Functionalism interprets each part of society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole society. Society is more than the sum of its parts; rather, each part of society is functional for the stability of the whole. Durkheim actually envisioned society as an organism, and just like within an organism, each component plays a necessary part, but none can function alone, and one experiences a crisis or fails, other parts must adapt to fill the void in some way.

Within functionalist theory, the different parts of society are primarily composed of social institutions, each of which is designed to fill different needs, and each of which has particular consequences for the form and shape of society. The parts all depend on each other. The core institutions defined by sociology and which are important to understanding for this theory include family, government, economy, media, education, and religion.

Durkheim, one of the founding thinkers of sociology, was born in France on April 15, 1858. Durkheim's body of work as a researcher and theorist focused on how it is that a society can form and function, which is another way of saying, how it can maintain order and stability, similarly to as organs in the human body would, as one organ cannot function without the other. Thank to his work, he is seen as one of the founding fathers of sociology still today.

Feminist sociology is a conflict theory and theoretical perspective which observes gender in its relation to power, both at the level of face-to-face interaction and reflexivity within a social structure at large. Focuses include sexual orientation, race, economic status, and nationality.

At the core of feminist sociology is the idea of the systematic oppression of women and the historical dominance of men within most societies. Also commonly referred to as a 'patriarchy'. Feminist thought has a rich history, however, which may be categorized into three main 'waves'. The current, 'third wave', emphasizes the concepts of globalization, post colonialism, post-structuralism and postmodernism. And greatly differs from the first wave feminists who had other focuses at the time. 

Systematic oppression or a "patriarchy" is a belief commonly held by third wave feminists, the term patriarchy itself implies that they believe males predominantly rule the society and its core structure. For example, it is widely believed amongst third wave feminist that men have a privilege as well as an advantage over women in all aspects of society such as status and ability. Statistically anybody can argue otherwise but examples of patriarchy may still exist today in work places or other businesses. Such as unequal pay based on sex.

Rachel Speght was the first woman known to have published a women's rights pamphlet in English under her own name. She was English.  She was responding, from her perspective within Calvinistic theology, to a tract by Joseph Swetmen which denounced women. She countered by pointing to women's worth. Her 1621 volume of poetry defended women's education.

Interactionism in sociology focuses on the way that we act, or make conscious choices regarding our behaviour that proceed from how we interpret situations. In other words, humans are not simply reacting to social stimuli: we are social actors and must adjust our behaviour based on the actions of other social actors. 

Interactionism in sociology examines how different social actors make sense of or interpret the behaviour of those around us. This information can be used to understand the social construction of the world, which is focused on not only the meanings that we give to behaviour, but also how we interpret the meanings of behaviour.

Symbolic interactionists emphasize that deviants, like people who are more conformist, live in a world that is socially constructed. Certain identities are available and others not available; some behaviours get you prestige and respect while others are deprecated or punished, and the behaviours that are approved or punished may change dramatically over time.

Overall the theory itself largely focuses on the individual rather than the collective, (unlike most sociological theories) allowing for a more in depth study and understanding of how an individual may perceive themselves or even act in relation to the society the said individual resides within.

Study.com. (2018). Interactionism in Sociology: Definition & Examples - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com. [online] Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/interactionism-in-sociology-definition-examples-quiz.html [Accessed 14 Mar. 2018].

ThoughtCo. (2018). Everything You Need to Know About Functionalist Theory. [online] Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/functionalist-perspective-3026625 [Accessed 14 Mar. 2018].