Assess the usefulness of functionalist theories in understanding religion today (33 marks) There are a variety of different definitions of religion including substantive definitions‚ which refers to focusing on the content or substance of a religious belief such as God‚ functional definitions‚ which refers to religion in terms of the social or psychological functions it carries out for the individual and there are also social constructionist definitions which focus on how members of society actually
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Functionalist are macro sociologist so they look at how education contributes to the whole of society. As they are consensus theorist they believe that education benefits society. The first functionalist sociologist is Durkheim ‚the founding farther. He said that education passes on the norms and values of society. They do this thought the teaching of history to give the children a sense of commitment as they can see that they are part of something much bigger than just themselves. This helps create
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The Functionalist Perspective sees society as a system. Regarding the technology gap facing the poor and minorities‚ a functionalist perspective would cover this issue based on the society’s consensus due to their core beliefs and values. If there would be a technology gap with the poor and minorities‚ there would have to be a reason for the gap to be occurring. There can be a positive and negative side to the technology gap with the poor and minorities‚ such as; it is a downfall due to them not
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will compare and contrast the functionalist and conflict perspectives. Both are on a macro level but are different theories with how the sociologists view the social problem of poverty. An examination of the two theories will show the differences of the functionalist theoretical perspective‚ which focuses primarily on the positive and some negative‚ and the conflict theoretical perspective‚ which focuses on the negative. (Leon-Guerrero‚ A ‚ 2013) The functionalist theoretical perspective accepts
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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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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 the way that Durkheim describes. -His theories are out-dated. -He doesn’t look at any negative aspects such as bullying. -He ignores problems of society. Criticisms of Durkheim: -Assumes societies have a shared culture which can be transmitted through the education. In fact Britain is
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three areas I am going to focus on are those of the Functionalist‚ Conflict and Symbolic-Interactionist. The Functionalist theory believes that society functions so that each individual plays a specific role. Their perspective of social inequality is the belief that "inequality is not only inevitable but also necessary for the smooth functioning of society." (Davis-Moore (1954) p. 214 chapter 8 Society In Our Times: The Essentials) Functionalists believe that all societies have important jobs and
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Compare the main assumptions of the Functionalist and Marxist perspectives on religion. ______________________________________________________________________________ “Religion is an organized collection of beliefs‚ cultural systems and world views that relate humanity to an order of existence.” Sociologist study religion as both a belief system and a social institution. As belief system – Religion shapes what people think and how they see the world. As Social Institution – Religion is a pattern
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Approaches to Illness The structural-functionalist and the conflict perspective approaches to illness differ in many of the following ways. “The structural-functionalist perspective is concerned with how illness‚ health‚ and health care affect and are affected by other aspects of social life (Mooney‚ Knox‚ Schacht 36).” To show how illness and health are affected by other aspects of life‚ one who supports the structural functionalist view will look for social patterns that give explanation for
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Critically evaluate the functionalist perspective on education (20 marks) Functionalist’s perspective on education is based on the consensus theory of equality. They tend to believe that education helps to maintain society by socialising young people with the value of achievement‚ competition and equality of opportunity. Education also teaches the skills to help the economy. For example‚ literacy‚ numeracy and IT for particular occupations. Role allocation is all part of this; education allocates
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