Two Major Theoretical Perspectives In Sociology Essay

The Breakfast Club is a film detailing a Saturday intention involving five very different students who are forced into each other’s company and share their stories. All the students are deviant in their own way and eventually are able to look past their differences and become friends. The film also offers detailed observations of social sanctions, peer pressure, control theory, and the three different sociological perspectives. The first principle seen in the film is a stigma, which is an undesirable trait or label that is used to characterize an individual. Each of the characters is associated with a stigma at the start of the film. For example, Allison is known as a basket case

Sociology is the study of the society and human behavior whereas, the word perspective can be defines as a view of things in their true connection or importance. Hence, the social perspectives provide standpoints used to look at human behavior and interaction as they relate to individuals and groups within society. The social perspective emphasizes that to understand humans for not what is inside of them, but what’s influencing them that should be observed. There are four theoretical perspectives used to understand society and human behavior. The four discussed here are structure functional, consensus and conflict, the gender problem and symbolic interaction.

In sociology, there are three theoretical perspectives; symbolic interactionism, functional analysis and conflict theory. The major point of symbolic interactionism is to use symbols to help understand how we as a society view the world, and how we communicate with one another. In functional analysis, the major point is to look at society as a whole, constructed of various parts, or groups, that all have their own function. Lastly, conflict theory is the opposite of functional analysis. In this perspective, society is viewed as different groups, each competing for power, or dominance.

Karl Marx believed that religion arose out of oppressive conditions and supported the status quo by justifying inequality, consoling the downtrodden, and dulling the pains of daily life. To Marx, religion was fundamentally conservative in that it confirms and reinforces existing social arrangements. It justifies laws that limit people’s freedoms, it validates the rule of the powerful and oppression of the weak and it makes sense of economic inequality and other forms of social disparity. In so doing, religion also suppresses people’s resistance to oppressive systems. To serve these purposes, religion need not take any specific form, posit a god or supernatural beings or embody particular practices. It need only justify existing conditions and

Sociology is not just about studying societies, it also involves finding out how we as individuals fit into the society. By studying sociology, “[it] can help us in our everyday lives to better understand out beliefs and actions and to make more informed choices.” (Witt, 2015, 398) For instance, by

According to the Collins online dictionary it defines theory as the following; 1. a system of rules, procedures, and assumptions used to produce a result 2. abstract knowledge or reasoning a speculative or conjectural view or idea 3. an ideal or hypothetical situation 4. a set of hypotheses related by logical or mathematical arguments to explain and predict

Karl Marx is famous for promoting communism and for his critique on religion, “religion is the opium of the masses”. The quotation can be interpreted in two ways. Religion is prosperous and offers people the opportunity to escape from reality which is revealed through the word “opium”. Opium is a highly addictive drug that feeds users an euphoric and serene feeling. Secondly religion can alter our perspective on

Great thinkers, including Plato and Aristotle opened the doors to studying society; they based their thoughts on creating an “ideal society”. The science of Sociology was later developed in the early 19th century by Auguste Comte, who coined the word “Sociology”. He began to study society, using “critical thinking”. Comte believed that only by really understanding society could we begin to change it. In this Essay I will compare and contrast two major theoretical perspectives in Sociology. The Functionalist theory of Emile Durkheim and the Marxist theory of Karl Marx (Giddens, 2009, p. 72)

among humans in our daily life. Sex is the biological term that determines the biological and

Emile Durkheim thought that society was multifaceted system of consistent and co-dependent parts that work together to maintain stability. One important thing that Durkheim believed held society together was social facts. He thought that social facts consisted of feeling, acting, and thinking externally from the person and coercive power over that person. These things could include social institutions, rules, values, and norms. They have control over an individual’s life. Durkheim believed that society was made of individuals, but in order to study society we must look beyond the individual to the social facts.

Classical sociological theories are theories with ambition and great scope that either created in the early 1800s and 1900s in Europe. There were many sociological theorists such as Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Vilfredo Pareto, Auguste Comte, Karl Marx was important in its Time and have played a significant role in the subsequent growth and development of sociology. According to the origins of British Sociology, the market economy is a source of order, positive force, integration and harmony in society. According to Jackson (2014), there was a small elite inevitably dominates society on the grounds of enlightened self-interest. On the other hand, the anomie, considered out of any specific social context, refers to the problems

The study of sociology involves observing how social interactions and the rules imposed on society govern human behaviour. It is a useful tool that can be used to understand how society function, identify and overcome some of the challenges corporate habitation in the form of organisations, religions, civilizations and institutions face [1].

Due to the fact that religion can be archaic and a bit narrow in certain progressive/scientific ideals, this religious base disagreement can at most times, lead to a greater, far better outcome. Therefore, this makes the claim that consensus and disagreement in religion are both required for robust knowledge in innovations; a better outcome.

In today’s modern society, everyone is largely affected by society. From multiple social institutions like the government and economy for instance or even the effects of education and mass media; these all play a huge role in an individual’s relationship, behavior, and actions in their society. For an individual to understand things like a “culture” or why every society has a ‘social class hierarchy,’ they will be directed to “Sociology”. Sociology is the systematic study of the structures of human society and social interaction. Sociology attempts to understand how things like society, social events, interactions, and patterns influence the way humans think, act, and feel.

Since the 17th century, people all over the world have been trying to figure out how society works and the ways in which people are influenced by their society. Traditionally, these questions were answered using superstition and myth (Henslin, 4). The “founding fathers” of sociology -Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, and Max Weber- all broke apart from the traditional ways of thinking and developed their own worldviews.