This paper aims to clarify the strengths of Parsons’ arguments, such as the functionality and effectiveness of certain systems within our culture, while contrasting the outdated viewpoints which he presents that might not be as applicable in today’s modern times considering the amount of social changes and open opportunities that are now available to both sexes. Parsons introduces his ideas on the “kinship system” by discussing the family structure, focusing in on the various life stages that a child goes through to emancipate themselves from the ties they have gained from their parents and other family members. The familiarity and comfort of such ties eventually become a burden and must be cut off in order for an individual to become a fully functional member of our society. The article goes on to state that one of the most difficult stages of growing older would be adolescence, where a “youth culture” is practiced, allowing for a passageway meant to ease “the difficult process of adjustment from childhood emotional dependency to full ‘maturity’” (Parsons 1943: 301). This serves to provide one
The main perspectives of this are the overall point of view towards a subject for example aspects of a person’s social life. Sociologists study the impact on many different societies and social structures that have an effect on people. They also study social trends and suggest actions or interventions to help improve health and well being of a particular group of people. Sociologists have introduced various perspectives to be able to explain and also analyse how societies work. Functionalism: Two functionalist called Talcott Parsons and George Murdock argued that every single society will have a religion due to religious institutions have certain functions which have a say to the survival of the system as whole just as the organs of the body have functions which are essential for the body’s survival.
Many sociologists have given alternate views about the main function of education. Functionalists argue that the main function of education is to maintain a value consensus – agreed social values – whereas Marxists argue that education transmits values that benefit the ruling class. Durkheim (1903), a functionalist, argues that society needs a sense of social solidarity because without it, social life and cooperation would be impossible as individuals would pursue their own selfish desires. The education system helps create social solidarity by transmitting society’s culture from one generation to the next so the main function of education is to maintain a value consensus in society. However, Marxists criticise this and argue that education in capitalist society only transmits the ideology of the ruling class and not the shared values of society.
Two examples of the widespread influence of the Second Great Awakening are the creation of utopian societies and the temperance movement. During the Awakening utopian societies appeared throughout the country. These reformers sought a idealistic world, free from all social evils. Some of these societies wanted an alternative to a world they considered immoral or wanted to reject the middle-class ideals of family. Conversions to faiths like the Shakers peaked during the Second Great Awakening.
Initially, within the modernity period, functionalists like Parsons (1955), saw a biological division of labour which he claimed were beneficial to the family and thus wider society. Elizabeth Bott (1957) categorised these divisions through ‘joint and segregated conjugal roles.’ These suggested whether within a marriage, the roles of the family were shared or divided. Parsons viewed these gender roles as being segregated through expressive and instrumental functions which were formed following industrialisation as there became a clear division between the private sphere at home, and the public sphere at work. This meant that gender roles were unequal in that the husband had to perform the instrumental function in being the ‘breadwinner’ by providing financial stability, and the wife had to perform the expressive function in socialising the children, caring for the emotional welfare of the family and providing a housewife role. He suggested that these differences were ‘natural’ and thus benefitted the family as a whole; also supported by new-right thinkers.
. “Three assumptions underlie this principle. First, that people build identities by making psychological commitments to social institutions in the form of social roles, such as work, marriage, family, and community” ( Roberts, 2004). When a person decides to get married, he or she is no longer single, thus his or her identity changes. Second, “social roles come with the own set of expectations and contingencies that promote a reward structure that calls for becoming more socially dominant, agreeable, conscientious, and less neurotic” ( Roberts, 2004) .
This article explains each of their roles. It also states the rise of religious institutions that came to be in some colonies. Regulations concerning access to resources, economics and political power were also religious in nature. In order to better understand the concept of religious stratification, let’s define it. The author uses the definition, “Religious stratification occurs when religion is institutionalized in the laws and/or customs of society as a criterion for the allocation of social positions and their attendant rewards (Pyle 57).” If the advantages of religious affiliation are not intertwined in the laws of society, religious stratification may not last.
The political orientation of the researchers was liberal, and the research method was the mapping of social inequalities in educational outcomes using quantitative techniques to measure social mobility. Such an approach was 'liberal' in that inequality was opposed but its source was not, unlike the Marxists, located in the social structure. Modern societies were seen as inherently progressive and it was only archaic elements, such as class, that inhibits progress. Modification of these difficulties would produce restructure. The difficulty with this approach, as it later became clear, was that the problems identified by liberal sociologists set many educators to work in opposition to working class cultural practices.
Define the basic theoretical concepts used in the discipline of sociology. First, we need to define Theory itself: A Theory is a set of interrelated concepts used to describe, explain, and predict how society and its parts are related to each other. Next we’ll examine the basic theoretical concepts. Defining and understanding these theoretical concepts is essential to understanding the sociological structure within our diverse cultures that make up our civilization. Although it is difficult to understand these concepts and often times we misunderstand them, they are the bread and butter of how our cultures and their societal framework is configured.
Social issues of interracial marriages and how they could be implicated in the three major sociological theories; functionalist theory, conflict theory, and interactionist theory. Each type of theory consists of the different views that sociologists would develop on a certain issue in our society today. Interracial marriages have changed dramatically in the last 1000 years and can be used in all three sociological theories. Functionalist perspective of this issue believes everything contributes to its survival (Schaefer, 2012, p. 13). One would consider that a great part brought on by interracial marriages would be the mix of cultural upbringing.