COMPARE AND CONTRAST BOURDIEU'S APPROACH TO THE AGENCY/STRUCTURE DICHOTOMY WITH THAT OF GIDDENS

Structural Functionalism aims to understand society in an objective way. It views society as an entity that is “objectively real”. It emphasizes the unity of society, and how individuals perform roles and how these roles are vital in meeting the needs of the collective whole. For instance, because every society has stratification, stratification must have certain functions and these functions can contribute to the survival of the social system as a whole. Furthermore, structural

This response addresses question four and define the provided theories, which include structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. In doing so, various components of the theories are identified in relation to the topic of social change. In doing so, it is important to point out that in sociology, theories are used to explain the patterns, the way groups of people decide to perform specific actions, and the way societies do certain things or rather experience a change in a different manner. On the other hand, social change implies the growth and development of a social order, which bears some significant consequences.

Sociologists for centuries have debated the structure by which society evolves. Theories are tested to explain the changes by which society operates. Structural functionalism and conflict theory are the main viewpoints sociologists use to evaluate the changes in the habits of society. Mass incarceration is an example of social phenomenon. Mass incarceration can be viewed as a structural functionalism or a conflict theory. I believe the influences that have created today’s society are dependent on the view of the individual and decisions and actions they take.

The Functionalist theory emphasizes the contributions (functions) that all parts of society (e.g., social institutions) make within society. This theory has contributed to sociology by providing a view “which emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain stability.” (Schafer 2013, pg13)

The focus and objective of sociology is to examine social patterns. Examining social patterns reveal the sources of pressures and constraints that affect individuals’ thoughts and behaviors. There are three types of social patterns which are culture, social institutions and social structure. Culture is the shared symbols, ideas, beliefs, values, customs and material products by people in a particular society. These shared factors are accumulated through the passage of time. Social Institutions are structures and or mechanisms that provide a set of ideas and or rules that governs how individuals are to act in order to achieve important goals to which that society recognizes. Social structure is the statuses and or pattern of social relationships that have an effect of shaping individuals’ interactions with one another and how various distributions are determined. Hierarchy is one type of social structure.

People in present society are divided up into different positions in the work force. Durkheim sees society from a structural functionalist perspective and refers to society as a system of different organs, each with a

In the movie “Breakfast Club” five high school students are punished with an 8 hour Saturday detention. In the beginning, they introduce each of the characters as the criminal, the athlete, the princess, the brain, and the basket case. All five students are from different groups of social status and think they all have nothing in common, but soon realize they have more things in common than expected. This movie can be seen through Structure-Functionalism, one out of three core theories. Structural functionalism view society as a system of co-dependent part that work together to ensure survival, meaning each structure has a certain function or purpose to be in society.

The structure and agency debate is a common one in the field of sociology and different theorists come up with different ways of accounting for the actions of social actors. This essay takes the position that structuration solves the problem of this much contested debate. Initially key concepts and elements of structuration will be pointed out .These elements include structure, agency, social systems and power amongst many others. Subsequently, there will be engagement of a discussion of different schools of thought and finally it will be demonstrated how structuration prevails over the structure-agency debate.

Social Stratification can be explained as members of a society being placed into a hierarchy where they are

Which social institution meets the need to regulate sexual behavior and produce new members of society?

Examine the view that Erving Goffman’s work focuses on forms of social interaction but ignores social structure.

The correlation between these two concepts agency and structure can be seen through the impact it has on how people view social issues. For example, a student graduating high school is faced with the decision of whether or not going to college is in his or her future. This choice continuing their educational career can be seen as a completely individual choice which would be an example of agency. On the contrary, if this student knows that their parents expect them to go to college because if they choose to not attend they will be unable to get a job. This influence of the student’s parents, job market, and the current economy make this an example of structure as the influence of many external forces convinced this student to make this decision. This example of structure and agency takes the topic of going to college and shows how choice of school is becoming less and less of an individual choice. The diminishing of individual choices because of societal expectations is what is happening to many different aspects of how people view social issues.

The relationship between structure and agency is a key discussion point in sociology. The concept was brought to life by the sociologist Georg Simmel, but has been discussed by many other famous theorists, such as Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. The partnership between structure and agency are crucial to the development of society, and the process of individualization.

Structural functionalism is a macro level approach to study sociology (Browning, 2015). Structural functionalists believe social consensus is what holds society together; social consensus being a condition in which most members of the society agree on what would be good for everyone. Structural functionalists view society as a web of social structures, each structure being functional to fulfill it’s own needs, but dependent on all other structures for survival (Vago, 2012).

Consequently, as the majority of their successors date back to the twentieth century, the early institutionalist sociologists were able to very much agree with the model of Spencer and Summer (1876-1896). The fundamental functions of harmonizing societies with their contexts are guaranteed by the institutions following this model. Structural Functionalism describes the institution in two words: a concept and a structure . The first informs about the object or activity of the institution while the second attribute body to the concept by providing all the instrumentalities necessary for its implementation. In addition, the institution is the result of a change, institutionalization, transforming, slow and