The three sociological paradigms/perspectives  (Page 4/6)

The war in Iraq which began in 2003, according to the Functionalist paradigm, is being fought in order to maintain security and stability in the US by keeping terrorism at bay thousands of miles away.

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack was an act of extreme deviance caused by anomic conditions (conditions of social chaos when the rules for normative behavior seem to have disappeared) in the Middle East and among Muslim people throughout the world. Because of the cultural influence of the American media throughout the world, and because of the rapidity of social change taking place due to that cultural influence, the terrorists engaged in an act of deviance based on their belief that they were acting at the behest of God, and for the good of their own people, that took their own lives as well as the lives of thousands of others.

The socialization process is coercive, forcing us to accept to the values and norms of society.

The values and norms of society are agreed upon by all members of society because there is a “social contract” in effect which protects us from one another and keeps society stable and balanced.

People follow and accept the values and norms of society in order to maintain their own safety as well as maintaining the social order.

The social structure exists in time and space, is objective/external, concrete, coercive. and relatively static.

Members of society see the social structure as legitimate (acceptable and working properly) and therefore strive to maintain that social structure. Legitimation (acceptability) maintains social equilibrium or balance which maintains the status quo.

The structure itself creates consensus.

The social structure is stable

The bureaucracy exists to serve the needs of society.

The bureaucracy provides for the economic and social needs of a society and helps to maintain social stability.

The bureaucracy is a major characteristic of large-scale industrial societies.

The bureaucracy is the response to large-scale formal organizations.

Behaviors are not offensive because they are deviant; they are deviant because they offend.

Deviance is usually dysfunctional for society and arises from conditions of anomie.

Deviance may be functional for society because it may bring about necessary social change.

Deviance is integral to human societies. Deviance exists in all societies, and all societies create institutionalized methods of preventing and punishing deviance.

Inequality is less widespread than the Conflictualists believe.

Inequality, in general, is functional for society because it engenders competition which serves as an incentive for people to attempt to rise to the top.

Inequality, overall, is highly dysfunctional for society because it fails to permit large groups of people from competing for the goods of society.

Inequality is always functional (adaptive) for some segments of society and dysfunctional (non-adaptive) for others.