Functional and Conflict Perspectives
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Dear Ms. Deb: Compare and contrast the functional and conflict perspectives in sociology. Include in your answer a discussion of their views of society, the individual and social change.
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This solution compares and contrasts the functional and conflict perspectives in sociology, including a discussion of their views of society, the individual and social change. Supplemented with articles on the conflict and functional perspectives.
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RESPONSE:
1. Compare and contrast the functional and conflict perspectives in sociology. Include in your answer a discussion of their views of society, the individual and social change.
(1) Functionalism:
Society is views as an organic system. The organic unity of society, leads functionalists to speculate about needs which must be met for a social system to exist, as well as the ways in which social institutions satisfy those needs. A functionalist might argue, for instance, that every society will have a religion, because religious institutions have certain functions which contribute to the survival of the social system as a whole, just as the organs of the body have functions which are necessary for the body's survival (http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/soc/s00/soc111-01/IntroTheories/Functionalism.html).
Being a system theory, members of the system are interrelated and interdependent; the social system works together as a whole and resists change and is integrated and promotes stability. Conflict theory, instead, focuses on conflict leading to social change. The focus is how they fulfill essential system requirements which is through social organizations or systems, which ...
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