Theories: Functionalism Flashcards
Who put forward many of the key ideas of Functionalism?
Durkheim - 19th century.
Who developed Functionalism as a systematic theory of society?
Parsons in the mid-20th century, his theory became the dominant school of thought in sociology in the 1950s and 60s in America.
What is Functionalism?
- Macro, structural, consensus theory.
- Focuses on the needs of the social system as a whole, how these needs shape the main features of society.
- Sees society as based on an agreement among its members about values, norms, and rules.
What type of theory is Functionalism?
Modernist theory - shares the goals of the Enlightenment project, believing we can obtain true knowledge of the functioning of society and this knowledge can be used to improve society.
What analogy do Functionalists use to describe society?
The organic analogy which likens society to a biological organism.
What are the three similarities Parsons identifies between society and a biological organism?
- System
- System needs
- Functions
What does Parsons mean by system (organic analogy)?
Organisms and societies are both self-regulating systems of interrelated interdependent parts that fit together in fixed ways. In a society the parts are institutions, individual roles e.c.t, in the body they are organs and cells.
What does Parsons mean by system needs (organic analogy)?
Organisms and societies have needs that need to be met for them to survive. Organisms need food. In society, members must be socialised if society is to continue.
Give an example of how the institutions of society are interdependent:
Family as a supportive feature to improve school.
What does Parsons mean by functions (organic analogy)?
The function of any part of a system is the contribution it makes to meeting the system’s needs and thus ensuring its survival. The circulatory system carries blood around the body. The economy of a society helps maintain the social system by meeting the need for food and shelter.
What is a culture?
A set of norms, values, beliefs and goals shared by members of society. It provides a framework that allows individuals to cooperate by having rules about how others should behave and what is expected of them, defining goals they should pursue e.c.t.
How does Parsons argue social order is achieved?
Through the existence of a shared culture.
Value consensus
When society agrees on norms and values. According to Durkheim and Parsons social order is only possible when a value consensus exists.
How does a value consensus make social order possible?
By integrating individuals into the social system, thus directing them towards meeting the systems needs.
What are the two mechanisms for ensuring individuals conform and meet the systems needs according to Parsons?
- Socialisation
- Social Control
Socialisation (Parsons mechanisms of conformity)
This involves teaching individuals to want to do what the system requires of them. Through socialisation, individuals internalise the system norms and values so society becomes a part of their personality structure.
What contributes to the Socialisation process?
Different agencies of socialisation such as the family, the education system, media, and religion.
Social Control (Parsons mechanisms of conformity)
This involves positive sanctions being given to those who conform and negative sanctions to punish those who deviate. Society stresses individual achievement through educational success ao those who conform are rewarded with qualifications, those who do not are stigmatised.
Why society is viewed as stable by functionalists?
Individuals are integrated, through socialisation and social control, into a shared value system, their behaviour is orientated towards pursuing society’s shared goals and meeting its needs. Thus, the behaviour of each individual will be predictable and stable, allowing cooperation.,
What is the ‘building block approach’ to society?
Bottom to Top:
Individual actions: the actions we perform are governed by specific norms or rules.
These norms come in ‘clusters’ called status roles (father).
Status roles come in clusters known as institutions (family).
Related institutions are grouped together into subsystems (Socialisation).
These subsystems come together to make the social system as a whole.
What are Statuses?
The positions that exist in a social system e.g. lawyer, mother.
What are Status-Roles?
The specific set of norms or values, and behavioural roles associated with a status. E.g. teachers must not show favourites, and be subject specialists.
What are the 4 basic needs of society according to Parsons (GAIL - Model):
- Goal Attainment
- Adaptation
- Integration
- Latency
Each need is met by a separate sub-system of institutions.
Parsons GAIL Model:
Goal Attainment
Society needs to set goals and allocate resources to achieve them. This is the function of the political subsystem through institutions such as parliament.
Parsons GAIL Model:
Adaptation
Society meets its members’ material needs through the economic subsystem.
Parsons GAIL Model:
Intergration
The different parts of the system must be integrated together to pursue shared goals. That is the role of religion, education, and the media.
Parsons GAIL Model:
Latency
This refers to processes that maintain society over time. This is the role of the family. They do this by providing: Pattern maintenance, Tension management.
What is Pattern Maintenance (Parsons - Latency)?
Socialising individuals to go on performing the roles society requires.
What is Tension Management (Parsons - Latency)?
Being a place to allow individuals to ‘let off steam from the stresses of work’.
Instrumental needs (Parsons GAIL Model):
Goal Attainment and adaptation are instrumental needs . They are material needs that need to be met to ensure survival - a means to an end. E.g the need to be fed, the need to have a home.
Expressive needs (Parsons GAIL Model):
Integration and latency are expressive needs. They are emotional needs that need to be met to ensure individuals can perform their role as well as possible. For example, the need for belonging.
What are the two types of society Parson identifies?
- Traditional Society
- Modern Society
Parsons - Traditional Society
Collective needs take priority; status is ascribed; standards are particularistic.
Parsons - Modern Society
Individual needs take priority; status is achieved; standards are universal.
How does society change gradually according to Parsons?
Through an evolutionary process and structural differentiation. Change occurs through a moving equilibrium. As change occurs in one part of society, it produces compensatory change in another part.
What is structural differentiation?
The gradual process in which separate, functionally specialised institutions develop, each meeting a different need. E.g. In traditional society the family provided all functions of the GAIL model, but in modern society these functions are individually met by specific institutions.
Merton (1968)
Criticises 3 key assumptions of Parsons - Indispensability, Functional Unity, and Universal Functionalism.
What is the central point behind Merton’s (1968) criticism of Parsons?
That we cannot simply assume, as Parson does, that society is a smooth-running, well-integrated system.
Indispensability - Merton (1968)
Parsons assumes everything in society is functionally essential in its current form. Merton argues this is an untested assumption, and points to the possibility that there are ‘functional alternatives’.
Indispensability - Merton (1968)
EXAMPLE
It is assumed that the nuclear family performs primary socialisation most effectively, however it may be that lone parent families do it just as well or better.
Functional Unity - Merton (1968)
Parsons assumes all parts of society are tightly integrated and that each part is functional for the rest. Also assumes a change in one part of society automatically causes a change in another. Yet, modern societies are complex and have many parts, some of which may only be distantly related. Some parts of society have functional autonomy from others.
What is functional autonomy?
The functional independence of one social institution form another.
Universal Functionalism - Merton (1968)
Parsons assumes everything in society performs a positive function for society as a whole. However some things are functional for certain groups and dysfunctional for others - doesn’t account for conflict within society.
Merton (1968) - Parsons failed distinction
Criticises Parsons for failing to recognise the distinction between manifest functions (Intended functions) and latent functions (unintended functions) of society.
Merton (1968) - Manifest and Latent Functions
EXAMPLE
A hospital has the manifest function of dispensing healthcare but the latent function that it provides the people who work there with a means to meet their future partners and form relationships.
What does teleological mean?
Things being explained in relation to their purpose. The idea that things exist because of their effect or function, not their cause.
How is Functionalism teleological?
It explains the family needs exists because children need to be socialised - but this is the effect, it does not explain the cause. Critics argue that a real explanation of something is one that identifies its cause and a cause must come before its effect.
How do conflict theories criticise functionalism?
Conflict theories criticise functionalism for its inability to explain conflict and change. Marxists and feminists argue society isn’t harmonious, but based on conflicting ideas and unequal power. Stability is simply the result of dominant groups preventing change. Conflict theorists see functionalism as a conservative ideology that legitimises the status quo.
Wrong (1961)
Criticises Functionalism’s deterministic view that individuals have no free will and are merely puppets whose strings are pulled by the social system.
Action Perspective criticisms of Functionalist Theory:
Argue that individuals create society by their interactions, rather than being puppets of the social system. Believe society is not a distinct ‘thing’ over and above individuals, do not view society as having an independent existence.
Postmodernist criticisms of Functionalist Theory:
Argue that the meta-narrative of functionalism cannot account for the diversity and instability in today’s postmodern society because it assumes society is stable and orderly.
Strengths of Functionalist Theory:
- Shows how institutions have positive and interrelated functions.
- Shows how institutions adapt and change over time.
- Explains the increasingly specialised functions of each institution.
- General theory of the workings of society.
- Provides explanation for social order and stability, why most people generally conform to the rules of social life.
What does falsifiable mean?
The capacity to prove some proposition, statement, theory, or hypothesis wrong.
What does determinism mean?
A social theory which believes people are puppets of society, lacking in free will, with an inability to act on their own devices.
What is a meta-narrative?
A big overarching macro narrative that can be applied ro everyone.
