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Differences... We can use the example of education to illustrate the basic differences between the three perspectives. Functionalist sociologists would be interested in the functions of education as a sub-system in society. It would ask questions like "How does education benefit society as a whole?". Conflict sociologists would also study the education system as a whole, but the kind of questions they would ask would be a little different. They would want to know things like "How is the education system biased towards the interests of a ruling class" and "How does a ruling class use the education system to socialise people into accepting their position in life?". Interactionists, on the other hand, would be much more interested in what goes on in the classroom at an individual level; the forms of interaction between teacher and pupil, teacher and teacher, pupil and pupil. The kinds of questions they would ask might be things like "How do people cope with and make sense of life in a classroom?" and "How do teachers and pupils recognise and cope with deviant behaviour?". |