The functionalist theory is based on trust in both our political and legal systems. The theory is also known as the consensus theory‚ and thus explains that there is a middle ground that must be met in order for our society to remain stable. Vago (2009) explained the biological analogy of the functionalist theory. He stated that this theory can be seen as the body of an organism‚ in the organism there are different relationships with different functions that must be processed right in order for
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members of society.” (Schaefer‚ 2009) A family is considered a social institution. This social institution is one that can be applied to all three sociological theories which are functionalism‚ conflict‚ and interactionism. The first sociological theory is functionalism. A functionalism perspective is a “sociological approach that emphasizes the way in which the parts of a society are structured to maintain its stability.” (Schaefer‚ 2009) This simply means for in the instance of a family that
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Examine the functionalist view of the family Broadly speaking‚ the functionalist perspective has focused on the functions of the family in society and for its members. In other words‚ it looks at how the family‚ as an institution‚ helps in maintaining order and stability in society‚ and the significance of the family for its individual members. There are two main functionalist views on the family – Murdock’s view and Parsons’ view. Murdock’s view on the family is that the family performs four basic
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Outline and evaluate functionalist views of the role of the family in society. (33 Marks) Functionalists stress the positive aspect of family. In particular‚ they force on the positive role of one particular family type: the nuclear family. Murdoch (1949) claimed the family was a universal institution. He studied 250 societies and found the family‚ in some form‚ was present in all of them. This suggests that families are necessary in some way‚ whether it be for societies to survive‚ for individual
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Racial and Gender Inequality Functionalist Theory Racial inequality evaluated through the functionalist theory would be looked at to provide a function to the working system of a society. One function for racial inequality could be that the inferior race‚ prefers or needs direction by the dominant race. This was a common view in the enslavement of blacks in the south before the civil war. Another functionalist view might try to explain that the inferior race is in fact dangerous to mix with the
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SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES Sociological Perspective Provides very general ways of conceptualizing the social world and its basic elements. Provides a set of assumptions‚ interrelated concepts and statements about how various social phenomena are related to one another. Sociology contains a large number of distinctive perspectives and they can be divided into two broad categories: micro and macro. Functionalism Functionalism is a macro perspective that examines the creation‚ maintenance‚
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than of a society as a whole. Criticisms of Durkheim: -Assumes societies have a shared culture which can be transmitted through the education. In fact Britain is now multicultural‚ and therefore can we base school curriculums on one single culture. -New Right and New Labour perspectives on education have tended to emphasize the economic importance of education and have downplayed the significance of transmitting a shared culture. -Some researchers question whether in practice schools do act in
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Due to this‚ it is also important to consider other potential decision making influences. The Social Functionalist Approach is used in order to analyse the decision making structure (Leinhardt‚ 1977). This approach was introduced by Tetlock in 2002‚ In order to identify the importance of social factors during the decision making process. (Michael W. Eysenck
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“Assess the Functionalist view that religion benefits both society as a whole and it’s individual members.” According to research carried out by sociologists‚ almost 90% of the world population follow a religion. There are numerous theories that attempt to explain the role of religion in our lives. The Functionalist outlook is a consensus perspective that sees religion performing positive functions for society as a
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on suicide rates‚ compared to Interpretivists who believe that they should look for meaning behind occurrences and certain individuals experiences before the suicide. Other perspectives also put in their views on what they believe to explain suicide for example‚ Realists. Item A references to Durkheim’s Structural Functionalist view on suicide‚ as stated Durkheim believes that due to sociology being a science with the topic of suicide it is very easy to make causal laws or as said in Item A ‘social
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