Three Theoretical Perspectives

ThreeMajor

Perspectives

FunctionalistFunctionalist

ConflictConflict

Symbolic InteractionistSymbolic Interactionist

1. A central question to guide thinking about a particular event

What are … ?

How is …?

Who benefits...?

2. A vocabulary for answering that question

Goals of Presentation:

Review each of the three perspectives

Apply each perspective to the U.S.-Mexico border

fence

The U.S. shares a 1,9521,952-mile border with

Mexico

Some Informational Background on Border and Fences

Images of the

Border Fences as Background

• Society is a system of interrelated parts that function

together

• Change in one part of society brings about change in another part

Functionalist Perspective: Vision of Society

Fence is the part

So you build a fence, what other parts of society are affected?

• Order & Stability

in Society

Disruptions to Societies Order

& Stability

Functionalist Perspective: Focus

In what ways does constructing a fence support order and stability and in what ways does it disrupt it?

Functionalist Perspective: Central Questions

How does a part contribute to Order and Stability?In what ways does a part disrupt Order and Stability?

Functionalist Perspective: Central Questions

How does the fence contribute to Order and Stability?

In what ways does the fence disrupt Order and Stability?

Functionalist Perspective: Key Vocabulary

Anticipated Anticipated consequences that support social order

Anticipated Anticipated disruptive consequences to order

Unanticipated Unanticipated consequences that support social order

Unanticipated Unanticipated disruptive consequences to social order

Decrease in the number of illegal

immigrants crossing into the U.S.

Increased number of illegal immigrants staying in the U.S. and not returning

home

The fence doubles as a volleyball net

allowing teams on each side to compete

as part of cross-border celebrations

Dramatic disruptions to grazing, watering and migration patterns of animals (if it can’t fly,

can’t cross the border)

Advantaged and Disadvantaged

groups are in Conflict

Conflict Perspective: Vision of Society

Who is “Advantaged”

and “Disadvantaged”

by the fence?

Conflict Here? The conflict is over scarce and valued resources

Conflict Perspective: Focus

WHAT and WHOSE scarce and valued resources are protected by the fence?

Conflict Perspective: Central Questions

WHO BENEFITS and WHO LOSES from an existing social arrangement or by the way society is organized?

WHAT and WHOSE scarce and valued resources are protected by an existing social arrangement?

Conflict Perspective: Central Questions

Who benefits and who loses from the

construction of the border fence?

What and whose scarce and valued resources

are protected by the border fence?

Conflict Perspective: Key Vocabulary

Conflict Perspective: Key Vocabulary

Those who possess the social, cultural, financial and political resources to:

•Establish and preserve a favored position in society

•Exert their will/demands even in the face of opposition.

Conflict Perspective: Key Vocabulary

Those who do not possess the social, cultural, financial and political resources to:

•Establish and preserve a favored position in society

•Exert their will/demands even in the face of opposition.

Disadvantaged Groups

Government of Mexico

Equated the fence to the Berlin Wall and predicted it would harm bi-lateral relations

Department of Homeland Security

Had point blank power to sidestep environmental and other laws.

Advantaged Groups

Conflict Perspective: Key Vocabulary

• One party benefits at the expense of others.

• Competitive, antagonistic relations between unequal parties.

• “Structural Arrangements” produce conflict between groups

A farm worker in Mexico could expect to make $4.80 in an eight-hour day

U. S. counterpart made $76.80 in the same period

From a “Conflict” point of view:

Illegal labor from Mexico is seeking to override the “Structural Arrangement” that limits what they can earn.

From a “Conflict” point of view, the fence is a line in the sand with regard to wages

Conflict Perspective: Key Vocabulary

A point of view or explanation that members of “Advantaged Groups” promote to justify social arrangements that benefit them.

Often disadvantaged groups internalize this explanation.

Ideology

The fence stops the illegal worker from taking American jobs.

Reality

The fence secures a border that separates a high-wage economy from a low-wage economy.

Web of Social Interaction

Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Vision of Society

How did the fence change Social Interaction

1. Shared and evolving meanings

2. “Interaction” between

individuals

Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Focus

Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Central Questions

What Meanings do people assign to what is going on around them?

What factors shape Social Interaction•How do people take account of what the other is doing or is about to do

and respond accordingly?

Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Central Questions

What meanings do people assign to the fence?

How does the fence shape the course of social interaction

Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Key Vocabulary

Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Key Vocabulary

Anything (concrete or abstract) to which people assign meaning.

Images suggest that meanings have been attached to the border at different times.

ATTACH GRAPHICS WHICH ARE “SYMBOLS” REPRESENTING YOUR TOPIC

Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Key Vocabulary

Everyday encounters in which people interpret and respond to each other’s words and actions.

Symbolic Interactionist would be interested in how the fence shapes the course of interaction between the soldier and those on

the other side

Symbolic Interactionists would observe interactions between drivers, passengers and border guards at the border crossing

Symbolic Interaction Perspective: Key Vocabulary

The sum of existing expectations …and newly negotiated ones that characterize any interaction.

Negotiated OrderAt one time the expectation was that the illegal alien entered the U.S. and

returned home regularly (seasonally)

now a new interaction order has been “negotiated.”

The undocumented stay in the U.S. and do not return home out of fear they cannot get back to the U.S.