Conflict Perspective Analysis

Structural functionalism is a macro analysis view defined as “The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole.” In education, it focuses on how it serves the needs of society. Functionalists view education as a way to pass on knowledge and skills. While functionalists believe that schools sort students based upon their academic knowledge, Conflict theorists believe that students are sorted based on their social/financial class. Conflict theory is “The way inequalities contribute to social differences and perpetual differences in power.” Conflict theorists believe that students of lower status won’t have the same opportunities in school as students of a higher class. A student of a family with a

If the education system relies most of their funding from taxes, where do they end up getting the rest of the money. The government and administration grant more money to wealthier areas than low -income areas. Wealthier communities are granted more money because they have a higher percentage of funding coming from property taxes. This leaves the low-income students at a disadvantage. People living in low income areas mainly rent and don’t own their own property. As a result of not having a house or owning property, they have little property taxes. If low -income students are not given enough money for funding a school, the students are suffering. With the lack of money causes students to miss out on college prep classes such as AP classes and Honors classes. These classes are pivotal to the students that want to pursue higher education and a road to success. For example students in the low-income areas are given a poor education. They are not given the resources, or quality teachers in order to achieve success. According to George Miller House Education and the Workforce committee, many students are not educationally ready to graduate and attend higher education (Minority 1). This is another reason why low income students should be provided the same classes as a middle class or a wealthier community. In a study, 2 million students in 7,300 schools had no access to all calculus classes, a staple in many high – achieving high schools (Minority 2). Low-income

A social conflict theorist might explain our educational system in the U.S. as competitive like we are all competing against each other to get the best paying job. This is different from the functionalist because they would see it as all of us working together to achieve a goal.

1a. Who was involved in the conflict? What was the relationship between the participants prior to the conflict? Did it appear as if the relationship between the participants had any impact on how either person responded to the conflict?

The functionalist perspective considers societies working in order to maintain a united society. From the perspective of a functionalist, in order to sustain a united society, norms and values must be applied. Therefore, if differences such as race cause tension, the possibility of having a united culture will cease to be. Secondly, the conflict theory places emphasis on opposition, coercion, and inequality within society. From the viewpoint of the conflict theory, in the case of racial profiling, inequality comes as a result of the exploitation of the minority by the majority. Therefore, exploitation leads the group with greatest influence to use its power in order to protect its interests against the opposing party. The causes of this theory would be inequality demonstrated to the minority group; meanwhile a solution would be to exploit the opposing group with the intent of protecting one’s interest. Thirdly, the symbolic interactionist relates to seeing society as the result of symbols that people give meaning to through their daily interactions. From the perspective of a symbolic interactionist, in order to form society in a certain image, it is imperative to understand the symbolism in society. Through comprehending the shared meaning connected to symbols in society, a person can understand how

Ever since the United States experienced the economic crash in the early 2000s, schools all over the country have suffered budget cuts. As a result, schools are finding themselves very short-staffed, shutting down different classes, and sometimes on the verge of closing their doors. Whether they are elementary, middle school, high school, or even colleges, they are all under the same risks. Due to this being the case, colleges began the rise of corporate sponsorships. Following in several universities footsteps, high schools and middle schools also began to accept corporate sponsorships. The result of commercialism has become present in the everyday life of children and young adults. The names of courses, posters, scoreboards, or even vending machines are just a few forms of corporate sponsorships. Corporate sponsorship in the last couple of decades has become widespread and a

For many years, corporations have sponsored schools in the United States. Many students and faculty can find corporate advertisements all over the school; on jerseys, uniforms, equipment, and even school buses. Corporate sponsorships bring money to cash-strapped schools that desperately need money, but these ads also bring distractions to students. Students deserve the best education the school board can provide them and these corporate sponsorships bring many distractions and annoyance to students. Schools should not allow corporate sponsorships into their schools if they do not bring the best benefits to students. Although corporate sponsorships bring a small number of benefits, the school board should provide an environment free from ads and corporate influence in schools because corporate sponsorships create a biased education system and creates lifelong customers out of vulnerable students.

Conflict perspectives are often viewed as the opposite of the structure-functional viewpoint; meaning, not all family practices are good or beneficial for each family member. Conflict is often viewed in a negative manner, but there are many benefits of having healthy conflict in the home. In my family experience, conflict has brought compromise, solutions, and opportunities to learn other's perspectives. Conflict has also brought a better understanding of how to improve relationships and solve disagreements.

The functionalist theory is a sociological approach emphasizing how parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. An example of this is racist beliefs discouraging a minority group from trying to question their lower status in order to maintain stability. Another example of functionalist theory is racial ideologies justifying and encouraging existing practices for social movement. Conflict theory is an approach that assumes that the social structure is understood the most in terms of conflict or tension between minority and majority groups. An example of this is an idea called blaming the victim.

Hence, after we look at all these case studies, we could conclude that the students’ academic performance is clearly tied to teacher’s expectation. In other words, the students who were deemed as “better” or “good” ends up achieving better also due to the higher expectation that the teacher was giving to them. These result, especially Rosenthal and Jacobson’s, demonstrated extremely powerful self-fulfilling prophecy on the part of the teacher. This is because when a teacher forms certain expectations towards their students based on whatever characteristics

The self-fulfilling prophecy is when others’ expectations lead someone to elicit behaviors that confirms the expectations. This could include teachers that teach in low SES schools might have a lower standard for their students, as opposed to teachers in middle to high SES schools that have a higher expectation of their students. If a third grade teacher has a negative belief about the low SES students’ potential impact, then she won’t have a high expectation from them and then the students will not try or apply themselves to do well. The students also won’t believe that they are capable to

I don't accept under any conditions that school regalia confine an understudy from opportunity articulation. There are such a large number of ways pupils can convey what needs be while wearing a uniform.

Conflict theory is a rather ambiguous theoretical example in sociological thinking. This theory was born in the 1950s by many sociologists like Lewis Coser and Ralf Dahrendorf. These sociologists and many others joined terms such as, phenomena of power, interests, coercion, and conflict to form this theory. In other words, Conflict theory is mainly about power divisions and class struggle lead to conflict. This theory plays an important role when it comes to sociological studies, since it proves that sociology also has focus on phenomena of power and conflict. Since conflict theory is mainly about class struggle, one important type of conflict theory is the Marxism Conflict theory. As stated before, this theory has led to many important

Conflict theory is the theory that human behavior in social contexts is the result of conflicts between competing groups, as different social groups, be they class-, gender- or race-defined, have unequal power and access to power, yet all groups compete for limited resources. This inevitably gives rise to tension and conflict, albeit often of the subtle variety, as oftentimes the conflicts between groups have been institutionalized in society to such a degree that the conflicts and tensions are such an expected part of society that the conflict, and inequality, itself disappears from public sight, and consciousness. For example, an adherent of a world systems theory of conflict would point to the global competition for resources, particularly the inequality between rich and poor nations struggling to provide the basic necessities of life to their inhabitants, as evidence of global conflict. Conflict theories seek to explain the interactions of groups within society, and assert that social order is preserved involuntarily through the exercise of power one social class holds over another (Lindsey, 2010, 7). The conflict between groups is not always obvious or apparent, so it must be unraveled and examined in order to identify and establish the impact of such conflict on society as a whole, as well as individual members and social groupings.

Conflict theory on education is that education offers status on people. Likewise, those educational systems typically deny disadvantaged students from getting the same instructive like other.