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hermantz
hermantz
Student
College - Freshman

Examine differences between the structural-functional and social-conflict analyses of stratification?

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Posted by hermantz on Wednesday November 4, 2009 at 1:22 PM and tagged with reference, sociology.

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  1. pohnpei397 Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    Social conflict analysis argues that things happen because of conflict.  One subset of this is Marxist analysis that emphasizes conflict between classes.  An analysis of stratification from this perspective would probably argue that stratification comes about by the upper classes oppressing the lower classes (thereby winning their conflict).  Alternatively, it might talk about the conflict between whites and non-whites, if we're talking about the US.

    Structural-functional analysis would probably argue that stratification is a dysfunction.  This means that it's an unintended consequence of the social system that we have -- a system that overall works to maintain stability.

    Sources:
    http://wps.prenhall.com/ca_ph_macionis_sociology_5/23/603...
    http://www.wisc-online.com/objects/index_tj.asp?objID=I2S...

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    Posted by pohnpei397 on Wednesday November 4, 2009 at 1:41 PM