Three Theoretical Perspectives. Three Major Perspectives Functionalist Conflict Symbolic...
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Transcript of Three Theoretical Perspectives. Three Major Perspectives Functionalist Conflict Symbolic...
Three Theoretical Perspectives
ThreeMajor
Perspectives
FunctionalistFunctionalist
ConflictConflict
Symbolic InteractionistSymbolic Interactionist
1. A central question to guide thinking about a particular event
What are … ?
How is …?
Who benefits...?
2. A vocabulary for answering that question
Goals of Presentation:
Review each of the three perspectives
Apply each perspective to the U.S.-Mexico border
fence
The U.S. shares a 1,9521,952-mile border with
Mexico
Some Informational Background on Border and Fences
Images of the
Border Fences as Background
• Society is a system of interrelated parts that function
together
• Change in one part of society brings about change in another part
Functionalist Perspective: Vision of Society
Fence is the part
So you build a fence, what other parts of society are affected?
• Order & Stability
in Society
Disruptions to Societies Order
& Stability
Functionalist Perspective: Focus
In what ways does constructing a fence support order and stability and in what ways does it disrupt it?
Functionalist Perspective: Central Questions
How does a part contribute to Order and Stability?In what ways does a part disrupt Order and Stability?
Functionalist Perspective: Central Questions
How does the fence contribute to Order and Stability?
In what ways does the fence disrupt Order and Stability?
Functionalist Perspective: Key Vocabulary
Anticipated Anticipated consequences that support social order
Anticipated Anticipated disruptive consequences to order
Unanticipated Unanticipated consequences that support social order
Unanticipated Unanticipated disruptive consequences to social order
Decrease in the number of illegal
immigrants crossing into the U.S.
Increased number of illegal immigrants staying in the U.S. and not returning
home
The fence doubles as a volleyball net
allowing teams on each side to compete
as part of cross-border celebrations
Dramatic disruptions to grazing, watering and migration patterns of animals (if it can’t fly,
can’t cross the border)
Advantaged and Disadvantaged
groups are in Conflict
Conflict Perspective: Vision of Society
Who is “Advantaged”
and “Disadvantaged”
by the fence?
Conflict Here? The conflict is over scarce and valued resources
Conflict Perspective: Focus
WHAT and WHOSE scarce and valued resources are protected by the fence?
Conflict Perspective: Central Questions
WHO BENEFITS and WHO LOSES from an existing social arrangement or by the way society is organized?
WHAT and WHOSE scarce and valued resources are protected by an existing social arrangement?
Conflict Perspective: Central Questions
Who benefits and who loses from the
construction of the border fence?
What and whose scarce and valued resources
are protected by the border fence?
Conflict Perspective: Key Vocabulary
Conflict Perspective: Key Vocabulary
Those who possess the social, cultural, financial and political resources to:
•Establish and preserve a favored position in society
•Exert their will/demands even in the face of opposition.
Conflict Perspective: Key Vocabulary
Those who do not possess the social, cultural, financial and political resources to:
•Establish and preserve a favored position in society
•Exert their will/demands even in the face of opposition.
Disadvantaged Groups
Government of Mexico
Equated the fence to the Berlin Wall and predicted it would harm bi-lateral relations
Department of Homeland Security
Had point blank power to sidestep environmental and other laws.
Advantaged Groups
Conflict Perspective: Key Vocabulary
• One party benefits at the expense of others.
• Competitive, antagonistic relations between unequal parties.
• “Structural Arrangements” produce conflict between groups
A farm worker in Mexico could expect to make $4.80 in an eight-hour day
U. S. counterpart made $76.80 in the same period
From a “Conflict” point of view:
Illegal labor from Mexico is seeking to override the “Structural Arrangement” that limits what they can earn.
From a “Conflict” point of view, the fence is a line in the sand with regard to wages
Conflict Perspective: Key Vocabulary
A point of view or explanation that members of “Advantaged Groups” promote to justify social arrangements that benefit them.
Often disadvantaged groups internalize this explanation.
Ideology
The fence stops the illegal worker from taking American jobs.
Reality
The fence secures a border that separates a high-wage economy from a low-wage economy.
Web of Social Interaction
Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Vision of Society
How did the fence change Social Interaction
1. Shared and evolving meanings
2. “Interaction” between
individuals
Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Focus
Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Central Questions
What Meanings do people assign to what is going on around them?
What factors shape Social Interaction•How do people take account of what the other is doing or is about to do
and respond accordingly?
Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Central Questions
What meanings do people assign to the fence?
How does the fence shape the course of social interaction
Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Key Vocabulary
Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Key Vocabulary
Anything (concrete or abstract) to which people assign meaning.
Images suggest that meanings have been attached to the border at different times.
ATTACH GRAPHICS WHICH ARE “SYMBOLS” REPRESENTING YOUR TOPIC
Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Key Vocabulary
Everyday encounters in which people interpret and respond to each other’s words and actions.
Symbolic Interactionist would be interested in how the fence shapes the course of interaction between the soldier and those on
the other side
Symbolic Interactionists would observe interactions between drivers, passengers and border guards at the border crossing
Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Key Vocabulary
The sum of existing expectations …and newly negotiated ones that characterize any interaction.
Negotiated OrderAt one time the expectation was that the illegal alien entered the U.S. and
returned home regularly (seasonally)
now a new interaction order has been “negotiated.”
The undocumented stay in the U.S. and do not return home out of fear they cannot get back to the U.S.