Contemporary Theoretical
Perspectives
Given the many and varied ideas and trends that
influenced the development of sociology, how do
contemporary sociologists view society? Some see it
as basically a stable and ongoing entity; others view
it in terms of many groups competing for scarce
resources; still others describe it based on the everyday,
routine interactions among individuals. Each of
these views represents a method of examining the
same phenomena. Each is based on general ideas
about how social life is organized and represents an
effort to link specific observations in a meaningful
way. Each uses a theory—a set of logically interrelated
statements that attempts to describe, explain,