Functionalist Views On Social Welfare

Many people view the social welfare policy very differently and it is a topic where there are a lot of agreements as well as disagreements. Functionalist’s see how institutions act or work and try to understand why things happen the way that they do. Functionalist’s see society as a system that works together to maintain balance within the whole. From a functionalist’s perspective, the social welfare policy would be a way to provide equality for all and would be seen as the best thing to do to keep society running and the citizens happy. An interactionist’s theory is that people develop their beliefs and views based on who they are interacted with. Therefore, an interactionist would see people who work hard and make an annual income of $100,000 and who associate themselves with people who average around the same as them will see welfare as something they do not need and or do not support. On the other hand, lower income families, such as the ones at or below the poverty line, would most likely be surrounded or associate themselves with people in the same situation and therefore are in need of this aid. Lastly, a conflict theory would describe that conflicts arise when statuses or resources are unevenly distributed across groups in society and is big on social order. …show more content…
The social welfare policy would be seen in a conflict view as helping distribute the same assistance throughout society and therefore everyone would be considered to have the same things no matter where you fell on the social order