College concepts and applications

Sociology

One of the most dynamic micro-societies found in the United States today is that of the college university. The college society is one comprised of many young individuals but at the same time is remarkably diverse. With the influence of highly educated professors and both factually and staff from around the world, the college campus is a society that both mirrors and differs from society as a whole. For these reasons, the society found on a college campus provides for an interesting opportunity to utilize such sociology-based theories as a functionalist, conflict and interactionist approach for examining it.

According to a functional approach to the social sciences, social institutions, such as college campuses, are explained as existing to serve as a collective means to fill an individual biological needs or how social institutions fill various social needs. Essentially functionalism focuses on the structure and workings of a given society, viewing a society as being composed of various inter-dependent sections which work together in order to fulfill the necessary functions required for survival within society at large. Thus, when examining a college campus through a functionalist approach, the college itself is seen as serving a specific societal purpose of educating young individuals to become productive members of society. The college itself, as a society, is also comprised of numerous, interdependent sections (students, faculty, etc.) each designated to play a specific purpose in achieving the college's goals and missions.

According to sociology's conflict theory, a society or organization functions for the sole purpose of ensuring that each individual participant and its groups struggle to maximize their benefits. It is this struggle to maximize benefits that leads to such movements of social change in both politics and social revolutions. Conflict theory exists in direct opposition to the tenets of functionalist theory, arguing that instead of a society where everyone plays are particular part, society instead exists as a pyramid structure, with a group of elites that dictate the rules to the masses. Thus, all major societal institutions, including laws and traditions, exist for the sole purpose of maintaining this structure. Thus, according to the conflict theory, colleges and universities exist in order to perpetuate this status quo. On the one hand, colleges ensure that the elite become educated and thus capable of carrying on their leadership roles. On the other hand, students at the college are indoctrinated with the traditions of society.