Debates in Sociology

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This paper focuses on the theoretical debates in sociology that acted as the driving force in its course of development drawing heavily from the thinking of Alvin Gouldner. Revolutionary transformation in the French society in late eighteenth century and the subsequent social disorder created the background of the development of positivism by Comte with the advocacy of restoring social order. Intermingling of different theories also took place as in the case of positivism furnishing the context for the emergence of structural functionalism. Interpretative sociology brought new dimension to the understanding of social phenomena by highlighting the perspective of the actors instead of the observer. In this vein it also discusses the emergence of intersubjectivity, ethnomethodology and related theoretical views. For obvious reason the paper deals elaborately with the perspective of Marxism. It underlines that structural functionalism presents society as an interwoven equilibrium while Marxism views the same as a conflicting whole with the effect of domination by the ruling class. This paper elaborates on the basic tenets of historical materialism as couched in Marxism. However, Marxist prognosis faltered in advanced capitalist countries of the Western hemisphere calling for new theoretical insight. Within Marxism it happened by examining the causal background of the continuation of capitalist countries, elaborated in this paper in the section on structural Marxism. The premise of sociology also necessitated the emergence of Durkheim and Weber who argued for different perspectives for the understanding of social order. The contributions of system theory and interactionism are duly acknowledged in this paper to weave a comprehensive intellectual tapestry being linked with debates and argumentation. The parallelism of system and individual brought dualism in sociological theory and Anthony Giddens took up attempt to draw a conflation between the two, unfolding a new dimension in the debate ridden sociological theories. The paper concluded with the discussion of Derrida and Lyotard to unfold the novel approach of post-modernism in challenging the claim of universality of modern theories.