ABSTRACT
Sociology studies the values, attitudes, and behavior of human collectivities, whether such groups comprise just a few persons or whole nation states. Preoccupation with the former is reflected in micro-perspectives. Emphasis on the latter is characterized by macro-theoretical approaches. While both positions focus on the individual in society, they differ in their respective points of departure. One locates the power of defining social situations in human actors, as they mold, and in turn are shaped by, interaction. The other points to a central value system which, either by constraint or consensus, normatively prescribes and sanctions role attitudes and behavior.
