A Functionalist Perspective On Social Inequality - amazonia.fiocruz.br

A Functionalist Perspective On Social Inequality Video

According to functionalism, different aspects of society exist because they serve a needed purpose.

Conflict Theory

What is the function of social stratification? Insociologists Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore published the Davis-Moore thesiswhich argued that the greater the functional importance of a social Inequailty, the greater must be the reward. The theory posits that social stratification represents the inherently unequal value of different work. Certain tasks in society are more valuable than others. Qualified people who fill those positions must be rewarded more than others.

Assess the functionalist explanations of social inequality

The cashier position does not require the same skill and training level as firefighting. Without the incentive of higher pay and better benefits, why would someone be willing to rush into burning buildings? If pay levels were the same, the firefighter might as well work as a grocery store cashier. Davis and Moore believed that rewarding more important work with higher levels of income, prestige, and power encourages people to work harder and longer. They also stated that the more skill required for a job, the fewer qualified people there would be to do that job. Certain jobs, such as cleaning hallways or answering phones, do not require much skill. Other work, like designing a highway system or delivering a baby, requires immense skill.

The Davis-Moore thesis does not explain, he argued, why a media personality with little education, skill, or talent becomes famous and rich on a reality show or click the following article campaign trail. The thesis also does not explain inequalities A Functionalist Perspective On Social Inequality the education system or inequalities due to race or gender. Tumin believed social stratification prevented qualified people from attempting to fill roles Tumin For example, an underprivileged youth has less chance of becoming a scientist, no matter how smart she is, because of the relative lack of opportunity available to her.

The Davis-Moore thesis, though open for debate, was an early attempt to explain why stratification exists. The thesis states that social stratification is necessary to promote excellence, productivity, and efficiency, thus giving people something to strive for.

Davis and Moore believed that the system serves society as a whole because it allows everyone to benefit to a certain extent. Conflict theorists are deeply critical of social stratification, asserting that it benefits only some people, not all of society. Stratification, conflict theorists believe, perpetuates inequality. Conflict theorists try to bring awareness Functionaliwt inequalities, such as how a rich society can have so many poor members.

Introduction

Many conflict theorists draw on the work of Karl Marx. People were divided by a single line: they either owned factories or worked in them.

Proletariats were the workers who performed the manual labor to produce goods. Upper-class capitalists raked in profits and got rich, while working-class proletariats earned skimpy wages and struggled to survive. With such opposing interests, the two groups were divided by differences of wealth and power. Marx saw workers experience deep alienation, isolation and misery resulting from powerless status levels Marx Marx A Functionalist Perspective On Social Inequality that proletariats were oppressed by the money-hungry bourgeois.

Today, while working conditions have improved, conflict theorists believe that the strained working relationship between employers and employees still exists. Capitalists own the means of Socoal, and a system is in place to make business owners rich and keep workers poor.

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According to conflict theorists, the resulting stratification creates class conflict. Symbolic interactionism is a theory that uses everyday interactions of individuals to explain society as a whole. Symbolic interactionism examines stratification from a micro-level perspective.

In most communities, people interact primarily with others who share the same social standing. It is precisely https://amazonia.fiocruz.br/scdp/blog/culture-and-selfaeesteem/the-inequality-of-poverty-and-poverty.php of social stratification that people tend to live, work, and associate with others like themselves, people who share their same income level, educational background, or racial background, and even tastes in food, music, and clothing.

The built-in system of social stratification groups people together. Housing, clothing, and transportation indicate social status, as do hairstyles, taste in accessories, and personal style. To symbolically communicate social standing, people often engage in conspicuous consumptionwhich is the purchase and use of certain products to make a social statement about status.]