The Functionalist theory has several strengths in helping us understand society such as having a wider theoretical appeal. Its underlying ideas have been taken up by other structural perspectives and have generated new theories and research from the New Right. Functionalism recognises the structural nature of society. It demonstrates the links between major social institutions, for example education, religion and the economy.
Marxism is a similar structural theory as it studies society as a whole. Although, Marxists are critical of capitalist societies which they see as a society of two parts; the first component is the economic base (infrastructure). The second component is the superstructure, which includes major agencies of social control such as education, religion and mass media. Marxists believe that society can only really be understood if we focus on the fact that capitalist societies are based on conflict. Marxists say that conflict arises because capitalist society consists of two classes who have very different aims in life. These two groups are the ruling class and the working class. The ruling class own the means of production such as land and factories and the working class own only their labour and must work for the ruling class in order to survive. The ruling class exploit the working class by low pay and alienating work. For example, the nature of routine work in capitalist society has psychological effects on individuals. People become alienated from their natural talents as they engage in routine work that undermined their creativity and individuality.
Classical Marxists would argue that conflict will continue between the two classes unless the working classes unite and gain class consciousness and become a class for itself, and eventually overthrow the ruling class in a revolution. Marxists believe that because the ruling class control the superstructure, the working class are subject to ideological conditioning. Therefore the working class are in a state of false class consciousness which means they are not aware of the full extent of their exploitation. This is known as ‘hegemony’ according to Gramsci.
The Marxist theory has several strengths in helping us understand society such as having a wider theoretical appeal. It has been a major influence on other social theories such as Weberian sociology (Max Weber) and Feminism. It offers a structural approach which emphasises the importance of the economy in modern society and links the major social institutions together. Marxism argues that the various parts of society are inter-related and affect one another. Marxism accounts for the revolutionary upheaval as societies go through large-scale change. Since people make society, only people can change society. Therefore although people are now ‘puppets of capitalism’ they will eventually rise up and overthrow this oppressive regime.
Feminism which is similar to Marxism is based on the idea of conflict. This is due to society being patriarchal, leading to women being in a subordinate position to men in all areas. There is therefore conflict between men and women. Feminists’ main concern then is to look at gender relations in society. Feminists also believe that sociology has been traditionally malestream and therefore ignored the role of women.
There are several branches of Feminism, such as Marxist Feminists which believe that women are oppressed through an unequal class and gender system. They maintain that women’s marginalised position in society is bound up with their role in reinforcing a capitalist class system. They also believe that women also provide the means by which the next generation of workers were born and brought up. This is known as the reproduction of labour power.
Radical Feminists believe that women’s marginalisation is due to the oppressive nature of patriarchy. One of the main concerns radical feminists is that men oppress and control women and reduce them to sexual objects. Millett argues that ‘personal is political’ meaning men exploit women in their personal relationships. Radical feminists such as this focus on issues of male/female emotional relationships, their sexual activities and routine use of violence by men against women.
Liberal Feminists main concern is with inequalities in opportunities for women and the way the socialization process creates and reinforces traditional gender roles. Liberal feminists defend changes in legislation to create more equal opportunities in society.
Postmodern Feminism recognises that fundamental shifts have occurred in the position of women in postmodern times, for example a large number of women are in paid employment. Post modernist feminist Walby puts forward a ‘triple system theory’ which states that sociologists need to examine how capitalism, patriarchy and racism all connect to create complex structures which influence female identities, status and their position in modern society.
The Feminism theories have several strengths in helping us understand society such as having a wider theoretical appeal. They think in the same way as Marxists as they recognise structures in society. Feminism emphasises the conflict between men and women. Feminism doesn’t just have on theory; it has a number of branches which all have particular strength. For example Marx Feminists link class and gender; Radical Feminists look at exploitation of women through patriarchy. As some of the feminist methodology is interpretivist they can often uncover findings high in validity. For example Dobash and Dobash’s research into domestic violence used unstructured interviews and gave them a valid insight into the experiences of abused women.
In conclusion, it is useful to look at the structural approaches in order to understand society but each can be easily criticised and each has their own downfalls. For example, Functionalists tend to over-emphasise the harmonious nature of society and fails to see that some groups are disadvantaged by society. Competing sociologists maintain conflict occurs between many social groups in society e.g. the working and middle classes. Marxism has been criticised by functionalists for over-emphasising conflict in society. It is evident that in order for society to work there must be harmony and shared values according to the functionalist view. Feminism can be criticised for being ideological and biased. By focussing on patriarchy feminists ignore the fact that men are also these days used for domestic labour and that women are becoming increasingly independent.
