Functionalist View of Culture

1. WALT: Assess the
Functionalist view of
culture.
WILFs:
E – Describe the functionalist view of culture.
C – Explain the functionalist view of culture
A – Evaluate the functionalist view of culture.

2. Culture
• Links individual to wider society via culture…
• Cultures vary across societies…
• Cultures vary over time…
• Cultures are composed of three main elements: Beliefs,
Values, Norms
• Larger and more socially complex the society, the greater
the likelihood is that there will be a range of different
values. These variations are known as subcultures.

3. (Remote indian tribe in Brazil)
• The Indians sit next to him [the leader of the
anthropolgists], laughing with him. The chief, Shishu, puts
his arm around him for half an hour. Shishu makes us tea by
grating a vine over a club encrusted with monkey-teeth, and
then wetting and squeezing the result. One man pulls up my
shirt to see if I have breasts and looks down the trousers of
Possuelo’s long haired teenage son.
• 1. What do you think the significance of making tea?
• 2. The tribe

4. Question
• Shared culture that really holds society together.
• No cultures could exist without societies. But equally, no societies
could exist without culture. Without culture no one can be human
at all.
• Society is made up of all the formal and informal social institutions
that people create (marriage etc)
• Culture dictates how those institutions work by setting behavioral
rules (norms) and by shaping expectations about the social roles
people should play in those institutions.
• Narrower alternative ways in which the concept of culture has
been used by sociologists. IE High Culture – affects identity …

5. Sociobiology.
• Social biologists generally believe that culture is the product
of biology or nature as opposed to the idea that it is
learned.
• Morris (1968) argues that biology shapes culture, because
sharing culture is based on the in-built or genetic need to
continue the life of the social group over time.
• Sociologists argue that if human behaviour is affected by
biology it is only reflex. E.g. we feel hungry. Culture
determines what is eaten.
• IE UK disproves of cannibalism, eating horses, insects and
dogs.

6. Functionalism
• Functionalism says that the individual is the product of
society.
• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) was one of the founders of
sociology. In his view, society is made up of various
institutions, each of which has a useful function. So
Durkheim and his followers are known as functionalists.
• They looked at how society was structured (Functionalism is
a structural theory).

7. Functionalism
• Functionalists looked at how institutions in society work and
how they affect individuals;
- The Family – has the function of socializing children.
- Education – has the function of preparing young people for
adult society.
- Religion – has the function of uniting society through
shared beliefs.

8. Functionalist. 34
• What is meant by value consensus?
• What is the functionalist view on culture?
• What is the functionalist view on culture in pre-industrial
societies?
• What is anomie?
• How would social order be maintained?
• How does specialized division of labor maintain this?

9. Structure:
The way society operates as a
whole. Individuals have almost no
control over this.
Society:
Social system made up of social
institutions such as family,
education etc
Values:
Important general beliefs that
some things are worthwhile. E.g.
Wrong to hurt people.
Deviance: Rule-Breaking behavior.
Norms:
Socially approved ways of
behaving. E.g.
Globalization
The influence on British culture
of cultural products and
activities produced outside the
UK.
Mass
Culture:
Cultural products and activities
that are consumed by large
numbers of people.
Functionalism
A sociological perspective that focuses
on understanding how the different
parts of society work together to keep it
running smoothly
Culture:
A way of life of a particular
society or social group.
High
Culture:
Cultural products and activities
that are defined as superior to
mass & folk.