to a focus of the subjective nature of human experience, for example, the later popularity of post-modern thinking highlighting the subjective basis of semantics. Humanistic sociology also differentiates itself from functionalism in promoting the need for freedom of thinking in the practices of research. Functionalists reject the idea of a realist or structural analysis, seeking instead a more observable explanation with external validation outside the social system. Structural functionalism Some functionalists actually regard themselves as proponents of structural functionalism. Structural functionalism is close to humanistic sociology in its understanding of society as shared norms and values. Structural functionalism arose from functionalism in the attempt to explain the dominance of some social groups over others, known as conflict theory. Conflict theory contradicts functionalism. Structural functionalism is usually associated with the work of Talcott Parsons. Again humanistic sociology had a role in the decline of structural functionalism. In the humanistic model, there exist dynamical systems of values obtained from social actions in an evolutionary sense. Symbolic interactionism Many will claim that symbolic interactionism has grown directly from the work of Thomas and Znaniecki. Symbolic interactionism grew out of structural functionalism. Symbolic interactionism views society as consisting of interactions among individuals. Hence the focus on individuals and the organization and patterns found in their everyday activities. It seeks to deal with problems like identity. Problems found in symbolic interactionism, such as inadequate analysis of social structure, led to a fork in the road of social science. The school of sociology most influenced by the humanistic model developed by Znaniecki and Thomas led to the development of ethnomethodology. The other branch led to post-modernism via poststructuralism. Ethnomethodology Ethnomethodology and the social anthropology of Pierre Bourdieu are probably the best representation of the initial work of Znaniecki and his model of culture as a system of values. In a sense humanistic sociology has transcended the structure vs function debate, focusing instead on the value-based world of culture. A researcher working as a humanistic sociologist has a scientific objectification of values. Using analytic induction in the context of the humanistic coefficient, not unduly influenced by questions of structure or function, an objective order for the social world is found. That the character of this social world is derived from sociological sources does not discount a scientific conclusion. A humanistic sociologist models the experience of humanity as the span of social action. A humanistic sociologist derives a