Therefore, their approach is normative in that it prescribes changes to the power structure, advocating a balance of power between genders. According to conflict theory, social problems are created when dominant groups exploit or oppress subordinate groups. While certain gender roles may have been appropriate in a hunter-gatherer society, conflict theorists argue that the only reason these roles persist is because the dominant group naturally works to maintain their power and status. Therefore, men can be seen as the dominant group and women as the subordinate group. In the context of gender, conflict theory argues that gender is best understood as men attempting to maintain power and privilege to the detriment of women. dominant group: a sociological category that holds the majority of authority and power over other social groupsĪccording to conflict theory, society is defined by a struggle for dominance among social groups that compete for scarce resources.proletariat: the working class or lower class.dominant: Ruling governing prevailing controlling.A Female Indian Construction: While the structural-functionalist perspective argues that gender inequalities exist as a form of the division of labor, the photograph above clearly illustrates that women need not be restricted to certain activities. The feminist movement, which was on the rise at the same time that functionalism began to decline, takes the position that functionalism neglects the suppression of women within the family structure.

While gender roles, according to the functionalist perspective, are beneficial in that they contribute to stable social relations, many argue that gender roles are discriminatory and should not be upheld. This view has been criticized for reifying, rather than reflecting, gender roles. According to structural functionalists, gender serves to maintain social order by providing and ensuring the stability of such functional prerequisites. Functional prerequisites may also refer to the factors that allow a society to maintain social order. In sociological research, functional prerequisites are the basic needs (food, shelter, clothing, and money) that an individual requires to live above the poverty line. Thus gender, like other social institutions, contributes to the stability of society as a whole. A structural functionalist view of gender inequality applies the division of labor to view predefined gender roles as complementary: women take care of the home while men provide for the family. The division of labor works to maximize resources and efficiency. This theory suggests that gender inequalities exist as an efficient way to create a division of labor, or as a social system in which particular segments are clearly responsible for certain, respective acts of labor.

The functionalist perspective of gender inequality was most robustly articulated in the 1940s and 1950s, and largely developed by Talcott Parsons’ model of the nuclear family. A common analogy, popularized by Herbert Spencer, presents these parts of society as “organs” that work toward the proper functioning of the “body” as a whole. Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements, namely: norms, customs, traditions, and institutions. This approach looks at society through a macro-level orientation, which is a broad focus on the social structures that shape society as a whole, and looks at both social structure and social functions.

The functionalist perspective sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. Division of labor: A division of labour is the dividing and specializing of cooperative labour into specifically circumscribed tasks and roles.The Functionalist Perspective: A broad social theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.functionalist perspective of gender inequality: A theory that suggests that gender inequalities exist as an efficient way to create a division of labor, or a social system in which a particular segment of the population is clearly responsible for certain acts of labor and another segment is clearly responsible for other labor acts.

Structural functional theory