Exploring Sociological Perspectives- Structural Functionalism Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interactionism in Theoretical Contributions and Social Issue Analysis

Exploring Sociological Perspectives- Structural Functionalism Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interactionism in Theoretical Contributions and Social Issue Analysis

Structural Functionalism is vital to understand that this theory sees the larger society as one structure that has interrelated parts aimed at meeting the social needs as well as those that are biological of a given individual in the society. It emanated from the writings of Herbert Spencer, who was an English philosopher and a biologist as well. Herbert saw the similarities between the human body and society (Turner & Maryanski, 1979).  Consequently, his contention posited that, similar to the working together of the human body organs, diverse parts of society work together for society to run efficiently. Another sociologist, Emile Durkheim, applied this theory to provide an explanation of how complex the social systems are interrelated organs working together to maintain stability.

On the other hand, Conflict Theory looks at the larger society as being a competition for limited resources. In this case, it suffices to maintain that this perspective is a macro-level approach, which has been largely interlinked with Karl Marx, whose work argued that society is largely made up of persons from diverse social classes who have to contend for material, social, as well as political resources, including; food, employment, housing, leisure, and education (Wells, 1979). Social institutions such as education, government, and religion provide a reflection of this competition in their helping of the maintenance of the unequal social structure. In this case, some persons are in a position to get and keep more resources than others. As such, these ‘winners’ make use of their power to maintain these social institutions.

Symbolic Interaction is a micro-level theory that focuses on the interrelationships among people within the confines of society. Communication, in this theory, is understood to be the way through which people make sense of the social world. Strongly supported by the theorists Reynolds and Herman, they assert that this perspective deems people as being active in shaping their social world instead of just being acted upon (Aksan et al., 2009. Social scientists who apply symbolic interaction often look for patterns of interaction between individuals. For instance, while the conflict theory aims to study how political protest could focus on class differences, symbolic interactionism is more riveted with how individuals in protesting groups make their interactions.

It is crucial to understand that Spencer linked society to the human body. His contribution to structural Functionalism is that he provided a simple likening of society to how the body functions. He is often associated with being a notable person involved with social evolution. The contribution that made him famous is the theory of social Evolution (Lyman, 1984). On the other hand, the conflict theory is largely associated with Karl Marx. His major contribution is that in sociology, he maintained that society is in perpetual conflict due to competition for the limited available resources. George Herbert Mead contributed to the symbolic Interaction in his attempt to portray how the human self gets up in the course of social interactions. He believed that the spoken language had a vital role in this development.

Lastly, in the study of social problems such as poverty, the structural-functionalist approach asserts that every part of society contributes to the system’s overall stability, even poverty. In essence, it posits that social institutions are crucial for social stability and that deep social changes would inevitably be socially harmful. Additionally, the conflict theory asserts that in studying poverty, it maintains that inasmuch as stratification is dysfunctional and virtually harmful to society, it persists because it benefits the wealthy and powerful in society. On the other hand, symbolic Interaction makes an effort to comprehend stratification through looking at the Interaction and the understanding in their lives.

References

Aksan, N., Kısac, B., Aydın, M., & Demirbuken, S. (2009). Symbolic interaction theory. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), 902-904.

Lyman, S. M. (1984). Interactionism and the study of race relations at the macro-sociological level: The contribution of Herbert Blumer. Symbolic Interaction, 7(1), 107-120.

Reynolds, L. T., & Herman, N. J. (Eds.). (1994). Symbolic Interaction: An introduction to social psychology. Altamira Press.

Turner, J. H., & Maryanski, A. (1979). Functionalism. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company.

Wells, A. (1979). Conflict theory and Functionalism: Introductory sociology textbooks, 1928-1976. Teaching Sociology, 429-437.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Distinguish between the three main sociological perspectives of Structural Functional, Conflict Theory, and Symbolic Interaction.
Describe how each perspective reflects the work of major theorists and their contribution to the field. In your description, include two to three major works from each perspective.

Exploring Sociological Perspectives- Structural Functionalism Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interactionism in Theoretical Contributions and Social Issue Analysis

Differentiate how each sociological perspective might approach the study of a particular social issue (poverty, drug use, unemployment, homelessness, obesity, etc.) of your choice.