1. Functionalism

Created by: Amy Parkinson
Created on: 10-05-15 10:13

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Functionalism
- Society as a system
  - The human analogy; like the organs in the body, society's institutions must work effectively in order for it to function harmoniously as a whole
  - PARSONS
    - Social laws and order
      - Order is maintained through socialisation and agencies of social control
      - Agencies include the family, school, religion, work, peers and the media
    - Social sysems
      - There are individual actions at the bottom of the social system
      - Each action is governed by specific norms which come in clusters called status-roles
      - Status-roles also come in clusters called institutions which are in turn grouped into sub-systems
      - These sub-systems make up the social system
    - Functional imperatives
      - Society works as a system which has a number of functional imperatives
        1. Goal maintenance; the ability of society to set goals and allocate resources to achieve them
        
        2. Adaptation; the ability to adapt to new surroundings and continue to meet the needs of its members
        
        3. Integration; people and parts of the subsystem must be integrated together
        
        4. Latency; the ability to pass on shared culture and values to the next generation
      - In order to makes sure these needs are met societies evolve 4 distinct subsystems;
        Political (government, local council)
        
        Economic (business, banks)
        
        Cultural (school, religion)
        
        Kinship (family, friends)
    - Social evolution
      - Society is constantly working to maintain harmony
      - If there is a change in one part of society, others also change to maintain the balance; this is called homeostasis
      - This change takes one of 3 forms (AID);
        Adaptation; institutions restructure to perform their functions more effectively
        
        Inclusion; existing institutions take over new functions
        
        Division; new institutions evolve out of existing ones in order to address new needs
      - As society changes so must in values; from traditional values (pattern variables A) to modern variables (pattern variables B)
      - Without values changing, society cannot change
  - DURKHEIM
    - The value consensus regulates our behaviour
    - All modern societies face the risk of anomie
    - In pre-industrial society order was maintained through mechanical solidarity (based on similarity)
    - In industrial society, order is maintained through organic solidarity (based on difference)
    - Social evolution
      - Over times, society becomes more complex
      - As a result more institutions evolve and take over the functions of old ones
      - We move from a society with few institutions performing many functions to many institutions performing few functions
      - This is called structural differentiation
      - Eventually, each institution is left only performing its irreducible functions
- Merton's internal critique of functionalism
  - MERTON criticises PARSONS work on 3 grounds
  - Indispensability; PARSONS assumes that everything in society is functionally indispensable in its existing form. MERTON points to functional alternatives
  - Functional unity: PARSONS assumes that all parts of society are tightly integrated into a unity and that each part is functional for the rest. some institutions may have functional autonomy
  - Universal functionalism; PARSONS assumes that everything in society performs a positive function for society as a whole yet some things may be functional for some groups but dysfunctional for others
  - MERTON introduced the distinction between manifest and latent functions
    - Manifest functions are those identified by the group
      - E.g. the rain dance functions to make it rain
    - Latent functions are those that the institution actually performs
      - E.g. the function of the rain dance is actually to promote social solidarity
- External critiques of functionalism
  - Logical criticisms
    - Teleology is the idea that things exist because of their effect of function e.g. the family exists because children need to be socialised
      - However, there must be a cause before the effect and socialisation can only be the effect and therefore come after families which contrasts with functionalsm
    - However, there must be a cause before the effect and socialisation can only be the effect and therefore come after families which contrasts with functionalsm
    - It is unscientific; it is not falsifiable
  - Conflict perspective criticisms
    - It ignores class and gender inequalities
    - Society is not in fact a harmonious whole
  - Action perspective criticisms
    - WRONG
      - Functionalism is over-socialised and deterministic
    - Functionalism reifies society- that is, treats it as a distinct thing over and above individuals, with its own needs
  - Postmodernist criticisms
    - Functionalism assumes society is stable and ordered so cannot account for the diversity of today
    - Functionalism is a meta-narrative

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1. Functionalism

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