How Has Contemporary Sociologists Followed In The Footsteps Of Classical Sociologists

Social fact is an entity that exits on its own. It has its own characteristics. It is separate from our social actions yet it constraint us in our behaviour and thinking. It may seem as part of our social actions but in reality it is not. Let me explain.

As a law abiding citizen, I do not steal or jaywalk because it is illegal to do so. As a family man, I know how to fulfil my family obligations and customs. These family obligations and customs are what that has been taught to me throughout my life. The laws and the customs I abide to are the social facts. These laws and customs will still be around when I am dead and gone. It has a life on its own. Therefore a social fact considered is an entity that has an existence of its own, independent of its individual manifestations.

Eventhough social facts have their own existence; they also control our behaviour and thinking. For example, if the law says that is illegal to smoke in a certain facility, I have to control myself and not smoke in that area. If I do so, I have to face the penalty. Therefore, a social fact whether fixed or not is capable of exerting over the individual an external constraint. Since it affects our behaviour and thinking, it can only exist in society, either in a political society, religious denominations, political and literary schools. If there is no society there is no social fact. It is not like the organic or physical phenomena that can exist without a society.

There is another type of social fact called social currents. They force us to act in a certain way that we on our own would not act. Let’s take peer pressure as an example. An individual may not indulge in smoking but if he or she joins a group and if it is a norm in that group to smoke, he or she may take up smoking because it’s the group social norm. The act committed was due to the peer pressure he or she relented to.

Since social facts affects our lives, therefore there is a cause and effect relationship with our social well – being. These causal relationships can be studied by using quantitative methods. Emile Durkheim said that society is a system and is made up of various parts that function together. The theory that society is a system and it is made up of various parts that function together was known as structural functionalism. Durkheim was one of the leading pioneers that developed the theory of structural functionalism. Another contemporary sociologists, like Durkheim, who was interested in finding how social order was possible used Durkheim’s theory of structural functionalism to develop his theories. His name was Talcott Parsons.

Society is made up various systems. They are the political system, legal system, family structures and marriage dyads. He concluded that social facts have an existenance of their own that transcends these systems. In order to study social facts one needs to collect data to study these facts. It is better to study the social facts that affect society than to study people’s behaviour ( at which interpretivist prefer ).

He used the collection of data ( suicide rates ) to study about suicide. He studied how well society was integrated and he based his findings on the rate of suicide one society has. He claim that if a society had high suicide rates, then the society had low social cohesion and was not very well integrated. The opposite was also true for him. He claimed that there Protestants tended to commit suicide more than Catholics because they hand a lower social cohesion then the Catholics.
The study of society by using empirical data was adopted by positivists. They foresaw, especially August Comte, that sociology could be studied in the same way as psychical science subject. By studying empirical data, universal laws that are applicable to all societies could be discovered

Weber took a different approach in the study of society. He theorized that society could be studied by observing people behaviour thus creating an interpretive understanding of human behaviour. As people’s behaviour is unpredictable, it would be very difficult to study patterns of people behaviours by using empirical data. Unlike Durkheim who studied the objectivity of social facts, Weber studied the meaning of people’s behaviour and actions. Durkheim argued that human behaviour and actions were shaped by society however Weber argued that people’s behaviour and action were shaped by the human interaction with other fellow human beings. Weber’s theories were instrumental in the development of phenomenology, symbolic interactionism and dramaturgical theory. One important contemporary sociologist that followed closely to Weber’s theories and also was the one that developed the theory of dramaturgical was Erving Goffman. The next few paragraphs will be on the two contemporary sociologists who based their work on Durkheim’s and Weber’s theories respectively; they are Talcott Parsons and Erving Goffman.

Like Durkheim, Talcott Parsons was also interested in how social disintegration effected society. He also believed that society worked as a system. He believed that society was made up of three systems; cultural systems, personality system and social system.

The cultural system looks at individual beliefs and values. It is concerned about how these beliefs and values shapes one individual life. Example of beliefs and values are religious beliefs, language, ethical values, national values and family values. It also looks at how individuals internalize these beliefs in their lives, use them to interact and socialize in society and maintain social control.

The personality looks at individuals’ attitudes, needs, motivation and self interest. How they obtain what they want and the behaviour they portray.

The social system looks at role interaction. It can be made up of two people, a community, a team or an organisation. It looks at how individuals interact with one another with emphasis being drawn towards the social values and beliefs that they adhere to.

There is however another system called behavioural organisms. This actually look at the behaviour of individuals in a certain situation. It encompasses all the other three systems.
Based on these systems, Talcott developed a set of concepts called the pattern variables which later was transcended to the AGIL System.

The pattern variables are made up of five pattern variables that individuals internalize and assist them to integrate into society. These five pattern variables have to work in accordance with each other for the achievement of social equilibrium. However, these five pattern variables also know as the social action theory is actually a grand theory because individuals do not always behave the way they should. This will be explained in Erving Goffman’s theory of dramaturgy.
The five pattern variables were divided into five dichotomies of factors that will explain individuals’ behaviour in a tradition (Gemeinschaft) and a modern society (Gesellschaft).

In a traditional society the factors are : Affectivity, collectively – orientation, universal, achievement & specificity

In a modern society the factors are : Affectivity – Neutrality, Self-Orientation, particularism, ascription & diffuseness

Affectivity

This action shows how people show their emotions. For example, when a child cries when he/she falls down.

Collectively – orientation

This action is based on decisions made by individuals that would affect their needs, motivation, and attitudes in a group. For example, a manager may resign on his own accord due to bad publicity on a certain issue that is affecting the company he or she is working for.

Universal

This action is based on general laws and moral values. For example, criminals are sentenced according to the laws set up by the court.

Achievement

This action is based on performance. For example, fulfilling all the requirements to graduate in UniSIM

Specificity

This action is based on individual roles and how these roles affects individuals in their socialization process with other people. . For example, a clerk’s role, banker’s role and cashier’s role.

Affectivity – Neutrality

This action is based on individuals being neutral in their emotions in certain situations. For example, board members of a company are not supposed to show any emotions when making decisions.

Self-Orientation

This action is based on individual needs, motivation and attitudes. For example, a student deciding what to study base on his or her own interest.

Particularism

This action is based on relationship of individuals in a given situation. Looks at how one would respond to another. For example, a friend defending friend accused of theft no matter whether he or she committed the offense.

Ascription

This action is based on an individual race, sex and age. For example, an individual not being able to buy cigarettes because he or she is underage.

Diffuseness

This is based on open guidelines of action. For example, a teacher and a student developing an intimate relationship even though theY have to respect the student and teacher role they are in.

This pattern variables were then transcended to four factors that Parson’s named as AGIL.

The explanation of AGIL are as follows :

AGIL

Adaptation : This is based on the physical or material environment. It looks at how individuals adapt to its physical environment. For example, the body adapts to heat by perspiring thereby cooling itself down.

The economy fulfils the requirement of adaptation. For example, one country may be producing rice therefore this country exports rice to another country in exchange for the refining of their oil because the other country specialises in oil refining.

Goal Attainment

Ability of individual or groups to identify and pursue goals. The system’s need to mobilize its resources and energies to attain system goals and to establish priorities among them. This system is essentially a problem for political institutions.

Integration

The need to coordinate, adapt and regulate relationships among individuals and groups within the economy or country inorder for the system to function.

Latent pattern maintenance

To maintain that individuals are motivated to fulfil their roles as clerks, bankers, cashiers and managers. Rewards are given for them to motivate them in their jobs.

All these factors need to work together for social equilibrium to take place. However, as I mention before, these factors are actually a grand theory because individuals do not always behaviour the way they should. We now look at why people behave differently. Max Webber defined dramaturgy as the art of dramatic composition and theatrical representations. On this note Erving Goffman looks at human behaviour in a theoretical setting. Individuals are known as actors and actresses. Individuals have different roles to play in society; therefore they are always wearing different hats. They act accordingly to the environment they are in. They adhere to the norms, values, antiquate and social behaviour that are approved in the group they are in. In doing so, their actions can be superficial. Goffman explored individual identity, group relations, the impact of the environment and movement and interactive meaning of life.

He looked at how items like insignia of office ranks would affect one’s behaviour. Other items were the clothes people wore, their age / sex / race, racial characteristics, facial expressions and body gestures. For example, a soldier in an army holding a rank of captain may portray a more authorative behaviour when he is in his camp where else when he is with friends at a pub he may be more friendlier.

An individual’s behaviour is shaped by the audiences ( people ) who surround him or her. An individual may perform an action no matter whether he has faith or lack of faith in it. For example, a doctor administers a “placebo” medicine to a patient even though the doctor knows the full impotency of the medicine. This is just to please his/her patient’s desire for more extensive medical treatment.

In human behaviour there is the front stage and the back stage. The front stage will most likely be the kind of behaviour an individual or group is required to portray. The back stage will be a more “truthful” kind of behaviour an individual or group will portray.

For example, Team members may present themselves in a behaviour that is approved by their other teammates and colleagues in a workgroup presentation. They will speak and act accordingly to what is required in the presentation. This is an example of a front stage behaviour.

After the meeting, since there is no more requirements for them to behave a certain way they had to in the meeting, they will let their guard down and behave a manner more natural to them. They may also start to show their frustration or voice their disagreement on matters they do not agree. This is an example of a back stage behaviour.

This theory is not far the most perfect theory. There are still other factors to look at. For example, Conflict. A team member may become angry and display inappropriate behaviour in the meeting room if he or she do not agree on what is being presented.

Therefore, there are various ways in studying society. The two most common methods adopted by contemporary sociologist are the positivist and interpretivist methods. The former is by using empirical data to study social facts and the latter is to the study the meaning of social behaviour. Contemporary sociologist like Talcott Parsons and Erving Goffman built their theories on the foundation of Emile Durkheim and Max Webber works. As time has progressed, there are now more than just these two ways of studying society and many more theories on how society function have been written. However, the foundation theories that classical sociologists like Emile Durkheim and Max Webber wrote will always be a basis where most sociologists will study from.