Outline and evaluate Functionalist views of the role of the family in society. [33 marks] Functionalism is a structuralist theory; this meaning that it sees social structure (the social organisation of society) as more important than individuals. Functionalist sociologists believe that people have a range of basic needs that must be met if society is to run smoothly. Different groups and individuals in society are important because they perform certain functions which meet society’s needs. Functionalism
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Economic Inequality in America The Occupy movement gained fame in September 2011 with a slogan that brought together a wide range of people‚ “We are the 99 percent.” The goal of the group is to get rid of economic inequality throughout the world. The group sparked a change in the way many people look at the way the world is. Wealth inequality is a word used to describe how money and assets are distributed among a group of people‚ in this specific case‚ the group of people is the population of people
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Essay Comparison In the two essays‚ the main theme is inequality where the American society is highly stratified based on class. In both cases‚ the members of the lower class are unlikely to realize their ambitions not because they do not have the capacity‚ but because the ruling class does not give them an opportunity to do so. In his essay‚ Stiglitz observes‚ “Americans have been watching protests against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet in our
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Assess the usefulness of functionalist contributions to our understanding of society. 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
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Functionalists agree with many of the positive aspects of the family such as provision of care and teachings of norms and values. The three main functionalist sociologists in this topic are Murdock‚ Parsons and Fletcher‚ who all have a different view towards family but main argument is the functions it provides for society. Murdock believes that the family have to provide 4 main functions: primary socialisation‚ financial support‚ the meeting of sexual and emotional needs and reproduction. These
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Why is it Wrong to say that “What is Good for Society‚ is Good for the Individual” Structural Functionalism focuses on the idea of how Institutions within society are structured‚ and work together in order to eventually form a functional society. It doesn’t study the individuals of society‚ but provides analysis on the overall social system‚ its functionality‚ and how it affects human behaviour. This theory can also be understood by looking at the metaphor of organs within a system. Organs‚ much
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Income Inequality‚ Economic growth and its effects . Abstract “Some people are of the view that income inequality is a necessary part off the growth process‚ that it is generally unavoidable and that policy should focus on ensuring that everyone is doing better rather than focusing on narrowing the income gap” whilst other agrue that it hinders growth. This assignment was carried out to investigate and debate the theoretical and empirical views of the above statement as well as share my own
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authors use to prove this is that “If the economy grew at the same right as it did but if the inequality had not increased‚ then the average income of households would be $12‚000 higher” (24). Since 1980‚ America has moved away from the mixed-economy cluster and traveled towards the capitalist oligarchies (4). The authors use the study of Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez to prove the growth of economic inequality. their evidence shows that the economy has become favorable
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view of education Functionalists look at how society works in a scientific way to see how it works. They have similar ideas about education too. There are three main functions. The first is socialisation. Education is a source of secondary socialisation. It helps to teach young people values‚ norms equality and achievement. Schools are the main part of a child’s day and therefore influence them greatly. The second is learning skills. When in education‚ you learn a number of skills such as numeracy
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Examine the functionalist’s perspective on the family. In this essay the functionalist’s perspective will be examined on their viewpoint of the family. Also Marxists‚ feminists and new rights perspective will be taken into consideration. The overall functionalist theory on the family is that it performs positive functions for individuals and society. One of the most influential functionalists was Talcott parson whose understanding of the family was that it provides the primary socialisation of
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