Understanding Population and Environmental Issues

Understanding Population and Environmental Issues

Functionalism Perspective

Functionalism asserts that population growth, together with the multiple components (migration, death, and birth), are essential and normal processes that occur in society (Payne, 2018). Ogunbameru (2015) backs this by claiming that it is a generally accepted premise among functionalist theorists that no institution or human custom exists in a vacuum, as there will always be an interaction between the component elements of a particular social system (the environment included) and this interdependence is generated in varying levels. The growth of a society is based on its ability to tackle future problems despite the loss of its members. From the functionalists’ perspective, pollution and other environmental issues are unavoidable outcomes of current society. However, it is assumed that environmental issues that are considered highly severe are definitely dysfunctional in a society (Payne, 2018). The economy of the society determines the significance of population growth. For instance, non-industrial and agricultural societies require high birth rates in order to offset the high rates of deaths.

On the other hand, industrial societies generally have lower death rates. Still, there is a need for more births as younger individuals will be needed at the workplace to replace older individuals who retire. However, functionalists consider rapid population growth to be dysfunctional for any society as it results in crowding as well as diminishing valuable resources like food and can also be deleterious to the environment. Generally, population growth results in particular environmental issues, whereas environmental issues have significant effects on the populations in the world. In the current society, most industrial countries lack sufficient population growth to offer enough younger workers who can replace the older and retiring workers and sustain tax bases (Payne, 2018). Therefore, both too much and too little population growth can be problematic.

Conflict Theory Perspective

Conflict theorists also place emphasis on society as a whole, but the key source of conflict in various human societies is resource scarcity (Ogunbameru, 2015). Conflict theorists believe that the earth generally has sufficient food and other essential resources to meet everyone’s needs. Still, issues of food shortages arise due to the political and economic decisions made by the elite to deny certain individuals access to these resources (Payne, 2018). In other words, conflict theorists assert that population growth is not a major issue, but if it were, it is only because of an unfair distribution of resources. Consequently, the efforts made to fulfil the need for food, among other resources in the world, should concentrate more on the equitable distribution of resources instead of restricting population growth.

However, conflict theorists acknowledge that various developing countries have unprecedented and undesirable population growth. Nonetheless, they blame this growth on the government’s failure to offer contraceptives and promote independence and education for women who can lessen birth rates (Payne, 2015). Conflict theory assumes that the environmental issues in the world are avoidable and are only present because multinational corporations tend to indulge in practices that pollute the ground, water, and air, and governments fail to implement strong regulations that can lessen corporate pollution.

Symbolic Interactionism Perspective

Symbolic interactionists concentrate on “people behaviors” (Ogunbameru, 2015). This theory strives to comprehend why individuals participate or fail to participate in activities linked to population growth and other issues, such as using contraceptives and environmental issues like recycling (Payne, 2018). Secondly, symbolic interactionism concentrates on the perceptions of individuals about environmental issues and the population. Public attitudes have a major role in explaining the persistence of key environmental problems, and hence, there is a need to comprehend the reasons for such views.

Thirdly, the theory assumes that environmental problems and the population are social constructions since such issues are only considered problematic if enough influential organizations or individuals in the private and public sectors recognize them as such. Lastly, symbolic interactionism stresses that individuals from varying social and cultural backgrounds might comprehend environmental and population problems differently. For instance, one from a rural place might consider a small city heavily crowded, whereas one from a big city might view a small city as lacking essential amenities and too tiny.

Pollution from a Conflict Theory Perspective

Pollution is a major environmental problem in the world today. This problem can be best explained using the conflict theory. The current capitalistic economic system is a crucial source of conflict over pollution or conservation of the environment (Luen-Guerrero, 2019). The competing economic and political interests make certain that the conflict persists. The capitalistic system encourages pollution because water and air are considered free and infinite resources. Environmental issues could cause inconvenience and unpleasantness to some individuals, but Luen-Guerrero (2019) claims that Americans are willing to tolerate such issues in exchange for the comforts and benefits associated with a developed industrial economy. Ogunbameru (2015) claims that environmental issues are divided into two: those in favour of economic growth and development despite the fact that it might lead to some form of environmental damage and those who strive for environmental protection over any form of economic goal. In most nations, pollution is tolerated to promote growth, which is costly to humans, animals, and other species’ lives.

References

Leon-Guerrero. (2019). The Environment: Sociological Perspectives on Environmental Problems. Sage Publications. https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/26703_p375_379.pdf

Ogunbameru, O. A. (2015). Human-environment interactions: The sociological perspectives. Journal of Human Ecology, 16(1), 63-68.

Payne, W. (2018). Human Behavior and the Social Environment II. University of Arkansas Libraries.

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Write a research paper in which you discuss how each of the three major perspectives—functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism would approach c.

Understanding Population and Environmental Issues

Additionally, discuss one current population or environmental issue and how one specific theory best applies to it.
APA required – remember to include a title page and reference page and cite your sources.