mation and cohesion, functioning as a safety valve through scapegoating, and helps maintain a democratic order in society. Functionalists use social control mechanisms to segregate nonconforming individuals, which can be considered a form of prejudice: if you do not conform to the norms and values of the majority in society, then you are separated from that society. The basis of functionalism is the maintenance of equilibrium in a society. There is room for change, but changes are gradual, and conflict is not a part of the system. Prejudice does not lead to conflict, but rather to segregation or further socialization to bring the offender into conformity with the majority of society.
Conflict theory is built on the premise of exploitation of the lower working classes by the bourgeoisie (Conflict, 2004) and so looks at prejudice differently. Rather than look at group differences within society, it looks at the difference between rich and poor, between owners and workers, between the ha
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