th in terms of what people do, and what people believe. Some of the basic problems with functionalism are that they do not share the same vision of society as everyone. For example, functionalists don’t look at the fact that some women have always had to work outside the home out of necessity, they look at the typical upper middle class family in which a woman most likely will not work outside the home. They also fail miserably in their thoughts on sexual equality, what they may describe as merely “gender complementarity” is little more than male domination.A Conflict theorist looks at gender in a way that gender involves not only differences in behavior, but power. A conflict theorist will claim that conventional ideas about gender promote not cohesion, but tension, and division. In this, men seek to protect their interests while women attack the status quo. Conflict theorists analysis of gender bases itself on how society places the two sexes in unequal positions of wealth and power. It is, therefore, extremely critical of conventional ideas about gender. They claim that society would be better off with a minimization , or, perhaps, even an elimination of gender roles in the social structure entirely. Some claim, however, that there is a problem with how conflict theorists look at the traditional family, supposedly morally good, as a social evil. Also, many find trouble with how conflict theorists over look the fact that men and women can live quite happily together in the family structure. A third argument against the conflict theorists look at gender is their claim that capitalism fosters more patriarchy. Studies have shown that agricultural countries are typically more patriarchal than industrial-based countries.Gender equality can be looked at in many different ways. A conflict theorist would look at it and say that capitalism is to blame for many of the faults of gender inequality. Functionalists, I believe, ...
