The Cheating Scandal Of Stuyvesant High School Essay

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

Functionalists look at society as a whole. They explain crime and deviance by stating that the source of deviance lies in the nature of society rather than the individual.

Moreover, Societies are held together by both consensus with values and coercion. The functionalist view is that the balance of harmony among the society is held up by societal institutions. For example, schools, church and family are seen as the most significant foundation for an adequately functional society.

In this film, each character is given a name upon how they act and what clique they interact with. A functionalist perceptive might say that each type of character has their own meaning or impact to society and without them society will become dysfunctional. Our first character named Andrew Clark on the wrestling team played the status of the “Athlete”, a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise. Through a Functionalist perspective they would say that sports help Social systems maintain balance and operate efficiently. They help by providing opportunities for conflict management and release, Socialization, individual of different diversity to interact, and social mobility. Since Clark is participating in wrestling he is contributing to society by playing the sport because without “Athlete’s” there would be no Sports to play. Because it sport contributes to society it makes it a working/functioning part. John Bender played the status of the “Criminal”, a person who has committed a crime. He is deviant, and violates society formal laws. He is seen in the movie, disrespecting the teacher, having marijuana in his locker, and breaking rules. Functionalist Perspectives on crime is that its normal and a necessary part of society. It contributes by creating social unity, society learns not to do this behavior. A functionalist perspective on this type of character would be that he has a function in society.

Everything was looking good for Joe Paterno and Penn State football as his football managing career rose with an overall record of 298-136-3 but in 2011, all that changed. Back in 2000 a janitor of Penn State witnessed Sandusky receiving oral sex from a young boy, the janitor reported what he saw to co-workers and his supervisor but none of these men reported these actions to authorities. It wasn’t until November 5, 2011 that Sandusky was arrested on a $100,000 bail and up to 40 criminal counts. ESPN were quickly in the scene to investigate and report the allegations on Sandusky. They quickly reported saying Sandusky was charged with more than 50 counts of child sex-abuse involving 10 boys he met through The Second

resignation of his advisors, his Attorney General, and others who had worked on the CREEP

In 2011 the initial shock of the media and reports of the Sandusky scandal uncovering years of victims and allegations, left spectators in disbelief. The idea that this type of abuse went undetected from 1994 to 2009 seemed preposterous. The fact of the matter is that Sandusky was enabled to continue his abuse through high ranking school officials sweeping Sandusky’s behavior under the rug (Chappell, 2012).

The Jerry Sandusky case had a major impact on Penn State. It affected both academics and athletics in a major way. In this essay I will discuss the situation that occurred and the impact that the social media had on this once great school.

Greenberg, C. (2011, October 15). Jerry Sandusky Interview: Bob Costas Asks Sandusky About Penn State Abuse Scandal (VIDEO). Retrieved from

Émile Durkheim said that deviance is normal and it is important to society. Durkheim had

It is through learning these norms and values of our own culture that we learn our own role within society and are able to contribute to that society and help maintain social stability. It could be argued that through these ‘unwritten rules of society’, which we learn within the family, we are forced to behave in a way that is beneficial for the whole of society, thus we are ‘puppets of society’. Functionalists see society as a consensus state where almost everyone, because of the norms and values passed onto them through their primary socialisation, agrees to abide by them. Most people generally appear to respect and follow by these rules and it could be, according to Functionalists that it is due to the fact that from birth we are: confronted by a social world already in existence. Joining this world involves learning “how things are done” in it.

At the same time as people continue to disobey social norms and deviate from societal expectations, sociologist draw to five sociological perspectives to explain deviance. From the functionalist perspective, Robert Merton adapted Durkheim’s idea of anomie to explain why people act in certain ways. The anomie theory of deviance states “that people adapt in certain ways either by conforming to or by deviating from cultural expectations” (Schaefer, 2009). According to this theory it can include

The functionalist theory states that hard work leads to rewards, and when these rewards are not sufficient, deviance arises. Crime and deviance result from “structural tensions and a lack of moral regulation within society” (Giddens). An example of this

The functionalist theories share a common structural explanation of causes of deviance . They assume that conformity in society is achieved through the existence of norms and values shared by the general consensus and that a high level of social integration is required for society to function successfully .

Functionalist theory is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. It can be argued that the functionalist theory has made a significant contribution to the study of society. It originates from the work of Emile Durkheim who suggests that social order is possible and society remains stable due to the functioning of several institutions. Everything has a specific function in society and society will always function in harmony. The main institutions studied by functionalism are the family, the education system, religion and crime and deviance.