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Wallace and Wolff - Chapter 2, functionalism (PART II) REMEMBER FROM CHAPTER 1: Theories can be divided into: 1) Theories from which we can logically deduce concrete propositions and hypothesis to test 2) Theories that provide a general orientation to analysis. Functionalism falls here .functionalism is a BIOTIC metaphor, like an organism with all the parts inter-acting. Theorists look at the various elements of society (the organism) to see how they.re intereconnected and how the parts keep the whole working .It.s associated with Auguste Comte , who saw sociology as the statistic study of laws of action and reactions of the different parts of the system .Herbert Spencer: Early forerunner who added the concept of DIFFERENTIATION to the mix. By this, he meant mutual dependence of unlike parts of the system brought about by changes in a society.s size. .Durkheim is considered the .father. and his interest was on integration. He brought the individual into the social order. Just a few key points: .biotic methaphor .focuses on integration .focus on harmony as natural order of things .Norms and structures reflect shared social sentiments W&W use the example of punishment. Something violates social sentiments, so society reacts. We can also see the strength of punishment as reflecting the intensity of social sentiments. (NOTE TO CLASS: LOOK UP CRITICISMS AS EXTRA CREDIT) Talcott Parsons: A biology major who developed the biotic metaphor further. To look at this, he developed a THEORY OF ACTION to examine how PLURALITY (two or more ACTORS interacting) that reflect and/or create a social system. Interaction is guided by NORMATIVE STANDARDS of the social system, consensually shared, and we cannot ignore the rules of the game. PATTERN VARIABLES These are .things. that categorize expectations and the structure of relationships between people and between elements in the system. A-G-I-L summarizes the basic four-part PARADIGM that can be applied to a social system: --ADAPTATION .GOAL ATTAINMENT .INTEGRATION .LATENT PATTERN MAINTENANCE / TENSION MANAGEMENT These function to preserve equilibrium in the organism. When what part is out of whack, changes occur in the system to re-establish STASIS (stability) ROBERT MERTON Just a few (of many) points: .Theories of the middle range .Developed emphasis on relationship between individual and social structure .Developed strain theory .Developed difference between MANIFEST and LATENT functions A FEW EXAMPLES .James Inverarity: Functions of lynching .Gans: Functions of poverty --Shils, E. and Young, M., (1953),.The meaning of the coronation. NEO-FUNCTIONALISM Neo-functionalism is relatively recent (mid-1980s) and was an attempt to resurrect functionalism. The primary scholar was Jeffrey Alexander, who argued that functionalism isn.t a theory; it.s a perspective that alerts us to how social structure and human agency combine to create our social order. You don.t have to study Alexander, Smelser, Luhmann and the rest at the end of Chapter 2. Just have a rough sense of what they do and why they are associated with structuralism. STRUCTURALISM/POST STRUCTURALISM We will be discussing this periodically throughout the semester. For now, STRUCTURALISM is the study of the connects between people, interaction, institutions, and how these all contribute to the STRUCTURE of society. By structure, we mean those fairly invariant and semi-permanent characteristics of the culture and other elements of the social world that provide the fundamental framework for guiding how we live our lives. One question we.ll address: Which is more important: Structure or agency (agency refers to human activity as we create our structure)?
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