Functionalism Flashcards
What type of theory?
Structural,macro,consensus
What is modernity
-shares the goals of the enlightenment project- positivism(scientific method)
What is the enlightenment project
human rationality as source of knowledge- reject previous authority eg church
Durkheim
-concerned with rapid social change (=anomie) & transition to modern society (threatens social order& value consensus)
What are the two types of society (durkeim)
-Traditional: mechanical solidarity so all members share strong collective conscience
-Modern: division of labour promotes differences, weakens social solidarity-greater freedom
What does society exist as according to durkheim?
A separate entity above its members- system of social facts
-SF= ways of thinking, acting, feeling external to the individual
How does parsons view society?
-Like a biological organism…
-System:self regulating w/ interrelated parts
-System needs: to survive
-Functions: eg economy maintaining needs of society
What is value consensus
exits to make social order possible. Integrating ppl into the social system/conform.
-Socialisation
-Social control
What are statuses
the positions that exist in each social system eg teacher
What are roles
sets of norms that tell us how the occupant of a status must carry out threat duties eg teachers=knowlegeable
What are the 4 functional prerequisites-needs (parsons)
1.Adaption: material needs through the economic sub-system
2.Pattern maintenance: processes that maintain society over time through the family sub-system.(socialisation)
3.Integration: to pursue shared goals through religion, education, media sub-system
4. Goal attainment: set goals and allocate resources to achieve them, through political ss
What are the two types of society (parsons)
-Traditional: collective interest, ascribed status, judged by particularistic standards
-Modern: individual self-interest, achieved status, universalistic standards (the law)
What is structural differentiation
A gradual process which separates, functionally specialised institutions develop each meeting different needs
-Eg family SS
Mertons 3 critiques of Parsons…
1.Indispensability: P assumes everything in societies functionally indispensable in its existing form. M points out functional alternatives
2.Functional unit – P assumes all parts of society are tightly integrated and that changes in one part will affect others. Now ‘functional autonomy’
3.Universal functionalism-P assumes that everything perform is a positive function. Yet somethings may become dysfunctional, conflicts.
What are manifest and latent functions? (Merton)
- e.g.Hopi indians, In times of drought, performed a rain dance with the aim of magically producing rain. This is it manifest (intended) function
-The ritual may also be a (unintended) latent function – promoting a sense of solidarity and times of hardship
Advantages of functionalism
-Provides a conservative ideology that legitimises the status quo,’s it helps to justify the existing social order as inevitable undesirable
Disadvantages of functionalism
-Unscientific, its claims aren’t falsifiable by testing e.g. it says deviance as dysfunctional and functional (could never be disproved)
-Deterministic view of individuals, no free will, puppets who strings are pulled by the social system
-Claims a family exists to socialise children: explains the existence of the family in terms of its effect. A real explanation must identify cause before effect – can’t explain institutions existence in terms of its affect
-Can’t account for the diversity and instability that exists today
-Claims shared values or something agreed by society(M disagree)
-An example of a meta-narrative-no longer possible (fragmentation)
What are the conclusions of functionalism
-Functionalism seeks to answer the question of how social order as possible, even if it neglects conflict and is too Deterministic
-Craib:Parsons theory has its faults but at least it’s a theory of society as a whole
