Sociological Thinkers and Perspectives
What the exam tests
This domain tests your grasp of classical and contemporary perspectives and the ability to match a thinker to a concept, method and criticism.
Core rules
- Comte: positivism; sociology as the queen of sciences.
- Marx: historical materialism, class conflict, alienation, ideology; capitalism produces inequality.
- Durkheim: social facts, collective conscience, division of labour, anomie; Suicide uses integration and regulation.
- Weber: interpretive sociology, verstehen, ideal types, rationalisation, bureaucracy, authority (traditional, charismatic, legal-rational).
- Perspectives: functionalism (Parsons, Merton-manifest/latent functions), conflict theory, symbolic interactionism (Mead, Goffman), feminism.
- Indian thinkers: Ambedkar on caste annihilation and rights; M.N. Srinivas on sanskritisation and dominant caste; Ghurye on caste and tribe.
Worked example
Analyse farmer suicides in a Karnataka district using two thinkers. Reasoning: a Durkheimian reading may see anomic suicide where economic norms collapse and fatalistic suicide where debt feels inescapable; the typology is about social integration and regulation, not individual motive. A Marxist reading stresses debt, market dependence and class power. Using both is stronger than labelling one cause. The trap is to assume Durkheim's types are diagnoses of individuals.
Traps
Do not call Marx a value-free positivist. Do not turn Durkheim's social facts into individual attitudes. Do not call Weber a positivist; verstehen is interpretive. Do not confuse manifest and latent functions. Do not ignore Indian thinkers or present perspectives as unchallenged.