Sociological Theories Essay

In this essay, I will assess the strengths and limitations of unstructured interviews for investigating the effect of material deprivation on educational achievement by using Item B and my own knowledge. Material deprivation is the idea that a lack of money leads to disadvantages, Item B gives an example of ‘low household income, poor housing and a lack of work space in the home.’

Functionalism, as described by Chris Hunter and Kent McClelland in “Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology” of Mapping the Social Landscape: Readings in Sociology, edited by Susan A. Ferguson, is the “analogy between society and an organism” (p. 34). Like an organism, a society must aim for survival; each part of society is like a part of an organism: if one part fails to function properly, the entire entity will perish. In Gaines’ excerpt, the suicidal teenagers are seen as the part of society that is not functioning as it should. A normal teenager would do what the society of Bergenfield, New Jersey expects them to do, such as going to school to get an education and contributing to society in the future. However, since the teenagers are committing suicide, they cannot contribute to and create said future and will ultimately lead to a failing social system. In the article by Loe, the organism is Bazooms the restaurant. The girls who work

In this essay I am going to compare and contrast Functionalism and Marxism. They are both sociological perspectives which have theories about society and the people that live within it. They attempt to explain how society influences people, and similarly how people influence society. However, the two perspectives are clearly different.

Submission refers to at least six sociological concepts covered in the lectures or textbook reading

Identify the four major sociological theoretical paradigms. For each, what are the key tenets? How does each explain how society works?

For Mills, religion had lost its sacred substance and its ability to inspire current members. As an outcome of this, Mills offered the “immanent critique,” which is the involvement of a group’s own principles against them, and the inspiration for them to have their own individualized ideas. “Immanent critique…entails using a group’s own principles against them and encouraging them to live up to their own cherished ideals…” (Dandaneau, 159).

The paper should be typed, double-spaced, 11-point font, 1” margins. Both the write-up and your typed journal should be saved as ONE document with page numbers. Remember to include a citation for any resources referenced, in proper APA format, and make sure your name is on your paper.

Durkheim’s theory was supported by Merton who was a functionalist. As a functionalist he believes that all groups have a function within society, this can be directly related to what Durkheim said in relation to the organic society. Merton explained how he aimed to ‘discover how some social structures exert definite pressure upon certain persons in the society to engage in non-conforming rather than conforming conduct. If we can locate groups particularly subject to such pressures then we should expect to find high rates of deviant conduct in these groups, not because the human beings comprising them are compounded of distinctive biological tendencies but because they are responding normally to the social situation in which they find themselves’. (1969: 225) This aim can directly describe why crime in committed and why it is the lower class that are more likely to engage in criminal activity as they are found to be in the least fortunate social situation. Merton relates this to anomie and the American Dream. The American Dream is the idea portrayed that anyone has the ability to achieve success and wealth if they are willing to put in the hard work. However as he lived through the Great Depression Merton found first hand that social legitimacy was the key factor in achieving this dream, and many people had social boundaries depriving them from the ability

Sociological Perspectives and Theories Sociologists try to explain how society orders itself but there are many different theories for this, which often conflict with one another. Some of these classic theories include Marxism, Functionalism, and Interactionism. There are also more modern or contemporary theories such as Feminism. Each sociological perspective has different beliefs.

Sociology studies the various relationships and functioning in the human society using different perspectives. One of them is the functionalism perspective. This viewpoint argues that all social institutions in the society are

People in present society are divided up into different positions in the work force. Durkheim sees society from a structural functionalist perspective and refers to society as a system of different organs, each with a special role that differentiates parts from one another (pg 122). According to Durkheim, the differences we hold in society create interdependence among one another due

Functionalist theory is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. It can be argued that the functionalist theory has made a significant contribution to the study of society. It originates from the work of Emile Durkheim who suggests that social order is possible and society remains stable due to the functioning of several institutions. Everything has a specific function in society and society will always function in harmony. The main institutions studied by functionalism are the family, the education system, religion and crime and deviance.

Furthermore he believed that crime was inevitable in society, because crime and deviance is the product of a lack of attachment to the prevailing values that were shared among a collective society. Durkheim widely argued that people were all individuals with different experiences, so consequently not everyone will inevitably share the same values. Without these shared norms and values being passed on the prospect of social order cannot be obtained as there will not be a collective conformity towards them and which is therefore enforced by various institutions and structures. For example, if a child comes from a working class family or one which does not follow the

This case could be analyzed through functionalism, “a sociological school of thought that stresses how human behaviour is governed by social structures that are based mainly on shared values and that contribute to social stability” (Brym and Lie 2015:5). Through sociological imagination, “the quality of mind that enables one to see the connection between personal troubles and social structures” (Brym and Lie 2015:7). I am able to look at the case in a different perspective, in which I can analyze the case above by using concepts of functionalism including culture, socialization and social stratification.

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