Functionalism
R. Leslie
Objectives
November 25 &26, 2021
• What is Functionalism?
• Who are the key proponents of the theory?
• Key Concepts
• Ideas of Functionalism
• Criticisms
Functionalism
• Functionalism also known as a consensus theory is characterized by the idea
that society requires shared norms and values in for it function properly.
• Institutions in society (such as the family, education, the media, etc.) have
clear social functions, which ensure there is a broad consensus about the norms
and values of society and which enable organic and orderly social change.
• Assumes society is primarily harmonious and social order is maintained
through a widespread agreement between people on goals, values and norms of
society.
Key Proponents
EMILE
DURKHEIM Auguste Herbert
Comte Spencer
American sociologists Talcott
Parsons, Robert Merton, Kingsley
Davis and Wilbert Moore.
Concepts
• Function
• collective conscience, value consensus,
• social order
• Interdependence
• Equilibrium
• Functional prerequisites
• Latent and manifest functions
Collective conscience and value consensus
• Functionalists believe that without collective conscience (shared
values and beliefs), achieving social order is impossible and
social order is crucial for the well-being of society. They believe
that value consensus forms the basic integrating principle in
society. And if members of society have shared values they
therefore also have similar identities, this helps cooperation and
avoids conflict.
• Value consensus also ensures that people have shared: – Goals,
Roles and Norms. Norms can be described as specific guidelines
of appropriate behaviour; for example, queuing when buying
things.
KEY IDEAS
Functionalists are sometimes called social systems or
structuralist approaches.
1. They emphasise the power of society over the
individual.
• They believe the individual is largely controlled by
society.
• They think that society is in us, moulding our thoughts
and directing our actions.
• They argue that we are socialised in terms of the culture
of society,
• They believe that our behaviour is shaped by the social
institutions like the family, education, the media and
work.
• We are kept in line by mechanisms of social control.
We learn roles, norms and values and act accordingly.
Key Ideas
[Link] on how society
functions.
• They ask the
questions :“What makes
society function?”
“What part does each institution
play that allow society to
function?
Each institution and each group
in society has a role to play.
Key Ideas
3. Interdependence
Society is made up of different parts that need to work together to ensure
stability in society
• Functionalists use the human body or organic analogy to explain how
the different aspects of society are all interconnected and interdependent
and problems in one area of society might be symptoms of dysfunction
elsewhere.
• Society is made up of institutions that each have a role to play to enable
social stability. The institutions are like the church, school, family,
political system.
Organic Analogy
Emile Durkheim
• Social facts are the subject matter of
Sociology. Social facts are social structures
and cultural norms and values that are
external to individuals.
• Applied scientific method in the study of
suicide
• The collective conscience is necessary for
social order. Collective Conscience means
shared beliefs, norms, values and
understanding that one belongs to
something larger than himself.
Emile Durkheim
• Collective conscience forms the basis of traditional
society. This he calls mechanical solidarity where
people held similar jobs and abided by similar norms.
• As societies become modernized and industrialized,
labour becomes specialized. The collective conscience
is weakened and is replaced by organic solidarity
(social order built on interdependence).
• The division of labour leads to anomie (normlessness)
in the society.
Talcott Parsons
• Functionalists argue that just like the human body, and
society has what Parsons (1951) called functional
prerequisites – basic needs and requirements that must
be met if society is to survive.
Society needs the following to function:
• Production of food
• Care of young people
• Socialisation of new generations
Talcott Parsons
• Parsons believed that all societies need a value
consensus based on shared goals.
• When individuals are socialised to accept values,
goals and norms, and this works smoothly, social
equilibrium is achieved.
Criticisms
• Functionalism has been criticized for downplaying the
role of individual action, and for being unable to
account for social change. In the functionalist
perspective, society and its institutions are the primary
units of analysis. Individuals are significant only in
terms of their places within social systems (i.e., social
status and position in patterns of social relations).
• They place too much emphasis on social order and
equilibrium in society and little focus on dysfunctions.
Criticism
• Human behaviour is portrayed as being shaped by the
social system, as if individuals are programmed by social
institutions, being the puppets of social forces. They are
seen to be deterministic.
• There is a considerable amount of evidence against this
view – for example despite most people being socialized
into traditional gender norms, many people today develop
LGTBIQ identities; despite being socialized to obey the
law, self-report studies show high levels of minor
criminality.
Criticisms
• Postmodernists would be especially critical of the
idea that society shapes the individual a
postmodern, consumer age, your background and
socialization matter less – consumer society and
globalization allow much more opportunity for
individuals to shape their own identities in an
active way.
Criticisms
• They focus too much on the positive functions that
institutions perform, ignoring the negative ways in
which institutions and socialization can have on
certain people.
• They assume that there is a value consensus.
• Fail to look at conflicts in the society
Functionalism and the Caribbean
• Functionalism is appropriate for a study of the
Caribbean because:
• The Caribbean region have a linked set of social
structures and institutions that are inter-related.
Such institutions as the family, the school, the
church, and the government serve to work together
to bring cohesion and value consensus within
Caribbean society.
Functionalism and the
Caribbean
• Individual actions are shaped by the socializing
patterns within society. In the Caribbean, people
are unique because they are the products of the
regions African, Indian and European cultures.
Caribbean people are deeply shaped into the
cultural values and norms within society.
• Caribbean people value education, religion, laws
etc.
Functionalism and the
Caribbean
• There is much value consensus within the Caribbean
society. The entire region shares the same political
and cultural characteristics; hence people believe
much in similar things.
• Caribbean society renders social order through its
social institutions, which socializes and controls the
individual. People conform to social forces in the
region and this result in social stability and the
reproduction of society.
Functionalism and the
Caribbean
• Functionalist perspective ignores conflict so would no be used
to explain racism, classism and gender differences in the
Caribbean.
• There is much evidence that the Caribbean region is shaped
out of conflict through such historical episodes as slavery,
colonization and Indentureship, thus meaning that conflict
between races, and classes and so on, would continue to exist.
M.G. Smith, for example, has pointed out the conflicts
between the colour-groups in Caribbean society
Functionalism and the
Caribbean
• Not everyone in Caribbean society would be
considered puppet of society. Most groups
transcends from what is considered normal from
what society would offer. Most groups have
ignored the cultural values and norms within
Caribbean society.
• For example, the Ras Tafari faith does not associate
themselves with cultural patterns in society.
Homework