Krohn Sociology 1101 January 10 2014 Rates of suicide amongst teenagers are relatively low particularly younger teens This dichotomous with the popular notion that suicide is predominantly a phenomenon of the young Meanwhile the surge for middle age people 48 in the past decade may be attributable to aging Baby Boomers the highest rates among the old old to the aging population in general and method 5 suicide among old old involve firearms By method 52 of suicides are carried out by firearms 25 by hanging 17 by poisoning overdosing 6 other predominately jumpers By gender men are more likely to use firearms and hanging women more likely to use poison overdoes There were 38 000 completed suicides in the United States in 2010 more than the amount of people that died in traffic accidents suicide created more than 1 5 million survivors i e family members affected and there are approximately 465 000 attempted suicides annually hospital room admissions Suicide has also been on the increase on the African American population the middle aged population and amongst all demographics in the military With 88 suicides occurring everyday suicide is more than a moral crisis it s a public health epidemic Watch http www youtube com watch v ylPUzxpIBe0 What Is A Theoretical Paradigm Paradigms provide a basic image of society that guides thinking and research THEORIES statements of how and why specific acts are related fall under one of three theoretical paradigms in sociology Structural Functional Paradigm Conservative in nature this paradigm sees society from a macro level broad social structures as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability Focus is on Social Structure relatively stable pattern of social behavior and their social functions consequences for the operation of society S F s basic premise is to focus on how societies stay together Social Stability during times of tumultuous change Major Theorists Auguste Comte Founder of Sociology positivist Herbert Spencer Survival of the fittest theory before Darwin arguing that success will come to the most intelligent ambitious and productive people while those less able will fall behind The dominant patterns and structures in any society culture religion government etc are reflective of that society s most dominant and fittest members Emile Durkheim Studies of suicide focusing mainly on social solidarity how society s band together and survive times of great change and looking at social structures and norms that produce this stability In looking at Deviance Durkheim argued that crime is normal Talcott Parsons Leading proponent of S F in the United States viewed society as a living organism and identifying the tasks each must perform in order to survive Robert K Merton 3 types of social functions Manifest function Intended consequence Latent function Unintended consequence Dysfunction function Undesirable consequence Functionalism was the leading and dominant theoretical paradigm from the beginning of sociology until the 1960s By focusing on social integration and stability S F tends to ignore inequalities in society caused by social class race ethnicity gender etc which can lead to social conflict Social conflict Paradigm Society from a Marco level but as an area of inequality that generates social conflict and social change Conflict sociologists focus on how factors such as social class race ethnicity gender and age are linked to unequal distribution of societal resources money power education and prestige advocate for ways to reduce these inequalities through change It is proactive as opposed to Functional which is reactive Major Theorists Karl Marx German Sociologist author of Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital believed strongly that merely studying society was not enough the philosophers have only interpreted the world however the point is to chance it Max Weber Class conflict is only part of what drives society religion and politics are also important sources of historical changes A dialogue with Marx W E B Dubois Leading African American Sociologist of 20th century author of The Philadelphia Negro and The Souls of Black Folk predicted that the focus of the 20th century would be problems of race C Wright Mills Sociologist imagination the power elite Symbolic Interaction Paradigm Society from a Mirco level face to face social interaction the product of the everyday interactions of individuals Society amounts to the shared reality that people construct as they interact with another with reality being somewhat subjective We construct our reality and the type of society in which we live Major Theorists Max Weber The need to understand any social situation from the points of view of those involved Wrote The Protestant Ethic and the spirit of Capitalism and The Sociology of Religion George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley explored personality development the self individuals our personalities are products of Socialization process Erving Goffman Dramaturgical analysis explains how we to borrow from Shakespeare are all basically actors on a stage performing various roles before others on a daily weekly and throughout our lives basis George Homans and Peter Blau Social Exchange theory argues that interactions between individuals in any situation is guided by what each person stands to gain and lose from the other Ultimately we interact based on the best deal possible for ourselves