Functionalism

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Functionalism
Basically, functionalism illustrates the way people socialize in order to build elements that are significant for a society to be formed. Conflict theory focuses on the societal structure with avariciousness and work, which is actually considered as the most important contribution a person can make to the society. Functionalists and conflict theorists actually agree on the occurrence of class inequality in the society. However, functionalists and conflict theorist rely on people that are well-off to drive social change. Furthermore, a conflict theorist model would lay an allege to a social change taking place solely due to the absolute provocation, such as in capitalistic societies with significantly pronounced differences in the circumstances of certain social classes (Andersen 89). In the society, the less well-off sometimes feel exploited or unjustly handled by the powerful. In this case, a social revolution will follow and within time develop societies that will have been customized because of the actions of people that rose up and tried to undertake the oppressors. Theorists believe that the current circumstances would further be modified by successive social changes, thus forcing even more changes in the society.
People are different in the society, especially in terms of financial stability. Still, in the society, people are also differentiated by their work position, namely whether they are employees or employers. For instance, in a factory there are employers and workers. The employers have the power over their employees, because they determine their wages, working hours and working conditions. Basically, the majority of workers are destitute, and they require capital to provide
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basic needs for their families. The employers could choose to have empathy for their employees and offer them a substantial amount of wages so that they could improve their lives. Evidently, the employers and the workers in such a factory are people of different social classes (Andersen 120). There is inequality in the distribution of resources between the two groups in the society. For instance, the employers could also consider exploiting their workers. This means making them work efficiently within the factory but with very minimal wages. Basically, the elite in the society can choose to be emphatic or not to the less well-off individuals. According to modern conflict theorists such as Mills, social structures are developed through conflict between individuals with varying interests and resources. Moreover, people and resources are actually influenced by the inequality of power and the distribution of resources in the society. According to the modern conflict theorists, the interests of the powerful individuals within the society differed from those of the other people. Mills argued that the principles of the powerful people within the society actually caused elevated escalation of conflict, development of weapons for mass destruction, and even the extermination of the human race.
Basically, it could be stated that powerful people in the society highly consider their interests and resources and lack any opportunity to sympathize with the others in the society. Theorists of conflict believe that societies are characterized by the inequality that causes conflict. The conflict within the society can only be resolved by a fundamental change of the present social relations. It is clear that the lives of people from different social standing in the society are very different. The elite have their interest to tackle and accomplish, while the less well-off focus on elements that would drive social change. The less privileged people in the society have structural interests that operate against the status quo, which are perceived to lead to social change. The disadvantaged can be viewed as agents of change and not people that anyone should
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have empathy for. The powerful people in the society are perceived as individuals that can exploit and oppress the others who are below them (Feignberg & Soltis 234). Basically, the inherent human potential can be overcome by the circumstances of exploitation and oppression, which are usually significant in a society with an equal allotment of labor. In any society, theorists of conflict believe that it is necessary to have inequality in the division of labor. This means that different people could have different positions in the working environment, such as the employers and the workers.
Consensus in the society is actually considered as ideology where there is a group of ideas that could form the society’s goals, procedures, and expectations. Unfortunately, in a society’s setting, indisputable consensus is barely accomplished. Powerful people have a tendency of imposing their ideas on the other people. These elites make the less well-off embrace their discourses as if they also do not have the