Functionalist, conflict, symbolic perspective
...k operation. The Switch 7700 provides backbone aggregation scaling up to 288 Fast Ethernet ports or 48 Gigabit ports. The chassis offers comprehensive management for simple configuration and advanced network monitoring and troubleshooting. Local switching on the I/O blade reduces latencies and minimises bottlenecks enabling faster application response times when accessing data across the network. functionalist explanation The explanations offered by functionalists or structural functionalists have a property referred to as teleology -- explaining things in terms of their end results or purposes. Functionalist tend to explain features of social life in terms of their function (the part they play) in social life. These kinds of explanations are found in biology as well and it is not surprising that functionalists like Durkheim adopted an organic metaphor. The lungs, for example, are explained in terms of what they do in and for the human body. The classic example of this reasoning is found in Durkheim's discussion of the functions of crime in any society. He argues that as darkness needs light, a moral society needs immorality as a way to make morality visible. Others have argued that crime or deviance also help the society by clarifying the moral boundaries of the group. Many would argue that these are not explanations at all, but are logically circular. See: structural functionalism. conflict perspective Sociological perspectives that focus on the inherent divisions of societies with social inequality and the way these social divisions give rise to different and competing interests. The central assumption is that social structures and cultural ideas tend to reflect the interests only of some members of society rather than society as a whole. This contrasts with consensus or functionalist perspectives which assume a foundation of common interest among all members of society. Marxism and feminism are examples of conflict perspectives. Marxism The body of philosophical, political, economic, and sociological ideas associated with Karl Marx (18181883) and his life-long collaborator Frederick Engels (18201895). The term is also used more generally to refer to work in the social sciences and humanities that employs key ideas and concepts from Marx and Engels's original writings. The core of Marxist ideas is the claim that each historical period has a distinct mode of production that rests upon particular forces -- or technological organization -- of production and distinct ways of organizing social relationships between people in th...