BL

Functionalism

🌍 KEY AREAS/THEMES

  • Structural Consensus Theory 🤝

  • Value Consensus 🎯

  • Social Solidarity and Social Order 🌈

  • Organic Analogy 🌿

  • Agents of Socialisation 👨‍👩‍👦

  • Culture (Pre-Industrial and Modern society) 📚

1. 📊 STRUCTURAL CONSENSUS APPROACH
Value Consensus, Social Solidarity and Social Order
Functionalism Overview:

  • Structural approach (top-down/macro) for understanding society.

  • Emile Durkheim posits that society's culture supersedes individual influence.

  • Society exists prior to individual existence and continues beyond individual death.

Social Order:

  • Societies characterized by order rather than chaos or anarchy.

  • Individual behaviors are generally ordered, predictable, and patterned.

  • Achieved through value consensus; shared cultural values, goals, and norms unify society.

Main Function of Society:

  • Provides essential similarities for cooperation, order, and unity.

    • Example: Majority of individuals are law-abiding and aspire for educational and social success.

Value Consensus:

  • Integrates individuals into society, fostering social order.

  • Ensures individuals pursue shared goals and meet society's functional prerequisites (e.g., economic productivity).

Talcott Parsons' Mechanisms for Conformity:

  1. Socialization:

    • Teaches individuals to internalize societal norms and values, forming part of their identity.

    • Influenced by agents like family, education, and religion.

  2. Social Control:

    • Rewards conformity (e.g., educational achievements) and penalizes deviance.

Evaluations of Key Area 1

  • Interactionist View:

    • Individuals actively construct meanings rather than passively consume societal values.

  • Marxist Perspective:

    • Society is based on class conflict, with ruling class ideology imposed on workers for exploitation.

  • Radical Feminists:

    • Society operates on patriarchal values, systematically oppressing women.

  • Postmodernist Argument:

    • Society fragmented into individual value systems rather than a unified values agreement.

2. 🌱 ORGANIC ANALOGY
Durkheim's Analogy:

  • Society functions like a human body; interrelated parts work together.

  • Examples of body parts and their societal functions:

    • Lungs = Religion

    • Heart = Family

    • Liver = Government

Functional Prerequisites:

  • Basic needs for societal functioning, similar to bodily functions.

  • Institutions like family and education meet these needs, ensuring societal stability.

Evaluations of Key Area 2

  • Marxist Critique:

    • Institutions disseminate ruling class values rather than serving the general populace.

  • Feminist Insight:

    • Disagreement on whether societal values benefit all members equally, suggesting systemic patriarchy.

3. 📚 THE AGENTS OF SOCIALISATION
THE ROLE OF THE FAMILY

  • Functionalist Belief:

    • Nuclear family as an ideal structure for effective socialization of children.

    • Primary socialization critical for adapting to societal norms and culture.

  • Parsons' Perspective:

    • Family acts as a 'Personality Factory', shaping children into societal roles.

    • Emphasis on identification with same-sex adults for role modeling.

Evaluations of Functionalist Views on Family

  • New Right:

    • Support functionalist views but raise concerns about nuclear family breakdown.

  • Interactionists:

    • Critique passive view of socialization; emphasize the negotiated and active nature of the process.

  • Marxist View:

    • Argue familial socialization promotes dominant class values, leading to class oppression.

  • Radical Feminists:

    • Critique primary socialization processes for perpetuating patriarchal roles.

THE ROLE OF EDUCATION

  • Functionalists:

    • Education transmits shared cultural values, promotes conformity.

    • Subjects connect individuals to society, fostering collective norms.

Evaluations of Functionalist Views on Education

  • Marxist Critique:

    • Education legitimizes dominant ideologies rather than promoting equality.

  • Interactionist Perspective:

    • Education is an active negotiation rather than a passive acceptance of norms.

  • Radical Feminists:

    • Education reinforces patriarchal systems rather than promoting social solidarity.

4. 🌍 KEY AREA 3: CULTURE ACROSS DIFFERENT SOCIETIES
Culture in Pre-Industrial Societies

  • Durkheim's View:

    • Social institutions socializing individuals into cultural values.

    • High cultural conformity with rare conflict, resulting in strong social solidarity.

    • Characterized by mechanical solidarity; individuals similar in status.

Culture in Modern Societies

  • Industrial Societies:

    • More complex than pre-industrial; industrialization dilutes value consensus.

    • Emergence of anomie; individuals act independently, prioritizing personal interests over societal norms.

    • Dependence on one another reinforces social order despite weaker bonds.

Evaluations of Key Area 3

  • Critique of Overemphasis:

    • Social conflict often overlooked in Functionalist perspectives.

  • Interactionist Argument:

    • Individuals play an active role in shaping culture, not just passive recipients.

  • Feminist and Marxist Critiques:

    • Disagreement on cultural value consensus; focus on conflicts and patriarchal oppression.