Functionalism

Functionalism

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) FUNCTIONALIST
1. Said the role of social institutions was to pass on socially accepted patterns of behaviour through:
  1. Socialising people into the key norms and values of society through family, education and media
  2. Shared Values and Norms give an almost sacred quality through religion and law
  3. Social solidarity& integration: sense of community & belonging e.g. teaching & history
  4. Control Behaviour: reminding society of normality and defiance through the government & policing
See order and consensus as the key to understanding society and running it successfully
1. Without Consensus Functionlists believe we would have chaos & anarchy
A Structuralist Theory
1. Sees individuals as less important than the social structure
2. "Top-down society"
  1. Sees society as a whole, not individuals in it
3. Sees people as a product of social institutions
  1. Family & Friends
  2. Education
  3. Religion
  4. Media
  5. Work
  6. Leisure
  7. They bring about patterns of social behaviour (social order)
Social Order
1. Believe social institutions work together to keep society going
  1. Economic System (work)
  2. Political System
  3. Cultural System
    1. mass media
    2. education
    3. religion
    4. youth culture
  4. Family & Kinship
CRITISISMS
1. Over emphasises consensus & order, fails to explain social conflict & differences due to subcultures
2. Ignores freedom of choice of individuals
3. Views socialisation as always successful, so why do we have deliquents?
4. Behaviours and social norms change e.g. homosexuality & working mothers are normal
5. Marxists say that they ignore the fact that power is not evenly distributed
  1. Feminists say that men have the power (patriarchal society)
6. This theory declined in popularity in the 1950s

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