Differences between Macro and Micro sociology

Differences between Macro and Micro sociology Explain the differences between Macro and Micro sociology. Identify some of the key sociological approaches in both areas. Which do you think is more useful for studying society and why? Giddens (1989) defines sociology in the following way: Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, having as its subject matter our own behaviour as social beings. The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals in the street up to the investigation of world-wide social processes. Sociology is a significant subject so it is almost impossible to know all its aspect, it is only possible to learn how to apply sociological imagination , that is why all the sociological  theories may be broadly  divided into macro and  micro approaches, which will be deeper discussed and considered from each angle in this essay. Macro sociology studies social structures, communities, big social groups, layers, systems and processes that occur in them. The social community such as civilization is the main objective of macro sociology. It is not focused on detailed analysis of certain problems and situations; its target is a complex understanding of the issue. Macro sociological approach to phenomena is associated with the social world systems and its interaction with different types of culture, social institutions (complex social forms), social structures and global processes. Mainly macro sociology concentrates on the models of behavior that help to understand society as a whole. The main concepts of macro sociology are: society, culture, social institutions, social system, structure and also global social processes. Macro sociologists argue that society is in a more priority than individual as his behavior is formed by society he was born and brought up in. Macro sociology includes several important sociolo gical perspectives such as: functionalism that focuses on relationship between the parts of society and how aspects of society are functional and Conflict Theory which main focus is competition for scarce resources and how the elite control the poor and weak. Micro sociology  is one of the main branches of  sociology, examining the nature of everyday human  social interactions  and  agency  on a small scale. Micro sociology is based on interpretative analysis rather than statistical or empirical observation. It includes a theory of Symbolic interactionism that focuses on the use of symbols and face-to-face interactions. Micro sociology appeared in the late 30s of this century and had another name sociometry. This term is associated with Jacob L. Moreno, who was a  Jewish  Romanian-born  Austrian-American  leading  psychiatrist, sociologist, thinker and  educator. During his lifetime, he was recognized as one of the leading social scientists. Sociometry has got very original research methods, which are widely used as  a general scientific  tool  in  various  social  studies. For Moreno three the most important concepts of the sociometry were: socius companion, metrum measurement and drama action. Mor eno (1948) defines sociometry as the inquiry into the evolution and organization of groups and the position of individuals within them.  For  Moreno  and  other  representatives of  sociometry the main  object of  research  is an existing small  social groups and the most  important,  what  characterizes these social groups is  the peoples emotional  relationship  with each other that is  forming  an atomistic  structure of  society. Simple  observations are not  able to  capture these  relationships,  but  they can  be  identified by  using specific  measurement methods,  particularly survey  techniques  and processing of data. For example: sociometric tests, sociomatrices and sociograms. This  technique allows  detecting the  actual  situations of conflict  and  efforts  to eliminate them. The creation of sociometry has importantly contributed to the sociology and is considered to be one of the most si gnificant achievements of sociology as a science for the entire period of its existence.  The introduction of quantitative methods in sociology considerably transformed it and allowed to study with unprecedented accuracy.  One of the most significant consequences of creation of the micro sociology has become the increase of interest and opportunities for social research in the study of various problems of human existence with the use of quantative methods and modern computer technologies. Functionalists mainly  focus on the  macrostructures  of society,  but representatives  of symbolic  interactionism  are usually  more concerned about micro aspects  of social life. Also they argue that micro sociology is more useful for studying society. For instance  John  H.Mead and  H.  Blumer  studied the  social  interaction  of individuals  and  speculated  how  they manage to  coordinate their actions with each other. The Representatives of symbolic interactionism emphasize the fact that people are social beings.  However, in comparison with ants, bees, termites and other insects, that are leading a social life, people almost do not have any inherent models of behavior that connect us with each other. Consequently,  if people have essentially no inherent nature of the mechanisms of social behaviuor it is not clear how society can be created.  Representatives of symbolic interactionism find the answer in the ability of people to communicate through the symbols. Geogre Herbert Meed (1863-1931) and other representatives of symbolic interactionism state that we perform an act by conforming to the meaning we put in it. Generally Blumer states that the meaning is not something initially related to the things, on the contrary, it is characteristic which emerges from the interaction between people in their everyday life. In other  words, social  reality  is created  by people  when they  act  in this  world and  interpret  events  occurring in  it. Nietzsches 1880s notebooks repeatedly state that there are no facts, only interpretations. We  choose the  facts  from the  universal  context  by  the activity  of our  brain , and  because of that all  the facts  are the creations  of a man.  Accordingly, representatives of  symbolic  interactionism  believe  that  we perceive the world  as  constructed  reality. All  this leads  representatives  of symbolic interactionism  to the conclusion  that  if  sociologists  want to  study the  life  of society, they must first understand the  words  and actions of  members of  this society,  taking  their  point  of view.  This  theory  was largely  influenced by  Weberian  concept  of understanding  (Verstehen) or empathetic understanding. This gives an opportunity to the sociologists to mentally put themselves into the other persons shoes and thus obtain an interpretive understanding of the meanings of individuals behaviours. To conclude, the advantage  of this approach  is that  it  introduces the  people in the  panorama of  sociological research.  It  pays  attention  to  the activities  of individuals  in  their  daily  lives and  sees that the  people  are not robots that mechanically carry out the orders of social rules and institutional norms  but beings that are  living  their  lives  and have got and ability to  think. Through interaction, they operate on symbols and meanings à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹that enable them to interpret the situation, assess the advantages and disadvantages of certain actions and then choose one of them.  Thus, representatives of symbolic interactionism suggest the image of a man as an individual, actively shaping his behavior, rather than passively reacting to external dictates of structural limitations.