Socioctionalism And Reactionism

Functionalism views society as the stability and assimilation of a range of forces that function within it. While society is a separate entity with a life of its own, there are individual elements contributing to that stability. Functionalism as a sociological theory emphasizes assimilation rather than the dissociation of society. Therefore, the society is seen as a whole that is compromised of parts which give one another their identity and their function. The part, whether that is education, such as a school, or sports, such as a football team, operates in relation to the other parts, and cannot be entirely understood in isolation from the other parts. All the parts are interrelated, and when there is a disturbance in any one of the

Functionalism is a structuralist theory; this meaning that it sees social structure (the social organisation of society) as more important than individuals. Functionalist sociologists believe that people have a range of basic needs that must be met if society is to run smoothly. Different groups and individuals in society are important because they perform certain functions which meet society's needs. Functionalism supports the family in nearly every way, to the support it offers to the next generation and the way it teaches them the four functions they need to survive. George Peter Murdock described the family as being “a social group characterized

Structural Functionalism aims to understand society in an objective way. It views society as an entity that is “objectively real”. It emphasizes the unity of society, and how individuals perform roles and how these roles are vital in meeting the needs of the collective whole. For instance, because every society has stratification, stratification must have certain functions and these functions can contribute to the survival of the social system as a whole. Furthermore, structural

Functionalists believe that society is based on a value consensus into which society socialises its members, which enables to cooperate harmoniously and meet society’s needs and goals.

Structural functionalism is based on the thought that society operates with the expectation of everyone serves a purpose. In order to operate effectively, each individual has a function that provides a role that others are dependent on. The responsibility of society is shared by the involvement of all institutions. Poverty in society is view by functionalists as purposeful. It provides society with jobs as social service providers. The social service providers are dependent on various institutions to provide the necessary sufficiency to sustain their role in society. This revolving dependence is crucial to structural functionalism.

One of the strengths of Functional-structural perspective is positive about society. The theorists believe that the family

In the movie “Breakfast Club” five high school students are punished with an 8 hour Saturday detention. In the beginning, they introduce each of the characters as the criminal, the athlete, the princess, the brain, and the basket case. All five students are from different groups of social status and think they all have nothing in common, but soon realize they have more things in common than expected. This movie can be seen through Structure-Functionalism, one out of three core theories. Structural functionalism view society as a system of co-dependent part that work together to ensure survival, meaning each structure has a certain function or purpose to be in society.

Structural Functionalism is defined as, “a society which is a whole unit made up of interrelated parts that work together” and “ its society as a living organism/ machine that has multiple organs and parts and people to fulfill their individual functions; working together to make it happen ” (Henslin 2015, Smith 2017).

First of all, according to the functionalism, society is a complex system whose part interconnect to promote a stable society. The structural functionalism falls under the macro perspectives, it’s based on the works of Emile Durkheim, who wanted to prove that the social forces can affect people’s behavior. The parts of the society are composed of the social institutions, they are identified with a social purpose and permanence, each one of them has a different objective and role in the functioning of the society. All the institutions depend on each other and if one of them stops doing their job, all the society will be affected. The reason for the existing of social issues is the changes that happens in the society, changes in traditions, changes in norms and values. For example, the rates of suicide increased during the war and economic depression because people found it hard to lose everything during these two events, so they thought that the only solution for this problem is the suicide. Some people find it hard to adapt to these changes; this failure leads to social problems. For example, some people commit suicide because of other people bullying and or cyberbullying. Another reason that may cause one to take

Functionalism looks at society in aspects of how it contributes to the steadiness/cohesion of the whole society (Anderson, Taylor, & Logio, P. 18). There are many institutions that are looked at that include the economic system, government, education, religion, health care, and family. All of which have different roles and perform different functions to ensure that society operates in a well-ordered manner. An example of this would be how family reproduces, takes care of children, exposes children to culture and heritage, supports other family members, and shares life experiences. Shared values and social stability are keys to this perspective. When this system breaks down it is because people’s needs are not being covered and shared values are deteriorating. When this occurs, it affects all parts of functionalism and the society must achieve

Structural functionalism is a macro level approach to study sociology (Browning, 2015). Structural functionalists believe social consensus is what holds society together; social consensus being a condition in which most members of the society agree on what would be good for everyone. Structural functionalists view society as a web of social structures, each structure being functional to fulfill it’s own needs, but dependent on all other structures for survival (Vago, 2012).

Functionalism is a consensus perspective, whereby society is based on shared values and norms into which members are socialised. For functionalists, society is seen as a system of social institutions such as the economy, religion and the family all of which perform socialisation functions.

On the other hands, the structural functionalism, which is also called as simply functionalism, it is a framework for building theory or perspectives that sees or seek the society as a complex system and whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability for the betterment of society. There are two theorists are well known including Herbert Spencer and Robert Merton, who were major contributors to this perspective or theory.

Structural Functionalism is “A major sociological perspective that views society as an interdependent system of parts (structures) and purposes (functions) that work together to make a society operate (Larkin, 2015)”. In order for a society to work all parts of the same society must work together. In structural functionalism society nearly depends on one another to stay afloat. If Something changes it can causes a disruption in society and begins to make things become unbalanced. Functionalism focuses on many groups that make up society, for example Government, Judiciary, and religion are some of the key groups that benefits in society strengthening their social relationships and the very world humans live in.

Sociology includes three major theoretical perspectives: the structural-functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective, and the symbolic interactionist perspective. Each perspective offers a variety of explanations about the causes of and possible solutions for social problems (Rubington & Weinberg, 1995).