Comparing Three Sociological Perspectives

05/12/2011 Oana Cristina Merca Introduction to Sociological Themes and Perspectives The word “sociology” has its roots from the Latin “socius” which means “companion” and the Greek “ology” which means “the study of”. So basically, Sociology is one of the social sciences which aim is to explain human behaviour. Unlike Psychology, Sociology is much more concerned about social group’s behaviour including whole societies and even international and global groups. Of all the social sciences it is Sociology that most closely scrutinizes change and conflict in the wider society. The range of the discipline, and the importance of the arguments that are disputed within it, still make it the most exciting of the social sciences. However, it was not until the nineteenth century, as a consequence of industrial revolution, that we see a concern with society as a direct object of study. We could then determine, once and for all, what sort of social changes were possible. In its present form, Sociology embraces a range of different views concerning both what a social science should compromise, and what might be the proper subject-matter of Sociology in particular. The latter provides perhaps the best way of making sense of the discipline.
The founder of the Functionalism perspective was Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), whose theory was then further developed by Robert Merton