1. The needs or prerequisites of a system
Think!
Do you recognise any of these words?
The human body has basic needs in order to survive… so does society.
The system needs GAIL!!
Goal attainment
Adaption
Integration
According to Parsons in order for society to survive, we need GAIL
Latency

2. Goal Attainment Think! What kind decisions does the Government make?
What would society be like without a Government?
The political function
Societies' must develop ways of making decision
Human societies vary from dictatorships to democracies
Argh! Decisions, decisions ! My head hurts!
If you don’t understand a word, use your dictionary or glossary.

3. Adaption The economic function.
Mmmm…
Material needs- bacon and eggs.
The economic function.
Every society has to provide an adequate standard of life for the survival of its members
Human societies vary from hunters and gatherers to complex industrial societies.
Material needs are met by the economic sub system.

4. Each institution in society develops in response to particular function.
Integration
Think!
How does society integrate us?
Social harmony
There is no guarantee that the different institutions will not develop elements that conflict
I.e. in capitalism the economic inequalities may lead to possible resentment between groups.
Without integration, some social agents will turn to deviance i.e. pick up a hammer and smash things up!
Specialist institutions therefore develop that seek to limit the potential conflict.
These could include religion, notions of charity and voluntary organisations.
GAIL is not happy with this conflict!

5. Latency Individual beliefs and values
1. Pattern maintenance: problems faced by people when conflicting demands are made of them, such as being a member of a minority religious group and a member of a largely Christian based society.
The previous three prerequisites all deal with the structure of society.
The final prerequisite deals with individuals and how they cope. Parsons divides latency into two areas….
Identity
Task
Look at your worksheet. Match GAIL to the correct definitions.
2. Tension management: If a society is going to continue to exist, then it needs to motivate people to continue to belong to society and not to leave or oppose it.
5 mins

6. What do you think Parsons meant by this?
Task
Parsons described ‘Goal Attainment and Adaption’ as ‘instrumental needs’ and ‘Integration and Latency’ as ‘expressive needs’.
What do you think Parsons meant by this?
Tip!
Think back to Families and Households. What do the terms ‘instrumental’ and ‘expressive’ refer to?

7. Traditional vs Modern society
Think!
What do sociologists generally mean by traditional and modern society?
Traditional vs Modern society
Parsons identified that each society had its own typical pattern of norms and values. He calls these patterns A and B
Task
Look at the following images. Which society do they represent?
Task
Complete the matching task on your hand out.
(A-B) Students. Evaluate your table.

8. Has the church lost its function? What do you think has replaced it?
Social change
Social change occurs when new functions emerge or society needs to adapt.
Key term
Structural differentiation: The way in which more specialised social institution emerge to take over functions that were once performed by a single institution.
For example the family used to be responsible for work, training and education, but these functions gradually transferred to a specialised education system and work based training, as the family (and as individuals within it came to realise) was no longer able to provide the skills and training necessary for complex industry .
Think!
Has the church lost its function? What do you think has replaced it?

9. What are these dysfunctional effects?
Robert Merton
A Functionalist
A critique of Parsons
Criticised the assumption that all social institutions performed beneficial, positive functions for society and individuals.
Introduced dysfunction; a part of the social structure which does not contribute to the maintenance and well being of society, but creates tensions and other problems.
For example the growth of new technology may have been functional in so far as it made possible huge leaps in scientific progress and the production cheaper and better –quality of products but at the same time it had dysfunctional effects.
Think!
What are these dysfunctional effects?

10. Can you apply this idea of dysfunction to the family?
Think!
Can you apply this idea of dysfunction to the family?
Think about dysfunctional families. What does this mean? How can this have an impact on wider society?

11. Manifest and latent functions
Key Terms
Manifest function: Recognised and intended outcome of the action of an individual or institution.
Latent Function: the recognised or unintended outcome of the action of an individual or institution.
Manifest and latent functions
Merton recognised a distinction between Parsons idea of functions.
A hospital has the manifest function of dispensing health care , but a latent function is that it provides a means for those who work there to meet their potential marriage partners.
Similarly, a manifest function can have a dysfunctional side, providing a locus for the spread of infection through antibiotic resistant ‘superbugs’ like MRSA.

12. Strengths of Functionalism
It recognises the importance of social structure in understanding society, how it constrains individual behaviour and how the major social institutions, like the family, education and the economy, often have links between them.
Task
List all the strengths and weaknesses of Functionalism that you can think of!
Swap with your partner and add to each others work.
It provided an explanation for social stability, and why most people generally conform to the rules of social life.
BUT…
Its too deterministic and sees individuals as passive products of the social system.
Do you know why I don’t like Functionalism?
Task
Using the resources available to you, find as many criticisms of Functionalism as you can.
10 mins