More handpicked essays just for you.
Structural functional theory
Strengths and limitations of structural functionalism theory
Structural functional theory
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
From the data, it is able to clearly be concluded that within scenario 1 people with higher educations have lower rates of homelessness than the homelessness rates of subgroups below theirs. The consensus and conflict perspectives are two opposing perspectives on the functions of institutions and the causes of individual behaviors. The consensus perspective views society to be democratic and fair while the conflict perspective views society to be unfair and undemocratic. When society is viewed through the conflict perspective, the differences between people are attributed to different familial socialization and education, while through the consensus perspective differences are attributed to unequal access to opportunity and unfair advantages. If viewed through the conflict perspective, the structural arguments in particular explains that it is the opportunities in society for advancement …show more content…
are scarce. Therefore, many people were homeless in 2000 because they were unable to attain as much education as they were able to in 2017. In the example of Saints and the Roughnecks, the Saints were viewed positively by their community because of their wealthy familial background, while the roughnecks were viewed negatively because they did not have the same advantages (Henslin 309). Corresponding with the conflict perspective, many people may be unable to gain educations in order to be successful, and similar to the Roughnecks, people who lack advanced educations may be disadvantaged by society because they are not viewed as positively as their peers. These disadvantages of certain subgroups may lead to higher rates of homelessness in the subgroups. Hidden functions of institutions describes how institutions often have roles in society, which is partly the reason as to why some institutions, such as poverty and homelessness, persist despite societies attempts to remove them (Helsin 377).
From the data, it visible that those with higher educations are often homeless less than those with lower educations. For example, the poor aid in the guarantee of the status of others such as the working class who view themselves to be more successful when compared to the poor (Helsin 379). The same could be viewed for the non-homeless because they may be able to view themselves as better than their homeless peers, thus causing homelessness to serve as a function of society. Therefore, people are prevented from getting higher education and do not have the opportunity to purchase housing so they are therefore forced by society to be poorer which leads to homelessness. The homeless are present because we are unable to keep up with demand for housing and affordable jobs for people to be self-subsistent and afford the housing that they
require. Influence of social structures describe the nature versus structure theory; nature describes the idea that our outcomes are dependent upon ourselves the most, while structure describes the idea that our outcomes are mostly dependent on external forces. The nature theory social structures imply that people are responsible for the decisions and preferences that lead them to be homeless, so in order to reduce homelessness rates, there would need to be a behavioral change within each group. The structure theory implies that the people are unable to succeed and are homeless because they are unable to find the appropriate resources such as jobs to succeed, and they have not been provided the opportunities that others are afforded, such as educations and jobs, which they need in order to succeed. In the case of Barbara Ehrenreich who went undercover to view how people in poverty live, she was barely able to make ends meet while working two minimum wage jobs and only caring for herself ; she describes that she is unable to imagine how others with children are able to make ends meet in the same situation (Henslin 423). She also comes the the conclusion that an increase in the number of working poor from years of poor economic conditions will have a depressing effect on the wages and number of jobs available for the working poor. As seen in Barbara’s situation, homelessness can be described to be a lack opportunities as the percentage of the population gains a certain level of education, more people are unable to find jobs to fit their skill level, and this may in turn increase the number of people who are homeless because they are financially unsuccessful. The economic structure must be sufficient in order to allow these people to succeeded in a society seen in scenario 1. 1. Scenario 1 a. The national homeless rate in 2000 is 10.5%. b. It decreased by 2%. It changed from 10.5% in 2000 to 8.5% in 2017. c. The change due to educational composition is 74.6%. d. The education group that contributed the most to the change would be those who had an education below a high school diploma. e. The education group that braked the change would be those who had high school diplomas because there was actually an increase in the homelessness rate of people with high school diplomas in 2017. f. The change in the homeless rate was attributed to changes in the educational composition of the population since a larger proportion of the population was able to complete high school and other forms of higher education in 2017 than in 2000. The change in the composition is more consistent with a conflict perspective because it emphasizes that fact that there are inequalities in the population, and as these inequalities lessen, more people are able to achieve similar levels of success, such as fining housing. The behavioral effect emphasizes the changes in homeless ness rates within groups because of individuals own decisions and preferences. The behavioral change in the groups did have a small effect on the change in the homelessness rates within population, but the compositional rate had an effect that was approximately 3 times that of the behavioral effect. 2. Scenario 2 a. The national homeless rate in 2000 is 10.5%. b. It decreased by 0.7%. It changed from 10.5% in 2000 to 9.8% in 2017. c. The percent changed due to educational composition was 151.5%. d. The group that contributed the most would be those with educations below high school diplomas. e. The group that contributed the least would be people with some college and college graduates because their contributions caused the homelessness rate to increase because the number of homeless people in the categories increased. f. The results are most consistent with a consensus perspective because behavior causes the most significant changes in the homelessness rates. While there were some significant compositional changes, the behavioral changes can be interpreted as increasing the homelessness rate because the change in the behavior of people with some college educations and college graduates in 2017 lead to a higher homelessness rate than in 2000. The changes in the composition of population can be seen to emphasizes the consensus perspectives to the homelessness rate because as group compositions change people who would otherwise have lower educations are now educated but may remain homeless because it is their socialization that leads them to be homeless rather than an type of unfair access to opportunity. 3. Policy a. Since in scenario 1 educational changes are concluded to be a result compositional effects, you may reduce homelessness through providing equal opportunities for education amongst the population such as more affordable secondary educations and more opportunities for housing. b. To reduced homelessness in scenario 2, you can attempt to shift attitudes and norms regarding homelessness in each of the educational subgroup subgroups. You can work with societal subgroups with educations above high school diplomas so that homelessness becomes a less acceptable institution of each of the subgroups. In turn, society will work towards stopping and preventing homelessness within society.
Homelessness is primarily a poverty issue. The persistence of poverty in the United States reflects more than just an aggregation of individual failings. Structural factors, such as the way we understand and define poverty, the inherent features of our economic system that produce income inequality, social inequities and our policy responses to these problems shape current trends. Economic changes have had the strongest association with trends in overall rates, regardless of how poverty is measured. Poverty rate is high amongst minority groups, children and female-headed households (Iceland, 2003). According to professor Iceland’s research, rates of extreme poverty are higher among children and African-Americans and lower for whites, Asians and the elderly. Among families with children, married couples were less likely to be poor (6.9 %) than single parent male (17.5%) and single parent female (35.3%).
The number of people in extreme poverty has been increasing since 1999, accounting for 39% of people in poverty, and making less than half the amount of income a person considered in poverty makes. With this amount of people living in poverty, it's no wonder why there are so many homeless people today. The reason people are in poverty is because of inflation since the 1970s, and the loss of affordable housing projects. This accounts for almost all homelessness, but there are also other factors that can contribute as well. There are many people with addiction problems that make them homeless.
America is believed to be "The Land of Opportunities,", but how can that be true when our own citizens are struggling with keeping the "American Dream" from turning into a nightmare? There is a problem with the availability of opportunities to better the lives of Americans across the nation. "In America the newly developing caste system appears to encompass more than just income inequality, it encompasses inequality in opportunity, in life expectancy, in happiness and in all other aspects of life itself." The transient community is homeless not hopeless, they are valuable members of society but they are never given the chance to prove it. If they live in the "land of opportunity" why are they not given one?
The homeless population is growing in America. There are more and more Americans living in boxes, sleeping on park benches and panhandling on the streets each day. These people tend to make us, the non-homeless, feel uncomfortable and unsafe. They are also placing increasing stress on the nation's economy. In short, the homeless are a burden on the rest of society. There needs to be action taken against them. "I shall now humbly propose my own thoughts, which I hope will not be liable to the least objection (Swift.)" I propose that all of the homeless be relocated to foreign third world countries. They can then be hired in American factories producing shoes, automobiles and other various goods at less than one dollar per hour.
This fact shows that many people who do become homeless become that way because of unavoidable situations. These are the people that have jobs but just can’t find jobs that pay enough. There are many other reasons as to why people become homeless. The break up of a marriage or relationship, the loss of a job, addiction to drugs or alcohol, or a mental illness are all reasons why many people become homeless (The Passage). Many of these causes can not be prevented.
The sociological imagination leads Ralph to homelessness in many ways. Sociological Imagination is how a person perceives the world, the political and social politics, the economics, or the geography. Those factors are going to partake in his journey of how he became homeless and what Ralph’s life is like now.
Furthermore, as dominant discourse states that homelessness is due to individual failure much of the middle class and working poor criminalize individuals who are living on the streets. Therefore, it is crucial to recognize that in most cases homelessness is not the fault of the individual and directly related to the structural issues in society which it can then target any individual who may be in an economic
Many of the homeless are women that have become divorced or have left home because of physical abuse. These women have no education because they have not been given the chance to go and get the education that it takes nowadays to get the job, so they are forced to live on the streets. They have no family to help them, and they are left with no other choice. People with mental illnesses also become homeless quite often. These people are incapable of handling the stress of living on their own.
Homelessness can happen to anyone unexpectedly. Many poor people are at the risk of homelessness. The cost of living and trying to find affordable housing can be very difficult. Many who are homeless are in poverty, have a mental illness, or addictions. Homelessness happens from personal, as well as structural factors. Many aren’t able to make enough for rent, as well as, utilities, food, and other expenses each month. More than 6 million Americans pay more than half of their income towards rent (Reamer, 1989). The trend is once someone becomes homeless, it is likely they will be homeless repeatedly. To end homelessness, affordable housing will have to be created because it is peoples largest single expenditure (Anderson, 2013).
The economic component of the homelessness situation can be broken down into two interrelated parts: housing affordability and a low income rate. The economic recession that followed the financial crisis of 2007 left many individuals unemployed during a time that saw a spike in the price of housing. So not only did the cost of living increase, the rate of income also decreased accordingly. Unsurprisingly, during these same years homelessness rose from 24.2 percent in 2007 to 29.4 percent in 2009 (citation).
Furthermore, Homelessness is also a strong outcome of poverty, in comparison to people that are in poverty, but live in a home. Homeless children do not have access to adequate nutrition and medical care therefore causing even more health problems. Homeless women “experience higher rates of low‐birth‐weight babies, miscarriages, and infant mortality”(Cliffnotes,2015). Homelessness makes it extremely difficult to obtain a job due to the many under developments; mental and social that are obtained due to this life making poverty a never ending cycle, extremely difficult to
Although homelessness is widespread and almost next to the catastrophic global hunger problems, it can be brought under control and its effect reduced to a greater percentage. By simply tracking the root causes of low wages and the lack of affordable housing as well as improving other support systems like housing vouchers and health care, homelessness can be solved.
Homelessness is not new to our nation, and it has greatly increased over the past ten years. (Baum, 1-4) For growing numbers of people, work provides little, if any, protection against homelessness. Low national un-employment levels do not mean that all working people are well-off. (Baum, 21-24)
Homelessness is a crucial factor as to why Americans don’t achieve the ideal “American Dream”. Homelessness is a social issue that affects a widespread group of people, ranging from single individuals to families each year. Many of those who are currently homeless, don’t choose to be homeless, but are forced into living on the streets for reasons such as a financial crisis, divorce, unemployment, mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse, or even a natural disaster that triggers the rising problem of how these individuals will survive. Annually, 3.5 Americans experience an episode of homelessness. That is 75,000 people experiencing homeless each night that others of more comfortable means will never have to experience. (Thompson). Homelessness
Many people find themselves in a predicament when they are living with a partner and the two decide to go their separate ways. Some people may not be able afford the cost of living on just their income alone, so when two people terminate a relationship where one depends on the other, both are often left homeless for a period of time. Unemployment is another major cause of people becoming homeless. When people lose their jobs and fail to find another within a reasonable amount of time, they will not be able to pay their rent or mortgage on time or even at all, causing them to look else where for shelter. Many people are not fortunate enough to have a family member that is willing, or capable, of taking them in and supporting them. The main cause of homelessness comes from people being evicted from their place of residence either by their parents, friends, or land lord. Parents will often kick their kids out of the house because they can not financially support them anymore, or they are just simply tired of their kids bumming off of them when they are perfectly capable of supporting themselves or at least contributing to the cost of living expenses. So many people are forced to live on the streets because of something as little as a relationship problem. All homeles...