Sociological Paradigms, Research Paper Example

The phenomenon of poverty may be approached from numerous sociological paradigms, such as the structural-functional account, the social conflict account and the symbolic interaction account. Each of these paradigms offers its own unique perspective on the phenomenon.

The structural-functional approach emphasizes how various social structures “contribute to the maintenance of society.” (Brinkeroff et al., 10) Thus, when analyzing poverty, the crucial aspect is to understand how society itself upholds poverty. Insofar as poverty is a part of a given social structure, the structural-functionalist assumes that the structure of society itself leads to poverty. Thus, a society structured on class distinction will both encourage and maintain poverty.

Social conflict theory views poverty in terms of how class struggle leads to poverty. Thus, poverty is the product of an essential competition within the social structure, and those who are poor are essentially the victims of this very conflict. Social conflict theory thus views society in terms of its antagonistic nature, an antagonism that is thus inherent to any possible concept or account of society.

Symbolic interaction theory stresses communication between members of society as crucial to the social structure, and thus language and symbols are viewed as grounding social relationships. This theory implores that “reality is not a given but is developed through participation in social groups.” (Greene & Kropf, 60) This participation is structured in a communicative manner. Accordingly, poverty is a symbolic phenomenon, in which one is deemed to be poor through how society symbolically defines poverty.

The manner in which these theories differentiate themselves in terms of how they construe poverty can be traced back to their unique conceptions of society. According to structural-functionalism, insofar as poverty is present in a society, poverty is something that is maintained by the structure of society itself. In social conflict theory, the structure of society is one that is antagonistic, and therefore poverty is equivalent to this very conflict. In symbolic interaction theory, poverty is understood as poverty through the communicative relations that are the foundation of society. Accordingly, all accounts find their view of poverty informed by a greater definition of the structure of society itself.

Works Cited

Brinkerhoff, David B., White, Lynn K. and Ortega, Suzanne T. (2007). Essentials of Sociology. New York: Cengage Learning.

Greene, Roberta and Kropf, Nancy. (2009). Human Behavior Theory: A Diversity Framework. New York: Transaction Publishers.