Social+Theory

Social Theory

The structural-functional approach is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.

Structural-functionalists would look at the country of Florin in the Princess Bride and ask how their society is held together. The king and queen would have the same morals as the people of their country. The citizens of Florin work together to keep their society stable. By communicating and doing their job, each person plays their part to help society work.

Structural function approach would look at how Inigo, Fezzik, and Vizzini function together and see that it is good to have someone in charge. They would think it was good to have Vizzini in charge and that Inigo and Fezzik are given duties to fulfill to complete tasks. By doing what each is designated to do their system of kidnaping is suppose to work smoothly.

The social-conflict approach is a framework for building theory that sees society as an area of inequality that generates conflict and change.

A sociologist who is looking at the Princess Bride in a social-conflict approach would see the country of Florin as a society full of inequalities. They could analyze it using the gender-conflict approach. Prince Humperdinck has power over Buttercup because he’s a male, which is why she has to marry him. There are other inequalities such as social status. The people of Florin are at the bottom of the hierarchy while the king, queen, and Prince Humperdinck sit at the top.

Looking at the relationship of Inigo, Fezzik, and Vizzini from a social conflict approach there would obvious inequalities. The first inequality seen would be that Vizzini is the boss of Inigo and Fezzik and they are given little choice of what to do. Another flaw would be the discrimination towards Fezzik because of his size and the discrimination towards Inigo due to his scars.

The symbolic-interaction approach is a framework for building theory that sees society as the product of the everyday interactions of individuals.

They would look at how the characters shape their lives by interacting with each other. Westley falls in love with Buttercup, which lead him to set out to sea in order to have money and take care of her. If they hadn’t fallen in love, Westley would’ve probably never gone out to sea. The lives they live are based on their experiences with each other.

Looking at the relationship of Inigo, Fezzik, and Vizzini from a symbolic-interaction approach would see how decisions had an affect on each of their lives. If Inigo and Fezzik would have prevented Westley from reaching Vizzini, he would never have been killed. If Vizzini had never decided to kidnap Buttercup than Fezzik and Inigo would have never became friends or met Westley and escaped from their old lives. Their live are based on each other’s individual decisions.