Comparison Of Macrosociology And Microsociology

At the broadest level, sociology can be classified into branches called macrosociology and microsociology. Macrosociology is a sociological approach in which sociologists look at society through a panoramic perspective to understand how society functions as a whole (Steckley, 2014). Unlike macrosociology, microsociology focuses more on the plans, motivations and actions of individuals or a specific groups, as defined by John Steckley, 2014 in his book Foundations of Sociology. This subsection of sociology focuses “less on the “big picture” of society and instead focuses more on how individuals and specific groups of people behave” (Steckley, 2014 pg 35). Simply put, macrosociology looks at the sociological pie as a whole, while microsociology looks at each individual piece of the pie.

As per class discussion, some societal level (macro) reasons for students dropping out of university were: the raise of tuition so the student having to take a year off to generate income, having to drop out due to criminal offence and/or dropping out because the course the student wanted was not being offered. Some individual level (micro) reasons we discussed were because: the student’s inability to handle workload, lacking enjoyment in chosen discipline and/or transferring

to a different post-secondary institution. In our class discussion, micro-level reasons prevailed.
In the research report published by Simon Fraser University, the author attributes student attrition to both individual and societal-level factors. One individual-level reason was the lack of social integration and engagement at SFU. Another individual-level (micro) reason was the amount of stress and lack of commitment to education. The cited reasons for leaving university early included academic, financial, personal and employment opportunities. A societal-level (macro) reason that can be derived from this, as the author suggests, is financial reasons (Simon Fraser University, 2007). Societal-level reasons discussed by the author included group differences such as visible minority status, residence, gender, age, enrolment status, year of program, program of study and high school performance (Simon Fraser University, 2007). Research showed that debt was a concern for international students. Another societal-level reason was the low satisfaction rate of the student services center. A major societal-level reason was the lack of course availability. This reduced the satisfaction level of students which lead to their dropout.
Macro reasons prevailed in the research. Majority of the reasons for student attrition related to the university not being able to provide a satisfying experience for their students. In comparison to the class discussion, the research cited more macro reasons for student attrition. The class discussion cited mostly micro/personal reasons such as the inability to handle stress, lack of enjoyment and transferring while the research attributed student attrition mainly to macro reasons such as lack of course availability, lack of social integration, lack of residence buildings and financial reasons (caused by tuition prices). The research report was scientific in nature, using research and statistics to back up its findings while our class discussion did not use any scientific methods and instead just discussed possible reasons for student attrition.
Private troubles are troubles that are micro in nature; they only affect an individual and do not go beyond that individual’s scope, meaning that the rest of society is not affected by that private trouble.

On the other hand, issues are macro in nature, these are the issues that extend beyond just an individual’s troubles, and these issues affect society as a whole (Smith M. 2015). In conclusion, student attrition can be classified as both a trouble and issue. This is because the factors that affect student attrition have to do with both personal issues of the student (trouble) and societal issues that cannot be controlled by the student (issues) and therefore, student attrition is both a trouble and an

issue.