G673: SocilaisationLesson 1: Consensus, culture and identity

Kinza (A/A* grade): Can I evaluate the functionalist approach to society by key thinkers and identify how

this links to our own experience?

This weeks’ key terms:Functionalism AdaptationGoal AttainmentIntegrationLatencyPattern MaintenanceTension Maintenance Pattern Variables

First Task!

Do we ever feel like we are puppets in

society? Explain.

Society is like a human body – every part keeps society functioning

The ruling class benefits in every way from the operation and function of society why workers

get a raw deal.

Britain is patriarchal. Men have more power and prestige.

People do not feel like puppets they feel like they have an active role in shaping society.

Society has changes so much in the last century that old ways of analysing it no longer apply. We

are a new breed of society?

Main approaches

Marxism

Functionalism

Social Interactionism

ModernismStructural approaches

Social Action Theories

FunctionalismTalcott Parsons

Describes society as organic being. Each part has a key role, without it the organism dies or fails. Durkheim shared this view that we need to focus on the structures of society and how they function and Weber who believed that peoples actions are central to understanding society.

Weber Durkheim

4 core

needs/functional prerequisites

Functionalism 4 core

needs/functional prerequisites

Adaptation

Goal Attainment

Integration

Latency

Does Society actually exist?

Pattern Variables

Affectivity or affective neutrality

Specificity or diffuseness

Universalism or particularism

Quality or performance

Self orientation or collectivity orientation

Do you agree with the functionalist perspective of

society?

Construct arguments or criticism against it?

Criticisms within Functionalism

Robert Merton (1957)

Parsons ignores the fact that some

institutions can be dysfunctional and harmful to society.

i.e Religion

Parsons fails to realise the distinction between the manifest (or intended

functions) and the latent (or unintended) outcomes.

Opposes Parsons views

Criticisms outside Functionalism

Sharrock et al. (2003)7

Functionalism overemphasises level of agreement or consensus in society. We have different values

and attitudes.

Society is not like an organism. Society is a concept, consisting of millions of people, no form

or cycle to it.

Cannot explain social change. If institutions exist to fulfil social needs, then once they meet these

needs there is no reason to change.

Cannot explain social changes. If institutions exist to fulfil social need then there is no reason to

change them once this need has been met. Therefore society should never change in form.

Ignores differences in power. Parsons model makes us seem like puppets on a

string pulled by all powerful variables. Interactionists, postmodernists, late-modernists all combine to argue that people are much more reflexive, making choices and constructing their

own lives.

G673: SocilaisationLesson 1: Consensus, culture and identity

Kinza (A/A* grade): Can I evaluate the functionalist approach to society by key thinkers and identify how

this links to our own experience?

Two things I have learnt in today’s lesson…

Recap!