Meaning of Life

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Meaning of Life Essay. Functionalism sees social structure or the organisation of society as more important than the individual. Functionalists believe that individuals are born into society and become the product of all the social influences around them as they are socialised by various institutions such as the family, education, media and religion. Functionalism also sees society as a system; a set of interconnected parts which together form a whole. There is a relationship between all these parts and together they all contribute to the maintenance of society as a whole. Social consensus, order and integration are key beliefs of functionalism as this allows society to continue and progress because there are shared norms and values that mean all individuals have a common goal and have a vested interest in conforming and thus conflict is minimal. Talcott Parsons viewed society as a system. He argued that any social system has four basic needs: adaptation, goal attainment, integration and pattern maintenance. These can be seen as problems that society must solve if it is to survive. Adaptation – in order to survive any society needs the basics of food and shelter. Having these gives any society control over its environment. A society needs a functioning economy to provide this. Goal attainment – all societies need to provide some sort of collective goals for it members to aspire to. To deliver such goals governments provide the resources, laws and other institutional mechanisms so such goals can be met. Integration – all societies need a legal system in order to mediate any conflict and therefore protect the social system from breaking down. Pattern maintenance – is provided by institutions like education and the family. These institutions exist to acknowledge the essential values needed for society to function. For Parsons the key institution in passing on such

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