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Lesson 12Functionalism and Conflict
Theory
Robert Wonser
SOC 368 – Classical Sociological Theory
Spring 2014
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Functionalism
Society is “like an organism”Emphasis on social integration or social
solidarity and emergent propertiesSocial institutions and organizations are
evaluated in terms of their social functions
When an element of society becomes obsolete or counter-productive it becomes dysfunctional
Societies can become “sick”Crime, poverty, conflict are not
dysfunctional, but instead are necessary components of society
“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
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What happens when societies become large?they increase in complexitythey become more differentiateda division of labor emerges (specialization)the aspects of society are integrated based
upon functional interdependence
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Emphasis is on the whole, and how the parts contribute to the whole
Social stability and social structure is emphasized
A macro theory
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The Sociological Theories of Talcott Parsons(1902-1979)
Parsons was the dominant figure in Sociology from the 1930’s to the early 1970’s. By the end of the 1970’s Parsons’ theory was almost entirely obsolete.
The Structure of Social Action (1937)Parsons’ first major workParsons is reading European sociologists who had
very received little exposure in the United States:Emile DurkheimMax Weber
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Parsons’ central question:How is social order possible?Parsons is critical of the American
theorists that had focused upon the rational actor, or homo economicus.
Parsons’ theory is a theory of action and attempts to describe individual action as a sociological phenomenon.
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Who does this remind you of?
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Parsons’ Structural Functionalism:The Social System (1951)
Basic Assumptions of functionalism:society is like an organismsocieties must have some important force
of social integrationsocieties have needs (functional
imperatives):
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AGIL
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Parsons’ functional theory of society asserts that society is like an organic system of interrelated parts:
1. social systems have an internal order2. social systems are functionally
interdependent3. social systems tend towards
homeostasis or equilibrium (balance)
Lesson 8: Early Women Sociologists, Classical Sociological Theory
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4. a change in one part of the social system affects other parts of the system
5. social systems create boundaries with their environment
6. the integration of the system and the allocation of resources within the system are essential for equilibrium
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Four action systems are instrumental in the functioning of any society:
cultural system social system personality systembehavioral organism
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Social System
Individual actors interacting through time guided by culture and organized through “status-role complex”
Status – “social position”Role – “expected behavior of one who occupies a
status”Social system must carry the value-orientations
provided by the cultural system, and meet the needs of the personality systems.
Social system is responsible for socialization and social control (it is the means by which culture becomes integrated into personalities)
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Cultural System
Patterned system of symbols, values, norms, and beliefs that provides the basis for social integration
This is probably the most important system in Parsons’ theory (a theory of “cultural determinism”)
Lesson 8: Early Women Sociologists, Classical Sociological Theory
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Personality System
a motivational orientation carried by actorscomposed of “need-dispositions”
1.need for love and social approval
2.need to adhere to cultural standards
3.need to meet role expectations
Lesson 8: Early Women Sociologists, Classical Sociological Theory
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Behavioral Organism
Behavioral organism:the material source of energy for the rest
of the systems (the physical body)
Lesson 8: Early Women Sociologists, Classical Sociological Theory
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Conflict Theory
Emphasizes conflict and power struggles as the foundation of societies.
Emphasis on social changeSystems of social inequality,
stratifications, and social classes are main topics of investigation
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Conflict Theory
The point of theory is provide a model for changing the world
Central question: What is the basis for oppression in a society?
A macro theory
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Conflict Theory
Many dimensions of conflict are discussed:economic/classpowersocial statusgenderaccess to educationcultural and symbolic violencecontrol over the bodycontrol over consciousness
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Ralf Dahrendorf’s (1929-present) Conflict TheoryClass and Class Conflict in Industrial
Society (1959)Dahrendorf begins with structural
functional assumptions about social structure:
• statuses• roles• “status-role complex”
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But, in a division of labor, not every occupation (status) is equal:
Dahrendorf argues that most status are differentiated by authority
Some status positions have a great deal of authority, while others have very little
The authority attached to social positions is social power Social structures and organizations can be understood as a
means for distributing power and classifying people into two groups: 1. super-ordinates (order-givers) 2. sub-ordinates (order-takers)
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In authority relations there is a fundamental dichotomy:
those who have powerand those who do not have powerThis dichotomy provides the basis for
conflict in virtually any situation because these two groups have different interests.
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Dahrendorf defines interests as: "structurally generated orientations of the actions of
incumbents of defined positions” Those With Authority: Maintain status quo Those Without Authority: Change status quo
This conflict of interests is the basis of conflict according to Dahrendorf.
Each group’s “interests” are latent interests until they become conscious … then they become manifest interests.
When manifest interests ≠ latent interests, false consciousness occurs
Lesson 8: Early Women Sociologists, Classical Sociological Theory
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C. Wright Mills’ Power Elite
MilitaryCorporatePolitical
Where do we fit in?
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Recent Developments in Marxist Conflict Theory (Neo-Marxism)
Conflict Theory has tended to take two different paths following the ideas of:Karl MarxMax Weber (Dahrendorf and Collins)
Those that have followed in Marx’s footsteps have attempted to answer these questions:
Why did the communist revolution not occur?Why have the conflicts predicted by Marx not
happened?
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Answers to these questions have taken two forms:World-Systems Theory: the communist conflicts
have not occurred because capitalism has expanded in scale through geographic colonization – the capitalist market is now a global market (external)
Critical Theory (Frankfurt School): capitalist systems have absorbed conflict by selling conflict as a lifestyle through the colonization of experience (internal)
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