Functionalism in Sociology

Functionalism

• Examines society from a large-scale perspective, focusing on necessary structures that make up a society and how each part helps to keep the society stable.
• Society is seen as heading towards an equilibrium, where changes occur to restore balance, such as local businesses adapting to companies like Amazon.

Structure

• Society is made up of connected structures, including institutions and social facts.
• Institutions meet the needs of society, such as education systems, financial institutions, businesses, and marriage, laws, and mass media.
• Social facts are ways of thinking and acting formed by society, existing before and after individual influence, and having a coercive effect over individuals, such as laws, moral regulations, and social currents like suicide or birth rate.

Function

• Society is more than the sum of its parts, dependent on structures that create it, like a cell depending on its parts.
• Every structure has a function that meets a need of society, and all structures work together to maintain social equilibrium.
• Manifest functions are recognized and intended consequences of institutions, while latent functions are unintended consequences, such as schools providing social connections and extracurricular activities.

Durkheim's Questions

• What holds a society together?
• How can it remain relatively stable despite changing traditions and customs?
• Durkheim thought small societies were held together by similarities, and the individual was self-sufficient, but this only works for small societies.

Evolution of Society

• Population growth within a limited space causes the evolution of society, leading to interdependence among individuals.
• As people specialize, they become dependent on each other for their continued well-being, ensuring the community won't fall apart.
• Interdependence leads to the need for a method of distribution and a way to control and coordinate production and distribution.

Social Change

• A change to production, distribution, or coordination will force the others to adapt to maintain a stable state society.
• Social change is annoying and upsets the equilibrium, threatening the mutual interdependence of people within a society.
• Institutions and structures adapt only just enough to compensate for a change and maintain stability.

Problems with Functionalism

• Functionalism focuses on institutions with little regard for the importance of the individual.
• The individual is acknowledged, but their actions don't affect the structures of society.
• Functionalism is unable to explain social change and conflict, as it focuses on maintaining equilibrium, with little significant change modeled and no conflict occurring.

Functionalism

• Examines society from a large-scale perspective, focusing on necessary structures that make up a society and how each part helps to keep the society stable.
• Society is seen as heading towards an equilibrium, where changes occur to restore balance, such as local businesses adapting to companies like Amazon.

Structure

• Society is made up of connected structures, including institutions and social facts.
• Institutions meet the needs of society, such as education systems, financial institutions, businesses, and marriage, laws, and mass media.
• Social facts are ways of thinking and acting formed by society, existing before and after individual influence, and having a coercive effect over individuals, such as laws, moral regulations, and social currents like suicide or birth rate.

Function

• Society is more than the sum of its parts, dependent on structures that create it, like a cell depending on its parts.
• Every structure has a function that meets a need of society, and all structures work together to maintain social equilibrium.
• Manifest functions are recognized and intended consequences of institutions, while latent functions are unintended consequences, such as schools providing social connections and extracurricular activities.

Durkheim's Questions

• What holds a society together?
• How can it remain relatively stable despite changing traditions and customs?
• Durkheim thought small societies were held together by similarities, and the individual was self-sufficient, but this only works for small societies.

Evolution of Society

• Population growth within a limited space causes the evolution of society, leading to interdependence among individuals.
• As people specialize, they become dependent on each other for their continued well-being, ensuring the community won't fall apart.
• Interdependence leads to the need for a method of distribution and a way to control and coordinate production and distribution.

Social Change

• A change to production, distribution, or coordination will force the others to adapt to maintain a stable state society.
• Social change is annoying and upsets the equilibrium, threatening the mutual interdependence of people within a society.
• Institutions and structures adapt only just enough to compensate for a change and maintain stability.

Problems with Functionalism

• Functionalism focuses on institutions with little regard for the importance of the individual.
• The individual is acknowledged, but their actions don't affect the structures of society.
• Functionalism is unable to explain social change and conflict, as it focuses on maintaining equilibrium, with little significant change modeled and no conflict occurring.

Functionalism

• Examines society from a large-scale perspective, focusing on necessary structures that make up a society and how each part helps to keep the society stable.
• Society is seen as heading towards an equilibrium, where changes occur to restore balance, such as local businesses adapting to companies like Amazon.

Structure

• Society is made up of connected structures, including institutions and social facts.
• Institutions meet the needs of society, such as education systems, financial institutions, businesses, and marriage, laws, and mass media.
• Social facts are ways of thinking and acting formed by society, existing before and after individual influence, and having a coercive effect over individuals, such as laws, moral regulations, and social currents like suicide or birth rate.

Function

• Society is more than the sum of its parts, dependent on structures that create it, like a cell depending on its parts.
• Every structure has a function that meets a need of society, and all structures work together to maintain social equilibrium.
• Manifest functions are recognized and intended consequences of institutions, while latent functions are unintended consequences, such as schools providing social connections and extracurricular activities.

Durkheim's Questions

• What holds a society together?
• How can it remain relatively stable despite changing traditions and customs?
• Durkheim thought small societies were held together by similarities, and the individual was self-sufficient, but this only works for small societies.

Evolution of Society

• Population growth within a limited space causes the evolution of society, leading to interdependence among individuals.
• As people specialize, they become dependent on each other for their continued well-being, ensuring the community won't fall apart.
• Interdependence leads to the need for a method of distribution and a way to control and coordinate production and distribution.

Social Change

• A change to production, distribution, or coordination will force the others to adapt to maintain a stable state society.
• Social change is annoying and upsets the equilibrium, threatening the mutual interdependence of people within a society.
• Institutions and structures adapt only just enough to compensate for a change and maintain stability.

Problems with Functionalism

• Functionalism focuses on institutions with little regard for the importance of the individual.
• The individual is acknowledged, but their actions don't affect the structures of society.
• Functionalism is unable to explain social change and conflict, as it focuses on maintaining equilibrium, with little significant change modeled and no conflict occurring.