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Functionalism

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14 views

Functionalism

Uploaded by

Nhessa Jose
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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FUNCTIONALISM

Functionalism

• claims that deviance help to create social stability by


presenting explanations of non-normative and normative
behaviors.
• Émile Durkheim: The Essential Nature of Deviance

Émile Durkheim believed that deviance is a necessary part of a successful society.


One way deviance is functional, he argued, is that it challenges people’s
present views (1893). For instance, when black students across the United States
participated in sit-ins during the civil rights movement, they challenged society’s
notions of segregation. Moreover, Durkheim noted, when deviance is punished,
it reaffirms currently held social norms, which also contributes to society
(1893). Seeing a student given detention for skipping class reminds other high
schoolers that playing hooky isn’t allowed and that they, too, could get detention.
• Émile Durkheim: Durkheim formally established the
academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is
commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social
science and father of sociology.
Key Points

• A structural functionalist approach emphasizes social solidarity, divided into


organic and mechanical typologies, and stability in social structures.

• Deviance provides the key to understanding the disruption and recalibration


of Society that occurs over time. Some traits that could cause social disruption will be
stigmatized. Systems of deviance create norms and tell members of a given society
on how to behave by laying out patterns of acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
• allows for group majorities to unite around their worldview, often at the expense of
those marked as deviant. Social parameters create boundaries between populations
and enable an “us-versus-them” mentality within the two groups.

• Being marked as deviant can actually bolster solidarity within the marked
community as members take pride and ownership in their stigmatized identity.

• Some traits will be stigmatized and can potentially cause social disruption.
However, as traits become more mainstream, society will gradually adjust to
incorporate the formerly stigmatized traits.
• Key Terms
structural functionalism: A sociological approach that looks at society through a macro-
level orientation, which is a broad focus on the social structures that shape society as a whole.

population: A count of the number of residents within a political or geographical boundary,


such as a town, a nation, or the world or of the number of individuals belonging to a particular
group.

Social Parameters: The given rules and norms in a given social situation.
• What function does deviance play in society? This is a
question asked by sociologists subscribing to the school of
structural functionalism.
• Sociologists who follow the functionalist approach are
concerned with the way the different elements of a society
contribute to the whole. They view deviance as a key
component of a functioning society. Strain theory, social
disorganization theory, and cultural deviance theory
represent three functionalist perspectives on deviance
in society.
• Deviance allows for the majorities to unite around their
normativity, at the expense of those marked as deviant.
Conversely, being marked as deviant can actual bolster
solidarity within the marked community, as members take
pride and ownership in their stigmatized identity and create
cohesive units of their own (for example, members of the
LGBT community unifying around Pride).

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