Symbolic interactionism is when people use symbols to develop how they view the world and communicate with each other by attaching meaning to symbols. There are three sociologists who are coined with bringing this perspective to sociology: Charles Horton Cooley, William I. Thomas, and George Herbert Mead. Functional analysis was introduced by Robert Merton. August Comet, Herbert Spencer, and Emile Durkheim were also proponents of functional analysis. This theory creates the idea that a society has many parts that all work as one single organism and everything in that organism must work together in order to work properly and efficiently. Unlike functional analysis, conflict theory brings in the idea that the society is composed of many groups, but each of those groups is competing against one another for limited resources. They are all trying to be in control and get as much as they can. Karl Marx is considered the founder of this theory.
The two levels of analysis are macro-sociological and micro-sociological. The macro-sociological approach observes the large-scale patterns of society. It studies social structures and institutions. It observes trends within societies and looks more upon social structure, processes, problems, and how they relate to each other. Functional analysis and conflict theory use this type of analysis. The micro- sociological approach describes what people do when they are in the company of other people. This includes small interactions that people have, such as conversations or how people interact in a group setting. It looks at individuals themselves and their interactions. Individual’s behavior is based on their understanding of a situation, the meaning they give it, and how they react to it. Symbolic interactionism focuses on this type of approach.
The seven components of nonmaterial culture are gestures, language, norms, folkways, mores, values, and sanctions. Gestures are the ways in which people communicate using their bodies. This could include hand motions or signals, different facial expressions, etc. Language is a system of