Sociological Perspective

The study of sociology plays an important role in how a society operates. Theoretical perspectives are the basic assumptions about society and the application of different theories in studying social life. In every topic or social discussion, people with different views will disagree and argue for an opinion based on their perspective. For example, in the Huffington Post, Dr. Robert Tornambe, a plastic surgeon, gave his opinion on plastic surgery. While his opinion might be critical towards plastic surgery, a supporter of the Functionalist, Conflict Theorist, Feminist, or Interactionalist perspectives might disagree.

Dr. Tornambe thought that the word beauty is the most misused and poorly defined word in the dictionary. Instead of saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, he added a word to make it the “Perception of beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Since everyone has different preferences wouldn’t it be impossible for beauty to have one definition? Yes, there are common qualities in a person that most view as “beauty”, but there are people who disagree with those common qualities and in that case how can a woman discover her  beauty? If you look at a poll of the ideal woman for different countries you will see that these women can vary in many key attributes.

Additionally, society relies on Hollywood stars as a fashion and beauty standard, which is extremely unrealistic for the average person. Every day women cannot compete with those they are trying to emulate. Dr. Tornambe believes that society must change the perception of the word “beauty” as intellect and confidence in addition to appearances and looks.

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Instead of changing one’s body to improve beauty with surgery, women should focus on changing their character traits, as so much of a woman’s beauty comes from within.

From a functionalist perspective, by getting plastic surgery a woman feels like she belongs and is a part of a community. If a woman believed that she wasn’t beautiful enough she could probably solve that issue to become approved in society. After fixing their looks, they will get positive feedback from the people in society. Furthermore, maybe by improving one’s look, the woman will gain self-confidence and be able to accomplish more. As a more inadvertent outcome to the overall purpose, one from a functionalist perspective would say that the need for plastic surgery causes more job opportunities for doctors. This is called a latent function of plastic surgery.

Furthermore, from the conflict perspective, performing surgery for a non-medical reason can cause several different disputes between people. For example, since plastic surgery can be so expensive a member of the upper class has the means to afford this while someone from the lower class doesn’t have this opportunity. This will cause jealousy and perhaps even hatred towards one another. For this reason, one who is wealthy has a better opportunity to become more beautiful and socially acceptable, which seems to be unfair. Additionally, since there are so many different views on beauty, this will cause tremendous conflict for post-plastic surgery. While some people might appreciate the perfect face, others might value natural beauty more knowing someone has been operated on.

Another view of plastic surgery is from the feministic perspective. Maybe the most reasonable claim against the craze of plastic surgery is the pressure placed on women. The standards for a woman’s appearance in today’s society are too high as they are influenced by celebrities to look like them. There will be a failure when the perfection of beauty is what everybody desires. Since failure is upsetting, this also may cause extra arguing and conflict within the family, especially with parents being against a daughter wanting plastic surgery. Also, older women might believe they need surgery to look younger just to look more appealing.

The last perspective to look at plastic surgery is through the interactionist perspective. Since plastic surgery is such a common thought in society, this may result in new friendships with similar interests. Looking at it differently, after getting plastic surgery, one might now be included or improve their social status. Lastly, interaction on social media  causes an effect on one’s decisions. Seeing celebrities or friends getting successful surgeries and looking great might cause others to get plastic surgery as well. Following the social trends creates bonds and gives people the ability to connect.

In conclusion, there are several different ways to look at a topic in society including the functionalist, conflict, feminist, and interactionalist perspectives. These different perspectives often disagree as they are a different way of looking at the issue. Those from the functionalist and interactionalist perspectives might say how positive it is for a woman’s look or for the friendships created, respectively. However, on the other hand, those from  conflict and feministic perspectives would be strongly opposed to plastic surgery. Dr. Tornambe is most likely to be one of these perspectives as he was extremely critical to the idea of the surgery. He thought it was unfair that some women were unable to afford the surgery supporting the conflict idea. Lastly, he thought that the idea of ideal beauty is unrealistic and is a setup for failure. When the utmost pressure is placed on women to look as attractive as  celebrities, the definition of “true beauty” becomes lost.