Structural Functionalism



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SOCI 303 SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY

LECTURE NOTES ON STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALISM


Fall 2013

Instructor: Deniz Yükseker

American sociologists Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) and Robert Merton (1910-2003) are the founders of the structural-functionalist perspective in sociology.
Parsons sought to develop a theory of society at a macro level, whereas Merton preferred a “meso” level of analysis. Thus, for Parsons, the unit of analysis was the “social system” as a whole, whereas Merton is considered to be a “middle-range” functionalist.
Both men analyzed social institutions.

From Parsons’ The System of Modern Societies (1961-71)


The General System of Action has four subsystems
Subsystems: Their functions: achieved through: Components:

1-     social system integration articulation of soc. norms

relationships
2-     cultural system pattern maintenance symbolic meanings values

3-     personality system goal attainment optimization of gratification collectivities

& satisfaction
4-     behavioral organism adaptation mechanism of interrelation roles

w/ the physical environment

There are two systems of reality that form the “environment” to these subsystems of action: the physical environment and “ultimate reality” (the problem of meaning in life)
There is interpenetration between the four subsystems of action, and between them and the above-mentioned environments of action.

For instance, cultural norms and social objects can be internalized in the personality of the individual.


Social systems are comprised of combinations of the following independently variable structural components.
Norms serve the function of integrating the social system.
Values serve the function of pattern maintenance. Values pertain to conceptions of desirable types of social systems.

 

Collectivities’ function is to attain goals.



Collectivities are defined in terms of membership and differentiation between the members with respect to their statuses and functions.
Roles define a group of individuals who, through reciprocal expectations, are involved in a particular collectivity. Roles are a zone of interpenetration between the social system and the personality of the individual.

From Parsons’ The Kinship System of the Contemporary US (1943)


The American conjugal family is the site of psychological security for the spouses and the children.
In the contemporary American kinship system, sex roles (women’s and men’s roles) are simultaneously assimilated and segregated.
Assimilation of sex roles: men and women are equal, women are emancipated, there’s multilateral kinship (descent), they can hold the same jobs, etc.
Segregation of sex roles: this is related both to the kinship system and the occupational system
Primary role of “normal” adult men: breadwinner of the family

Primary role of “normal” adult women: housekeeping and care of children

Men derive satisfaction from goal achievement the occupational structure.

Women derive satisfaction from educating the family in humanistic and cultural values.


Even if women have “jobs”, they don’t have careers. Thus, husband and wife have asymmetrical relationship to the occupational structure. The conjugal family derives its status from the men’s position in the occupational structure.
Positive aspect of segregation of sex roles: The segregation of sex roles has the positive function of reducing status competition between husband and wife. Thus, the solidary unit of the family is not disrupted.

è kinship roles and occupational roles are segregated from each other.


Negative aspect of segregation of sex roles: there’s a strain in the patterning of sex roles. Although “female dependency” is reduced thanks to the multilateral symmetry of the kinship system (women can inherit or buy property, etc.), they sometimes “succumb to dependency cravings.”! è Neurotic illness, compulsive domesticity, glamour girl syndrome, etc. afflict women.
From Merton’s “Manifest and Latent Functions” (1949)
He argues that many sociologists (he alludes to Parsons) confuse conscious motivations for social behavior and objective consequences of behavior.
This is also confusion between subjective categories of motivations and objective categories of functions.
To avoid this confusion, he distinguishes between “manifest” (visible, obvious) functions and “latent” (hidden) functions.
Manifest functions: objective consequences for a specified unit (person, group or social system)

which contribute to its adjustment or adaptation and were so intended.


Latent functions: unintended or unrecognized consequences of the same order.
Merton argues that this distinction clarifies the analysis of seemingly irrational social patterns.
He also argues that the distinctive intellectual contributions of the sociologists are found primarily in the study of unintended consequences of social practices.
The study of latent functions shows that “social life isn’t as simple as it first seems.”
GENERAL REMARKS ON STRUCTURAL-FUNCTIONALISM

Merton looked at any social institution in the light of what contribution it makes to upholding the social order.

Manifest functions: results that people consciously try to attain

Latent functions: produced by the action of the social system itself. E.g. corruption in municipal politics has a “function” in that certain people benefit from it more than they benefit from the official bureaucracy.

Any institution è if it exists, it must serve a function
“dysfunctions”: since not everything works out for the best for everyone, Merton also coined the term “dysfunction”
Definition of institutions: in terms of the functions they serve
Explanation of social change: For Parsons, societies are not static, but they change only over the long historical term. The basis of historical change is the change in basic values. Creating his own interpretation of Weber’s Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Parsons argued that Christianity and especially Protestantism, because of its intrinsic characteristics, generated a value system that eventually culminated in modern society. But he had no explanation of where those values came from.

Notice here that Parsons picked the most idealist side of Weber and ignored his theory of stratification.

Parsons argued that all societies evolved towards democracy, the most “functionally differentiated” stage.

Actors of change: individuals and institutions (family, church, educational system) socialized in certain values


Approach to social movements:

For Parsons and Merton, conflict and social dissatisfaction were either pathological conditions, or only temporary conditions.

For instance, parsons explained the 1960s student movement as a temporary response to the upgrading of specialized educational training. Since the differentiated society required more years in school, young people had to adjust to new concepts of childhood and adulthood, and the student revolt was a manifestation of this strain.
Major critique: no real explanation of social change; ignores conflict, inequality and domination in society. è conservative ideology

Parsons produced a gigantic grid for categorizing things, without really explaining how those categories came about.





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