1 / 50

Functionalism

Functionalism. Hoda Rafiee Seyed Shahab Miri. February 14 th , 2012 ( Bahman 25 th , 1390). Sociology. Sociology is the scientific study of society

azizi
Download Presentation

Functionalism

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Functionalism HodaRafiee SeyedShahabMiri February 14th, 2012 (Bahman 25th, 1390)

  2. Sociology • Sociologyis the scientific study of society • Sociologyis a social science which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysisto develop a body of knowledge about human social activities.

  3. 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.

  4. Comes in a variety of shapes and sizes… Sociological Theory High-Level Theories Focus on trying to explain how and why society is ordered Functionalism… Mid-Range Theories Marxism… Focus on trying to explain some general aspect of social behaviour Interactionism… Low-Level Theories Feminism… Focus on trying to explain a specific aspect of social behaviour. Why do girls achieve higher educational qualifications than boys? Why do I always fall asleep in Psychology lessons?

  5. Functionalism… “Society Is Like”: A Human Body Characteristics of human body… Each part of the body works in harmony with all other parts Characteristics of society… Each part of society works in harmony with all other parts

  6. Marxism… “Society Is Like”: A League Table Characteristics of league table… A league is characterised by competition between teams Characteristics of society… Society involves competition between social groups / classes

  7. Interactionism… “Society Is Like”: A Play Characteristics of a play… A play has actors who play their individual roles Characteristics of society… Society consists of individual actors who play a variety of roles

  8. Feminism… “Society Is Like”: A League Table Characteristics of league table… A league is characterised by competition between teams Characteristics of society… Society involves competition between men and women

  9. Post-Modernism… “Society Is Like”: A Theme Park Characteristics of theme park… A theme park has numerous different rides Characteristics of society… Society is characterised by a multiplicity of choices (work, education, leisure, etc.)

  10. Functionalism

  11. Theorists

  12. Functionalism is mainly associated with the work of two sociologists; Émile Durkheim & Talcott Parsons

  13. other sociologist who worked on this topic as well; Herbert Spencer, Davis and Moore, Robert Merton and Almond and Powell.

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

  15. Emile Durkheim 1858-1917 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.

  16. For Durkheim key features of 19th century were: Industrialisation - the specialised division of labour

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

  18. Talcott Parsons 1902-1979 Talcott Parsons was an American sociologist who served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973.

  19. For Parsons two particular things struck him about life in 1950s USA The considerable affluence enjoyed by many

  20. ..and the vast scale of urban society Downtown Los Angeles – early 1900s and 2010

  21. Theory

  22. Both sociologists developed a view which focuses on the idea that societies EVOLVE , grow or develop - a bit like living organisms

  23. Societies are simply organised to start with, but over time they grow and become more complex

  24. Like an organism, societies have certain needs These needs are called ‘functional prerequisites’

  25. All societies have these needs – but they can achieve them in different ways

  26. Systems are developed to meet the needs

  27. An education system

  28. A political system….. .. And so on

  29. The systems and the society are held together because everyone shares the same values There is a shared culture

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

  31. Society changes as systems or structures become more complex

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

  33. The need for specialised workers and professionals means the old system of aristocratic elites will not work

  34. industrial society therefore becomes meritocratic Functional Necessity

  35. ..anyone can make it – if they have talent

  36. But things don’t always work so smoothly

  37. Robert Merton said industrial societies could be Dysfunctional

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

  39. Not a bad theory But how could you criticise it?

  40. It assumes value consensus Clockwise Turkey, UK, Ukraine Political discussions around the world

  41. 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?

  42. It seems deterministic – as with Marxism, people still seem very much at the mercy of social structures

  43. 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.

  44. Discussion • Are you in favor or against functionalism? • Why? Why not? • How do you think this theory (functionalism) can be improved?

  45. 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.

  46. 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

  47. 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

  48. Questions?

  49. Winter 2012ShahidRajaee Teacher Training University

More Related