Preview

To what extent can the existence of social order be explained in term of the functionalist concept of value consensus?

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1663 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
To what extent can the existence of social order be explained in term of the functionalist concept of value consensus?
Social order can be defined as a stable system of s social institutions that bring about the regular patterns of shared,stable and predictable behavior.It refers to a set of linked social structures ,social institutions,social practices which conserve,maintain and enforce "normal" way of relating and behaving,Functionalist theory assumes that a certain degree of order and stability is essential for the survival of social systems.Without it,society may expose to chaos and disorder.An example showing that society cannot function due to chaos is the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,looting ,violence and other criminal activity become rampant in the state of confusion and lawlessness.Therefore,social order is essential for society to function in harmony,Value consensus is on agreement about values by members of society,refers to shared norms and values,which provide the foundation for cooperation,since common values produce common goals.Functionalists regards social orders as an outcome of value consensus,and behaviour conforms to generally accepted norms.

Functionalists believe that social order exists in the concept of value consensus to a large extent.Many functionalists see shared values as the key to explain the survival of social systems,they state that value consensus integrates the various parts of society.It forms the basis of social unity,or social solidarity,Society,from a functionalist's view,is a system as a whole which made up of interrelated parts.Hence,various part must have some compatibility and involve integration which based on value consensus in order to survive.Emile Durkheim agreed that human beings have unlimited desires.We must find ways in order to satisfy our needs.In order to do this,we must find ways to limit our desires to satisfy them.Emile Durkheim stated that social order is implemented in the set of moral values that has been laid out by society.Therefore,society molds the way human beings interact.People learn how to behave and relate

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Suicide Durkheim Anomie

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Perspective of the Functionalist Theory: Durkheim believed in social facts which are the institutions in a society. Durkheim…

    • 251 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Emile Durkheim was a key sociological thinker of the 19th century. He was one of the first people to try and explain and understand society as a whole by looking at all the different parts of society. He studied the ways in which society was held together through moral and social bonds. This came to be known as ‘functionalism’. It was a word used to describe a complicated system in which different pieces fit together to form a stable and structured society.…

    • 1548 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    History Study Guide

    • 1883 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Directions: You will be taking a cumulative quarter test. This study guide will tremendously help you on that test.…

    • 1883 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Mr Stefan Sledmore

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Functionalism is a structural theory based on value consensus. Functionalists believe that in order to achieve solidarity, society has two key mechanisms, ‘Socialisation’ and ‘Social Control.’ ‘Socialisation’ is the process by which we learn the norms and values of society, firstly through the family and then through other institutions such as education. ‘Social Control’ means the formal ways of insuring people conform to the mainstream norms and values of society.…

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Functionalism sees society as a system, that it is a set of interconnected parts which can work together in unison to form a whole. The early functionalists drew an analogy between society and an organism, i.e, the human body. They said that an understanding of an organ of the body involves understanding its relationship with every other organ and its contribution to the organism as a whole; therefore they said that this could also describe society, that every part requires its own analysis to see what it contributes to the society as whole. Functionalists have also continued this argument to say that just like an organ has simple basic needs to survive, so does society, and that if one part fails it will all diminish. Thus social institutions such as the family and religion are analysed as a part of the social order rather than isolated units. 

Functionalist analysis has focused on the question of how social systems are maintained. With the functionalist concern for investigating on how functional prerequisites (basic needs or necessities of existence) are met. This emphasis has resulted in many institutions being seen as beneficial and useful to society. But this view has led critics to argue that functionalism has a built-in conservative bias which supports the status quo. 

Within society the functionalists outline what they call functional prerequisites, these are what society requires in order to exist. Some functionalists believe that these prerequisites are institutions such as family or social stratification. They are easily identified in every type of society even though they can vary, like the caste system in India varies a great deal from our own stratification system but affects the whole society and makes it functional which fits their definition of a prerequisite. This view is held by sociologists such as Davies and Moore (1967) and Murdock (1949). However…

    • 2803 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Functionalist views are based on that society is a system of interdependent parts held together by a shared culture or consensus. They believe that every part of society performs functions that help keep society running effectively. They use the example of a body to explain the way society runs as each part of our body has to work together in order for us to stay alive this is the same as society according to a functionalist.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Functionalism is a concencus theory that focused on the unity and harmony of society. Functionalists believe that society is a system that works together in order for it to funtction. Inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions in a society and recurrent patterns of unequal distributions of goods, wealth, opportunities etc. There are many types of inequality such as social class inequality, gender inequality, age inequality and ethnicity inequality. Functionalists believe that these inequalities do exist and that they are beneficial to the society and are vital for society to function.…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    unit 7

    • 3346 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Functionalists believe that society is held together by social consensus, in which members of the society agree upon, and work together to achieve, what is best for society as a whole.…

    • 3346 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sociological Perspectives

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Structural Functionalism is a paradigm that begins with the assumption that society is a unified whole that functions because of the contributions of its separate structures (Ferris and Stein 18). The Functionalist paradigm describes society as stable and describes all of the various mechanisms that maintain social stability. Functionalism argues that the social structure is responsible for all stability and instability, and that that the social structure is continuously attempting to maintain social balance among all of the components of society. Functionalism argues that a stable society is the best possible society and any element that helps to maintain that stability must add to the adaptability (functionality) of society. This is a macro-level paradigm that describes large-scale processes and large- scale social systems; it is uninterested in individual behavior.…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Functionalism has a macro-structural approach to society. It looks at society as a whole and is known as a consensus perspective i.e. everyone agrees on social norms and values and people work together to maintain society. These norms and values are learned by social institutions such as the family, education, media, religion, law and work. Functionalists believe society is arranged similar to the human body and its vital organs. If one should malfunction, then the others will be affected. This organic analogy keeps society functioning and these institutions have functional dependency on each other. These ideas go back to Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), the French sociologist who is considered to be the founding father of functionalist sociology and whose writings form the basis for the functionalist theory(McClelland 2000).…

    • 2075 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The structural functionalism and social conflict theory, are ideas that come under the micro -level paradigms that entails a large-scale of patterns and structure. The fundamental function theory is when society has many individual parts of the community, consolidated with each part that makes a society. However, crime is its, unique part of the community and crime in small amounts is a norm for the society. Therefore, when deviant acts of a criminal nature, this will reinforce the values of the society. The punishment for corruption has strengthened the values as of what is acceptable and unacceptable in the society. The Conflict theory for the society separated into classes white-collar prosperous and working-class consequently these two…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sociological Perspective

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Firstly, functionalists believe that society is viewed as a “system of interconnected parts” that works collectively in order to sustain a sense of social balance within the world. For example, each of the social institutions is responsible for providing essential functions to society: Family is seen as accountable for “reproducing, nurturing and socialising children”, whereas education provides…

    • 480 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Marxism vs Functionalism

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As a sociological discipline, functionalism is counterposed to Marxism. However it shares with Marxism the importance of ‘totality’ and the corresponding view that scientific inquiry is based upon the interdependence of parts within a whole. It is important to distinguish why the Marxian use of the totality differs significantly from functionalist systems. Primarily this involves the Marxian emphasis on the contradictory character of the whole and the treatment of the social totality from the perspective of its conflicts. Functionalism in contrast views society generally as a stable system and looks for the mechanisms that give it harmony – it thus seeks to reduce conflict to a residual element of the system, or view conflict from the perspective of its maintenance of the social system.…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Functionalism sees society as based on value consensus, meaning they see members of society as sharing a common culture. Culture, meaning, a set of shared norms (rules), values, beliefs, and goals. Sharing the same culture produces social solidarity, binding individuals together, telling them what to strive for and how to conduct themselves. Deviance is defined as a disobedience to social norms based on the value consensus, deviance is vital within society in order for it to be cohesive and functional within the community. Functionalists argue that in order to achieve this solidarity, society has two key mechanisms: socialisation and social control. Modern society is very complex, and especially in large cities, there are many people with many different cultures and lifestyles…

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Firstly, ‘value consensus’, for Marxists value consensus is largely a tool of the middle-class to ensure the acceptance and legitimation of capitalism. However for Functionalists, they believe that if society is going to operate effectively there needs to be shared norms and values- ‘value consensus’.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics