Sociology Essay: Feminism, Structural Functional Theory and Analysis

This essay provides an overview of two key sociological perspectives: feminism and structural functional theory. It begins by defining sociology as the study of society and its various theoretical perspectives, with a focus on how human beings interact and their interrelations. The essay then delves into feminism, exploring its origins in addressing gender inequality, its strengths in advocating for women's rights, and its weaknesses, including criticisms related to perceived anti-male sentiments and the potential for misapplication. An example study by Ann Oakley is used to illustrate feminist research. The essay then transitions to structural functional theory, explaining its focus on societal order and the interconnectedness of societal institutions. It highlights the strengths of the theory, such as its macro-level perspective and emphasis on stability, while also addressing its weaknesses, including its tendency towards overly optimistic views and its lack of consideration for historical and economic factors. A study by Emile Durkheim is used to illustrate the theory. The essay concludes by offering a comparative analysis of the two theories, providing a comprehensive understanding of their core concepts, applications, and limitations within the field of sociology.

FEMINISM AND STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL THEORY
INTRODUCTION
Sociology as a separate field of study is not a very old one, in fact the youngest of the social
sciences. The same was conceived first in the year 1839. Sociology as a word is a barbaric
amalgamation of Latin word “socius” and Greek word “Logus”. The former denotes a study
of a higher stature and the latter define about society. Hence, in simple words, sociology
means the study of society generally i.e. how the linkages exists within a society between
various individuals. Thus in other words, sociology is a branch of study which defines how
the human beings interact and their interrelations, their situations and consequences (Mondal,
2016).
Sociology has various theoretical perspectives as it is crucial for them to pursue them as a
methodology to for understanding occurrence, for example the ways people form groups.
Sociology connotes four basic theories i.e. feminism, structural functional theory, social
conflict theory and symbolic interactionism theory. The essay would outline two key
perspectives of sociology, feminism and structural functional theory. It would discuss the
strengths and weaknesses of these two perspectives mentioning an example of the research
study conducted on each of the chosen sociologist perspective.
FEMINISM
Feminism is a social perspective that looks upon the society which is traditionally unequal
amongst the men and the women and thereby fights for attaining equality between the two
sexes. Such as it is heard many a times that working men and women generally are not paid
same in the United States of America. As per studies conducted, even when both the sexes
are similarly educated and have the capability to perform a job which a man also does,

women are only paid $0.77 for a job which is same for which a man is being paid $1.00.
Women are very less in an government institution, or as a college professor or as owners of
business houses (Women and Gender Studies, 2016). Thereby feminism can rightly be
understood as a punitive approach towards problems towards attaining equality with regards
gender, gender expression, identity, sex and sexuality as is connoted via various social
theories.
The feminist theory is basically is a form of conflict theory that focuses upon gender biasness
and women suppression. The question arises as to what led to the emergence of the theory in
such a strong way. Well, it is how badly women were facing discrimination in all the fields of
the society that they suddenly emerged to seek for justice against the said inequality and
discrimination in the society being faced by them. People who always want to suppress
women, find no reason behind the fact as to why should a woman not work or vote or be
educated or have the same facilities in the health sector as well. One of the biggest criticism
with regards the feminist movement is that people started thinking that if women are to be
considered to be equal in all the fields of life, it is important to show that these two sexes
cannot be distinguished at all due to which the physical structure differences were also made
a part of the said movement. Thus feminism is a strong movement which has allowed women
to participate into voting, gaining education as well as in the work front also but as per law
even though they are not distinguishable but for the biological perspective (Saad, 2009).
Another criticism that the said sociological perspective has faced is that they have formed a
false ideology that points towards a notion which is anti-male. However some of these
females are of the view that a sexual relation is an aggressive activity and hence to avoid the
same they take up the choice for insemination. Such as an author cannot have two central
characters in his book as this would disturb the order in which his book should be written and
mess up the main story line. The feminism practice at times reach at such a horrendous level

that in countries such as Mexico, it is hazardous when a male sees a female as she may find it
to be a sort of harassment. Further to this, it is impossible for a man to travel in a metro as if
by mistake he rubs against a woman then the female has all rights to sue the man in lieu of
sexual harassment (Ialo,2014). Thus females have started to use feminism in the negative
sense.
Feminist research concentrates upon the occurrences of women within the natural social
settings wherein the main goal is to ensure that women are evident, their realization is
uplifted and thereby give power to them. The area of nurse researchers takes into account two
themed papers which looks into problems around the collection and analysis of qualitative
data in research projects that have considered a feminist approach. The first paper shares its
views on the methodological problems in a feminist informed study and the second paper
details about how taking account of feminist ideologies might develop interpretive
interactionism. The first paper describes of a researcher which is insider by nature. The said
study is apt for a feminist approach because foster care is specifically gendered with woman
imparting the majority of care. In the second themed paper Jefford and Sundin (2013),
explain an edition of interceptive interactionism which according to them integrates and
respects feminist morals and philosophies. The research example undertaken here was a
project adopted to evaluate the communication between the midwives and women in the
second stage of labour and the said research is considered to be a perfect one since the skill is
the one experienced by women directly. Thus the first themed paper with regards the said
problem highlights methodological concerns of significance in a study exploring the skills of
Australian women. However, the second themed paper states that the knowledge and data
collected will help to improve the lives of the women. Thus it can be understood that not
much is written within the methodological literature about the feminist influences on research

decision making or how these theories have an impact on the conduct of the research
(Gelling, 2013).
An example of a study done by a feminist, Ann Oakley, clearly states that out of the
women interviewed by her, 70 percent had shown their unhappiness with the
housework they perform for reasons such as uniformity and monotonous followed by a
total cut off from the society. As per these women there working week is as long as 77
hours. However those women who are doing jobs outside are found to be satisfied with
the work at home also since they believe they are doing justice with their life. Further as
per Oakley, a housewife’s personal freedom is just in the books but not in the practical
life. Although it is said that they are allowed to manage the house work as per their wish
but if anything goes haywire, then they have to bear the brunt of their husband and the
bad health of their kids. Thus as per Ann Oakley, although women are said to be
powerful at home but the same is restricted and limited to the daily work only, but the
real power still resides with the men who can dominate women with regards the money
being spent by them, work not being done properly etc (Thompson,2013).
STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL THEORY
Structural functional theory is also a theory of sociology which tries to elucidate the reason
behind how the social order functions the way it does by concentrating upon the associations
amid the various societal establishments that make up the social order. Herbert Spencer and
Robert Merton are two main theorists who have contributed towards the development of the
said social perspective.
Hence one of the main ideas behind the establishment of a society is that it is made up of
varying groups which are related to each other, strongly bonded, have common attributes to
share and have a definitive culture as well. As per Robert Merton, functionalism connotes

towards a more solid feature of society i.e. institutions such as religious or government.
Structural functional theory revolves around the fact that the way a community is formed is
one of the most effective ways for the community to be formed.
There are various strengths and weaknesses of the functional view on society. One of the
biggest strength of the said theory is that it is a macro level structural theory which utilises an
organic correlation, wherein the body is used as a method to define the various parts within a
community. Three similarities are found out by Parsons ; systems, system needs and
functions. Wherein the system is basically the organism like the human body. Thereby the
culture here is that of share and care which helps the people to cooperate by performing
functions such as clarifying their intended aims which they should achieve and also stating
the ways and means with regards how they should behave. In the tradition of Talcott Parsons
and his conception of functional imperatives which are, achievement of goals, adaptation,
latency and assimilation. Thus it states that in order to thrive well in a society, it is important
for the members of the society to be well versed with the changes that is occurring within the
social structure and the culture. Secondly, functional theory helps the people who are a part
of the society to be self-motivated so that they can contribute towards attainment of the aims
of the society as a whole through such means which is accepted by the society. Thirdly, it
ensures that people who are a part of the same society should cooperate with each other as
this helps to provide a feeling of social identification as well as source of personal identity.
Last but not the least, latency which basically deals with the maintenance of a balance as long
as their is no destruction from any outside sources. Thus the biggest strength around which
other strengths of the said theory rotates is that it helps to take care of stability and ensure that
the social life is maintained without any disruption of law and order.
The weakness of the said theory is that it leans to direct to overstated accounts of optimistic
situations such as there can be no conflict ever if order of the society is maintained. The

theory also does not take into consideration about the powerful past and monetary factors that
have had an impact on the social events and social linkages as well (UK Essays. 2013).
Further the structural functional approach is criticised on the ground that the same is
teleological. Function is just a replacement of the word purpose and it is often contended that
a person can have an aim but the same has to be collective always is not possible. Lastly, the
said theory is criticised on the basis that the same is concerned with the status quo and the
fact that there can be alterations made in the society is lined out in totality (Gauttam, 2017).
A study done by Emile Durkheim basically focuses upon how the traditional and
modern societies formed and functioned. His theory is based upon the concept of social
facts defined as norms, values and structures of society. As per Emile, a society should
be viewed and illustrated with regards functions where it comprises of interconnected
parts and no one part can work individually. Thus if any one part alters, then it has an
impact on the other parts as well. Such as a state disseminates public education to
children and the satte does so with the help of the taxes being given by these families
and these kids in future become law-abiding citizens. But suppose any part of the
system alters, such as if the education provided is not upto the mark and the kids fail
and become criminals, then the society tries to regain the system back in track by
training these criminals to become law-abiding citizens in the jail. Thus Durkheim
basically looked upon crime and offending conduct as a natural and importance
happening of the society. He said that the occurrence of crime led to retorts from the
society about the crime. As per his theory, the shared activities and deeds led to the
development of common consensuses of what people thought was ethical which they
should abide by. Thus it was these commonly led norms and values that formulated the
rules within which a society should function(Hurst,2015).

CONCLUSION
Thereby, the two theories discussed are contrasting wherein the first one deals with women
empowerment so much that it takes an ugly turn of an anti-male movement. Feminist theory
is important for the upliftment of women and giving them rights equivalent to men but at the
same time the fact there lies a physical structure difference should not be ignored or
forgotten. Second is the structural functional theory though optimistic in all senses as it
considers a society to be an amicable place where there will be no fights if proper law and
order are maintained but at the same time the biggest critics to the same is the fact that
society comprises of people with varying mind sets and hence there ought to be differences.
The only way to deal with the same is sorting them out in a friendly manner. Researchers
have been done in the field of sports as well which prove that structural functional theory
although fits in well but at the same time conflict theory has to be accounted with the said
one.
REFERENCES:

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