Macro sociology

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Under macrosociology which is now part of the sociology understood of the company (also comparable absolutely Collective ) has as its object, in that it as a texture or figuration is perceived by social structures which in general vorfindbare pattern ( patterns are established) and not required by direct interrelationships of the members depend on, as is the case with (small) groups - cf. also microsociology .

Macrosociology therefore includes all the social structures that correspond to the concept of the stable and institutionalized or ritualized social system and can be referred to as associations with Max Weber . Their cohesion is based on an idea of ​​the organization of the association that is jointly recognized by all participants . In contrast to groups in the narrower sense, social action in such associations does not refer to individual actors , but to an abstract, imaginary order that bears the normative character of social norms .


Important representatives of macro-sociological theoretical approaches include:


“Macrosociology” is understood as the exploration of the interdependence of parts that together make up a whole.

In doing so, fundamental methodological questions are often asked, which, however, can be switched off when the relevant methods are actually used:

  • Are individuals as micro-units any more fundamental than any macro-unit?
  • Are individuals, when treated as configurations of selected properties, merely represented as points in an abstract multidimensional space ?
  • Does the operation called “understanding interpretation” just boil down to favoring one probability distribution over another?

Methods useful for macrosociologists include:

  1. Comparative consideration of statistical distributions
  2. Description and analysis of the structure , functioning and development of the interrelationship of parts of a whole;
  3. Aggregating analysis of particular parts (e.g. individuals, families, organizations ) in static and dynamic terms.

Single receipts

  1. ^ Krishnan Namboodiri: Methods for Macrosociological Research . Academic Press, San Diego et al. 1994. ISBN 0-12-513345-6 . S. xi