Child abuse can be defined as physical, mental, or sexual abuse or harm, neglect, and/or abandonment of a child by their parent or guardian and has occurred since the beginning of time. While it has been around forever, the topic of child abuse has recently been hidden from society as its actions are deemed unacceptable; the topic is easier to hide than it is to deal with the response from the community. Through different sociological theories, different perspectives give different explanations and opinions on the topic of child abuse. The functionalist perspective and the feminist perspective give two opposing views on the topic of child abuse.

Functionalist Perspective

The functionalist perspective sees all parts of society put together to form a larger picture. The good and bad aspects of society are all important to a functionalist perspective as society cannot function properly without them. While child abuse is an important social issue that most view needs to be resolved, functionalist theorists try to see the give and take aspect of it; with having cases of child abuse, more jobs opportunities are available. Across the world, organizations and businesses have been constructed to help prevent child abuse, educate on the topic of child abuse, and help victims of child abuse cope and recover. Child Protective Services is perhaps one of the largest businesses in this field that helps children and victims who may be at risk with their given guardian. Without the social issue of child abuse, Child Protective Services may not be needed and thousands of workers would lose their jobs. The functionalist perspective sees the issue in the bigger picture as it analyzes how society would function without the issue; in this case, unemployment rates would grow.

Feminist Perspective

The feminist theory often analyzes a social issue in relation to gender and power. The topic of child abuse occurs in victims of both genders and child abusers have been reported of both genders, however, feminist perspectives place blame predominantly on the male gender because they fall under the patriarchal family system where men make the family decisions and have the ultimate power. In past times, children were often viewed as property of their fathers, as were women and wives; this gave power to the male gender. When children were seen as property rather than people, men often took more advantage of their children. Research has additionally found that most child abusers are of the male gender.  While times and gender roles are changing, the feminist theory still accounts men for the issue of child abuse. Men are deemed to be more physical and have more agression; men are typically in control of the family. In addition, men also get blamed for the abandonment of their children after leaving the family dynamic more than women do. Feminist theorists often fight for the end and prevention of child abuse as their focus tends to defend smaller groups, in this case children and female children in particular as sexual abuse has been a prevailing topic. Feminist theorists fight for the end of child abuse and view the topic through a gender power dispute.

Sociological theories each provide a distinct perspective on social issues. Functionalists view an issues place in society and how society would be affected from it. In this case, unemployment rates would grow as organizations and business would go out of business. On the opposite end, the feminist perspective views how child abuse should end and focuses on how the male gender can be attributed to child abuse cases. While both make valid points, they touch on opposite sides of the spectrum in terms of opinion. Sociological theories allow society to view topics from different perspectives.