functionalism Flashcards
durkheim main points
- study of sociology as a science through positivist methodology
- social order is maintained through similarity in society- social cohesion
- social institutions maintain society, like religion and eductation
- the institutions are all essentail to the function of society, like organs in a body- organic analogy
- social norms and values evolve to move society forward- organic change
- boundary maintenance- a society comes together to condemn deviant acts, reaffirming their commitment to these norms and values
talcott parsons main points
- society is a system that has 4 functional prerequisites, they meet our needs through interconnected institutions:
- goal attainment (political) ensuring that the material needs of the many are met
- adaptation (economic)- the ability for the economy to provide for the material needs of the population
- integration (cultural/community organisations)- how the population comes to understand norms and values which is usually done through education, family, religion and media
-
latent functions (family and kinship):
- pattern maintenance- prepares people for their future roles in society and promotes meritocratic ideals
- tension management- the ability to relief tensions
- universal functionalism- social changes in one part of the system lead to changes elsewhere in society
Robert K Merton main points- internal critique
- suggested that institutions have functional autonomy- sections of society are independent from each other and do not change when others do
- not indispensible- social institutions can be replaced
- Parsons assumed that if an institution was functional for one part of society, it was functional for all parts. Some institutions can be dysfunctional for some people, while being functional for others. (this criticises universal functionalism)
- Parsons failed to realise the difference between manifest functions and latent consequences of these functions, which are not always good consequences.
functional prerequisites definition
basic needs of members of society
value consensus
moral code of society- right and wrong
anomie
normlessness, absence of norms and values
dysfunction
aspect of society that is not performing the intended function
positivism
methodological view that society can and should be studied scientifically
social solidarity
a sense of belonging to society that brings people together
organic analogy
society performs functions in the same way that organisms do
organic change
gradual change without intervention
socialisation
the process of learning norms and values
what are social facts?
- aspects of social life that shape all humans’ behaviour
- Durkheim- the most important subject to study in sociology
- they show how individuals have freedom, but with constraints
- constraints influence your behaviour such a =s norms, values, beliefs, ideologies, and structures (this applies to all societies)
Emile Durkheim
- social facts regulate society
- structural consensus approach
- how institutions affect human behaviour, by regulating right and wrong/teaching culture
- consensus and believes the functions of institutions are positive for all members of society
- methods- positivism, large scale and generalisable
functional prerequisites theory
- basic needs must be met for a society to survive
- all social phenomena has a fucntion just like the human body
- GAIL model explains his idea of functional prerequisites:
Goal attainment -> instrumental needs
Adaptation -> instrumental needs
Integration -> expressive needs
Latency -> expressive needs
