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UNIT 10 ASSESSMENT
Ginsberg (1993) defined sociology as the study of society. It looks at
investigating and understanding society’s groups and social structures
through studying the interactions between individuals and their
relationships and behaviours around others. Sociologists are interested in
studying the interrelationships between individuals, organisations, cultures
and society and therefore understanding how social relationships and how
social groups can influence social conduct.
There are a range of different sociological perspectives that theorists have
studied that help us to understand society and the individuals within it.
THese are: Functionalism, Marxism, Interpretivism, Feminism and
Postmodernism.
Functionalism
Firstly, Functionalism, proposed by Emilie Durkheim looks at how social
order is possible and how society stays stable. Functionalists are very
positive about society, they can see how there is good in everything. They
look at how society is built around social structures (such as family, the
education system, the economy, religion etc) and these structures all work
together in synchrony in order to create one balanced, functioning society.
Within this approach society is described as the human body, there are
lots of different functions of the body and each part has a different
contribution to the effective running of the body. Although each of these
parts work, they rely on each other to work effectively.
In terms of society, the family's function is to prepare a child for education
by teaching them the expected norms and values as well as keeping them
safe, the education systems function is to ensure individuals are suitably
educated to enable them to successfully complete the job they do after
they finish school, the NHS’s function is to treat and diagnose illness to
ensure people get better so they can return to work and fulfil their jobs so
society can run smoothly. An example of how everything is seen as
positive is through crime - without crime, there would be no need for the
police force, without criminals there would be no need for a prison, without
prison there is no need for prison guards - although crime is generally not
good, it is needed for society to run smoothly.
The idea that society is underpinned by a consensus is fundamental to the
functionalist philosophy, Durkheim claims that society shares a set of core
values - the collective conscience. The sociological implications are that
there is a focus on how dysfunctional behaviour within social institutions
makes people into deviants and that people who do conform have been
properly socialised. However, even in a society where everyone is a
‘saint’, there would still be a distinction made between acceptable and
unacceptable behaviour because there are always individual differences
,between people there will always be someone stepping over the expected
boundary. Nonetheless, functionalists look at society on a macro scale.
They tend to generalise their ideas to the entirety of a population instead
of looking at specific sets of people. This can be argued as unfair as many
people have different needs, a person living in the south of England may
have completely different needs for services than a person in the North of
England may have. For example, functionalists look at education and
what it does for the wider society and not certain people, this can lead to
people becoming marginalised and some people may feel isolated and left
out.
Functionalism is a structural approach and is interested in describing and
understanding the main institutions of society that relate to each other and
how they can influence and shape behaviour. Individuals within a society
each have their own perceived view of the behaviour that they deem
acceptable or unacceptable. The same goes for social groups. These are
called social norms. Those who do not conform to these expectations by
disregarding what the norms of the group or society are meant to be are
labelled as deviant. There are many different reasons why someone may
be considered to have become deviant - one of these is through the
conflict theory, this can happen when there are social, economic, political
or material inequalities within a group. Individuals within the group may
act in a way considered deviant to change their circumstances and fight
the expected structure that they deem unfair. Another example of why
someone may be considered deviant is through their upbringing and life
experiences. This theory states that when an individual is exposed to
deviant behaviour (such as crime) they are more likely to see this
behaviour and also act that way. However, deviance in society can also be
seen as a positive thing, it becomes the means for society to change over
time. Over a short term basis, deviant behaviour can unbalance the social
equilibrium. In order to restore this balance, society must change which in
some cases leads to the greater good.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-sociology/chapter/theories-
of-crime-and-deviance/
Marxism
Another sociological perspective is Marxism, which is also a structuralist
approach. This theory is based on the work of Karl Marx (1818-1883).
People who follow Marxism see society as determined by an economic
system - the means of production (land, factories, offices) are needed to
produce society's goods. Production is privately owned and most people
depend on their owners for their jobs.
Marx said that there were two basic social classes in a capitalist society.
These were: the bourgeoisie - a small minority of people who owned the
means of production, and the proletariat: a larger group of people made
, up of workers (working for the bourgeoisie). The bourgeoisie is the
capitalist or ruling class - they exploit the working class and control their
thoughts and ideology through their dominance. The proletariat, as the
non-owners of the means of production, sell their labour to the
bourgeoisie and are exploited by them and kept in a state of false
consciousness.
Karl Marx believed that these two groups would be in continued conflict
and due to this it would lead to revolution. This theory is still applicable to
today's society, the Bourgeoisie still has control over school curriculums
and education and has a greater influence on the media and therefore a
greater influence on society. This dominant ideology that Marx believed in,
demonstrates that the ideas of the dominant class became the dominant
ideology of society and reflected within these institutions and lives of the
proletariat class. The working class would take in this dominant ideology
and propaganda and fail to realise they’d been brainwashed and so they
did not rebel. Marx called this self-conscience.
In terms of health and social care, the NHS can be classified as being
owned by the capitalist class, employing members of the proletariat to fill
jobs - within the UK, there is free public healthcare for those who need it,
private health care is available at an expense that may not be accessible
to everyone. It can be argued that the health system is run through
bourgeoisie type leadership, the rich and successful have access to better
health care - through private healthcare or full insurance, whilst everyone
else who would be seen as the proletariat may not have access to these
luxuries. Although both classes have access to health care, the more well
off can access it quicker and therefore recover at a greater rate than those
who have to wait. This proposed theory only looks at the negatives of
society such as inequalities between the two classes.
Marx saw society as based on the exploitation of the larger class by one
small class of owners, Marxists believe society is based and runs off the
conflicts of rivals. This is similar to how functionalists view society -
institutions and classes need to rely on each other to run smoothly, there
is only the focus on larger groups of people. In today's society, even
without strict Marxism, there are still common aspects that link back. They
are more detailed with more subdivisions between just the proletariat and
the bourgeoisie; however, they follow a common theme of the more
wealth you have and the more relative power, the better off you are. This
is described through hierarchies. This is very important in today's society,
it is formally known as social class. These hierarchies are described by
social stratification - some people in society have a larger amount of
power and influence than others which therefore puts them at a higher
place in society. Generally, the deciding factor of social class is both
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