Functionalist And Sociological Theories

Sociology is the study the different aspects of humanity and society. It encompasses a very broad and varying range of topics. It can be studied on a large world-wide scale spanning across several countries, which is called Macrosociology. It can also be studied on a small scale looking at only individual families or neighborhoods, which is called Microsociology. Not only does it peer into humans’ interactions with each other but examines why they act the way they do. It considers the environment, as well as how access to different luxuries can contribute to the people that we become. In this fascinating field there are three primary views on exactly what the fundamental driving force behind society is. Symbolic Interactionalism, the belief that symbols and the meaning that they are given, define how we will perceive life, in this philosophy these meanings are influenced by society and the events of individual lives. Functional Analysis, views society as any other organism, in this theory all parts of the whole must work together cohesively to function. Conflict theory takes a somewhat opposite view than Functionalism, this perspective suggests that rather than wanting to work in unison, society’s underlying motive is a power struggle for resources. Over the course of this paper the reader will explore these different perspectives.

In his book, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman (1959) focuses on the self as a staged production in which people actively present themselves to different audiences one encounters. To bolster his conceptualization, Goffman used an interesting metaphor of “all the world’s a stage” (1959, 254). This, he terms as a “dramaturgical approach” (Goffman 1959, 240) in which an actor puts on a show for others; drawing analogies between human behaviors and the theater. Goffman (1959) likens the individual to an actor on stage performing for and with other individuals involved in the situation. Three types of space exist for the actor to perform on, to enact the self, and to interact with others: the front stage, the backstage, the outer region. Goffman (1959) utilizes specific dramaturgical terms such as performance, teams, front and back regions, sign-vehicles, and highlights the process of dramatic realization. These terms will be discussed in the following sections.

Functionalism is one of the main principles involved in sociology. Emile Durkheim developed the functionalist theory. The method analyzes different parts of society and how they function individually to create a more stable society has a whole. According to Sociology in Our Times, "Functional perspectives are based on the assumption that society is a stable, orderly system. This stable system is distinguished by societal consensus, whereby the majority of members share a common set of values, beliefs, and behavioral expectations." A functionalist society constitutes from the corresponding parts of society that carry out certain functions that strengthen the long-range stabilization of society. Institutions and structures emerge to help play a role in aiding society’s chances of survival. The organizations that add to the survival of the community include family, education, religion, government, and economy. The belief of the functionalist theory is if anything inconspicuous happens to any of the elements stated above, then all parts of society are negatively affected. Another factor that contributes to a stable functionalist society is the participation of the citizens who inhabit the community. To further the functionalist theory, Robert K. Merton divided functionalism into two different aspects of social institutions. The two functions include manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions are intended and excessively noticed by the contributors to society.

Functionalist Erving Goffman studies the sociological approach of Dramaturgy in his book ‘The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life’ (Goffman, 1959), he built his theory based on earlier work completed by Kenneth Burke. However there are distinct differences in features of the theory between Burke and Goffman as Burke believed that life was in fact a literal

Bias, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is an inclination of temperament or outlook, or a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgement. We face bias in our everyday lives when dealing with all aspects of life and not necessarily the criminal justice system. As a part of society, like conflict, bias helps our society function. While not always in a positive sense, bias does have a place in society that helps it function the way we know it today. Bias in society can be compared or categorized under the sociological perspective of Functionalism. The sociological theory of Functionalism is essentially when all aspects of society that are interdependent contribute to the functioning existence of society as a whole. If there was no bias in society,

One approach is increment both the quantity of cops in neighborhoods and increment their association with the influenced territories. Police officers are deemed in such a bad light that I think that if police officers are seen in a sincerer light of being more connected to the community, they will forge a better bond to the community links to the area and help to become a barrier in the war. While justice and police have an important role to play, repression only is counter-productive if not combined with development interventions that look at the drivers of violence.

Erving Goffman claims we manipulate our performance of social roles to control how we think about ourselves. According to his idea, we can change how we present ourselves to people, influencing other’s ideas of us. Though him, we are allowed to alter our costume, prop, delivery, set, or rehearsal, and we will notice a change in how people react to our alteration since we are individuals who behave like actors on stage preforming a play.

Sociology studies social change and the interaction of people in their everyday lives. The advent of social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, has changed the way people interact and communicate. These sites allow people to be social on the Internet thus opening one to a large number of people to share ideas, stories, photos, as well as solve problems quickly. Therefore, social networking sites have made it possible for people to mirror the human behavior of the offline social landscape. One-directional rhetoric of the mass media usually manipulates society into a social order.

The agent of socialization that impacts society the most is media. Dealing with people has a big effect on how functionalists, conflict theorists, and symbolic interactionists will interpret how media will impact society. Functionalism focuses on how social media and technology plays a big role in society and makes everything run smoothly.(marketography.com) Functionalists believe that social media plays a big role in society. They believe that if it wasn't for social media that we wouldn't know how to get information, and that we would have to write paper by hand, instead of just typing them on the computer. They break it down in smaller sections because it doesn't all fit under the same thing. One way that social media is used is to promote things. Most of us in the world own a tv. They create commercials that you see when you are watching tv. These commercials promote different products or businesses in a way that we will understand but will also be interested in the product or business which will make us want to buy the product or go there. It doesn't just stop there advertising is everywhere.(cnx.org) It is on your computer and at movie theaters. Functionalists say that when they ask people why they want tv is because they enjoy it. From gaming to online chats social media is a way that can help you entertain family or friends. Another good thing that it help us pass along norms, values,and beliefs from generation to generation.(cnx.org) Social media teaches us how to speak, behave, and how to react

Functionalism was the prevailing branch of western Human science until the 1960s since when it has been progressively reprimanded by sociologists favoring distinctive sociological points of view. Functionalists contend that social orders comprise of between related social foundations, for example, schools, broad communications, political frameworks, the Congregation and the family each of which contribute emphatically to the support of soundness of society in general. That is: these establishments are said to be useful for social orders all in all. Extensively talking it is accepted by functionalists that social orders work in light of a legitimate concern for the greater part of their individuals with the goal that there is no purpose behind key clash in the public eye. Rather there is a high level of accord that social orders are composed proficiently and moderately decently.

Erving Goffman developed the concept that made us understand that life is like play(drama) which has a never-ending and it involves entities of actors, props, writers etc. which involve scripts where individual acts. He further made us understands that our socialization is full of learning how to play a role that has been assigned from other people. In fact, he has brought to our understanding of a life where people act and socialize which consist of our assigned role from other people. Goffman believes that whatever we do, we are playing out some role on the on the stage of life and that comprises of behind the scenes actions and how people are being guided and directed by other individual and he named it front stage and back stage.

The sociological perspective is a way of looking at the world through a “sociological lens”. In order to best use the sociological perspective, it is important to use a “beginner’s mind”, which is essentially seeing things in a new light and leaving behind all preconceptions. The macro level of the social world examines large-scale social structures, while the micro level of the social world involves face-to-face and small-group interactions. Both macrosociology and microsociology attempt to better understand society, groups, individuals, and institutions. Some sociological theories are better at explaining the social world at a macro level than they are at a micro level, and vice versa. Structural Functionalism and Conflict Theory are best for macrosociology while Symbolic Interactionism is best for microsociology. The purpose of this paper is to explain how the sociological perspective has helped me better understand the social world on both a macro and micro level.

The front stage is the area where the performers are in front of an audience. The individual’s performance defines the situation (Goffman,1959, p.13). Majority of our time is spent in the position of front stage where we enact our roles. (Goffman,1959, p.14). Almost any place where we are in the presence of others we are in the position of front stage. The back stage is where individuals can be themselves without having to take on a specific role.(Goffman,1959, p.14) This is also a place where one can arrange themselves for the front stage. Off stage is when one is no longer performing and specific performances may be given to explicit audiences.

The Presentation of Self In Everyday Life is a work developed by noted sociologist Erving Goffman. In it, Goffman details the sociological perspective of our social interactions. He uses the metaphor of theatre to better understand the complexities surrounding interactions; it is from this seminal text that we establish words from the dramaturgical framework such as performance, backstage, front-stage, and costume as illustrations of interactionism. He begins the book by addressing the idea of performance. For Goffman, performance refers to “ all the activity of any individual which occurs during a period marked by his continuous presence before a particular set of observers and which has some influence on the observers.” (Goffman, 1959) In other words, performance is an analogy in reference to how a person acts, in both the front stage and backstage, for their audience. Because in every social interaction we are putting on a performance, Goffman believes that we each have a role as well. As with a theatrical production, the front stage and the back stage are critical in understanding how the interaction between individual and audience is carried out. The front stage or region is where the superior more desirable impressions of the self are brought forth; in the background, actors display a private and more nuanced version of the self as they consider this place separate from the role they play in society. There is also the idea of offstage, which Goffman argues is the place

Erving Goffman revolves his view of the human life around the belief that we are all actors who have both a front stage behavior and a back stage behavior. From an early age we have become skilled actors and move in and out of roles with precision such as with our family and friends. We follow the formal societal rules when we are on the front stage reciting a script, playing a role. This would include going to work, presenting ourselves as the person we should uphold to take part in society. On the other side, Goffman says our back stage behavior is informal, as we'd act when we are