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

 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 are
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 WW2 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 how 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.