Lucianne White
Assignment 1
Approaches to
Sociology
Introduction
Sociologists study human society. Their subject matter includes human behaviour in various social contexts, social interaction, social institutions and organisation, social change and development (Haralmbos, Van Krieken, Smith & Holborn 1999). For this reason, unemployment is an issue which sociologists delve. Unemployment has far reaching affects in all areas of society. Stratification in the areas of age, race, class, gender, ethnicity, sex and disability is rife amongst the employed and unemployed alike, unemployment creates further segregation amongst these already stratified people. This essay will look at unemployment from the functional and conflict theory perspective, as well how four main institutions (family,
education, government and health) are affected by unemployment. It will also look at Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim and their contribution to sociology and the theory of functionalism and conflict. Unemployment affects almost everyone to some degree during their lives, the need to understand how we can deal with the issue is becoming critically important to society as a whole.
A segment of a social network
Karl Marx 1882 (edited)
Emile DurkheimFunctionalist Theory
Function is an unclear term, often used by orthodox sociologists to define the logical and social place of roles, institutions and structures in terms of the production and reproductionof a society as a social
system - as in the idea that the function of the family is to socialise new members of society (Bessant & Watts, 1999).
Functionalists believe everything serves a specific function in our society and these functions need to be understood. Everyone has a role to fill in this functional society, in other words we need to have stratification so as everyone has a purpose. Functionalists are very
boundaried and thin within the square. For this theory to really work, there needs to be a consensus amongst the individuals that make up society, they need to...
Unemployment
You have done a good job of discussing unemployment from both a functionalist and conflict theory perspective. I liked how you explained how family, education, government and health are affected by unemployment. For those not directly affected, unemployment can become just another in a seemingly endless stream of statistics, but it's important to understand that it can result in tragic consequences for those unable to quickly rejoin the work force. Your internal citations were nicely complemented by a list of references which should prove useful to those who wish to further study this topic. Your report was well structured and organized. Nicely done!
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