Human Behavior and Sociology

importance in understanding human behavior: The sociological perspective is an approach that seeks to understand human behavior by placing it within its broader social context (Intro, 2005). From the sociological perspective, society is a system of beliefs and actions carried by human beings, but that transcends these carriers (Bartle, 2005). Social organizations such as family and community are not people, but are systems, or patterns of beliefs and actions by people which are carried by people. To understand society, it is necessary to understand more than just the individuals in it, but how it functions as a whole and why.

2. Identify and explain the contributions and theoretical perspectives of Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber: Auguste Comte set out to create a naturalistic science of society which could explain the past development of mankind and predict its future (Comte, 2005). He created "positive" science and insisted that nothing is absolute, and the relative lies at the core of his teachings. Herbert Spencer believed evolution is a progressive movement towards an equilibrium, "where individual beings change their characteristics and habits until they are perfectly adapted to circumstances and no more change is called for" (Spencer, 2005). Karl Marx believed in the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, and argued that the condi

. . .
s with each other and share a high degree of common identity -culture: the values, norms and material goods shared by a given group (Elwell's, 1998). Social class, social status, roles and groups all occur as subsets within a culture. 5. A person's role is the way they are expected to behave in their society - they have a particular position in society, e.g. mayor, police officer, and this determines what people expect of them and how people expect them to behave (Elwell,'s, 1998). A person's status is their position within a society: it is how they are regarded by others in society, e.g. a homeless person, a society matron, a business leader. A role refers more to how a person is expected to behave because of the position they hold, whereas a person's status is something they earn by the role they play in society. 6. DON'T HAVE TEXT BOOK SO CAN'T IDENTIFY THE 10 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 7. Differentiate between macrosociology and microsociology and explain the value of each: -macrosociology: examines the large-scale patterns in society, and is used by functionalists and conflict theorists; it looks at how individuals are affected by society as a whole -microsociology: examines small scale patterns of social interaction
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Jean Piaget, Friedrich Engels, Human Relations, SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS, Asia Africa, Retrieved Jan, Keel Labeling, Using Functionalist, Blacks Asian-Americans, Discuss Conflict, retrieved jan, 22 2005, jan 22 2005, retrieved jan 22, jan 22, jan 21 2005, 21 2005, jan 21, 2005 retrieved, retrieved jan 21, 2005 retrieved jan, social class, sociological perspective, 2004 retrieved, personal space,
Approximate Word count = 5766
Approximate Pages = 23 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Human Behavior and Sociology