The Five Core Approach To Understanding The Core Concepts Of Sociology

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Understanding societies is often times unpredictably variable and subject to the people that they are comprised of. There is no one single way of studying human behavior, given how complex and multidimensional interpretations can be. Although there is no one approach that is correct by itself, sociologists are still able to draw on multiple theories of sociology to better understand social behavior and human groups. This paper intends to discuss five major perspectives that contribute to a multi-faceted approach to understanding the core concepts of sociology. It will compare the similarities and differences amongst functionalism, conflict theory, feminism, queer theory, and interactionism.
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It views society as an active influence affecting everyday social interactions. Individuals manipulate symbols and create their social worlds through interactions that are maintained by a shared understanding of everyday behavior. Unlike functionalist and conflict theorists, integrationists view human interaction on a micro level and generalize about everyday social interactions in order to explain society as a whole. In interactionism, humans are viewed as living in a meaningful world of objects like symbols that play an important role in communication. Symbolic interaction is known as nonverbal communication, which includes facial expressions and many other gestures that are shared amongst all members of society. Erving Goffman came up with a popular method of interactionism that is called the dramaturgical approach. It compares everyday life in a theatre because just like actors, individuals only present certain features of their personality depending on the setting of environment. Thus, interactionism consists of communication and interaction on a micro level to understand the larger macro phenomena (Schaefer

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