The functionalists view believes that the patterns of behavior that characterize a society exist because they are functional for society. Two functionalists, Davis and Moore believed that stratification of society is inevitable because some positions are more important than others, more important positions are filled by more qualified people, and to motivate more qualified people higher rewards must be offered. People accept high pressure jobs because these positions have much higher pay and benefits than easier jobs. Likewise, if the position has little demand and a low salary it will be difficult to get hundreds of people to compete. Many sociologists are uncomfortable by Davis and Moore’s explanation because they believe it comes close to
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Gaetano Mosca thought stratification was inevitable because no society can exist without leadership that coordinate’s peoples actions, people in power will use their position to get rewards for themselves and their will be inequalities of power. Karl Marx would be greatly opposed to the functional perspective because he disagreed that people in power are not where they are due to their superior traits. Karl Marx thought that workers will revolt and resistance will eventually break out into the open. Other conflict theorist look at how groups in the same class compete with one another for rewards. Racial-ethnic groups compete against each other for education and housing. Women and men have a conflict over power and who controls society’s resources. Grhard Lenski reconciled the view of conflict theorists and functionalists, he believed that surplus is the key. Lenski agrees that functionalist are correct when it comes to certain groups that don’t accumulate a surplus. He states that societies that accumulate surpluses have groups that fight over the surplus and the winner becomes the elite …show more content…
About 12% of whites are poor compared to 26% of African Americans. Whites are the major group in the United States thus their low rate of poverty translates into larger numbers. Therefore, in the United States there are more poor white people than poor people from any other ethnic group. Education is a very powerful and vital factor in poverty. The chances that an individual becomes poor decrease with each level of higher education. 1 in 4 people that drop out of high school are poor and 3 out of 100 people who complete college end up in poverty. In every level of education, race-ethnicity will make an
Gaetano Mosca thought stratification was inevitable because no society can exist without leadership that coordinate’s peoples actions, people in power will use their position to get rewards for themselves and their will be inequalities of power. Karl Marx would be greatly opposed to the functional perspective because he disagreed that people in power are not where they are due to their superior traits. Karl Marx thought that workers will revolt and resistance will eventually break out into the open. Other conflict theorist look at how groups in the same class compete with one another for rewards. Racial-ethnic groups compete against each other for education and housing. Women and men have a conflict over power and who controls society’s resources. Grhard Lenski reconciled the view of conflict theorists and functionalists, he believed that surplus is the key. Lenski agrees that functionalist are correct when it comes to certain groups that don’t accumulate a surplus. He states that societies that accumulate surpluses have groups that fight over the surplus and the winner becomes the elite …show more content…
About 12% of whites are poor compared to 26% of African Americans. Whites are the major group in the United States thus their low rate of poverty translates into larger numbers. Therefore, in the United States there are more poor white people than poor people from any other ethnic group. Education is a very powerful and vital factor in poverty. The chances that an individual becomes poor decrease with each level of higher education. 1 in 4 people that drop out of high school are poor and 3 out of 100 people who complete college end up in poverty. In every level of education, race-ethnicity will make an