Consensus Theories Consensus Theories These theories argue that

Consensus Theories

Consensus Theories These theories argue that societies need generally accepted rules, attitudes, values, beliefs and perceptions (“cultural norms”) in order for people in them to be able to bond, form relationships, cooperate and communicate. The stronger these bonds are, the more successful the society will be. We can tell the difference between societies by looking at different “cultural norms”.

Example Let’s take as an example the USA. The USA is a society that tis based entirely on immigration. Since the 1700’s people have moved from all over the world to live in the USA. They have different backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, languages, cuisines, beliefs, family structures – everything. This would make the USA a very unstable society, how could the country move forward when even the most basic daily interactions between people would be very difficult? So the founding fathers of the USA created a kind of mythology for the USA that has been accepted by all these different groups, and become the foundation for shared cultural norms – the idea of the “American Dream”

Most Americans believe strongly in capitalism American brands like Coca-Cola have become central to culture Americans believe the USA is the “land of the free” Americans have bonded over the belief in lack of government intervention in their lives. Americans treat the constitution of the USA as a document that encapsulates the shared beliefs and values of American people. In schools all children swear allegiance to the flag every morning – not a person, nor a particular God, but an idea. The flag has taken on almost religious significance because it is a symbol of this bond. The USA is a religious country, and most people describe themselves as believing in a God, and despite differences between branches it tends to be mono-theistic (Jewish/Christian/Islam) Thanksgiving – a non- religious ceremony has taken precedence over Christmas

There are many more examples of the daily practices and over-arching beliefs that we sometimes laugh at Americans for, but which are actually essential in creating the Superpower that America is. In fact the USA is not naturally a strong country, it is a potentially very fragile, volatile mix of people who have to be held together, and this is very cleverly done through daily ritual. The results have been so successful that America has become a global superpower and this culture has been exported around the world through film, TV, music and brands. So Americans have an accepted “consensus” about what it means to be American, and how one should behave in society. The majority of people stick to this, and so the society is successful.

Socialisation In order to create consensus all children have to be trained from birth – the most significant time of development in a child’s life is from the womb until the age of three. So “primary socialisation” takes place in the home – the family. This is where a child picks up the building blocks from which her later understanding of society will be constructed. “Secondary Socialisation” then takes place through the education system and further social institutions such as religion, the media etc.

Functionalism is the primary form of consensus theory. Emile Durkheim and Talcott Parsons were the most famous thinkers behind this theory.

Emile Durkheim 1858 -1917 Durkheim is considered to be one of the founding fathers of sociology (along with Max Weber and Karl Marx). He was interested in how societies are continually made and re-made through social institutions such as the family, education and religion. His famous study of suicide is considered to be one of the cornerstones of sociology. In his study he points out (by the way this is very much a brief summary – there’s much more to it) that although suicide may be a private matter, it can also be studied as a public matter, because there are patterns showing different rates of suicide. Countries with strong religious and family bonds tend to have lower levels of suicide. So a person may commit suicide for individual reasons – but there always social reasons in the background which made that person more likely to commit suicide in the first place. This was considered revolutionary, no one had studies society in this way before.

Durkheim set out to reject common-sense or biological explanations for human behaviour. At the time he was working fascist ideas about being able to tell the behaviour and character of a person from their physical features were becoming popular – he was totally against this – very mush on the “nurture” side of the “nurture or nature” debate. Durkheim used the term “social facts” to refer to the fundamental laws that govern human life.

Macro level = looking at the whole of society For Durkheim the individual is created by external forces that come in the form of social structures and culture.

“Anomie” One of Durkheim’s most famous concepts When structures fail to produce value consensus in individuals this results in a state of “normlessness” – people do not know what is expected of them, they don’t know how to behave – this is referred to as “anomie” – and this leads to the breakdown of social order. Perhaps the London riots in 2011 could be seen as an example of anomie – the normal rules did not seem to apply over those nights.

Talcott Parsons 1902 -1979 American sociologist He began as a structuralist within the functionalist tradition, but later moved towards more social action theory. Much of his work has been criticised for being limited to capitalist Post WW 2 society, not really fitting in with the modern world. He was interested in how social systems maintain order and influence individuals. He claimed that the most important system for keeping order is the “value system” – people act in accordance with their values which are shaped by the norms and values of other people. So individuals act in ways that influence others and continually make and re-make the social order – so “natural order” is produced.

Back to Functionalism… The key idea behind functionalism is that the various parts of society are inter -related and only taken together do they form a complete society. To understand any single part of society – eg family or religion, they must be seen in relation to their place in society as a whole. So a functionalist would study a part of society like the family, but would always relate this to the maintenance of the social system (macro-level).

Organic structure Society is an organic structure like a body, and all organs rely on each other – some organs may be more important – like the heart is more important than the spleen (I don’t actually know if this is true – I don’t know what the spleen does, I just like the word), but all parts are interconnected and inter-relate.

Structure Functionalism is based on the idea that all behaviour in society is structured. Relationships between members of society are organised in terms of rules which define how people are expected to behave. These can either be formal laws (e. g. don’t do a murder) or informal “norms” (don’t sneeze in people’s faces). Norms are specific guides which tell us how it is normal to behave – what a normal person would be expected to do. Values provide general guidelines for behaviour – the overall beliefs about what is good or bad, desirable or undesirable in a society. We have often relied on religion to spread these for us. Values are broken down into specific normal behaviours (norms). So… we have a value that monogamy is a good thing. We break this down into specific behaviours that support this – normal people don’t run around naked, normal people get married

Normative behaviour (how people “should” behave We each play different roles in society, and each of these roles have certain expectations of how we should behave when we are playing them. So society is completely constructed by “norms”, the little micro behaviours in every single interaction that we have every single day – they might be like the little atoms that joint together to form social institutions. The structure of society is the total of all of the social relationships that are governed by norms. Social institutions like the family and religion are made up interconnected roles and inter-related norms, e. g. the family is made up of the interconnected roles of mother, father, daughter, son etc. And all of these roles have expected behaviours associated with them (norms) – it is normal for parents to provide a home for a child etc.

Function So now that we have looked at the structure of the society, it is down to functionalists to show it works (functions). So how do the different parts of the society – eg roles, norms, institutions affect society as a whole? Functionalists are interested in how each social institution contributes to the maintenance of the social system.

Functional Prerequisites Societies have basic needs or requirements that must be met if they are to survive – for example the production of food and shelter. These are referred to as functional prerequisites – something you have to have before you can function. A system of socialising new members might be seen as a functional prerequisite , because without culture and socialisation, social life would not be possible.

Value Consensus Society is regarded as a system, a system is made up of interconnected and inter-related parts – each part will affect every other part. For the system to survive it must have some degree of fit or compatibility – so a functional prerequisite of society would involve at least some degree of cooperation between the parts (humans). Functionalists might argue that this is based on value consensus, an agreement about values by members of society. So if the major values of society are reinforced by the various parts of the social structure – the institutions of family, education, religion and the media – then these parts are integrated For example the value of meritocracy which is ingrained in our capitalist system – it seems obvious to us that a doctor should be paid more than a cleaner, because it would seem that they had worked harder to get there – so they merit it. But when we strip away some of our ingrained values, we might begin to question this view.

Value Consensus We can link this to the politics course, think about how power is being used by social institutions in the process of building value consensus. Think about how the agenda is being set, and how thoughts are being controlled. This is not to say that there is one shadowy person or organisation involved in controlling all of this – it’s just that we are all part of it. We want to live in an ordered society, so this comes naturally to us. We make and re-make society all of the time by repeating practices and carrying out our roles.

Robert K Merton 1910 -2003 Another US sociologist – key thinker in the functionalist tradition. His contribution to the tradition was the idea od manifest and latent functions. These are ways of building social relations. Manifest functions are the intended outcomes of a particular action, and latent functions are the consequences of an action that the participants are unaware of. He wrote of the example of the Hopi tribe who carry out a rain dance – they believe that this rain dance will bring rain for their crops – this is the manifest function as this is what they intend the ceremony to be for. However the ceremony is also a way of bringing the tribe together, promoting cooperation, and building relationships – this is the latent function as the tribe may be unaware of this happening. For example, think about the manifest and latent functions of sports in school.

Social Order Functionalists start with the basic assumption that order and stability is essential to the survival of the social system. Value consensus provides the foundation for co-operation, since common values produce common goals. Individuals tend to identify and feel connected to those who share the same values as themselves. Values are internalised and passed from one generation to the next through the family. Once the values have been learned they have to be maintained and processes of manifest and latent functions can contribute to this. Those who deviate have to be brought back into line So mechanisms of social order such as the police, courts, prisons as well as “disapproving glances” are seen as essential to the maintenance of social order.

Activity Try to explain the main features of the functionalist perspective. If possible try to design a diagram that shows how all of the key features and terms – social institutions, norms, values, anomie, social order, functional prerequisites, macro level, manifest & latent functions etc. fit together. In your notes create a glossary where you note all of these key terms and their meanings (in your own words) Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be brilliant, but it should help you to get your head around the ideas and the terms. Remember to include reference to Durkheim, Parsons and Merton– as for the exam you will need to refer to key thinkers within each tradition.