Conflict Theory: A Sociological Approach

Functionalism also known as functionalist perspective is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. Functionalism clarifies each part of society in terms of how it contributes and helps the balance of the society as a whole. Each part of society is functional for the

There are roughly 800,000 people living within the United States that is under the protection of an executive order during the Obama administration called Deferred Action Against Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. These children, commonly referred to as “Dreamers,” have grown up in the United States. They attended elementary school here, many graduated high school here, and many went on to become successful adults living in the United States, but as of September 5th, 2017 the DACA program was shut down by the Trump administration, pending a trial in Congress. This means that those hundreds of thousands of individuals living under the DACA arm will no longer be legal residents in the United States.

We have social bonds that keep us together by sharing values of people. Everyone has a contributing factor to play in society as a whole, and each person has a part in society. A functionalist may view racism and racial inequality as a way to preserve social class order and maintain separation of classes. They provide the conflict to occur within the majority. A functionalist may feel as if the minority has the role to make the majority feel better and express their urge to dominate society.

Functionalism is a theory by Durkheim that conveys that all aspects of a society serve a function and are necessary for the survival of that society. In this way, society is like an organism. If all institutions work properly it contributes to the

Although quite different, both Functionalism and Marxism have their similarities. They also have their positive and negative aspects and ways in which each theory dysfunctions. Functionalism is the study of society as a functioning system including interdependent institutions or patterned relations that are steady overtime, and that enact specialized functions for the whole. The main focus is on how direction is kept between parts of society. Any given pattern of relations or structures within society is interpreted by reference to the results or functions that such patterns have for them majority. It is an essential assumption within the functionalist perspective is that participation in social systems is voluntary. When a sociologist uses

The company Enron was formed in 1985 after two natural gas companies, Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth merged together. Kenneth Lay, former chief executive officer of Houston Natural Gas was named CEO of Enron and a year later, Lay was assigned to the chairman of Enron. A few years later, Enron launched a website to allow customers to buy stock for Enron, making it the largest business site in the world. The growth of Enron was rapid; it was even named seventh largest company on the Fortune 500 list; however things began to fall apart in 2001. (News, 2006). In the third quarter of that same year, Enron posted an enormous loss of over $600 million in four years. This is one of the reasons why one of the top executive resigned even though he had only after six months on the job. Their stock prices fell dramatically. Eventually, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection. This caused many investors to lose money they had invested in the company and employees to lose their jobs and their investments, including their retirement funds. The filing of bankruptcy and the resignation of one of the top executives, also led to an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Committee, which proved to be one of the biggest scandals in U.S. history. (News, 2006). All former senior executives stood trial for their illegal practices.

Functionalism is a theory which allows an individual to understand their place in society, and understands the relationship between physical input and behavioural output. It also believes that society is a system of components that are internally connected and that all the components work together to maintain stability in the society.

Social OrderAccording to the social order model, society is given a set of rules to regulate people behaviors and prevent anomie or "normlessness." Society serves the interests of all sharing, a strong set of norms and values, though not being able to adhere to these cause people to feel out of place. Most people accept this hierarchy as long as they see the system is fair. However, it is not fair, and this in turn becomes visible when it comes to occupations. Young people do not apply to specific jobs because they assume their qualifications are not well-built enough to obtain certain positions and therefore are exploited and oppressed in the workforce.

Divorce rates are growing higher and higher every year. I will compare the sociological conflict theory and symbolic interaction theory on the social issue of rising divorce rates. I will show how symbolic interaction can contribute to divorce because people will lack the direct response to the actions of other people. I will also show how the conflict theory interprets the high tensions in a marriage a result from the sociological and economic pressures we face in life.

In sociology, the Functionalism and Conflict theory both explain the way society functions as a whole. While interactionists perspective explains why society functions the way it does as well, it is more of the explanation of why individuals function and interact the way they do in society, and how one can be influenced and what influences one another. Functionalist see society like the human body. In the same way that the body relies on the lungs to.

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,

The Functionalist theory believes that society functions so that each individual plays a specific role. Their perspective of social inequality is the belief that "inequality is not only inevitable but also necessary for the smooth functioning of society."

The functionalist perspective believes that each aspect of society is interdependent and makes the society function as a whole. Deviance may seem as though it is dysfunctional for society, but functionalists believe that deviance is necessary because it puts an emphasis on behaviors that are normal and creates a social standard for behavior. Symbolic internationalism is a sociological theory that uses symbols of everyday life. According to this theory, people attach meanings to symbols and act according to their interpretation of the symbols. Sociologists hold that the symbolic interaction theory shows that deviance and criminal behavior are attributed to the meanings surrounding deviance and how people view those meanings. The functionalist and symbolic theories focus on the positives of society. The third theory that sociologists use is the conflict theory. The conflict theory focuses on the negative aspects of society. Conflict theorists encourage social change. The conflict theory looks at how different groups of people compete against one another because of differing values.

It is a day to day reality within contemporary society to witness constant conflict among and within social groups. Conflict seems to be an inevitable part of our society, as it is in many ways hard wired into our biological and psychological selves. Unfortunately, there are, and always will be, those within society who tend to thrive on conflict, political corruption, and inequality. There are several sociological theories which attest to how conflict and corruption will always be present within our society, including the theories of left realism and instrumental theory, which show how conflict will always be present in society because of our extreme socio-economic divides and our inability to work together for a common goal.