We can think of theme, in its most basic definition, as the message the author tries to send their readers.

anything that represents something larger than itself.

An author often uses imagery to call attention to a particular idea, character, setting, or plot point. Imagery can also be used to create the mood of a text.

Imagery is language that makes an appeal to the senses.

f you see a word or phrase appear more than once, make a note of it – it is likely that the author included the repetition intentionally.

Two of the most common rhetorical devices are metaphors and similes. These are both means of comparison.

. Rhetorical devices are words that serve a special function in the text. Authors include them in order to convey a meaning to the reader.

style as a way of organising and expressing narrative unique to the writer,

the authorial "voice" is one of the key distinguishing factors of a piece of writing

syntax – the order in which the sentence is put together grammatically.

diction, or the overall word choice,

Tone is the attitude writing can take towards its subject or audience

A connotation is the non-literal meaning we associate with words

understand it at its most basic, literal level. This is called denotation.

dialogue gives the viewer an understanding of what is going on.

An omniscient narrator is one that exhibits full knowledge of the actions, thoughts and feelings of each of the characters in the story

multi-narrator text

relates the story in third person but has access to all information in the story.

Some third-person narrators tell from a limited perspective. These narrators relate a story from one point of view, which is often the main character's point of view.

A third-person narrator will not be a character in a story, but an outside entity relating the story's events.

Third-person narration is related by someone who does not refer to him or her self and does not use “I,” “you,” or “we” when addressing the reader. Here's the same story as above, told in third-person narration:

limited perspective; he cannot tell what the other characters are thinking or doing, and his telling of the story is influenced by his feelings about the other characters

Paying attention to how a text is organized, divided, and sub-divided will provide you insight into the plot and theme.

organized into large sections, while others are organized into chapters

Unreliable Narrators

narrator and author are different.

various settings come to represent different values, ideas and attitudes.

Location can refer to wider geographical entities such as countries or cities as well as to smaller entities such as households or domestic interiors.

internalized setting. In this kind of setting, an aspect of the story external to a character represents the character's internal development. For instance, the cracked face of the house can be said to represent the cracked minds of the Usher siblings.

Mood is the feeling we get from a story; tone is a way of getting that feeling across.

The frame of reference in which the story occurs is known as setting. The most basic definition of setting is one of place and time.

The First Amendment guarantees the right of free speech to all Americans. Therefore, teachers have the right to express themselves freely in the classroom.

If the writer is arguing for something that obviously has downsides, they may present it as the lesser of two evils

We can surely think of teachers who do not express political beliefs in the classroom.

If there is an exception that the argument hasn’t accounted for, that may point us to a weak spot that we should mention in our assessment.

If we see a general statement, we should ask ourselves whether it is always true or whether we can identify any case that doesn’t fit the pattern.

"Hate speech" is also prohibited: a teacher does not have the right to spout racial slurs. A

In order to make a point that is worth making, we may need facts or evidence,

No one is allowed to call for immediate acts of violence. Teachers may not tell students to go out and shoot the president. "Hate speech" is also prohibited: a teacher does not have the right to spout racial slurs.

But is the general statement always true?

deductive arguments.

If we see a general statement, we should ask ourselves whether it is always true or whether we can identify any case that doesn’t fit the pattern.

deductive arguments

If it isn’t always true that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, then we cannot necessarily conclude that teachers in classrooms are guaranteed freedom of speech.

"Hate speech" is also prohibited: a teacher does not have the right to spout racial slurs.

The onset of symptoms occurs one to seven days after eating

flashback (not shown in the diagram) is a device used to give the reader background information that happened in the past.

The dénouement can also leave the story and characters in the same state they were in before the story began.

It serves as the unraveling of a plot – a resolution to a story. In the dénouement, the central conflict is resolved. However, conflicts aren't always resolved. Some stories leave secondary conflicts unsettled

Falling Action: The events that take place after the climax are called the falling action.

These sub-climaxes can be minor turning points in the main conflict that help build and release suspense during the rising action. They can also be the main turning points for secondary conflicts within a story.

the incident that allows the main conflict of a story to resolve. The climax allows characters to solve a problem.

The rising action is comprised of a series of events that build up to the climax of the story. It introduces us to secondary conflicts and creates tension in the story.

Exposition: This is the part of the story that tells us the setting. We find out who the main characters are and where the story takes place. T

so you will have to identify the main conflict before you can identify the inciting incident. Remember, the inciting incident and conflict are two separate things – the inciting incident is a moment in a story that starts the main conflict.

A plot has several main elements: inciting incident, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and dénouement.

A plot is a storyline. We can define plot as the main events of a book, short story, play, poem, etc. and the way those events connect to one another. Conflicts act as the driving forces behind a plot.

"Round" characters, by contrast, are described and developed in such a way as to achieve three-dimensionality, a physical and psychological complexity that mimics that of the real people we come to know in our everyday lives.

"flat" characters were those who are largely taken to represent a particular idea, human trait, or set of values,

archetype

important type of minor character is called a foil.

they can illustrate a different side of the main conflict, or they can highlight the traits of the main characters.

The antihero is a protagonist who does not embody traditional “heroic” values. However, the reader will still sympathize with an antihero.

protagonist and antagonist

Characters and Characterization

characterisation to describe the strategies that an author uses to present and develop the characters in a narrative.

ground state

Thus, understanding the structure of the nucleosome is key to understanding the precise and stable control of gene expression and regulation, providing a molecular interface between genes and environmentally induced changes in cellular activity.

A similar study examining newborns showed that methylation of the glucocorticoid receptor gene promoter maybe an early epigenetic marker of maternal mood and risk of increased hormonal responses to stress in infants 3 months of age

The difficulties with finding clear-cut solutions to nature–nurture problems bring us back to the other great questions about our relationship with the natural world: the mind-body problem and free will.

The message is clear: You can’t leave genes out of the equation. But keep in mind, no behavioral traits are completely inherited, so you can’t leave the environment out altogether, either.

In individualistic cultures, such as the United States, status is heavily determined by individual accomplishments.

In response to problems in our environment, we adapt both physically and psychologically to ensure our survival and reproduction.

Do you feel better prepared to read this assignment? How?

The EEG has been used extensively in the study of sleep.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is one technique for studying brain activity. This technique uses at least two and up to 256 electrodes to measure the difference in electrical charge (the voltage) between pairs of points on the head. These electrodes are typically fastened to a flexible cap (similar to a swimming cap) that is placed on the participant’s head. Figure 2.3.12.3.1\PageIndex{1} shows a patient wearing such a cap. From the scalp, the electrodes measure the electrical activity that is naturally occurring within the brain. They do not introduce any new electrical activity.

EEG and MEG have been used to examine ASD.

From the scalp, the electrodes measure the electrical activity that is naturally occurring within the brain. They do not introduce any new electrical activity.

In short, there are differences in the time for processing auditory sounds in children with ASD compared to those without ASD.

the act of writing is more than sitting down and writing something.

Think about how your own writing process fits with what Hale and Lamott have to say. Is yours similar? Different? Is there any new information you have learned that you did not know before exposure to these works?

You may recall from past experiences that some resources refer to prewriting as planning and some texts refer to writing as drafting.

In truth, every writer must develop his or her own process for getting the writing done, but there are some basic strategies and techniques you can adapt to make your work a little easier, more fulfilling and effective.

But anyone who has procrastinated or struggled with writer’s block knows that the writing process is more arduous, if not somewhat mysterious and unpredictable

__________

So today America does remember the hundreds of men used in research without their knowledge and consent. We remember them and their family members. Men who were poor and African American, without resources and with few alternatives, they believed they had found hope when they were offered free medical care by the United States Public Health Service. They were betrayed.

However, single cell recordings are usually extracellular (outside of the cell). That is, they don’t record from inside a single cell but, rather, they record from outside a few cells. Also, consider that the neuron that responds to a line in a particular location that is moving in a particular direction likely does not respond to much else. So, it is extremely difficult to determine what exactly each cell does through single cell recordings. Recording from one area ignores what is happening everywhere else in the brain

is used to put one half of the brain “to sleep”

Split-brain research refers to the study of those who received this treatment and the knowledge resulting from this work (Rosen, 2018). Under what circumstances would such a seemingly radical procedure be used - and what are its effects?

fMRI measures the change in the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin, which is known as the blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal

amygdala and the hippocampus

This has proved to be a valuable tool in studying the function and timing of specific processes such as the recognition of visual stimuli.

Raymond Damadian

X-rays can depict a two-dimensional image of a body region, and only from a single angle. In contrast, more modern medical imaging technologies produce data that are integrated and analyzed by computers to produce three-dimensional (3D) images or images that reveal aspects of the body functioning.

Figure 2.2.22.2.2\PageIndex{2} shows a CT scanner with a platform for the subject to lie on. A computer combines these images into a two-dimensional view of the scanned area, or “slice.” Figure 2.2.32.2.3\PageIndex{3} shows a series of slices of the brain for one subject.

Thus, X-rays are best used to visualize hard body structures su

The patient must be enclosed in a metal tube-like device for the duration of the scan, sometimes as long as thirty minutes, which can be uncomfortable and impractical for ill patients.

Functional imaging techniques allow researchers to learn about the brain activity during various tasks by creating images based on the electrical activity or the absorption of various substances that occurs while a subject is engaging in a task. Such techniques can be used, for example, to visualize the parts of the brain that respond when we're exposed to stimuli that upset us or make us happy.

ructural imaging techniques are useful in many situations such as locating tumors, sites of physical brain damage, or finding size differences between the structures of the brain between various groups

narrow that down to a specific gyrus (ridge) or sulcus (groove) of the cerebral cortex?

without having to go inside. A series of MRI images can be used to create a picture of the brain.

They may ask “When does this activity occur?” Or “Where does this activity occur?” Some techniques are better for answering one of these questions, whereas other techniques are better for answering the other question.

More clarity in language is important, but as we already know, communication isn’t just about exchanging information—the words we use also influence our emotions and relationships.

Sometimes it can be difficult to speak clearly—for example, when we are speaking about something with which we are unfamiliar. Emotions and distractions can also interfere with our clarity. Being aware of the varying levels of abstraction within language can help us create clearer and more “whole” messages.

People who speak the same language can intentionally use language to separate. The words us and them can be a powerful start to separation. Think of how language played a role in segregation in the United States as the notion of “separate but equal” was upheld by the Supreme Court and how apartheid affected South Africa as limits, based on finances and education, were placed on the black majority’s rights to vote.

People make assumptions about your credibility based on how you speak and what you say. Even though we’ve learned that meaning is in people rather than words and that the rules that govern verbal communication, like rules of grammar, are arbitrary, these norms still mean something. You don’t have to be a perfect grammarian to be perceived as credible.

In order to verbally express our emotions, it is important that we develop an emotional vocabulary. The more specific we can be when we are verbally communicating our emotions, the less ambiguous our emotions will be for the person decoding our message. As we expand our emotional vocabulary, we are able to convey the intensity of the emotion we’re feeling whether it is mild, moderate, or intense. For example, happy is mild, delighted is moderate, and ecstatic is intense; ignored is mild, rejected is moderate, and abandoned is intense

Some linguists have viewed the rules of language as fairly rigid and limiting in terms of the possible meanings that we can derive from words and sentences created from within that system (de Saussure, 1974). Others have viewed these rules as more open and flexible, allowing a person to make choices to determine meaning (Eco, 1976). Still others have claimed that there is no real meaning and that possibilities for meaning are limitless (Derrida, 1978). For our purposes in this chapter, we will take the middle perspective, which allows for the possibility of individual choice but still acknowledges that there is a system of rules and logic that guides our decision making.

The symbolic nature of our communication is a quality unique to humans. Since the words we use do not have to correspond directly to a “thing” in our “reality,” we can communicate in abstractions. This property of language is called displacement and specifically refers to our ability to talk about events that are removed in space or time from a speaker and situation (Crystal, 2005). Animals do communicate, but in a much simpler way that is only a reaction to stimulus. Further, animal communication is very limited and lacks the productive quality of language that we discussed earlier.

center-directed

△𝑥→0

Another problem is that respondents may lie because they want to present themselves in the most favorable light, known as social desirability

Effect of the Amount of Solid Present on Equilibrium in a Heterogeneous Solid–Gas System. In the system, the equilibrium composition of the gas phase at a given temperature, 1000 K in this case, is the same whether a small amount of solid carbon (left) or a large amount (right) is present.

At higher temperatures, the gas mixture has a deep brown color, indicative of a significant amount of brown NO2NO2\ce{NO_2} molecules. If, however, we put a stress on the system by cooling the mixture (withdrawing energy),

: Le Châtelier’s Principle- How a System at Equilibrium Responds to Disturbances

lowering the concentration of one of the reactants would cause QQQ to be larger than K)

“During peace time a scientist belongs to the World, but during war time he belongs to his country.”

Because partial pressures are usually expressed in atmospheres or mmHg, the molar concentration of a gas and its partial pressure do not have the same numerical value. Consequently, the numerical values of KKK and KpKpK_p are usually different. They are, however, related by the ideal gas constant (RRR) and the absolute temperature (TTT):

with the equilibrium constant K″ is as follows:

(2.1.1)N2O4(g)colorless⇌krkf2NO2(g)red−brown\underset{colorless }{\ce{N2O4 (g)}} \ce{ <=>[k_f][k_r] } \underset{red-brown }{\ce{2NO2(g)}}\label{Eq1} The double arrow indicates that both the forward reaction N2O4(g)−→kf2NO2(g)(2.1.2)(2.1.2)N2O4(g)→kf2NO2(g)\ce{N2O4 (g) ->[k_f] 2NO2(g)} \label{eq1B} and reverse reaction 2NO2(g)−→krN2O4(g)(2.1.3)(2.1.3)2NO2(g)→krN2O4(g)\ce{2NO2(g) ->[k_r] N2O4 (g) } \label{eq1C}

mp = −9.3°C; bp = 21.2°C

interplay

ideas of stimulus and response, along with the application of rewards or reinforcements

The Reaction Quotient

Any point representing a pair of concentrations that does not lie on the line corresponds to a nonequilibrium state. In such cases, the reaction in Equation 2.7.42.7.4\ref{15.6.4} will proceed in whichever direction causes the composition of the system to move toward the equilibrium line.

To understand how different phases affect equilibria.

volatility

interpersonal communication is strategic, meaning we intentionally create messages to achieve certain goals that help us function in society and our relationships.

We create relationship cultures based on the relationship schemata we develop through our interactions with our larger society and culture.

personal idioms are unique to certain relationships, and they create a sense of belonging due to the inside meaning shared by the relational partners.

Google’s compliance with the Chinese government did not help it make inroads into the Chinese Internet search market—although Google held about a quarter of the market in China, most of the search traffic went to the tightly controlled Chinese search engine Baidu. However, Google’s departure from China would be a blow to anti-government forces in the country. Since Baidu has a closer relationship with the Chinese government, political dissidents tend to use Google’s Gmail, which uses encrypted servers based in the United States. Google’s threat to withdraw from China raises the possibility that globalization could indeed hit roadblocks due to the ways that foreign governments may choose to censor the Internet.

Jones uses a fixed game of Monopoly as an allegory for the U.S. pretending that there is a fair and objective economic system, when really 400 years of slavery and the violent systems that have persisted since (such as Jim Crow, lynchings, racial massacres, and mass incarceration) is the same as cheating every round, and has made the game impossible to win.

coincidence

affirmative

hypothesis

irreducible

grasp

Testimony is quoted information from people with direct knowledge about a subject or situation. Expert testimony is from people who are credentialed or recognized experts in a given subject. Lay testimony is often a recounting of a person’s experiences, which is more subjective. Both types of testimony are valuable as supporting material. We can see this in the testimonies of people in courtrooms and other types of hearings. Lawyers know that juries want to hear testimony from experts, eyewitnesses, and friends and family. Congressional hearings are similar.

Statistics are numerical representations of information. They are very credible in our society, as evidenced by their frequent use by news agencies, government offices, politicians, and academics. As a speaker, you can capitalize on the power of statistics if you use them appropriately. Unfortunately, statistics are often misused by speakers who intentionally or unintentionally misconstrue the numbers to support their argument without examining the context from which the statistic emerged. All statistics are contextual, so plucking a number out of a news article or a research study and including it in your speech without taking the time to understand the statistic is unethical.

Visual aids help a speaker reinforce speech content visually, which helps amplify the speaker’s message. They can be used to present any of the types of supporting materials discussed previously. Speakers rely heavily on an audience’s ability to learn by listening, which may not always be successful if audience members are visual or experiential learners. Even if audience members are good listeners, information overload or external or internal noise can be barriers to a speaker achieving his or her speech goals.

Sometimes you can access primary sources through Wikipedia if you review the footnote citations included in an entry.

Editorials may also have bylines, which make them look like traditional newspaper articles even though they are opinion based. It is important to distinguish between news articles and editorials because editorials are usually not objective and do not go through the same review process that a news story does before it’s published

Once you have determined (or been assigned) your general purpose, you can begin the process of choosing a topic. In this class, you may be given the option to choose any topic for your informative or persuasive speech, but in most academic, professional, and personal settings, there will be some parameters set that will help guide your topic selection. Speeches in future classes will likely be organized around the content being covered in the class. Speeches delivered at work will usually be directed toward a specific goal such as welcoming new employees, informing about changes in workplace policies, or presenting quarterly sales figures. We are also usually compelled to speak about specific things in our personal lives, like addressing a problem at our child’s school by speaking out at a school board meeting. In short, it’s not often that you’ll be starting from scratch when you begin to choose a topic.

Audience analysis is key for a speaker to achieve his or her speech goal. One of the first questions you should ask yourself is “Who is my audience?” While there are some generalizations you can make about an audience, a competent speaker always assumes there is a diversity of opinion and background among his or her listeners. You can’t assume from looking that everyone in your audience is the same age, race, sexual orientation, religion, or many other factors. Even if you did have a fairly homogenous audience, with only one or two people who don’t match up, you should still consider those one or two people.

t’s always a good idea to visit the place you will be speaking ahead of time so you will know what to expect.

One way to positively engage your audience is to make sure you establish your credibility. In terms of credibility, you want the audience to see you as competent, trustworthy, and engaging

competent speaker always assumes there is a diversity of opinion and background among his or her listeners.

One student compared the concept of biogasification to the natural gas production that comes from living creatures like humans and cows. This comparison got a laugh from the audience and also made the seemingly complex concept more understandable.

it would be unwise to focus solely on one group over another.

The following outline shows the standards for formatting and content and can serve as an example as you construct your own outline. Check with your instructor to see if he or she has specific requirements for speech outlines that may differ from what is shown here.

distance between donor and acceptor chromophores

altruistic

What is the effect of [choose a literary device that features prominently in the chosen text] in this work of literature, and how does it relate to a theme? How does this work of literature conform or resist its genre, and to what effect? How does this work of literature portray the environment, and to what effect? How does this work of literature portray race, and to what effect? How does this work of literature portray gender, and to what effect? What historical context is this work of literature engaging with, and how might it function as a commentary on this context?

"While most people reading Hamlet think he is the tragic hero, Ophelia is the real hero of the play as demonstrated through her critique of Elsinore's court through the language of flowers."

Gender roles are bad and should be abolished."

The works of ecstatic love poets Rumi, Hafiz, and Kabir use symbols such as a lover’s longing and the Tavern of Ruin to illustrate the human soul’s desire to connect with God.

Observation: usually regarding the form or structure of the literature. This can be a pattern, like recurring literary devices. For example, "I noticed the poems of Rumi, Hafiz, and Kabir all use symbols such as the lover's longing and Tavern of Ruin"

or a topic they already know a great deal about.

_____

Sociology takes a different approach, as it stresses that individual problems are often rooted in problems stemming from aspects of society itself.

Liberal feminists view gender inequality as arising out of gender differences in socialization, while Marxist feminists say that this inequality is a result of the rise of capitalism, which made women dependent on men for economic support. On the other hand, radical feminists view gender inequality as present in all societies, not just capitalist ones

Thus functionalism emphasizes the importance of social institutions such as the family, religion, and education for producing a stable society.

If this cultural standard did not exist, far fewer American women would suffer from eating disorders than do now.

When only a few people are out of work, it is fair to say that their unemployment is their personal troubl

The natural history of a social problem consists of four stages: emergence and claims making, legitimacy, renewed claims making, and alternative strategies.

This stage may involve a fair amount of tension between the social change groups and these targets of their claims.

provocative implication: Just as a condition or behavior may not be considered a social problem even if there is strong basis for this perception, so may a condition or behavior be considered a social problem even if there is little or no basis for this perception

Although men were sometimes arrested and prosecuted for rape and sexual assault, sexual violence was otherwise ignored by legal policymakers and received little attention in college textbooks and the news media, and many people thought that rape and sexual assault were just something that happened

The reasons for these consequences are often hotly debated, and sometimes, as we shall see in certain chapters in this book, sometimes the very existence of these consequences is disputed.

The Natural History of a Social Problem

List the stages of the natural history of social problems.

Define “social problem.”

neuron doctrine,

He used a silver chromate salt to reveal the intricate structures of single neurons (Elias and Saucier, 2006).

Through his dissection of human cadavers, Vesalius found problems with the Galenic view of anatomy (which emphasized three major systems--the heart, brain, and blood--and the importance of a balance between four bodily fluids--blood, phlegm, and black and yellow bile).

It is important to examine the historical path of our understanding of the brain and its role in our behavior and mental processes.

materialism or physicalism

Key areas of focus within the field include sensation and perception; motivated behavior (such as hunger, thirst, and sex); control of movement; learning and memory; sleep and biological rhythms; and emotion.

If everything in the universe is physical, then this means that the mental processes and subjective mental experiences of our mind must also be entirely physical processes taking place in an entirely material brain. Using this fundamental assumption of the modern scientific view of the universe, this means that the mind is entirely material, dependent upon the physical activities of an entirely material organ, the brain.

Honey is a natural food, essentially an invert sugar. Bees gather nectar and, through the enzyme invertase, change it into honey.

For many of us, Ethnic Studies is our lifeline. Ethnic Studies saved us.

The repetitive and focused movement of walking while absorbed in prayer enhanced the devotional experience for the worshiper—who was also the viewer of the labyrinth—on both a physical and a spiritual level.

there are other times when it is helpful to have some information about the artist or artwork for us to better understand and appreciate what we are looking at.

This text is not intended to determine what is or is not good art and why it matters.

his definition gets us no closer to understanding what does or does not qualify as an art object.

Zeuxis conceding defeat

мова

irreducible

repulsed

Monroe’s Motivated Sequence is a five-step organization pattern that attempts to persuade an audience by making a topic relevant, using positive and/or negative motivation, and including a call to action. The five steps are (1) attention, (2) need, (3) satisfaction, (4) visualization, and (5) action (Monroe & Ehninger, 1964).

Explain why scholars who study social problems often rely on existing data.

List the three sources of changes to social problems.

Le Chatelier's principle states that if a dynamic equilibrium is disturbed by changing the conditions, the position of equilibrium shifts to counteract the change to reestablish an equilibrium. If a chemical reaction is at equilibrium and experiences a change in pressure, temperature, or concentration of products or reactants, the equilibrium shifts in the opposite direction to offset the change. This page covers changes to the position of equilibrium due to such changes and discusses briefly why catalysts have no effect on the equilibrium position.

Why Study Sociology? Last updated Jan 21, 2023 Save as PDF 1.4: Theoretical Perspectives 1.6: Key Terms

Max Weber (1864–1920) Prominent sociologist Max Weber established a sociology department in Germany at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich in 1919. Weber wrote on many topics related to sociology including political change in Russia and social forces that affect factory workers. He is known best for his 1904 book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. The theory that Weber sets forth in this book is still controversial. Some believe that Weber argued that the beliefs of many Protestants, especially Calvinists, led to the rise of capitalism. Others interpret it as simply claiming that the ideologies of capitalism and Protestantism are complementary. Weber believed that it was difficult, if not impossible, to use standard scientific methods to accurately predict the behavior of groups as some sociologists hoped to do. Weber argued that the influence of culture on human behavior had to be taken into account. This even applied to the researchers themselves, who should be aware of how their own cultural biases could influence their research. To deal with this problem, Weber and Wilhelm Dilthey introduced the concept of verstehen, a German word that means to understand in a deep way. In seeking verstehen, outside observers of a social world—an entire culture or a small setting—attempt to understand it from an insider’s point of view. In The Nature of Social Action, Weber described sociology as striving to “… interpret the meaning of social action and thereby give a causal explanation of the way in which action proceeds and the effects it produces.” He and other like-minded sociologists proposed a philosophy of anti-positivism whereby social researchers would strive for subjectivity as they worked to represent social processes, cultural norms, and societal values. This approach led to some research methods whose aim was not to generalize or predict (traditional in science), but to systematically gain an in-depth understanding of social worlds. The different approaches to research based on positivism or anti-positivism are often considered the foundation for the differences found today between quantitative sociology and qualitative sociology. Quantitative sociology uses statistical methods such as surveys with large numbers of participants. Researchers analyze data using statistical techniques to see if they can uncover patterns of human behavior. Qualitative sociology seeks to understand human behavior by learning about it through in-depth interviews, focus groups, and analysis of content sources (like books, magazines, journals, and popular media).

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) Émile Durkheim helped establish sociology as a formal academic discipline by establishing the first European department of sociology at the University of Bordeaux in 1895 and by publishing his Rules of the Sociological Method in 1895. In Division of Labour in Society (1893), Durkheim further laid out his theory on how societies transformed from a primitive state into a capitalist, industrial society. According to Durkheim, people rise to their proper levels in society based on merit. Durkheim believed that sociologists could study objective social facts (Poggi, 2000). He also believed that through such studies it would be possible to determine if a society was “healthy” or “pathological.” Healthy societies were stable while pathological societies experienced a breakdown in social norms. In 1897, Durkheim attempted to demonstrate the effectiveness of his rules of social research when he published a work titled Suicide. Durkheim examined suicide statistics in different police districts to research differences between Catholic and Protestant communities. He attributed the differences to socio-religious forces rather than to individual or psychological causes.

Karl Marx was a German philosopher and economist. In 1848, he and Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) coauthored the Communist Manifesto. This book is one of the most influential political manuscripts in history. It also presents Marx’s theory of society, which differed from what Comte proposed. Marx rejected Comte’s positivism. He believed that societies grew and changed as a result of the struggles of different social classes over the means of production. At the time he was developing his theories, the Industrial Revolution and the rise of capitalism led to great disparities in wealth between the owners of the factories and workers. Capitalism, an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of goods and the means to produce them, had developed in many nations. Marx predicted that inequalities of capitalism would become so extreme that workers would eventually revolt. This would lead to the collapse of capitalism, which would be replaced by communism. Communism is an economic system under which there is no private or corporate ownership: everything is owned communally and distributed as needed. Marx believed that communism was a more equitable system than capitalism. While his economic predictions did not materialize in the time frame he predicted, Marx’s idea that social conflict leads to change in society is still one of the major theories used in modern sociology.

Theoretical Perspectives

Degrees180=𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠π