Funtionalism (Theory)

Functional prerequisites: Basic needs of society.

Functional alternatives/equivalents: When two different institutuions perform the same function.

Determinism: The idea that humans have no free will, their thoughts are caused by factors outside of themsleves.

Socialisation: The process through wich culture is internalised.

Value consensus: society sharing the same set of values.

Social order: The way institutions in society are organised and work together to maintain status quo.

Meritocracy: Everyone having an equal opportunity to succed, rewards and status are achieved not ascribed.

Organic analogy: The institustions of society are interpendent.

• Society maintains order through shared values
• Share values= the collective conscience
• Sociology should be a study of social facts and can and shouold be studied objectively
• Studied suicide- was interested in how society can externally constrain ('social integration' and 'social regulation')- shapes our behaviour
• Adopted a positivist approach using official statistics to conduct multivariate analysis
• Needs are met by 4 major sub systems- broken into Instrumental needs and Expressive needs
• Instumantal (material) = Economic and Political subsystems
• Expressive (emotional) = Kinship and Cultural subsytems

• Value consensus is maintained through socialisation and socila control agencies
• Scoiety is made up of linked elements that meet functional prerequisites
• Made up of three interliniking systems- Personality, Social, Cultural.
• Personality: A persons beliefs, goals and internalized values
• Social (central system for parsons): Institutionaolised expectations expressed in roles such as teacher/student in education
• Cultural: Core values and shared history that make a society distinct
• Must meet four funtional prerequisites- Adaptation, Goal attainment, Integration, Latency
• Adaptation: Economic production to ensure physicla needs are met. each society must provide adequate standard of life
• Goal attaintment: Societies must develop ways of making decisions for the masses
• Integration: The need to control conflict through socila control agencies
• Latency: Maintenance of value consensus/ role alloctaionso people are motivated to belong to society

• Challenged som functional assumptions
• Argued that Organic Analogy is less likely in a complex and highly differentiated society
• Functional unity should be investigated and shouldn't be assumed to automatically exist
• Argues that not all parts of society have positive functions but that some parts of society may be dysfunctional or non-functional
• Argues taht Parsons and Durkheim ignore possibility of distinguishing between positive function (Manifest functions, Latent Functions)
• Manifest functions: The deliberate and intended function
• Latent Function: The unintende function that may still have a positive effect
• Argues that it is wrong to assume society could not function without some institutions as institutions can have Functional alternatives/equivelants