Interactionism In Sociology

Lesson 9 Short Answer

1. Discuss the differences in how conflict theorists and symbolic interactionists view the issue of gender and housework.

1. The conflict and the symbolic views are more similar than one would expect. The conflict theorists believe that everything is a power struggle between opposing parties involved, so the thoughts on housework between men and women is the same. However, the symbolic interactionists see things the same way. In the symbolic view, the power struggle is not there when both parties are contributing equally financially, therefore the housework is separated equally. Once the man is making less than the women, the power struggle begins. The less the man makes, the less he does around the house. Whereas the

Discuss the three ways in which educational systems perpetuate social inequality as suggested by conflict theorists.

1. Hidden Curriculum is the unwritten rules of behavior that the schools teach children (Henslin 2013). This is to say; the schools are the children’s introduction to where they fit into society and which class they are sorted into. When the inner-city children are taught langue and ethics, it will not be the same as the langue and ethics taught to the children of the one percenters. The children learn who they are supposed to be by what the schools focus is on appropriate behavior and attitudes.

2. Discrimination by IQ is an inequality of testing systems between cultures and social-classes. The IQ test can be given to one standard of students will do well when another standard of children would not. This is due to exposure to the information asked in the testing. The assumption that if the children do not know the subject matter then they are below average in their IQ creates inequality between the social structures and can lead to lifelong effects on how the children see their place in

The functionalist perspective is that there are important lessons that are being taught in schools that are above and beyond reading, writing and arithmetic. These lessons are the ones that help society function as a smooth entity and enable society to prosper. The intended lessons, or manifest functions, are cultural transmission of values, social integration, social placement, and replacing some necessary family functions due to the changing times (Henslin 2013). The conflict theorist sees the darker side of the education system when it comes to these exact ideals that the functionalists find positive. The conflict theorist sees that the social system is continuing the inequality via the cultural transmission of values and social integration. The see discrimination in the testing systems that are supposed to help social placement for jobs and abilities and they find because of these situations the schools need to step in and fill the role with aspects like child care due to the perpetuation of poverty caused by unequal funding for the