Sociological Perspectives Sociology is the scientific study of society. The field has only recently been developed. Although some earlier philosophers argued about social behavior, it wasn’t until about one hundred years ago that the philosophers used systematic observations and scientific methods to prove their theories. The use of these studies then transferred them into sociologists. In sociology there are three major perspectives to look at society. Each sociologist has there own belief in which perspective they feel is correct, although not just one perspective is correct. The three major perspectives are functionalism, conflict theory, and symbol