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Lecture Two: Sociological Perspectives/Theoretical Perspectives: Functionalism
Chapter One: Read pages 12-19
Multimedia 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
Do not plagiarize or copy from this document without using the appropriate citations.
R. Pires, 2014-2015. Material based on Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology. Pearson, 2015.
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 Institution
Function
Values (Culture)
Family
Reproduction
Education
Knowledge
Economy
Production and distribution of
goods and service
Political
Physical protection
Religion
Emotional protection
Mass Media
Information & Entertainment
Medical
Health
Parents teach culturally
appropriate values, norms, and
skills so we can become
productive members of society.
Schools pass down generational
knowledge and teach culturally
appropriate values, norms, and
skills so we can become
productive members of society.
Division of labor through work
among paid and nonpaid
workers contributes to the
wellbeing of society members.
The criminal justice and
military systems protect us from
internal and external harm.
Through laws, policies, and tax
revenues, the government
ensures our wellbeing.
Culturally accepted values and
norms give us comfort and
provide answers to the meaning
of life and death.
Mass media provides us cultural
messages about social life.
Healthcare system keeps us
healthy so we can fulfill our
societal roles (responsibilities).
Do not plagiarize or copy from this document without using the appropriate citations.
R. Pires, 2014-2015. Material based on Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology. Pearson, 2015.
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.
Do not plagiarize or copy from this document without using the appropriate citations.
R. Pires, 2014-2015. Material based on Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology. Pearson, 2015.
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
Do not plagiarize or copy from this document without using the appropriate citations.
R. Pires, 2014-2015. Material based on Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology. Pearson, 2015.
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:
Dysfunction
Unemployment
Drug Abuse
Violence in the Mass
Media
Manifest Function
Federal government
gives cities and
counties billions of tax
dollars to create jobs.
The intent is to create
jobs.
Latent Function
Counties/cities while
employing people for
the sake of lowering
unemployment,
unintentionally rebuild
some infrastructure
such as roads, bridges,
and dams.
Federal government
Millions of people are
spends billions of tax
employed within the
dollars with the intent
criminal and healthcare
to punish and
systems and this
rehabilitate drug
unintentionally keeps
traffickers, pushers and parts of the economy
users.
healthy.
Media uses a rating
This unintentionally
system with the intent creates other industries
to educate viewers
that help parents block
about the violent
unauthorized viewing
contents of its products. by their children/teens.
Latent Dysfunction
The federal
government
unintentionally
contributes to the
federal debt and leads
to budget cuts in many
tax funded programs
and a loss of jobs.
The federal
government has
unintentionally
created a stronger
crime network and
increased crime rates in
other countries.
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.
Do not plagiarize or copy from this document without using the appropriate citations.
R. Pires, 2014-2015. Material based on Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology. Pearson, 2015.
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. 12-19
What 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?
Do not plagiarize or copy from this document without using the appropriate citations.
R. Pires, 2014-2015. Material based on Henslin, James. Essentials of Sociology. Pearson, 2015.