Sociology Essay

Compare, Contrast and evaluate the major sociological theories (Marxism, Functionalism, Feminism, and Social Action theory) 1500-2000 Words.
In order to compare, contrast and evaluate the major sociological theories, I firstly intend to locate each of them within the Structure vs. Agency debate; and the consensus vs. conflict debate before then going onto evaluate each of them separately.   Thus, functionalism, Marxism and feminism are all key structural theories; only Marxism and feminism are conflict theories, whilst functionalism is a consensus theory, social action theory however is clearly based on the concept of individual agency.

Feminism is a structural theory, is it’s also based on conflict alongside Marxism. There are many different groups within Feminism but the three main ones that people identify with are Liberal feminism, Radical feminism and Marxist/socialist feminism.   Even though there are several different versions of feminism, they all believe that society is divided between men and women. In Marxist feminism this includes class - Feminists believe that women are exploited by men and also they demand a higher status and better paid jobs.   They say that we live in a patriarchal society where it is dominated by men, women fit into the role of wife and mother, whilst men do less housework and in the example of government, men have much senior positions in politics i.e. in government today we have a male prime minister, the last female in that position was Margaret Thatcher who left in 1990.   Another great example that feminists have used is that sociology is criticised as ‘malestream’ meaning that the theories are by men and about men.

However, liberal feminists believe that there should be equal rights for men and women, they argue and believe that women should be treated accordingly to merit and not on the basis of sex.   Liberal Feminists believe that the media has a part to play in portraying stereotypical images that socialize society to...