Sociologists have studied and created three common paradigms, a typical example or pattern of something, which detail specific patterns and behaviors of society. These include functionalism, which is a mid-level analysis that focuses on how each part of a society works together to be conducive to the whole, conflict theory, a macro-level analysis that studies the inequalities and how they contribute to social differences as well as how they perpetuate differences in power, and symbolic interactionist theory, a micro-level analysis that focuses on individual interaction along with communication. Functionalism “Functionalists argue that society should be understood as a system of interdependent parts. They believe that there are specific requirements …show more content…
His student, Herbert Blumer, created an outline of SI (symbolic interactions). He stated, “The position of symbolic interactionism is that the “worlds” that exist for human beings and for their group are composed of “objects” and that these objects are the product of symbolic interaction” (Blumer 1986). This meant people interact with things because of the meanings or interactions attributed to those things and the attributed meaning of those things come from our interactions with society. Social scientists use SI to find patterns between people and uses qualitative research methods. Constructivism is branched from SI and states that reality is what people mentally create it to be. This approach is used to find the deviance in society even though there isn't an absolute definition, as it varies from societies. Criticism Because this theory has trouble remaining objective, it has also received criticism. Another issue is the limitations this theory experiences due to its excessive focus on symbolic interaction. Conclusion In brief, the three sociological perspectives have shown the different ways