Politics As A Social Institution Sociology Essay
Politics is how a group of people make decisions together. Politics means exercising power over rulers. In politics some people have more power than others and are the leaders. Leaders exercise the power they have over subordinates.
A society is a group of people who live in the same social environment and can also refer to people who work together. People in society have rules and regulations that guide them. For the proper functioning of the company, these rules must be followed. A society without rules is a miserable society. Therefore, politics and society are intertwined and cannot be separated. Laws apply to a group of people, that is society.
In my dissertation, I set out to discuss these three ideologies and their impact on society, how ideologies are applied to society, and their similarities and differences. These theories include: functionalist theory, conflict theory, and interaction theory.
Functionalist theory
holds that all aspects of society are social interdependent and contribute to the functioning of society as a whole. According to this theory, members must agree on some aspects and work together to achieve the best state of society. This theory, popularized by an academic named Emile Durkheim, proposed that there are two types of social cohesion: one is mechanical solidarity, where people share the same values, beliefs, and engage in the same economic activities. This mostly happens in simple societies, like those where everyone has an animal. There is also an organic solidarity in which people depend on each other despite differing beliefs and values and economic activity. They are mainly found in complex societies (industrial societies).
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Functionalists use the human body to illustrate this aspect. The human body is made up of many different parts such as liver, heart, kidneys and all others. The function of each part of the body contributes to the health of the body. If one part of the body malfunctions, even if the rest of the body is normal, the whole body is affected and can lead to illness or death. Therefore, society is like a human body, composed of religion, funeral etiquette, marriage etiquette, educational institutions, and many other aspects. All aspects of society are interdependent and all support society as a whole. The government provides education for children who find good jobs after graduation. For example, we have governments that provide higher education loans to their citizens. Later, when these students finish their studies and find jobs, they repay the government loan with interest, which is also a way for the government to generate income. Students also pay taxes to the government. It shows interdependence.
Functionalists believe that what is good for society is also important for maintaining social stability. These aspects may include; Drug Addiction, Poverty, and Crime: Most of them cause many problems in society, but they are important for the maintenance of society. In hospitals, when researchers want to find out how well a new drug works and how many diseases it can treat, they often pay small amounts of money to people who volunteer to test it. In this case, we do not expect financially stable individuals to volunteer. Poor people volunteer in the hope of earning a little money, because what is insignificant to the rich may be a lot to the poor. In this case, poverty contributes to social stability. According to this theory, when society changes, so do social institutions, because families become disorganized, which is a way of weakening social stability. This can lead to family breakdown. (Taylor and Anderson, 2006, p. 321).
Functionalists believe that some functions performed only by the family are performed by other institutions. For example, socialization is the role of the family as an institution. In the past, elders taught children