How to revise sociology a level

Revise Sociology Paper

The world faces several social problems that cause a backlash to the people’s developmental agenda. Social problems are behaviors, conditions or actions that have negative consequences on the individuals of a given country and need urgent addressing. Examples of some social problems include poverty and hunger, racism, sexism, gun violence and youth unemployment among other social problems. Young Americans face a higher rate of joblessness with the rate of unemployment standing at 14.2%.The growing number of youth who are neither studying nor working is of greater concern. This social problem at hand, therefore, needs to be resolved so that the country cannot fall victim to degradation. A sociological understanding of youth unemployment is an essential task. Social imagination is an essential component in sociological understanding of the problem. It is worthy to appreciate the fact that everybody experiences a social problem in one way or another. This calls for the need to appreciate the structural basis for personal problems, otherwise known as sociological imagination. In this paper, I will examine how theories from Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber are relevant to the contemporary analysis of youth unemployment. The detailed explanations are herein discussed below.

KARL MARX’S CONFLICT THEORY

This theory assumes that people of different status, gender, race and social class characterize the society-giving rise to the social inequality. The theory points that conflicts arise when resources are unevenly distributed, as such justifying youth unemployment. This theory depicts the society differently unlike the other two theories. While the two theories focus on the positive aspects of the society, conflict theory has shifted its focus to the adverse, opposed and changing society.in the society. This theory challenges the statuses of individuals and embraces any kind of change. Marx claims that the society is divided into two based on ownership of production tools like factories and materials. In a capitalist class, for instance, the ruling class owns the production materials leading to oppression of the working class. This difference brings about a conflict between the two groups since they compete for the slots. The capitalists’ class would like to maintain their position while the working class strives to climb to the capitalists’ position.

Marx notes that revolution is unavoidable because of the ambiguities stemming from capitalism. Profit is always the main goal of a capitalist society making the ruling class have an interest in maximizing profits and minimizing costs. For this to be achieved, wages are to be kept as low as possible. This creates a conflict since the working class is not satisfied. The ruling class will, however, feel the obligation to oppress the working class, which may in turns lead to a revolt.

Marx’s view of conflicts arising from uneven distribution of resource and unequal positions in the society forms a basis of today’s conflict theories in the contemporary society. From the theory, it is evident that different social groups have different interests based on their social class. With the difference in interests, people tend to have different views on the various social problems in the society. Some of the ideas explained in Marx’s theory include,

Competition.

Marx explains that competition for resources results in conflicts. In his theory, Marx explains how competing for resources causes conflicts. When two parties try to outshine each other over resources, conflicts tend to arise since others will doubt the credibility of the process. If people agree amicably to share the scarce resources without competing, conflicts can be avoided, leading to a friendly environment. Marx claims that it is human nature to compete for resources.

Human interactions.

Conflict theory postulates that human interactions result in conflict. This relates to how humans coexist with each other in a social setting. It is very difficult to dictate how humans interact amongst each other in an eco-system without causing any conflicts. Human beings are self-centered making it very easy to conflict with each other. Conflicts arise as human beings coexist in an ecosystem.

Class conflict.

This is the conflict arising when groups of a different social class clash over scarce resources in the same environment. They may be competing for control of some economic, political or natural resources. These conflicts can at times take a bad turn and lead to bruising legal battles, the war of words and even boycotts of some services. An example of the class conflict is a conflict arising from the need to be the president of a given republic.Oftenly the political campaigns spur hate and contempt causing conflict. Political confrontations may lead to violent protests and violence or propaganda.

Having touched on these ideas, Marx concluded that social problems arise from the weakness in the societal structure. Marx argues that the society is the cause of these inequalities based on resource allocation, gender, and many others, giving rise to social problems. In applying it to youth unemployment, it is sufficient to conclude that this social problem arises from the way the society is structured. I support Marx’s theory that to mitigate this problem, the far-reaching social change should be implemented to reduce inequality. The system should be restructured in a way that youth unemployment is minimized.

EMILE DURKHEIM’S FUNCTIONALISM THEORY.

Durkheim insisted that the society is a system made up of parts that are consolidated and each aspect contributes to the benefit of the society as a whole. An example of a functional society is one that the family nurtures a child, the school instils the knowledge and the government offers guidelines and policies on means of governing members of society; economics provides for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services; and religion provides moral guidance and an outlet for worship of a higher power. This theory emphasizes on how important each aspect is in influencing or being influenced by other aspects.

The theory uses the human body as a model for understanding the modern society.Just as the human body has different parts playing vital roles in body functioning, social institutions also play a similarly vital role. Functionalism theory dwells on the relevance of social institutions like religion, family, and education in ensuring a society that is fit for human habitation. Functionalism theory assumes that a stable society is realized through social stability. For social stability to be realized, adequate socialization and social integration are necessary. It also assumes that the institutions of the society play a big role in ensuring social stability. Functionalism theory postulates that rapid social change is dangerous and signifies a threat to the system while slow and gradual change is desirable. Some of the areas that this theory has emphasized on include:

Social Cohesion.

Social cohesion describes the unifying factors that make the people come together and live harmoniously in a society. Maintaining positive societal membership attributes is an essential factor to be considered to achieve social cohesion in a society. It can be either individually or at the group level. With the unifying factors at hand, the members of the society tend to socially coexist peacefully together.

Social inequality

Social inequality is the scenario where individuals in a given society are of different social class. This inequality can be caused by education, wealth, distribution of resources among other factors. Social inequality affects functionality theory in that it makes services from institutions not uniform. With disparity at such, the society tends to be unstable.

Interdependence

This is the concept of relying on each other to achieve a common societal goal. In most cases, interdependence involves sharing the same system and using common principles in realizing societal stability. Functionalism theory explains that just as the human body parts are interdepend able on one another, so are individuals, systems, and organizations in a society.

This theory proves youth unemployment as a social problem arising from the natural changes that the society undergoes. It views social problems as causes of the society’s instability and does not reflect the fault in the way a society is structured. To address this problem , social reforms need to be made gradually. The proposal of this theory to unemployment is to take slow but far-reaching reforms that will ensure that youth unemployment is mitigated.

MAX WEBER’S SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM THEORY.

This theory relies on the meanings derived from symbols by people in the process of social interaction. This theory conducts analysis on the society by analyzing the meanings that individuals levy on signs, symbols, objects, behaviors, and events. The theory believes that the society is socially built through various interpretation of people. This theory assumes that as individuals interact with the society, they construct their roles rather than learn the roles that the society has structured them in place for them. During the interactions, individuals analyze the situations they find themselves in and socially build the reality in such situations. In conducting the analysis, they rely on symbols and signs to contemplate their interpretation. Some of the ideas in this theory include,

Human beings are social-human beings must be understood as social people since social interaction is what makes human beings to socially coexist. Social interactionism focusses on the individual’s act rather than the personality. The theory believes that both the individual and the society are created through social interactions.

Human action is because of the occurrence of a present scenario-The theory has it that human beings act based on a present scenario. They do not consider past events but the social interaction that is important.

The theory focusses on human thinking-The theory also points out that human interaction also focusses on human thoughts and interactions within the individual.

From this theory, social problems like youth unemployment arise from the individual interaction. Perception of other social problems is therefore because of interaction with other people.

In conclusion, a functional approach would suggest that social problems would have a positive impact on the society because some social problems offer job opportunities to others. Conflict theory would, however, note that youth unemployment is because of the disparity in social class and competition for resources. According to this theory, the responsibility of job creation, therefore, lies in the society, as much as it also concerns the job seeker. Symbolic interpretation, on the other hand, would focus on implementing programs that reduce human interaction so that the individual’s perception of social problems change.

References.

Dann, G. M. (2014). Sociology, tourism. In Encyclopedia of Tourism (pp. 1-4). Springer International Publishing.

Ritzer, G., & Stepnisky, J. (2017). Modern sociological theory. SAGE Publications.

Thompson, W. E., Hickey, J. V., & Thompson, M. L. (2016). Society in focus: An introduction to sociology. Rowman & Littlefield.