Examining the Roles of Sociological Theories in Community Context

This essay examines the crucial roles of sociological theories within a community context, highlighting their importance in explaining social phenomena and guiding decision-making processes. The paper delves into key theories, including structural-functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism, illustrating how they contribute to understanding community dynamics and addressing societal challenges. It explores the relevance of these theories to various aspects of community life, such as education, social institutions, and economic activities. The essay emphasizes the application of theories like functionalism in understanding community structures, conflict theory in analyzing competition for resources, and symbolic interactionism in fostering shared goals. It concludes by underscoring the transformative potential of these theories in promoting positive change and improving the lives of community members. This assignment is an excellent resource for students seeking to understand the impact of sociological theories.

Running head: ROLES OF THEORIES 1
Roles of Theories
Name
Institution

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ROLES OF THEORIES
Theory refers to a proposed relationship between 2 or more concepts. They are statements
that provide the reason why specific facts are related. Sociologists study social interactions,
patterns, and events and then explain the relationship between those events and patterns. They
used theories to help them in explaining why things in the community work as they do (Hoppe &
Colebatch, 2016). This paper will discuss the importance of Theories in my community. It will
also look at key theories of sociology of education and their relevance to the community. Some
of the major theories that will be discussed in this paper include structural-Functionalism,
Conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism. The main purpose of this paper is to examine the
importance of sociology of education theory to communities. Theories may be poorly developed,
incomplete, biased to satisfy needs, and based on inadequate information, but individuals in the
community use them to guide their behavior (Miles, 2015). When theories are accurate, the
predictions of different people will help them relate better with others in the community. When
individuals in the community make decisions about certain issues, formulate policies, and decide
on the necessary action to be taken to help in solving the problems, they normally base their
decision on the theories that relate to those issues and society.
Theories differ in scope and it depends on the scale of the problems that they are intended
to explain. Macro-level theories focus on large-scale issues as well as a large group of
individuals, while micro-level theories focus on specific relationships between small groups or
individuals (Collins & Stockton, 2018). Macro-level theories, for example, conflict theory and
structural functionalism, attempt to describe how the community works as a whole. Grand

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theories try to describe large-scale relationships as well as answer important questions for
example why communities form as well as why they change. Theories offer broad perspectives
that aid in explaining several aspects of community life. Different theories provide solutions to
issues that affect our community.
In my community, the importance of theories cannot be overemphasized. Theories help in
explaining social phenomena. Theories also aid in the decision-making process with regards to
factors that affect my community as wrong decisions usually result from a lack of enough
knowledge of the structure as well as other unusual features of the community (Miles, 2015).
The wrong decisions that are being made may have a negative impact on the lives of people in
the community. Additionally, addressing the challenges that affect the community such as high
criminal rate, alcoholism, needs decision makers or leaders who have adequate knowledge of
these problems as well as their root causes (Gouthro, 2019). Some researchers, while
contributing to issues that affect the community, indicated that theories offer insights on social
subjects or issues, thereby allowing appropriate relevant authority in the community to
effectively and adequately tackle the issues (Warmington, 2019). Sociologists mainly looked at
how my community is structured, how the community has changed and how every individual
work. In essence, theories help individuals understand community as well as knowledge of the
Universe as it grows.
Some of the theories of sociology of education that can help change my community
include: Functionalism; this theory sees the community as a structure with different parts
intended to satisfy the social and biological needs of the people in the community. This theory is
important to my community because it helps people to understand the similarities between the
human body and society. It helps in explaining the importance of working together as a group in

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the community to keep community functioning. The part of my community that this theory
mentioned were the pattern of behaviors and beliefs, or social institutions focused on satisfying
social needs, for example, education, government, family, religion, healthcare, as well as the
economy. According to some sociologist, this theory can also explain how community survive
and change over time. According to them, they believe that the community is a system of
interdependent and interrelated parts that function together to sustain stability and that
community is bind together by shared languages, values symbols, and languages (Novick, 2019).
This theory can help my community in that it will allow people to consider the significance of
social facts for example laws, values, customs, religious beliefs, morals, rituals, and fashions,
which all govern community life. Therefore, from this theory, we find that in a healthy
community, all parts function together to sustain stability, a state known as dynamic equilibrium.
All of these social facts perform different functions within the community. For instance, the
community’s laws protect the community from violence. The laws also help in punishing
criminal behavior and to preserve public health. This theory can also enable the community to
have a good understanding of the function of a college education, for instance, include preparing
for a career, finding a good job, and gaining knowledge. Also, all people in the community get to
understand that the functions of social institutions thereby enabling people to live in harmony
(Turner, 2017). This theory is important to my community because it enables individuals in the
community to see different things from new perspectives and angles. The theory helps people to
understand the relationship between different activities in the community with social life.
The second one is known as Conflict Theory: this theory looks at the community as
competition for scarce resources. Its perspective approach is known as a macro-level. This theory
is important in my community in that it enables the community to understand the importance of

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competing for limited resources. for instance, the importance of competing for material, social,
as well as political resources like housing and food, education, leisure time, and employment. A
social institution such as religion, education, and government reflect the competition that is in the
community and helps sustain the unequal social structure (Regmi, 2019). It also helps people to
understand how organizations and individuals are capable of obtaining and keeping more
resources than others, and how they can use their influence and power to sustain social
institutions. This theory aids my community in understanding that no group should dominate in
the community. This theory can also enable my community understand the basis of
Civilizations. Many sociologists argued that ethnic and cultural conflicts can make a community
to be defined as well as identified by a dominant group. In this it inform people on the negative
effect of conflict in the community. It also helps in explaining different inequalities that are in
the community and provide a decision on how those inequalities can be solved. For example, the
theory of Feminist attempts to illustrate the forces that sustain gender inequality and how such
inequality can be changed.
The third theory is known as the human capital theory: this theory has a concept of
human capital which has existed for many years. Today, the concept of human capital is a very
essential part of any business. This theory plays an essential role in increasing the skills and
efficiency of employees that are in the organization. It allows each and every individual in the
community to contribute more towards any economic activities that are in the community.
Another important theory is known as labeling theory: This theory is the most essential
approaches to understanding criminal behavior in the community. This theory can also help the
sociologists in my community to analyze the interaction among people in small groups.
Therefore, the use of this theory can improve the development of my community.

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The last one is known as Symbolic Interactionist Theory: This theory focuses on the
relationships among people within a society. It helps in explaining how people make sense in the
community through communication. This theory examines the values that the community gives
to places, events, among others. It also affects how people in the community relate to one
another (Gentles et al. 2019). A community can develop together around common ideas and
goals. My community can use this theory to creating shared goals and a common understanding.
In conclusion, theories are quite essential to modern society. Coming up with any theory
is a core aspect of the scientific process. Conversely, observations of occurrence in our
community are important since they aid in finding solutions to the problems that affect our
community. Theories explain to the people why something is happening in the community in the
way they do (Miles, 2015). Theories also then predict what will happen next. Explaining how
things work is quite essential because it can lead to solutions. For instance, you cannot prevent
the outbreak of Typhoid if you don’t know the causes and origin of the disease. Theories enable
most of the decision makers to understand the process and then make important decisions that
can solve the problems in the community. Most of the sociological theories endeavor to account
for our current society. This is true because theories help in transforming human being in most of
the communities. There are different types of theories discussed in the paper that can bring a
dramatic change in the lives of people and social living. Theories are quite important to our lives
because they support people in the most community since they provide solutions to most of the
problems that affect our communities improving the lives of people. Therefore, if theories are
applied in an amicable way, they can transform our society.

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References
Collins, C. S., & Stockton, C. M. (2018). The Central Role of Theory in Qualitative
Research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 17(1), 1609406918797475.
Gentles, S. J., Nicholas, D. B., Jack, S. M., McKibbon, K. A., & Szatmari, P. (2019). Parent
engagement in autism-related care: a qualitative grounded theory study. Health
Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, 7(1), 1-18.
Gouthro, P. A. (2019). Taking Time to Learn: The Importance of Theory for Adult
Education. Adult Education Quarterly, 69(1), 60-76.
Hoppe, R., & Colebatch, H. (2016). The Role of Theories in Policy Studies and Policy Work:
Selective Affinities between Representation and Performation?. European policy
analysis, 2(1), 121-149.
Miles, A. (2015). The (re) genesis of values: Examining the importance of values for
action. American Sociological Review, 80(4), 680-704.
Novick, A. (2019). Cuvierian Functionalism. Ann Arbor, MI: Michigan Publishing, University
of Michigan Library.

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Regmi, K. D. (2019). Critical policy sociology: key underlying assumptions and their
implications for educational policy research. International Journal of Research &
Method in Education, 42(1), 59-75.
Turner, J. H. (2017). Functionalism. The Wiley
‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, 1-9.
Warmington, P. (2019). Critical race theory in England: impact and opposition. Identities, 1-18.

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