Functionalism Flashcards
What is the functionalist belief of society?
The functionalist belief of society is that it is a system of interconnected parts that work together in harmony to maintain a state of balance and social equilibrium for the whole. For example, each of the social institutions contributes important functions for society: family, education, politics, economics, and religion.
What do these social institutions provide?
Family provides a context for reproducing, nurturing, and socialising children; education offers a way to transmit a society’s skill, knowledge, and culture to its youth; politics provides a means of governing members of society; economics provides for the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services; and religion provides moral guidance.
What is the structuralist approach concerned about?
Structuralism is the theory concerned with the overall social structure of society, and the way social institutions, like the family, the education system, the media and the economy, act as a constraint on, or limit and control, individual behaviour.
What do Structuralist approaches feature?
- The behaviour and values of individual human beings.
- The main purpose of sociology is to study to overall structure of society.
- Positivism is the main methodological approach.
What does 1. The behaviour and values of individual human beings tell us about structuralism?
The behaviour and values of individual human beings, and the formation of their identities, are seen as being a result of social forces which are external to the individual. Individuals are determined, or moulded, shaped and constrained, by social forces acting upon them, like socialisation, positive and negative sanctions, and material resources like income and jobs. They have little control of choice in how they behave. According to the structuralist approach, the individual is like a puppet, whose strings are pulled by social institutions like the family, the education system, the media and the workplace.
What does 2. The main purpose of sociology is to study the overall structure of society tell us about structuralism?
The main purpose of sociology is to study the overall structure of society, the social institutions which make up this structure, and the relationships between these social institutions, such as the links between the workplace and the economy, the economy and the political system, the family and the education system, and so on. The focus of sociology is on the study of social institutions and and the social structure as a whole, not on the individual. This focus on large scale social structure is sometimes referred to as a macro approach.
What does 3. Positivism is the main methodological approach tell us about structuralism?
Positivism is the main methodological approach, using quantitative research methods, as individual behaviour is seen as a response to measurable social forces outside individuals, acting upon them to control their behaviour. The focus of sociological research should then be on these social forces. The individual states of mind and meanings of individuals are seen as a reflection of these external sources, and so are not seen as worth studying in their own right.
What are the two main varieties of structuralism?
- Functionalism (consensus structuralism)
- Marxism (conflict structuralism)
What is the Consensus Theory?
The Consensus Theory is the idea that there is agreement (also known as consensus) on what is right and wrong, and this is the basis of social life. Without Consensus, society would collapse into chaos where no one would be able to agree on how people should conduct themselves. Consensus and having shared values enables us to cooperate with each other and this provides unity. Having Consensus provides harmony. Society is a social system based on Value Consensus (shared values). Society has basic needs that must be met to survive. People need to be socialised into a culture’s particular norms and values.
What did Durkheim believe?
Collective conscience. Durkheim believed in order for society to survive there must be social order. He sees social order existing because humans share the same core moral values, which he termed as the collective conscience (or value consensus). Therefore, for social order to be maintained, the collective conscience (the agreed set of values and norms) must be developed; without the collective conscience, society would collapse. Durkheim, in his first major piece of work called the Division of Labour, shows a shift in societies from a simple society to one that is more complex can weaken moral regulations and social cohesion - and therefore weaken social order.
What does Durkheim mean by traditional society?
Durkheim argued in traditional societies social order was achieved by what he termed mechanical solidarity; a strong similarity between people. They were connected through work, where the division of labour is limited, and through sharing very similar values, religious beliefs, and backgrounds. Therefore, in traditional societies, the collective consciousness was strong and consequently social behaviour was well regulated.
What does Durkheim mean by modern societies?
In modern societies, mechanical solidarity is replaced by organic solidarity - based on differences. This arises because a modern industrial society is made up of specialised work - a high division of different labour, different beliefs, and backgrounds. This means the collective consciousness is weakened, which fragments social cohesion.
What does Durkheim mean by anomie?
As society becomes more complex and industrialised, this leads to further increase in the divisor of labour, divergent cultured, and greater expression of egoism (individualism). This means the ability of a single source of moral authority to regulate and influence people’s moral behaviour is weakened - individuals are therefore left without moral guidance. This, according to Durkheim, can lead to anomie. This refers to the condition or state in which there is a breakdown of social bond and guidance between an individual and society. As a result, people do not feel attached to the collective conscience which weakens social cohesion in society. According to Durkheim, anomie is also caused by the rapid social change from a traditional society to a modern society. Durkheim believes anomie must be regulated to prevent egotistic behaviour in people because this undermines social cohesion in society.
What does Durkheim mean by social facts?
Durkheim sees society as as a separate entity existing over and above people. He believes what influences and constrains our behaviour to serve the needs of society are ‘things’ that are external to us, known as social facts, as opposed to those internal influences such as the way we think, act and feel. Social facts are derived and produced by social institutions (family, education, religion, law, and culture, etc.) which shape our collective conscience and behaviour (e.g. having the same values and norms). People believe they choose to act in certain ways; in reality, their choices have already been made for them by these external social facts (e.g, religion and culture).
How did Durkheim measure suicide rates and what patterns did he find?
Durkheim used quantitative data from official statistics and analysed the suicide rates for various European countries over a period of several decades in the 19th century. He noted four regular patterns:
- Suicide rates for any given society remained more or less constant over time.
- When the rates did change, this coincided with other changes. For example, the rates fell during wartime, while they rose at times of economic depression and -perhaps surprisingly - times of rising prosperity.
- Different societies have different rates.
- Within a society, the rates verified considerably between different social groups. For example, Catholics had lower rates than Protestants, married people with children had lower rates than the single, widowed or childless, and rural dwellers had lower rates than city dwellers.
What did these patterns show?
For Durkheim, these patterns were evidence that suicide rates could not simply be the result of the motives of individuals. For example, the population of the city of Paris is constantly changing, and the French, army too, is made up of different individuals as the years go by. Yet in both cases, Durkheim notes, the suicide rate remains more or less constant over time.
Instead of giving a psychological explanation, therefore, Durkheim explains the suicide rate as the effect of social facts or forces acting upon individuals. In different groups and societies, these forces act with different degrees of intensity, resulting in different suicide rates.
What does Durkheim identify as two social factors that determine the rate of suicide?
- Social integration (belonging): refers to the extent to which individuals experience a sense of belonging to a group and obligation to its members. In highly integrated groups and societies, individuals feel a strong bond with and sense of duty towards others.
- Moral regulation (control): refers to the extent to when individuals’ actions and desires are kept in check by norms and values. In Durkheim’s view, without regulation by socially defined goals and rules, individuals’ desires are infinite and incapable of satisfaction.
What are the integrative reasons for suicide?
- Egoistic suicide
- Altruistic suicide
What is egoistic suicide?
Egoistic suicide (too little belonging) is caused by too little social integration. Durkheim argues that is the most common type of suicide in modern society, caused by excessive individualism and lack of social ties and obligations to others. This explains the lower rate among Catholics than among Protestants. Both religions condemn suicide, but Protestants have more individual freedoms in what to believe and how to express their faith, whereas Catholics are more tightly integrated by shared beliefs and collective ritual. Egoistic suicide is also less common in times of war and political upheaval, since these create a stronger sense of belonging and common purpose.
What is altruistic suicide?
Altruistic suicide (too much belonging) is the opposite of egoistic suicide and is caused by too much social integration. Altruism is the opposite of selfishness or egoism, and involves putting others before oneself. Altruistic suicide occurs where the individual has little value and where the group’s interests override those of the individual. Suicide here is an obligatory self-sacrifice for the good of the group, rather than something freely chosen, since the individual feels it as their duty to die.
For example, during WWII, Japanese kamikaze pilots were expected to crash their planes into American warships, while in the last, Hindu widows were expected to perform sati, throwing themselves on their husband’s burning funeral pyre so as not to be a burden on the family. Among some Inuit peoples, the old were expected to walk out into the cold to die for similar reasons.
What are the regulative reasons for suicide?
- Anomic suicide
- Fatalistic suicide
What is anomic suicide?
Anomic suicide is caused by too little moral regulation. Anomie means ‘normlessness’ or deregulation, and Anomic suicide occurs when society’s norms become unclear or are made obsolete by rapid social change, creating uncertainty in individuals as to what society expects of them.
For example, sudden economic slumps, such as the Wall Street stock exchange crash of 1929 that led to the Great Depression of the 1930s, produce an increase in anomic suicides. So too do economic booms and rapid increases in prosperity. Durkheim attributes this to the fact that booms lead to expectations and desires rising more quickly than the means of fulfilling them.
What is fatalistic suicide?
Fatalistic suicide is the opposite of anomic suicide and is caused by too much moral regulation. Fatalism means a belief on the part of the individual that they can do nothing to affect their situation or destiny. Fatalistic suicide occurs where society regulates or controls the individual completely - where individuals find their ‘futures pitilessly blocked and passions violently checked by oppressive discipline’, crushing all hope. Slaves and prisoners are the most commonly cited examples of groups likely to commit fatalistic suicide.
How does a modern industrial society affect suicide?
Modern Industrial society have lower levels of integration. Indivudals’ rights and freedoms become more important than the obligations towards the group. This weakens social bonds and gives rise to egoistic suicides. Similarly, modern societies are less effective in regulating indivudals because they undergo rapid social change, which undermines accepted norms and produces anomic suicides.
How does traditional pre-industrial societies affect suicide?
Traditional pre-industrial societies have higher levels of integration. The group is more important than the individual and this gives rise to altruistic suicides. Similarly, these societies strictly regulate their members’ lives and impose rigidly ascribed statuses that limit individuals’ opportunities, and this produces fatalistic suicides.
How does Parson describe the social system?
Parsons takes a builidng block approach when describing the social system. In order for society to function properly, social institutions need to work together for the goal of the whole system. In order for society to function properly, social insitutions need to work together for the good of the whole social system.
What are Parsons four basic needs for society?
Parsons identifies four basic needs, sometime known as the ‘AGIL Schema’. Each need is met by a separate sub-system of institutions:
- A - Adaptation - Material need - ECONOMIC
- G - Goal Attainment - Set goals and allocate government resources - POLITICAL
- I - Integration (Socialisation) - Encourage people to pursue shared goals - INSTITUTIONS (Religion, education and media)
- L - Latency (Tension) - Patern maintenance/perform necessary roles - FAMILY
What does Parson say in relation to Durkheim?
Parsons shared Durkheim’s view on the importance of the agencies of socialisation in building value consensus, and as sources of social control to maintain social order and prevent deviance, but he particularly emphasised the importance of primary socialisation in the family in passing on norms and values between generations, which he saw as becoming internalised as part of an individual’s personality.
One major contribution to functionalist sociology made by Parsons is his work on structural differentiation. This means that as societies evolved and new needs arise for both society and individuals, institutions became more specialised, and functions they once performed are lost to new institutions e.g. family, previously had many functions, now has only 2. This is because specialised agencies like the NHS, education and the welfare state have taken over some of the functions.
What did Merton say?
Merton was also a functionalist but criticised Parsons for his assumptions that all social institutions performed beneficial, positive functions for society and individuals. Merton introduced the idea of dysfunction to describe the situation whereby some parts of the social structure don’t work as intended, and there can sometimes be negative consequences with harmful effects for society, or for some individuals.
Merton suggested there was manifest functions of an institution, with intended and recognised consequences, but that there were also latent functions alongside them, with unintended or unrecognised consequences.
Merton is perhaps best know for Strain theory and how it applies to the study of crime and deviance.
Goals: job, car, friends, rich, holiday, house/flat, clothes, children, gadgets, status/respect
Means: investments, talent, qualifications Ed, looks, luck - lottery, marriage, inheritance, work - promotion
How does Merton criticise Parsons’ approach?
- Functional unity - Not all parts of society are tightly integrated into a single whole and changes in one part of the system deviant necessarily have a knock in effect in another, as Parson’s assumes e.g. it is hard to see the connections between the structure of banking and the rules of netball.
- Universal functionalism - some things may be functional for some groups and dysfunctional for others, whereas Parsons assumes everything in society performs a positive function for society as whole. E.g. Parliament legalising gay marriage may cause discontent within some religious groups.
- Indispensability - Parsons’ assumes everything in society is indispensable in its current form e.g. the family. This may not be true, as there are functional alternatives e.g. he nuclear family may perform primary socialisation, but lone parent or communes may do just as good a job.
How do Marxists/feminists criticise functionalism?
Functionalism cannot explain conflict and change, as it is a conservative theory that legitimates the status quo. Marxists argue that society is not a harmonious whole, but is based on a class struggle. Feminists believe that a gender struggle is occurring.
How do action theorists critics functionalism?
Functionalism is too deterministic. It shows individuals as mere puppets who strings are pulled by the social system. Action approaches take the opposite approach and believe that individuals create society with their interactions.
How do postmodernists criticise functionalism?
Functionalism assumes that society is stable and orderly, so doesn’t account for the diversity and instability in today’s society. Functionalism is a “meta-narrative” that attempts to explain society, but such metanarratives are no longer relevant in such fragmented society.
Strengths of functionalism
- It is, along with Marxism, a reasonably successful attempt to produce a general theory of the workings of society.
- It recognises the importance of social structure in understanding society, how it constrains individual behaviour, and how the major social institutions, like the family, education and the economy, often have links between them.
- It provides an explanation for social order and stability, and why most people generally conform to the rules of social life.
