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Lecture Two: Sociological Perspectives/Theoretical Perspectives: Functionalism Chapter One: Read pages 12-19Multimedia in Blackboard: Watch videos in the link titled – Sociological Perspectives Humans wonder about thinks. Anything. We ponder the mysteries of life such as traffic jams, gas prices, why cats are different from dogs, how to explain nothingness. Although all of us have our own personal theories trying to understand, explain, and predict one thing or another, we now recognize that theories must be tested using the scientific method and are more than personal musings about life. Sociologists have three main theoretical perspectives that are born out of the sociological perspective which is the belief that we are the products of our social environment, society, and culture. We categorize these three theories into levels of analysis: macroanalysis or macrosociology and microanalysis or microsociology. Structural functionalism (also known as functionalism or functional analysis) is a sociological theory that is used by sociologists to explain how society works on the macro level. Functionalist sociologists view society as a stable and orderly system or an organism. The functionalist explanation of how a society works is very similar to how a biologist might explain any living organism. For example whether we examine a molecular cell, living body, or a social system such as a society, city, organization, or your family, these are similar in their structure and function. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) is the father of functionalism. Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) and Robert Merton (1910-2003) are also considered major functionalist sociologists. Read pages 15-17 to understand how functionalist sociologists have shaped the theory and Henslin’s analysis of divorce using functional analysis. Just as a human body is made up of systems (nervous system, respiratory system, circulatory system, reproductive system, muscular system, skeletal system, etc.) and organs (heart, liver, brain, skin, kidneys, etc.) society is structured the same. Sociologists refer to the systems or organs of a society as social institutions. Social institutions are different parts of a society created by people and those parts then have the job of keeping society together. These areas of society such as parents, schools, laws, and religion among others, keep people safe and help them survive. They also teach people how to think (values) and act (norms). The body needs essentials such as energy, sun, and water to stay alive and maintain homeostasis. A society also needs essentials to maintain stability or equilibrium and the social institutions each have a function to maintain a stable and orderly society. Social institutions socially integrate (connect) people into society through the sharing of similar beliefs (values), behaviors (norms), and dependence on each other (culture). The social institutions while fulfilling functions, teach us from the day we’re born until the day we die cultural appropriate ways of thinking (values) and cultural appropriate ways of behaving (norms). The learning of society’s values and norms is referred to as the socialization process and it involves social control (force) through positive sanctions (rewards) and negative sanctions (punishments). The stability of a society then also depends on its members to conform to or obey cultural standards. Each society based on time, history, and technology has different social institutions that fulfill its most important essentials. So examining the United States today, do you agree that this is a fairly decent representation of our society? Social InstitutionFunctionValues (Culture)FamilyReproduction Parents teach culturally appropriate values, norms, and skills so we can become productive members of society. Education KnowledgeSchools pass down generational knowledge and teach culturally appropriate values, norms, and skills so we can become productive members of society. EconomyProduction and distribution of goods and serviceDivision of labor through work among paid and nonpaid workers contributes to the wellbeing of society members. Political Physical protectionThe criminal justice and military systems protect us from internal and external harm. Through laws, policies, and tax revenues, the government ensures our wellbeing.ReligionEmotional protectionCulturally accepted values and norms give us comfort and provide answers to the meaning of life and death. Mass MediaInformation & EntertainmentMass media provides us cultural messages about social life. Medical Health Healthcare system keeps us healthy so we can fulfill our societal roles (responsibilities).Food for Thought: As societies change, the existence and functions of the social institutions change as well. Consider which of these social institutions may have been less important or more important 100 years ago in the United States. How about 100 years from now? Do you think new social institutions will emerge? As you can see, a common denominator among the social institutions is not just their functions but they also teach us culturally appropriate ways of thinking which are referred to as values and culturally appropriate ways of behaving which are referred to as norms. They do this through social control or forcing us into culturally appropriate ways of thinking and behaving. Think of force or social control as different authority members within each social institution having power over us. Social control is forced on us through rewards which are referred to as positive sanctions or punishments which are referred to as negative sanctions. By the time we become adults, the majority of us through social control and socialization will have accepted a society’s cultural values and norms so much, that we might think of them as “biological,” or “normal,” and take them for granted without question. For example people might think that females are natural (biological) caregivers and males are natural breadwinners. The study of sociology involves the examination of a society’s taken for granted beliefs and this can get uncomfortable for some of us…remember Max Weber and value free/verstehen research? Food for Thought: Think about how the authority figures in each of the social institutions have used positive and negative sanctions to mold you into a member of society that you are today. So we can probably agree that the existence of a society depends on its stability. Within each of the social institutions there are smaller systems and organizations (referred to as bureaucracies or formal organizations and informal organizations). Examples of systems include the public school system, criminal justice system, military, healthcare systems, etc. Formal organizations include schools, hospitals, churches, places of employment, etc. and informal organizations may be your neighborhood, family, club, etc. People make up these groups and within each of these systems and organizations, people have different roles (responsibilities) that maintain the stability. There is a hierarchy in many of these groups and a division of labor. Just as the cells, organs, and systems in your body; society then also has parts that have functions and roles that are divided among its parts and membership. Food for Thought: Think about one aspect of your last meal. How many people do you think it took for you to enjoy just the one part of your meal – for example the ketchup? Societies as much as they are stable do change. Sociologists use theories to understand and explain social change. Functionalists view social change as gradual and slow as people adapt new ways of thinking (values) and new ways of behaving (norms). But how does this happen? Within each society there are social issues that disrupt the stability or equilibrium of the system. These are called dysfunctions. Think of a dysfunction as a situation, social problem, or social issue that is harming a large number of people and many people agree that this issue is harming the stability of the society. There may be issues that you might think are social problems but until a large number of people agree with you, it is not a dysfunction. Remember that structural functionalism is a macroanalysis theory and therefore functionalist sociologists spend their time examining society at large. Food for Thought: Make a list in your mind of at least five issues that many people in the United States today would agree are social problems or dysfunctions. How do each of these dysfunctions disrupt society at large or some of the social institutions? Chances are great that most dysfunctions disrupt not just one part of society but are disruptive to the functions of more than one of the social institutions. The loss of millions of jobs during the Great Recession did not just affect the economic social institution but also affected the education, family, medical, and political institutions. Food for Thought: When a person for example has a malfunction in h/her heart and suffers cardiac arrest, how does this affect the homeostasis of the entire body? What lifestyle changes might a person have to make to ensure one’s health? Is it safe to say that a person will have to go undergo some change? Just as a cardiac patient is forced to make lifestyle changes after a heart attack, dysfunctions force change on a society as people device solutions to bring society back to a state of stability and equilibrium. Manifest functions are actions that are meant to fulfill a goal or objective and help maintain social stability. Food for Thought: What is the manifest function(s) of you going to college? What is your intent of going to college? What goals or objective are you fulfilling? There is a physical law in physics: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This law of nature will help you understand the difference between manifest functions and latent functions or latent dysfunctions. Each manifest function (action) will have latent functions (reactions that help the system) and/or latent dysfunctions (reactions that hurt the system). Examples: DysfunctionManifest FunctionLatent FunctionLatent DysfunctionUnemploymentFederal government gives cities and counties billions of tax dollars to create jobs. The intent is to create jobs. Counties/cities while employing people for the sake of lowering unemployment, unintentionally rebuild some infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and dams. The federal government unintentionally contributes to the federal debt and leads to budget cuts in many tax funded programs and a loss of jobs. Drug AbuseFederal government spends billions of tax dollars with the intent to punish and rehabilitate drug traffickers, pushers and users.Millions of people are employed within the criminal and healthcare systems and this unintentionally keeps parts of the economy healthy. The federal government has unintentionally created a stronger crime network and increased crime rates in other countries. Violence in the Mass MediaMedia uses a rating system with the intent to educate viewers about the violent contents of its products.This unintentionally creates other industries that help parents block unauthorized viewing by their children/teens.Children/teens increase use of social media and this unintentionally leads to high rates of cyberbullying. It’s Your Turn: Create your own table by working through the five examples of dysfunctions you listed earlier. As society figures out solutions to its dysfunctions, over time through manifest functions, latent functions, and latent dysfunctions, society slowly but continually changes its way of thinking (values) and consequently behaviors (norms). Solutions to dysfunctions create new unexpected social issues. We might not notice these changes in our everyday lives but when you compare today’s society to five years ago, it’s probably easy to see how much our society has indeed changed. As you read in the previous notes and textbook, public sociology is valuable to policymakers because sociologists can predict unforeseen outcomes of legislation. Of course not everyone is socially integrated into society (connected) and sometimes things happen that cause immediate rather than gradual societal change. Anomie occurs when different parts of society are not successful in fulfilling its functions such as keeping people safe, monitoring individual actions, or creating ways for people to feel connected to society. This may result in anomie as groups or individuals may feel scared, lonely, and act out in ways that are considered deviant (not culturally normal or appropriate). Examples: Whenever there is a mass shooting, the news media interviews psychologists who explain how abnormalities in the brain may have caused the violent incident. However sociologists using the sociology perspective are more like to look for explanations outside of the individual (social environment) rather than explanations within the individual (mental illness). How has society failed to protect its members from the mass shooter by not socially controlling the mass shooter? How did the government, healthcare, schools, family, and cultural values and norms fail to control this person? If this person had appropriate social control, h/she would be more socially integrated into society. The lack of social control may have resulted in a state of anomie within the individual. Do you ever feel helpless, hopeless, sad or alone in the world? Functionalist sociologists argue that the more you are connected to society, the less likely you will have these feelings. You will see many examples of this throughout the semester. People also go into a state of anomie when there is sudden change and parts of society fail to function. This occurs during natural disasters and war. The social institutions that we depend on quit working and we are left alone to fend for ourselves until people regroup and begin working together to bring equilibrium back to the system. Food for Thought: Social inequality in sociology is referred to social stratification (strata are layers). Based on the functionalist perspective, is social stratification functional or dysfunctional? Why do you think this is so? Pop Quiz: Lecture and Textbook pgs. 12-19What is the main premise of functionalism?What are social institutions?What is meant by social control? What are dysfunctions?What are manifest functions?What is the difference between latent functions and latent dysfunctions? According to functionalists, how does social change occur? What is anomie? ................
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