Topic 5: Functionalism
- Created by: chad trainor_
- Created on: 21-02-18 15:35
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- Topic 5: Functionalism
- Society as a system
- Functionalism- macro structural theory. Focuses on needs of social system as a whole & how these needs shape society
- 3 similarites between society & biological organism (Parsons)
- System organisms- in the body each part is interdependnt (organs, cells); in society parts are institutions (school, family) individual roles (teacher, mother)
- System needs- need nutrition or will die; members must be socialised for society to continue
- Function- meet systems needs, circulatory system = economy maintain social system
- Value consensus- agreement among society's members about what values are important, shared culture
- Individuals conform due to:
- Social control- positive sanctions reward conformity, negative ones punish deviance, e.g college diplomas
- Socialization- individuals internalize systems norms & values (religion, family & media)
- Parsons 4 system needs: 1.Adaptation 2.Goal attainment (parliament) 3.Intergration (by media, religion) 4.Latency
- Structural differentiation- specialization where separate instituitions develop to carry out functions that were previously performed by a single institution, e.g. churches used to perform education, now schools.
- Merton's internal critique of functionalis
- Not everything in society is indespensible e.g. others can socialize children, not just nuclear family(one parent families)
- Not everything in complex modern societies is functional for all others- some have functional autonomy/ independence
- Some elements of society may be functional for some groups & dysfunctional for others e.g. low taxes for high earners
- External critique of functionalism
- Conflict perspective: ignore conflict e.g ,Marxist argue society is based on exploitation and divided into classes; stability through ISA's
- Action perspective: deterministic & ignores individuals free will & choice; interactions shape society not other way round
- Postmodernis perspective: metanarrative or big story; society too fragmented for this to be possible
- Teleological- things exsist because of their effect or function (family= socialize childeren
- Functionalism is unscientific- arguments cannot be falsified, e.g. Durkheim; crime is both functional (boundary maintenance) and dysfunctional (people not conforming to norms & values)
- Society as a system
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