Structural-Functional Theory

Question 1

Structural- Functional theory aka Functionalism

Answer 1

• sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the individuals in that society

Question 2

Came from?

Answer 2

• Herbert Spencer
• he saw similarities between society and the human body
  -organ and body analogy
  –>the various parts of society work together to keep society functioning

Question 3

Social institutions

Answer 3

• the “parts of society” Spencer refers to
  -: or patterns of beliefs and behaviors focused on meeting social needs (government, education, family, healthcare, religion, and the economy)

Question 4

Emile Durkheim

Answer 4

-applied Spencer’s theory,
^ to explain how societies change and survive over time
-believed that society is a complex system of interrelated and interdependent parts that work together to maintain stability AND the society is held together by shared values, languages, and symbols

Question 5

Social Facts {Emile D.}

Answer 5

-Durkheim believed that individuals may make up society, but in order to study society, sociologist have to look beyond individuals to social facts

-: are the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life
^each serves one or more functions within a society

ex)one function of a society’s laws may be to protect society from violence, while another is to punish criminal behavior, while another is to preserve public safety

Question 6

Emile Durkheim’s Suicide

Answer 6

• he was interested in studying the social factors that affect it
• he studied social ties (social solidarity) AND hypothesized that differences in suicide rates might be explained by religion based differences

-Findings:
Found differences based on religion–>
Protestants were more likely to commit suicide than Catholics in his society,
^his work on this topic demonstrated the utility of theory for sociological research

Question 7

Robert Merton (1910-2003)

Answer 7

-strucural functionalist
- pointed out that social processes often have many functions
-Manifest and latent functions

Question 8

Manifest functions and Latent functions {Robert Merton}

Answer 8

-Manifest: are the consequences of a social process that are sought or anticipated

-Latent: are the unsought consequences of a social process
*these can be beneficial, neutral or harmful

sought/anticipated OR unsought

Question 9

Example of Manifest and latent functions: College

Answer 9

Manifest functions:
of college education includes gaining knowledge, preparing for a career, & finding a good job that utilizes that education

Latent functions:
of your college years includes meeting new people, participating in extracurricular activities, or even finding a spouse or partner

OR
is creating a hierahry of employment based on the level of education attained

Question 10

Dysfunctions

Answer 10

-:social processes that have undesirable consequences for the operation of society

ex) in education it includes getting bad grades, truancy, dropping out, not graduation, and not finding suitable employment

Question 11

CRITICISM

Answer 11

• it can’t adequately explain social change
  -the circular nature of this theory
  ^ repetitive behavior patterns are assumed to have a function yet we profess to know that they have a function only bc they are repeated
  -dysfunctions may continue, even though they don’t serve a function (this seemingly contradicts the basic premise of the theory)

=resulting in sociologist believing functionalism is no longer useful as a macro-level theory, but mid-level analyses