Compare Weberianism And Functionalism In Sociology

Sociology is the study of the way society works and how people interact within it. Sociology consists of many different theories focussing on the way society is shaped and the way people live within their own societies (Van Krieken, 2000). The following essay will focus on two of those theories, Weberianism and Functionalism, and some of the concepts these theories explore. The essay will also explore the way these theories affect the knowledge of health practitioners as well as contemplating the inability for either theory be the perfect fit in terms of a model for health care delivery. In order to do this, the basic concepts of these two theories and the way they view the structure of society will be examined as well as a comparison of some …show more content…
One sociological aspect Weberianism explores is “vulnerable populations”, such as the poor, and the effects that class, status, and unequal distribution of power have on their life chances (Dillon, 2014 as cited by Davis, Birks & Chapman, 2015). The theory of Rationalisation resulted from societies’ departures from a more traditional, religious interpretation of life to a more bureaucratic, rational, and practical interpretation (Germov, 2014; Schofield, 2015). George Ritzer expanded on this theory of Rationalization through the concept of ‘McDonaldization’ through utilising the highly regularised, managerial McDonald’s food chain as a template to show that society is increasingly becoming more rationalised and controlled by society’s fascination with predictability and efficiency (Van Krieken, Smith, Habibis, McDonald, Haralambos & Holborn, 2000). Both Weber and Ritzer both saw the pitfalls of this thinking with both recognising that, although the theory improved rational thought and efficiency, there was the potential for the enormous amount of regulations to supress individuality and creative freedom (Germov, 2014; Van Krieken et al.,