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Click on each of the images above to view up close (Source: Life.time.com).
Caption: “The character of ‘Rosie the Riveter’ as feminist symbol, World War II icon and mid-century heroine, is so ingrained in the American psyche that it’s sometimes difficult to remember that there was a time when Rosie didn’t, in fact, exist. In the early 1940s, as American women flooded the labor force in order to replace the millions of men who had gone off to war, a wide variety of songwriters, illustrators and photographers effectively invented the archetype on which all subsequent Rosies were based” (Life.time.com).
These images of women working in demanding and physically challenging conditions is difficult to imagine for some people as the American culture makes distinctions between male and female expectations. So engrained are these gender differences in our minds that some people assume gender is biological rather than cultural.
During World War II as men marched off to war, women contributed to the war effort by working in factories manufacturing weapons and equipment. After the war ended in 1945, men returned to work, the United States prospered economically, and women were encouraged to stay home and raise children.
This similar phenomenon occurred during the first World War, and during the Great Depression as many women became the primary breadwinners when men could not find work and some of those men consequently abandoned their families. In 2010, during the Great Recession, and for the first time in American history, women outnumbered men in the workforce. When the economic recovery took hold, men outpaced women in finding employment. Are you beginning to see a trend?
Check This Out: Mary Keefe, Model for Rockwell’s ‘Rosie the Riveter,’ Dies at 92
Check This Out: Women Now a Majority in American Workplaces (2010)
As we covered in the last unit on the sociological perspective, functionalism is a theoretical perspective in sociology which explains social life using a macro-level analysis. Also known as structural functionalism, functional analysis, or social systems theory; functionalism views society as a stable and orderly system made up of different parts just like any organism.
The functionalist explanation of how a society works is very similar to how a biologist might explain any living organism. For example whether we examine a molecular cell, living body, or a social system such as a society, city, organization, or family, these are all similar in their structure and function. An organism is a structure made up of different parts, with each part having a function or a purpose.
Caption: “The character of ‘Rosie the Riveter’ as feminist symbol, World War II icon and mid-century heroine, is so ingrained in the American psyche that it’s sometimes difficult to remember that there was a time when Rosie didn’t, in fact, exist. In the early 1940s, as American women flooded the labor force in order to replace the millions of men who had gone off to war, a wide variety of songwriters, illustrators and photographers effectively invented the archetype on which all subsequent Rosies were based” (Life.time.com).
These images of women working in demanding and physically challenging conditions is difficult to imagine for some people as the American culture makes distinctions between male and female expectations. So engrained are these gender differences in our minds that some people assume gender is biological rather than cultural.
During World War II as men marched off to war, women contributed to the war effort by working in factories manufacturing weapons and equipment. After the war ended in 1945, men returned to work, the United States prospered economically, and women were encouraged to stay home and raise children.
This similar phenomenon occurred during the first World War, and during the Great Depression as many women became the primary breadwinners when men could not find work and some of those men consequently abandoned their families. In 2010, during the Great Recession, and for the first time in American history, women outnumbered men in the workforce. When the economic recovery took hold, men outpaced women in finding employment. Are you beginning to see a trend?
Check This Out: Mary Keefe, Model for Rockwell’s ‘Rosie the Riveter,’ Dies at 92
Check This Out: Women Now a Majority in American Workplaces (2010)
As we covered in the last unit on the sociological perspective, functionalism is a theoretical perspective in sociology which explains social life using a macro-level analysis. Also known as structural functionalism, functional analysis, or social systems theory; functionalism views society as a stable and orderly system made up of different parts just like any organism.
The functionalist explanation of how a society works is very similar to how a biologist might explain any living organism. For example whether we examine a molecular cell, living body, or a social system such as a society, city, organization, or family, these are all similar in their structure and function. An organism is a structure made up of different parts, with each part having a function or a purpose.
Just as the human body is made up of systems (nervous system, respiratory system, circulatory system, reproductive system, muscular system, skeletal system, etc.) and organs (heart, liver, brain, skin, kidneys, etc.) each with a function and together these maintain homeostasis; society has a similar structure. Sociologists refer to the systems or organs of a society as social institutions.
Social institutions are different parts of a society created and agreed upon by people within a society.
Social institutions have functions which together maintain societal stability or equilibrium.
Social institutions connect people to society and this is called social integration. When people are socially integrated into society or have feelings of belonging and attachment this contributes to the stability, order, and harmony of a society.
Social institutions are different parts of a society created and agreed upon by people within a society.
Social institutions have functions which together maintain societal stability or equilibrium.
Social institutions connect people to society and this is called social integration. When people are socially integrated into society or have feelings of belonging and attachment this contributes to the stability, order, and harmony of a society.
Social integration occurs as we learn values or culturally appropriate ways of thinking and norms or culturally appropriate ways of behaving. The learning of a society’s values and norms is called socialization and occurs through the social institutions such as the family, education, and religion.
The stability of a society requires people to conform to or obey cultural standards; the values and norms. Part of the social integration through the various social institutions therefore involves social control through positive sanctions or rewards and negative sanctions or punishments. Think of force or social control as different authority members within each social institution having power over us. Both children and adults receive sanctions and over time we all learn to conform to societal expectations which contributes to social order and stability.
Caption: “A fire reinforces the social bond: it becomes the focus of the group and allows contact to be maintained during the hours of darkness, as here where a !Kung trance is in progress” (http://faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Ecology/PDFs/Hunting&Gathering.pdf).
The stability of a society requires people to conform to or obey cultural standards; the values and norms. Part of the social integration through the various social institutions therefore involves social control through positive sanctions or rewards and negative sanctions or punishments. Think of force or social control as different authority members within each social institution having power over us. Both children and adults receive sanctions and over time we all learn to conform to societal expectations which contributes to social order and stability.
Caption: “A fire reinforces the social bond: it becomes the focus of the group and allows contact to be maintained during the hours of darkness, as here where a !Kung trance is in progress” (http://faculty.rsu.edu/users/f/felwell/www/Ecology/PDFs/Hunting&Gathering.pdf).
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It's Your Turn: Watch this video on social control and deviance. Why does the narrator make the claim that it is the deviants among us that hold society together? Do you agree?
Division of labor or the assignment of different roles and responsibilities occurs through the organization of a society’s social institutions. People depend on each others' labor and this also contributes to the social order and equilibrium of a society as a whole. It’s Your Turn: Do you agree that the social institutions below are a decent representation of the current organization of the American society? |
Now let’s go back to “Rosie the Riveter.” During World War II, it became necessary to the American society’s stability or equilibrium for women in large numbers to enter the workforce. Therefore, various social institutions such as the political (government), economic, and mass media institutions encouraged women to perform their patriotic roles and work outside the home. Women were socialized into new cultural values and norms. When the war ended, women were pushed back into the home and this also occurred through the various social institutions as women received messages that their role in society was to take care of the home.
It’s Your Turn: Watch these two videos and slideshow. The first video features a popular song from the 1940’s about "Rosie the Riveter" and the second video is a clip from the “I Love Lucy” show which was popular in the 1950’s. The slideshow presents advertisements from the 1950's and 1960's. How did the messages that women received through the various social institutions change throughout the three decades?
It’s Your Turn: Watch these two videos and slideshow. The first video features a popular song from the 1940’s about "Rosie the Riveter" and the second video is a clip from the “I Love Lucy” show which was popular in the 1950’s. The slideshow presents advertisements from the 1950's and 1960's. How did the messages that women received through the various social institutions change throughout the three decades?
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Societies as much as they are stable do change. Functionalism views social change as gradual and slow as people adapt new ways of thinking or values and new ways of behaving or norms. But how does this happen?
Within each society there may be social issues that disrupt its stability or equilibrium. These are called dysfunctions. A dysfunction is a situation, social problem, or social issue which harms a large number of people through some or all of the social institutions and therefore there is agreement that this issue disturbs the stability of a society.
Your Turn: List five issues many people in the United States today would agree are social problems or dysfunctions. How do each of these dysfunctions disrupt society at large or some of its parts such as the social institutions?
Chances are great that most dysfunctions disrupt not just one part of society but are disruptive to the functions of more than one of the social institutions. The loss of millions of jobs during the Great Recession did not just affect the economic social institution but also affected the education, family, medical, and political institutions.
Just as a cardiac patient is forced to make lifestyle changes after a heart attack, dysfunctions force change on a society as people create solutions to bring society back to a state of stability and equilibrium. Manifest functions are actions that are meant to fulfill a goal or objective and help maintain social stability.
Your Turn: What manifest function(s) do colleges fulfill? Are these aligned with your own intentions of pursuing a college education and degree or certificate?
In physics, Newton's physical law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This law of nature can help you understand the difference between manifest functions and latent functions or latent dysfunctions. Manifest functions (actions) might have latent functions which are accidental reactions or unintentional consequences that help stabilize the system and/or latent dysfunctions which are accidental reactions or unintentional consequences that hurt the system.
Just as a cardiac patient is forced to make lifestyle changes after a heart attack, dysfunctions force change on a society as people create solutions to bring society back to a state of stability and equilibrium. Manifest functions are actions that are meant to fulfill a goal or objective and help maintain social stability.
Your Turn: What manifest function(s) do colleges fulfill? Are these aligned with your own intentions of pursuing a college education and degree or certificate?
In physics, Newton's physical law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This law of nature can help you understand the difference between manifest functions and latent functions or latent dysfunctions. Manifest functions (actions) might have latent functions which are accidental reactions or unintentional consequences that help stabilize the system and/or latent dysfunctions which are accidental reactions or unintentional consequences that hurt the system.
It’s Your Turn: Create your own table by working through the five examples of dysfunctions you listed earlier.
As society figures out solutions to its dysfunctions, over time through manifest functions, latent functions, and latent dysfunctions, society slowly but continually changes its way of thinking (values) and consequently behaviors (norms).
Solutions to dysfunctions create new unexpected social issues. We might not notice these changes in our everyday lives but when you compare today’s society to five years ago, it’s probably easy to see how much our society has indeed changed.
Public and applied sociology is valuable to policymakers because sociologists can predict unforeseen outcomes of legislation.
Check This Out: Read this article about how global warming policies may have unintentionally hurt the great strides made in reducing worldwide hunger.
As society figures out solutions to its dysfunctions, over time through manifest functions, latent functions, and latent dysfunctions, society slowly but continually changes its way of thinking (values) and consequently behaviors (norms).
Solutions to dysfunctions create new unexpected social issues. We might not notice these changes in our everyday lives but when you compare today’s society to five years ago, it’s probably easy to see how much our society has indeed changed.
Public and applied sociology is valuable to policymakers because sociologists can predict unforeseen outcomes of legislation.
Check This Out: Read this article about how global warming policies may have unintentionally hurt the great strides made in reducing worldwide hunger.
Of course not everyone is socially integrated into society and sometimes things happen that cause immediate rather than gradual societal change.
Anomie occurs when different parts of society are not successful in fulfilling its functions such as keeping people safe, controlling social behaviors, or creating ways for people to feel connected to society. This may result in anomie as groups or individuals may feel scared, lonely, and act out in ways that are considered deviant (not culturally normal or appropriate).
For example, whenever there is a mass shooting, the news media interviews psychologists who explain how abnormalities in the brain may have caused the violent incident. However sociologists using the sociology perspective are more like to look for explanations outside of the individual (social environment) rather than explanations within the individual (mental illness).
How has society failed to protect people from the mass shooter by not using social control such as positive sanctions (rewards) or negative sanctions (punishments) to prevent the mass shooter from committing murder? How did the government, healthcare, schools, family, and cultural values and norms fail to control this person? If this person had appropriate social control, h/she would be more socially integrated into society. The lack of social control may have resulted in a state of anomie within the individual.
Do you ever feel helpless, hopeless, sad or alone in the world? Functionalists argue that the more you are connected to society, the less likely you will have these feelings. You will see many examples of this throughout the semester.
People also go into a state of anomie when there is sudden change and parts of society fail to function. This for example occurs during natural disasters and war. The social institutions that we depend on quit working and we are left alone to fend for ourselves until people regroup and begin working together to bring equilibrium back to the system(s).
Check This Out: Read this article titled What Drives Suicidal Mass Killers
Anomie occurs when different parts of society are not successful in fulfilling its functions such as keeping people safe, controlling social behaviors, or creating ways for people to feel connected to society. This may result in anomie as groups or individuals may feel scared, lonely, and act out in ways that are considered deviant (not culturally normal or appropriate).
For example, whenever there is a mass shooting, the news media interviews psychologists who explain how abnormalities in the brain may have caused the violent incident. However sociologists using the sociology perspective are more like to look for explanations outside of the individual (social environment) rather than explanations within the individual (mental illness).
How has society failed to protect people from the mass shooter by not using social control such as positive sanctions (rewards) or negative sanctions (punishments) to prevent the mass shooter from committing murder? How did the government, healthcare, schools, family, and cultural values and norms fail to control this person? If this person had appropriate social control, h/she would be more socially integrated into society. The lack of social control may have resulted in a state of anomie within the individual.
Do you ever feel helpless, hopeless, sad or alone in the world? Functionalists argue that the more you are connected to society, the less likely you will have these feelings. You will see many examples of this throughout the semester.
People also go into a state of anomie when there is sudden change and parts of society fail to function. This for example occurs during natural disasters and war. The social institutions that we depend on quit working and we are left alone to fend for ourselves until people regroup and begin working together to bring equilibrium back to the system(s).
Check This Out: Read this article titled What Drives Suicidal Mass Killers
Your Turn: Social inequality in sociology is referred to social stratification (strata are layers). Based on the functionalist perspective, is social stratification functional or dysfunctional? Why do you think this is so?
Check This Out: Look over an explanation of the Davis-Moore hypothesis.
The Davis-Moore thesis which is part of the functionalist perspective, views social inequality within a society as functional. Just as in the earlier video it was explained why deviance is functional, Davis and Moore explain why social inequality is also functional.
Check This Out: Look over an explanation of the Davis-Moore hypothesis.
The Davis-Moore thesis which is part of the functionalist perspective, views social inequality within a society as functional. Just as in the earlier video it was explained why deviance is functional, Davis and Moore explain why social inequality is also functional.
Quiz Yourself: Complete this self-assessment related to the information in this lecture.
View Additional Videos and Resources: Functionalism
View Additional Videos and Resources: Functionalism