Summary.

1. Macro and micro sociological perspectives both see cultures as specifying the ground rules for peoples' social behaviour.

· By the establishment, teaching and learning of these basic rules of behaviour, social interaction is made possible, orderly and reasonably predictable.

2. Macro perspectives focus more on how these rules affect our behaviour by placing restrictions (constraints) on our possible range and choices of behaviour. The focus here is upon large social groups and institutions in society.

3. Micro perspectives focus more on how and why these rules are created. That is, the focus is on small-scale interaction between conscious individuals.

4. Both perspectives have their advantages and disadvantages in terms of how completely or incompletely they are able to produce theories that explain human behaviour. For the moment, it is probably easier to see these sociological perspectives as complimentary, in the sense that each explains some aspects of our behaviour plausibly. As the course develops the differences between each of the perspectives will become more apparent and so will the basis for seeing these perspectives as having fundamental differences that make them incompatible with each other.