Sociological Perspective

Sociology is the study of people and society. It provides the people who study it with the knowledge to understand different social groups, and the roles of the social activities that take place within them. This knowledge allows people to see past the way in which we commonly understand our world, and see things in a more objective manner, making it easier to explain society in an unbiased way (Holmes, Hughes & Julian 2003:2).
Different theories, viewpoints and social facts help us to achieve this understanding of society (Holmes, Hughes & Julian 2003:4). The Functional Theory tells us that every different aspect of society has a role to fulfil, and that, while those roles are being fulfilled, society is healthy. Should an individual or institution
Together, these provide the infrastructure of a capitalist society, in which a labourer's wages must be less than the value of that which they produce (Bilton, Bonnett, Jones, Skinner, Stanworth & Webster 1996:84 – 85). Other aspects of society, such as the various institutions and the belief and value systems, are known as the superstructure, and these are influenced and shaped by the infrastructure. This means that any significant changes in the infrastructure will result in similar changes with the superstructure (Haralambos & Holborn 1995:10). Conflict theorists see social change within a capitalist society as being intentional and brought about by well-informed members of society (Bilton, Bonnett, Jones, Skinner, Stanworth & Webster 1996:86). This occurs when the proletariats are awakened to their class status due to excessive exploitation by the bourgeoisie. Once they have become aware of this exploitation, they are then able to take action against it. This awareness comes about from changes taking place within the social structure, but the action taken to put a stop to the exploitation is an intended action to bring about more change (Bilton, Bonnett, Jones, Skinner, Stanworth & Webster