Family Perspectives
My Perspectives on Family
SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology
August, 2, 2010
After countless hours of researching The Functionalist, Conflict, and Interactionist Perspectives, I now see just how similar and how very different they are in relation to family. Society is given to separation based on personal beliefs, functions, color, creed, etc. The given perspectives show how societies as a whole view their socialistic status.
The three given perspectives are divided among groups who feel we all work together in an assembly-line fashion to achieve a common goal, groups who feel that we only succeed through struggles with one another, and groups who feel that we as a society need both goals and struggles in order to succeed as a nation.
In order to fully understand how these perspectives are different, I had to first figure out just how they were alike. When it comes to family, as I discovered, there were very few similarities between the three perspectives. Only The Functionalist Perspective really speaks of the family as a unit.
According to Sociology: Concepts and Applications in a Diverse World, “the family provides for the bearing and rearing of children until they can live on their own. The major criticism to that however, is that it could disrupt social equilibrium rather than contribute to it, for example, encouraging large families in a society that is already overpopulated.” (Sullivan, T. (2007) Pgs. 13-17)
As mentioned above, the functionalist perspective offers a family unit providing for its own. The Conflict and Interactionist perspectives offer something a little different. The Conflict perspective says that “in any group, society, or family there are dominant members, or groups who will exert power over others to ensure that their interests are served.” (Sullivan, T. (2007) Pgs. 13-17)
“This perspective can be criticized for overemphasizing the importance of conflict and disregarding the prevalence of stability. In
SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology
August, 2, 2010
After countless hours of researching The Functionalist, Conflict, and Interactionist Perspectives, I now see just how similar and how very different they are in relation to family. Society is given to separation based on personal beliefs, functions, color, creed, etc. The given perspectives show how societies as a whole view their socialistic status.
The three given perspectives are divided among groups who feel we all work together in an assembly-line fashion to achieve a common goal, groups who feel that we only succeed through struggles with one another, and groups who feel that we as a society need both goals and struggles in order to succeed as a nation.
In order to fully understand how these perspectives are different, I had to first figure out just how they were alike. When it comes to family, as I discovered, there were very few similarities between the three perspectives. Only The Functionalist Perspective really speaks of the family as a unit.
According to Sociology: Concepts and Applications in a Diverse World, “the family provides for the bearing and rearing of children until they can live on their own. The major criticism to that however, is that it could disrupt social equilibrium rather than contribute to it, for example, encouraging large families in a society that is already overpopulated.” (Sullivan, T. (2007) Pgs. 13-17)
As mentioned above, the functionalist perspective offers a family unit providing for its own. The Conflict and Interactionist perspectives offer something a little different. The Conflict perspective says that “in any group, society, or family there are dominant members, or groups who will exert power over others to ensure that their interests are served.” (Sullivan, T. (2007) Pgs. 13-17)
“This perspective can be criticized for overemphasizing the importance of conflict and disregarding the prevalence of stability. In