Social change is regarded as the transformation of behavior, culture as well as social institutions. Structural Functionalism and Conflict Theory are both social change theories out of the three conjectural standpoints in the field of sociology. The perspectives conceive the society as a structure that is characterized by a reasonable gradation of stability which they describe and are part of the functional interdependence system (Burrell and Morgan 121). Although the theories have divergent positions and standpoints regarding the change, they all claim that there are theories of social alteration with the capability to modify the central structure of the society. However, the two perceptions are different because they have dissimilar ideas as to how the various institutions, as well as customs, come into existence in the society.
Contrasting the two theories, Conflict Theory is accredited to Karl Marx, who claims that the society is always in a state of perpetual conflict due to the competition that exists as a result of limited resources (Burrell and Morgan 121). The theory holds that the maintenance of the social order is attributed to domination and power as compared to conformity and consensus. Marx suggests that the wealthy and powerful strive to hold their advantages by suppressing the poor and the powerless. For instance, the conflict theory has predominantly been used to explain a wide range of social phenomena such as revolutions, discrimination, domestic violence as well as wars (Burrell and Morgan 121). The capitalistic attempt to control the people in the society through fundamental developments in the history of humanity including civil rights as well as democracy is ascribed to the Conflict Theory. The major emphasis of the philosophy is that the concepts of inequality in the society will always exist due to the division of resources and conflict between classes will always occur.
Structural Functionalism, on the other hand, describes the society as being in a natural state of evenness and the understanding of social change is grounded on the intuitions developed by diverse generations of sociologists. The functional theory affirms that gradual change is necessary and is brought about by elements such as population growth, interaction with different societies as well as advances in technology (Mulkay 136). Gradual change prompts alternate ways of thinking as well as acting but a sudden change disrupts the equilibrium. In order to achieve the recommended state of the society, the theory suggests that other parts of the social order must be willing to make suitable adjustments if a particular segment experiences an unexpected change.
An example of how Conflict Theory engages social change is the industrialization that occurred in the United States and other parts of the world. The theory assumes that a status quo is generally bad and sudden social changes are necessary to eliminate inequality (Mulkay 136). However, although the industrial revolution brought about change in the society, it exploited workers in major parts of the world, a scenario which further contributed to social inequality. In contrast, fundamentalism engages social change through gradual processes such as modernization. With transformation, societies evolve and become larger while at the same time attracting more heterogeneity. As such, they start to become more modern in many aspects as they lose their traditional ways of thinking. A modern and non-modern society cannot be equal due to the change experienced. The two theories view social change as very important but exhibit different ways of describing that transformation as well as the means through which it should be achieved.
Works Cited
Burrell, Gibson, and Gareth Morgan. Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis: Elements of the sociology of corporate life. Routledge, 2017.
Mulkay, Michael. Functionalism, Exchange and Theoretical Strategy (RLE Social Theory). Routledge, 2014.
