What are the basic assumptions of functionalism?
family: Provides reproduction and protection of children; as a primary agent of socialization fosters understanding of expected behaviors, norms, and values. The basic assumption of functionalism is that all structures, particularly institutions within society serve a purpose or function, contributing the stability of the social system.
What is functionalist perspective theory?
The functionalist perspective is a theory that affirms that the world is a structure of interconnected parts in which every part is essential in ensuring that the structure works. The structure of the system contains establishments like family, religion, and education that make up a social system.
What is the functionalist perspective of race and ethnicity?
Sociological Theories of Prejudice and Racism. Functionalist theory argues that for race and ethnic relations to be functional and thus contribute to the harmonious conduct and stability of society, racial and ethnic minorities must assimilate into that society. Assimilation is a process by which a minority becomes socially, economically, and culturally absorbed within the dominant society.
What is functionalism approach?
Functionalism. A psychological approach, popular in the early part of the twentieth century, that focused on how consciousness functions to help human beings adapt to their environment. The goal of the first psychologists was to determine the structure of consciousness just as chemists had found the structure of chemicals.
What is functionalism in simple terms?
What is Functionalism? Functionalism is the doctrine that what makes something a thought, desire, pain (or any other type of mental state) depends not on its internal constitution, but solely on its function, or the role it plays, in the cognitive system of which it is a part.
What is the main focus of functionalism?
Functionalists sought to explain mental processes in a more systematic and accurate manner. Rather than focusing on the elements of consciousness, functionalists focused on the purpose of consciousness and behavior. Functionalism also emphasized individual differences, which had a profound impact on education.
What are the three functionalist perspective?
These three theoretical orientations are: Structural Functionalism, Symbolic Interactionism, and Conflict Perspective. To understand a theoretical orientation in any profession it is critical to understand what is meant by the term theory.
What is functionalist perspective quizlet?
functionalist perspective. a view that society is a relatively stable and orderly system composed of interdependent and interrelated parts. view social change as a strain on the system.
What are the basic elements of functionalist perspective?
Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements, namely: norms, customs, traditions, and institutions. A common analogy, popularized by Herbert Spencer, presents these parts of society as “organs” that work toward the proper functioning of the “body” as a whole.
What are the strengths of the functionalist perspective?
A strength of the functionalist approach to society is the explanation of how social order is achieved. Parsons argues that social order is achieved through the existence of a shared culture, a set or norms and values that are shaped by the members of a society.
What is the main criticism of functionalism?
Functionalism has been criticized for its failure to account for social change and individual agency; some consider it conservatively biased. Functionalism has been criticized for attributing human-like needs to society. Emile Durkheim 's work is considered the foundation of functionalist theory in sociology.
What is an example of structural functionalism?
Structural Functionalism is a macro theory that looks at how all structures or institutions in society work together. Examples of structures or institutions of society include: education, health care, family, legal system, economy, and religion.
What is the meaning of functionalist in sociology?
functionalism, in social sciences, theory based on the premise that all aspects of a society—institutions, roles, norms, etc. —serve a purpose and that all are indispensable for the long-term survival of the society.
What functionalist means?
describing or examining something according to its use or purpose: A functionalist explanation considers an animal's traits acording to their contribution to the animal's survival. From a functionalist perspective, society is regarded as a system.
What is the meaning of functionalist in psychology?
Functional psychology or functionalism refers to a psychological school of thought that was a direct outgrowth of Darwinian thinking which focuses attention on the utility and purpose of behavior that has been modified over years of human existence.
What are the 3 perspectives of culture?
We have, therefore, adopted a conceptualization that views culture from three perspectives—integration, differentiation, and fragmentation—that come into play simultaneously and jointly.
What are the 3 modern perspectives of sociology?
The three major sociological theories that new students learn about are the interactionist perspective, the conflict perspective, and the functionalist perspective. And each has its own distinct way of explaining various aspects of society and the human behavior within it.
What are the 3 main sociological perspectives theories apply each to a social problem?
Three theoretical perspectives guide sociological thinking on social problems: functionalist theory, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionist theory. These perspectives look at the same social problems, but they do so in different ways.
What are the three functionalist perspectives on deviance in society?
Strain theory, social disorganization theory, and cultural deviance theory represent three functionalist perspectives on deviance in society.
What kind of theory is functionalism?
Functionalism is a structural consensus theory.
What is functionalism?
Functionalism is a key consensus theory. It places importance on our shared norms and values, by which society is enabled to function. It is a stru...
What is social solidarity?
Social solidarity is the feeling of being part of a larger social group. This social solidarity would serve as a 'social glue' for society.
Which approach did Durkheim believe was the most suitable for studying society?
The positivist approach
What is the organic analogy?
The organic analogy is the idea that society is like the human body, as both have functioning parts that work to achieve an overarching goal. All...
What are the four needs of society according to Parsons?
The four needs of society are adaptation, goal attainment, integration, and pattern maintenance.
What is the difference between a manifest function and a latent function?
Manifest functions are the intended and obvious functions or outcomes of an institution or activity. These are often determined by the direct resu...
Lucy is 15 and attends church every Sunday. There is a group of teenagers that attend the same church and are part of a youth community group for their local area. Sarah is considering joining this group because she wants to practice talking to new people and make friends. She thinks meeting this group every week will help her build her confidence and help her make friends more easily when she is older. What kind of function is this and why?
This is an example of a latent function. Making new friends is not an intended function of attending church every week; h owever, Lucy is hoping t...
What is social consensus?
Social consensus refers to the shared norms and values held by society. These are shared practices, traditions, or customs and beliefs that maintai...
What is functionalism in psychology?
What is Functionalism? Functionalism is the doctrine that what makes something a thought, desire, pain (or any other type of mental state) depends not on its internal constitution, but solely on its function, or the role it plays, in the cognitive system of which it is a part.
What is the goal of analytic functionalism?
Like the logical behaviorism from which it emerged, the goal of analytic functionalism is to provide “topic-neutral” translations, or analyses, of our ordinary mental state terms or concepts. Analytic functionalism, of course, has richer resources than logical behaviorism for such translations, since it permits reference to the causal relations that a mental state has to stimulations, behavior, and other mental states. Thus the statement “Blanca wants some coffee” need not be rendered, as logical behaviorism requires, in terms such as “Blanca is disposed to order coffee when it is offered”, but rather as “Blanca is disposed to order coffee when it is offered, if she has no stronger desire to avoid coffee”. But this requires any functional “theory” acceptable to analytic functionalists to include only generalizations about mental states, their environmental causes, and their joint effects on behavior that are so widely known and “platitudinous” as to count as analyzing our ordinary concepts of the mental states in question.
What is the Zombie Argument?
The first premise of this argument is that it is conceivable, in a special, robust, “positive” sense, that there are molecule-for-molecule duplicates of oneself with no qualia (call them “zombies”, following Chalmers 1996a). The second premise is that scenarios that are “positively” conceivable in this way represent real, metaphysical, possibilities. Thus, he concludes, zombies are possible, and functionalism — or, more broadly, physicalism — is false. The force of the Zombie Argument is due in large part to the way Chalmers defends its two premises; he provides a detailed account of just what is required for zombies to be conceivable, and also an argument as to why the conceivability of zombies entails their possibility (see also Chalmers 2002, 2006, 2010, Ch. 6, and Chalmers and Jackson 2002). This account, based on a more comprehensive theory of how we can evaluate claims about possibility and necessity known as “two-dimensional semantics”, reflects an increasingly popular way of thinking about these matters, but remains controversial. (For alternative ways of explaining conceivability, see Kripke (1986), Hart (1988); for criticism of the argument from two-dimensional semantics, see Yablo 2000, 2002, Bealer 2002, Stalnaker 2002, Soames 2004, Byrne and Prior 2006; but see also Chalmers 2006.)
What is functional characterization?
One difficulty for every version of the theory is that functional characterization is holistic. Functionalists hold that mental states are to be characterized in terms of their roles in a psychological theory—be it common sense, scientific, or something in between—but all such theories incorporate information about a large number and variety of mental states. Thus if pain is interdefined with certain highly articulated beliefs and desires, then animals who don't have internal states that play the roles of our articulated beliefs and desires can't share our pains, and humans without the capacity to feel pain can't share certain (or perhaps any) of our beliefs and desires. In addition, differences in the ways people reason, the ways their beliefs are fixed, or the ways their desires affect their beliefs — due either to cultural or individual idiosyncracies — might make it impossible for them to share the same mental states. These are regarded as serious worries for all versions of functionalism (see Stich 1983, Putnam 1988).
What are the antecedents of functionalism?
These include both the empirical psychological theories associated primarily with Watson and Skinner, and the “logical” or “analytical” behaviorism of philosophers such as Malcolm (1968) and Ryle (1949) (and, arguably, Wittgenstein 1953). Though functionalism is significantly different from behaviorism in that the latter attempts to explain behavior without any reference whatsoever to mental states and processes, the development of two important strains of functionalism, “psychofunctionalism” and “analytical” functionalism, can both be profitably viewed as attempts to rectify the difficulties, respectively, of empirical and logical behaviorism, while retaining certain important insights of those theories.
What is the philosophy of mind?
Functionalism in the philosophy of mind is the doctrine that what makes something a mental state of a particular type does not depend on its internal constitution, but rather on the way it functions, or the role it plays, in the system of which it is a part. This doctrine is rooted in Aristotle's conception of the soul, ...
Which ancestor of functionalism was the first to claim that the soul can exist apart from the body?
The earliest view that can be considered an ancestor of functionalism is Aristotle' s theory of the soul (350 BCE). In contrast to Plato's claim that the soul can exist apart from the body, Aristotle argued ( De Anima Bk.
What is functionalism in philosophy?
References and Further Reading. References. Suggested Reading. 1. Functionalism Introduced. Functionalism is a theory about the nature of mental states. According to functionalists, mental states are identified by what they do rather than by what they are made of. Functionalism is the most familiar or “received” view among philosophers ...
What are the main arguments for functionalism?
The main arguments for functionalism depend on showing that it is superior to its primary competitors: identity theory and behaviorism. Contrasted with behaviorism, functionalism retains the traditional idea that mental states are internal states of thinking creatures. Contrasted with identity theory, functionalism introduces the idea ...
What do functionalists think about mental states?
So functionalists think that it is what the internal states do that makes them mental states, not just what is done by the creature of which they are parts. As it has thus far been explained, functionalism is a theory about the nature of mental states. As such, it is an ontological or metaphysical theory.
What is the theory of mental states?
Functionalism. Functionalism is a theory about the nature of mental states. According to functionalism, mental states are identified by what they do rather than by what they are made of. This can be understood by thinking about artifacts like mousetraps and keys. In particular, the original motivation for functionalism comes from ...
What are the objections to functionalism?
Objectors to functionalism generally charge that it classifies too many things as having mental states, or at least more states than psychologists usually accept. The effectiveness of the arguments for and against functionalism depends in part on the particular variety in question, and whether it is a stronger or weaker version of the theory. This article explains the core ideas behind functionalism and surveys the primary arguments for and against functionalism.
What is the Optimistic Argument?
The Optimistic Argument holds that even if no one ever discovers a creature that has mental states but differs from humans in its brain states, surely one could build such a thing. That is, the possibility of artificial intelligence seems to require the truth of something like functionalism.
Is intentionality a metaphysical function?
If so, intentional functionalism may entail metaphys ical functionalism.
What is functionalism theory?
See Article History. Functionalism, in social sciences, theory based on the premise that all aspects of a society—institutions, roles, norms, etc.—serve a purpose and that all are indispensable for the long-term survival of the society. The approach gained prominence in the works of 19th-century sociologists, particularly those who viewed societies ...
What is the function of functionalism?
Functionalism also postulates that all cultural or social phenomena have a positive function and that all are indispensable . Distinctions have been made between manifest functions, those consequences intended and recognized by participants in the system, and latent functions, which are neither intended nor recognized.
What is functionalism in a social science?
Functionalism, in social sciences, theory based on the premise that all aspects of a society—institutions, roles, norms, ...
What is structural functional?
In an attempt to develop a more dynamicanalysis of social systems, the American sociologist Talcott Parsonsintroduced a structural–functional approach that employs the concept of function as a link between relatively stable structural categories. Any process or set of conditions that does not contribute to the maintenance or development of the system is said to be dysfunctional. In particular, there is a focus on the conditions of stability, integration, and effectiveness of the system.
What is the social system?
A social system is assumed to have a functional unity in which all parts of the system work together with some degree of internal consistency.
Who was the British anthropologist who argued that functionalism is a relationship between a social institution and?
The British anthropologist A.R. Radcliffe-Brownexplo red the theoretical implicationsof functionalism as a relationship between a social institution and the “necessary conditions of existence” of a social system. He saw the function of a unit as the contribution it makes to the maintenance of a social structure—i.e.,the set of relationships among social units.
Who was the British anthropologist who explored the theoretical implications of functionalism?
The British anthropologist A.R. Radcliffe-Brown explored the theoretical implications of functionalism as a relationship between a social institution and the “necessary conditions of existence” of a social system.
What Is Functionalism?
- Functionalism is the doctrine that what makes something a thought,desire, pain (or any other type of mental state) depends not on itsinternal constitution, but solely on its function, or the role itplays, in the cognitive system of which it is a part. More precisely,functionalist theories take the identity of a mental state to bedetermined by its c...
Antecedents of Functionalism
- Although functionalism attained its greatest prominence as a theory ofmental states in the last third of the 20th century, it hasantecedents in both modern and ancient philosophy, as well as in earlytheories of computation and artificial intelligence.
Varieties of Functionalism
- Given this history, it is helpful to think of functionalist theoriesas belonging to one of three major strains — “machinefunctionalism”, “psychofunctionalism” and“analytic functionalism” — and to see them asemerging, respectively, from early AI theories, empirical behaviorism,and logical behaviorism. It's important to recognize, however, thatthere is at least some overlap in the blood…
Constructing Plausible Functional Theories
- So far, the discussion of how to provide functional characterizationsof individual mental states has been vague, and the examples avowedlysimplistic. Is it possible to do better, and, if so, which version offunctionalism is likely to have the greatest success? These questionswill be the focus of this section, and separate treatment will begiven to experiential (often called 'qualitative' or 'p…
Objections to Functionalism
- The previous sections were by and large devoted to the presentation ofthe different varieties of functionalism and the evaluation of theirrelative strengths and weaknesses. There have been many objections tofunctionalism, however, that apply to all versions of the theory. Someof these have already been introduced in earlier discussions, butthey, and many others, will be addresse…
The Future of Functionalism
- In the last part of the 20th century, functionalism stood as thedominant theory of mental states. Like behaviorism, functionalismtakes mental states out of the realm of the “private” orsubjective, and gives them status as entities open to scientificinvestigation. But, in contrast to behaviorism, functionalism'scharacterization of mental states in terms of their roles in theproduction of beha…
Functionalism Introduced
- Functionalism is a theory about the nature of mental states. According to functionalists, mental states are identified by what they do rather than by what they are made of. Functionalism is the most familiar or “received” view among philosophers of mind and cognitive science.
The CORE Idea
- Consider, for example, mouse traps. Mouse traps are devices for catching or killing mice. Mouse traps can be made of most any material, and perhaps indefinitely or infinitely many designs could be employed. The most familiar sort involves a wooden platform and a metal strike bar that is driven by a coiled metal spring and can be released by a trigger. But there are mouse traps desig…
Being as Doing
- Before looking at the arguments for and against functionalism, it is necessary to clarify the idea that, for mental states, being is doing. Plausibly a physical stuff kind such as diamondhas a physical or structural essence, i.e., being a thing of a certain composition or constitution, quite independently of what they do or can be used to do. It happens that diamonds can cut glass, bu…
The Case For Functionalism
- Many arguments for functionalism depend on the actuality or possibility of systems that have mental states but that are either physically or behaviorally distinct from human beings. These arguments are mainly negative arguments that aim to show that the alternatives to functionalism are unacceptable. For example, behaviorists famously held that psychological states are not inte…
Searle’s Chinese Room
- John Searle’s “Chinese Room Argumentis aimed at computational versions of functionalism, particularly those that specify the relevant functions in terms of inputs and outputs without fixing the internal organization of the processes. Searle stipulates that “Strong AI” is the thesis than an appropriately programmed computer literally has mental states, and that its program thereby co…
Zombies
- Searle’s Chinese Room objection focuses on contentful mental states like belief and understanding, what are generally called intentional states. But some philosophers conclude that functionalism is a good theory of intentional states but that it nevertheless fails because it cannot explain other sorts of mental states—in particular, they say that it cannot explain sensations an…
Stronger and Weaker Forms of Functionalism
- At this point two clarifications are in order. These clarifications reveal some ways in which functionalism comes in stronger or weaker versions. The first clarification pertains to the varieties of functionalism. As noted in Section 2, there are many versions of functionalism. Here the focus has been on metaphysical versions. But the variations described earlier (metaphysical, intention…
Conclusion
- There are many more variations among functionalist theories than can be discussed herein, but the above clarifications are sufficient to give a flavor of the various nuances. It is safe to say that in one version or another, functionalism remains the most widely accepted theory of the nature of mental states among contemporary theorists. Nevertheless, recently, perhaps in view of the diffi…
References and Further Reading
- a. References
1. Block, N. (ed.) 1980a. Readings in Philosophy of Psychology, Volume One. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2. Block, N. (ed.) 1980b. Readings in Philosophy of Psychology, Volume Two. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 3. Block, N. and J. Fodor. 1972. What Psycholog… - b. Suggested Reading
1. Block, N. 1978. Troubles with functionalism. C. W. Savage (ed.), Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. IX(Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press). Reprinted in Block (1980a). 2. Block, N. 1980c. Introduction: What is functionalism? In Block (1980b). 3. Kim, …