Help me with Sociology..

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

1

Sociology 1001 Introduction to sociology Fall 2014 Reading Guide #2 The Structural functionalist school RECAP OF RECENT LECTURE(S) We introduced the course by suggesting to you that we would study contemporary micro and macro sociology -however, before we start examining modern sociology, we spent a little time examining the history of the discipline of sociology. -we saw that in the 19th century, 3 founding fathers of sociology emerged, in response to the changes in society which they saw. Marx tried to give an explanation of the way society had developed so as to produce the omnipresent social phenomenon of ‘industrialization’

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

2

Durkheim tried to give an explanation of the way society had evolved so as to produce the widespread phenomenon of ‘urbanization’ Weber tried to give an explanation of the way society had developed so as to produce the omnipresent social phenomenon of ‘bureaucratization’. However, none of these sociologists (apart from Weber to some extent) really paid much attention to the phenomenon of the social individual. So we will begin our analysis of modern sociology by looking at how, in the 20th century, sociology started realizing that it had to start investigating the (social) individual, and how that individual acts socially. But first we will look at how the ideas of Durkheim primarily, got translated into a North American version for the 20th century Begins with Talcott Parsons (Harvard scholar) going to Europe and learning from the European theorists He brings back these ideas to north America (especially those of Durkheim and Weber)

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

3

And adapts Durkheim’s ‘evolutionary’ model (which came from biology) to a more ‘medical model’ (still rooted in biology) This new model became the ‘structural functionalist school’ Structural-Functionalism Focusses on: structure and function of institutions in society Biological analogy Medical doctor analogy notion of system, everything working together smoothly needs of the system interdependence of parts boundaries within the system equilibrium The AGIL schema Adaptation Goal attainment Integration Latent pattern maintenance The Family as an example THE FUNCTIONALIST ANALYSIS OF THE FAMILY

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

4

As we have seen with the functionalist perspective, they always want to understand phenomena in terms of how these phenomena contribute to the functioning of society, as well they often examine families for how the internal parts of the system function together. So if we look at the family from a societal perspective, we can understand it in terms of the functions it performs for society. Now we already know that it performs primarily the function of latent pattern maintenance, to ensure that cultural patterns are maintained, but we can extend that analysis to understand the other functions which the family provides for society. 1.regulation of sexual behaviour and expression firstly according to functionalists the family is the place within our society where sexual expression is seen as proper and appropriate. In the workplace, sex is inappropriate, between bosses and employees; but between husband and wife, this is appropriate. This also ensures that the population is maintained. Each society has to physically

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

5

reproduce itself, not just culturally reproduce itself, and in most societies, it is the family which does the job of ensuring the physical reproduction of the species. 2. socialisation. but societies must also reproduce themselves culturally, ie we all must know what is appropriate behaviour at the dining table and at the baseball stadium. 3. protection all societies must ensure that their offspring survive into adulthood, as the young are very vulnerable and dependent. Thus one more ‘function’ of the family is to ensure that this gets done. 4 affection In the general social system, there is not much room for affection (eg in the areas of economics or politics or even of law), but there is a specialised institution in most societies which fulfills the function of ensuring that people get affection, the institution which does this is the family 5.conferring status the final function which the family fulfills is that of conferring status on people, ie we give people names, and that name places you within a system.

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

6

The fact that you are the daughter of William and Kate will have different consequences than if you are the son or daughter of an ordinary couple. PARSONS AND BALES they went further and analysed the modern family and argued that within such a family we have a functional differentiation within the family, and that the mother and father played different but conplementary roles. The father's role was instrumental he was concerned with the functional prerequisites of adapatation and goal attainment, whereas the mother was expressive this meant that she was concerned with latent pattern maintenance and integration. THE FUNCTIONAL EVOLUTION OF THE FAMILY The functionalist type of analysis is not content with analysing society in terms of what functions each phenomenon fulfills for the larger society.

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

7

In addition, the functionalist wants to explain the evolution of institutions within society, and argues that institutions evolve because they help society to function better within the larger environment, and that just as biological organisms evolve from simple to more complex organisms , so do societies. And this happens through a process of ‘structural differentiation’ EVOLUTION AS “STRUCTURAL DIFFERENTIATION That is to say, in more advanced societies, evolution takes the form of ‘structural differentiation’. Just like evolved species have complex sophisticated ‘cell differentiation’ (the human being is not like the single cell ‘amoeba’), evolved societies have sophisticated ‘institutional differentiation’ - take education for example. In ‘advanced societies, educational institutions have become structurally differentiated. There are lots of different types of educational institutions,

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

8

We no longer have the ‘one room schoolhouse’ We have universities, high schools, middle schools, compucollege, community colleges, etc., etc. Thus for structural functionalists, they argue that there really are more developed countries and societies than other ones, and that less developed countries will probably go through the same types of development that the industrial countries went through. THE FUNCTIONAL EVOLUTION OF THE ‘FAMILY’ According to the functionalists, we can see this type of evolution in the ‘family’. Historically, families were places where ‘economic activity’ took place (the family business’); and also where political activity took place (royalty, aristocracy), But with changes in society, the family has had to evolve as well say the functionalists This is especially true with the development of the nuclear family.

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

9

According to functionalist thought this type of family is a result of the changing technology which emerged at the time of the industrial revolution. With these societal changes, there also had to be evolution in terms of the family form which was most functional in a highly industrialised and technicaly competent society. Thus industrial economies needed a number of elements for their families.

1. they needed a mobile not a static workforce, ones who would and could move to towns (ie without large families and extended families)

2. they also needed a more efficient division of labour within the home, as now the economy was not centred around the home but in factories.

3. Thus the socialization functions and the

work functions needed to be separated and for people to specialise in either one or the other.

According to functionalists it is just efficient for women to carry out the tasks

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

10

of socialisation, and for men to work outside the home.

4. FInally, although the family no longer has

the societal functions of adaptation (ie the household economy) or goal attainment, (ie political decisions being made in the family, eg The Borgia family of medieval Europe)

they are now to ‘specialise’ and concentrate on one function primarily, that of latent pattern maintenance. TWENTIETH CENTURY SOCIOLOGY AND THE ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND THE SOCIAL ‘SELF’. Weber had first realized that sociology needed to go beyond simply analyzing ‘societies’. -Earlier in this course, we saw how Weber, one of the founding pioneers of sociology had come up with the concept of ‘rationalization’ But Weber was also the first sociologist to start paying attention the social individual. -Weber insisted that society is comprised of ‘individuals’, and these individuals are not robots, sheep or automatons.

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

11

-Weber insisted that sociology must start analyzing not just the individual, but the ‘subjectivity’ of the individual. -In other words, Weber was the first sociologist to insist that sociology pay attention to the MEANING that social action has for individuals. -Quite simply put, we as social individuals act based on the meaning that action has for us. -In other words, we don’t just respond to stimuli, in our social environment. -Instead we ‘interpret’ our surroundings and act, based on the ‘meanings’ that we have found in these social situations. -From these foundational insights, other sociologists tried to start analyzing the ‘social individual’. Let us start examining some of them

1. Parsons’s voluntaristic theory of action – the importance of norms

The social individual ‘learns’ to act appropriately -Parsons was heavily influenced by both Weber and Durkheim

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

12

-so he tried to synthesise their ideas into a new way of understanding the ‘self’ -Specifically, he tries to make these older theories ‘converge’ into a new understanding of the social actor, which he calls the ‘voluntaristic theory of action’. -it is probably easiest to understand Parsons if we remember the basic question that he was trying to answer. -Yes, we can see that social life is orderly, but why is it orderly? -In some countries, for example, social order has to be maintained at gunpoint or through the threat of force -this question of ‘how is social order possible’ is typically understand as the Hobbesian question of social order, as Thomas Hobbes in 1651 was the first person to pose it (mainly because he had just seen social order completely break down in England, due to the civil war) -so Hobbes was the first social scientist to pose this problem -but Parsons pointed out that social order today does not seem to necessitate a strong dictator,

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

13

or police with guns, or soldiers with rifles standing outside our doors. -instead, Parsons says we solve the problem of social order quite differently in 20th century North America Parsons said that the solution can be found in the following: norms and socialization -That is, nobody forces us to be orderly, yet we CHOOSE voluntarily to act in a way that constantly maintains the wider social order. -How does this actually work? -Parsons takes the idea from Durkheim that society does seem to have a ‘common value system’, -In other words, he agrees with Durkheim that society is fundamentally consensual (Durkheim understood it as society having a ‘collective consciousness, eg contemporary organic solidarity manifests itself in a ‘collective consciousness’) -But Durkheim said nothing about individuals.

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

14

-So, Parsons takes the idea from Weber that each of us as actors ‘chooses’ to act, based on how we ‘interpret’ our surroundings -But Weber said nothing about society being basically consensual -So Parsons tries to synthesise the macro work of Durkheim with the micro work of Weber -The result is that Parsons says that “norms” are crucial mechanisms for ensuring ‘social order. -they are crucial because they ‘guides to action’ but they are not co-ercive, for the individual -yet they direct the individual to act in socially appropriate ways (ie in ways which will maintain the consensus of social order – lining up for a teller at the bank for example), but the individual still VOLUNTARILY chooses to act in this way. -In the words of a famous sociologist, Alvin Gouldner, these norms are ‘potent energisers’ –they give the person energy and direction to enable him or her to voluntarily choose to act in an orderly fashion.

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

15

-Equally importantly, they need to be installed in the individual early on, so that the individual can then act appropriately within social situations -In other words, the individual needs to be socialized, so that s/he can learn the norms and then activate them. -Consequently, the social individual produces him or herself as a social actor choosing to act in line with the general tenets of society. -It might be noticed in passing how similar this process is to the process by which many members are inculcated in religions. -For many religions, it is crucial to get people to WILLINGLY and VOLUNTARILY want to act in accord with the general tenets of the larger religion. -For example in Christianity, if individuals have been (religiously) socialized well, they will probably always want to give up sitting at home on a Sunday, and instead choose voluntarily to go to church. -they might also choose voluntarily to want to give something up for Lent. -So in both cases, the individual internalizes the norms of the larger collectivity so that s/he acts

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

16

voluntarily, but in ways which are consistent with the general social beliefs held by the larger community. -In this way, social order is maintained, not by soldiers on corners with guns, but by a socialization process which has given us norms to guide our future behaviour. A few problems with the ‘normative’ approach to understanding social life Although Parsons’s explanation of the ‘social invidual’ may be commended for at least attempting to account for the ways in which individuals act socially, a number of criticisms were quickly raised about the efficacy of this approach. Dennis Wrong argued that such an account gives an oversocialised conception of human behaviour. -That is to say, within this theorization, there is little room for people acting creatively, or differently than what the norms allow. -this approach leaves little room for people having disagreements or conflicts -It also doesn’t suggest any means by which new generations can introduce new ways of acting which are quite different than that of the larger community.

S1001Fall2014RG2StructuralFunctionalism 9/9/2014 3:36 PM [Type text]

17

-Perhaps an easier way of making this point is by remembering that within any society, we always find groups who are not only different, but who play a much more active part in creating for themselves a sense of ‘solidarity’ with each other, -and this may not necessarily come from the common value system current in society. -In other words, some sociologists looked instead for a theory of the social ‘self’ which stressed, even more heavily than Weber, that individuals choose to act within society, and in that process, often create new, or at least different forms of society. This approach differs from the ‘normative approach considerably. -It is called the ‘interactionist approach’ -This is because it is heavily influenced by a group of sociologists (and social psychologists and philosophers) called the ‘symbolic interactionists. Revised September 9th 2014 2.26pm