Essay About Structural Functionalist Perspective And Social Systems

Deviance and Social Control
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Unit M4: Functionalism
Deviance and Social Control
Unit M4: Functionalism
Deviance and Social Control Functionalism
Chris.Livesey: www.sociology.org.uk Page 2
Introduction
In these Teachers Notes were going to review a number of theories of crime and
deviance from a Structural Functionalist perspective.
In case this sociological perspective is not clear to you, the first part of these Notes
is given over to a brief overview of this perspective. If you are familiar with this
perspective, then this overview will serve as revision material
The second part of these Notes will provide an overview of some of the basic
themes and theories put forward by writers working within this general perspective to
explain crime.
Functionalism: An Overview
The Functionalist perspective is a form of Structuralist sociology and, as such, we
can initially characterise it as a form of macro sociological theorising. In this respect,
the main theoretical question addressed by sociologists working within the
Functionalist perspective is that of:
How do social systems (“societies”) hold together?
In their attempts to provide an answer to this question, Functionalists have initially
concentrated upon two ideas that are closely related to the above:
1. How is order maintained in any society?
2. What are the main sources of stability in any society?
As you might imagine – given that the theoretical emphasis seems to be placed on
rather grand questions about the nature of social systems – Functionalist sociologists
are not particularly concerned with an examination of individual ideas, meanings and
interpretations. We will look in more detail about why this should be the case in a
moment.
What they do tend to emphasise, however, is the idea that the basis of social order
is to be found in shared values / consensus (hence this perspective sometimes
being referred-to as Consensus Structuralism to distinguish it from the Conflict
Structuralism of writers such as Marx).
When looking at varieties of Functionalist sociology, it is evident that all begin with an
elaboration of two major concepts:
1. Social System:
In basic terms, “society” is seen as an organised structure (or framework) of
inter-related parts (called Institutions).
2. Social Structure:
This refers to the specific framework around which any society is based (in
effect, social structure refers to the specific ways in which various
institutions are related to one another on a functional basis).
Deviance and Social Control Functionalism
Chris.Livesey: www.sociology.org.uk Page 3
To develop these ideas, Ive noted that the concept of social institution is central to
this perspective and an institution can be loosely defined as:
“A broad pattern of shared, stable, social relationships”.
In this sense, an institution involves large-scale, organised, behaviour patterns that
persist over time. Examples in our society include:
Family,
Work,
Education and
Religion.
When Functionalists study “society”, therefore, they look initially at institutional
arrangements and relationships, since these are seen as the basic building-blocks of
any society. The way in which institutions relate to one another determines the
structure and basic character of any society.
Institutional arrangements are also significant in relation to the concept of culture,
which can be defined as a:
“Broad pattern of values and beliefs that both characterise a particular
way of life and which are transmitted from generation to generation”.
The main reason for the significance of the relationship is that people are born into
an existing system of institutional arrangements.
In order to learn how to behave in society, therefore, arrangements have to be made
for people to fit-into existing patterns of behaviour (patterns that are established – and
held relatively stable and constant over time – by institutionalised patterns of
behaviour). This process is socialisation:
Values and beliefs are transmitted to individuals (and internalised – that is,
they become an essential part of an individuals social make-up), through a
variety of socialising agencies (the family, peer group, mass media and so
forth). These agencies may be institutions in their own right (the family for
example) or part of an institutional set-up (the police, for example, are part of