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sociology A-level year 12 > 🎅🏼Functionalism theories > Flashcards

🎅🏼Functionalism theories Flashcards

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1
Q

3 main facts about functionalism

A
  • macro level of analysis
  • structural- top-down approach
  • looks at how society controls its people
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2
Q

Functionalism

What was Durkheim concerned with

A

He was concerned by the rapid social change, from a traditional society with a simple social structure to a more complex modern society

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3
Q

Functionalism

What do functionalists use to compare society with

A

Organic analogy to compare society to the human body

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4
Q

Functionalism

What 3 similarities did Parsons identify between society and a biological organism

A
  • system
  • system needs
  • functions
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5
Q

Functionalism- organic analogy

Explain system

A

Organisms, such as the human body and societies are both self-regulating systems of inter-related, interdependent parts

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6
Q

Functionalism- organic analogy

Explain system needs

A

Organisms have needs that must be met in order to survive

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7
Q

Functionalism- organic analogy

Explain functions

A

The function of any part of a system is the contribution that is makes to meeting the system’s needs and thus ensuring survival

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8
Q

Functionalism

For Parsons, how is social order achieved

A

Through the shared culture- a central value system which creates a value consensus. It does this by integrating individuals into the social system, thereby directing them to meet the system’s needs

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9
Q

Functionalism

What are the 2 mechanisms for ensuring that individuals conform to shared norms and meet the system’s needs, argued by Parsons

A

1) Socialisation

2) Social control

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10
Q

Functionalism- mechanisms to meet society’s needs

Explain socialisation

A

Individuals do what is expected of them by internalising the system’s norms and values so that society becomes part of their personality structure- different agencies of socialisation all contribute to this process

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11
Q

Functionalism- mechanisms to meet society’s needs

Explain social control

A

Individuals who conform to society’s norms and values are rewarded with positive sanctions, while those who deviate are punished with negative sanctions. Therefore, because individuals are integrated, through socialisation and social control into a shared value system, their behaviour will be relatively predictable, stable and cooperative

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12
Q

The system’s needs: AGIL schema

What does Parsons argue about the AGIL schema

A

That the system has 4 basic needs: the AGIL schema and each need is met by a separate sub-system of institutions

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13
Q

The system’s needs: AGIL schema

What are the 4 parts to the AGIL schema

A
  • adaptation
  • goal attainment
  • integration
  • latency
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14
Q

The system’s needs: AGIL schema

Explain adaptation

A

The social system meets its members’ material needs through the economic sub-system

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15
Q

The system’s needs: AGIL schema

Explain goal attainment

A

Society needs to set goals and allocate resources to achieve them. This is the function of the political sub-system, through institutions such as parliament

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16
Q

The system’s needs: AGIL schema

Explain integration

A

The different parts of the system must be integrated together to pursue shared goals. This is the role of the sub-system of religion

17
Q

The system’s needs: AGIL schema

Explain latency

A

Refers to processes that maintain society over time. The kinship sub-system provides pattern maintenance and tension management

(Family)

18
Q

The system’s needs: AGIL schema

What type of needs are adaptation and gaol attainment

A

Instrumental needs (means to an end)

19
Q

The system’s needs: AGIL schema

What type of needs are integration and latency

A

Expressive needs (channeling of emotions)

-society needs to work emotionally to satisfy people’s needs

20
Q

Social change

What are traditional societies based on

A

Ascribed status, norms and particularistic collective orientation and immediate gratification is emphasised

21
Q

Social change

What are modern societies based on

A

Achieved status, norms and more universalistic and individualism and deferred gratification is emphasised

22
Q

Social change

For Parsons, what is change

A

Change is a gradual, evolutionary process of increasing complexity and structural differentiation

23
Q

Social change

How has the family changed

A

In a traditional society, a single institution e.g. the family performs many functions. However, as society develops, the family may lose some of these functions to new specialised institutions. This is structural differentiation

24
Q

Social change

What is structural differentiation

A

A gradual process in which separate, functionally specialised institutions develop, each meeting a different need.

25
Q

Social change

How does gradual change occur by what process

A

Gradual change occurs through moving equilibrium: as a change occurs in one part of the system, it produces compensatory changes in other parts

26
Q

Internal evaluation

What does Merton argue

A

That Parsons is wrong to assume that society is always a smooth running, well integrated system. He criticises three key assumptions made by Parsons

27
Q

Internal evaluation

What are the three key assumptions that Merton criticises from Parsons’ work

A
  • indispensability
  • functionality unity
  • universal functionalism
28
Q

Internal evaluation

Explain indispensability

A

Parsons sees everything in society as functionally indispensable in its existing form. Merton argues that this is an untested assumption and that there may be ‘functional alternatives’

29
Q

Internal evaluation

Explain functionality unity

A

According to Parsons, all parts of society are tightly integrated into a single whole, so a change in one part affects all other parts. However, complex modern societies have many parts, some of which may be only distantly ‘related’ to one another and mat have ‘functional autonomy’ from others

30
Q

Internal evaluation

Explain universal functionalism

A

For Parsons, everything in society performs a positive function for society as a whole. Yet some things like poverty may be functional for some groups and dysfunctional for others

31
Q

What does Merton make a distinction between

A

Manifest (intended) and latent (unintended) functions: this distinction helps to reveal the hidden connections between social phenomena that the actors themselves may be unaware of.

32
Q

What are the 4 external evaluation points

A

1) logical criticisms: teleology and unfalsifiability
2) conflict perspective criticisms
3) action perspective criticisms
4) postmodern criticisms

33
Q

external evaluation points

Explain logical criticisms (2)

A

(A) Teleology- is the idea that a thing exists because of its purpose or function. For example, functionalism claims that the family exists to socialise children- it explains the existence of the family in terms of its effect
(B) unfalsifiability: Functionalism is unscientific because its claims are not falsifiable by testing. It sees deviance as both dysfunctional and functional- something which could never be disproved

34
Q

external evaluation points

Explain conflict perspective criticisms

A

Marxists argue that ‘shared’ values are not agreed but imposed on society in the interests of the dominant class. Conflict theorists see functionalism as a conservative ideology legitimating the status quo; e.g. assumptions of ‘indispensability’ help to justify the existing social order as inevitable and desirable

35
Q

external evaluation points

Explain action perspective criticisms

A

Wrong criticises functionalism’s ‘over-socialised’ or deterministic view of individuals in which they have no free will or choice- they are puppets whose strings are pulled by the social system

36
Q

external evaluation points

Explain postmodernist criticisms

A

PMs argue that functionalism cannot account for the diversity and instability that exist in today’s society. Functionalism is an example of a metanarrative of ‘big story’ that attempts to create a model of the workings of society as a whole. Such an overall theory is no longer possible because today’s society is increasingly fragmented

sociology A-level year 12 (20 decks)

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