Structural Functionalist Theory

With Occupy Wall Street gaining headway and the country seeing greater inequality than ever, anarchists and socialists protested in the streets of Lower Manhattan’s “Corner” in a rage at the banking systems. Before the turn of the century, the feelings projected toward the financial barons of New York were all but tranquil. Because the majority of the wealth among a few happened at the expense of laborers and echoed with Americans, its result lead to terrorism (King 2011).

Sociological three paradigms, Symbolic Interactionism, Social conflict, and Structural functionalism are all evident in everyday life. These three theories are associated with the study of societies. Each of these three theories were shown in the movie, Trading Places, a american comedy made in 1983 that illustrates the advantages of different social classes by making a banker and a homeless person trade places. Before I start to analyse the movie to each theory, I will first start by explaining each theory for a definition and to have a better understanding.

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.

Buechler, Steven M.. Social movements in advanced capitalism: the political economy and cultural construction of social activism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.

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 processes that lead to social order are considered as intricate and premeditated, and not spontaneous. The construction of social order is the result, in reference to Blau’s Exchange Theory, of trust and solidarity achieved through repeated social exchange. This paper will explain how and why social exchange occurs and the significance of continual social exchange between two counterparts.

Functionalism views society as the stability and assimilation of a range of forces that function within it. While society is a separate entity with a life of its own, there are individual elements contributing to that stability. Functionalism as a sociological theory emphasizes assimilation rather than the dissociation of society. Therefore, the society is seen as a whole that is compromised of parts which give one another their identity and their function. The part, whether that is education, such as a school, or sports, such as a football team, operates in relation to the other parts, and cannot be entirely understood in isolation from the other parts. All the parts are interrelated, and when there is a disturbance in any one of the

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

The Functionalist Perspective highlights that parts of society are organized to sustain its steadiness. Racist ideologist trusted they have a ethical validation for conserving a society that usually denies evident groups of their privileges and rights. Some of the Racist Beliefs release the dominant group of the accountability to problems encountered by subordinated groups comparable to education or any social difficulty that such groups may develop. There are numerous ways racism is dysfunctional to society, racial prejudice and discernment fail to use assets of other groups. It damages other groups since of poverty, which often outcomes in crime and delinquency. It demoralizes goodwill and diplomatic interactions among countries. As well as, underestimates pacific solutions in disagreements.

The primary theorists, John Thibaut and Harold Kelley, made a list of assumptions that the Social Exchange theory is based on. This list falls into two categories; one that focuses on individuals, and one that describes the social exchange between two people (Unger & Johnson 604). The assumptions that the Social Exchange theory makes are about human nature and the nature of relationships. The first, as mentioned earlier, is that of reward and punishment. Humans seek rewards and avoid

The Functionalist perspective emphasises the positive contributions of religion to society and tends to ignore its dysfunctional aspects. With its preoccupation with harmony, integration and solidarity, Functionalism neglects the many instances where religion can be seen as a divisive and disruptive force. It gives very little consideration to hostility between religious groups within the same society, such as catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland or Hindus and Muslims in India. In such cases religion can be seen as a direct threat to society instead of ‘keeping it peaceful’. Hate is a human problem. It is a manifestation of anger, pride, greed, struggle for power and other human flaws. The Palestinians don’t hate Israelis because they are Jewish; they hate

As a resent graduate of sociology I am presenting the need to protect Lake Champlain West Bay, Grand Isle water quality, tourism capital, and maintain property taxes. The study would conclude in a stormwater system being put in place along both East and West Lake Shore Drive. Not approving this project will prove to be economically negative by lower tourism, lower property value, and increasing property taxes. There are a number of other negative effects like the environment and ecosystem (also mentioned in the presentation) but the focus is on the economic effect because the research is being done focuses on functionalist paradigm.

“How will your family react, if they find out how you spend your nights here?” said Gil.

The social exchange theory believes that as rational beings, humans make rational choices. In accordance to gender and sex, the social exchange theory would state that the structure of the family has been formed in regards to the best decision

To explain human relationships further, the social exchange theory can be another definite explanation to help distinguish how we feel to be with other people and how one perceives to be with them, either to rekindle their relationship or to question the decisions that make to be in a relationship (Kelley 1959). The social exchange theory can be defined as a term that allows behaviour to be exchanged to allow a relationship between two people to happen (Huston et al., 2013). An individual social life involves interactions between two people which can be viewed as social exchanges in terms of costs and benefits (Nakagawa et al., 2013). By taking the view of human relationships the social exchange theory argues that individuals engage in a cost benefit analysis which forms their relationship with others (Milkie et al., 2004). When the costs and benefits are equal in a relationship, it is defined as equitable (Siddiqui 2008). Moreover, romantic relationships may be difficult for some people as it involves interpersonal skills in order to make them mutually satisfying therefore requires constant maintenance. Recently, Psychologists have begun to look at the breakdown of relationships and the characteristics which requires them to fail. The breakdown of relationship is a theory which explains the failure of certain human relationships and the factors that may be involved such as lack