Illegal immigration
Introduction
Illegal immigration is a social issue in sense that the migrants leave their birth country or the country they are located in with a much bigger desire of looking for a better life for themselves as well as their families. They experience a lot of difficulties in their countries that may include hunger, fighting as well the desire to just get better livelihood. Once in the country, they try to find jobs for themselves so as to provide a livelihood for their families. They impact on the various on the now illegal parent country’s systems as well as the society, it has however several repercussions.
The functionist perspective tries to put across how each part of the society, whether it is legal or illegal forms any intended purpose for the operation of the society he or she is in. if each part of the society does not play their role in the society, the society ends up being weak and liability to everyone. It will not be in a position to cater for the role it is destined to in the whole society; in short it would not be in equilibrium (Rafael Alejandra, 2011). The particular arrangement that prevails is taken into consideration, the consequences attributed to the said arrangement. The order of the social aspect as well as its stability in the society is considered.
Functionists look at the society as a whole system that is composed of interrelated and interdependent parts. The human body is applied as an analogy for the society: the body of the human being is composed of cartilage, ligaments, muscles as well as other several parts that work together with the sole aim to make the body function in its intended form which is keep the body healthy and process the food stuff, air and circulate air through the blood throughout the whole body. The body maintains the structure of the body and keeps it position intact, the spinal keeps it upright.
The society works in the similar manner as it is made up schools, automobiles, markets, hospitals, languages, laws, the religion, medicine, transportation modes as well as other many similar factors that compose the society. This and many more components of the society are aimed at keeping the society upright and working. According to functionists, this individual functions contribute to the general order of the larger system which is the country or the society.
All this is described in relation to the illegal parent country which the migrants attribute as their now inhabited land. They place a burden onto this country by not contributing to the progress of the country, some become a burden as they drain the countries potential, but this goes against the odds of a stable and strong society.
The functionists belief that the stopping to function of a part of the society will result to it being considered as null and void, they consequently do their best to notice how all the parts contribute to the whole system even the ones that are considered as faulty.
The illegal immigrants exist due to their relative poor nature to the country they are heading to. According to Herbert Gans (1972), he tries to put across the purpose or the function of the poverty attributed to individual persons (Prgramlari Egitim, 2010). He says that the existence of poverty is that the poor are out of choice but are just forced to take on the temporary jobs the society offers, live in the dangerous environment of the illegal parent country, become unskilled due to low or limited access to education as well as working environments that offer low payments for their hard work. The poor is left vulnerable to the dangerous part of the society.
The functionist is however described as a conservative form by several critics in the sense that it defends or otherwise tries to protect the present or ongoing arrangements. The functionists try to describe the disadvantage part of the society in a manner that it justifies the presence of the two sides, this is however denied with the support that they just describing using illustrations as to the reasons to their existence.
The conflict perspective contrasts the functionist in their emphasis to the order and stability; they look at conflict as a social life and quite important aspect of the social change. It may involve confrontation as well as manipulation and direct competitor.
In the interactionists’ perspective, which contrasts the functionists perspective and the conflict perspective, it aims to get the meaning to reality. They try to look at how people attribute the world, their experience to it and additionally try to look a5t what them and others are attempting to do at it and make others to do the same. They argue that the importance is not considered more satisfactorily, they develop the issues of self development and the attached meaning to one’s actions. They ultimately look at people and their relationships with each other. It simply has a vital purpose in the social interaction.
My personal perspective is that illegal immigration is a social issue which should be looked as a burden to the society. They tend to put a strain in the society and lead to the advantageous gain of certain advantages they are not supposed to gain. The illegal immigrants contribute to insecurity and increase in the social immoral of the society. They can be helped by provision of jobs so as to be an asset instead of a liability to the society.
References
Prgramlari Egitim (2010). Sociology: Theoretical Perspective. Retrieved on 29th April 2011 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/8273131/Theoritical-Perspective
Rafael Alejandra (2011). Illegal Immigration. Retrieved on 29th April 2011 from http://socialproblemsucd.wikispaces.com/Illegal+Immigration
