Grand Theories

Structural functional theory is a sociological theory by Talcott Parson’s. It says that
society is a system in which codependent parts labor together to maintain stability. Within this society, there is function and dysfunction.  This theory includes harmony, stability, and slow change. There is different function within this theory.

First, there is manifest functions. Structural Functionalists are interested in looking at the functions of education. They look at different things such as transmission of knowledge and their reading, writing and arithmetic. They also look at how immigrants send their children to school and the kids are forced to integrate socially amongst their peers. They are interested in how mobile you are in society. This basically means you get a career, you get more money, therefore, you get more stuff. They see how stratified you are I society. There is basically a hierarchy of social stratification and where you are on it is based on how much education you got, and where you got it from. If you got if from Princeton, then it puts you higher on that social stratification level than if you graduated from Stanislaus, with the same degrees.  The last manifest function is Research Institutions & Development. Apparently, I learned their goal is not to provide undergraduates with an education but to do research and bring money into the University.

The second function is latent functions. These functions allow us to receive free childcare by sending our child to school when he is old enough on the tax payers dollar. I never looked at it that way until now. Also, education because as we were taught it helps keep the unemployment rates low. If everybody is trying to better their life by getting an education then we won’t be out looking for jobs and if they are unavailable, then requesting unemployment to survive. Lastly, it is unspoken that when we are in school, that is where we will find our mate. We are among other students with the same goals that we have so it would make sense that amongst all these students you might be lucky enough to find love. Good luck for those of you seeking love, I can barely make a friend at school.

One of the things social conflict theorists are interested in are the stuff that is taught at school but is not exactly on the syllabus. These things include having respect for authorities and how to be on time. Another which I clearly remember being a part of as a kid was tracking. I remember being in elementary school and I had another little friend that was also first generation Mexican-American and was also learning to speak English. I remember I could read well but she couldn’t, and we were always separated during reading time by colors. She had to get up and leave to the library and I always got to stay. I clearly remember her telling me she was in the dumb group because nobody in her group could read. That is such a horrible thing. It doesn’t make sense to separate students based on knowledge within the same class. I can see how some would think so but that is where the self-fulfilling prophecy takes place. Where she knows she’s in the dumb group, therefore she thinks she’s dumb. The last thing I did actually like about this theory is that something finally makes sense: social privilege turns into personal merit meaning we actually gain merit for something we solely worked hard to achieve.