Structural Functionalism And Gender Analysis

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

Because of the social stigma it makes society surrounding a women to not have as equal opportunities as a man does. It leads to lesser pay, have less opportunities for higher ranked jobs, as well as being more likely to live in poverty. The structural- functionalist perspective states because of a woman’s biology they are expected to bear, nurse, and raise children at home rather than being a provider like their male counterparts. The high in- equality came from the agricultural age of hunting and gathering, men and women were equal partners when it came to providing because they both had a job to do out of necessity. The woman was needed to produce while the man was needed to hunt. The conflict perspective stated because society evolved to become more industrial rather than agricultural, males were able to have an upper hand in dominance because they were able to have a hold on private property, requiring laws to have a female to be property as well. Males also assumed females were incapable by two beliefs are which are said to be a. to be less reliable, intelligent, and rational and b. They are most needed at home because of their natural instincts to be a mother (Mooney). Unlike the Structural- Functionalist perspective which states the high inequality comes from the division of biology because men are naturally stronger, the conflict perspective believes the lower position women have is due to the lower position

Conflict theory is an argument that deviance is deliberately chosen and often political in nature. Conflict theories also show competition for gender dominance in gender inequality. Men would be the dominant sex in this theory, making women the obvious subordinate sex. This hierarchy is prominent in every society in our world today. This means most standards and rules are usually made around men, and in turn things are usually seen through the male perspective. Since this is the standard view in our society, and the view we have all come to know, it makes narrowing the inequality gap between men and women a very difficult task. Gender inequality could also be seen as political in nature as well. Politics play an immense role in gender inequality and could definitely help stop this issue in America, but would it really make a difference? Laws may change to help protect women and their rights but it can never change the way that people think and raise their children.

The Structural Functionalist view marriage as essential to society and its wellbeing. According to the Functionalists marriage is universal in its fulfillment of six needs of society: Economic production, Socialization of children, Care of the sick and aged, Recreation, Sexual control, and Reproduction.

It is based on four principles: it is a trait of society, it from generations to generation, it is universal, it involves inequality. Two theorists, Karl Marx and Max Weber, are the prominent contributors. How gender, race and class plays a role in a society is clearly stated. Gender stratification occurs among men and women when men are given better recognition and opportunity than women. Feminist theory uses the conflict approach to examine the effect these social stratifiers play. Conflict theorist is of the opinion that stratification is harmful to the society. The economy benefits the upper or middle class over the working class, white over other race or skin

The Functionalist Perspective in sociology states that everyone in the society holds a position and in this position their status has a set of roles or certain behaviors that are required to perform the tasks at hand (Kornblum and Julian, 2004.) The roles consist of nurses at the medical institutions, lawyer's at international firms or just a blue collar worker at any type of factory. For the most part, each status' role is involved in an institution of some kind and is needed for the economy and society to function as a whole. "The Functionalist Perspective looks at the way major social instructions like the family, military, the health-care system, and the police and courts actually operate (Kornblum and Julian, 2004, 6.)" This basically means that for these institutions that are needed to fulfill these roles and duties for the economy, the roles and behaviors of employees need to evolve as a whole so that the institution can function (Kornblum and Julian, 2004.) For example, a nurse needs to know certain things about her job like what medicine can treat a certain

Long gone are the days when women were expected to stay at home and play “housewife”, cooking, cleaning, and making sure the kids got off to school, while their husbands worked a 9 to 5 in order to make ends meet. Today, women are no longer viewed as weak and incapable. A “superwoman” is the new woman. Men as the “breadwinners” have been replaced by “Ms. Independent.” The traditional male role has diminished as women fulfill bigger roles in society and exceed the expectations of their male counterparts in the household, workforce, and within social settings. We have abandoned old rules; no longer is it a “man’s world,” we now live in a shared world.

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.

Functionalist looks at society on a macro level. It is a consensus theory and structuralists prefer to use functionalism as it agrees with their ideals and models and they prefer to look at society as a whole. Functionalists are interested in studying what family is most functional.

Therefore, feminist sociology is not effective in leading women towards change or an end to dominant heterosexual assumptions that put patriarchy at power. Thus, it is difficult for women to breakthrough the oppression merely on theories and lacking practical action or reforms. When sociologists, such as Smith uses categories to analyze the relationship between women and her male counterpart, she draws on this notion that there is this believed or assumed natural heterogender relationship in society. As Smith proposed, men are able to work in the public materialist world and contribute to the everyday capitalist world is due to the existence of a female figure working within the private sphere to support the workings within the household, and in turn, make a patriarchal and capitalist society possible. Therefore, there is the assumed husband and wife, nuclear family in the household, with each playing their part and indicating that every individual is required to situate themselves as actors in this

The functionalism theory is also known as structural functionalism and lays claim on the fact that the society is composed of interdependent portions each of which adds to the functioning of the whole society. Functionalists break

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.

The economics of intimate partner relationships play a role in patriarchy and the reinforcement of women abuse. Martin (1981) states that meritocracy is a discourse that everyone has equal opportunity in the workforce. It fails to recognize the barriers that prevent people from having the same opportunities as others. For instance, women face many social pressures that prevent them from working in the public sphere such as discrimination, sexism, being pushed down to apply for certain jobs because it dominated by males and may not have the physical requirement like body mass. Martin (1981) argues that capitalism supports patriarchal families and the idea that a woman's place is considered to be in the private sphere, the home, while a man is to be in the public sphere. Martin (1981) states that capitalism is about competition and succeeds when barring disadvantage or vulnerable populations including women from advancing to the top of the hierarchy so that people, predominantly white males, would remain in power. One strategy to prevent women from advancing in their career is to receive minimum wage and less income than men which therefore makes them easily replaceable in the work force. This defines women as temporary workers (p. 41). This leaves women economically dependent on men and gives a reason