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Symbolic Interactionism. Takes a small-scale view of society, focuses on small interactions between individuals like hanging out with a friend. Sees society as buildup of everyday typical interactions.  Addresses the subjective meanings people believe to be true – meaning is the central aspect of human behavior. Humans ascribe meanings to things, and act towards those things based on ascribed meaning. Language allows humans to generate meaning through interactions, and humans modify meanings to thought processes.  Particularly interested in symbols use that people use to contribute values/beliefs to others. Developed by George Herbert Mead,f believed development of individual was a social process as were the meanings individuals assigned to things. People change based on interactions with objects, events, ideas, others, and assign meaning to things to decide how to act. Herbert Blumer continued Mead’s work. He proposed 3 tenants to explain symbolic interactionism:  1. We act based on meaning we’ve given something, ex. tree is place to rest.  2. Different people assign different meanings to things. We give meaning to things based on social interactions, ex. someone tells us tree is infested with ants. But we have different views of the tree and we act differently.  3. The meaning we give something isn’t permanent, ex. something bites my back, so might not sit under next one I find. Criticism – doesn’t ask same questions as large scale sociologists do. Sometimes considered as supplemental instead of full theory, because restricted to small interactions between individuals. But gives different perspective necessary for fully understanding society. How societies can change when created/recreated by social interactions. Feminist Theory. A contemporary approach of looking at world from macroperspective, developed from feminism movement originating from conflict theory by focusing on stratifications/inequalities in society. It examines women’s social roles in education, family, and workforce.  It looks beyond more common male-based perspective to focus on gender inequalities in society.  Women face discrimination, objectification, oppression, and stereotyping. Different types of feminist theory.  1) Gender differences – expectations for gender are passed down from generation to generation. Examines how women’s position in social situations differ from men – different values with feminity than men. Seen as soft, care, submissive. And different social roles, women stay home while men go to war. Objectified as sexual instruments.  2) Gender inequality – central to all behavior. Women subordination is viewed as inherent feature. Our society is a patriarchy – men are governing body as heads of families and communities. Married women have higher stress levels than married men/unmarried women, and have less influence in public sphere. Men occupy higher paying jobs. • Ex. Ben Barres began his life as women, and after sex change he noticed people thought his research was much better than his sister Barbara’s. However, Barbara was the same person.  3) Gender oppression – women are not only unequal as men, but they’re oppressed and abused. Institution of family is especially beneficial to men. Family was split into 2 types of labour – domestic labour was done by women, while men worked outside home in labour. Without men working, family wouldn’t survive. • Created educational and economic gap between men and women.  4) Structural oppression – women’s oppression and inequality are due to capitalism, patriarchy, and racism. Direct parallel to conflict theory. Women like working class are exploited because of capital model, but not all women express oppression in same way. Linked to race, class, sexual orientation, age, and disability. Men are associated with mind, while women are associated with body. Feminist theory is not an attempt to replace men – different perspective on society to point out inequalities between men and women due to institutions of society. Rational Choice Theory and Exchange Theory. Rational Choice Theory and Exchange Theory centre on economics. Rational Choice Theory - people not only motivated by money, but do what’s best to get more good  Main assumption is the idea that everything people do is fundamentally rational – a person is acting as if they were weighing costs and benefits of each action.  People act in self-interest, driven by personal desires and goals.  How do we calculate value of these actions? Social resources being exchanged – time, information, prestige, etc..  3 main assumptions: • Completeness (every action can be ranked) • Transitivity (since A is preferable to B, A is also preferable to C) • Independence of irrelevant alternatives (if I have a fourth option, won’t change order of how I ranked first 3 options. Just add it in to existing order). Exchange Theory – application of rational choice theory to social interactions.  Looks at society as series of interactions between individuals.  Used to study family relationships, partner selection, parenting, etc. • Sexual selection – natural selection arising through preference for one sex for characteristics in individuals of the other sex • Social selection – idea that an individual’s health can influence their social mobility. Also that social conditions can affect reproductive rates of individuals in a population.  Interactions are determined by weighing rewards and punishments of each action. Basic principle behind exchange theory – behavior of individual in interaction can be figured out by comparing rewards and punishments. Assumptions: People seek to rationally maximize their profits, behavior results in a reward is likely to be repeated - more often reward is available the less valuable it is, interactions operate within social norms, people access have information they need to make rational choices, human fulfillment comes from other people, and standards people use to evaluate interaction changes over time – reward to one is punishment for another.  What kind of interactions? Self-interest and interdependence. We form relationships to benefit ourselves, no one is self-sufficient. • Subjective interactions of rewards + punishments of each interaction. Critiques – are we really rational? Some people’s choices are limited by gender/ethnicity/class, and make choice not in best interest. And why some people follow social norms that act in best interest of others. And is it really possible to explain every social structure by actions of individuals? Relationships aren’t always linear too.