Three Major Theoretical Perspectives

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In sociology, there are three major theoretical perspectives – Functionalist, Conflict, and Interactionist. Each of these three standpoints demonstrate different outlooks and beliefs of why things socially occur in general. Essentially, it is a group fixed assumptions about societies that answers underlying questions we may ask ourselves. These perspectives are vital to our understanding and acknowledgment of the way we naturally interpret social interactions. Functionalist Perspective, otherwise known as functionalism, is one of the three perspectives reviewed in our sociology lessons. This idea is heavily influenced by Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist who found fascination in understanding how societies remained stable. The functionalist perspective highlights the idea that certain measures of society are arranged to create consistency and stability. Functionalists believe that society worked together as a lattice of linked interactions. …show more content…
This perspective overviews the social norms and behaviors of society in order to apprehend human behavior as whole. Interactionalist Perspective looks at society as a whole and breaks it down to study the way in which people intermingle with one another. George Herbert Mead, a sociologist from the late 1800’s, originated this perspective in order to understand society by focusing on social interaction. All in all, theoretical perspectives help us to understand why things take place and occur the way they do in society. Without these perspectives, there would be no understanding of society. Functionalist, Conflict, and Interactionist perspectives all answer the underlying questions that we ask ourselves about society. This is important because without an understanding of society we cannot understand significant aspects of life such as relationships and social class. Perspectives really influence the way you react to life situations in

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