Social Psychology

Social psychology tells us that daily behaviors and attitudes stem from the influences of social factors on the individual. In other words, all of our daily actions are fueled from social influences in our daily lives. Social psychology is a branch of psychology concerned with how social phenomena influence us and how people interact with others. There are some basic aspects of social behavior that play a large role in our actions and how we see ourselves. There have been many different theorists who have attempted to explain and understand this idea. After studying and learning about most the theories and ideas, I have come to the conclusion along with the author Kenneth Allan that George Herbert Mead is the only true social psychological theorist.

When trying to compare three social theorists to each other, you must first try to understand the details that are included within each theory itself. Theorists, by nature, create theories that can be debated from all angles but must be a tight fit in order to be considered applicable to society. Theology as a single entity is constructed from deep intellectual thought. When social theorists begin to develop each their own theoretical perspectives, they seem to have an overwhelming grasp on the concepts they try to convey to us. Since it is extremely difficult to have such a complete strong hold on social issues such as self, behaviors and society, it is important to know and understand the basic principles that underline the theories we study. Some of the big contributors to contemporary psychology include Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, George Simmel, and of course George Mead. Each has there own small contribution to help make the theory whole.

Simmel was a conflict theorist who sought to investigate pure or formal sociology by trying to understand the societal forms themselves. Pure sociology refers to the investigation of the forms of interaction that underlie political, economic, religious, and sexual behaviors. Simmel was inspired by social differentiation and he was interested in the change that urbanization, industrialization brought to society. Unlike the work of Mead, Simmels theories were non traditional and his topics varied throughout societies many issues. Simmel thought that by focusing on the basic properties of interaction that sociology could discover the underlining processes of social reality.

Emile Durkheim is one of the major leaders in the delineation of sociology. Durkheim set out on a mission to define how sociology should be considered and how the method of sociology should be used. Although Durkheim’s writing does touch upon certain moral, political organization, and intellectual issues, overall, Durkheim sets out to provide a theoretical construction for the study of sociology. Durkheim desires to understand societal life through various social constructs. He basically would like to analyze how societies work and what factors can be used to describe different aspects between and within societal boundaries. According to Durkheim, we need to recognize the different parts of sociology as being related. He focused on social facts instead of what motivates an individual human being.

Karl Marx is best known for his theories on economics and politics. His political theory is about class struggle. Most of the class struggle encompasses his ideas of oneself in the workplace and life in general. Karl Marx believed that class struggle would be the necessity for revolution. He thought that as long as there was competition between capitalists, capitalism was bound to fail. He believed that if members of the working class work together, and believe in the same ideals, they can definitely bring about significant social changes. If the working class realizes that it is being exploited, the seeds of revolution will begin to grow. What needs to be done is to transform the working class in itself to a working class for itself. In other words, the working class in itself is actually working for the capitalist, while the working class of itself works for itself and gives more meaning to its job. Allan includes a quote in his book about Marx saying, “Marx’s philosophy is one of protest imbued with faith in man, in his capacity to liberate himself, and to realize his potentialities” ((Fromm, 1961, p. vi) Allan pg 75).

Max Weber, a German economist and sociologist is considered to be one of the most significant classical theorists because his methods that are still being implemented into modern sociological research. Weber believed that sociologists can learn to understand