Different Theories on the Individual and the Role That Society Plays

In this essay I will be looking at the different theories on the individual and the role that society and culture plays. Therefore I will be looking closely at the work of Durkheim, Radcliffe-Brown, Malinowski, Bennedict, Burridge, Bourdieu and Toren.

Firstly before we begin discussing how Durkheim had viewed culture, it is crucial to know he believed that in order for people to make sense of society and why people take part in certain practices, it was of utmost importance to understand what a social fact was. Therefore he discusses this in an in-depth reading that he had written. He says that the term ‘social’ alone is used without any meaning. For example, we are taught to eat, sleep and drink in a certain way, and society makes sure that these practices are exercised in a particular way on a daily basis (Durkheim, 1982).

We see that Durkheim found that the individual should not be looked at from a psychological point of view, but rather a collective. By this we mean that the behaviour of an individual should not be judged on its own, but the researcher should rather look at the society in which they are situated, because ultimately the society controls the individual’s behaviour (1982). To certain extent I have to disagree with what Durkheim is saying, because for instance if a man kills his wife, is his deviant behaviour just blamed on society. My question is: is this actually fair towards society, because now the whole group gets blamed for an individual’s wrong doing.

When we conform to certain behaviours, we tend to think that we were the ones that initiated it all on our own, but in actual fact this way of life has been instilled in us from the time we are born. For example: giving birth to a baby girl, the parents would automatically dress them in pink, or if it’s a boy then it would be blue. Furthermore the particular signs that you use in order to express your thoughts, the material you use to pay your debts and the practices that you follow in...