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Foundations of Sociology : Exercise 2
- Theoretical paradigms of sociology
Instructions:
Read each passage and click on the correct answer. Scroll down
if you do not see the Answer box. If wrong, try again. Click
here to review the key terms for this exercise.
In order to explain social behaviors (the way people act in
group situations), sociologists need to look at and study societies. When sociologists start
to study a society, they already have a certain number of assumptions (ideas or views thought
to be true, but not proven) about that society. For example, an assumption a sociologist might
have is that societies are stable systems (systems not likely to change). The assumptions
sociologists bring to the study of society provide them with frameworks. Frameworks
are structures (approaches) sociologists use to examine human societies. These frameworks,
called theoretical paradigms, guide their thinking and research. The three major
paradigms in sociology are: the structural-functional paradigm, the social-conflict
paradigm, and the symbolic-interaction paradigm.