Functionalism

• What is functionalism?


  • Structural Theory - functionalists believe that our norms and values are shaped by the society around us.
  • Consensus Theory - functionalists believe society works well because we all strive towards similar to goals and societies institutions are interdependent on one another.
• What is the organic analogy?

  • (Durkheim) - compared society to a living organism with institutions making up the society comparing them to organs in a body - interdependent on one another.
• What is Social Cohesion?

  • The extent to which people in society are bound together in common purpose.
• What is Social Control?

  • Social Control - The extent to which people are prevented from behaving in a deviant manor.
• What do functionalists believe social cohesion & social control do for society?

  • Functionalists believe that Social Cohesion & Social Control work together in balance in order to keep society running well and avoiding anomie.
• How do functionalists believe you integrate into the social system?

  • Functionalists believe that people are integrated into the social system of society via socialisation to the norms and values of society.
• What is Value consensus?

  • Value Consensus is the belief that society has a set of norms and values and that these norms and values must be followed by all in society in order to uphold and maintain society.
• What is social control?

  • Social Control is the belief that negative sanctions are applied to someone if they do not comply with societies norms and values e.g criminal convictions and or being made an outcast.
• What are the conflict perspective criticisms of functionalism?

  • Conflict theorists criticise functionalism for not being able to explain conflict and change within society, and note than any stability in society comes from the dominant class preventing change through ideological manipulation.
  • They also criticise functionalism for justifying the status-quo and believing it is the desirable and inevitable way of society to be run despite the imbalance of wealth and power within society.
• What are the Action Perspective criticisms of functionalism?

  • Action theorists such as Wrong criticise functionalism as they believe it is too deterministic and is wrong to believe that people have no free choice in what they do.
  • Action theorists believe that individuals create society rather than society being something which controls people.
• What are the postmodernism criticisms of society?

  • Postmodernists criticise functionalism for not being able to explain the diversity & instability that exists within today’s society.
  • Postmodernists believe that functionalism is just a story which attempts to explain society, but only explains it from one point of view so functionalism cannot be an objective truth.
• What is Social solidarity?

  • Social solidarity is a sense of unity And shared values among individuals in a society.
  • Functionalists like Durkheim believed that social solidarity was crucial for societal stability and for people to feel integrated and connected to the larger community.
• What are functional prerequisites?

  • The things that are absaloutely needed by people e.g food & water.
  • Functionalists would argue that functional prerequisites are needed to keep people going and therefore institutions and society.
• What are Parson’s 4 Functional prerequisites?

  • Parson’s believed that in order for society to survive, four problems must be solved to survive:
  • INSTRUMENTAL NEEDS:
  • G - Goal Attainment - society set goals and allocates resources to achieve them.
  • A - Adaptation - material needs provided by an economy.
  • EXPRESSIVE NEEDS:
  • I - integration - All societies need a legal system that protects the social system from breaking down.
  • L - Latency/ pattern maintenance - institutions like the family and education maintains society over time
• Who are the key functionalists?

  • Durkheim - biological anatomy, argues that we can obtain true knowledge of the functioning of society and this knowledge can be used to improve society.
  • Parsons - 4 Functional prerequisites, keeps maintaining society.
• What are the strengths of functionalism?

  • It focuses on stability and how society works well together because of institutions working interdependently.
  • It is a reasonably successful attempt to produce a theory of the workings of society.
  • Provides an explanation for social order and stability and why most people conform to the rules of social life.
  • It recognises the importance of social structure in understanding society, and how it constrains individual behaviour and how the major social institutions often have links between them.
• What are the weaknesses of functionalism?

  • Not all institutions always work-together (banking, religion etc.)
  • Society doesn’t always stick together
  • It ignores freedom of choice - and presents an over-socialised picture.
  • Marxists would argue that power has not been equally distributed throughout society.
  • Where is the consensus And harmony in society? - It over emphasises consensus and order and ignores conflicts that happen.
  • Functionalists view socialisation as a positive process that never fails- What about the social problems we have in society?