What Are The Three Primary Theoretical Perspectives Of Sociology

In Matt Taibbi’s book The Divide, the criminal justice system is revealed to have become a form of social control over the poor. Taibbi refers to this divide between rich and poor as “two systems in a vacuum,” where there are two separate systems depending on whether you’re rich or poor that people seem to accept. When looking at both systems in comparison, however, the system makes no sense. An example Taibbi uses throughout his book is the legal process of petty crimes, such as drug dealing or just sleeping on a park bench overnight, where, due to minimum sentencing laws, people have had to serve a minimum 20-year prison sentences. These are people that are poor and desperate enough to sleep on a cold park bench, but instead of giving them

Since the conflict model asserts that the criminal justice system’s purpose is to maintain economic and political control by the dominant class, it must be true that the dominant class has access to the system and even the laws that are applied to defendants by judges and by the process of civil procedure. The model informs us, that every decisive aspect of the criminal justice could potentially be controlled by a powerful person or entity. Even the jury selection process is informed by conflict model. In jury selection, the party with the most educated, savvy, and well-connected attorney – usually the costliest – can often control the composition of a jury according to race, gender, and political sway. The conflict model represents the system

The Conflict model, sometimes called the “system conflict theory” or non-system perspective, provides another approach to the study of Criminology and Criminal Justice. The studies of this model, focuses on the social inequalities of different groups. Criminologists believe that society and social order are based on the powerful and dominant groups. This model argues that all of the social components are designed to serve their own interests and that justice is a product of conflict, rather than cooperation. Meaning that the criminal justice system is expected to compete between each other in order to make justice in society, and that this is the most accurate way to deal with crime.

This theory is very broadly focused and examines a society as a whole rather than an individual’s motivation for crime. In lecture, Miriam Bohmert, Ph.D. explained that in conflict theory, the law “Emphasizes & preserves private property, which belongs to the ruling class…Appears to promote legal equality…But really just serves to pacify the powerless” (Bohmert, Ph.D.). In the Occupy Wall Street movement, the marginalization of the poor was made clear by the severity of economic distress in 2011. The “unemployment rate was above 9%,” (Jihong) which placed the United States into a vulnerable state, allowing citizens to question the intentions of those in power and attempt to force those in power to provide solutions to the problem or become subject to violence. Although one can discredit conflict theory’s influence on this movement, citing the fact that those in power remained in power, one can argue that the shift of power occurs naturally through the United States political process, and the movement simply affected future politicians stances on issues that are meant to reflect the desires of the citizens that they represent. Conflict theory explains the vulnerable state that the United States was in that led to the Occupy Wall Street movement, which influenced citizens to reconsider their stance on issues that would

Explain the three major sociological perspectives of functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. Identify which perspectives use a macro level or a micro level of analysis. Apply each perspective to socialization.

There is three major sociological perspectives Symbolic interactionism, Structural Functionalism, and Conflict theory. These three sociological perspectives are used in different ways to study, and describe the way we interact with the world around us. Symbolic interactionism looks at the deeper meaning we place in objects, events, and behaviors to interpret our bond with the world around us. Structural Functionalism focus on individuals make up the society around us. Functionalism view society without any social facts like laws, custom, and religious beliefs.

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.

General Strain Theory The concept of criminal behavior and crime has been studied since the beginning of sociology. There have been many theories used to explain why some individuals commit crimes. Strain theory is one of the major theories used to explain society’s role on criminal behavior. Strain theory suggests that society puts strain on an individual which respond by turning to crime.

The sociological perspective is a when human behavior is observed and its connection to society as a whole is shown (Henslin 3). There are three factors that influence human behavior. This includes symbolic interactionism where we use symbols or face-to-face interactions to communicate with others. People attach meanings to symbols, and then they act according to their subjective interpretation of these symbols (Henslin 12). An example of symbolic interactionism is waving hello to a person. This is a gesture, showing

The framework of Karl Marx’s conflict theory can also be systematically applied to inequalities within the criminal justice system. Capitalism in any work field is dependent on workers from individuals below them. In the prison system, the ultimate goal for the bourgeoisies in the judicial and legislative branch is to disproportionately keep those viewed as unpleasant away from wealth and access, while in return, the bourgeoisies gain more capital, power and wealth. The bourgeoisies, in the business aspect of the criminal justice system, are exploiting proletariat workers, such as criminals, and prisoners within the system. Capitalist in the prison system control the means of production by using imprisonment as a means of political, economic,

The conflict theory suggests that laws are established by the dominating class for the dominating class. Laws are made to keep the dominate class in power. And according to Adler, Mueller, and Laufer, crime is caused when “Interests of one group do not coincide with needs of another” (185). The labeling theory states that “Those in power create the laws and decide who will be the rule breakers” (185) Like when people are called criminals, people treat “the labeled” as criminals. And the radical theory suggest that “laws serve the interest of the ruling class” and that the “class struggle over distribution of resources in a capitalist system” (185).

Sociology has three major theoretical perspectives, which are functional analysis, symbolic interactionism, and conflict theory. It is where sociologist will develop some theories to explain why that theory works the way it works. By using these three perspectives sociologists will, “…study social events, interactions, and patterns, and they develop theory…” (Griffiths et al., 2015, pg. 14). These three perspectives will explain a lot of different aspects of socializing in life, which there are similarities and differences of functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism.

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).

Working class is likely to be punished whereas dominant groups control the criminal justice system as well as are less likely to be punished” (What is Deviance PowerPoint). When dealing with the criminal justice system, most people that are committed of a crime are either unemployed, poor, or uneducated. The lower class are viewed as the main people to commit a crime due to the fact that they believe they have nothing to live for. For example, uneducated people tend to become involved in gang banging, because they do not fear death and they know they will die sooner or later. Poor people commit deviant crimes such as theft due to the fact that they cannot afford food or clothes.

The functionalist and interactionist theories may be further elaborated for explaining the key concepts and perspectives as put forward by eminent sociologists in erstwhile years.