Functionalism, Conflict Theories Of Social Interaction And Critical Thinking

“In sociology, a theory is a way to explain different aspects of social interactions and to create a testable proposition” (Openstax College, 2015, p. 5). Sociologists use theories to explain things based on reason and critical thinking. Without these theories, sociologists would not be able to explain nearly anything in the sociological field. These theories include functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. Functionalism is the theory that society is a structure with interrelated parts. Like the human body, each person in society contributes to the goals of the whole. Herbert Spencer was the first to describe the theory of functionalism, and he named the individual parts of society social institutions (Spencer 1898).
Following Spencer’s ideas, Émile Durkheim (1893) used the theory to explain how societies evolve. He added that social facts, such as laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashion, and rituals, were necessary social institutions to a healthy society. Conflict theory is the theory that society is a competition for limited resources.
Karl Marx founded this theory and saw society as different social classes that compete for social, material, and political resources. According to Marx, “these ‘winners’ use their power and influence to maintain social institutions” (Openstax College, 2015, p. 5). Adding to this theory, Ludwig Gumplowicz stated that cultural and ethnic conflicts led to the formation of states and the declaration of a specific group holding power over other groups (Irving 2007). Other sociologists later added that the inequalities in society were the cause of said conflict and that some conflicts stabilize society (Openstax College, 2015). An example of conflict theory is the government. Only the upper-class elite hold power and make the decisions. Although we live in a democracy, the representatives of each region of the United States are members of the upper class, thus holding all of the power in
comparison. Symbolic Interactionist Theory states that communication is the way that people make sense of their social worlds. Theorists Herman and Reynolds (1994) stated that symbolic interactionist theory shows that people are “active in shaping the social world rather than simply being acted upon” (Openstax College, 2015, p. 5). Herbert Mead later added that humans interact with things based on meanings ascribed to those things; the ascribed meaning of things comes from our interactions with others and society; the meanings of things are interpreted by a person when dealing with things in specific circumstances (Openstax College, 2015). This is exemplified with the things that you love being correlative to the experiences you had with that particular thing and people in society. For example, I love to read books. This love of reading came from the special event of getting my first library card. Because my mom made it such a huge deal, taking me out for ice cream and having me read to her, reading came to be something that I loved. Deviance is a violation of established contextual, cultural, or social norms, whether folkways, mores or codified law (Openstax College, 2015, p.29).
Each theoretical paradigm helps us understand deviance in a different way. Functionalism shows the relationship between different parts of society. If one part, such as education, fails, then it can lead to deviance; often, students who don’t get an adequate education will end up joblessness and steal to get what they need. This correlation shows how one social institution’s failure can cause deviance and crime. Like a human body, when one part fails it leads to sickness in other
parts.
Conflict theory helps us understand deviance by showing that people tend to compete for resources, no matter what the resource may be. In the competition for food, for example, individuals in poverty “lose” when those who are middle to upper class attain the food. Those who are homeless and jobless tend to be deviant because they have to steal to survive. This example also shows that inequalities in society lead to deviance. Because of the gap in finances between the social classes, individuals resort to stealing and other deviant crimes.
Symbolic interactionism explains social deviance because it allows us to look at the source of an individual’s deviance more closely. For example, an individual might have been told they should do whatever they can to survive as a child or even seen their parent or guardian steal themselves. This behavior tells them it is okay, and even necessary, causing repetition of that behavior. On the surface of each theory, they are all sensical. However, when looking at the theories according to their role in social deviance, some of them are stronger than others. Functionalism explains why it is important for each part of society to run smoothly, but does not focus on the relationship between society and individuals. Conflict theory explains why there are different social classes and why people resort to deviance. Social interactionism shows why the behavior of the specific deviance was accepted in an individual in the first place but does not look at the deviant issues on a societal level. Of the three, I think that conflict theory explains social deviance better because it explains how conflict and deviance lead to societal issues and societal issues lead to conflict and deviance.