Page 609 - Sociology and You

Chapter 17 Social Change and Collective Behavior 579 Figure 17.2 Focus on Theoretical Perspectives
Social Change. This table provides one example each of how the functionalist, conflict, and symbolic in- teractionist perspectives view social change. Describe how a functionalist would look at an interest group and how a conflict theorist would view equilibrium.
Theoretical
Perspective Concept Example
Conflict Theory Interest group Enactment of civil rights laws in the 1960s as a result of the struggle over racial equality
Functionalism Equilibrium Continuity in the nature of the presidency despite
scandals in the Nixon and Clinton administrations
Symbolic Urbanism Interactionism
The smaller proportion of social interaction in a large city compared to a small town is based on a decrease in the number of shared meanings
The 1960s saw the norms of sexual behavior change radically. After sky- rocketing, for example, teenage pregnancy is declining. Although Americans do not follow the norms of the 1950s, a retreat from extremes is occurring as new norms of sexual behavior are being established.
The Conflict Perspective
According to the conflict perspective, social change is the result of strug- gles among groups for scarce resources. Social change is created as these conflicts are resolved. Many of the basic assumptions of the conflict per- spective emerge from the writings of Karl Marx about social class conflicts (see page 16). Marx wrote that “without conflict, no progress: this is the law which civilization has followed to the present day.”
Sociologists such as Ralf Dahrendorf have adapted many of Marx’s ideas. Dahrendorf believes that the resources at stake are more than economic. The quest for power is the source of social change in his view. Whereas Marx saw conflict between two opposing social classes, Dahrendorf sees conflict among groups at all levels of society. Social change thus comes from a mul- titude of competing interest groups. These groups can be political, economic, religious, racial, ethnic, or gender based. Society changes as power relation- ships among interest groups change.
History seems to favor Dahrendorf’s viewpoint over Marx’s. Class conflict has not occurred in any capitalist society; social classes have not been polarized
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The single greatest
power in the world today is the power to change.
Karl Deutsch Harvard professor
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