Why Social Theory?
We are all endowed with a social competence (Lemert 2002) that we have learned and developed through daily living experiences. How we know when to cross the street and when to wait, when to talk and when to remain silent, and what to do in most everyday circumstances is learned through socialization processes. Think of how hard it would be to operate daily if we did not all work together from some basic and shared set of rules, norms, and expectations.
While developing this social competence does not require taking a social theory course, social theory can illuminate the patterns of rules, norms, and expectations giving you greater ability to understand, challenge, and transform them. Ever wonder why we stand in line patiently at the store, why when we get in an elevator we all stand facing the door, or why it is that when you pass money down to the cotton candy/peanut vendor at the ballgame no one steals your money? Each of these situations is dictated by a highly circumscribed and deeply understood trust in others, one that develops over time and can be understood only within the social and cultural contexts in which it is embedded. One thing that sociological theory attempts to do is unravel some of these taken-for-granted interactions and explain how it is and why it is they continue to occur.
More generally, sociological theory attempts to explain the larger social-structural patterns that emerge in our social world. Things like racism, sexism, discrimination, poverty, sickness, divorce, etc. are often tackled by social theorists. Each of the theories we will read in this class attempts to answer some key questions about the social world, some offer merely explanations, while others provide solutions. However, all of the theories challenge your ways of thinking about the social world.
While developing this social competence does not require taking a social theory course, social theory can illuminate the patterns of rules, norms, and expectations giving you greater ability to understand, challenge, and transform them. Ever wonder why we stand in line patiently at the store, why when we get in an elevator we all stand facing the door, or why it is that when you pass money down to the cotton candy/peanut vendor at the ballgame no one steals your money? Each of these situations is dictated by a highly circumscribed and deeply understood trust in others, one that develops over time and can be understood only within the social and cultural contexts in which it is embedded. One thing that sociological theory attempts to do is unravel some of these taken-for-granted interactions and explain how it is and why it is they continue to occur.
More generally, sociological theory attempts to explain the larger social-structural patterns that emerge in our social world. Things like racism, sexism, discrimination, poverty, sickness, divorce, etc. are often tackled by social theorists. Each of the theories we will read in this class attempts to answer some key questions about the social world, some offer merely explanations, while others provide solutions. However, all of the theories challenge your ways of thinking about the social world.