WHAT SOCIOLOGY HAS PROMISED ME?

Moving Beyond Books

CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGY
Marx talked about the State: his theory of economic determinism gave
primacy to economic structure over politics. Durkheim talked about the society, collective consciousness and culture. Auguste Comte talked about positivism: data derived from sensory experience, and logical and mathematical treatments of such data, are together the exclusive source of all authentic knowledge

MODERN SOCIOLOGY
Modern sociological theory emerges from the historical foundations of functionalist (Durkheim) and conflict-centered (Marx) accounts of social structure Contemporary sociological theory retains traces of these approaches. Weber is regarded as the father of modern sociology. Weber talked about methodological individualism: social phenomenon

results from the intentional states of individual actors.

THEORY OF FUNCTIONALISM
It was theorised by Emile Durkheim and taken forward by anthropoligists such as Malinowski, Mauss and Brown. It determines the social structure as a whole and in terms of the necessary functions of its constituents parts. According to Anthony Giddens, functionalism strongly emphasizes the pre-eminence of the social world over its individual

parts (i.e. its constituent actors, human subjects).

DECLINE OF FUNCTIONALISM
The functionalist theory began to decline in the 1960s. Modern sociologists began searching for middle-range theories: between functionalism and conflict theory (emphasizing the inequality of a particular group).

Third 'generation' of social theory includes

a) b) c) d) e) f) Phenomenologically inspired approaches Critical theory Symbolic interactionism Structuralism Post-structuralism Theories written in the tradition of hermeneutics and ordinary language philosophy

THE PROMISE BY MODERN SOCIOLOGISTS

The modern sociologists, in an attempt to move towards the middle-range theories, seem to move towards no where. They do not seem to make any promise as such as the theories do not build upon or are complementary to one another. Anthony Giddens is considered the main proponents of structuralism.
Structure Agency

THE PROMISE TO ME
As I grew up as a child, I was constrained upon doing certain things that I wanted to do. The structure, as referred by Anthony Giddens, can act as a constraint upon action. The common frames of meanings attached to the actions were familys rules and the ethical code of conduct. When I entered the college, my self-identity seemed lost. It wasnt because of the change in

my behaviour, but to carry forward, in Giddens terms, the narrative of being constrained.
The environment was dynamic: a lot of changes were taking place around me. However, is it a post-modernist world that I am living in that I find myself constrained with a lot of things or, in Giddens terms, a radicalised modernity era, produced by extension of same social forces that shaped the previous age.