Exploring the Relationship Between Sociological and Social Theory

Marxists stated that ‘’it is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary, their social being determines their consciousness.’’ Marxist view of human consciousness is transforming false consciousness to true consciousness which people become aware of their human needs only if they are aware of reality and do not distort it by rationalizations. The difference between social and sociological theory is that social theory is a set of ideas that help analyze social phenomena which help to explain the way human societies form, change and develop over time whereas sociological theory is a set of ideas that provides an explanation about society. The value of the sociological theory in understanding social phenomena is that sociologists study social interactions, events, and patterns and then formulate theories to explain various social phenomena in the society. The sociological theory analyses social reality from different perspectives which are structural functionalism, feminism, conflict, and symbolic interactionism. The social context within the sociological theory is important due to the time and place playing a role in behavior which the sociological theory will then formulate theories from various interactions.

Sociological and social theory

Social theory is a set of ideas, arguments or hypotheses that help to analyze and study social phenomena. It explains the way human societies form, change, and develops over time as well as explains concepts such as modernity, social norms, social structure, gender, ethnicity, and social behavior. Social theory draws knowledge from various disciplines such as gender studies, political sciences, and anthropology. The social theory is less concerned with objectivity compared to the sociological theory and is a critique of modern society (Giddens, 1987: 4). The sociological theory provides an explanation about society and is centered around understanding society. This is done by studying testable propositions and drawing connections between individuals such as interactions, events, and patterns which formulate theories to understand various phenomena in society. The sociological theory addresses the social context of human actions due to the way people act and their beliefs are generated by social structure as well as in communication between people and in social groups. The importance of the sociological theory is that it gives people an understanding of their various behaviors (Wallace, 2017: 12).

Sociological theory: Strengths and Weaknesses

The sociological theory perspectives are structural functionalism, conflict, symbolic interactionism, feminism, and postmodernism. The structural functionalism perspective is how society maintains stability and for social order to be possible (Laladdin, 2016: 9). The strengths are that it reminds people that they have roles to play in society, order and stability are important in society and tells us how to create order and stability. The weaknesses are that it fails to address big changes in society, it does not propose ways of dealing with rapid change and rather focuses on reform, not everyone agrees with the order and stability of society, and does not work for everyone. The conflict perspective is from the writing of Marx which is when there is conflict from unevenly distributed resources, status, and power in society groups (Laladdin, 2016: 16). The strengths are that it recognizes that change happens, states possible underlying reasons for conflict and gives solutions to social problems to equally distribute resources and power. The weaknesses are that conflict is not always about money, resources, and power and does not always have a proposal for change. The symbolic interactionism perspective focuses on how meaning is generated through social interaction (Laladdin, 2016: 14). The strengths are that it reminds people how they give meaning through interactions, people are influenced by these interactions and individuals create change. The weaknesses are that it reminds people they perceive themselves the way others perceive them and it does not focus on societal issues but rather on individuals. The feminist perspective views society between men and women as unequal and strives for equality (Seidman, 1994: 10). The strengths are that it provides solutions for social problems and reminds people of their need for equality. The weakness is disagreements regarding the causes and solutions for gender inequality.

Social Context and Theoretical Models

The social context is important in explaining phenomena such as human consciousness as it explains the way human societies form, change, and develop over time. Human consciousness is people’s awareness of themselves and the world around them and the social context is important as it guides the way people see things as well as can shape their behavior. Human behavior is complicated in how we interact with others and the world, the social context is organized sets of ideas that help people make sense of behavior. Theories can explain phenomena of human behavior and give a new way of looking at behaviors. Theories can also predict the future in a changing world and how humans will cope with that change which makes people conscious of the world around them. The social context gives people a way to interpret and describe various behaviors and the facts people learn about themselves as human beings in society which makes people conscious of themselves (Wippler, Lindenberg, 1987: 135). The value of theoretical models in understanding human consciousness is by providing a view of reality and focusing on the place of people within society. Structural theory creates the structure of a society in which people live and sees the society as a system of relationships which influences people’s lives. Structuralism is the laws that are in a society which determine people’s behavior. Functionalism and Marxism use a model for how society works, Marxist views society as divided by social classes and emphasize the potential of conflict while functionalists view how the different elements of the social structure fit in society. Marxism is a socio-political and economic worldview and the Marxian economic theory is a revolutionary view for social change which influenced movements worldwide. Symbolic interactionists explain behavior and society by analyzing how people interpret the actions of others and develop a self-image, the sociologist interprets, understands, and describes the subjective reality.

Marxist views

Marxism is considered a sociological theory due to sociological theory providing an explanation about a society which Marxism is when there is a conflict due to unequal resources and power. Marxism analyses the effect of productivity and capitalism on labor and economic development. It argues for a revolution for workers to overturn capitalism in favor of communism. The struggle between the social classes of the bourgeoise and proletariat defines economic relations in a capitalist economy and will lead to revolutionary communism. The focus of Marxism is on the struggle between capitalists and the working class which originated by Karl Marx and is an economic, social, and political theory. The class conflict would inevitably be created due to the power relationships between capitalists and workers being exploitive. Marx believed that the conflict would lead to a revolution which the working class would overthrow the capitalist class and have control of the economy. Marxist views explain human consciousness due to class consciousness is people’s awareness of their social and economic class relative to others and the economic rank of class which people belong in society. Marx traveled through Europe in the nineteenth century where he saw unequal access to resources, wealth, and ownership of property and saw that the working class was being exploited by the ruling class. The working class was paid less wages by the ruling class and deserved more and worked long hours. The ruling class became richer and the working class became poorer which they had no way to improve this. The Marxist views might be significant in a contemporary, capitalist society for the working class to all come together to overthrow the ruling class in a revolution. There would be equality for all in communism and would replace an unequal capitalist society (Diamond, 2011:3). This is significant because if there is equality there will be less conflict and less poverty which will make society a better place and will build human consciousness of where people belong in society.

The social theory explains the way societies form, change, and develop over time which gives people insight in society in accordance with various behaviors as it is a critique of modern society. The sociological theory is centered around understanding society which is done by drawing connections to understand certain phenomena. The strengths and weaknesses of the sociological theory deal with structural functionalism, conflict, symbolic interactions, and feminism which is used to understand society and make solutions. The sociological theory addresses the social context of human actions due to the way people act and their beliefs are generated by social structure as well as in communication between people and in social groups. The value of theoretical models in understanding human consciousness is that is focused on people’s view of reality. Marx stated that ‘’it is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but on the contrary, their social being determines their consciousness’’ which is applicable in the Marxist views to be significant in a contemporary, capitalist society due to if there is equality people’s social being will determine their consciousness due to people being aware of themselves and the world around them.

Bibliography

1. Diamond, S. ed., 2011. Toward a Marxist anthropology: problems and perspectives. Walter de Gruyter.
2. Giddens, A. 1987. Social theory today. Stanford University Press.
3. Laluddin, H. 2016. A review of three major sociological theories and an Islamic perspective. International Journal of Islamic Thought, 10, p.8.
4. Seidman, S. ed., 1994. The postmodern turn: New perspectives on social theory. Cambridge university press.
5. Wallace, W. ed., 2017. Sociological theory. Routledge.
6. Wippler, R. and Lindenberg, S. 1987. Collective Phenomena and. The micro-macro link, p.135.