Compare and Contrast Functionalist, Marxist and Feminist Views of Society

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Functionalism, Marxism and Feminism are all sociological theories that all take a structuralist approach to society. They all agree that society shapes us. However, their views on how this is achieved are very different. Functionalism is a consensus approach and focusses on everyone agreeing on the same shared values and functional prerequisites. On the other hand, Marxism and Feminism are both conflict approaches and believe not everyone agrees or has the same shared values, but that they are forced upon us. Functionalists believe that society works a lot like the human body. The organs must all work together to achieve maximum health and functionalists translate this into a metaphor for how all institutions of society must play their roles in maintaining maximum stability and social order. In contrast, Marxists believe society is split into two classes, the bourgeoisie (capitalists) and the proletariat (the workers). They state that the two are always in mortal combat. Capitalists want the maximum profit for the lowest pay and the workers want the highest pay for the least work. On the other hand, although Feminists also believe that society is ruled by a dominant class, they take a much more gender specific outlook and state that society is patriarchal and that men are the dominant gender, creating inequality between men and women. Marxists and Feminists both believe there is exploitation in society. Marxists believe in two defining categories that shape society, the infrastructure and the superstructure. The capitalists reside in the infrastructure, or the economic base. They have the power and capital to both own and control the rest of society. The superstructure plays host to the different institutions of society, such as education, law and media. Marxists believe that the people in economic power ideologically control society by using these
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