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МІНІСТЕРСТВО ОСВІТИ І НАУКИ УКРАЇНИ
НАЦІОНАЛЬНИЙ АВІАЦІЙНИЙ УНІВЕРСИТЕТ
Навчально-науковий Гуманітарний інститут
Кафедра іноземної філології
ДОДАТКОВІ ТЕКСТИ ДЛЯ ЧИТАННЯ, ПЕРЕКЛАДУ ТА
ОБГОВОРЕННЯ
з дисципліни «Іноземна мова (спецкурс)»
за напрямом 6.130102 «Соціальна робота»
Укладач:
викладач Заслужена А.А.
Додаткові тексти розглянуті та схвалені
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Протокол № ____ від «___»_____2016 р.
Завідувач кафедри _____ Ковтун О.В.
FUNCTIONALISTS AND MERITOCRACY
Emile Durkheim and other European sociologists introduced a third theory
of social stratification. Functionalists argue that some form of social stratification
is an inevitable and necessary part of social life. The classic statement of this view
was made by the sociologists Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore. Davis and
Moore reasoned this way: Complex societies depend on individuals occupying a
variety of interdependent social positions and performing the roles associated with
these positions. If everyone had the ability and skills to fit any role, and if roles
were equally desirable and important, it would not matter who occupied which
position.
In fact, however, some roles are far more important and demanding than
others. Moreover, everyone is not qualified to fill every role. Some roles require
special talents, skills, and extensive training. To ensure that the right people take
on important positions and that they are motivated to do their best, societies
develop systems of unequal rewards.
Underlying the functionalist theory of stratification is the American ideal of
a meritocracy – a system in which social rewards are distributed on the basis of
achievement. What matters is what you yourself do. A meritocracy is based on
equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. Functionalists argue that some
degree of inequality is necessary to motivate people to fill socially important roles.
Indeed, one of the most common explanations of the economic collapse of
communist Europe and the Soviet Union was lack of motivation. The reasoning: If
basic necessities are guaranteed, and individual enterprise is not rewarded, why
should people try to do a good job?
Herbert Gans’s analysis of the uses of poverty is a somewhat more
sophisticated version of the functionalist position. Gans points out that poverty
creates jobs – for public health and social workers, police officers and
criminologists, pawnbrokers and journalists, not to mention racketeers and loan
sharks. The poor provide a market for inferior goods, such as secondhand clothes.
Many people derive some benefit from the existence of the poor. In this sense,
social stratification is “functional,” but only for some segments of the population.