The main idea of this article is that McDonald's workers will participate in the "first multistate 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 states 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay They believe that social order cannot be achieved without common values and beliefs. A functionalist would react negatively to the focus of this article because evidently not everyone who works at McDonald's has the same values and beliefs, since some workers sexually harass their colleagues. The values and beliefs that are missing would be: respect, honesty, positivity and compassion. A functionalist would agree and support the position taken by the strikers. This is because according to a functionalist assumption, society tends towards equilibrium, so McDonald's workers will try to re-establish that balance/social order by going on strike. Furthermore, the basis of functionalism is that if a social institution exists, then it must have had a goal, or currently has a goal. Therefore, the remedy they would offer would be to return to their current focus, which is to be the primary place and way to eat and drink for their customers. They would achieve this by bringing attention to the structure of relationships between McDonald's in these 10 cities and the structure of relationships between the people who work at these McDonald's. Start with a smaller picture (looking at the parts) and 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 source of conflict so that it can be reduced or swept away. A conflict theorist would be curious because he would like to find out where the source of the conflict is. However, at the same time, the conflict theorist would be angry because this would confirm his view that the poor are highly exposed and under attack by society in a system of inequality. The remedy a conflict theorist would offer is to analyze each case in each city individually and see the pattern that is causing all this sexual harassment. Having identified it, they would recommend reducing or eliminating this problem by improving “procedures for receiving and responding to complaints of harassment” (David Crary, 2018), “requiring anti-harassment training for managers and employees” (David Crary, 2018), and forming “a national committee to address sexual harassment” (David Crary, 2018). Furthermore, encouraging McDonalds to implement the action plan they had in mind, which will “engage external experts to work with the company to help” evolve “those policies and procedures” (David Crary, 2018). A conflict theorist would see this as a problem because it is a problem within the system itself, since sexual harassment cases occurred in 10 cities. As Karl Marx stated: “Imbalance of power is the cause of conflict. As long as there is no absolute equality, revolutions will continue to happen.” This means, in this case, that due to the hierarchy that exists in McDonalds, there is a power imbalance that ultimately led to this strike. If.
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