Free Functionalist And Conflict Perspectives Essay Example

The functionalist perspective is based on the premise that the various structures in society as well as social institutions act collectively in order to satisfy the needs of society. When it comes to explaining the prevalent role of social media, the functionalist approach suggests that both the latent and manifest functions of society determine which trends become popular in the digital world. Since the functionalist perspective attempts to explain the stability and cohesion that is required for societies to maintain their existence, individual differences are largely ignored in favor of social equilibrium. This perspective assumes that different elements of a culture work together in order to achieve a common objective, minor differences and irregularities are not taken into consideration when explaining behavior. Two important aspects of the functionalist approach are the latent and manifest behavioral functions.
The latent function is the unstated, hidden or unintended aspect of behavior while the manifest function is the most obvious and explicitly stated one. Questions that the functionalist perspective raises are: “what role does this particular institution play in society?” and “how does the institution ensure social stability in the long run?” in terms of establishing a link between how the functionalist perspective can explain the reasons why social media has become such an integral part of our lives, it is important to answer both of the above mentioned questions.
Therefore, the question to ask is what role social media can potentially perform for society and how can it ensure greater stability. In my opinion the manifest function that social media performs is granting instantaneous access to information to the masses as soon as events take place around the world. Therefore, information is no longer controlled by a limited group of influential people in society. It is by keeping everyone informed about current events that social media attempts to maintain solidarity and stability in society. Critics of this approach however, highlight the lack of importance that is attributed to individuality. Individual needs and concerns are ignored, which implies that how the distribution of information may enhance the life of one person is not taken into consideration. For instance, the family of an accident victim might receive this tragic news over social media in a very insensitive manner. Their feelings and emotions in receiving these updates are ignored under the functionalist perspective (Wilson 50).
The conflict perspective is based on the premise that society is a constantly changing entity because its various elements are constantly competing to acquire scarce resources. Therefore, social life is defined by constant change as people attempt to accumulate the maximum possible resources, influence, wealth and power to establish a position of dominance over others. Unlike the functionalist approach, the conflict theory is better equipped in defining the reasons why societies and culture are never static. This is particularly true in the case of how social media effects our lives. Just as there are societal hierarchies based on how popular or influential an individual is, similarly on digital media, different people exert different levels of influence over their followers. For instance, celebrities usually enjoy a substantially higher number of Facebook and twitter followers when compared to ordinary individuals. Therefore their opinions, likes and dislikes always grab headlines and become the subject of conversations in many households.
Another interesting aspect of the conflict perspective in this case is that it also explains the reasons why there is a continuous race to increase the number of likes for a Facebook page, the number of visitors to a website, as well as one’s own followers across various social media platforms. It is this aspect of constant competition that forms the most crucial part of the conflict perspective. On social media platforms, the content that people post and the updates that they share, is usually triggered by a hidden desire to win the race of having the highest level of social influence.