stics of groups and structures rather than with individual attributes. Max Weber, one of the creators of modern sociology, was primarily an economist (Weber, 2005). His contributions to sociology were his work on positivism, believing in "value-free" social science, and his idea of the Ideal Type, which he believed was necessary to understand a particular social phenomenon. He believed you must interpret the actions of its participants and not just describe them. He described four Ideal Types of behavior: rational means to rational ends; rational means to irrational ends; guided by emotion; and guided by custom or habit.
3. Describe and distinguish among the three major theoretical perspectives and name the major contributors to each perspective:
Symbolic Interactionism: the focus is on the subjective aspects of social systems, rather than the objective, macro-structural aspects (Symbolic, 2004). The major contributors to this theory Were Max Weber and George Mead.
Functionalism: this theory places the emphasis on scientific theory and believes the social world can be studied in the same way as the physical world (Functionalism, 2004). It is a positivistic view of social science which believes that the study of the social world can be value-free. The major contributors to this theory were Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons and Robert Morton.
Conflict Theory: the basis of this theory is that owners of businesses make profits by paying workers less than their worth, exploiting them and leading to political oppression. It believes the laws are made by the powerful to control the lower classes and preserve the status quo (Conflict, 2004). The major contributors to this theory were Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
4. Identify and discuss the eight steps in the research model: 1) coming up with a problem - deciding what to study; 2) defining the terms - how to measure the independent variable, how to measure the depe...