Relevance of Marxism and Functionalism to Caribbean Societies

1434 Words6 Pages
In this essay I will seek to explain the Marxists and functionalist theory and seek to give a thorough assessment as to the relevance of these theories to the contemporary Caribbean culture. According to Anderson,M.L. and Taylor,H.F. (2009) The functionalist theory is one of the major theoretical perspectives in sociology. It has its origins in the works of Emile Durkheim, who was especially interested in how social order is possible or how society remains relatively stable. This theory gathers information from various faucets of society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole society.” Society is more than the sum of its parts; rather, each part of society is functional for the stability of the whole society”. Anderson and Taylor (2009). The different parts are primarily the institutions of society, each of which is organized to fill different needs and each of which has particular consequences for the form and shape of society. The parts all depend on each other. It is believed that the functionalist theory acquired its popularity among American sociologists in the 1940s and 1950s. While European functionalists originally focused on explaining the inner workings of social order, American functionalists focused on discovering the functions of human behavior. To get a better understanding of how this theory works sociology about explains that, the government, or state, provides education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state depends to keep itself running. The family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good jobs so that they can raise and support their own families. In the process, the children become law-abiding, taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the state. If all goes well, the parts of society produce order, stability, and productivity. If all does not go well, the
Open Document