Sociological Aspect

Theories created by different sociologists over the years have provided the world with different perspectives to view our society. A perspective is an attitude toward or way of regarding something. A theory is a set of ides that is intended to explain facts or events; it provides us with a perspective. Sociological theories help us to explain and predict the social world in which we live. Sociology includes three major theoretical perspectives: the functionalist perspective emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability; the conflict perspective assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of tension between groups over power of the allocation of resources, including housing, money, access to services, and political representation; and the interactional perspective generalize about everyday forms social interaction in order to explain society as a whole. (Schafer, 2010, p. 13-15) Each perspective offers a variety of explanations the social world and human behavior. In this paper, I will discuss all three perspective and how each view society, the individual, social order, and social change.

According to merriam-webster.com, society is people in general thought of as living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values. Everybody has their own perception and the sociologists who created these theories have their view of society as well. Talcott Parsons who was influenced by the works of Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and among other sociologist’s coined the functionalist perspective view of society as being stable and well integrated. I agree with Talcott because any disorder would cause the society to become not functional and cause civil uprising. The conflict perspective views society is characterized by tension and struggle between groups was theorized by Karl Max and Ida Wells-Barnett. This lays true to today’s struggle between the opponents and proponents for same-sex marriage. The opponents believe that marriage is an act between a man and a woman and the proponents for same-sex marriage believes that marriage should be equal and can be between man and man or woman and woman. The interactionist perspective view of society is that it is active influencing and affecting everyday social interaction. However, I disagree with this theory because in my area of society; most people are rude and obnoxious and will drive right pass you if you on the corner without a ride. I feel that these perspective are very different in all aspects, but Functionalist and Interactionist perspectives are connected in society. The interactionist perspective can influence and affect; which creates a stable, well integrated society.

Individuals believe in many things and are categorized in many classes depending on their lifestyle, financial gains, or political connections. Each theoretical perspective viewed each individual differently. The functionalist perspective