Application of Functionalism to Contemporary Caribbean Society
Discuss the application of functionalism to contemporary Caribbean society.
Functionalism was developed by Emile Durkheim in Europe in the 19th century, where he believed that social order is necessary in every society and societies are held together by shared values and common interest. In today’s modern society, some of the beliefs of functionalism have been deemed to be applicable or not applicable to contemporary Caribbean society, as arguments are made for and against functionalism by other theorist.
Functionalist argues that society is structured based on rules, roles and norms. This application does apply to contemporary Caribbean society. For example the Caribbean has implied a rule that the students wear uniforms when attending school. This show their role of being students, creating identity for the school they attend or departments that they are in school, where it becomes a norm that students must wear uniforms to school. Another example may be that CSME is structured on rules enforced to adhere to the objectives of CSME to make integration possible, being the role of us as Caribbean citizens to abide by them, becoming a norm when the rule has been successfully abided.
It is believed by functionalist that different parts of society contribute positively to the operations and functioning of the whole system. An argument is made that this belief is applicable to Caribbean society. For example, crime is seen to be positive in the Caribbean, where developing countries uses crime to provide employment for those without jobs, reducing the unemployment rate in the Caribbean countries. Arguments are also made against this belief, where not all parts of society contributions act positively, but there are negative effects also. For example, crime can impact negatively on important institutions, one being the tourism industry for the Caribbean, where an incident occurred that a tourist couple had been shot in Antigua, a bad reputation was given after
Functionalism was developed by Emile Durkheim in Europe in the 19th century, where he believed that social order is necessary in every society and societies are held together by shared values and common interest. In today’s modern society, some of the beliefs of functionalism have been deemed to be applicable or not applicable to contemporary Caribbean society, as arguments are made for and against functionalism by other theorist.
Functionalist argues that society is structured based on rules, roles and norms. This application does apply to contemporary Caribbean society. For example the Caribbean has implied a rule that the students wear uniforms when attending school. This show their role of being students, creating identity for the school they attend or departments that they are in school, where it becomes a norm that students must wear uniforms to school. Another example may be that CSME is structured on rules enforced to adhere to the objectives of CSME to make integration possible, being the role of us as Caribbean citizens to abide by them, becoming a norm when the rule has been successfully abided.
It is believed by functionalist that different parts of society contribute positively to the operations and functioning of the whole system. An argument is made that this belief is applicable to Caribbean society. For example, crime is seen to be positive in the Caribbean, where developing countries uses crime to provide employment for those without jobs, reducing the unemployment rate in the Caribbean countries. Arguments are also made against this belief, where not all parts of society contributions act positively, but there are negative effects also. For example, crime can impact negatively on important institutions, one being the tourism industry for the Caribbean, where an incident occurred that a tourist couple had been shot in Antigua, a bad reputation was given after