Structural theories - Essay Example

Structural theories A theory is a report of how and why the methods function or the world functions. Theories try to give an explanation of why groups of people go with certain options on performance and how the humanities operate or undergo a change in a definite way. Sociology follows hypothetical views as a framework for understanding occurrences, for instance, the way groups are formed in people. Lack of these theories would mean a huge list of single leanings or decisions people make or the categories of people, but they would all be an unorganized field. These theories depict the whole themes across various definite behavior types or the decisions that exist in the social world. Despite some theories being eliminated from the study, there are others that are still widely used. Each of these theories despite their popularity has helped to give information about societies and social behavior. The theories have given a clear understanding of the past, present and future of sociology. The essay will concentrate on widely used theories in sociology and link them to our experiences in the world through factors like family, culture, social class and religion and how they have shaped these factors to date. Structural Functionalism According to Kendall (2015), Emile Durkheim laid emphasis on the importance of religion in maintaining the society. Emile brought the idea of religion as a culture that is universal and found in all societies since it complements basic needs. Religion is also an important function of the society. Religion is what unites the society. The functionalist proposed that religion serves three purposes. It offers meaning and purpose for the human experience. Religion offers guidance for some of the occurrences in the society such as on inequality. There may be some people who may question why their situation is not as good as those of others. Religion will offer a reason for this situation. Religion also brings social cohesion and a sense of belonging through, for instance, the Holy Communion in the church. It allows followers to participate together. According to Kunin (2003), Emile also proposed that religion brings social control and support for the government. The presence of sacred symbols and views bring about a high motivation on how the general order of existence should be like. Social control and order in the society are also maintained by religion by following the laws and norms of the society. Conflict Theory Karl Max noted that in all stratified societies, there are two social groups that emerge; the subject and ruling class. The ruling class has control and power of all capital, labor and land in the society. They are also known for their exploitation of the subject class that creates a conflict of interest between them. There are various institutions in the society such as the political and legal systems that rule and dominate to satisfy their interests (Nanda & Warms, 2013). The people in the subject class have the ability to perform the jobs in high-status but due to the educational chances being unequal to them, they do not get a chance to work there. The whole process of stratification affects the mentality of the people in the lower class or subject class. It creates negative feelings such as enmity, mistrust and betrayal towards the ruling class by the subject or lower level. The depiction of this is that stratification is imposed on those in the subject class by the ruling class. The whole stratification process allows the ruling class to exercise their prestige and power and keep what they have. The concept is created due to the high class wanting to maintain their wealth and power (Harrison & Dye, 2008). Religion has always given me guidance on how to view the world and how to portray myself in the world. My religion constitutes of five tenants that are practised daily at school, church and work activities. The residents provide guidance of faith. I possess my individuality and requirements just like anyone else who is either Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh or Amish. Christian values encourage community involvement and helping others that have given me the motivation to participate in fundraising and one-year dedication at my local hospital. Just like other religions, Christianity teaches right from wrong. The personal experiences that have put my faith to test and my religion have installed my core belief on life. My religion has also shown me how to care for others and to always remember that I represent the millions of Christians in the world. I also believe that I can only trust and rely on God since I believe He is always watching over me. My family has also given me guidance that has helped me to distinguish between right and wrong. From my primary stage, my family has always emphasised on the excellent characteristics of modesty and humbleness. Moreover, they helped to chisel certain norms that contribute to guide appropriate behavior. I believe that social inequality still ahs effects for the way we live and it sketches out the pattern of social inequality in the UK and globally.Wealth is now about something you own and not just how much money you have. People of social stratification divide populations into categories of unequal size that differ in their lifestyle. There is also a relationship between wealth and culture as one defines a class such as the “cultural capital” which is widely shared high-status cultural signals that really cannot be counted due to its invisibility. After hearing my dad’s story of working his way up the social and economic status, I realized that it's possible for people to move up and down following economy. Our society only needs to raise the minimum wage and provide decent paying jobs. In my school days, there were some events that only people who can afford to buy the tickets could attend. Those who are not able to afford such things were not allowed to participate in the event. This shows how the society creates social stratification and it seems almost natural and bound to happen. Our society promotes the differences in social classes and is telling us to accept it the way it is. According to Barron (2012), status is the possibility that changes in life are linked to a common lifestyle and the existence of social restrictions. Wealth is, however, not the primary cause of status in the society, but it is typically associated with it. Wealth is the main determinant of the differences in lifestyle and on which status is dependent. There are social restrictions such as patterns in marriage and residence that follow from differences in wealth seen in prestige. According to Holton & Turner (2010), the distinction in status is not usually ethic. When it is practised in full, then alleged ethnicity is to some extent involved and especially as a caste system. Social divisions in the case of caste are protected in legal and ritual methods. The dignity that is upheld in high-status groups is usually of a worldly nature (Weber, 2009). It usually involves their unique lifestyle, and this is manifested in the patterns of how they associate and consume. The low-status groups show their sense of worth on the hope of being saved. They believe their chance to be like the high-class people is certain in the life to come. George Herbert focused on the theory of social self. According to Blumer and Morrione (2004), his theory was based on the notion that the self arises out of social interaction. This includes things such as observing and socializing with others, responding to other people concerning yourself and internalizing the inner feelings and the external opinion raised about oneself. Mead also proposed that the self is not inborn but is developed with time due to social activities and experiences (Dillion, 2010). The development of self entails three activities that are play, games and language. Play develops by taking diverse roles through role-playing. A person rethinks the perspective of others through role-playing and forms an understanding of how they feel about themselves and others in a range of social situations. With language, one transfers the attitudes and opinions of others toward the person. Language transfers emotions such as happiness and anger. Games lead to the development of a person by allowing the individual to comprehend and obey the rules of the particular activity. The self is then established by understanding that there are rules that should be followed so that they can emerge victoriously and be significant at the end (Psathas, 2014). My racial identity made me be considered as a minor racial group in my class full of Caucasian people. Despite being the only white in class, almost al pupils were friendly, and there was no social division in class and outside. By attending this mixed-school, I was shy to interact with people outside of my races and thought everyone that was not white was weird. I tended to act as if they were significantly different. On my part, judging people of other cultures were wrong. My mentality changed once I started forming friends and obtained cultural relativism. I love socialising with persons with different ethnicities, cultures and religions. Through this interaction, I was experiencing cultural diffusion at an individual level and learning too. Reflecting back I can recall the school selecting pupils for secondary schools and the 11 plus exams was a requirement. Some of my peers were to take them to determine if they would enter grammar or local secondary modern schools after leaving primary school. I was not given this opportunity even though I knew how to read and write. I have put it down at this time that being a new pupil and in the wrong age group year and unknowingly knew how the system operated caused me not to be selected. There are various reasons that have been brought and that affects educational achievement. The reasons are either cultural or material. The cultural reasons has been attributed to the interest of the parent innthe education of the child.the working class children are mostly affected by this since their parents tend to be less well-educated. The level of education in parents affects the educational achievement since if well-eductaed, a parent will be able to provide all the necessary resources. The cultural capital in the working class is lower and they therefore have less access to culture that is intelligent (Browne, 2011). For instance reading novels instead of magazines implys they do not have the level of cultural intelligence that the middle class students possess. Acoording to Hallinan (2011), lower social capital among the working class implies they have less influence and social networks. Theses students would therefore not know the right people to consult and obtain the same help that the influential could bring. Material factors such as poor housing conditions, poor diet, inadequate resources such as books due to low income, the difficulty to afford higher eductaion brings the low attainment in children who experience these factors (Wagner, et al., 2014). There are various reasons that have been brought, and that affects educational achievement. The reasons are either cultural or material. The cultural reasons have been attributed to the interest of the parent in the education of the child. The working class children are mostly affected by this since their parents tend to be less well-educated. The level of education in parents affects the educational achievement since if well-educated, a parent will be able to provide all the necessary resources. The cultural capital of the working class is lower and they, therefore, have less access to culture that is intelligent (Browne, 2011). For instance reading novels instead of magazines implies they do not have the level of cultural intelligence that the middle-class students possess. According to Hallinan (2011), lower social capital among the working class implies they have less influence and social networks. Theses students would therefore not know the right people to consult and obtain the same help that the influential could bring. Material factors such as poor housing conditions, poor diet, inadequate resources such as books due to low income, the difficulty to afford higher education bring the low attainment in children who experience these factors (Wagner, et al., 2014). To sum up, it is evident that social stratification, ethnicity and racism exists in our society. This has been shown in the sociological theories discussed and has pointed to the need for affirmative action to cope with the menace. The division and discrimination are being promoted by the society, and it is driving the practice in the minds of people. For instance, I wonder how as a parent I would react if my child brought someone home to introduce them as their future husband or wife but their social standing is lower than my family. Marrying them would mean the denial of he privileged my child is used to. In such a situation, social stratification would apply to bridge that gap between the classes and get the best for my child. The relationship between wealth and culture has also been seen as one defines ‘cultural capital’ as the widely shared high-status cultural signals that really cannot be counted due to its invisibility. However, the practice seems difficult to entirely eradicate and adopt fairness in the society. This is due to the effect of the society and the environment to influence the self in people. References Barron, L., 2012. Social Theory in Popular Culture. s.l.:Palgrave Macmillan. BLUMER, H., & MORRIONE, T. J. (2004). George Herbert Mead and human conduct. Walnut Creek, Calif. [u.a.], AltaMira. BROWNE, K. (2011). An introduction to sociology. Cambridge, UK, Polity Press. DILLON, M. (2010). Introduction to sociological theory: theorists, concepts, and their applicability to the twenty-first century. Chichester, U.K., Wiley-Blackwell HALLINAN, M. T. (2011). Frontiers in sociology of education. Dordrecht [etc.], Springer. HARRISON, B. C., & DYE, T. R. (2008). Power and society: an introduction to the social sciences. Belmont, CA, Thomson/Wadswort Holton, R. & Turner, B. S., 2010. Max Weber on Economy and Society. s.l.:Routledge. Kendall, D., 2015. Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials. 10 ed. s.l.:Cengage Learning. KUNIN, S. D. (2003). Religion: the modern theories. Edinburgh, Edinburgh Univ. Press. Nanda, S. & Warms, R., 2013. Cultural Anthropology. 11 ed. s.l.:Cengage Learning. Psathas, G., 2014. The Interactionist Perspectives of George Herbert Mead and Harvey Sacks. Today Science, 1(1), pp. 24-36. Weber, M., 2009. From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology. revised ed. s.l.:Routledge. Read More