SOCIOLOGY I 201 STUDY GUIDE
Structional Functionalist Approach - Answers - How social systems function and operate
in their entirety.
The work of Émile Durkheim, Robert Merton, and Talcott Parsons represents the
functionalist approach.
It has lost favour in recent years because it is too much of a stretch and is not good at
promoting an understanding of conflict or social change.
Social Fact - Answers - Coined by Durkheim.
Patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling tat exist outside of any one individual but
exert social control over all people.
There Characteristics of Social Facts - Answers - 1. Developed prior to and separate
from any individual.
2. It can be seen as a characteristic of a particular group.
3. It involves a constraining or coercing force that pushes individuals into acting in a
particular way.
Merton's 3 Types of Functions - Answers - Manifest Functions
Latent Functions
Latent Dysfunctions
Manifest Functions - Answers - Easily recognized
Latent Functions - Answers - Largely unintended and unrecognized.
Latent Dysfunctions - Answers - Unintended and produce socially negative
consequences
Conflict Theory - Answers - Conflict
Class
Contestation
Change
Class - Answers - Division of society with hierarchy of groups, and each groups position
is determined by its role in the production of wealth.
Egalitarian Society - Answers - classless society, social equality, all households contain
about the same amount of possessions and status
Structional Functionalist Approach - Answers - How social systems function and operate
in their entirety.
The work of Émile Durkheim, Robert Merton, and Talcott Parsons represents the
functionalist approach.
It has lost favour in recent years because it is too much of a stretch and is not good at
promoting an understanding of conflict or social change.
Social Fact - Answers - Coined by Durkheim.
Patterned ways of acting, thinking, and feeling tat exist outside of any one individual but
exert social control over all people.
There Characteristics of Social Facts - Answers - 1. Developed prior to and separate
from any individual.
2. It can be seen as a characteristic of a particular group.
3. It involves a constraining or coercing force that pushes individuals into acting in a
particular way.
Merton's 3 Types of Functions - Answers - Manifest Functions
Latent Functions
Latent Dysfunctions
Manifest Functions - Answers - Easily recognized
Latent Functions - Answers - Largely unintended and unrecognized.
Latent Dysfunctions - Answers - Unintended and produce socially negative
consequences
Conflict Theory - Answers - Conflict
Class
Contestation
Change
Class - Answers - Division of society with hierarchy of groups, and each groups position
is determined by its role in the production of wealth.
Egalitarian Society - Answers - classless society, social equality, all households contain
about the same amount of possessions and status
