Vanessa de Vera

3NU01
FUNCTIONALISM
An example of a social system is law. Law has many components that makes up for it to
be a functional society. Senators makes the law, the police makes sure that people follows the
law, lawyers uses the law to withstand justice and of course criminals are there to disobey the
law. They are all apart justice field in some type of way but they each have their role in the
justice system and together they form a body with each independent part doing its part. This is
actually functionalism in a whole. In a more simple explanation, functionalism is like a hand,
each finger doing its job in order to make it be a hand. But we all know that each finger works
separately or independently like when typing, but because of their work they form a whole social
system which makes up a functional society. Another example of a social system is the congress.
In the congress, each house does checks and balances separately but together they make up the
government.

CONFLICT THEORY
The fundamental causes of crime are said to be the social and economic forces operating
within society if you would put it in the perspective of conflict theory. Here in our country, if
you are rich and part of the powerful social elites then the criminal justice system and criminal
law revolves around you. Meanwhile, if you are poor then these will result to policies aimed to
control you. By definition based on reality, the criminal justice aims at imposing standards of
morality and good behavior created by the powerful on the whole of society. The focus is on
separating the powerful from those who would not steal from others and was only protecting
themselves from physical attacks. But then, the case for the poor are not the same, their legal
rights might be ignored. Even the middle class tend to side with the elites rather the poor. They
think that they might themselves rise to the top by supporting the elites. Thus, street crimes, are
routinely punished quite severely, while large scale financial and business crimes are treated
much more leniently. For example, stealing of a television might receive a longer sentence than
stealing millions through illegal business practices.

EXCHANGE THEORY
People make these decisions, according to the theory, based on their individual
satisfaction level within the relationship. Individuals typically have a high level of happiness if
they perceive that they are receiving more than they are giving. If, on the other hand, individuals
feel that they are giving more than they are receiving, they may decide that the connection is not
fulfilling their needs. This is where the cost-benefit analysis comes in. When you decide to sit in
the break room for lunch or go out, you weigh the pros and cons and go with whatever you feel
is most beneficial. Another example is in the interaction of asking someone out on a date. If the
person says yes, you have gained a reward and are likely to repeat the interaction by asking that
person out again or asking someone else out. On the other hand, if you ask someone out on a
date and they reply with a no, then you have received a punishment that will probably cause you
to shy away from repeating this type of interaction in the future.