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Chapter 1: The Sociological Perspective
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Chapter one introduces important sociological concepts, such
as sociological imagination and the
five key concepts of sociology: social structure, social action,
functional integration, power, and culture. Social
structure is the pattern of relationships, social positions,
and the number of people in a group. Social action refers to
the way in which someone's actions are coordinated with his
or her environment. Functional integration is the interdependence
among the parts of a social system. Power is the ability of
one party to get other parties to do its will, or to ensure
that it will benefit from these other parties' actions. Finally,
culture is the language, norms, values, beliefs, knowledge,
and symbols that comprise a way of life. The Persian Gulf War
can be used to illustrate all of these terms. It is a good example
of how divergent social forces collide, sometimes creating conflict.
Chapter one also examines the history of sociology. The American
and French revolutions, as well as colonialism and the Industrial
Revolution, had a lot to do with disrupting the status quo,
in turn creating an environment ripe for the development of
sociology. Thinkers emerged with different sociological theories.
Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, Max Weber, and George Herbert Mead
were notable contributors to early sociology. For a long time,
conflict theory, structural-functionalism, and symbolic interactionism
dominated sociological thought. Sociologists today build on
founding theories to form their own perspective on social
life. Many sociologists today are employed as researchers,
policy analysts, and interpreters of social phenomena. Sociologists
make us aware that global issues have local consequences.
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