Sociological Perspectives on Social Problems
To describe how society works, sociologists have created three basic conceptual frameworks: structural-functional, conflict, and symbolic-interactionist perspectives. These three views serve as broad frameworks for developing specific hypotheses or explanations for the presence of specific social situations or patterns of behavior. These perspectives on society can be presented as mutually exclusive, but the most true and effective approach is to see them as complementary: Each one identifies important social processes that may or may not be applicable to a certain situation. Furthermore, each theoretical perspective shows how social issues might emerge.
Structural-Functional Perspective
“A conceptual framework that views society as a system of interdependent elements that perform critical roles for the well-being of the other parts and the system as a whole”.
Example:
The structural-functional viewpoint holds the family as the major institution responsible for children’s physical and emotional well-being, socialization, and teaching them basic morality and how to treat others with respect. The educational system’s function is to provide people with the knowledge and skills they need to become productive members of the economy. The economy combines people’s knowledge and talents with technology and resources to produce products and services, while the political system keeps order and protects society from threats.
Functionalist proposed that institutions performs two types of functions;
-
Manifest Functions:
Functions that are intended and publicly acknowledged are called Manifest functions.
-
Latent Functions:
Unintended and frequently concealed or poorly understood functions are called Latent Functions.
Example:
The obvious function of elementary education is to educate children and lay the groundwork for more advanced learning. It also has genuine latent functions such as supervising and protecting small children while their parents and are at work.
Approaches of Structural Functionalism Perspective to Social Problems
The structural-functional perspective offers three key explanations for the emergence of social problems:
- social pathology
- social disorganization
- social dysfunction.
1. Social pathology:
A structural-functional viewpoint in which society is compared to a living organism that might be healthy, progress to a higher state, or become ill.
2. social disorganization:
A structural-functional viewpoint that sees issues as the result of too rapid social change or anything else that affects the functioning of social institutions.
3. social dysfunction:
A structural-functional viewpoint contending that the constructive functions of social institutions can create negative situations.
Conflict Perspective
A conceptual approach that sees society as being defined by disparities that benefit some groups while disadvantage others, resulting in conflict and the possibility of social reform.
Karl Marx, a German social thinker, pioneered the conflict perspective. Marx’s nineteenth-century examination of societies throughout history led him to push the thesis that society is the result of the use of technology to get or generate life’s essentials and enhance living conditions. As technology and the economy evolve, so do society’s structure and culture. He contended that in all countries, those who control the economy also control the political system and other important institutions, and they endeavor to mold the institutions and culture to defend their interests.
Approaches of Conflict Perspective to Social Problem:
Marx’s theories have influenced various modern approaches to dispute resolution.
- Economic-Conflict Perspective
- Racial/ethnic-conflict perspective
- Feminist-conflict perspective
- False and True Consciousness in the Conflict Perspective
- Economic-Conflict Perspective:
A conflict perspective that sees poverty, the concentration of power in the hands of the wealthy, and capitalist culture’s profit motive as key causes of societal issues.
2. Racial/ethnic-conflict perspective:
A conflict perspective that blames social issues on discrimination based on skin color or ethnic ancestry.
3. Feminist-conflict perspective:
A conflict paradigm that views gender inequality as the root cause of social problems.
4. False and True Consciousness in the Conflict Perspective:
False Conscious: A lack of knowledge concerning the existence or origin of a dangerous illness or behavior.
True consciousness: Recognition of the existence and true cause of a detrimental state or behavior, as well as the fact that this harmful condition or behavior may be removed if people work together.
Symbolic-Interactionist Perspective
“A sociological viewpoint that emphasizes on the investigation of person-to-person interaction and the actual meanings that people assign to their experiences and settings.”
The structural-functional and conflict approaches are both macro-sociological in the sense that they examine society on a wide scale, focusing on social institutions and population group connections to those institutions. The symbolic-interactionist perspective is also called symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interaction perspective is a micro-sociological method that focuses on the investigation of person-to-person contact and the actual meanings people assign to their experiences and circumstances. On a more intimate level, this viewpoint seeks to explain the origins of certain detrimental illnesses or habits.
Symbolic interactionist argue that many lawbreakers, from professional thieves to corporate white-collar crooks, become criminals by adopting particular attitudes and skills from others, based on the learning theory of crime articulated by criminologist Edwin Sutherland.
According to symbolic interactionism, social interaction is constantly used to build civilization. Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead, two American pioneers of this viewpoint, thought that a person’s sense of self and personality are not solely the result of genetic composition. Rather, the self is constantly produced as a result of continuing human contact. This was dubbed the “looking glass self” by Cooley. People’s perceptions of their own identity, as well as attributes like values, beliefs, attitudes, and behavior toward others, are all influenced by how they believe others view them and what others expect of them.
W. I. Thomas and Dorothy Swaine Thomas, two other sociologists, created the Thomas theorem, a significant contribution to symbolic interactionism and the analysis of social problems. The Thomas theorem states that if a circumstance is defined as real, then its repercussions are also real. In other words, people’s behavior is determined by their subjective interpretations of reality rather than objective reality. Consider the previously stated opinion that women’s biology automatically limits their skills and confines them to childrearing and home tasks.