Sociology has a wide range of ways to view or sort our understanding of our world around us. Social Theorist help us to somewhat understand our social perspectives. While some theorists focus on society as individuals, other focus on society as a whole. Some theorist focus on social cohesion while others are concerned with inequality, but ultimately all supply us with an enhanced understanding of why we think and act as we do. To narrow down the wide range of sociological theories, theorists have provided us with three major theatrical traditions which include structure functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. Each with a different point of view on how to distinguish what others may perhaps …show more content…
While structural functionalism and conflict theory are based on a macro level, symbolic interaction is leaning toward the micro level, meaning towards individuals. In this theory society is explained as a whole by generalizing individuals’ everyday ways of social interaction. This theory argues that socialization leads to internalization meaning, the process of learning culture and following rule isn’t even thought of, it just happens. For example, if a couple gave birth to a baby girl, they’re likely to teach the baby to wear dresses, have long hair, and like the color pink. This baby will grow up thinking this is natural and will wear pink without even thinking critically about it. She has socialized girls with being “girly” and this is the norm in society. While these examples seem highly true, it can be conflicting in a sense that it is difficult to predict how an individual with perceive a behavior or symbol. For example, a baby girl was born to a couple, she is taught to wear dresses and the color pink, yet the older she gets the more uninterested she is in anything “girly.” She in fact becomes a homosexual and cuts her hair very short. This girl wasn’t born the same as other girls and didn’t perceive the behavior or symbols her parents taught her in the way other girls have. How does this shape society? Symbolic interaction can be very debatable just as the other