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Assess The Difference Between Agency And Structures

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In sociological theory, the difference between structure and agency (action) is that a structure is an enduring system of organizations within societies and agency is active role of individuals who make up and act upon those structures. A structure is independent of those who make it up. It is focused on how society creates individuals. Agency is focused on how individuals create societies through their independent actions and freewill. Agency and structures are comparable to a two-way street in which it can be argued that they can both exert some influence over the other. In The Blackwell Dictionary of Sociology by Allan Johnson, agency and structures are defined as centrally important to studying sociology. Structures within societies may impose some restraints on individuals, and conversely, agents may act independently in the creation of structures. Examples of structures would include religion, social class, or family. Examples of agency may include individuals acting out against those structures, such as a child refusing to respect their parents by not doing as they were told. Another example of agency could include individuals reaffirming the social norms, such …show more content…

The functionalist perspective comes from Emile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons. It focuses on the system of interconnected parts within society, what they do, and what they contribute to society. This perspective views the different parts of society as independent, functional requirements of the society within which it operates. Karl Marx developed the Conflict Perspective. This perspective looks at the unequal struggle for resources between competing members of societies. This rivalry leads to differing social classes, such as the ruling class and the subordinate class. The conflict theory looks at power distributions, the role of class in societies, distributions of wealth, and how these things affect

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Jones’ book is conflict perspective. Leon-Guerrero (2009) writes, “conflict theorists consider how society is held together by power and coercion (Ritzer 2000) for the benefit of those in power” (Leon-Guerrero, 2009, p. 14). Leon-Guerrero (2009) goes on to state that Karl Marx was the first to make the argument of conflict theory. Marx focused on the conflict between social classes. There is at most times a tension between the proletariat (workers) and the bourgeoisie (owners) (Leon-Guerrero, 2009, p. 14).

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Agency is the ability of individuals to act independently and to make their own decisions. The social structure is a manner dictated for a person in which they must abide by to act. The Black Panther Party is an example of how individuals acted independently to arm themselves against the police. Structure would have been for them to report bad behavior or mistreatment to their local police depart but they decided that a corrupt system would not fix itself therefore they used their agency to take their problems into their own hands.

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Social Conflict theory is a sociological theory that argues that society is made up of different groups in society that are all competing for power and scarce resources. The theory focuses on the inequalities of groups such as such as race, sex, class, and age. These inequalities may determine one's social status resulting in conflict. This theory was originally derived from Karl Marx who is considered the "father" of conflict theory. Karl Marx believed that society was made up two unequal groups of people: the people who have all of the power (haves) and the people who are striving to attain the power (have nots).

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Karl Marx, a ground breaking sociologist, economist, and philosopher, lived from 1818 to 1883. During his lifetime he propounded this epic sociologic perspective, the conflict theory. (McClelland) The conflict theory discusses how the rich and the poor have been fighting ongoing battle for power. The group in control actively defends their advantages.

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Sociological Perspectives are different perspectives of how to view the world. The three sociological perspectives are the functionalist theory, the conflict theory, and the interactionalist theory. Robert Merton and Emile Durkheim are considered to have founded functionalism. Functionalism emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability. Functionalists believe that all parts of society are linked together.

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Lecture 1: What is most powerful structure or agency? Explain giving examples in relation to civil disobedience. When you look at society there is agency and structure. The agency is the individual 's ability to make their own choices in society, a micro perspective. These choices that society makes are not guided by anything else than their own decisions.

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Structure functional theory views society as a whole, a complex system of integrated, interrelated parts working together to keep society balanced. Each section of society has a certain task to fulfill in order to meet the needs of society. Therefore, functionalists stress order and stability. If a part of society is dysfunctional the peace is disturbed and the system is weakened. Each social institution plays a major role to the function of society, family provides an environment of reproducing, nurturing, and entertaining the children, education paves a way to pass on knowledge and values to one’s child while, politics provide means of leading members of society.

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considered society to be like an organism, and distinguished structure and function. While he recognized that society was composed of individuals, for Durkheim, society was not just the sum of individual behaviours, actions, and thoughts. That is, society had an existence of its own, apart from the individuals in it. Further, societies influence individuals through norms, social facts, sentiments, and social currents. These emerge from human action, but stand apart from the individual and affect the individual.

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It has its origins in the works of Emile Durkheim, who was especially interested in how social order is possible or how society remains relatively stable. As such, it is a theory that focuses on the macro-level of social structure, rather than the micro-level of everyday life. Notable theorists include Herbert Spencer, Talcott Parsons, and Robert K. Merton. Functionalism interprets each part of society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole

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1. The two sociological perspectives that I will be writing about are conflict theory and symbolic interactionism. There are two conflict theories of a social problem Marxist Conflict theory and Non-Marxist Conflict theory. The importance of using social perspective when studying the Marxist and Non-Marxist conflict theories allows individuals a better understanding of the conflicts we face in average life such as class inequality, alienation, and conflicts in competing values in social groups.

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The conflict theory is a macro-level theory where theorists look at the unequal distribution of resources such as money, power, education, and social prestige. Those who are wealthier and more educated than others in the society hold more power over those who are not wealthy or as educated. Conflict theorists see this a lot in the educational system, where inequality is shown through the materials in the school, teachers in the classrooms, and topics being taught. This type of inequality leads to learning differences that emphasizes social inequalities. Macro-level sociology is looking at the bigger picture of the social process, such as stability and change throughout society.

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Home assignment #3 Educational system reflect social inequalities. And my analysis include sociological conflict theory like a key. And economical factor that affect educational, professional and social progression. Social conflict theory sees social life as a competition and focuses on the distribution of resources, power, and inequality. Social conflict theory is a macro-oriented paradigm in sociology that views society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and social change.

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Emile Durkheim developed a theory called functionalism, which explained how the individual and society were related and how society changed over time. According to functionalism, society is a system of interconnected parts that work together in harmony to maintain a state of balance and social equilibrium for the whole. Durkheim believed that society should be analyzed and described in terms of functions. Society is a system of interrelated parts where no one part can function without the other. These parts make up the entirety of society and therefore, if one part changes, society is impacted.

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He explains how Durkheim’s functionalist approach treated society as a reality unto itself, not reducible to individuals. Durkheim preached the sociological positivism and Giddens rejected that. The sociological positivism paradigm endeavors to predict how societies function and ignores the meaning of society from an individual’s perspective. Giddens says, “Society only has form, and the form only has effects on people, insofar as structure is produced and reproduced in what people

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The notion and the meaning of conflict have evolved with time. Before Coser, conflict was seen more as a source of social change and disintegration. However, the conflict theory we are referring to here is not necessarily an infliction of violence or atrocities, but a conflict that arises due to unequal distribution of power and resources. Theorists consider power to be an important element of conflict theory. For instance, who uses power or where is power located are two of the main concerns of conflict theory.

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