Buckle's theory operated under the assumption that the environment is an imperatively aspect in the stability and growth of countries. Mainly because a good environment is conducive to sufficient and consistent food production. However, multiple existing factors keep the environment from being able to bear plentiful harvests.

Within South Africa, these issues come to light as varying climates in different areas. Overall South Africa has a climate that is somewhat fertile due to its overall warm weather, but due to limited rainfall in most areas, large crop harvests are a challenge.

Conversely, Spencer theorises the concept of environment in tandem with the theory of evolution known as natural selection. In this, he poses the idea that humans are a threat to the livelihood of existing animal species due to their involvement with nature.

Humans harmful practices such as pollution, deforestation, etc harms the environment, which, in turn can cause harm to certain plant and animal species, and conclusivelym his end up harming humans as this behaviour disrupts the food cycle, meaning that humans, in addition, end up suffering the consequences as well.

Participatory Development Approach

A humanist approach which places emphasis on community participation, which is done in an effort to incite social and financial development within the community. 

In this, the community aims to develop autonomy and self-reliance in terms of distribution of income and resources amongst members of the community. This is done by groupings within the community spreading information in which they collaborate and spread knowledge amongst themselves as a means of developing the community as a whole.

The objective of this is meant to target poverty and inequal resource distribution within (especially rural communities). This can be challenging, mainly due to the growing issue of poverty which dampens development in societies, in addition to centralised power and exclusivity within certain structures.

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Study Unit 2 Part 3:

Poverty is usually a word which carries plenty of negative or otherwise upsetting connotations, due to it's known impact of creating difficulty in the lives of those that it touches. However, it can be said that, on an individual and communal level, there are sizeable benefits to be taken note of.

In the case of  the personal benefits of poverty, it is known that in South Africa, poverty is the main ramification of unemployment, and so, unemployment grants and startups are commonly given out by government institutions in order to provide some form of income, but also to lay the foundation for budding businesses in order to create employment opportunities. In terms of community, communities where poverty is common, such as townships, utilities such as water, electricity, housing are serviced without pay, as a way of making way for people within these communities at large, in order to alleviate the devastation that poverty brings.

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As social problems become a growing issue which threatens the fabric of society as a whole, naturally, there are multiple theories that are used as an approach in an effort to quantify these problems, as a means to better conceptualise and break down these problems and the subsequent effects they have on society, both structurally and socially. In this particular essay the two theories that will be expanded upon are the functionalist theory and the conflict theory.

From a viewpoint intended to compare these two perspectives, both the functionalist and conflict theory and functionalist theory aim to empathise with people in regards to these social issues. The functionalist theory does this by perpetuating the notion that social problems cannot deeply be tackled due to the possibility of disrupting societal structure, and that every part of society, no matter how debilitating, otherwise serves a function towards the progression of societal systems. Furthermore, remedying social problems can only be done on a social level and no further, in order to preserve societal harmony and the people within it. Similarly, the conflict theory aims to understand the societal causes behind social issues and why they have a profound impact on people within these societies. Already-existing issues such as societal inequality, are taken in as a factor, and that these discrepancies in social standing are what lead to these problems.

In view of contrast, the functionalist theory aims to preserve societal structure while conflict theory aims to criticise and dismantle the societal causes of the same issues that both these theories are confronted with. While functionalist theory aims to look at a system, the conflict theory looks at societal imbalance and it's societal ramifications.