Look at the following images: what do you see?

• Do you all see the same things?

1

2

3

4

5

6

lesson•When we look at something we often see different

things• In Sociology people look at society and see

different things about it•They take a particular perspective and from it

develop a particular theory or model of society•The perspectives we are interested in today are:

Feminism, Functionalism, The New Right, Interactionism and Postmodernism –

GROUP INSTRUCTIONSGROUP 1 Explain the NEW RIGHT perspective in PICTURE FORMGROUP 2 Explain the FEMINIST perspective in PICTURE FORM GROUP 3 Explain the POSTMODERN perspective in PICTURE FORM GROUP 4 Explain the FUNCTIONALIST perspective in PICTURE FORM GROUP 5 Explain the INTERACTIONIST perspective in PICTURE FORM

GROUP 6 Explain the NEW RIGHT perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER STYLIEGROUP 7 Explain the FEMINIST perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER STYLIE GROUP 8 Explain the POSTMODERN perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER STYLIE GROUP 9 Explain the FUNCTIONALIST perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER STYLIE GROUP 10 Explain the INTERACTIONIST perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER STYLIEGROUP 11 Explain the POSTMODERN perspective in QUESTION & ANSWER STYLIE

NEW RIGHT

•Conservative political perspective•Belief in self-reliance and individual choice•Anti welfare-state•Believe that generous welfare benefits encourage

the growth of a criminal underclass•Bad people are the result of faulty socialisation

(bought up badly)

FEMINISM

•Focuses on women’s oppression and the struggle to end it•Studies society from a female perspective•Highlights patriarchy – society based on male domination

POSTMODERNISM•Rejects all other ‘modernist’ perspectives and their claims to have found ‘true’ knowledge•Sees a new postmodern society characterised by instability, choice and diversity•Society is too complicated and fast moving to produce absolute explanations. Sociology should concentrate on reflecting and celebrating social diversity

FUNCTIONALISM

•A consensus perspective•Society is based on shared values into which members are socialised•Society is like an organism (for instance the human body) with each part performing functions to maintain the system as a whole

INTERACTIONISM

• Perspective which focuses on small scale (micro level) interactions between individuals and groups, rather than on the large-scale workings of society• Interactionists seek to understand the meanings that social actors

give to actions and situations; for example the individual meanings people give to rioting or getting married and divorced

Sociological Perspectives and Divorce.

PERSPECTIVE KEY IDEAS DIVORCE – see page 60 books

FUNCTIONALISM

NEW RIGHT

POSTMODERNISM

FEMINISM

INTERACTIONISM

Which perspective?1 All men are pigs2 Society has changed and we need a new theory to express and recognise the changes3 Society is like a well-oiled machine – made up of different parts which work together in

harmony4 This perspective is interested in the meanings people give to acts for instance what does

marriage mean to individuals?5 Small scale, micro perspective6 One parent families are very bad for society because children in these families are often

not socialised correctly and end up causing problems7 A consensus theory – for society to function correctly people need to have similar values8 Believes strongly in the nuclear family – two parents plus children9 Society is characterised by diversity (difference) and choice10 Believes society is characterised by patriarchy – a system in which men control women

for their own ends. For instance a wife is a domestic servant and a sexual slave