Is Inequality Meritocratic? Meritocracy is where social positions are filled according to an individual’s merit. Merit often refers to an individual’s talents, abilities, effort and choices that are seen to be either in high demand or deemed worthy. Around the world, many countries believe that societies should enable people to have equal chances to develop their potential. This was built on the idea of human dignity or respect for people which slowly unfolded with the liberal revolutions in Britain.
A functionalist perspective on class stratification. Class stratification is a universal concept that is measured upon a hierarchy, a three tier system, upper, middle and lower class. Each social class has its own society of people who share similar economic positions, occupation, education and wealth. All societies are increasingly diverse and have their own inequalities, the three main inequalities in each society would be privilege, prestige and power. These three main p’s would determine where a person would fit into the social hierarchy.
For this reason, they see the family as being vital to the wellbeing of society as it meets some essential needs, such as socialising children. Unlike Functionalist, Marxists see society as a conflict between two social classes. The first being the Bourgeoisie or the ruling class and the second being the working class or the Proletariats. Marxists see society as a way to allow the ruling class to continuously oppress and by using them to make maximum profits they expolit them. The Marxist view on the family is that the functions are performed for the benefit of these capitalists.
Durkheim is a firm supporter of this theory and believes that social order is held together by attitudes of solidarity which play the role of ensuring the survival of a well integrated society in which everything and everybody is a piece of a jigsaw that fits together to create a bigger picture. A different explanation of culture has been offered by Marxists who criticize culture to evoke social conflict where the bourgeoisie exploit the proletariat as is explained in Marx’s base/superstructure model. The model reveals the relationship between the bourgeoisie who own the means of production and “defenceless” proletariat who are forced to work for an undervalued wage yet still accept their situation due to exploitation and corruption. In support of Durkheim’s view is the fact that the majority of students attend college and further still to university because of a shared belief that education is the key to the better earning jobs in life however this could be reversed to support the Marxists as we pay nine thousand pounds for education in order to gain jobs under the ruling class which ultimately benefit and profit the bourgeoisie so both points are relevant even still in recent times. Further support of Durkheim’s theory of value consensus is Kidd’s view of culture,
Social position reflects personal talents and abilities in a competitive economy. Unequal rewards boost economic production by encouraging people to work harder and try new ideas. Linking greater rewards to more important work is widely accepted. The social-conflict approach also looks the problem from a macro level of analysis. Stratification is a division of a society’s resources that benefits some people and harms others.
Contrast and compare two sociological perspectives using one area of social life. This essay will compare and contrast Functionalism and Marxism. It will discuss and analyse the Functionalist and the Marxist perspectives on family. Functionalism and Marxism are two of the most influential perspectives within Sociology, and evolved in response to modernity. They are both structuralist theories, the individual is viewed with less importance than the social structure or organisation of society.
A culture is a set of norms, values, beliefs and goals shared by the members of society, whereby value consensus is the glue that holds the society together. Durkheim is also supporting this basis of idea when he states that that a greater level of happiness and progress in the society can be achieved if people work together rather than competing with each other like animals in a war of all against scarce resources. In his work, he also stated that humans have unlimited desires and there has to be a basic agreement on values. The basic function of consensus is to make social order possible by integrating individuals into social system and direct them to meet the system’s need. Everybody has to internalize their roles and the social order depends on how people play their own roles.
For example, why do upper-class white males typically have more opportunities for wealth and success compared to lower-class black males, who have a higher chance of landing in the criminal justice system? Two Main Theories of Social Inequality There are two main views of social inequality within sociology. One view aligns with the functionalist theory and the other aligns with conflict theory. Functionalist theorists believe that inequality is inevitable and desirable and plays an important function in society. Important positions in society require more training and thus should receive more rewards.
Since the appearance of civilization people were trying to organize their life and work in the easiest way to get the most successful result and outcome. According to people’s abilities the working process was set up so that the particular kinds of work were done by those who had more abilities and skills to it. That was very rational and thoughtful, because this way people were able not only to earn money or other goods for maintaining their and their families’ living, but also contribute to the whole society, providing it with the quality goods produced with the least expenses. Such organization of work is called the division of labor. In this paper I am going to retrace history and formation of this process, describe it and its kinds.
Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the functionalist approach to society...(33 marks) Functionalism is a macro, consensus theory. They see human behaviour as being influenced by social forces, because it is a macro-scale approach is therefore seen as a strength as it allows functionalist sociologists to observe society, and its institutions, as a whole. Functionalists argue that, individuals are socialised into a shared value which is also known as a value consensus to ensure conformity and social order. However, this functionalists approach is criticised by action theorists, as they argue that individuals create society through their interactions. Marxists may argue that these norms and beliefs are all in interest of the Bourgeoisie and they can prevent or make change by ideological manipulation or force.