- Define and explain Three Core Perspectives in your own words
- Use key terms such as Conflict theory accurately
- Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
- Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic
This lesson focuses on Three Core Perspectives: compare functionalism, conflict theory and symbolic interactionism.
Compare functionalism, conflict theory and symbolic interactionism.
Key ideas
Society as a living body
Functionalists, following Durkheim, compare society to a body: just as organs keep a body alive, institutions like the family, schools and religion each perform functions that keep society stable. Durkheim argued that even apparently private acts are shaped by social facts, forces outside the individual. The strength of functionalism is explaining social order; its weakness is that it can overlook conflict, inequality and social change.
Society as a battleground
Conflict theorists, following Marx, see society as divided between those who own wealth and power and those who do not. Marx argued that the bourgeoisie, who own the means of production, exploit the proletariat, who must sell their labour to survive, and that this class conflict drives history. The strength of conflict theory is exposing inequality; critics say it exaggerates conflict and reduces everything to economics.
Key term — Conflict theory: The perspective, associated with Karl Marx, that sees society as divided by competition between groups with unequal power and resources.
Name the three core sociological perspectives and the thinker most associated with each.
Functionalism, Durkheim; conflict theory, Marx; symbolic interactionism, Mead and Goffman.
Answer: Functionalism, Durkheim; conflict theory, Marx; symbolic interactionism, Mead and Goffman.
- Mixing up structural and action perspectives Functionalism and conflict theory are structural, macro perspectives about big forces; symbolic interactionism is an action, micro perspective about individuals. Keep the levels straight.
- Treating one perspective as the proven right answer Perspectives are lenses for interpreting evidence, not facts. Strong answers compare their strengths and weaknesses.
Practice
Conflict theorists would argue that wealthy families convert economic power into educational advantage, so the system reproduces class inequality rather than rewarding pure merit.
Functionalism: it shows that even suicide, seemingly the most individual act, is shaped by social facts such as integration, supporting the view of society as a constraining system.
The contribution an institution makes to keeping society stable and orderly, like the family socialising children.
The debate over whether people's behaviour is mainly determined by social structures such as class and institutions, or by individuals' own choices and actions.
Quick check
Which of these best defines "Conflict theory"?
A sociologist studying poverty grew up in poverty herself. Why might this be both a strength and a risk?
- Three Core Perspectives: compare functionalism, conflict theory and symbolic interactionism.
- Society as a living body: Functionalists, following Durkheim, compare society to a body: just as organs keep a body alive, institutions like the family, schools and religion each perform functions that keep society stable.
- Symbolic interactionism: The perspective, associated with George Herbert Mead and Erving Goffman, that studies how people create meaning through everyday social interaction.
- Watch out for: mixing up structural and action perspectives