FUNCTIONALISM

Hoda Rafiee Seyed Shahab Miri

February 14th, 2012(Bahman 25th, 1390)

Sociology• Sociology is the scientific study of society

• Sociology is a social science which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activities.

Theory

• a formal set of ideas that is intended to explain why sth happens or exists (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 8th edition)

• is a hypothesis which is supported by observational evidences.

Sociological TheoryComes in a variety of shapes and sizes…

High-Level Theories

Mid-Range Theories

Low-Level Theories

Focus on trying to explain how and why society is ordered

Focus on trying to explain some general aspect of social behaviour

Focus on trying to explain a specific aspect of social behaviour.

Why do I always fall asleep in Psychology lessons?

Why do girls achieve higher educational qualifications than boys?

Functionalism…

Marxism…

Interactionism…

Feminism…

Functionalism…

“Society Is Like”: A Human Body

Characteristics of human body…

Characteristics of society…Each part of the body works in harmony with all other parts

Each part of society works in harmony with all other parts

Marxism…“Society Is Like”: A League Table

Characteristics of league table…

Characteristics of society…

A league is characterised by competition between teams

Society involves competition between social groups / classes

“Society Is Like”: A Play

Characteristics of a play…

Characteristics of society…A play has actors who play their individual roles

Society consists of individual actors who play a variety of roles

Interactionism…

Feminism…

“Society Is Like”: A League Table

Characteristics of league table…

Characteristics of society…

A league is characterised by competition between teams

Society involves competition between men and women

Post-Modernism…

“Society Is Like”: A Theme Park

Characteristics of theme park…

Characteristics of society…A theme park has numerous different rides

Society is characterised by a multiplicity of choices (work,

education, leisure, etc.)

Functionalism

Theorists

Functionalism is mainly associated with the work of two sociologists;

Émile Durkheim & Talcott Parsons

other sociologist who worked on this topic as well;

Herbert Spencer, Davis and Moore, Robert Merton and Almond and Powell.

Sociological theories always have to be understood in terms of the time in which they were developed

Emile Durkheim1858-1917

David Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.

For Durkheim key features of 19th century were:

Industrialisation - the specialised division of labour

..and the movement of people from country to city –urban life

Talcott Parsons 1902-1979

Talcott Parsons was an American sociologist who served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973.

For Parsons two particular things struck him about life in 1950s USA

The considerable affluence enjoyed by many

..and the vast scale of urban society

Downtown Los Angeles – early 1900s and 2010

THEORY

Both sociologists developed a view which focuses on the idea that societies

EVOLVE , grow or develop - a bit like living organisms

Societies are simply organised to start with, but

over time they grow and become more complex

Like an organism, societies have certain needs

These needs are called ‘functional

prerequisites’

All societies have these needs

– but they can achieve them in different ways

Systems are developed to meet the needs

An education system

A political system…..

.. And so on

The systems and the society are held together because everyone shares the

same values

There is a shared culture

The shared culture is transmitted through socialisation into common norms and values

Society changes as systems or structures become more complex

In large scale industrial society, new ways have to be found to meet functional

prerequisites

The need for specialised workers and professionals

means the old system of aristocratic elites will not work

industrial society therefore becomes meritocratic

Functional Necessity

..anyone can make it – if they have talent

But things don’t always work so smoothly

Robert Merton said industrial societies could be

Dysfunctional

…if essential needs are not being met or if some groups cannot achieve the goals of the

whole society

Not a bad theory

But how could you criticise it?

It assumes value consensus

Political discussions around the world

ClockwiseTurkey, UK,

Ukraine

It generally has an inadequate view of power – everyone seems fairly equal

Do we all start from the same position with equal power and resources?

It seems deterministic – as with Marxism, people still seem very much

at the mercy of social structures

Over to you

Like all theories it has strengths and weaknesses

But one point worth remembering is that even sociologists who don’t like

functionalism much, usually recognise the importance of

Durkheim

– He believed in the idea of social structures.

Discussion

• Are you in favor or against functionalism?

• Why? Why not?

• How do you think this theory (functionalism) can be improved?

Summary• Functionalists are very POSITIVE about society and always see the GOOD in

everything. They even think that crime is good for society! - They look at society on a MACRO scale [this means that they look at society on a large scale]. They want to generalize their ideas to the whole of society. For example they look at what education does for society as a whole not just certain people in society.

• Functionalists also believe that society is based on CONSENSUS, this means agreement, i.e. we are all SOCIALISED [brought up] to agree on how to behave [known as NORMS] and what is right and wrong [known as VALUES].

• Functionalists believe that each part of society has a FUNCTION [a job to do] to make sure that society runs smoothly and everything stays in harmony. For example education has a function to make sure people are educated to be good at the job they will get after school.

References• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

• Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 8th edition

• http://sixthsense.osfc.ac.uk/sociology/as_sociology/functionalism.asp

• Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics

Refrences• Fun basics functionalism presentation

• Encyclopedia Britannica ultimate reference suite

• Pictures taken from various websites

• And some others that cannot be mentioned because of lack of the space

QUESTIONS?

WINTER 2012SHAHID RAJAEE TEACHER

TRAINING UNIVERSITY