Intimate Relationships and Families . Sociology 103 v.2

Sociological theories are the core and underlying strength of the discipline. They guide researchers in
their studies; they also guide practitioners in their intervention strategies. And they will provide you
with a basic understanding of how to see the larger social picture in your own personal life. A theory is a
set of interrelated concepts used to describe, explain, and predict how society and its parts are related to
each other. Let’s use binoculars as a metaphor to illustrate the usefulness of a theory. Binoculars serve
to magnify, enlarge, clarify, and expand our view of the thing we are looking at. Unlike binoculars, you
can’t see or touch a theory, but it is a framework to help you “see” the world sociologically. Some things
you want to look at need 20x80 strength binoculars while you might see other things better with 8x40 or
10x30 lenses. It’s the same with society. Some things need the lens of Conflict Theory, while others need
a Structural Functional or Symbolic Interactionist lens.

https://www.canyons.edu/Offices/DistanceLearning/Documents/Open%20Textbooks/Sociology%20103%20-%20Final%20Book.docx.pdf

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