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Latency, or pattern maintenance function, i.e., how motivation and the dimensions of culture that create and sustain motivation are stimulated.Ĭomplementing this are four action systems, each of which serve a functional imperative: the behavioral organism performs the adaptive function the personality system performs goal attainment the social system performs the integrative function and the cultural system performs pattern maintenance. The integrative function, or the regulation of the components of the system.Ĥ. The goal-attainment function, i.e., how a system defines and achieves its goals.ģ. The adaptive function, whereby a system adapts to its environment.Ģ. The heart of Parsons's theory is built on the four functional imperatives, also known as the AGIL system:ġ. The single greatest contributor, and practitioner, of structural functionalism was Talcott Parsons (1902-1979). Much like other versions of structural functionalism, this theory is criticized as conservative and lacking in empirical support. Since some positions are more important, more pleasant, and require different skills, a system of stratification is necessary to make sure all roles are fulfilled. Stratification here refers to positions rather than individuals and to the way that individuals are placed in the appropriate position. This theory argued that stratification was universal and necessary for society, and that it was therefore functional. One of the earliest and better known applications of structural functionalism was the functional theory of stratification.
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Emerging as an offshoot of organicism, structural functionalists were mainly societal functionalists who were interested in large-scale social structures and institutions within society, how they interrelate, and their constraining effects on actors. Conflict theories, instead, see control and coercion between dominants and subordinates as animating forces in society.Īlthough popular, even dominant, after World War II, structural functionalism is today generally of only historical interest. Functionalism and neofunctionalism can both be thought of as consensus theories, focusing on the relationships between such things as shared norms and values and the creation of social order. This chapter deals with the rise and fall of structural functionalism, neofunctionalism, and conflict theory. Herbert Spencer: Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher and social theorist.Structural Functionalism, Neofunctionalism, and Conflict Theory It is less well-adapted to understanding individual discrimination because it ignores the inequalities that cause tension and conflict.ĭuring the turbulent 1960s, functionalism was often called “consensus theory,” criticized for being unable to account for social change or structural contradictions and conflict, including inequalities related to race, gender, class, and other social factors that are a source of oppression and conflict. It also allows for the micro-analyses that much of modern sociology is oriented around, such as identity formation and the socially constructed nature of race. Given this emphasis on equilibrium and harmony, the functionalist perspective easily allows for specific macro-analyses of more contentious power imbalances, such as race-related issues. From this perspective, societies are seen as coherent, bounded, and fundamentally relational constructs that function like organisms, with their various parts (such as race) working together in an unconscious, quasi-automatic fashion toward achieving an overall social equilibrium. This approach was notably in evidence in respect to the sociology of race” (Coulhan 2007, Sociology in America, p.559). As noted sociologist Michael Omi observes, “The structural-functionalist framework generally stressed the unifying role of culture, and particularly American values, in regulating and resolving conflicts. In the 1960s, functionalism was criticized for being unable to account for social change, or for structural contradictions and conflict (and thus was often called “consensus theory”), and for ignoring systematic inequalities including race, gender, and class, which cause tension and conflict.
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Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a functionalist approach to raceįunctionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements namely norms, customs, traditions, and institutions.