1. The two contemporary perspectives I chose for this assignment are Symbolic Interactionism and Functionalism.
2. I plan to dissect the two perspectives and apply them to the modern world with a focus on sexism. In this paper, I will discuss the silent battle between the two genders in modern day.
3. Symbolic interactionism is easy to understand when we compare it to a theatre play. In class, we discussed how “actors” create social norms and abide by them and the “actors” who don’t abide by them are seen as outcasts or are no longer active participants in the play. Some theorists who enforce the laws associated with symbolic interactionism include Herbert Blumer and Arile Hochschild. In Society as Symbolic Interaction (1962), Blumer enforced …show more content…
Theorists such as, Emile Durkheim and Aguste Comte, known as the “fathers of functionalism”, were able to apply this theory directly to society and fought to justify it.
4. There are several similarities between the symbolic interactionism and functionalism theories. For one thing, both theories bring focus to the interaction between an individual and society. In class, we made the assumption that Symbolic Interaction can be a “daily staged behavior...” (Farganis, 2011) The theory itself involves the act of interacting with others and responding to the interaction in appropriate ways. This leads to building relationships and it helps to keep the relationship alive and developing. Functionalism discusses the “glue” that binds humans together. In other words, functionalism focuses on the idea that once all individuals of a society have a role to play, how can we push to keep the functions ongoing therefore there is no downfall of society. Kinglsey Davis and Wilbert E. Moore co-wrote the book, Some Principles of Stratification (1945), which outlined the various stratification systems, where one category …show more content…
The modern social topic I chose to compare my two perspectives with was about gender inequality. I decided to narrow my research and focus on sexism towards women. I found an article by The Guardian stating how the International Day of the Girl showed the intense inequality girls receive. The author, who wasn’t stated, stated that” the United States ranks lower than Kazakhstan and Algeria in gender inequality.” (Anon., 2016). If I were to analyze my article with both the theories, I can say that they would share the similarity of urging an equal pay within economical aspect of society. Social Interactionism would argue that if women continue to have “staged behavior”, or not acting on reality, then it will cause altered behavior among society, leading to consequences. Such consequences relevant to this article would include: sexism, exhorting power over females, and females leading a very controlled life. In terms of functionalism, the theorists would argue that without women actively participating to contributing to society, we will not be able to reach our common societal goal. They would question why women would want to work just as hard as men if they are being treated unequally, and this could cause a loss of workers. A difference that would arise among the two theories would be the perspective that they chose to focus on. What I mean by this is that, functionalism will focus on the benefits of society more than the benefits of women, whereas, symbolic
2. I plan to dissect the two perspectives and apply them to the modern world with a focus on sexism. In this paper, I will discuss the silent battle between the two genders in modern day.
3. Symbolic interactionism is easy to understand when we compare it to a theatre play. In class, we discussed how “actors” create social norms and abide by them and the “actors” who don’t abide by them are seen as outcasts or are no longer active participants in the play. Some theorists who enforce the laws associated with symbolic interactionism include Herbert Blumer and Arile Hochschild. In Society as Symbolic Interaction (1962), Blumer enforced …show more content…
Theorists such as, Emile Durkheim and Aguste Comte, known as the “fathers of functionalism”, were able to apply this theory directly to society and fought to justify it.
4. There are several similarities between the symbolic interactionism and functionalism theories. For one thing, both theories bring focus to the interaction between an individual and society. In class, we made the assumption that Symbolic Interaction can be a “daily staged behavior...” (Farganis, 2011) The theory itself involves the act of interacting with others and responding to the interaction in appropriate ways. This leads to building relationships and it helps to keep the relationship alive and developing. Functionalism discusses the “glue” that binds humans together. In other words, functionalism focuses on the idea that once all individuals of a society have a role to play, how can we push to keep the functions ongoing therefore there is no downfall of society. Kinglsey Davis and Wilbert E. Moore co-wrote the book, Some Principles of Stratification (1945), which outlined the various stratification systems, where one category …show more content…
The modern social topic I chose to compare my two perspectives with was about gender inequality. I decided to narrow my research and focus on sexism towards women. I found an article by The Guardian stating how the International Day of the Girl showed the intense inequality girls receive. The author, who wasn’t stated, stated that” the United States ranks lower than Kazakhstan and Algeria in gender inequality.” (Anon., 2016). If I were to analyze my article with both the theories, I can say that they would share the similarity of urging an equal pay within economical aspect of society. Social Interactionism would argue that if women continue to have “staged behavior”, or not acting on reality, then it will cause altered behavior among society, leading to consequences. Such consequences relevant to this article would include: sexism, exhorting power over females, and females leading a very controlled life. In terms of functionalism, the theorists would argue that without women actively participating to contributing to society, we will not be able to reach our common societal goal. They would question why women would want to work just as hard as men if they are being treated unequally, and this could cause a loss of workers. A difference that would arise among the two theories would be the perspective that they chose to focus on. What I mean by this is that, functionalism will focus on the benefits of society more than the benefits of women, whereas, symbolic