Consequences of a social process that are sought or anticipated in education

MAJOR THEORITICAL PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIOLOGY

Structural Functionalist theory (Functionailsm)

Functionalism, also called structural-functional theory, sees society as a structure

with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the

individuals in that society. Functionalism grew out of the writings of English

philosopher and biologist, Hebert Spencer (1820–1903), who saw similarities

between society and the human body; he argued that just as the various organs of

the body work together to keep the body functioning, the various parts of society

work together to keep society functioning (Spencer 1898). The parts of society that

Spencer referred to were the social institutions, or patterns of beliefs and

behaviors focused on meeting social needs, such as government, education, family,

healthcare, religion, and the economy

Émile Durkheim, another early sociologist believed that society is a complex system

of interrelated and interdependent parts that work together to maintain stability

(Durkheim 1893), and that society is held together by shared values, languages,

and symbols. He believed that to study society, a sociologist must look beyond

individuals to social facts such as laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs,

fashion, and rituals, which all serve to govern social life. Alfred Radcliff-Brown

(1881–1955) defined the function of any recurrent activity as the part it played in

social life as a whole, and therefore the contribution it makes to social stability and

continuity (Radcliff-Brown 1952). In a healthy society, all parts work together to

maintain stability, a state called dynamic equilibrium by later sociologists such as

Parsons (1961).

Social facts are the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions,

rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life (Durkheim 1895). Each of

these social facts serves one or more functions within a society. For example, one

function of a society’s laws may be to protect society from violence, while another is

to punish criminal behavior, while another is to preserve public health.

Robert Merton (1910–2003), pointed out that social processes often have many

functions. Manifest functions are the consequences of a social process that are

sought or anticipated, while latent functions are the unsought consequences of a

social process. A manifest function of college education, for example, includes

gaining knowledge, preparing for a career, and finding a good job that utilizes that

education. Latent functions of your college years include meeting new people,

participating in extracurricular activities, or even finding a spouse or partner.

Another latent function of education is creating a hierarchy of employment based on

the level of education attained. Latent functions can be beneficial, neutral, or

harmful. Social processes that have undesirable consequences for the operation of

society are called dysfunctions. In education, examples of dysfunction include

getting bad grades, truancy, dropping out, not graduating, and not finding suitable

employment.

Which function is considered to end with undesirable consequences?

What are manifest functions of education?

How can manifest and latent dysfunction affect social order?

What are manifest functions and latent functions provide an example of each?