According to Parsons, society is based on a value consensus, which is a set of agreed goals, values and roles that standardise and determine behaviour. This value consensus is established and maintained within the institutions of society. Society is therefore a system and has to meet certain needs to survive. Just as the parts of a biological organism function to meet its’ needs, so the parts of the social system function to meet the needs of society. The social needs are adaption, goal attainment, integration and pattern maintenance.
They also live for the moment (present gratification). Some sociologists say that these attitudes and values prevent people from escaping poverty. For example, the attitudes and values of the poor mean that many don't stay in education, so they can't use qualifications to escape from their poverty. Some sociologists criticise this explanation of poverty because although it shows how people in poverty might adapt to their situation, it doesn't explain why people are in poverty in the first place. Another explanation of poverty is the poverty cycle.
Summarize the Milgram Study findings and importance and analyse: (a) In your view how is the Milgram Study on Obedience of interest to contemporary organisations and management? And (b) What are the potentially negative ethical consequences of blind and unquestioned obedience in organizations for both the organization’s own sustainability and organizational learning on one hand, and the way it treats its internal and external stakeholders? Critically analyse and discuss both (a) and (b) One of the most important elements of our society is the involvement of its members in organizations. People that become part of an organisation interact with each other so social life is formed inside the organisational structure but outside of it as well. Like most of the organisational management essentials, social life consists of norms that define people’s way of behaving and operating.
The agencies of socialisation are identified as families, peer groups, education, and work. The content will also consider theories of socialisation such as functionalists and social action theorists. These too will be evaluated in the thesis. The members of society learning and sharing behaviour are known as culture. Mike O’Donnell (1997) describes culture as “the way of life of a particular society” (P475).
Including social institutions, a system of behavioral and relationship patterns, having specific roles to perform to make society. I believe the Functionalist theory best describes society. Personally I believe society can only be stable through social order. Including that part is primarily institutions of society. Amongst family, community, religion, academia, business, media, and government are all equal but, when one gains predominance tyranny always emerges.
Likewise, society would cease to exist if it didn’t have vital institutes such as the family and education even crime and deviance to a certain extent. However, Sharrock et al, criticise Durkheim’s concept of functionalism as it overemphasises the value consensus. Other sociologists argue that not everyone will buy into society’s norms and values not because they are ‘deviant’ but because it favours the capitalist ideology. From the organic analogy, Parson’s 1951 developed Durkheim’s theory and postulated functional prerequisites. According to Parsons’ there are four main prerequisites such as: adaption (economic), goal attainment (political), integration (cohesion) latency; pattern maintenance.
Culture is defined as the learned, shared behaviour of the members of a society including values, norms and meanings. It’s a focal point of our being and has the ability to unite or damage a society and furthermore a nation. There are many theories surrounding the importance and functionality of culture and in this essay, I will be assessing the Functionalists’ theories and contrasting it with alternative sociological points of view. Similar to their theory of socialization, Item A reveals the functionalist theory of everything in society performing a function in order to create a value consensus. Durkheim is a firm supporter of this theory and believes that social order is held together by attitudes of solidarity which play the role of ensuring the survival of a well integrated society in which everything and everybody is a piece of a jigsaw that fits together to create a bigger picture.
They are both structuralist theories, the individual is viewed with less importance than the social structure or organisation of society. Functionalists see society as being made up of interdependent sections, which will work together to fulfil the functions necessary for the survival of society as a whole. They see shared norms and values as being fundamental to society. Functionalists believe that society can be compared to a living organism, in a way that all interdependent parts (organs) must function together in order for the greater society/body to function. Functionalists see society as a group of institutions.
Functionalists see society as a set of parts which work together to form a whole. Functionalism is also called a consensus theory. Marxism and functionalism are similar in that, they see the way society is structured as an important part in determining the way people have relationships and behave between themselves. This is known as structural perspective. Both functionalists and Marxists believe that people are portrayed as creature within the social system.
But Durkheim may have argued that poverty was more a product of "anomie" than actually serving a function. Another criticism of functionalism is the argument that it is somewhat "naive" in that it assumes that there is value consensus and that everyone in the structure holds the same norms and values; that we all essentially believe in and work for the same thing. Many theorists would argue that Western society is more individualistic. Parsons sees some similarities between society and a biological organism i.e. body parts are inter-related, so is society, as different institutions assist