Applying Sociological Theories Of Police

The purpose of this assignment is to apply sociological theories to a topic of my choosing. The topic that I have decided to write my paper on is the police, and after taking a lot of time to think about my topic, I think that my topic can tie into a lot of the sociological theories that we have been learning about through the course of the semester. When it comes to structural functionalism, there are a few basic assumptions. When you use any theory you will notice that there are a set of assumptions. However, you don’t need to agree with these theoretical assumptions. You just need to work under them for the period of your investigation. When you use Structural Functionalism you are not only going to assume that society is a system, but

(Polak lecture: social theory) From my knowledge, there are three sociological terms that are relevant to structural functionalism. The three terms are manifest functions, latent functions, and dysfunctions. Manifest functions are those functions that are obvious and intended. However, latent functions are functions that are not obvious, unintended and usually not recognized. Dysfunctions disrupt equilibrium. However, when it comes to the police, a manifest function is that the police are crime fighters. Whenever most people think about police, they think of them as crime fighters and think they are always chasing after bad guys and making arrests. However, most of an officers time is spent dealing with smaller problems within the community. The term is called community policing. It involves interacting with the public and sometimes helping get a cat out of the tree, writing tickets for speeding, or accident reports, or anything that isn’t a crime. When it comes to dysfunctions, it is important to remember that what is functional for one sector of society can indeed be dysfunctional for another sector. For example, for some people community policing would be a dysfunction

First, whose interests are involved? In other words, who are the interested parties associated with the topic of analysis. Second, who benefits from the status quo? That is, who benefits from the way things are? Who benefits from existing structures? Who benefits from the social order? Your answer will always be the same when you do this analysis. Your answer will always be that all ideas in society benefit the material interests of the dominant group. Or, if you are taking a basic Marxist approach, all ideas in society benefit from the material interest of the bourgeoisie. When using modern Conflict Theory to analyze social events, we want to keep Marx's basic thesis in mind. Modern Conflict Theory focuses on competition and conflict for rare resources. You could limit your analysis to a more modernized version of conflict theory and it would lead you to see conflict everywhere in society. When you utilize this theory for analysis you are going to see dominant and subordinate groups everywhere competing for scarce resources. (Polak lecture: conflict theory) Sociological terms that are relevant to conflict theory are Economic Determinism and Means of Production. The concept of Economic Determinism states that the economic organization of society affects or determines the class structure, the institution and the cultural values and beliefs of society. Means of production refers to the