macrosociology

Definition of Macrosociology

(noun) Large-scale sociological analysis of long-term social processes such as institutions, structures, systems, and whole societies.

Example of Macrosociology

• Studying social revolutions, such as in Theda Skocpol’s (1947) States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China (1979).

Macrosociology Pronunciation

• Syllabification: ()

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: mac·ro·so·ci·ol·o·gy

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /ˌmækroʊˌsoʊsiˈɑlədʒi/
• British English – /ˌmakrə(ʊ)səʊsɪˈɒlədʒi/

Usage Notes

• Plural: macrosociologies
• Macrosociology is the “big picture” view of sociology which studies macrolevel phenomena.
• Macrosociology is compared and contrasted to microsociology. However, the distinction between macrosociology and microsociology is not well-established across the discipline of sociology and exists on a continuum. A theoretical attempt to combine aspects of macrosociology and microsociology is called a micro-macro theory.
• Macrosociology scholars include:
  • Reinhard Bendix (1916–1991)
  • Peter M. Blau (1918–2002)
  • Karl Marx (1818–1883)
  • Barrington Moore (1913–2005)
  • Georg Simmel (1858–1918)
  • Theda Skocpol (born 1947)
  • Charles Tilly (1929–2008)
  • Immanuel Wallerstein (born 1930)
  • Max Weber (1864–1920)
• Types:
  • functionalism
  • Marxism
  • rational choice theory
  • social exchange theory
• Variant spellings:
  • macro sociology
  • macro-sociology
• Also called:
  • macro analysis
  • macroview (macro-view)
  • macrolevel (macro-level)
  • macrolevel analysis (macro-level analysis)
  • macrolevel orientation (macro-level orientation)
• A (noun) macrosociologist studies society from the (adjective) macrosociologic or (adjective) macrosociologistic or (adjective) macrosociological perspective to understand social interactions (adverb) macrosociologically.

Related Quotation

• “[A] number of sociologists regard ethnomethodology as a frivolous approach to studying human behavior because it does not examine the impact of macrolevel social institutions—such as the economy and education—on people’s expectancies. Women’s studies scholars suggest that ethnomethodologists fail to do do what they claim to do: look at how social realities are created. Rather, they take ascribed statuses (such as race, class, gender, and age) as ‘given,’ not as socially created realities” (Kendall 2006:129).

Related Videos

Additional Information

• Elwell, Frank W. 2006. Macrosociology: Four Modern Theorists. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
• Nolan, Patrick, and Gerhard Lenski. 2011. Human Societies: An Introduction to Macrosociology. 11th ed. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
• Olsen, Marvin Elliott. 1991. Societal Dynamics: Exploring Macrosociology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• Sanderson, Stephen K. 1999. Macrosociology: An Introduction to Human Societies. 4th ed. New York: Longman.

Related Terms

• analysis
• economic system
• government
• institution
• organization
• State
• structure
• theory
• world-systems theory

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Reference

Kendall, Diana. 2006. Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Works Consulted

Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan Turner. 2006. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. 5th ed. London: Penguin.

Brinkerhoff, David, Lynn White, Suzanne Ortega, and Rose Weitz. 2011. Essentials of Sociology. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Jary, David, and Julia Jary. 2000. Collins Dictionary of Sociology. 3rd ed. Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins.

Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Ravelli, Bruce, and Michelle Webber. 2016. Exploring Sociology: A Canadian Perspective. 3rd ed. Toronto: Pearson.

Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.

Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Cite the Definition of Macrosociology

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “macrosociology.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 26, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/macrosociology/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

macrosociology. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/macrosociology/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “macrosociology.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 26, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/macrosociology/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“macrosociology.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/macrosociology/>.