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Social Sciences & SociologyEssayFebruary 12, 2026

Theoretic Approaches in a Social Problem 8th 03 22.edited

There are three main theories that sociologists employ while analyzing a social problem. Functionalism theory allows functionalists to see a social problem from the perception of societal imbalance, arguing that many societies experience changes and fail to successfully adapt to the employed change that leads to a social problem (Mooney, Clever, and Van Willigen, 2021). Conflict theory views the social problem from the societal inequalities arguing that in most instances, a social problem emerges due to conflicts amongst leaders as the powerful tend to humiliate the powerless (Loyal and Malešević, 2021). Finally, symbolic interaction theory argues social problems from people's interpretations. Symbolic interaction theorists assume that through people interactions, people analyze each other's behavior and interpret them according to their potentials, creating social bonds that enable them to relate peacefully or cause conflicts amongst them (Loyal and Malešević, 2021). Though all the three theories view social problems from a different perspective and offer justifications for the occurrence of a social problem, the need to dig deeper as a functionalist is essential in analyzing marijuana social problems.

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