Theory Identification Paper

            The study of society is guided by sociological theories. These are perspectives of how and why some facts on the social world relate. They differ in scope from concise explanation of one social process to analytical paradigms and interpretation. Some of these theories describe aspects of our social world which facilitate future events predictions while others work as wider perspectives that guide more sociological understanding.  This paper focuses on the basics of the four sociological theories their meanings, scope similarities as well as differences.  In specific, the paper deals with functionalism, conflict theory, interactionism theory, and utilitarianism theory

Functionalism

            Functionalism theory sees the organization of the society as more vital compared to the individual. As a top-down theory, it asserts that people are born into the society and become products of all social influences as they become socialized by different institutions like the family, media, religion and education. Functionalism Theory takes the society as a system or a set of interconnected parts which jointly create a whole. A relationship exists between all these parts and socialization agents (Jayapalan, 2014).  Together, they contribute to the maintenance of a whole society. The key beliefs of functionalism theory are social consensus, order as well as integration.  They allow the society to continue and progress from the fact that there are shared norms as well as values meaning all individuals have one goal and have a vested interest in conforming making conflict be minimal (Jayapalan, 2014). Talcott Parsons as a functionalist theorist viewed the society as a system. He said that any social system composes of four basic functional prerequisites which are an adaptation, integration, goal attainment, and pattern maintenance. These are seen as setbacks that society has to solve to survive. The function of any social system’s part gets understood as its contribution in meeting functional prerequisites. Talcott maintained that a social system can be analyzed through the functional prerequisites he mentioned.  Hence, all society parts can be understood through the functions they perform. Emile Durkheim as a proponent of Functionalism believed that sociology is a science that can be looked at parts and functions of the society.

Conflict Theory

            This theory was propounded by Karl Marx.   It asserts that our society is in a perpetual conflict state because of competition for the limited resources. It says that social order gets maintained through domination and power instead of consensus as well as conformity.  Hence, those with power and wealth try to hold on to it by any possible means, chiefly through suppressing those who are poor and without power (Jayapalan, 2014).This theory is used in explaining a wide range of social issues such as wealth and poverty, wars and revolutions as well as discrimination and domestic violence.  This theory ascribes majority of critical fundamental developments in social history. This includes democracy and civil rights to capitalistic pursuits to control the society rather instead of a social order desire. Conflict theory revolves around social inequality concepts in resource division and puts the focus on the conflicts between classes. Apart from Karl Max, C. Wright Mills are regarded as the founder of the modern theory of social conflict t. In Mills’ approach, social structures exist through conflict among people with divergent interests as well as resources.  People and resources, in turn, get influenced by these structures and through "unequal distribution of resources and power in the society. 

Interactionism

            In sociology, interactionism is a theoretical model in which the society is perceived to be as a result of daily social interactions among people. Rather than looking at social systems on a broader scale as the whole population of a nation or third world nations, this theory focuses on small social interactions like the interactions among people or small social groups. Some of the theorists who made great contributions to this theory are George Herbert, Max Weber as well as Herbert Blumer (Jayapalan, 2014). George Herbert is regarded as a theorist who made a greater contribution to interactionism theory. In sociology, interactionism focuses on how people act or come up with conscious decisions regarding their behavior that come from the way they interpret situations. This is to say that people do not simply react to social stimuli but rather, they are social actors and they must adjust their behavior basing on actions of social peer actors.  This theory examines the way different social actors come up with a sense of or define the behavior of people around them.  Doing this is important to understanding the social construction of the universe, which focuses on not only the interpretations that they give to behavior but also to the way they interpret behavior meanings.  Interactionism Theory focuses on devising a framework for developing a perspective that views the society as the outcome of the interactions of people.  Hence, our society is nothing more than the common reality that individual construct as they interact. This theory sees individuals interacting in countless situations through symbolic communications in accomplishing the issues at hand. Hence,   our society is complex, ever-changing mosaic of subjective definitions. 

Utilitarianism Theory

            Utilitarianism as a sociological theory holds that good moral action is that which maximizes on utility. Its proponent called Jeremy called utility as the pleasure aggregate after deducting suffering in any action. Stuart Mill expanded   Jeremy’s concept to include the quantity and quality of pleasure through putting the focus on rules, rather than moral actions. This theory is often referred to as rational choice theory or exchange theory sociology context. This theory tends to privilege the agency of personal rational actors and asserts that within individual interactions, people often seek to have maximization on their self-interest (Jayapalan, 2014). It is said that rational actors are perceived to posse’s four primary elements whereby the individual has knowledge of alternatives, knowledge of, or beliefs about the consequences of the various alternatives, an ordering of preferences over results and a decision rule, to choose amongst the likely options. Exchange theory is particularly attributed to George Homans, Peter Blau as well as R. Emerson. Organizational social theorists Herbert Simon and James March asserted that a person’s rationality gets bounded through organizational setting. The utilitarian theory was notably, revitalized by James Coleman in the 20th century (Jayapalan, 2014). Utilitarianism theory focuses on how people make decisions in the society.  Normally, people weigh the benefits and the repercussions of particular actions prior engaging in it.   The reason for doing this is that actions always affect others and our interactions too.

Similarities and Differences between Sociological Theories

            The four theories have some similarities that cut across them. One of the greatest similarities is that all of them focus on explaining some social phenomena (Jayapalan, 2014).  The other similarity is that none of the theories can stand on its own but rather they depend on each other in explaining issues in the society.  At the same time, these theories present some aspect that makes them different from each other. For instance, according to conflict theory, everything is as a result of Capitalism and in overcoming the problems faced by the society, need for communism is a no option. This presents positivism. On the other hand, interactionism supports the assumption that people are the ones who influence the society and not the opposite. This believes in free will and not determinism.  Hence, interactionism and conflict theory are totally opposite. Therefore, the main difference between them comes from the fact that they focus on different aspects. Conflict theory focuses on conflicts, functionalism focuses on the structure of the society and their role, and utilitarianism focuses on making choices in the society based on consequences while interactionism theory focuses on how people interact in the society. A commonality comes from the fact that all focuses on social aspects.

Conclusion

            To conclude, there are different dimensions through which we can explain social phenomena.  One of the greatest ways is to use theories. Conflicts theory explains how conflicts occur in the society while Functionalism looks at how the society has structures that perfume particular function to make the society functional. On the other hand, interactions explain how people interact and impact each other. Utilitarianism on the other end explains how people reach decisions that affect them and others based on consequences. Jointly, these theories explain who the society is.

References

Jayapalan, N. (2014): Sociological theories. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers.

 Sherry Roberts is the author of this paper. A senior editor at Melda Research in nursing paper writing services if you need a similar paper you can place your order for medical essay writing service online.