Exam 2: A: Classical Social Theories

Herbert Spencer's critique of social welfare programs shows that he saw great utility in applying his sociological imagination.

For symbolic interactionists,human actors are the product of external and constraining social forces.

Verstehen refers to understanding the meaning of an action from an objective,impartial,"outsiders" point of view.

Talcott Parson's AGIL typology was an important contribution to conflict theory as it outlined the mechanisms for maintaining social equilibrium.

The idea that people are responsible for creating the social world around them was completely accepted by those who believed that human beings existed by virtue of God's will.

Conservative reactionaries to the enlightenment felt that healthy competition between individuals was a good thing.

Rousseau suggested that human beings are the only animal that is intrinsically imperfect and thus imperfectible.

Locke viewed people in their natural state as fearful of each other and in need of a government to protect them.

Enlightenment thinkers suggested that individuals had limited human agency due to divine intervention.

Social theorist Hobbes argued that,at their most basic,human beings are motivated by self-interest and the pursuit of power.

Karl Marx would view our current university system as a functional and practical way to help young people fulfill their wants and desires.

The conservative reaction to the Enlightenment was based on the belief that society is not the product of individuals but,rather,an entity in itself.

Conflict theorists suggest that those in power should stay in power because it results in stability.

Functionalist theorists offer no account of social change in their emphasis on stability and equilibrium.

Charles Darwin coined the term survival of the fittest,which implies that the strong will survive.