Sociological Perspectives Of Symbolic Interactionism, And Conflict Theory

Sociologists, during their studies, use three major sociological perspectives called symbolic interactionism, functionalism, and conflict theory. These theories/perspectives provide information for different contexts; however, they share the same purpose of gaining a better insight into our society. When looking at symbolic interactionism, the theory focuses on social interactions between individuals; hence, this perspective is useful at a micro level. This theory tries to understand an individual's subjective insights and understandings of the world. When we move to functionalism, we can see that it is a social perspective that sees society as a system with parts working together to remain functional. They wish to emphasize that society's purpose is to serve people on an individual and mass level; hence, it is a macro-level perspective. Lastly, conflict theory is a perspective that sees society as a system with inequality, focused on the dominant group without acknowledging the struggles of the minorities. This would also be a theory or perspective that focuses on the macro level.

For starters, all three of these perspectives aim to help map out and create coherent ideas from the orderly chaos that is our society. They focus on how society is structured, the importance of institutions, how it processes new information, values relationships, and values culture. However, the main differences lie in how these theories are utilized. We can understand functionalism, which focuses on how society is not one coherent entity but smaller parts, and realize that it differs from conflict theory because it highlights the struggles of minorities. One aspect sees issues, while the other perspective tries to simplify society. The differences go even further when we compare symbolic interactionism, which focuses on individuals rather than the masses of