Functionalism: Society as a system

Functionalists draw similarities between biological organisms and Parsons identifies the following three: 

-System: Organisms and societies are self regulating systems of inter-related parts that fit together in fixed ways. In the body, these are cells, organs and their systems. In society, these are the institutions that make up, and play an important role in, society, such as school and the family, and the individual roles, such as parents and teachers. 

-System needs: Organisms have their biological needs to survive, just as society has its needs and if these needs aren't met, both will break down stop working. In the body, the organs which make up the different systems are needed to be in full working order in order for the body to work and the person to live, just as society needs its basic needs to be fulfilled so it doesn't stop working and break down. For example, members in society must be socialised into obeying capitalism in order for society to continue.

-Functions: For functionalists, the function of any part of a system is the contribution it makes to meeting the system's needs and ensuring its survival. For example, the circulatory system passes oxygen to the cells and the heart. Similarly, the economy helps maintain the social system by meeting the need for food and shelter. 

-Parsons argues that value consensus (the shared norms and values of each member of society) is essential is maintaining social order. This is because it provides a framework allowing cooperation by laying down rules about how people should behave and what is expected of them, defining how they should live, etc. Social order is only possible if the members of society adhere to value consensus. Value consensus is the glue that holds society together.

-The basic function of the value consensus is therefore to make social order possible. It does this by integrating individuals into the social system, directing them to fulfilling its needs. For Parsons, the system has 2 mechanisms for ensuring that individuals conform to the value consensus:

-Socialisation: The social system teaches individuals what it wants them to do through the socialisation process. Individuals then internalise the system's norms and values as a part of their personality. Institutions such as religion, school and the family all participate in this matter.

-Social control: Positive sanctions reward conformity while negative ones punish deviance . For example, those who achieve in the education system are given degrees and good careers as a result, where as those who drop out at 16 can be stigmatised and labelled. 

-Because individuals are integrated, through socialisation and social control, into a value system, their behaviour contributes to pursuing society's needs. Behaviour becomes predictable and stable, making cooperation and social order possible

-Parsons identifies four basic needs, and each need is met by a separate sub-system of institutions:

-Adaptation: The social system meets its members material needs through the economic sub-system

-Goal attainment: Society needs to set goals and allocate resources to achieve them. This is the function of the political sub-system, through institutions such as parliament. 

-Integration: The different parts of the system must be integrated together to pursue shared goals. This is the role of sub-systems such as religion, education and the media.

-Latency: refers to processes that maintail society overtime. The kinship sub-system provides pattern maintenance (socialised individuals carry on the activities that society requires)  and tension management (the family can be a place to relieve work related stresses)

-Parsons describes adaptation and goal attainment as instrumental needs, means to an end, and integration and latency as expressive needs, as they relieve negative emotions. By carrying out these functions, the sub-systems maintain society as a stable institution. 

-We can take a 'building block' approach to describing Parsons' model of the social system. At the bottom, we have individual actions. Each action we perform is governed by specific norms or rules. These norms come in 'clusters' called status-roles. Statuses are the positions that exist in a given social system, e.g. teacher. Roles are sets of norms that tell us how the occupant of a status must carry out their duties. 

-Status roles come in clusters, known as institutions. For example, the family institution consists of roles of the Mum, Dad and their children. Then related institutions are grouped into sub-systems. For example, shops, factories and banks are grouped into the economic sub-system.

-Then these sub-systems make up the social system as a whole.

-Parsons identifies two types of society; traditional and modern. Each has its own set of norms and values. For example, in modern society we pursue our individual self interest, achieve status and are judged universally. By contrast, in traditional societies, individuals are expected to put collective interests first, status is ascribed and they're judged by particularistic standards.

-For Parsons, change is a gradual, evolutionary process of increasing complexity and structural differentiation. The organic analogy is relevant here because simple structures such as amoebas perform all the essential functions to us complex organisms with many different organs, each performing their specialised functions. Similarly, society moves from simple to complex. For example, a single institution can perform many functions. The family organises production and consumption (adaptation), provides political leadership (goal attainment), socialises its members (latency) and performs religious functions (integration). However, as societies develop, the kinship loses these functions- to politics, schools, churches, etc. Parsons calls this structural differentiation. 

-Parsons also sees moving equilibrium as a factor of gradual change. As a change happens in one part of the system it produces compensatory changes. Thus, the rise of industry brings about change in the family from extended to nuclear. In this way soicety gradually changes from one type to another.

-Conflict theorists criticise functionalism for its inability to explain conflict and change. This inability arises partly out of the organic analogy. We can't compare organisms to society because organisms are harmonious systems, whereas society is based on exploiation and divided into classes with conflict and unequal power, with the bourgoisie in complete power over the proletariat. The  bourgoisie use coersion to enforce their ideologies. 

-Functionalism understates....

Wrong criticises functionalisms deterministic view of the individual, stating that humans shape society by their interactions, thus the idea that humans are like puppets having their strings pulled by society, making them fulfill their prescribed role.

-Functionalism understates...

Functionalism is a conservative ideology legitimating the status quo. Its focus on harmony and stability rather than conflict and change, along with its assumptions of universal functionalism and indispensability, all help justify the existing social order is inevitable and desirable.

Functionalism reifies society, yet action perspective argues that society isn't a thing 'out there' with its own independent existence and needs, above individuals. For them, the only social reality is the one that individuals construct by giving meaning to their worlds.

We cant assume, as Parsons does, that society is always smooth running. For example, Parsons assumes that everything in society is functionally dispensable in its existing form. He also assumes that all parts of society are tightly integrated into a single whole and each part is functional for the rest. He also assumes that everything in societ performs positive functions for society as a whole.