I believe that society doesn’t accurately assess or reward jobs for their value. If you take
the functionalist perspective, society should assess and reward jobs or positions based
on how important they are to society. In theory, jobs that require more skill, education,
responsibility, or training should be rewarded with higher pay. They argue that this
makes people motivated to fill the roles that are important for society to function. But as
I said, this is just in theory. Society doesn’t accurately assess or reward jobs for their
value. For example, if you take a job like an elementary school teacher, they are one of
the most important jobs for our society. They have the nation's future sitting in their
classrooms every day. If they don’t successfully do their job, it would be detrimental to
society in the future. Based on the functionalist perspective, they should be getting paid
very well. However, they might still earn far less than some less essential careers. This
suggests that society doesn’t only assess or reward jobs for their value, but also relies
on factors such as supply and demand, social status, and economic power that can
influence just as much as a position’s importance.