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Theories Of Sociology: Understanding Society

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CYW 129- Understanding Society In the following discourse multiple theories and perspectives within sociology will be outlined. How each perspective looks at society will be explored while providing explanations of theories within each perspective. The importance of social theory within community and youth work and how applies to practice will be explained using a case study. Before looking at social theory it is important to firstly look at sociology. Sociology is the study of people and their behaviours, values, and power within society. August Compte (1798-1857) was one of the founders of sociology. Compte believed that the development of society could be looked at via ‘rational theories’ or in a scientific manner. Social theories are analytical frameworks that focus on examining social phenomena. They explain how theorist can explain social patterns. (Webb et al.,2015). Theories look at “how societies change and develop, about methods of explaining social behaviour, about power and social structure, gender and ethnicity, modernity and ‘civilisation’, revolutions and utopias’ (Harrington, 2005, p.1). …show more content…

These are Macrosociology (Macro) and Microsociology (Micro). Macro sociology focus upon the social system while looking at society as a whole. It looks at how interactions within different types of social institutions, structures, economic system, and cultures impact upon the behaviour of individuals within society. Macro perspective can be divided into two focus areas, Conflict theory and Consensus theory which in turn allowed perspectives such as Functionalism and Marxism to explore how society changes and develops (Giddens and Sutton,

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