Problems of street children, A Sociological Study of Urban Sindh Ph D Thesis By: Dr.

Ameer Ali Abro

44In order to conduct research on any problem, one must begin by making some
assumptionsabout the nature of what is studied. A working set of assumptions is
called a Perspective, In thisway several perspectives are used in sociology, each
views society from different outlook. Each perspective is used to some degree by
most of sociologists, and is needed for a full understanding of society.(Harallambos,
M., & Martin.H.1992)The present study is based on theFunctionalist Perspective,
which

is also called as
Structural Functionalism or sometime called Social System Theory
the functionalist perspective
focuses on the systems stability. (Nessmith, W.C 1995).
According to this perspective a society isseen as an organized network of
cooperating groups operating in a fairly orderly manner on a set of rules and values
shared by most members.As the focus of present study is Sociological Study of
problems of street children it isobserved that this phenomenon has emerged due to
instability of family system or, in large, we cansay that in social system this is the
product of
Failure of family institution.
Testing through thestructural functionalism, this is result of failure of some part of
social system. Earl Babbie (2004)
said that, In applying the functionalist paradigm to
everyday life, people sometime make the
mistake of thinking that functionality, stability, and integration are necessarily
good or that t
hefunctionalist paradigm makes that assumption, however, when social researchers
look for thefunctions served by poverty, racial discrimination or the oppression of
women, they are not
justified by the understating of above idea; this can be assumed that Functionalist P

erspective can bediscussed on proper functional parts of society as well as

malfunctioning parts of social system.

45The phenomenon of street children and their problems has wide potentialities for
inquiry,even though a limited sociological research work was undertaken in a
systematic way in this field.There are few studies, and research had been conducted
on the topic by some NGOs working for thestreet children in Pakistan. Indeed, this is
a world wide phenomenon, but problems, causes, aspects,and remedies may be
different according to cultural and socio

economic conditions of a particular area.

2.1. Theoretical Perspectives2.1.1. Structural-Functionalism
Structural-Functionalism

is a sociological theory that originally attempted to explain socialinstitutions as

collective means to meet individual biological needs. Later it came to focus on
theways social institutions meet social needs (structural-functionalism). Structuralfunctionalism drawsits inspiration primarily from the ideas of Emile
Durkheim.Durkheim was concerned with the question of how societies maintain
internal stability andsurvive over time. He sought to explain social cohesion and
stability through the concept of solidarity. In more "primitive" societies it was
mechanical solidarity, everyone performing similar tasks that held society together.
Durkheim proposed that such societies tend to be segmentary, beingcomposed of
equivalent parts that are held together by shared values, common symbols, or
systemsof exchanges. In modern, complex societies members perform very
different tasks, resulting in astrong interdependence between individuals. Based on
the metaphor of an organism in which
many parts function together to sustain the whole, Durkheim argued that modern c
omplex societies areheld together by organic solidarity.The central concern of
structural-functionalism is a continuation of the Durkheimian task of explaining the
apparent stability and internal cohesion of societies that are necessary to ensure
their

46continued existence over time. Many functionalists argue that social institutions
are functionallyintegrated to form a stable system and that a change in one
institution will precipitate a change inother institutions. Societies are seen as
coherent, bounded and fundamentally relational constructsthat function like

organisms, with their various parts (social institutions) working together tomaintain
and reproduce them. The various parts of society are assumed to work in an
unconscious,quasi-automatic fashion towards the maintenance of the overall social
equilibrium
. All social andcultural phenomena are therefore seen as being
functional
in the sense of working together toachieve this state and are effectively deemed to
have a
life
of their own.In summary, society from a functionalist perspective is a system made
up of interrelated parts. The social system has certain basic needs which must
be met if it is to survive. These needsare known as functional prerequisites. The
function of any part of society is its contribution to themaintenance of society; the
major functions of social institutions are those which help to meet thefunctional
prerequisites of society. (Haralambos, A and M. Holborn. 1991)
2.1.2. Conflict Theory
Conflict theory argues that society is not about solidarity or social consensus but
rather about competition. Society is made up of individuals competing for limited
resources (e.g., money,leisure, sexual partners, etc.). Broader social structures and
organizations (e.g., religions,government, etc.) reflect the competition for resources
in their inherent inequalities; some peopleand organizations have more resources
(i.e., power and influence) and use those resources tomaintain their positions of
power in society. Conflict theory was developed in part to illustrate thelimitations of
structural- functionalism. The structural-functional approach argued that society
tendstoward equilibrium.

47The structural-functional approach focuses on stability at the expense of social

change. Thisis contrasted with the conflict approach, which argues that society is
constantly in conflict over resources. One of the primary contributions conflict
theory presents over the structural functionalapproach is that it is ideally suited for
explaining social change, a significant problem in thestructural-functional
approach.The following are three primary assumptions of modern conflict theory:i.

Competition over scarce resources is at the heart of all social relationships.

Competition rather than consensus is characteristic of human relationships.ii.

Inequalities in power and reward are built into all social structures. Individuals and
groups that benefit from any particular structure strive to see it maintained.iii.

Change occurs as a result of conflict between competing interests rather than

throughadaptation. Change is often abrupt and revolutionary rather than
evolutionary.
2.1.3. Symbolic Interactionism
Symbolic Interactionism

is a theoretical approach to understanding the relationship betweenhumans and

society. The basic notion of symbolic interactionism is that human actions
andinteractions are understandable only through the exchange of meaningful
communication or symbols. In this approach, humans are portrayed as
acting
as opposed to being
acted upon
(Hermanand Reynolds 1994).The main principles of symbolic interactionism as
outlined by Blumer (1986) are:i.

Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings that things have for
themii.

These meanings arise of out of social interactioniii.

Social action results from a fitting together of individual lines of action

48This approach stands in contrast to the strict behaviorism of psychological

theories prevalentat the time it was first formulated (in the 1920s and 1930s).
Behaviorism and Ethnology alsocontrast with structural-functionalism. According to
Symbolic Interactionism, humans are distinct

from infrahumans (lower animals) because infrahuman simply respond to their

environment (i.e., a
stimulus evokes a response or stimulus -> response) whereas humans have the
ability to interruptthat process (i.e., stimulus -> cognition -> response). Additionally,
infrahuman are unable toconceive of alternative responses to gestures. Humans,
however, can. This understanding should
not be taken to indicate that humans never behave in a strict
stimulus -> response
fashion, but rather that humans have the capability of not responding in that
fashion (and do so much of the time).This perspective is also rooted in
phenomenological thought. According to symbolicinteractionism, the objective
world has no reality for humans, only subjectively-defined objectshave meaning.
Meanings are not entities that are bestowed on humans and learned by
habituation.Instead, meanings can be altered through the creative capabilities of
humans, and individuals mayinfluence the many meanings that form their society
(Herman and Reynolds 1994). Human society,therefore, is a social product.It should
also be noted that symbolic interactionists advocate a particular
methodology.Because they see
meaning
as the fundamental component of human/society interaction,
studyinghuman/society interaction requires
getting at
that meaning. Thus, symbolic interactionists tend toemploy more qualitative rather
than quantitative methods in their research.In this chapter an attempt has been
made to critically discuss and define the concepts fromits origin and limited reviews
in order to highlight the research gaps and to develop conceptualstructure and
model.
2.2.