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X= Times
OK= Own Knowledge (sociologists + theories)
SC= Subculture
PT= Patterns and trends
E= Evaluation
Assess Functionalist explanations of patterns and trends in social class inequality (40
marker)
Functionalists argue that society works best when there is agreement or consensus over
shared values. This is developed by Parsons who argued that in all societies some
individuals are better than others at achieving things that are regarded as worthy of reward
according to the prevailing value consensus. For example, he suggests that most people
agree that in modern industrial societies, entrepreneurs and executives who successfully run
businesses deserve the highest rewards because they contribute most to the smooth
running of society. //Therefore, people in these roles perform to the highest standards so it
leads to shared values and stability of society and ppl who do not work in these role deserve
little promotions.
(E) However, stratification is not an inevitable part of all societies. This is reinforced
by New-Right thinkers, like Saunders. For example, he argues that a society based on
social equality would only be possible if considerable force was used. Saunders also
suggests that there should be a principle of equality of opportunity whereby everyone
has the same chance to compete for unequal rewards. This therefore means that
everyone can be rewarded in the same way whether they deserve it or not, unlike
functionalists who suggests only some people deserve high rewards. Therefore,
functionalists explanations may not actually lead to the smoothness of society but
can create hostility, suspicion and mistrust between sections of society, because of
allowing individuals to have higher rewards than others and so there explanations
may not provide a full picture of the pattern and trends in social class inequality.
Functionalist also argue that it allocates the right people to do the most important roles. For
example, Davis and moore argued that this ensures that the most important positions in
society are filled by the most able people by offering them higher rewards, such as in terms
of income and status. Thus, training to be a doctor requires people with very high
educational qualifications and demands a long period of training and a lot of responsibility.
Therefore, suggesting to motivate the best people, we need to offer doctors higher rewards
than other less demanding jobs.
(E) However, training may be a sacrifice because Tumin criticises D+M by suggesting
that in reality, going to university has its own rewards, such as freedom and the
chances to learn what we are interested in and most graduates more than make up for
lost earnings in their first ten years of work. Additionally, many more people may
achieve the ability to be doctors and business executives but have simply never had
the opportunity. This discaated that D+M assume that only a small number of people
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