The Social Canon

The traditional sociological canon consists of three world views based on theories levelled from macro and micro levels. Macro theories are based on the society as a whole. And micro theories are based on experiences people have.

Within sociology the three world views are:
- Fundamental inequality; relations of production.
- Society is set up to upscale the people with the white scales. The education is neutral and filters out those with the best skills into the best positions.
- Symbolic Interactionalism;

A) Fundamental inequality

Superstructure – production and control of resources. The understanding of the material reality, also known as the economy. The organisation of labour and resources in the society which is built on top of material reality.
Modes of production – stages in history that affect the economy. These events are defined and separated between the people who work and earn the returns on different
Forces of production – in which the economy grows its knowledge and resources on material, technical and scientifical views and levels. But also, the human labour that is needed to gain certain information and gain access to create.
Relations of production – the organizational structure how people work around labour.
Means of production – materials and resources that are needed and used to produce goods or products. Such as iron, wood etc.
Hegemony – these are a dominant set of ideas ruled and made by the ‘ruling’ class of society that sound and may seem convincing and taken for granted by society. These ideas shape everyone’s view of the world in their own understanding of their world view. Not necessarily based on economics, but views of gender, equality and for example race.
Conflict theories – are theories based on how power defines and divides society and people as a whole.

The terms described above are my own understanding of the social impact relations of products and power have on the way society, economics and politic are build. These factors not only influence and dived one with power of the lower class, but also creates conflicts between the way society looks at people and in which they behave. Social constraint is still organized in a massive way of inequality by the way labour is set up. Because of the huge differences and the modes of production in society it almost makes it impossible for people of labour to find a decent way of living.

C) Symbolic interactionism

The differences between the three perspectives (social theories) to me are the levels on which the subject or information is analysed. Being that the focus of ideas and structures are based on societies more than the structure of the individuals. In my perspective I also see it as a way of the people with power and influence (institutions) will always have a major influence in how we as people think and behave. Also, the way our thought process is set-up for us to create a certain mindset. I believe that there is much more to that, but in correlation with symbolic interactionism I believe that if we as individuals find a good personal balance between the way society views us and how we view ourselves we can withstand a lot of big issues. Again, most institutions have a major say-so in the way systems are made and build up. So, it would be a hard task to actually make changes, but I recently found out that the way we perceive ourselves has a big part to do with the way others perceive us. In a sense that I want to give out a certain image of myself to be a specific person. But realising that putting on this act and behaviour had fully affected my own self-image and my own thought process. The way I saw myself reflected to others and create a type of behaviour towards me.
This is why symbolic interactionism is most relevant to me because it creates a space for understanding yourself, your own meanings and actions but also how these meaning and actions can be influenced by others. This influence in a positive way can not only benefit yourself but also the major difficulties and problems we as society are facing today.

B) Structural functionalism

Structural functionalism is based on the individual impact, role or labour of people to keep society moving as a whole. Individuals do not have power or say only the big institutions play a part. In creating and having order over others. The struggles of sf is that it has a hard time of adapting and being able to see massive social changes.
What is the difference between a manifest and latent function of things that society develops to keep it going?
- The difference between manifest and latent function is, that one is based on the intentional factors to prepare individuals to keep society moving. To meet the needs of the structures of society. And the other is based on the consequences of the ‘distractions’ during the manifest functions of institutions.
What are important institutions in your life today?
- Institutions important to my life that influence my behaviour, thoughts and actions are; school, my family, religion and mass media (society).
What are social facts?
- Things that influence us on a daily bases which differ from the morals and values of others. Once taken into account to resist on the known social facts this creates awareness of how many different perspectives and ideas there are on social facts.