Assess the contribution of functionalism to our understanding of society

Authors Avatar

  Assess the contribution of functionalism to our understanding of society

Charlotte McCaffrey

Functionalism is a consensus theory.  It sees society as based on agreement among people about values, goals and rules in society.  The job of the family is primary socialization.  The family introduces norms and values to children, who carry these on to later years, where they are reinforced by religion and education.  These norms and values allow people to move up the social hierarchy.  For example, children are taught to conform by the family and education, which allows them to conform to the rules of wider society and become aware of what, is socially acceptable.  Education also trains by teaching the skills needed for later life, for example punctuality, and interview skills.  Unlike conflict structuralism, functionalists believe that society is based on merit, and those who work the hardest will be the ones to make it to the top, ensuring jobs are filled by those most capable, with the required skills.  Those who don’t work, will stay at the bottom of the hierarchy, and carry out the more menial, but equally essential jobs.  

Many of the key ideas of functionalism can be traced back to Emile Durkheim,

However it was American sociologist Talcott Parsons, who developed functionalism as a systematic theory of society in the middle of the 20th Century.  Functionalism is a macro structural theory, which focuses on the needs of the social system as a whole.  It is a modern theory and shares the goals of the Enlightenment project.  For Parsons, the central question sociology tries to answer is “How is social order possible?”  Parsons would argue it is achieved through the existence of a shared culture, or in his own words, a central value system.  This provides a framework of what is socially acceptable.  Social order is only possible if members of society are on these norms and values, this is what Parsons calls, a value consensus.

We can take a “building block” approach to Parsons’ model of the social system.  At the bottom, there are individual actions.  Each action we perform is governed by specific norms and values, which come from status roles, such as teachers.  Status roles come in clusters called institutions.  For example, the family is an institution.  Related institutions are grouped into sub-systems, for example factories, banks etc.  And finally these sub-systems grouped together make up the social system as a whole.  Parsons identifies the importance of all these institutions in society, when he said society is analogous to a biological organism which has needs, which if they are not met, will result in that organism dying.  As parts of the organism function to meet these needs, so parts of the social system such as institutions function, to meet the needs of society.

Join now!

Parsons identifies the four basic needs of society, which he called functional prerequisites.  These are sometimes known as the “AGIL scheme.”  The first of these four needs is adaption, in which social systems meet material needs with the economic sub-system.  The second is goal attainment.  Society needs to set goals and allocate resources to achieve them.  This is the political sub-system, for example parliament. The next one is integration.  This is referring to Parsons belief that different parts must be integrated together in order to pursue shared goals. This is where the sub-system of religion comes in.  The fourth ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

Avatar

This essay starts well and explains Functionalism clearly and accurately. The essay then drifts from its focus however and the counter-arguments of Functionalism seem to focus on methods rather than applying the key theories of Marxism and Feminism. Overall grade: ***