Functionalist Theory, also known as “Order Theory,” focuses on the idea of social cohesion/consensus. It is the idea that people have to work together in order for a strong and functional social body. In “Cosmopolitan Canopy,” Elijah Anderson is describing the city of Philadelphia through a sociology lens. He noted that cities are as diverse as they have ever been, but they are also very isolated from one another. One of his main points in this chapter was that people can greatly increase social harmony by visiting intimate and diverse settings. Throughout the chapter Anderson emphasizes the importance of connections across racial and ethnic lines by the use of the Reading Terminal Market. The chapter, “Atrophy of Social Life,” by Stanley Eitzen, talks about how our society today is becoming more isolated and more segregated, not by force, but by the habit of people. Nowadays people are more on their own, and are being less social. Since the year 1930, the number of people living alone has increased from 2%…show more content… A lot of people cannot find jobs to support themselves and their families because the economy hasn’t evolved enough to accommodate for the needs of the poor. One of his examples was a man named Primo, was trying to find a job, but had low self esteem because he did not have money to get work-appropriate clothing. A lot of the people in poor neighborhoods resort to alcohol abuse because they have social disadvantages. One solution Bourgois gave to urban poverty was to end isolation/segregation of races and ethnicities; for example schools that are primarily white, or primarily black should be intermingled. Sociological imagination: Sociological Imagination is defined as the “vivid awareness of the relationship between personal experience and the wider society“ (C. Wright Mills). It is the ability to make certain connections between personal and social
