Functionalism, Systems, Symbolic Interactionism, Social Exchange, Conflict, and Feminist Theories?

Question

We're learning about these six theories in my "Individuals and Families in a Diverse Society" course and I don't understand any of them, or how they relate to family. My textbook and my teacher use a bunch of fancy words and phrases that mean nothing to me - Could anyone explain these theories in a way that makes it understandable? Please help!

As an example, for one of our assignments we have to find a newspaper article and talk about how it relates to one of the theories. I found one about a homeless man who went missing, but his family still cared about him enough to try and find him. What theory would this apply to? I'm having a really hard time with this.

Answer 1

-The functionalist theory means that everything in society works to maintain a balance.

-Systems (if speaking of the world systems theory/analysis) it describes the differences in countries based on their economic and political structures. This includes the core (industrialized nations) the semi-periphery (what they often speak of 2nd world) and periphery (3rd world countries, unindustrialized)

-Symbolic interactionism theory is one that speaks of symbols and everyday objects to communicate and to understand what society is as a whole.

-Social Exchange theory, I haven't seen much but I added a link to the author of this theory below.

-Conflict theory says that there is always a conflict between competing groups. For example, in the realm of social stratification, the competing groups would be the powerful and the powerless (rich and poorer). People give Marx the credit for this because he examined the haves versus the have-nots when it came to social mobility and structures.

-Feminist theories is pretty self explanatory, but it adds gender as its main component.

When looking for an article, find one that interests you. Personally, I would think it would be easier to find a feminist article or one about the world systems. Also, it might be interesting if you did symbolic interactionism and you found an article about fashion norms and taboos, such as purple hair or mohawks because they are communicating something about a sub-culture of society. Just an idea. hope I helped, good luck.