Cynamon Mantley

Sociology 1
24 January 2016
Professor Prior
The Functionalist Perspective:
The functionalist perspective focuses on the different parts of society that are designed to
bring social order and to maintain a balance within society. The parts of society that are seen as
flawed are supposed to eventually go away or contribute a benefit to society that is usually
hidden. One of the founders, Emile Durkheim thought that ...over time, society would progress
toward greater order as it came to terms with apparent threats or challenges (Witt 17). This
perspective is a macro analysis of social order and focuses on the institutions within a society
such as family, school, the government, and others. An example of the functionalist perspective
would be the prison system. The idea of having prisons is the maintain social order and separate
the criminals from other law abiding citizens. Ideally, the system is supposed to maintain balance
within the society and help promote social order. Unfortunately, the system is flawed and does
not always lock up individuals who are guilty thus creating conflict due to the questioning of the
system that is supposed to protect us resulting in, at times, hurting us. Another example would be
the laws in society such as not to murder or not to steal. These laws that are put in motion by the
government, an institution in society, give social order and prevent anarchy.
The Conflict Perspective:
The conflict perspective focuses on the individual in society and the resources that they
are given in order to achieve success. It looks at the inequalities within a society and examine
how the existing social structures in society help keep some individuals wealthy while others
struggle. This looks at the corruption in our society and how people can be influenced by money
and power. The income inequality in the world is due to a few individuals that have more money
than the entire world combined. This is an example of the conflict perspective because it shows
how resources are allocated for only a few individuals while everyone else must fight for
resources (getting a job, paying bills, insurance).
Another example of this again is our prison system because some laws have been put into
place to incarcerate individuals for long time periods while individuals with resources such as
money are able to pay for lawyers thus giving them less time in prison. The laws seem to be put
in place in order to keep the rich richer and to keep the poor poorer and a conflict theorists looks
at this inequality. This shows how each individual benefits or is hurt by the social order that is
supposed to be balanced. However, the balance seems to only work when those in power can
maintain that power by keeping their resources and those who are without resources need to
remain without in order to keep the social order going. This system is unjust and unbalanced and
this is represented by those individuals who work hard to make a living but still cannot make
ends meet or by those individuals who get released from prison but are told that they cannot get a
job due to them being in prison thus pushing them back into a life of crime and ultimately back

into prison. This never ending circle of unequal opportunity is how society keeps its order.
Now that manifestations are occurring in the United States about racial inequality and economic
inequality it is obvious that the social order has not been stable for quite some time.
The Interactionist Perspective:
Interactionists see society as a product of our everyday interactions with one another.
From how we interact with our family and friends to how we interact with strangers,
interactionists see these situations as our way of constructing the social order. They believe that
society is constantly changing and that people can create and change their social world through
symbols such as gestures, pictures, and other everyday symbols we use to communicate or
express ourselves. An interactionist likes to focus on small-scale interactions among individuals
and how each individual changes their social behavior or mannerisms according to their
environment. A simple example could be winking at one another. This gesture has many different
connotations and can be interpreted in many different ways. It could be seen as flirtatious or it
could be a gesture between friends after a funny interaction. How we first learn this gesture will
be how we interpret it in other social situations. The meaning of it depends on the situation that
we are in.
Another example is how we as a society are quick to label one another and how these
labels can change our interactions or perceptions of another individual. An example of this would
be how Muslims have been portrayed in the media as dangerous thus making society believe this
and perpetuating violence against Muslims. We see pictures of Isis and are told that these few
bad people represent an entire community and because the pictures we see are so powerful we
believe what we are told. By believing that all Muslims are evil due to a few being bad, we let
this affect how we interact with them everyday and changes our social behavior toward them.
This shows just how much pictures or signs or headlines can negatively change how we act
towards one another and how they can change everyday interactions between people thus
creating hostile situations for non-hostile individuals due to their religious beliefs. This is why it
is important to dig deeper than what is shown on our televisions and why questioning headlines
or the validity of news sources can be important to prevent prejudice.

Works Cited
Witt, Jon. Soc 2013. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.