Within the world of sociology there are sociological paradigms that can be applied to human’s perception of the world. The three major sociological paradigms are functional, conflict and symbolic interactionism each playing key different roles when dealing with social issues. These paradigms exist in order to have a basic understanding of how society functions, the role of sociology, and how different things affect social life. Social paradigms have the ability to impact social issues if they are used together in a way that allows them to work at a balance. The functional paradigm consists of different elements of society joining together to create one stable social unit (Colomy, 2013, p.33). In order to maintain stability within …show more content…
People within society are not seen as equal, there are people who are more privilege and others who will never get ahead (Colomy, 2013, p.37). The conflict paradigm differs from the functional paradigm because it can better explain social change within society, however it is not reliant when explaining social stability (Freeman, 2017, lecture 1). The conflict paradigm poses strengths along with weaknesses. Strengths of the conflict paradigm are that it recognizes the power struggles that occur within society and it acknowledges and challenges unequal power among individuals (Freeman, 2017, lecture 1). The weaknesses that conflict poses are the fact it assumes inequality and that it is hard to apply to interactions (Freeman, 2017, lecture 1). The major benefit society gains from this paradigm is its ability to promote social change. This paradigm is important in Chambliss’s piece on what excellence is and what it takes to be successful. Not everyone has the ability to achieve excellence however if individuals have accesses to the proper resources their achievements are more likely to be pursued (Chambliss, 1989, 72). Competition allows for people to struggle achieving excellence, which creates diversity within the world. In addition, Adler and Adler’s piece on cliques also relates to conflict. Cliques are famously known for the power struggle of social status and
Functionalists believe that society is based on a value consensus into which society socialises its members, which enables to cooperate harmoniously and meet society’s needs and goals.
Sociology has its unique perspectives and each perspective makes sense on its own basis. From the three perspectives which are called conflict theory, symbolic interactionism, and functionalism the one that makes most sense to me is symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism as stated in the book is, “[A] theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning, develop their views of the world and communicate with one another.” The sociological perspective of symbolic interactionism was developed by Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead. Symbolic interactionism is analyzed at a microsociological level unlike conflict theory and functionalism.
Arguing that exploitation lies at the core of most social relationships, Conflict Theory proposes that the rules by which society are governed are dictated by powerful actors, and that these serve to ultimately preserve the positions of those groups that hold power. This paradigm argues that the nature of society is inherently conflictual, and that social change only emerges when powerful actors are dislodged through mass-level collective action that is itself difficult to
In sociology, a few theories provide broad perspectives that help to explain many different aspects of social life. These theories are so prominent that many consider them paradigms. Paradigms are philosophical and theoretical frameworks used within a discipline to formulate theories, generalizations, and the experiments performed in support of them. Three of these paradigms have come to dominate sociological thinking because they provide useful explanations: structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.
Sociologists employ three major theoretical perspectives in sociology today. They are the structural-functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective, and the symbolic interactionism. The structural-functionalist perspective is done at a macro level and its focus is on the relationships between the parts of society. The Conflict perspective is done at a macro level and its main focus is on how the wealthy controls the poor and weak.
Moreover, Societies are held together by both consensus with values and coercion. The functionalist view is that the balance of harmony among the society is held up by societal institutions. For example, schools, church and family are seen as the most significant foundation for an adequately functional society.
In addition too, Symbolic Interactionism perspectives, there is Functionalism Perspective. The idea of the Functionalist perspective leads back to Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist whose writings form the core of the functionalist theory (McClelland, 2000). Functionalism is what happens when social structures have positive effects on the constancy of society. It is the frame work for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote harmony and stability. There are also three assumptions behind functionalism theory, Stability, Harmony, and Evolutions. Those who use social structure theory focus on studying the nature and the consequences of social structures. It also focuses on a relatively state pattern of social behavior. This gives our lives shape in
Q: How does the conflict theory give an advantage to those in the higher social class?
A key part of engaging in sociology is to adopt a sociological viewpoint or 'think sociologically'. Etymologically, sociology is the 'study of society' but this doesn't differentiate sociology from other forms of social study. Hence, many begin to describe thinking sociologically by what it is not - it is not thinking politically, thinking anthropologically, thinking historically or thinking psychologically, for example (Berger 1966: 11-36; Reiss 1968: 2-3). Others try to determine the nature of sociological thinking by detailing practical phenomena which can be thought about such as social systems and their subsystems, social institutions and social structure, and social aggregates, relationships, groups and organisations (Reiss 1968: 1),
Functionalism looks at society in aspects of how it contributes to the steadiness/cohesion of the whole society (Anderson, Taylor, & Logio, P. 18). There are many institutions that are looked at that include the economic system, government, education, religion, health care, and family. All of which have different roles and perform different functions to ensure that society operates in a well-ordered manner. An example of this would be how family reproduces, takes care of children, exposes children to culture and heritage, supports other family members, and shares life experiences. Shared values and social stability are keys to this perspective. When this system breaks down it is because people’s needs are not being covered and shared values are deteriorating. When this occurs, it affects all parts of functionalism and the society must achieve
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.
Functionalism is a theoretical perspective, introduced first by an American sociologist Talcott Parson in early the 20th century and it became popular during the 1940;s and 1950’s. Functionalism is based on a cooperative relationship between social system and organic system, the character of a society is seen to be interrelated forming a complete system such as the family or religion,
The conflict theory approach emphasizes issues of inequality and change in relation to social class, money, race ethnicity and gender. The conflict theory pinpoints the belief that these social classifications are parasitic: only benefiting one group while negatively affecting another. In particular, the social conflict approach focuses on the struggles that lower-class people face in a world where the rich and powerful benefits at their expense. Persons of the lower-class are often disadvantaged, since they are not given a chance to move ahead and are always stuck at the bottom of the social ladder. Upper-class individuals are able to fully educate their children, and hence, their generation will always be rich and powerful. However, a weakness
Sociology includes three major theoretical perspectives: the structural-functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective, and the symbolic interactionist perspective. Each perspective offers a variety of explanations about the causes of and possible solutions for social problems (Rubington & Weinberg, 1995).
In Four Sociological Traditions, Randall Collins (1994:47) states that the tradition of conflict is an unpopular theory in reference to society. Collins introduces conflict theory by briefly mentioning that, “dominance is determined by the distribution of social and economic resources” (1994:3). The theory revolves around the idea that societies have groups that will oppose each other due to differing statuses of power, ideology, and interests.