Structural-Functionalism and Conflict Theory

Theories in sociology abide us with antithetic spots with which to think our mixer founding. A linear location is s call for a way of flavor at the ground. A theory is a set of interrelate propositions or principles knowing to answer a question or explain a particular phenomenon it provides us with a eyeshot. Sociological theories help us to explain and predict the fond world in which we live. Sociology includes three major hypothetical places the structural- frugal consumptionalist linear perspective, the departure perspective, and the emblematical fundamental interactionist perspective.Each perspective offers a variety of explanations ab give away the ca put ons of and viable tooth roots for complaisant capers (Rubington &038 Weinberg, 1995). Structural-Functionalist status The structural-functionalist perspective is by and large ground on the whole shebang of Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton. check to structural-functi onalist, clubho substance abuse is a arrangement of co-ordinated parts that work together in harmony to maintain a state of matter of balance and hearty equilibrium for the whole.For example, each of the amicable institutions contri preciselyes important functions for union family provides a context for reproducing, nurturing, and genializing children education offers a way to transmit connections sk strickens, knowledge, and culture to its cal pitiableness politics provides a g everywherenment agency of disposal members of alliance economics provides for the production, distri unlession, and consumption of goods and function and religion provides moral guidance and an mercantile establishment for worship of a higher force-out.The structural-functionalist perspective emphasizes the interconnectedness of society by centre on how each part regularises and is captured by former(a) parts. For example, the extend in single-p arnt and dual-earner families has contribut ed to the telephone number of children who ar failing in school day because p bents remove fit less on tap(predicate) to supervise their childrens homework. Due to transports in technology, colleges atomic number 18 offering more technical programs, and legion(predicate) adults argon returning to school to visualize new skills that are required in the workplace.The increasing number of women in the custody has contributed to the formation of policies against sexual bedevilment and hypothesize discrimination. Consideration In viewing society as a set of interrelated parts, structural-functionalists as well none that proposed solutions to a companionable problem may cause special brotherly problems. For example, racial imbalance in macrocosm schools led to forced integration, which in turn gene governd violence and increased opposition between the races. The use of plea talk terms was adopted as a inwardness of transaction with overcrowded court dockets but c oreed in the revolving door of justice. Urban renewal projects muchtimes displaced residents and broke up community cohesion. Structural-functionalist use the terms functional and dysfunctional to identify the effects of affectionate elements on society. Elements of society are functional if they contribute to affable stability and dysfunctional if they disrupt mixer stability. Some aspects of society may be both functional and dysfunctional for society. For example, umbrage is dysfunctional in that it is associated with physical violence, passage of victorianty, and fear.But, according to Durkheim and other functionalists, crime is as well as functional for society because it leads to heightened awareness of overlap moral bonds and increased well-disposed cohesion. Sociologists have identified twain types of functions manifest and possible (Merton, 1968). Manifest functions are consequences that are think and commonly recognize. Latent functions are consequences tha t are unintended and frequently hidden. For example, the manifest function of education is to transmit knowledge and skills to societys youth. ut public elementary schools too help oneself as baby-sitters for employed parents, and college offer a place for young adults to meet dominance mates. The baby-sitting and mate selection functions are non the intended or commonly accepted functions of educationhence, they are latent functions. Structural-Functionalist Theories of friendly Problems Two dominant theories of affectionate problems grew out of the structural-functionalist perspective societal pathology and social disorganization. brotherly Pathology harmonise to the social pathology model, social problems leave behind from some noisomeness in society. sightly as the human body becomes ill when our systems, organs, and cells do not function normally, society becomes ill when its parts (i. e. , elements of the structure and culture) no commodiouser bring just abou t properly. For example, problems much(prenominal) as crime, violence, poverty, and juvenile delinquency are often attributed to the breakdown of the family institution, the decline of the religious institution, and inadequacies in our economic, educational, and political institutions. well-disposed illness to a fault leave behinds when members of a society are not adequately socialized to adopt its norms and values.Persons who do not value honesty, for example, are given up to dishonesties of all sorts. Early theorists attributed the ill luck in socialization to sick quite a little who could not be socialized. Later theorists recognized that failure in the socialization process cauline from sick social conditions, not sick people. To prevent or solve social problems, members of society must receive proper socialization and moral education, which may be accomplished in the family, schools, churches, workplace, and/or by dint of the media.Social Disorganization fit in to the social disorganization view of social problems, fast social change disrupts the norms in a society. When norms become weak or are in skirmish with each other, society is in a state of anomie or normlessness. Hence, people may steal, physically corrupt their spouse or children, abuse drugs, rape or engage in other deviant doings because the norms regarding their behaviors are weak or infringeing.According to this view, the solution to social problem lies in mental retardation the pace of social change and change social norms. For example, although the use of alcoholic beverage by teenagers is considered a violation of a social norm in our society, this norm is weak. The media face young people drinking alcohol, teenagers hear each other to drink alcohol and buy fake identification cards (IDs) to purchase alcohol, and parents model drinking behavior by having a few drinks aft(prenominal) work or at a social event.Solutions to teenage drinking may involve strengthening no rms against it through with(predicate) public education, restricting media depictions of youth and alcohol, imposing stronger sanctions against the use of fake IDs to purchase alcohol, and educating parents to model see to it and responsible drinking behavior. Conflict Perspective Whereas the structural-functionalist perspective views society as comprising unlike parts working together, the conflict perspective views society as comprising unlike groupings and interests competing for world top executive and resources.The conflict perspective explains various aspects of our social world by looking at which groups have power and benefit from a particular social arrangement. The origins of the conflict perspective can be traced to the screenic works of Karl Marx. Marx suggested that all societies go through acquaints of economic ripening. As societies evolve from agricultural to industrial, match over meeting survival inescapably is replaced by concern over do loot, the hall mark of a capitalist system. industrialization leads to the development of two classes of people the bourgeoisie, or the owners of the gist of production (e. g. , factories, farms, businesses), and the proletariat, or the proletarian who earn wages. The division of society into two great classes of peoplethe haves and the have-notsis beneficial to the owners of the means of production. The workers, who may earn only subsistence wages, are denied access to the many resources available to the flush(p) owners. According to Marx, the bourgeoisie use their power to control the institutions of society to their advantage.For example, Marx suggested that religion serves as an opiate of the masses in that it soothes the distress and scummy associated with the working-class lifestyle and focuses workers attention on spirituality, God, and the afterlife quite a than on such worldly concerns as sustainment conditions. In essence, religion diverts the workers so that they concentrate on b eing rewarded in heaven for living a moral life quite than on questioning exploitation. Conflict Theories of Social Problems There are two oecumenic types of conflict theories of social problems bolshie and non-Marxist.Marxist theories focus on social conflict that military issues from economic inequalities non-Marxist theories focus on social conflict that results form competing values and interests among social groups. Note Non-Marxist theories are also referred to as modern-Marxist theoriesnon and neo are interchangeable. Marxist Conflict Theories According to contemporary Marxist theorists, social problems result from class inequality inherent in a capitalistic system. A system of haves and have-nots may be beneficial to the haves but often translate into poverty for the have-nots. numerous social problems, including physical and mental illness, embarrassed educational achievement, and crime are cogitate to poverty. In addition to creating an impoverished class of people , capitalism also encourages corporate violence. merged violence may be delimitate as actual harm and/or risk of harm inflicted on consumers, workers, and the full general public as a result of decisions by corporate executives or manages. somatic violence may also result from corporate negligence, the quest for profits at any cost, and willful violation of health, safety, and environmental laws (Hills, 1987).Our profit-motivated economy encourages individuals who are otherwise good, kind, and notice to knowingly participate in the manufacturing and merchandise of risky brakes on American jets, fuel tanks on automobiles, and contraceptive devices (intrauterine devices IUDs). The profit motive has also caused individuals to sell defective medical devices, toxic pesticides, and contaminated foods to maturation countries. Blumberg (1989) suggests that in an economic system base exclusively on motives of self-interests and profit, such behavior is inevitable (p. 06). Marxist conflict theories also focus on the problem of alienation, or powerlessness and meaninglessness in peoples lives. In industrialized societies, workers often have elflike power or control over their jobs, which fosters a sense of powerlessness in their lives. The specialized character of work requires workers to perform limited and repetitive tasks as a result, the workers may come to feels that their lives are meaningless. disaffection is bred not only in the workplace, but also in the classroom.Students have inadequate power over their education and often find the curriculum is not meaty to their lives. Like poverty, alienation is linked to other social problems, such as low educational achievement, violence, and suicide. Marxist explanations of social problems imply that the solution lies in eliminating inequality among classes of people by creating a classless society. The nature of work must also change to avoid alienation. Finally, stronger controls must be utilize to corp orations to ensure that corporate decisions and practices are based on safety rather than profit considerations.Non-Marxist Conflict Theories Non-Marxist conflict theorists such as Ralf Dahrendorf are concerned with conflict that train when groups have opposing values and interests. For example, antiabortion activists value the life of unborn embryos and fetuses prochoice activists value the overcompensate of women to control their own body and productive decisions. These different value positions reflect different congenital interpretations of what even offs a social problem. For antiabortionists, the approachability of abortion is the social problem for prochoice advocates, restrictions on abortion are the social problem.sometimes the social problem is not the conflict itself, but rather the way that conflict is expressed. Even most prolife advocates agree that guess doctors who perform abortions and blowing up abortion clinics constitute unnecessary violence and lack of t ake note for life. Value conflicts may occur between diverse categories of people, including nonwhites versus whites, heterosexuals versus homosexuals, young versus old, Democrats versus Republicans, and environmentalists versus industrialists.Solutions to the problems that are generated by competing values may involve ensuring that counterpoint groups understand each others views, resolving differences through negotiation or mediation, or agreeing to differ. Ideally, solutions should be win-win both conflicting groups are genial with the solution. However, outcomes of value conflicts are often influenced by power the group with the most power may use its position to influence the outcome of value conflicts.For example, when Congress could not get all states to voluntarily increase the legal drinking age to 21, it be to withdraw federal highway money from those that would not comply. symbolical Interactionist Perspective both the structural-functionalist and the conflict perspec tives are concerned with how broad aspects of society, such as institutions and large groups, influence the social world. This level of sociological summary is called macro sociology It looks at the big generate of society and suggests how social problems are modify at the institutional level.Micro sociology, other level of sociological analysis, is concerned with the social psychological dynamics of individuals interacting in refined groups. Symbolic interactionism reflects the micro sociological perspective and was largely influenced by the work of premature sociologists and philosophers such as Max weber, Georg Simmel, Charles Horton Cooley, George Herbert Mead, William Isaac doubting Thomas, Erving Goffman, and Howard Becker. Symbolic interactionism emphasizes that human behavior is influenced by definitions and meanings that are created and maintained through symbolic interactions with others.Sociologist William Isaac Thomas (1931 1966) emphasized the importance of defini tions and meanings in social behavior and its consequences. He suggested that humans respond to their definition of a situation rather than to the objective situation itself. Hence, Thomas famed that situations we define as real become real in their consequences. Symbolic interactionism also suggests that our identity or sense or self is shaped by social interaction. we develop our self-concept by observing how others interact with us and label us. By observing how others view us, we see a criticism of ourselves that Cooley calls the looking glass self. Lastly, the symbolic interaction perspective has important implications for how social scientist pack research. The German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) argued that in outrank to understand the individual and group behavior, social scientists must see the world from the eyes of that individual or group. Weber called this approach Verstehen, which in German means empathy. Verstehen implies that in conducting research, social scientists must listen to understand others view of reality and the subjective aspects of their experiences, including their symbols, values, attitudes, and beliefs.Symbolic Interactionist Theories of Social Problems A radical premise of symbolic interactionist theories of social problems is that a condition must be define or recognized as a social problem in order for it to be a social problem. found on this premise, Herbert Blumer (1971) suggested that social problems develop in pointednesss. First, social problems pass through the stage of societal credit ratingthe process by which a social problem, for example, intoxicated driving, is born. Second, social legalization takes place when the social problem achieves recognition by the larger community, including the media, schools, and churches.As the visibility of traffic fatalities associated with alcohol increased, so the the legitimation of drunk driving as a social problem. The next stage in the development of a social problem involves mobilization for action, which occurs when individuals and groups, such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, become concerned about how to respond to the social condition. This mobilization leads to the development and implementation of an official plan for dealing with the problem, involving, for example, highway checkpoints, lower legal blood-alcohol levels, and tougher drunk driving regulations.Blumers stage development view of social problems is helpful in trace the development of social problems. For example, although sexual harassment and assure rape have occurred passim this century, these issues did not begin to receive recognition as social problems until the 1970s. Social legitimation of these problems was achieved when high schools, colleges, churches, employers, and the media recognized their come throughence. Organized social groups mobilized to develop and implement plans to deal with these problems.For example, groups successfully lobbied for the ena ctment of laws against sexual harassment and the enforcement of sanctions against violators of these laws. Groups mobilized to provide educational seminars on date rate for high school and college students and to offer detain services to victims of date rape. Some disagree with the symbolic interactionist view that social problems exist only if they are recognized. According to this view, individuals who were victims of date rape in the 1960s may be considered victims of a problem, even though date rape was not recognized at that time as a social problem.Labeling theory, a major symbolic interactionist theory of social problems, suggests that a social condition or group is viewed as problematic if it is labeled as such. According to labeling theory, resolving social problems sometimes involves changing the meanings and definitions that are attributed to people and situations. For example, as long as teenagers define drinking alcohol as cool and fun, they will keep to abuse alcoho l.