Functionalism In Sociology

Sociologists analyze and take apart different social phenomena at multiple levels and from many different perspectives. From sweeping generalizations of social and society behavior, to more concrete interpretations, sociologists study everything from very specific events, no matter how small at the micro level they may be, to the bigger events at a macro level. The overall range of the social scientific methods have expanded to all new levels. Researchers in sociology draw their techniques from a variety of quantitative and qualitative techniques. The cultural and linguistic turns during the mid-twentieth century led to an uprising in hermeneutic, philosophic, and interpretative approaches towards the multiple analysis of society.
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It has received criticism for no shining a light on the negative functions of different events. An example used was the event of divorce. There are also critics that point out that the perspective justifies the complacency and status quo on the multiple parts of members of society. When we see functionalism we see that there is no encouragement of the members to take on an active role in helping to change their environment, even when these certain changes could have better benefits for the members. Instead, functionalism displays an undesirable activeness to social change, because the different types of society will eventually naturally compensate for any problems that may be seen. Moving on to the symbolic interactionist perspective, or could otherwise be known as symbolic interactionism. When we see this, we see it direct sociologists to consider the details and symbols that surround us in our everyday lives. It shows us what these symbols mean and how people interact with others in the society. Symbolic interactionism does in fact trace its origins to Max Weber’s assertion that there are individuals that act based off their own interpretation of the meaning in their world. Even earlier than that American philosopher George Head had introduced us to this perspective in the …show more content…
An example of this would be written music. The lines and the black dots become way more than just mere marks on the paper; they come together and refer to notes that are organized in such a way that they make musical sense. Thus, these symbolic interactionists give a very serious thought on how different people act, and then tend to seek to conclude what the actual meanings these individuals assign to their own symbols and actions, as well as others. Consider if we apply symbolic interactionism to the American institution of how we see marriage. Symbols may include vows of long time commitment, wedding bands, a wedding cake, a white dress, flowers and music in a church ceremony. American society has attached very general meanings to these different symbols, but there are individuals who also maintain their own perceptions of what these symbols and others