Functionalism And The Sociological Perspective On War

Functionalists and conflict theorists focus on the macro level, while in contrast, symbolic interactionists focus mainly on the micro

As long as mankind has existed there have been warfare. Nations or groups fight each other over religion, believes and interests, and billions of soldiers has let their life fighting for their country and culture values and believes.

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

From a structural functionalism perspective which is the theory that social institutions and processes in society all serve a function to keep society running. This perspective is based on the work of Émile Durkheim, who said the best way to understand society is to look at the roles different aspects of society play. Social deviance is seen as a transgression from the norm; terrorism is seen as a major deviant behaviour. Structural functionalism sees terrorism as a crime and that it is functional because it brings people together against it and beings a sense of belonging to the group opposing it. Society often uses terrorism as a way to reiterate the importance of social norms in the lives of people. Some structural functionalists also see terrorism as expected and a needed shock for society to inspire it to change for the better because they think social change is necessary for a strong society. Moreover, conflict theory is the perspective that sees conflict between competing groups as a way to force social change in society, such as when resources, status and power are unevenly distributed between groups in society and conflicts emerge to fight for social change. Conflict theorists understand terrorism as a response to injustice, often due to misguidance, illiteracy or idealistic goals and the violence is expressed due to individual aggression and used as their proof to show their willingness to

There are social problems in society today that to better understand them theories are used. Theories are a set of statements that explains the relationship between phenomena (Sullivan, 2016. P. 7). In order to understand the relationship it has to be looked at in theoretical perspectives. Functionalism, conflict theory and interactionism are all theoretical perspectives that help us to see the different types of behavior and interactions in society. Functionalism focuses on the operation of society and what contributes to its functions as an whole. Conflict theory looks at different groups of society in how insufficient help leads to those with authority and power to control those who are less prestige. Interactionism focuses on the one to one interactions of individuals and how it contributes to an individuals behavior.The functionalism and conflict theory looks at things on a macro level, focusing on large groups and society altogether. Interactionism looks at things on a micro level, a more personal look on one to one interactions amongst individuals versus

War used to be two antagonistic nations opposing each other (Lauer). Now war has escalated to new levels including multiple civil wars at one time, and terrorism (Lauer.)

Within the study of sociology, there are three main theories that serve as lenses for analyzing society: functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.

War has long been a part of the human experience. In earlier dates of history, it was used as a means to gain power and land. Romans expanded their empire by constantly going to war with surrounding areas. Many countries we have today are a result of one war or another. There have been protests and rallies across the globe giving their take on war. Even philosophers such as Sun Tzu give their take in books such as The Art of War. Although wars can be juvenile at times, and result in a horrid number of deaths: they are necessary. In today’s day in age, wars are not fought to gain more power, nor more land, but instead to protect those who need help protecting themselves and to combat those who would attempt to wreak havoc among civilians.

As soon as there was man, there was war. The history of warfare can be traced all the way back to one of the earliest known civilizations, Mesopotamia. Since the development of organized city states warfare has been used to settle disputes including disagreements over land, resources, and religious beliefs.

War has been and still is, a huge part of humanity. Throughout many wars, humans have discovered and made many significant changes to themselves and to the world they live in.

Symbolic interactionism and functionalist approaches are very different. The Symbolic interactionism approach focuses more on interpreting someone’s behaviors for how to act and what their intentions are. The functionalist approach focuses more on the functions they perform because these functions lead to the stability of our society (Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R., & Carr, D. (n.d.). What is Sociology? In Introduction to sociology (Seagull 9E. ed., p. 18). New York: W. W. Norton & Company.).

The three main theoretical perspectives that are studied are functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. Created by Talcott Parsons, Functionalist perspective explores the parts of society that are crucial in maintaining social stability. Since this investigates society as a whole, it would be considered a macro-level way of analyzing society. Conflict perspective looks at the tensions between groups over power and resources. It analyzes both violent and nonviolent feuds between two or more parties on a macro-level.

In the macro level, there are two sociological perspectives, and they are the structural functionalism and the social conflict. Structural functionalism is the perspective that places emphasis on stability and integration, and Social conflict is

War. War never changes. At least that is what Fallout, a post-apocalyptic role playing game always suggests. Throughout all of history, animals, which includes us humans have competed with one another for survival. People can’t help it; it is encoded in our DNA. Just as thunder always trails a lightning strike, war is never far behind from competition. War in its purest form is simply a conflict carried on by force of arms. Whether it be battles between people or nations, the premise is always the same. The word war has so much history behind it. It is so old that it has developed many meanings. For some war can be a struggle to achieve a goal, like the war on cancer. For others war can also mean a business conflict, like a price war between two companies. A word as old as time itself, war, it is

Hence, phenomenological mental states can also be specified by its causal role and thus become public. In this way, with functionalism, mental states are defined by their causal roles, which leaves no trace of introspectivist residue. However, in more complicated cases, my mental states can be affected by more than one factors, which eventually causes a mere disposition in me to certain actions rather than performing that action. If severe pain makes me want to scream, yet I believe that screaming in public is inappropriate, I will endure the discomfort and act like a normal person. In this case, although my mental state of being in pain is private, it is not essentially private, and can be made public by language. I can hide my misery; nonetheless, the moment when I say “I am in pain,” my mental state becomes public, because the meaning of pain is shared by others. Hence, with a functionalist theory of mental content and the usage of language, the subjectivity of personal experience can be disclosed.