Functional sociology

Examples of Functional sociology in the following topics:

• Forms of Sociological Practice

  • While there remains considerable debate within sociology about the best function or purpose of sociological practice, three primary approaches provide the foundational cues for contemporary sociological practice.
  • Despite the fact that each of these views has been evident within sociological practices throughout the history of the discipline (as well as within and between other academic disciplines), they have become the source of heated debates throughout the last three decades.
  • Rather than taking sides in these debates, we thus provide introductory descriptions of these three major approaches to sociological practice, and encourage students to consider the pros and cons of each approach.

• Sociology Majors

  • Thus, there is no particular "personality type" among sociology majors.
  • The average graduating sociology major is a young female (early 20s) who is white and single.
  • In other words, sociology majors find the discipline exciting and challenging and generally enjoy studying sociology.
  • Most also grasp the differences in the theoretical paradigms of sociology (e.g., structural functionalism, conflict theory, etc.).
  • Sociology majors are generally satisfied overall with their experience earning a sociology degree.

• The Functionalist Perspective on Deviance

  • What function does deviance play in society?
  • This is a question asked by sociologists subscribing to the school of structural functionalism.
  • Structural functionalism has its roots in the very origins of sociological thought and the development of sociology as a discipline.
  • Though precursors of structural functionalism have been in existence since the mid-1800's, structural functionalism was solidified by Émile Durkheim in the late nineteenth century .
  • This is a short clip from the "Functions of Crime" segment of their new seven-part DVD "Short Cuts to Sociology: Crime and Deviance

• Structural-Functionalism

  • Structural-Functionalism is a sociological theory that originally attempted to explain social institutions as collective means to meet individual biological needs (originally just functionalism).
  • Durkheim's strongly sociological perspective of society was continued by Radcliffe-Brown.
  • Structural-functionalism was the dominant perspective of sociology between World War II and the Vietnam War.
  • Manifest functions are the intended functions of a phenomenon in a social system.
  • Latent functions are the unintended functions of a phenomenon in a social system.

• Explaining Poverty: The Sociological Debate

  • Sociologists take two opposing approaches to explaining economic stratification: structural-functionalism and conflict theory.
  • Two classic sociological approaches to poverty and social stratification are structural-functionalism and conflict theory.
  • The structural-functionalist approach to stratification asks the question: what function or purpose does stratification serve?
  • The conflict-theory approach offers a critique of structural-functionalism.
  • First, the critique asserts that it is difficult to determine the functional importance of any job, as a system of interdependence makes every position necessary to the functioning of society.

• Conflict Theory

  • A prominent sociological theory that is often contrasted with structural-functionalism is conflict theory.
  • Conflict theory was developed in part to illustrate the limitations of structural-functionalism.
  • One of the primary contributions conflict theory presents over the structural-functional approach is that it is ideally suited for explaining social change, a significant problem in the structural-functional approach.
  • Many of the broader elements of societies remain remarkably stable over time, indicating the structural-functional perspective has a great deal of merit.As noted above, sociological theory is often complementary.
  • This is particularly true of structural-functionalism and social-conflict theories.

• Sociological Theories of Deviance

  • Four main sociological theories of deviance exist.
  • The second main sociological explanation of deviance comes from structural functionalism.
  • This is an important function that affirms the cultural values and norms of a society for the members of that society.
  • The third main sociological theory of deviance is conflict theory.
  • The fourth main sociological theory of deviance is labeling theory.

• Sociological Perspectives on Urban Life

  • Urban sociology is the sociological study of life and human interaction in metropolitan areas.
  • The Chicago School of Sociology is widely credited with institutionalizing urban sociology as a disciplinary sub-field through pioneering studies of urban spaces and social interactions .
  • Like biological systems, urban subgroups are dependent on one another for healthy functioning and are also dynamic—that is, they flourish and decline based on political, economic, and social tides.
  • The Chicago School of Sociology, developed at the University of Chicago, is credited with developing modern urban sociology as researchers worked to elucidate patterns of urban life.
  • Explain urbanization in terms of functionalism and what the Chicago School understood to be some of the causes of urban social problems at that time

• The Functionalist Perspective

  • Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms, customs, traditions, and institutions.
  • 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.
  • This approach was notably in evidence in respect to the sociology of race" (Coulhan 2007, Sociology in America, p.559).
  • 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.
  • 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.

• Sociological Videos

  • The following are videos - including fiction movies, non-fiction documentaries and recorded lectures - examining topics in the field of sociology.
  • See this link for a sortable table of sociological videos: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Sociological_Videos