Theoretical Perspectives on Government
Learning Outcomes
- Describe how functionalists, conflict theorists, and interactionists view government and politics
Sociologists rely on organizational frameworks or paradigms to make sense of their study of society. Already there are many widely recognized broad schemas for evaluating sociological data and observations. Each paradigm looks at the study of society through a unique lens. The sociological examination of government and power can thus be evaluated using a variety of perspectives that help the evaluator gain a broader understanding. Functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism are are the three main philosophical stances in sociological practice today.
Functionalism
According to functionalism, the government has four main purposes: planning and directing society, meeting social needs, maintaining law and order, and managing international relations. Recall also that according to functionalism, all aspects of society serve a purpose.
Functionalists view government and politics as a mechanism to enforce norms and regulate conflict; they seek consensus and order in society. Dysfunction creates social problems that lead to social change. Functionalists see active social change, such as the sit-in on Wall Street, as undesirable because it forces change and, as a result, undesirable things that might require adaptation from society. For instance, functionalists would see monetary political contributions as a way of keeping people connected to the democratic process; in other words, political contributions serve as a tool for connecting individuals to their government. This would be in opposition to a conflict theorist, who would see this financial contribution as a way for the rich to perpetuate their own wealth and to further accrue political advantage.
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Conflict Theory
Conflict theory focuses on the social inequalities and power difference within a group, analyzing society through this lens. Philosopher and social scientist Karl Marx is the primary influence on the conflict theory perspective; he viewed social structure, rather than individual personality characteristics, as the cause of many social problems, such as poverty and crime. Marx believed that conflict between groups struggling to either attain wealth and power or keep the wealth and power they had was inevitable in a capitalist society, and conflict was the only way for the underprivileged to eventually gain some measure of equality.
C. Wright Mills (1956) elaborated on some of Marx’s concepts, coining the phrase “power elite” to describe what he saw as the small group of powerful people who control much of a society. Mills believed the power elite use government to develop social policies that allow them to keep their wealth. While Marx argued that the small group at the top seeks power through wealth accumulation and security, Mills argued that the small group seeks economic, political, and social power. Contempora