Beginning of Essay
What is the difference between the general perspectives? How does the work of Ritzer attempt to overcome this problem? Micro theories examine the processes of face-to-face contact among individuals and personal points-of-view in society; whereas, the macro theor ....

Middle of Essay
.... functionalism and conflict theory are two types of macro-theories. Structural functionalism (Perrucci, 1983) has three main ideas: 1) society is a system containing interdependent and interacting parts bound together in time and space, 2) shared values among members of the system are social “glue” that helps hold it together, 3) and systems have a need for stability and therefor attempt the parts working together harmoniously. Conflict theory is the belief that society contains basic inequalities in wealth, power, and prestige (Coser, 1967; Dahrendorf, 1959). Ritzer, like many other sociologists, wants to disintegrate the split between the ....