Functionalism and Marxism: Sociological Perspectives Essay

One way in which Marxism is a useful theory for explaining the causes of crime is the concept of capitalism, criminogenic capitalism. Criminogenic capitalism is based on the exploitation of the working class- using them for a means to an end. Crime is not confined to the working class, greed and self interest cause white collar crimes such as tax evasion and

The two theoretical approaches I have chosen to compare to the study of crime are Functionalism and Marxism. I have done so, as I believe both theories are important/ significant to the study of crime and differentiate from each other. I will do this by writing a critique the advantages and disadvantages of both of the theories and thus, resulting in my own personal opinion in the conclusion.

Marxist theories of crime, including the more recent neo-Marxist theories, are conflict approaches. They see society based on conflict between social classes, and social inequality caused by capitalism as the driving force behind crime.

Marxist Theories of crime believe that individuals who are poor are more likely to be punished for criminal behavior (Tibbetts, 2012, p. 176). This theory proposes that crime and laws are a way for a capitalist society to keep running properly. They believe that economic power can be related to legal power

Functionalism sees society as a framework and a system that needs to work together , sociologists believe that we need social structures that give us shape to our lives and that each social structure has a social function , failure to follow the social structure will result in a social consequence two early contributors to this theory

Functionalism is made up of many integrated parts that work together to keep production flowing throughout society. I’ll provide an example of how I viewed functionalism to generate a better understanding of the process. During a baseball game, imagine you’re out on the field playing third base. You’re not out there alone, you have eight other players with you, all with specific jobs. Your objective is to acquire an out, you need the pitcher to throw the ball, catcher to catch the ball, fielder to field the ball, and an umpire to enforce the call. Say I snatch a ball hit to me at third base, in order to obtain the out I must throw the ball to first base, then the first baseman must catch it, and in conclusion the umpire will rule him out. It’s a team affair, we all functioned collectively to secure the out, I can’t throw the ball to an empty bag, I need the first baseman to be there for me. August Comte and Herbert Spencer viewed society as a living organism. Resembling Animals, we all have organs to keep our bodies jolting around, lacking properly functioning organs, we die. Emile Durkheim additionally viewed society as being composed of numerous parts, respectively, working together to form a societal

When society is seen an entity which is compromised hearts that exist as having a function this is seen as functionalism because it suggests that everything that exists in society is there because it has a function. The philosopher Karl Marx based conflict theory onlooking at the social world and seeing conflict whether it's rich verses poor or haves versus have nots. In this Theory each group is trying to be the best for themselves wanting good education, well-paying job, and good benefits where the minority groups are rivals for these things. Lastly there is a symbolic interactionism which is a perspective that focuses on the micro level. In this theory their are labels that color the way we see our world. We can either see features of someone remaining blinded to other features where individuals only see the color of a person's skin and pays closer attention to something negative rather than a positive

Society needs to cooperate together in order to function properly. Institutions that have to work together in order to get along in society, for example education, family, the government, and the legal system all contribute to play their part in society, this can be seen as stability for functionalism as functionalist believe that everybody in society is making a contribution, whether being a banker or a baker, everyone is needed in society to work together to function properly. The distinction between Marxism and Functionalism is that functionalist portray their theory as the 'Living Body '

Functionalism also believes society is meritocratic and with a value consensus in which there is agreement with society’s norms, values and hierarchical system, and therefore harmonious. This perspective conflicts with the Marxist theory of conflict and inequality as Functionalism states that we as a society with the value consensus theory agree with the inequality of wealth and power, and that positions in society such as teachers, doctors and charity fundraisers compared to bankers, politicians and royalty are rewarded fairly upon society agreement which is

Functionalism is a body of theories in social science. It is dated to the work of August Comte (1798-1857), who coined sociology in 1838; Emile Durkheim (Rules of Sociological methods, 1897); and Herbert Spencer (Principles of Sociology, 1896); and many other scholarly works (Hensiln and Nelson, 1995).

According to the Functionalist Perspective, also known as functionalism, each aspect of society is interdependent and the parts its people have in it all contribute to society’s functioning as a whole. Largely based on the works of Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton, functionalism states that society is a system of interconnected parts that rely on each other to maintain balance and social equilibrium. Functionalism emphasizes the interconnectedness of society by focusing on the relationships and influences present in each part of society. Terms as functional and dysfunctional are often used by sociologists focusing on functionalism. Elements are said to be functional if they contribute to social stability and dysfunctional if they break the pattern of stability. (Crossman, 2017) Functionalists are described to defend the status quo, avoid social change, and believe people cooperate to effect social order. Functionalism addresses society as a whole by standards of norms, customs, traditions, and institutions. While once criticized for failure to account for social change and ignoring systematic inequalities that naturally produce tension and conflict. The functionalist theory easily allows for specific macro-analyses of more contentious power imbalances while also permitting a

In the history of anthropology and sociology, there have been many different social theories. Often these theories are influential for a period of time and then lose popularity once a new, more seductive theory is established. Marxism and functionalism are two examples of social theories that made a grand impact on the anthropological and sociological fields, but have since faded from the forefront. Marxism was established by Karl Marx in the mid-1800s and was later adopted by other theorists, such as Marvin Harris. Marxism was built upon the idea that there has been an ongoing class struggle in human history and it is this conflict between classes that will lead to social change and eventually to the birth of Communism. Functionalism

For some Marxists think crime reflects crime producing systems. Two types of crime are produced within a working-class society. “Crime of accommodation” and “Crimes of resistance”. “Crimes of domination and repression” are crimes committed by the ruling class (Akers 2017). Crimes have been stated to be committed by criminal justice personnel and government officials. Quinney justifies that organized crime is related to capitalist class and has domination over society.

In this essay, will be explaining and comparing the social perspectives Functionalism and Marxism. Functionalism is a theory that aspect stresses the crucial stability and participation within modern society. The social events are clarified by reference to the functions that achieves in allowing constancy within society. Functionalism state that education helps the needs of industrial society by an advanced labour, education helps the needs of the social system by teaching pupils communal values, norms and beliefs. This leads to great social solidarity. The education means those who have the skill that can move up the social classes, such as meritocracy. Parson believes that education is part of a meritocracy and education is a subordinate agent of socialisation between the family and society. Parson also believes that education impress the beliefs of competition, equality and individualism. Furthermore, in a meritocracy every person is given equality of opportunity. The achievements and rewards also are based on power and ability. The education explains social dissimilarity; those in the best roles are there because they prove to be due to their hard work and ability. In addition, Parson supported by Duncan with in these views and Duncan believe that a modern economy depends for its prosperity on using the human capital and its workers and skills. The meritocratic education system does this best.

Structural functionalism, or simply functionalism, is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.[1] This approach looks at society through a macro-level orientation, which is a broad focus on the social structures that shape society as a whole, and believes that society has evolved like organisms.[2] This approach looks at both social structure and social functions. Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms, customs, traditions, andinstitutions. A common analogy, popularized by Herbert Spencer, presents these parts of society as "organs" that work toward the proper functioning of the