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Sociology: Theories > Functionalism: Society as a system > Flashcards

Functionalism: Society as a system Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the three similarities that Parsons identifies between society and a biological organism?

A
  • system
  • system needs
  • functions
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2
Q

How are society and a biological organism both a system?

A
  • both self-regulating systems of inter-dependent and inter-related parts that fit together in fixed ways
  • in society, these parts are the institutions
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3
Q

How do society and a biological organism both have system needs?

A
  • functionalists view the social system as having needs to be met ie. members must be socialised
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4
Q

How do both society and a biological organism have functions?

A
  • the function of any part of a system is the contribution it makes to the meeting of the system’s needs
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5
Q

How does Parsons answer his big question ‘how is social order possible/ achieved’?

A
  • achieved through the existence of a shared culture/ central value system
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6
Q

What function does the shared culture serve?

A
  • allows individuals to cooperate by laying down rules about how they should behave, defining the goals they should aspire to etc.
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7
Q

What is the basic function of the value consensus? (give an example)

A
  • to make social order possible by integrating individuals into the social system and directing them towards meeting the systems’ needs
    ie. system has to ensure people are fed, the consensus is the need to work, to achieve this goal there are set rules/ norms eg. punctuality
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8
Q

What are the two mechanisms that Parsons identifies that the system has for ensuring people conform to shared norms and meet the system’s needs?

A
  • socialisation

- social control

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9
Q

What happens in the socialisation process?

A
  • individuals internalise the system’s norms and values so that society becomes a part of their personality structure
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10
Q

Give examples of agencies of socialisation that contribute

A
  • family
  • education system
  • media
  • religion
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11
Q

How does social control work?

A
  • positive sanctions reward conformity

- negative sanctions punish deviance

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12
Q

Because each individual is integrated into a shared value system, what is their behaviour? what does this allow?

A
  • relatively predictable and stable, allowing cooperation between them
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13
Q

What are the ‘building blocks’ of Parsons’ model of the social system?

A
  • bottom = individual actions
  • each action governed by specific norms/ rules
  • norms come in ‘clusters’ called status-roles
  • status-roles also come in ‘clusters’ called institutions
  • related institutions grouped into sub-systems
  • sub-systems makeup social system
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14
Q

What is the name for the 4 needs of society that Parsons identifies?

A
  • AGIL Schema
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15
Q

How is each need of society met?

A
  • a sub-system of institutions
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16
Q

What are the 4 needs of society that Parsons identifies?

A
  • adaptation
  • goal attainment
  • integration
  • latency
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17
Q

Expand on the need of adaptation (whose role to fulfil this is it?)

A
  • social system meets its members’ material needs through the economic sub-system
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18
Q

Expand on the need of goal attainment (whose role to fulfil this is it?)

A
  • society needs to set goals and allocate resources

- function of the political sub-system

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19
Q

Expand on the need of integration (whose role to fulfil this is it?)

A
  • different parts of system must be integrated to pursue shared goals
  • role of sub-system of religion, education and media
20
Q

Expand on the need of latency (whose role to fulfil this is it?)

A
  • processes that maintain society over time

- kinship sub-system provides pattern maintenance and tension management

21
Q

What does Parsons describe adaptation and goal attainment as?

A
  • instrumental needs
22
Q

What does Parsons describe integration and latency as?

A
  • expressive needs
23
Q

Parsons identifies traditional and modern society - what are the set of norms that modern has?

A
  • pursue individual self-interest
  • achieve our status
  • all judged by same universalistic standards
24
Q

Parsons identifies traditional and modern society - what are the set of norms that traditional had?

A
  • put collective interests first
  • status is ascribed
  • judged by particularistic standards
25
Q

How does Parsons describe how societies change over time?

A
  • a gradual, evolutionary process of increasing complexity and structural differentiation
26
Q

Society has moved from simple to complex structures, in traditional society how many institutions were there?

A
  • in traditional society, a single institution (kinship system)
27
Q

What functions did the kinship system provide?

A
  • organises production and consumption (adaptation)
  • provides political leadership (goal attainment)
  • socialises its members (latency)
  • performs religious functions (integration)
28
Q

As societies develop, what does the kinship system lose these functions?

A
  • factories
  • political parties
  • schools
  • churches
29
Q

What does Parsons call this process of separate, functionally specialised institutions developing?

A
  • structural differentiation
30
Q

Merton’s internal critique of functionalism

Merton criticises three assumptions of Parsons - what are these three?

A
  • indispensability
  • functional unity
  • universal functionalism
31
Q

Merton’s internal critique of functionalism

How does Merton critique Parsons’ assumption of indispensability?

A
  • assumes everything in society is functionally indispensable in its existing form
  • untested assumption
  • possibility of ‘functional alternatives’ eg. assumes nuclear family is best but single parents might do just as well
32
Q

Merton’s internal critique of functionalism

How does Merton critique Parsons’ assumption of functional unity?

A
  • assumes all parts of society are tightly integrated into a single whole ‘unity’ and each part is functional for the rest
  • assumes a change in one part will have a ‘knock-on effect’
  • however, complex societies have many parts, some of which are only distantly ‘related’ - some parts may have ‘functional autonomy’
33
Q

Merton’s internal critique of functionalism

How does Merton critique Parsons’ assumption of universal functionalism?

A
  • assumes everything in society performs a positive function for society as a whole
  • some things may be functional for some and not others
  • neglected in functionalism - conflicts of interest, inequality (keeping arrangements in place to the detriment of others)
34
Q

Manifest and latent functions
Merton uses the example of the Hopi Indians’ rain dance to distinguish between manifest and latent functions. How does Merton use this to reveal hidden connections between social phenomena?

A
  • action has an intended function (manifest)
  • ritual may have an unintended function (latent) ie. promoting solidarity
  • actors may not be aware of this function
35
Q

External critiques

What are the 4 areas of criticism?

A
  • logical criticisms
  • conflict perspective criticisms
  • action perspective criticisms
  • postmodernist criticisms
36
Q

External critiques - logical criticisms

How could functionalism be said to be teleological?

A
  • explains the existence of social phenomena due to their effect or function
  • real explanation of something is one that identifies the cause
37
Q

External critiques - logical criticisms

How could functionalism be critiqued for being unscientific?

A
  • theory is only scientific if its principle can be falsified which this cannot be
  • eg. sees deviance as both dysfunctional and functional
38
Q

External critiques - conflict perspective criticisms

How would Marxists critique functionalism?

A
  • society is not a harmonious whole
  • based on exploitation and divided into class with inequality and conflicting power
  • ‘stability’ is the result of the RC preventing change via force/ ideological manipulation
39
Q

External critiques - conflict perspective criticisms

Functionalism could be described as a conservative ideology. How could this be a criticism?

A
  • focuses on harmony and stability
  • helps to justify the existing social order
  • legitimates privileged position of powerful groups
40
Q

External critiques - action perspective criticisms

Why does Wrong describe functionalism as ‘over-socialised’ or deterministic?

A
  • assumes individuals have no free will or choice

- action theorists see society as created by individuals through their actions

41
Q

External critiques - action perspective criticisms

How could a criticism be made that functionalism ‘reifies society’?

A
  • treats it as its own distinct ‘thing’ over and above individuals
  • society is not a thing ‘out there’ with its own independent existence
42
Q

External critiques - postmodernist criticisms

Why do postmodernists criticise the fact that functionalists view society as stable and orderly?

A
  • cannot account for the diversity and instability in postmodern society
43
Q

External critiques - postmodernist criticisms

Why do postmodernists critique functionalism on the basis that it is a meta-narrative?

A
  • such an overall theory is no longer possible because society is increasingly fragmented
44
Q

What are the different sections of the functionalist perspective?

A

Organic analogy

  • system
  • system needs
  • functions

Value consensus and social order

Integration of individuals

  • socialisation
  • social control

The parts of the social system

The systems’ needs - AGIL schema

  • adaptation
  • goal attainment
  • integration
  • latency

Social change

45
Q

What are the different sections of criticism?

A

Merton’s internal critique of functionalism

  • indispensability
  • functional unity
  • universal functionalism
  • manifest and latent functions

External critiques

  • logical
  • conflict perspective
  • action perspective
  • postmodernist

Sociology: Theories (15 decks)

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