The functionalist theory assumes that society is orderly and stable. It maintains parts of the society is integrated and that when one malfunctions the rest of the parts are disrupted. It views two types of functions, manifest function(intended and widely recognized function) and the latent function(unintended and unrecognized function). In the case of racism it would suggest it as a positive thing because it will enable a society to implement law and regulations for all races to live together in harmony. it would still make efforts on reducing it by making corporates businesses hire almost the same percentage of different races. To promote equality.

The conflict theory assumes that the society is continuously changing and is marked for conflict. It maintains that social problems arise from various kinds of social conflict. In the case of racism while hiring employees, it look at the background of black people and the quality of education they have compared to whites. And emphasize that racism is a results of poor education that is received by black people and being a liability more than an asset when hired, as compared to whites people.