Sociology: Functionalists and Marxists on Society

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James Allen

Functionalists and Marxists agree that to a large extent society controls our behaviour. They disagree however as to whether or not this is a good thing.

In this essay I shall be outlining what functionalists and Marxists believe whilst discussing whether or not they think society controlling our behaviour is a good thing. We will discover which theory believes this idea of society controlling us is a positive thing and which theory believes it is a negative thing.

Functionalism is a structuralist theory. This means that it sees the individual as less important than the social structure. It is a ‘top-down’ theory that looks at society rather than the individual within it. Society is more important because the individual is produced by society. People are the product of all the social influences of them: their family, friends, educational and religious background and their exposure to the media. Functionalists look at social institutions as the means of bringing about the patterns of shared and stable behaviour that they refer to as social order. A major function of social institutions is to socialise every individual into a system of norms and values that will guide their future behaviour and thinking.  People need to be taught the core values of their society and to internalize them, so that they become shared. The end result of this process is value consensus – members of society agree on what counts as important values and standards of behaviour. Such consensus produces a sense of social solidarity and integration, i.e. we feel a sense of belonging to a group that has something in common. We feel a sense of common identity. Another important foundation stone of social order in modern societies is the specialized division of labour. All members of society are dependant upon this division of labour, which supplies a vast and invisible army of workers to maintain the standard of living we take for granted. The specialized division of labour, therefore, is crucial because without it, society would soon descend into chaos. Consequently, another function of social institutions is to prepare young people to take their place in the division of labour by transmitting the idea that education, qualifications, working hard and a career are all worthwhile things. This ensures young people will eventually come to replace workers who have retired or died, and so social order is maintained.

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However, Functionalism is far less popular in sociology today than it was in the 1950’s. Part of its decline in popularity is probably linked to the problems it had attempting to explain all the diversity and conflict that existed in society from the 1960’s onwards. Functionalism has been criticized for overemphasizing consensus and order, and failing to explain the social conflicts that characterize the modern world.  We see clear differences in behaviour around us every day, and there may be clear cultural differences present in the same society. Functionalism has also been accused of ignoring the freedom of choice ...

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