Police brutality in the United States has become the main point of concern in the recent past. However, in most cases, brutality appears in the treatment of people of color that is different from Caucasians. The issue of police brutality against people of color is amenable to analysis from three major perspectives in foundational sociology, known as Emile Durkheim’s, Karl Marx’s, and Max Weber’s.

POLICE BRUTALITY FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

Police brutality against people of color, in contrast to Caucasians, has been on the rise in recent years. According to Fox, African Americans, Hispanic, and Native Americans face more physical assault provoking unreasonable killings by police officers, as compared to their white counterparts.

Emile Durkheim’s Perspective

Emile Durkheim is famous as the founder of French Sociology. Durkheim deserves recognition for his work in advancing an intensive methodology that combines empirical research with sociological theory  with write my assignment the aim to analyze social observations. Regarding the presented issue concerning the rise of police brutality, Durkheim’s perspective relies on the view that the police force is a moral organization. Durkheim’s first approach to the issue presented in the article is close-dependant on the structural functionalism theory. The structural functionalism theory reveals the ideology claiming that the function of social structures is to uphold social order and stability. In Fox’s  article, the evaluation of the social classes most affected by police brutality shows that functionalism in America conserves social institutions embodied in white power structures.

The social facts theory is the second theory and refers to the technique of control that shapes an individual’s attitudes and actions. Therefore, police brutality against people of color is a specific mindset that is unfavorable for such minority groups. Thus, the focus of police brutality is individuals from ethnic minority groups.

Karl Marx’s Perspective

Karl Marx is another sociologist whose perspective is applicable to the analysis of the issue of police brutality against people of color. Marx was a well-renowned philosopher and sociologist; his ideologies influenced intellectual, economic, and political domains all over the world.

According to Fox’s article describing the cases when the police disproportionately kill the people of color, what occurs significantly more frequently with such people than Caucasians, Marx would have employed the social conflict theory to assess such social problem. The social conflict theory holds that power and authority are important when it comes to maintaining social, political, and economic inequality, in addition to exercising control over the people who are a part of the “excess,” usually impoverished, population.

The second theory is the alienation theory in society, which views the law, police, and other governmental bodies as intimidating weapon for pushing the interests of the privileged in the society, contributing to the disadvantage of the lower class or less affluent members of the society due to the social stratification that alienates an individual from the humanity. Consequently, the use of excessive force by police with ensuing deaths of the disadvantaged in the society relies on the force’s role in preserving the status quo of societal inequality and aims to aid those who are in power and exploit the powerless.

Max Weber’s Perspective

Max Weber’s viewpoint is also useful for analyzing the issue of disproportionate killings among civilians in American society. Max Weber was a German sociologist and philosopher whose works greatly impacted research and theory. Weber, accompanied by Marx and Durkheim, is famous as one of the founding fathers of modern social sciences.

Weber’s theory of bureaucracy is applicable to the analysis of the issue of police brutality targeted at minority ethnic groups in the society. Weber’s theory of bureaucracy states that bureaucracies are organizations which are responsible for the execution of policies that are hierarchical in structure and have their undertakings based on general rules. Also, such definition encompasses the fact that bureaucracies participate in the utilization of homogeneous methods and are objective in the implementation of their duties; therefore, such aspects represent all anticipations of the society concerning law enforcement agencies. Within Weber’s model availed for the bureaucratic theory, the use of excessive bureaucratization of the police appears to be contributive to the lack of accountability in terms of the use of excessive force against minorities. Thus, Weber’s theory allows defining the ways of how sociological theories can become applicable to addressing the issue of police brutality against minorities in the society because the reason for such misconduct on the part of the police is the institution itself.

The second theory relevant to the analysis presented in the article is the social stratification theory which postulates that different class groupings dictate an individual’s privilege or increase vulnerability, contributing to exploitation. In such case, minority groups represent the lower echelons of the society; as a result, such identification provokes police brutality against them.

CONCLUSION

Emile Durkheim’s functionalism theory postulates that America conserves social institutions entrenched in white power structures. In the presented case, police brutality is violence targeted against individuals from ethnic minority groups. However, Karl Marx’ social conflict theory postulates that the use of excessive force ensuing deaths of the disadvantaged in the society indicates the role of the force in preserving the status quo of societal inequality and aiding the powerful to exploit the powerless. Additionally, Max Weber’s theory on bureaucracies explains the bias in the institutions of law enforcement and the manner in which the lack of accountability within the police force enforces police brutality.

The presented analysis reveals that the social structure of the society ensures that the privileged in the society, in the instant case, Caucasians, benefit from the societal institutions such as police and thus are secure from being the recipients of police brutality. The perspectives of the sociologists such as Durkheim, Marx, and Weber allow defining the ways to address the issue of police brutality with the application of their theories.