Compare and contrast the Functionalist and Marxist views of society.
Compare and contrast the Functionalist and Marxist views of society. Sociology has been classified as the last in a long line of emerging scientific disciplines which people have developed and explored in order to make sense of their world. Early theories such as the positivist approach of Comte, the functionalist views of Emile Durkheim and the conflict perspectives of Karl Marx have offered a view of why human beings behave as they do and how they fit together in society. Each theory has to some extent been shaped or influenced by the approach of others and many sociological explanations have comparisons or contrast that can be made. Browne once said "sociological perspectives centre on how much freedom or control the individual had to influence society" He goes on to comment on the two main approaches "structuralism is concerned with the overall structure of society and the way social institutions act as a constraint, or limit and control individual behaviour". Structuralism offers a view of the individual being controlled by the society they live in, Marx and Durkheim are similar in that they can both be described as structuralists, however their individual ideas are somewhat different. Functionalism was developed by Emile Durkheim, he believed like Comte that sociology should be viewed as a precise science and that society should be studied objectively. Durkheim
Examine the usefulness of functionalism for an understanding society
Sociology Essay Examine the usefulness of functionalism for an understanding society. This question asks me to look at how functionalism affects everyday society in Britain. This also requires me to look into depth at several other ways of society: Marxism, Feminism and interactionism. Functionalism is a structural theory which highlights the inter-relation of inter-dependant parts that concentrate on the family, education, economy and government. A structural theory is often described as a machine controlling everyone, looks at society in a macro view and the rules in the concepts of structural theory are followed to keep culture stable between generations of people. Functionalism blindly sees society perfectly and examines a society of people rather than individuals. Sociologists often describe this theory as the human body that links the brain to religion, the family to the heart, the lungs represents the economy, the liver is the legal system, the intestines represents the education and the bladder represents the health system. The idea behind this concept is: if any of the institutions break down then the whole of society breaks down. Functionalism occurs through out everyone's life, at the beginning when norms and values are passed on to children using primary socialisation and even during secondary socialisation at school. Functionalism can mean positive. The
Assess the view that religion is a conservative force within society (40).
Assess the view that religion is a conservative force within society (40). A number of sociologists argue that religion is a conservative force in society, that is, it produces stability not change within society and it reinforces the shared needs and values of society. For some sociologists this is a positive effect - the view of consensus theorists, for others it is a negative one - the view endorsed by conflict theorists. Durkheim is a consensus theorist, sometimes referred to as the father of functionalism, he supports the view that religion is a conservative force in society, reinforcing the existing society of society. He argued that religion should not be explained in terms of human ignorance, but as a result of shared social needs. He adopted a broad definition of religion throughout his analysis and defined it as a unified belief system of beliefs about the nature of sacred things. For Durkheim, shared religious belief systems were central to societal consensus as they set rules for social interaction and offered social solidarity and value consensus. In his book, "Elementary Forms of Religious Life", he examined the sources of order and stability in society and highlighted the part that religion played in sustaining this order. Durkheim viewed religion as being a major source of social integration - all religious activity has one main function - the
outline and evaluate feminist contributions to our understanding of gender
E) Outline and evaluate Feminist contributions to our understanding of gender. Before the rise of Feminism in the 1960's, the popular view in sociology was that the biological differences between men and women were the things that determined their role in life. Functionalists assumed that men were biologically suited to heavy work (instrumental roles) and as women bore children, they were therefore biologically suited to the role of mother and carer, the expressive role. In the late 1960's Liberal Feminist Ann Oakley argued the case and said that gender roles were not 'nature' but were in fact nurture. She felt that gender roles were down to socialisation and even if there were biological tendencies, they could be overridden by cultural factors. She did several cross cultural studies; each one seemed to strengthen her case. For example, she found 14 cultures where women did the lumbering and 38 cultures where men and women shared cooking duties. Since the emergence of Feminism, there have been several different Feminist perspectives and although they do not all agree about the origins of gender issues, each one has added its own valuable contribution to the understanding of these issues and heightened women's, and men's awareness of the inequalities that exist. Feminists have challenged the relationship of men and women as one where women belong to one group and men belong
Marriage is no longer important. Evaluate the arguments for and against
Marriage is no longer important for and against essay Not that long ago, marriage was extremely common, but today marriage rates are decreasing and less people are getting married each year today in comparison to 30 years ago. There are many reasons for this, such as people not wanting to make a commitment, the expense of marriage or simply don’t see the point in marriage, but there are many reasons why people are continuing to get married and why marriage isn’t completely dying out, such as religious traditions. But marriage is becoming so uncommon, is it no longer important? The first reason why marriage is no longer important is because people cohabit instead. Some people might not marry and cohabit instead, because they are not ready to make a commitment to their partner and might cohabit first instead and ‘trying before buying’, with cohabiting together as a trial run, to experience what it would be like to live with that person. People usually cohabit before marriage, as they are not ready to make such a huge commitment to someone and if they don’t get on well, they can easily split up, while if they were married and wanted to split up they would have to get a divorce, which although is a lot easier than it used to be is still a quite complicated process, sometimes having to half things like money and decide who gets the right to belongings. For example, a
All crime would be solved with longer prison sentences. Evaluate the arguments for and against.
�All crime would be solved by longer prison sentences� Evaluate the arguments for and against It is difficult to prevent crime, as there are often many different reasons why a crime is committed. There are many punishments that are used for crime, including prison sentencing and the length of prisons sentences is often decided based on the severity of the crime committed. However, many people go on to reoffend after receiving short prison sentences, so would introducing longer prison sentences help solve all crime? There are many reasons why introducing longer prison sentences would help solve all crime, one of the reasons is it would be in a way �removing� crime from society and away from potential victims, because if you're in prison, you can't commit crime (unless it�s against their fellow prisoners), therefore having criminals in prison must reduce the number of committed crimes and the longer they are in prison the longer they can�t commit crimes for. Another reason why introducing longer prison sentences would help solve all crime is, because it helps reform criminals, teaching them many skills, which will hopefully help them when they are released from prison and help them prevent committing further crimes. It also helps reform them through rehabilitation and giving them the change to receive
Youth is just a biological stage" evaluate this claim
“Youth is just a biological stage- evaluate this claim” Youth is a period that is between childhood and adulthood. It is a term that people define in different ways and also apply to different age groups and many people argue that youth is a biological stage due to the changes going on in a child’s body and mind during puberty. However, many argue that youth is social constructed, due to influences on children such as the media and peer pressure from their friends. Youth can be defined as a biological stage for many reasons. One of the reasons is that biologically all youth go through hormonal changes at puberty. During this time young people will experience changes in their behaviour, tending to have mood swings and sometimes having lots of different emotions going through their minds. Whether they have the influence of others or not their attitudes towards different things will change and they will start to see things in different ways as they get older. Many teenagers will also go through times of being unsure about themselves, questioning things about their looks and appearance and might be irritable about themselves. All these things tend to happen no matter their influences. However, youth is not just a biological stage and although children grow physically their minds also, nowadays it appears that youth may be more related to ‘transition’ and change.
Should drugs be legalized in the UK?
Should drugs be legalised in the UK? Current Drug Situation in the UK The main recreational drugs are found in today’s society are: . Alcohol (legal after the age of 18) 2. Tobacco (legal after the age of 18) 3. Marijuana (grass, hash, pot, ganja, skunk) 4. Inhalants or solvents (e.g. glue sniffing) 5. Ecstasy (E, MDMA or 'pills') 6. Cocaine and crack cocaine 7. Heroin People take drugs because they want to change something about their lives. People use drugs to feel good. For real, it does feel good because most drugs act directly on the limbic system, in the brain. At this point, it can be considered recreational use. Here are some of the reasons that young people take drugs: . To fit in e.g. peer pressure 2. To escape or relax 3. To relieve boredom 4. To seem grown up 5. To rebel e.g. with parents 6. To experiment Young people are most at risk because they think drugs are a solution. They don’t have any knowledge of the consequences of taking drugs. They just want to change their situation and their life style. If they're depressed, they want to become happy. If they are stressed or nervous, they want to relax, and so on. By taking drugs, young people often think they can be the person they want to be. Therefore eventually, the continuation of taking drugs becomes the problem. Young people have to remember that no matter what, drugs won't help them in
Are the differences between radical and liberal feminism greater than what unites them?
Are the differences between radical and liberal feminism greater than what unites them? Feminism was a twentieth-century invention that has only truly become familiar on a wide scale since the 1960's. In modern society feminism is invariably linked to the women's movement and the attempt to advance the social role of women. It is thus associated with two basic fundamental beliefs: those women are disadvantaged because of their sex; and that this disadvantage should be overthrown. Feminists have highlighted what they see as a political relationship between the sexes. Essentially this comes through the supremacy of men and consequential subjection of women in most, and some would argue, in all societies. Thus the goal of tackling this inherent problem is common throughout feminism. Nevertheless feminism has been characterised by a diversity of views and political positions, and perhaps there is an argument to say that the radical and liberal approaches to feminism are so contrasting, that the differences outweigh what unites them to such an extent, that they cannot be placed together under the same ideology. Through assessing the extent to which they differ, one can thus conclude whether the uniting factors pale in insignificance. Liberal feminism's philosophical basis lies in the principle of individualism contrasting to with the notion of 'sisterhood' evoked by some radical
Outline + Discuss the View That Roles of Men and Women in the Family are Becoming More Equal
Outline + Discuss the View That Roles of Men and Women in the Family are Becoming More Equal The aim of this essay is to attempt to come to a conclusion as to whether the gender roles within the modern-day family are equal, whether they are becoming more equal, and whether they shall ever be equal. In doing this, we shall have to study the views and opinions of many schools of thought, the results of different studies, and recognise and fully appreciate the arguments of different people and groups. The title question itself raises many debateable points, as it makes assumptions that ignore the diversity of the family. Firstly, and most obviously, the question assumes we shall only deal with heterosexually based families, not same-sex relationships. While same-sex families most definitely exist, they are a minority and do not really come into the issue of gender, therefore I shall ignore them for the course of this essay. Secondly, no two families are exactly the same. Families in different countries will no doubt have different attitudes on the subject of equality, and there will be noticeable differences across race, class and culture divisions, as well as between two different families with (superficially at least) a lot in common. This type of diversity would require its own set of studies and essays, and so for the sake of this essay I shall limit my studies to families
