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Essay / The issue of sexual harassment in the workplace at McDonald's
The main idea of this article is that McDonald's workers will lead "the first multi-state strike in the United States specifically targeting sexual harassment" so that McDonald's can handle sexual harassment in the workplace and improve working conditions. How would a functionalist react to the focus of the article and the position taken by the strikers? What remedy would they offer?Structural functionalism is the perspective in sociology that asserts that society functions as an interdependent system, where each part is related and serves a certain purpose to maintain social order.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay They believe that there is no way to achieve social order without common values and beliefs. A functionalist would react negatively to the focus of this article because obviously not everyone who works at McDonald's has the same values and beliefs, since some workers sexually harass their coworkers. The values and beliefs they lack would be: respect, honesty, positivity and compassion. A functionalist would agree and support the position taken by the strikers. Indeed, according to a functionalist hypothesis, society strives to achieve equilibrium, and McDonald's workers will therefore attempt to restore this equilibrium/social order by going on strike. Furthermore, the principle of functionalism is that if a social institution exists, then it must have had a purpose, or it currently has a purpose. Therefore, the remedy they would suggest would be to return to their current focus, which is to be the primary place and means of eating and drinking for their customers. They would do this by drawing attention to the structure of relationships between the McDonald's in these 10 cities and the structure of relationships between the people who work in those McDonald's. Start with a smaller picture (looking at the pieces), then look at the big picture (the system). How would a conflict theorist react? What remedy would they offer? A conflict theorist aims to discover the origin of conflict so that it can be mitigated or destroyed. A conflict theorist would be curious because they would want to find out where the source of the conflict is. However, at the same time, conflict theorists would be angry because this would confirm their view that the poor are heavily exposed and attacked by society in a system of inequality. The remedy a conflict theorist would suggest would be to break down each case in each city individually and see the pattern that is causing all this sexual harassment. After identifying it, they would recommend mitigating or eradicating this problem by improving “procedures for receiving and responding to harassment complaints” (David Crary, 2018), “requiring anti-harassment training for managers and employees” (David Crary, 2018). ) and by forming “a national committee to combat sexual harassment” (David Crary, 2018). Also encouraging McDonalds to adopt the action plan they had in mind, which will “hire external experts to work with the company to help “evolve” these policies and procedures” (David Crary, 2018). A conflict theorist would see this as a problem because it is a problem that lies in the system itself, since the sexual harassment cases occurred in 10 cities. As Karl Marx said: “The imbalance of power is the cause of conflict. Until there is absolute equality, revolutions will continue to happen.” This means.