Compare and contrast the approaches to race taken by functionalists and conflict theorists.

Functionalist theory has provided a useful lens for analyzing the experiences of certain ethnic groups, mainly European immigrants arriving in America in the early twentieth century. Functionalists looked at the process through which these early "nonwhites," such as the Irish and Italians, eventually became assimilated into the larger society. Functionalism, however, has proven less successful in explaining the persistence of racial divisions and why other races and ethnicities, such as African Americans and Hispanics, have continued to maintain their distinct identities alongside the white majority culture. Functionalism can best offer an explanation of how prejudice and discrimination develop by focusing on social solidarity and group cohesion as central aspects of society.
Conflict theory focuses on the struggle for power and control and the competition, domination, and exploitation that result from it. Classical Marxist analyses of race, developed by sociologists in the 1960s, sought to identify the relationships between race and class and looked for the source of racism in capitalist hierarchies. As examples of conflict theory, the textbook cites Edna Bonacich's analysis of split labor markets and William Julius Wilson's argument that although a black underclass was created by racism, it is perpetuated by economic, not racial, factors.
The best answers will recall that new approaches to race (Tomás Almaguer, Patricia Hill Collins, and Gloria Anzaldúa) argue that race is more than just a secondary effect of the economy.