✅Functionalist Sociologists

Question 1

What are the two quotes you need to remember

Answer 1

1. “Even in a society of saints a distinction would be made between what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour”
2. “Because there are differences between people, there will always be those who step over the boundary of acceptable behaviour.”

Question 2

Who is the main influence on functionalist sociology and when?

Answer 2

Origins lay in the work of the french sociologist Emile Durkheim, who wrote in the late 19th centuary

Question 3

What did Durkheim argue about social organisation?

Answer 3

Deviance and crime can only be explained by looking at the way societies are socially organised (social structures) not by evil or poor parenting etc

Question 4

What type of theory is functionalism

Answer 4

A structuralist, positivist, consensus theory

Question 5

What does functionalism being positivist mean?

Answer 5

They see human behaviour (criminal) as being shaped by social forces of social facts beyond the control of the individual, social forces propel particular individuals (perhaps against their will) into a life of crime.