Structural Functionalism Is The Perspective

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

An obvious example that can be seen for Structural Functionalisme is modern technology. Technology has introduced considerable changes in almost all walks of life. It continually adds to the quality and convenience of our lives in business, education, healthcare and other areas and the benefits of modern technology continually outweigh the disadvantages. In the eyes of manifest function, modern technology is very helpful in unimaginable ways. It helps connect people from far away and remove barriers among society. In this rat paced era, we could all connect with everyone by using telephones, emails, internet and smartphones in no time at all. The latent function of modern technology is of its unrecognized and unintended consequence which relate to business marketing and healthcare. Modern technology serves as a major income and funding to many people in the communication industry. The dysfunction of modern technology is, it increases crime rate and moral values among society are diminished.

Conflict Theory Paradigm

The social conflict paradigm is a theory based on society being a complex system characterized by inequality and conflict that generate social change. Groups and individuals advance their own interests, struggling over control of societal resources. Those with the most resources exercise power over others with inequality and power struggles resulting. There is great attention paid to class, race, and gender in this perspective because they are seen as the grounds of the most pertinent and enduring struggles in society. Society tends to show favoritism to the prestigious members of that particular society. Social inequality is shown throughout the world from situations of race, ethnicity, gender, and age. These factors may dictate wealth, schooling, power, and prestige. The social conflict paradigm views the patterns that benefit some people more than it would others, due to their social standings. Karl Marx was a sociologist who embraced the social conflict paradigm. Marx made his main goal to not just understand society but to reduce social inequality. he ruling class exploits and oppresses the subject class. As a result there is a basic conflict of interest between the two classes. 

Case study of Social Conflict Paradigm

A study done on Social Conflict paradigm is about the oppression of the Jews during the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews by the Nazi regime and its collaborators. The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were "racially superior" and that the Jews, deemed "inferior," were an alien threat to the so-called German racial community.  Between two and three million Soviet prisoners of war were murdered or died of starvation, disease, neglect, or maltreatment. To concentrate and monitor the Jewish population as well as to facilitate later deportation of the Jews, the Germans and their collaborators created ghettos, transit camps, and forced-labor camps for Jews during the war years. This is a good example on how the government of the USSR manipulated the minority.

Symbolic Interaction paradigm

Symbolic Interactionism describes society as small groups of individuals interacting based on the various ways that people interpret their various cultural symbols such as spoken, written, and non-verbal language. Our behavior with and among other people is the result of our shared understanding of cultural symbols. This is a micro-level paradigm that describes small-scale processes. The symbolic interaction perspective, also called symbolic interactionism, is a major framework of sociological theory. This perspective relies on the symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in the process of social interaction. Interactionists tend to study social interaction through participant observation, rather than surveys and interviews. They argue that close contact and immersion in the everyday lives of the participants is necessary for understanding the meaning of actions, the definition of the situation itself, and the process by which actors construct the situation through their interaction. George Herbert Mead is widely regarded as the founder of the interactionist perspective. Goffman, popularised a particular type of interactionist method known as the dramaturgical approach, in which people are seen as theatrical performers.

Case study of Symbolic Interaction Paradigm

Symbolic Interaction paradigm could be seen clearly in the symbol of Swastika. There are many interpretation of the Swastika from a few perspectives. In ancient India the most traditional form of the swastika's symbolization. In Jainism is that the four arms of the swastika remind us that during the cycles of birth and death we may be born into any one of the four destinies: heavenly beings, human beings, animal beings, (including birds, bugs, and plants) and hellish beings. Our aim should be the liberation and not the rebirth. The meaning of the symbol of Swastika in Buddhism is the swastika signifies auspiciousness and good fortunes well as the Buddha’s footprint and the Buddha's heart. The swastika is said to contain the whole mind of the Buddha and can often be found imprinted on the chest, feet or palms of Buddha images. Meanwhile, in the 20th century, the swastika officially became the emblem for the Nazi Party on August, 7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress. Describing the new flag in Mein Kampf, Hitler said the swastika symbolized the victory of the Aryan man.Today the symbol is most commonly associated with Nazi Germany, the Holocaust neo-Nazis and other hate groups.

(1040 words, 4 pages)