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But how, then one might ask, to structural functionalists explain deviance at all? "Without deliberate planning on anyone's part, there have developed in our type of social system, and correspondingly in others, mechanisms which, within limits, are capable of forestalling and reversing the deep-lying tendencies for deviance to get into the vicious circle phase which puts it beyond the control of ordinary approval-disapproval and reward-punishment sanctions" (Parsons, cited by Gingrich, 1999, from the Social System, pp. 319-320). In short, although 'normal' people' exist within an approval-disapproval and reward-punishment network, and their behavior can be modified and controlled through schemas of approval and disapproval, rewards and punishments, psychologically deviant or anomalous persons like criminals ignore these networks. Also, deviant circles can themselves generate positive rewards and an approval and disapproval micro system that rewards 'bad' behavior, forming a subculture. As this subculture becomes eradicated, crime goes down, but as law-abiding behavior is rewarded by the community and viewed in a more positive light,...
Indeed, the very name of the school implies that social institutions (which collectively form a social structure) function to maintain the harmony of the social whole" ("Structural Functionalism," AnthroBase. 2007). Policing maintains the social whole, incentives to not enter the profession have decreased while incentives to enter other law enforcement sectors have decreased, and while the subculture of crime has been rendered less functional, the sectors of society that enforce justice have become more functional.
Works Cited
Gingrich, Paul. "Functionalism and Parsons." Sociology 250.
Nov 1999. University of Regina. 31 Aug 2007. http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/n2f99.htm
Structural Functionalism." AnthroBase. 2007. 31 Aug 2007. http://www.anthrobase.com/Dic/eng/def/structural_functionalism.htm
Works Cited
Gingrich, Paul. "Functionalism and Parsons." Sociology 250.
Nov 1999. University of Regina. 31 Aug 2007. http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/n2f99.htm
Structural Functionalism." AnthroBase. 2007. 31 Aug 2007. http://www.anthrobase.com/Dic/eng/def/structural_functionalism.htm
" (Dafler, 2005) Dafler relates that for more than thirty years children who were 'half-caste' "were forcibly removed from their families, often grabbed straight from their mother's arms, and transported directly to government and church missions." (Dafler, 2005) This process was termed to be one of assimilation' or 'absorption' towards the end of breeding out of Aboriginal blood in the population. At the time all of this was occurring Dafler
Hence, class struggles exist all the time -- the world is not in equilibrium as functionalism points out (Demerath, 1996). Functionalism is also premised on the fact that people have already achieved a consensus -- the consensus by which reality is to be constructed and this allows them to successfully define and fulfill their roles in the society. On the other hand, conflict is premised on the fact that consensus
In the case of violence, there are no clear problems, but rather a broad range of contributing factors that impact the level of violence in American society. The broad-based, integrative approach of structural functionalism is well-suited to understanding how this broad range of factors influences violence because it examines each factor not only individually but in context with each other as well. There are a number of preferred solutions to
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