In Chpt. 1 in your textbook you are introduced to 4 sociological theories, however you will only need to concentrate on 3 (social conflict theory, structural functional theory, and the symbolic interaction theory). These theories will be very important throughout this course. Your textbook applied all four theories to the concept of shopping. Think of a movie that you may possibly use for your upcoming research paper (see the link “Paper Information.” Apply all three theories to the movie.

Example applied to “Django Unchained”
Functionalism: The vast majority of the people in power who made the rules of society based off of the commonalities and shared interest deemed slavery as morally right in order to have a working society. In the movie Dr. Schultz, a German dentist, and Django ride into a small town in Texas where they are greeted with townspeople who seem thoroughly disgusted at the fact that Dr. Schultz was in the presence of a free black man. The townspeople protested because the amount of power Django seemed to have. Once in town the two stepped into one of the Inns only to be confronted with another person who didn’t think it was okay for the pair to be together let alone to have a black man in the town limits causing him to run out of the Inn to get the Sheriff. Once the Sheriff arrived Dr. Schultz shot him and was then presented with a US Marshall. After explaining that he was a bounty hunter and the Sheriff was a crook the US Marshall let them go on the basis they were to leave the town immediately. This is a perfect example for functionalism because it shows how every working part of the town had the same set of morals and beliefs that they felt should not be altered.
Conflict Theory: This is a theory formed on the basis that there are groups that are more powerful than others and they use that power to exploit and control groups they feel are inferior. Calvin Candie was a powerful man who controlled a large plantation known has Candyland. On the plantation he exploited his slaves and forced his power on them by making them compete in “Mandingo Fights”. During these fights participants would pound each other until a winner emerged from ultimately killing their opponent. What made these fights even more inhumane was the fact that they knew each other and under any other circumstance would have no issues or malevolent towards one another. This was a good example of Social Conflict Theory because Calvin Candie and his associates held all the power and decided to throw that power around in the wrong ways.
Symbolic Interactionism: The meaning that people put towards certain things derives from their social interactions. Django was a slave scarred by his past owner. He developed somewhat of a hatred towards whites because of the mistreatment he suffered. A part of the reason he was so willing to join forces with Dr. Schultz was because he would be a free man and be able to take the lives of those who once beat him and his wife and then separated them by selling them separate at a slave auction. He soon came to understand Dr. Schultz’s position in some ways. Dr. Schultz treated him like a human by allowing him to think for himself. During the time they were together he was taught how to survive. Although Dr. Schultz was training him to be his deputy bounty hunter, he still felt compelled to help Django on his journey to find his wife. You get the impression that Django doesn’t fully trust Schultz’s motives which becomes evident in the conversation they had between them on the Candyland plantation because Dr. Schultz felt Django was being too hostile with Calvin Candie as he fed a slave to his dogs and during the dinner when Django gave away their position to Calvin’s head slave Stephen by becoming emotional when is wife’s whiplashes were being shown to the entire table when he was supposed to be there on business. Django’s emotions and his actions all lead back to how he was treated as a slave and how he views certain situations.