outcome that was expected.
ReplyDeleteThe most important part of a worldview or paradigm is that it is subjective. In sociology, a worldview is a societal phenomenon. Socialization causes us to believe certain things and accept them as true, but they are only true according to the standards of society. Thomas Kuhn, in The Nature and Structure of Scientific Revolutions, presents a theory on the progression of thought. Paradigm shifts, he explains, facilitate the advancement of knowledge. More than that, however, is that these intellectual revolutions imply the complete rejection of past modes of thought. Thus, depending on the model of thought of the time and society, different conclusions of understanding are reached. It is thus unjust to assert set explanations for ideas because explanations change. Similarly, Max Weber in From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology expands upon the notion of philosophical change through his theory of rationalization. He introduces the idea of a transition from times of enchantment to those of disenchantment. Ultimately, this speculation explains that approaches to thought change over time and thus change how ideas are understood. Blanket definitions are difficult to create because new forms of reason constantly redefine ideas.
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Max Samuels
A worldview/paradigm is the perspective or lens through which we view the world. From these world views we generate theories. The world views we discussed in class were: structural/functional, conflict, symbolic interactions, rational choice, and post modern. A theory is a system of abstract propositions related to each other dynamically and tested empirically.
ReplyDelete-Shannon Healy
i. The purpose of theory is to come to conclusions to explain something.
ReplyDeleteii. Theory has the potential to be dangerous because theory is stereotyping.
iii. Comte: focused on social problems such as crime, poverty, and war; Marx: conflict theory and the Communist Manifesto (1848); Durkheim: social facts exist outside of us and influence our behavior; Weber: power, property, prestige
iv. The most important part of a worldview/paradigm is that they are perspectives in which we view the world and they are where theories are derived.
v. The most commonly recognized worldviews are structural/functional, conflict, symbolic interaction, rational choice, and post modernity.