A Sociological Analysis of an Article on Gorilla Killing
Gabrielle Boyle
Chattahoochee Technical College
Division of Social Sciences
SOCI 1101 Introduction to Sociology
Cynthia Holly
July 18, 2016
1
A tragedy has happened when a little boy thought it would be exciting to jump into the
Silverback Gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati Zoo. This young child decision resulted in ending a
life of a 17-year-old Silverback Gorilla and a child with a broken leg. Also putting his life in
danger as well by being dragged by his legs in the water by the gorilla. Using the three
paradigms structural function, social conflict, and symbolic interaction these theories will
analyze if the zoo keeper was wrong for killing the gorilla.
The structural function paradigm is defined as when the society is a complex system
whose parts work together to promote stability and harmony. This paradigm has a positive view
using morals, values and roles. The structural function would say that killing the gorilla would be
the right thing to do because society value the human life more than the gorilla’s. Society would
not have picked using the tranquilizer as the best choice because the gorilla would have took
