- •Twentieth-Century Sociology
- •Perspectives of sociology
- •Functionalist Perspective
- •Conflict Perspective
- •Interactionist Perspective
- •The Sociological Approach
- •Applied and clinical sociology
- •Institutions (as in the reorganization of a medical center).
- •Summary
- •Key terms
- •Verstehen The German word for "understanding" or "insight"; used by Max Weber to stress the need for sociologists to take into account people's emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes.
Twentieth-Century Sociology
Sociology, as we know it in the 1980s, draws upon the firm foundation developed by Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and Karl Marx. However, the discipline has certainly not remained stagnant over the last century. Sociologists have gained new insights which have helped them to better understand the workings of society.
Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) was typical of the sociologists who became prominent in the early 1900s. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Cooley received his graduate training in economics but later became a sociology professor at the University of Michigan. Like other early sociologists, he became interested in this "new" discipline while pursuing a related area of study.
Cooley shared the desire of Durkheim, Weber, and Marx to learn more about society. But to do so effectively, Cooley preferred to use the sociological perspective to look first at smaller units— intimate, face-to-face groups such as families, gangs, and friendship networks. He saw these groups as the seedbeds of society in the sense that they shape people's ideals, beliefs, values, and social nature. Cooley's work brought new understanding to groups of relatively small size.
Many of the leading American sociologists of the early 1900s saw themselves as social reformers dedicated to systematically studying and then improving a corrupt society. They were genuinely concerned about the lives of immigrants in the nation's growing cities, whether the immigrants came from Europe or the American south. However, in the middle of the twentieth century, the focus of the discipline shifted. Sociologists restricted themselves to theorizing and gathering information and took less interest in transforming society.
Sociologist Robert Merton has had an important influence on the discipline by arguing that sociology should strive to bring the macro and micro approaches together. Born in 1910 of Slavic immigrant parents in Philadelphia, Merton subsequently won a scholarship to Temple University. He continued his studies at Harvard University, where he acquired his lifelong interest in sociology. His teaching career has been based at Columbia University, and he has gained great respect within the field of sociology by combining theory and research.
According to Merton, sociologists should avoid the extremes of generalizations without facts and facts without theories. The solution, in his view, is to seek out middle-range theories—explanations of general behavior that are firmly rooted in research or observation and are sensibly restricted in their application. Such explanations lie between observations about day-to-day events and all-inclusive attempts to develop a unified theory.
Merton has produced a middle-range theory that is one of the most frequently cited theories of deviant behavior. He noted different ways that people try to be successful in life. In his view, some may not share the socially agreed-upon goal of accumulating material goods or the accepted means of achieving this goal. For example, in Merton's classification scheme, "innovators" are people who accept the goal of pursuing material wealth but use illegal means to do so, including robbery, burglary, and extortion. Merton's explanation of crime is based on individual behavior— influenced by society's approved goals and means—yet it has wider applications. It helps to account for the high crime rates among the nation's poor, who may see no hope of advancing themselves through traditional roads to success.
Contemporary sociology reflects the diverse contributions of earlier theorists. As sociologists approach such topics as divorce, drug addiction, and religious cults, they can draw upon the theoretical insights of the discipline's early pioneers. A careful reader can hear Comte, Spencer, Durkheim, Weber, Marx, Cooley, and many others speaking through the pages of current research. In describing the work of today's sociologists, it is helpful to examine a number of influential theoretical approaches.