Comparing Functionalism And Symbolic Interactionalism

Jennifer Schrier, Lizbeth Velasco, Alexandra Perez Professor Marenco Sociology 20 October 2017 Youtube Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPwrmfRVwoA Youtube Project For our group project, we have chosen to write about Deviance. Deviance is defined as an action or behavior that violates social norms. Norms are social expectations that guide our everyday behaviors.

“Deviance in sociological context describes actions or behaviors that violate cultural norms including formally-enacted rules (e.g., crime) as well as informal violations of social norms.”

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have had many impacts on their culture since European settlement in Australia. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were seen to be savages with no civilisation and as such Australia was seen as ‘Terra Nullius’. With European settlement Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders saw a loss of their land and culture, labour exploitation, introduced diseases, change of diet and a loss in their rights as a citizen and as a human being. Many laws and policies were introduced which controlled an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders life, many things for which we take for granted today. Things such as residence, employment, marriage, social and daily life were all restricted. Most notably was the laws introduced that allowed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to be forcibly removed from their families.

Moreover, the ability to determine which laws are in affect with which Indigenous and non-indigenous Australian’s becomes limited and the issue falls to public disapproval. Due to the unwritten nature of aboriginal customary law confusion would arise as to who must/can abide by certain customary laws and punishments for those who disobey. An injustice would then occur when distinguishing which indigenous Australian’s receive the blanket of customary law and whether or not it extends to half casts and if so, to whom does it extend. This general confusion would create not only laws that are un-easy to follow but would also create many general misinterpretations of the law and could lead to further racism attitudes. Said racism attitudes would ignite when scrutiny over punishments and who receives them arises while people strive for equality and argue over the degree of fairness received. This scrutiny not only hinders the status of indigenous Australian’s rather than improving it, but can also lead to future hostilities and class/status debates again creating the possibility of a negative impact.

64, Commonwealth of Australia 2011). Policy then moved towards more assimilationist strategies in which attempts were made to convert Aboriginal Australians into ‘responsible citizens’ (Gilbert 2005, Haebich 2000). The protectionist and assimilationist policies share the core values that Aboriginal culture is inferior and on its way to an ‘evolutionary end’ (Gilbert 2005, p. 64).

Sociologists define deviance as a behavior, trait, or belief that departs from a norm and generates a negative reaction in a particular group (153). Deviance can be anything. A certain sociably acceptable act in one culture can be seen as deviant in another culture it does not matter how large or small the act. Sociologist developed three theories to help explain deviance. Sociologists explored the functionalism, conflict, and symbolic interactionism approaches to deviance.

The fundamental factors that led Australian people to discriminate against Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, were their opposing skin colour and cultural values which were not understood by white Australians. This resulted in the segregation and labelling of these ‘outcasts’ as 2nd class citizens, that did not obtain the same rights and freedom as other white individuals. This discrimination is evident when Bill Simon’s

In sociology, the term deviance refers to all violations of social rules, regardless of their seriousness (Essentials of Sociology 136). Deviance is an individual or organizational behavior that violates societal norms and is usually accompanied by negative reactions from others. According to a sociologist S. Becker, he stated that it is not the act itself that makes an action deviant, but rather how society reacts to it.

It is a commonly known issue in Australia that as a minority group, the people of Indigenous Australian ethnicity have always been treated, or at least perceived, differently to those of non-Indigenous disposition. This can be applied to different contexts such as social, economic, education, or in relation to this essay – legal contexts. Generally, Indigenous Australians face issues such as less opportunity for formal education, less access to sufficient income, more health issues, and higher rates of imprisonment (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service

Social science describes deviance as an act or trait that runs contrary to acceptable norms

According to Macionis (2016, p.171), deviance may be defined as the documented contravention of cultural standards. It is the intentional disregard for the conventional way of association and the link between deviance and crime may be high based on what theory one chooses to explicitly follow.

Functionalism is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology which explains how social order is possible or how society remains relatively stable.

Functionalism is consensus theory in sociology. Society based on Functionalism theory was defined as a system of interconnected institutions such as family,

Functionalism is a consensus perspective, whereby society is based on shared values and norms into which members are socialised. For functionalists, society is seen as a system of social institutions such as the economy, religion and the family all of which perform socialisation functions.

In this study, I argue that the narrative used by the Australian government has served as a catalyst for the reinforcement for unjust intergroup relations between native Australians and