Predominant Social Institutions, Research Paper Example

Within the field of sociology, there are three main theories that professionals use to describe many different individuals or institutions within society.  These theories further suggest the characteristics of society and the specific institutions as well as how they interact with one another.  More importantly the three theories of functionalism, interactionism and conflict help describe everyday relationships and suggest a deeper understanding of the real world instead of the theoretical words on a page.  In other words, these three theories have a real purpose for understanding and describing the complexities of society.  These descriptions can clearly be seen through the description and explanation of Family as a major institution within society.

Family can first be described through the understanding of functionalism.  The functionalism theory suggests an “application of the scientific method to the objective social world and use of an analogy between the individual organism and society” (McClelland, 2000).  Functionalists would argue that there is a real world that can be analyzed and objectively viewed from a “value-free” point-of-view.  In regards to family, this is also true from the functionalists’ point-of-view.  According to this view, the institution of family should be viewed as an unbiased and “value-free” viewpoint by which the true nature of the institution can be understood.  For instance, the family interacts in a society that must follow laws and pay taxes.  These taxes help provide for the benefit of the entire society as well as the members of the family.  However, another major purpose for family under this point-of-view is that the family is designed to give birth and raise functional individuals that can enter into society and continue the process of paying taxes and following laws.  By raising functional persons for society, the family is able to keep the construct of the society working for future generations.  Without the family’s ability to provide these general services to the rest of society, the functionalist professionals would likely argue that the family holds no true purpose in society and could perhaps be disvalued or ignored as an important societal institution.

The second major philosophical viewpoint in sociology involves interactionism.  Interactionism was originally developed by Max Weber and George H. Meade, and it focuses on viewing society and the institutions within society in a much different light than functionalism.  While functionalists focus mainly on society as their basic subject for analysis, interactionists concentrate on analyzing humans and their interactions with one another as it is believed that humans simply are reacting to other humans’ behaviors.  This can be viewed within the family through the interactions of children’s reactions to parents, siblings’ reactions to one another, or the even the parents’ reactions with one another.  However, this can also be viewed by explaining how the family interacts with other members of society in school, work and other social organizations or institutions.  Therefore, it is clear that this viewpoint is less strict on function and focuses more on the complexities of human behavior.

Furthermore, interactionism is interested in analyzing the impact of competition within the family.  For instance, parents may compete with one another regarding responsibilities within the household or even which parents brings in the more substantial income.  On the other hand, children also compete with one another over the use of toys or video games as well as for the attention of their parents.  Of course this is only usually seen within the home where a family has more than one child.  Meanwhile, each person must interact with other members of society where competition and responsibilities are also seen.  In this sense, interactionism would also claim that each individual has a function in society and plays a role, although that role is less-clearly defined as that in functionalism.  Each person has feelings and emotions and these are important factors in how each person interacts with others.  When a child is picked on in school, the child engages in a fight or flight response based on how he has been taught by his family. The parents, then, have the responsibility of teaching the children how to interact with others and what is socially acceptable for interacting with society.  Without this theory, the understanding of the role and function of family is quite skewed.

Finally, the third main philosophical viewpoint in sociology is called conflict theory.  Conflict theorists view “society as a struggle for resources and power” and believe that “change is inevitable, often beneficial and can be violent” (Hodges, p. 3).  In essence, this philosophy suggests that there is a constant conflict between individuals and groups of individuals for power and social status.  By examining a previous example, many of these conflicts can be clearly identified through the presence of competition within family.  As parents compete with one another or children compete with each other, conflict theory attempts to describe the individual’s desire for power and social status.  Again, perhaps the child wants more attention from the parents than the other.  This theory can also be used to describe the family in relationship to other social institutions or individuals outside of the family.  A human characteristic known as greed can often be associated with this theory.  As family members go into the world to earn money or interact with others, they inherently desire to have more physical objects or gain more money for the family.  A sense of pride is also seen as the individuals are focused on family or self first rather than the benefits of society.  In other words, conflict theory often suggests that there is a winner and a loser.

As parents raise their children, they are responsible for teaching them core values and proper behaviors that make them respectable and functional members of society.  While the family holds many different functions within society, it is clear that it is an important – if not the most important – institution within society.  These three sociological viewpoints provide a deeper understanding of the family and its role in society; however, it is clear that families must be present in modern society for the modern lifestyle to be maintained.

References

Hodges, J. (n.d.). The Sociological perspectives. Presentation, Department of Sociology, Montgomery County Community College, Blue Bell, PA. Retrieved from http://faculty.mc3.edu/jhodges/soc101chapter1.ppt

McClelland, K. (2000, February 21). Theoretical perspectives in sociology. Retrieved from http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/soc/s00/soc111-01/introtheories/IntroTheoriesIndex.html

Schlee, G. (2004). Taking sides and constructing identities: reflections on conflict theory. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 10(1), 135-156.