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Asses the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Functionalist Approach to Society

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Assess the strengths and weaknesses of the functionalist approach to society
(33 marks)

Functionalism is seen as a macro-scale approach to society it sees society as a system of interrelated parts or social institutions such as religion, the family and the economy. Therefore functionalism sees society as the human body or organic analogy meaning society is like an organism with basic needs that it must meet in order to survive. This is particularly useful when observing society in order to understand the way in which it functions as well as the way in which all the institutions work together (organic analogy: organs within the body) to sustain society as a whole.
Functionalism being a macro-scale approach is therefore seen as a strength, as it allows functionalist sociologists to observe society, and its institutions, as a whole. Functionalism is also seen as a consensus theory, it sees society as fair and just, and it acknowledges that many societies, including the majority of western ones, have democracy and all individuals within a particular society share the same or similar norms and values. This can therefore be seen as a strength, as it takes into account that democracy does exist in many societies.
However, as functionalism is a macro-scale approach and sees society as a whole, it could miss crucial factors or groups which contribute to the functioning of society. These include small groups and tribes, such as gipsies. Not acknowledging these minority groups within society could lead to functionalist sociologists lacking crucial information about how society functions and how minority groups live within a large society.
This could therefore be seen as a weakness of functionalism as it fails to acknowledge that there are minority groups within society. Also, as functionalism is a consensus theory, where all individuals within a particular society

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