g 673: socilaisation
DESCRIPTION
Lesson 1: Consensus, culture and identity. G 673: Socilaisation. Kinza (A/A* grade): Can I evaluate the functionalist approach to society by key thinkers and identify how this links to our own experience?. First Task!. This weeks’ key terms: Functionalism Adaptation Goal Attainment - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
G673: SocilaisationLesson 1: Consensus, culture and identity
Kinza (A/A* grade): Can I evaluate the functionalist approach to society by key thinkers and identify how
this links to our own experience?
This weeks’ key terms:Functionalism AdaptationGoal AttainmentIntegrationLatencyPattern MaintenanceTension Maintenance Pattern Variables
First Task!
Do we ever feel like we are puppets in
society? Explain.
Society is like a human body – every part keeps society functioning
The ruling class benefits in every way from the operation and function of society why workers
get a raw deal.
Britain is patriarchal. Men have more power and prestige.
People do not feel like puppets they feel like they have an active role in shaping society.
Society has changes so much in the last century that old ways of analysing it no longer apply. We
are a new breed of society?
Main approaches
Marxism
Functionalism
Social Interactionism
ModernismStructural approaches
Social Action Theories
FunctionalismTalcott Parsons
Describes society as organic being. Each part has a key role, without it the organism dies or fails. Durkheim shared this view that we need to focus on the structures of society and how they function and Weber who believed that peoples actions are central to understanding society.
Weber Durkheim
4 core
needs/functional prerequisites
Functionalism 4 core
needs/functional prerequisites
Adaptation
Goal Attainment
Integration
Latency
Does Society actually exist?
Pattern Variables
Affectivity or affective neutrality
Specificity or diffuseness
Universalism or particularism
Quality or performance
Self orientation or collectivity orientation
Do you agree with the functionalist perspective of
society?
Construct arguments or criticism against it?
Criticisms within Functionalism
Robert Merton (1957)
Parsons ignores the fact that some
institutions can be dysfunctional and harmful to society.
i.e Religion
Parsons fails to realise the distinction between the manifest (or intended
functions) and the latent (or unintended) outcomes.
Opposes Parsons views
Criticisms outside Functionalism
Sharrock et al. (2003)7
Functionalism overemphasises level of agreement or consensus in society. We have different values
and attitudes.
Society is not like an organism. Society is a concept, consisting of millions of people, no form
or cycle to it.
Cannot explain social change. If institutions exist to fulfil social needs, then once they meet these
needs there is no reason to change.
Cannot explain social changes. If institutions exist to fulfil social need then there is no reason to
change them once this need has been met. Therefore society should never change in form.
Ignores differences in power. Parsons model makes us seem like puppets on a
string pulled by all powerful variables. Interactionists, postmodernists, late-modernists all combine to argue that people are much more reflexive, making choices and constructing their
own lives.
G673: SocilaisationLesson 1: Consensus, culture and identity
Kinza (A/A* grade): Can I evaluate the functionalist approach to society by key thinkers and identify how
this links to our own experience?
Two things I have learnt in today’s lesson…
Recap!