The Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, And Conflict Theory

Many individuals all over the world are affected by poverty. In order to completely understand the cause, the effect, and the solution to ending poverty, we must first understand the meaning of poverty. Poverty is the condition where an individual’s basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter are not being met (business dictionary). According to the World Bank Organization, poverty is also the lack of healthcare, education, information, and jobs. There are two general types of poverty: Absolute and Relative. Absolute poverty occurs when individuals cannot obtain adequate resources to support a minimum level of physical health. Relative poverty occurs when individuals do not

The Functionalist theory emphasizes the contributions (functions) that all parts of society (e.g., social institutions) make within society. This theory has contributed to sociology by providing a view “which emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain stability.” (Schafer 2013, pg13)

Being poor is hazardous to one's health. As seen in class, the conditions that are found in poor neighborhoods cause the poor to die earlier and have much less healthy lives than their more wealthy counterparts in better neighborhoods and the suburbs. The poor who are mostly of color are segregated by income into these areas where poverty, toxic waste, pollution and crime make their lives miserable indeed.

Influence is powerful in determining one’s future. Actions behaviors and opinions are all connected to impact of others and the way they shape our views on the world as well as ourselves. Self-Image is dependent on the acceptance of others, thus always changing since one’s morals and ethics do not stay the same as time goes on. Influence of others play a role on how one tends to view themselves and people around them, by either being forced to conform to a country’s lifestyle, completing constant tasks to keep up with society’s demands, or being able to be content with oneself rather than being blinded of the onslaught of constant expectations.

Poverty and poor health worldwide are inseparably related. Poor health is a direct effect of growing up in poverty; as children living in low economic families may not have access to adequate medical health coverage. Which means the child will not have proper immunization and checkup that they need to ensure good health. Studies show when a child grows up in poverty the child can be underweight (Boyden). Poor under lined illness may also lead to issues throughout a lifespan. Poverty increases neglect of health issues. That causes more health problems which ends in death. Statistics also show that living in poor rule areas, with low quality schools. Even if the parents are highly educated and employed, the employment

Social conflict also focuses on macro-sociology. Symbolic interaction paradigm says society functions well through interactions. Communication is spreaded through symbols created by society. Social interaction is important, because it causes social change. Many variables such as behavior events are explained through social contact with others. The people are the ones who determine what is reality, and what is not reality. Life works in a dramatization point of view. Symbolic interaction paradigm focuses on the small issues that affect communities in society, therefore making it a micro-level orientation. Functionalist paradigm sees society as a well integrated, self-regulating system that meets people’s needs. While Social conflict views society having many groups that are self reliant, with their own goals and needs. Symbolic interaction explains society is shaped, and constructed through interaction, and communication with others.

Symbolic Interactionism – Micro level – This involves using symbols. The symbols generally have the same meaning to society, but may not mean the same thing to an individual. For example, a wedding band is a symbol used to show a person is married and it is generally assumed if a person is not wearing a wedding band they are not married or they are trying to hid the fact that they are.

Conflict theorist use inequality of social class to explain phenomena like wars, poverty, discrimination, and domestic violence. They say that people of power and wealth are the ones that have attributed to the development of inequality over time. For example, a person of power may suddenly realize their extent of power and do whatever it takes to maintain that power no matter who or what group it affects in the long-run, giving conflict theorist all the reason to believe that social class is what can cause conflict. Now, even though both theories have different perspectives on society, they do present some similarities between the

Functionalism is seen as a macro-scale approach to society; it sees society as a whole rather than looking at parts of it. Due to this, functionalism sees society as a body (organic analogy), all the institutions work together to make society. This is particularly useful when observing society in order to understand the way in which it functions and the way in which all the institutions (organic analogy: organs within the body) work together to sustain society as a whole. Functionalism being a macro-scale approach is therefore seen as a strength as it allows functionalist sociologists to observe society, and its institutions, as a whole.

Society has evolved to the point where money is the biggest factor in our lives. People spend an incredible amount of time at their workplace for that miniscule pay raise. Money also plays a role in our relationships with the people around us, seen in the fact that people of similar economic status tend to congregate. This desire to gain more money causes conflict, mainly between people who have a great deal of money, and the people who struggle financially. There are many examples of conflict between the different economic classes. Class conflict in Russia led to the Russian Revolution, and class conflict in France led to the French Revolution. Economic status is also the cause behind many ordinary crimes. This conflict, both between and within classes, is exemplified in The Great Gatsby, which shows that conflict occurs because of the differences among the classes and the strive to rise to a new class, known as the American dream. In order to effectively reduce conflict in any form, something must be done to eliminate the distinction between the different economic classes.

The cycle of poverty has been in existence for a long time because of the difference in class levels. The widening gap between these class levels leads to disparity in all aspects of the life of these individuals. The cycle of poverty is universal to the world because low-income communities have fewer opportunities. Despite the effort of the government to intervene with welfare programs, children born into these communities frequently have the same outcome. Healthcare is an important issue because healthier individuals will have more opportunities than individuals that do not have similar chances. The culture of these low-income areas has been attributed to the poor outcomes of these communities.

Poverty can lead to serious effects. Children who grow up in poverty are likely to have frequent health problems than the children who grow in better financial circumstances. For example, infants who are born into poverty have a low birth weight, and they grow up with mental or physical disabilities. Not only are they sick, but they are most likely to die before their first birthday. Children who are raised in poverty might miss school often because of their illnesses, and they have a much higher accident rate than the other children. Nearly a billion of the world’s population can’t read nor write. Poor families experience stress much more than a normal family does. They are more likely to be exposed to negative events such as illness, job loss, death of a family member, and depression. Homelessness is another effect of poverty. Homeless children are less likely to receive proper nutrition, protection and they experience more health problems. Around 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe and clean water and proper nutrition. Homeless women experience a high rate of low birth weight infants as well as miscarriages. Families who do not have homes receive much more stress than other families. They also have disruption in school, work, friendships, and family relationships. There are other effects of poverty such as drug abuse and addiction, child and woman abuse, debts pressure, and increase in crimes.

Structural Functionalism is “A major sociological perspective that views society as an interdependent system of parts (structures) and purposes (functions) that work together to make a society operate (Larkin, 2015)”. In order for a society to work all parts of the same society must work together. In structural functionalism society nearly depends on one another to stay afloat. If Something changes it can causes a disruption in society and begins to make things become unbalanced. Functionalism focuses on many groups that make up society, for example Government, Judiciary, and religion are some of the key groups that benefits in society strengthening their social relationships and the very world humans live in.

On this assignment I 'm going to be referring to poverty, since it leads down different roads. Poverty can lead to health issues, lack housing, of income, employment, malnutrition, lack of education and many more that will be explained on this paper.

In the United States and in countries all over the world, poverty has extreme impacts on a