Functionalist theory - Consensus theory

Question 1

Durkheim

Answer 1

believed that people in society are slaves to social facts - constrained by the power of society’s institutions.
- Morality is a social fact.
- Morality is shaped by the collective conscience - it forces people to form a social construct.
- We surrender individual freedom to benefit greater society, allowing social solidarity.
- rapid social change would create anomie
TRADITIONAL SOCIETIES
- mechanical social solidarity defines relationships between people.
MODERN SOCIETIES
- Organic social solidarity defines the relationship between people.
- individualism has weakened the bonds between individuals - people pursue their own ideas
- the risk of anomie is therefore higher.

Question 2

Talcott Parsons:
Society as a social system

Answer 2

compared human societies to the natural bodily organism - often referred to as organic analogy, e.g. the human body has vital organs, which is represented as vital institutions in society.
> the human body has basic needs for survival, for example water, sleep and food. this is replicated in human societies, for example a healthy economy, stable family life and education is needed.
>the immune system is represented as the criminal justice system - as they fight problems.
> healthy societies have the ability to adapt to change - in a slow way, sudden change causes anomie.
EVAL - the comparison between human society and human body, biologists are able to know what vitamins and minerals.

Question 3

Evaluating Functionalism

Answer 3

> accused of overlooking how stability in society is the product of ruling class control and power preventing change, rather than through genuine value consensus.
accused of being conservative, resisting change and preventing society from moving forward, seeing the past as the ‘golden age’.
post-modernists claim that functionalism is out-dated now.