Racism And Racial Discrimination

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Pages: 1

Before analyzing the social problem of racism and racial discrimination, it is important to understand what the field of sociology actually is. The University of North Carolina Department of Sociology defines the sociology as “the study of human relationships and institutions”. Sociology is divided into four main perspectives: Functionalist, Conflict and the Interactionist perspective. Correspondingly, each perspective has a distinctive way of viewing and analyzing the problem of racism and racial discrimination. Robert Merton, father of the Function theory, developed the theory based on the levels of social adaptation. Functionalist focus on the “functions” and “dysfunctions” that manifest between social groups. In light of this, the usage