Sociological Analysis of Sibling Rivalry: Theories and Research

This assignment provides a sociological analysis of sibling rivalry, exploring the issue through the lens of functionalist and conflict theories. It examines how social structural factors like class, culture, and gender may influence rivalry, as well as the impact of parental relationships and parenting styles. The research objectives include exploring family sociology and providing solutions to reduce sibling rivalry. The methodology section proposes a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative techniques, including interviews with a simple random sampling technique to collect primary data. The assignment also outlines the data collection process, emphasizing the use of sociological theories to analyze the collected data and justify the results. The assignment aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the causes and potential solutions to sibling rivalry from a sociological perspective. Finally, the assignment also includes references to support the arguments.

SOCIOLOGY

Introduction
Sibling Rivalry is one of the serious and an intense issue of the society which needs to be
resolved through working on the social aspects. Sibling Rivalry could be resolved through the
clear and simple steps taken by the parents and this is the main objective of the research
(Packard, 2017). The research aims at the exploration of the solution for resolving the
sibling’s rivalry issue. The issue would be represented through the sociological approach and
through the two most vita theories of sociology that is the functionalist theory and the
Conflict Theory. The two theories would be utilised for explaining and presenting the cause
of the issue and thus, the solution could be achieved through acknowledging the cause. This
would be followed by the research methodology which would include the sampling of the
interview which is to be conducted on the victims of the sibling rivalry. The sampling,
research design, analysis tool data collection method all would be stated in clear terms.
Sociological Theories: Analysing the Social Structural Factors Account for Variations
in Social Phenomenon
As per Schmitter & Lefkofridi (2016), the social life of people gets impacted by the
surroundings and the people with whom they live with. Rivalry is the outcome of competition
and this has been valid in all perspectives, so is in the social life. In the case of sibling rivalry,
the competition or the comparison that the parents do impacts the children and thus, this pops
up into a rivalry, gradually. As stated by Van & Gaus (2018), in the theory of Conflict
proposed by Karl Marx, who claimed that society is in a state of perpetual conflict and will
always be because of competition for limited resources. On aligning the theory with the
sibling rivalry, the limited resource could be considered to be the affection and love of the
parents. The children become aggressive and violent through being avoided or neglected by
the parents in contrast to their siblings and thus, rivalry emerges up. It could also be stated in
a different manner that the over comparison of the siblings builds up intensified competition
among them and thus rivalry takes place. Class has nothing to do with the sibling’s rivalry,
every class witnesses it, as the cause of the issue is not the class but the human reactions.
Background and Culture plays a vital role in this aspect as the children belonging to the
culture where the competition is high, parents compete with their siblings, compare
themselves or executes any action which reveals jealousy impacts the children. The gender in
this modern world do not have much impact on the rivalry as girl and boy all are being
marked on the same platform.

According to Michaelian & Robins (2018), the society is built up of number of different
personnel’s and a complex system is framed out of it. The complex system works and acts
with an intention of promoting solidarity and stability in the society. This could be called a
macro level outlook of the society where the broad and wide aspect of the society is
considered. The concerned theory provides the outlook on the contribution of each of the
sections of the society in building the society and maintain its stability. In concern of the
sibling rivalry this theory is also applicable and it reveals that the siblings when gets jealous
of each other which is out of competition it adds on to the productivity of the society. This
could be explained as the siblings carries an intention of moving ahead of the other, each one
of them reacts and acts in a productive manner and thus, it creates wealth and output for the
society. The functionalist theory could be called the positivity theory where a positive aspect
of the social action is provided through it. The concerned theory has been providing the
sociology with some effective and productive outputs which has enhanced the working of the
society and has brought in a stability in it. The society has been transforming since its
existence and it will continue to do so, irrespective of the changing generations, the theories
would always be applicable in all generations and this reveals the significance of the theory.
As per Johnston (2018), Sibling Rivalry is one of the concerns which has been impacting the
society closely and it has been carrying both the positive and negative impacts, if analysed
through economic aspect it is positive as its adds on to the productivity while as per
sociological aspect it is negative because the personal bonding of the siblings get impacted.
Research Objectives
The research objectives are as follows
 To explore the importance of Family Sociologists in the Society and its various
theories.
 To provide an understanding of the factors which promotes Sibling Rivalry
 To provide specific solutions to the reduction of Sibling Rivalry
 To provide recommendations as how the sibling rivalry could be reduced.
Research Methodology
The research would be carried on through the Quantitative and the Qualitative methodology
which would help in adding on to the accuracy of the research. The mixed methodology
would provide the research with a justification for each methodology and thus, the results and
conclusions could be made accurate and specific. The Qualitative methodology wold provide

the theoretical representation of the theories and models of family sociology and hence the
objective of the research would be achieved (Chen, 2019). The Quantitative methodology
would represent the data in the statistical and graphical manner. An interview of the people
would be conducted which would help in understanding the family sociology and the cause of
sibling rivalry.
Sampling
The interview would be conducted through five questions which would be framed in
accordance with the ethical and specification consideration. The candidates would be selected
through simple random sampling as this would help in maintaining a variability in the
research data. The simple random sampling technique would help in knowing the percentage
of the people who are facing the issue and thus the growth of the issue would also be
acknowledged through it (Aktürk & Demircan, 2018). The total number of respondents
would be around 5. The consideration of the number of respondents has been done in
accordance with the feasibility of conducting the interview. The interview would be
conducted through Skype as this would help in reading the body language of the respondents
too.
Data Collection
The data collection of the research would be consider the primary as well as the secondary
data. The primary data would be collected through conducting the interview and analysis of
the same would be done through understanding the responses provided by each of the
respondents. The analysis of each answer given by the respective respondents would be
acknowledged through cross checking it with the suitable sociological theories (Pickering &
Sanders, 2017). This would help in justifying the relevance of the response to the research
and thus the justification to the results and conclusions of the research would also be
provided. The primary data would help in understanding the core of the issue and the cause of
the issue which would provide a path for getting to the solution and thus, the aim of the
research would be achieved too.

References
Aktürk, A. A., & Demircan, H. Ö. (2018). Development of Preschool Children Sibling
Rivalry Scale (PSRS). Child Indicators Research, 11(1), 117-136.
Chen, J., Wang, C., & Wang, Q. (2019). Sibling Rivalry vs. Brothers in Arms: The
Contingency Effects of Involvement of Multiple Offsprings on Risk Taking in Family
Firms. Sustainability, 11(16), 4447.
Johnston, G. R. (2018). The role of hatching asynchrony and sibling rivalry in pelican brood
reduction. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 125(2), 441-451.Parsons, T.
(2017). The present status of “structural-functional” theory in sociology. In The idea
of social structure (pp. 67-84). Routledge.
Michaelian, K., & Robins, S. K. (2018). Beyond the Causal Theory?: Fifty Years After
Martin and Deutscher 1. In New directions in the philosophy of memory (pp. 13-32).
Routledge.
Packard, M. D. (2017). Where did interpretivism go in the theory of
entrepreneurship?. Journal of Business Venturing, 32(5), 536-549.
Pickering, J. A., & Sanders, M. R. (2017). Integrating Parents' Views on Sibling
Relationships to Tailor an Evidence‐based Parenting Intervention for Sibling
Conflict. Family process, 56(1), 105-125.
Schmitter, P. C., & Lefkofridi, Z. (2016). Neo-functionalism as a theory of
disintegration. Chinese political science review, 1(1), 1-29.
Van Schoelandt, C., & Gaus, G. (2018). Constructing Public Distributive Justice: On the
Method of Functionalist Moral Theory. New Perspectives on Distributive Justice:
Deep Disagreements, Pluralism, and the Problem of Consensus, 403.