Compare and Contrast Functionalism and Structuralism

Sociology is the “systematic or scientific study of human society and social behavior” (Ferris and Stein, 2016, p. 9). The study of an individual society and its behaviors can have contrast due to a 20th century event. In the essay Racism and Research: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, the unethical experiment took place in the year 1932 in Macon County, Alabama. This case can discuss the topics of culture, socialization, deviance, and race. All of which can become visible in a society through the structural functionalism lens. This sociological perspective theory is “a way of looking at the world” through a specific lens (Ferris and Stein, 2016, p. 10).

Question One: Choose two theories outlined in your readings and class discussions and compare/contrast them in their usefulness for considering the development of the individual within the context of the family.

Fiske, S. T. (2010). Social Beings: Core Motives in Social Psychology 2nd Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

1.Compare and contrast the conflict and the functionalist perspective relative to the political system in the United States. Select one current issue such as healthcare, immigration, or one of your choosing and discuss the issue from both perspectives.

This is a formal research paper and must be eight to ten pages in length.  Imagine that this paper will be used as a reference for individuals who are completely unfamiliar with social psychology principles.  This paper will provide them with an overview of the field, and explain the key principles associated with its practice.

This essay aims to explore and describe some of the key studies within Social Psychology and show why social psychology is still important within the science of psychology today. Social psychology was once described by Allport (as cited in Lindzey & Aronson, 1985, p.5) as, “the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of others”. One of the first psychologists to study social psychology was Kurt Lewin. Lewin is considered the “father of social psychology” by many as he took a stand against the dominant behaviourist approach during the 1920’s through his belief that interaction between the individual and their environment is key to affecting behaviour, rather than environment alone. His revolutionary ideas matured into the study of group dynamics, which is widely used by many organisations today (Collin, 2012).

variety of topics. Social psychologists study a variety of topics, including views of the self,

What is Social Psychology all about? Why is the study of it so important? Is there truly a purpose and benefit from the findings of the studies? Let’s look at each of these questions, break them down, and try to make sense of it all. Simply defined, Social Psychology is the scientific study of individual attitude and how it effects or influences others in a social context. It is helpful to understand the why, what, or could be, behind a behavior or reaction. Those that research this field, can provide credible insight to assist with understanding and ultimately contribute to the success of peace-keeping within society. There

Brace, N. and Byford, J. (2012) Investigating Psychology, Oxford, Oxford University Press/Milton Keynes, The Open University

In my opinion both of the theories structuralism and functionalism involved the study of the human mind and how it works and they were both concerned with the mind at the conscious level. Personally, my feel of the two is that functionalism is more important than structuralism. I believe that functionalism is far better school than structuralism as it is more flexible and scientific in nature which I can relate myself with. I happen to think that functionalism is an object that is designed to determine solely by its function. These are a few of the similarities between structuralism and functionalism. Throughout this paper I will further explore some of the differences between these

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).

The symbolic interactionism theory is the view of social behavior of individual that emphasizes linguistic and the gestural communication in a society and its subjective understanding of different matters, but especially the role of language in the formation of the child as a social being and social behavior in the society.

Psychology is not just philosophical speculation and reasoning over the years it has evolved and it is now also recognised as a science, to understand what psychology is all about it is necessary to know it’s origins and the theorist who brought it out of obscurity, Sigmund Freud. He developed the Psychodynamic or Psychoanalytical perspective to enable better understanding of human behaviour these concepts will be discussed further later in this study. After Freud opened the gateway other perspectives and approaches have been developed, now with five main areas of psychology - Cognitive, Behaviourist, Biopsychology and Humanist approaches. For a comparison with the Psychodynamic theory, Behaviourist Theory will be discussed.

Psychologists have been focused on observing and understanding human behavior for centuries, dating back to the Greek philosophers when psychology and philosophy were considered one.Today, Psychology is the study of human behavior, beginning before birth and lasting until death. It is clear that the observance human behavior is a vast and profound source of data for psychologists. Early philosophers relied on methods of observation and logic. A physiologist named Wilhelm Wundt in the 1800’s began using scientific research methods in his study of mental processes. However, the situation was totally different in the beginning of 20th century when psychology still struggled to be regarded as a separate discipline with practical value(Mastering,2011). Psychologists had only begun to be accepted as a science. It was John B. Watson who established the school of Behaviorism and inspired many other psychologists to study patterns of human behavior and their mechanisms. Watson 's contribution to psychology is important not to underestimate; he studied animal and human behavior to come up with a methodology that would give Psychology a respected status among other scientific disciplines. This essay will focus on the biography and works of John B. Watson with a purpose to show why his works are important for Psychology today(Hergenhahn & Henley, 2013).

An important contribution that has made a great impact on the modern social psychology was from William McDougall. McDougall proposed for an evolutionary psychology, which was influenced by Darwin’s theory. Especially with the dominant fields of sociology and anthropology, McDougall was able to link science, sociology and psychology (McDougall, 1919). However, McDougall’s research in social evolution was also interpreted as radical due to the racism involved in the concept of behaviour gene inheritance. This shows that even though McDougall’s work had been a start point to the origins of social psychology, it also led to misconcepts especially in the Western society. Another person who contributed to the origins of social psychology was William James which introduced the theory of ‘stream of consciousness’. The reason why James made an influence in social