Social Inequality - Functionalism

SOCIAL INEQUALITY ­ FUNCTIONALISM ­ GENERAL VIEWS
Outline and assess Functionalist explanations of inequality [40]
Durkheim
Believes social inequality has a function in society ­ society needs people to take on
the jobs with differing status in order for it to function smoothly; this is known as the
division of…

a triple shift of paid work, emotional work and domestic work which shows unfair
gender inequalities ­ the roles which Parsons describes lead to inequalities regarding
how much work men and women would be doing
Davis & Moore
Believe social stratification serves a functional purpose in society; they help it…

Outline and assess Functionalist explanations of age inequality [40]
Parsons ­ Childhood
Childhood is a period when socialisation into a societies culture takes place; children
learn the norms and values associated with different social roles ­ this enables them
to contribute to society as adults
Believes girls have more opportunities…

He believed, particularly in the USA, that the elderly become isolated from
participating in the most important social structures and interests
Cunnings and Henry came up with the disengagement theory of ageing; elderly
people actively begin to disengage from their previous social roles as they realise
that they will die…

Human Capital theory
Proposes that men and women serve different roles, and therefore the pay gap is
justified as men have more `human capital' than women
This is because women are less committed to paid work and are more likely to take
career breaks; many women choose to prioritise their…

Immediate family comes first and other obligations and relationships come second
Murdock therefore assumes that the nuclear family is positive and a beneficial
institution in which family members receive nurturing, unconditional love and care
Leach said that nuclear families have become so close-knit and isolated from
everything else that a…

Believes social inequality has a function in society ­ society needs people to take on
the jobs with differing status in order for it to function smoothly; this is known as the
division of labour

Working class people are more likely to be in manual labour, while the middle class…

The old boys network is also an example of how the classes may hold social closure
away from the other classes, socialising their children to have the same values

Davis & Moore
Believe social stratification serves a functional purpose in society; they help it to
meet its needs and survive…

Such differences are inevitable for a period of time until the groups assimilate ­
when the minority groups give up their own cultural values and adopt those of their
host nation, the ethnic majority

Believes racism is a result of ethnic minority groups not assimilating

Why should ethnic minorities have…