Functionalist Perspective On Homelessness

I believe that a substantial percentage of homeless in the US do not choose to live on the streets. I do believe that is is difficult to find job stability and security such as health care benefits so when they become sick it is a big step back.
Functionalist perspective is the idea that society is a system of interrelated parts that is relatively stable. Each part of society work together in an orderly way to promote stability. Another aspect is that members generally agree about what is morally right and wrong. Functionalism is characterized in two ways functional and dysfunctional. Homelessness in a functionalist perspective homelessness is a dysfunction. In this perspective society is normal and functioning therefore, the problem is in the homeless people an that is a dysfunction in society. Another way to see it is that homeless people are a function because it provides jobs for people working at shelters and soup kitchens.
The conflict perspective is different groups in society competing for resources and power. It is based of a system of social inequalities based on class, gender, and race. Some …show more content…
Homelessness includes the people who have nots is a result of the haves having all the power and controlling the benefits for themselves. The conflict is that the people who have enough money don’t have to worry about these issues and often don’t do anything to help those in need. Also the people in the top 1% just continue to keep making money gaining more power and more benefits continuing to protect their privileges. In the conflict perspective money is seen as being earned through hard work and the homeless are seen as lazy and dependent on welfare. There is not much of a way for the disadvantaged to seek change because the higher class is using everyone else to their advantage and not thinking about their wellbeing. This results in more people becoming