Abstract
In sociology there are three main sociological paradigms that are used to view society and the world as a whole. Paradigms are ways of looking at the world and they are theoretical in nature because they have principles or propositions that are designated to answer a phenomenon. These sociological paradigms can help in explaining and predicting the sociological world. The three include the functionalist paradigm, conflict paradigm as well as the symbolic interactionist paradigm. Each of these paradigms independently offers explanations as to why things happen the way they do and human behavior as well. They focus on the micro view of society; explain causes and effects of specific phenomena and help people develop ways of relating their personal issues to predicative issues that affect the wider society. The American society can be analyzed using these three perspectives to explain different phenomena and show the social stratification of this society.
Sociology is a scientific area of study that is governed by social matters, how people live and interact. It is governed by three sociological paradigms which include the conflict theory, functionalism, and symbolic interactionism. A paradigm is a description of the various interactions that human beings are engaged in within every society. They are broad and are projected differently from one society to another, and they are often used as tools that help in the development of a hypothesis. They are also scientific in nature and are meant only to give a viewpoint or a guiding principle used to make interpretations of the things that happen in any society. Through that, they often lead to the development of theories that can be proved and ones that explain different happenings. In this essay, the three paradigms of sociology will be discussed and applied to one topic discussed in the course text.
The first paradigm is the conflict theory, and it was developed by Karl Max when he was writing about class struggles in his society at the time. The conflict paradigm lays emphasis on the negative and conflicted nature of a society where classism renders one group of people at a disadvantage whereas the other remains advantaged as everyone struggles to get hold of the scarce resources (Carl, 2011, p. 68). The paradigm challenges the status quo and calls for social change that will ensure no human being benefits from the effort of another simply because they are in advantaged positions. According to Max and other sociologists that subscribe to this school of thought, rich and powerful people own the means of production. The poor workers are forced to work under terms and circumstances that benefit the rich despite them putting in a lot of sacrifices, and that is where the conflict arises between the two groups (Kamoche, 2005, p. 61). To illustrate this phenomenon, a good example can be seen through higher education. An institution can raise its standards and increase fees for students, and students will be forced to pay the increased fees because they want to get quality degrees the university advertises. But this move can be seen as a means through which the university intends to exploit the students much to its benefits and not serve the interests of the students. The conflict paradigm shows how a group can obtain power and create an advantage for themselves and not the majority.
The second paradigm is the structural functionalist perspective which seeks to illustrate that society is stable, it goes on to say that all mechanisms are interrelated (Carl, 2011, p. 70), and work together to maintain social stability. According to it, social structure plays a critical role in maintaining stability and avoids instability at the same time and through that social equilibrium is maintained (Kamoche, 2010, p. 69). Also, functionalism argues that “a stable society is the best possible society” (Stolley, 2010, p. 26), anything or anybody who contributes to that balance and stability is adaptable to that society. The perspective offered by this perspective best explains how various institutions work. Some of these institutions include the family, education, religion, government, the economy as well as media and medicine. All these entities and many others work together to ensure a smooth running of all societies in the world because every society reaches a consensus that everyone is expected to abide by stipulated rules in an effort to create that much-needed balance. The paradigm focuses on social stability and the functionality of society on the basis that people have to embrace a particular code of conduct that is mutually acceptable to everyone and which promotes mutual existence. A good example can be seen when laws are set in a country, or religious organization and people are expected to follow them to ensure conflicts are lessened, and people live in harmony.
The last paradigm is the symbolic interactionist theory which seeks to illustrate how different small groups interact based on their cultural values and symbols such as the oral, written and non- verbal language. Interaction boils down to individual interactions between people (Carl, 2011, 73). It goes further to explain that people’s behavior with or among other people is determined by their shared understanding and interpretation of cultural symbols (Kamoche, 2010, p. 78). Therefore, interaction is dependent on small-scale social systems that set a certain group of people aside from the rest of society. This paradigm puts emphasis on small groups of individuals and how cultural symbols are used in these units, making them unique and different from others. In fact, everything in existence is based on how people interpret their cultural symbols in relation to what they observe. For example, people view images, stereotypes, and belief systems as well as media images differently; what may pass as offending to one group may not be offending to another. In fact, it is this paradigm that best explains the social classifications that have been established to separate a group of people from another. For instance, in the United States people are classified into different categories based on the symbols that set them aside from others. Examples include middle- class, non- middle class, whites, non- whites, Christian, non- Christian and so on.
I choose to analyze Chapter 7: Social Class in the United States: Stratification in a Modern Society.
The three paradigms are used to explain the content of this chapter. All of them have been used in the section and can be elaborated as follows.
The conflict paradigm has been used to show the difference that exists between those who hold the tools of power and those who are their subjects. Just from the topic, it is clear that social stratification entails the ranking of people and the parameters used include power, wealth, and prestige. The desire for everyone to possess wealth exists and as long as there is a boundary separating the rich from the poor then there will always be a conflict.
The symbolic interactionism paradigm is used to identify the various classes of people that exist depending on the symbols they identify with in their lives. For instance, women are said to be more likely to be poor than men, and that only implies that there are symbols attached to women that rank them at a lower economic cadre than men. Also, some symbols such as esteem are used to draw the line between the different emotional and social statuses of different people. The upper middle- class, on the other hand, is identifiable by the fact that they hold significant wealth and that sets them aside from the rest of society.
The functionalist paradigm is best used to show how different social classes interact and support one another for a smooth running of the society. For instance, there is a role that is played by the working class that the rich cannot play and vice versa. Social class is, therefore, influenced by the fact that society has to function in a certain way for society to function.
References
Carl, J. D. (2011). THINK Sociology, 2/e. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Kamoche, K. N. (2010). Sociological paradigms and Human Resources: An African Context. Farnham: Ashgate
Stolley, K. S. (2005). The Basics of Sociology. Westport: Greenwood.
http://thethinkspot.com/sociology/chapters/7
