Structural Functionalism In Social Media

In the articles "The Box that Changed America" and "Television Transformed" by Lauren Tarshis we ask why how did the tv impact americans culture. The first thing the tv impacted in americans culture is that the tv brought people together. "Tv was becoming a powerful cultral force that brought americans together." (Tarshis 21) The tv brought us closer because tv shows made us relate with eachother.

Functionalism Functionalism emphasizes how social structures maintain or undermine social stability in macrostructures (Brym,

Looking at society as a whole with individual units that work together to make society function efficiently is the structural functionalism concept. Each unit has a part and is describe as institutions such as family, religion, education, politics, economy and inequality. Because structural functionalism looks at social structure and patterns of behavior it is able to create values for society. As well as, distinguish between visible and suppressed problems within the social structures that may need to be addressed. For instance, homelessness is indication of dysfunction in structural functionalism system.

Living wage reflects what income required for a household to meet their basic needs, once government transfers have been added to the family's income and deductions have been subtracted. Its also a call to private and public sector employers to pay wages to both direct and contract employees sufficient to provide the basics to families with children. Living wage include gets families out of severe financial stress by lifting them out of poverty and providing a basic level of economic security. Living wage also enables working families to have sufficient income to cover reasonable costs, promotes social inclusion, supports healthy child development principles, ensures that families are not under severe financial stress, is a conservative, reasonable

Structural-functionalism or functionalism, are groups of individuals who advocate, or work according to the principles of functionalism. The show however, portrays behavior that is clearly not functional and could be considered dysfunctional for society. But, there are examples of groups of people or individuals who work together for the well-being of the town. For instance, Quahogs news crew which consist of anchors and reporters work together the provide news for the town. The Quahog Police Department.

The Office is a popular comedy television show that was originally broadcasted in the United Kingdom and then later made into an adaptation in several different countries. While the original British show only had two seasons and low ratings, the show became one of Britain’s top exports after ending. From Germany to Australia to the United States and France, The Office has been readapted as well as broadcasted in it’s original British form. The glocalization of a show, such as The Office, can be beneficial to both the native and adapted country or it can be seen as a failure in the adopted country, depending on its reception from viewers.

The functionalism theory is a macro-level theory. It sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote equilibrium and stability. These parts may be functional, which means that the society has beneficial consequences. They may also be dysfunctional, which means that society will have negative consequences. Both of these together will create equilibrium among the society, which

In this world of advanced technology where people are connected to the internet like neurons are connected in a giant brain. The television has become the spotlight technology in today’s generation. Generation after generation people are evolving and getting more advanced, so has the way producers are using television as a source to persuade the audience. Especially, reality show directors use every information they possibly can about the contestants to make their show popular in the culture. The reality television impacts the world in a negative way.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) and Max Weber (1864-1920) are widely considered as two of the “founding fathers” of sociology. They are important for their contribution to understanding society. A great deal of their contributions have had a lasting impact into how sociological studies are conducted. The difference between these two sociologist is their theoretical perspectives. Unlike Weber who belonged to the interpretive perspective, Durkheim belonged to the functionalist perspective.

Most fields of science rely on theories to explain centrally important issues, such as social phenomena, that have a wide range of applications. Sociologists attempt to describe human society though their theories, such as the structural-functionalism theory, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionalism. While the three theories attempt to describe how society functions the way it does, all three differ in their views of how humans are related to society and each other. In the structural-functionalism, the dominant view is that if the structures that exist are functional, then those structures should be preserved and maintained. Structure-functionalists tend focus on the interrelatedness to the social structures that make up society.

Mean world syndrome is a term in which George Gerbner created to explain the phenomenon where the violence in mass media makes the viewers believe the world is more dangerous than it actually is. Mean world syndrome is one of the key conclusions of the cultivation theory. According to the documentary, Mean World Syndrome, “cultivation is a stable system of messages and images that shapes our conception of the world and ourselves, life, society, and power,” and, “cultivation studies show that heavy viewers of television are more likely, than light viewers to perceive the world as a frightening and dangerous place.” As stated by Gerbner, a heavy viewer is someone that watches over four hours of television a day and a light viewer watches less than two. Another concept in the cultivation theory is “mainstreaming” – in which heavy viewers develop the same or similar outlook through the constant exposure to the same images/labels/messages, regardless of the viewer’s age, race, gender, etc.

Structural Functional Theory Structural functional theory is a macro sociological theory that is based on the characteristics of structures, social patterns, social systems and institutions such as education, religion, leisure, media, economy and politics. If all these social institutions are organized and co-operate with one another around a set of core values functionalist theorists assume that the entire social system will function properly and efficiently. Society in structural functional theory has a view that it is an organized system of interrelated parts that are held together by shared values and established social arrangements that help maintain the system to be in a state of balance and equilibrium. Structural functional theory is a broad perspective in sociology and anthropology which sets out to interpret society as a structure with interrelated parts. Functionalism addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements; namely norms, customs, traditions and institutions (Vibha Desai, 2013).

Structural Functionalism is a sociological theory that tries to clarify why society functions the way it does by concentrating on the connection between the different social institutions that make up society (e.g., government, law, education, religion, etc.). In Animal Farm the first example of structural functionalism is when the boar thinks the ordinances of their society are ruled by the oppressor humans. The second example is when the traditional structure is arranged to keep the animals in captivity. Lastly, the third example is when the arrangement allows humans to always be on the receiving end.

Media are platforms of mass communication that can be categorized as either new of traditional media, with new media being forms of communication that make use of technologies such as the Internet, and traditional media being more conventional forms of media such as newspapers. Media, primarily new media, is getting more popular and influential, especially in today’s day and age since we are exposed to it a lot more than in the past and also since media is more easily accessible now. The media can shape our behaviours, perceptions and opinions, and it is important to know how people are influenced and impacted by it. The media can influence someone’s perception of social reality, or perceptions of beauty or even influence people’s behaviours and habits and therefore, the media does shape who we are. One way that the media can shape who we are is by influencing our perception of social reality.

The theory explains “how individuals use mass communication to gratify their needs” (Burgeon, Hunsaker and Dawson, 1994, cited in Udende and Azeez, 2010, p. 34). The theory holds that “people influence the effects that mass media have on them” (Anaeto et al, 2008 cited in Edegoh, Asemah and Nwammuo, 2013, p. 23). The assumption of the theory is that people are not just passive receivers of media messages; rather, they actively influence the message effects. Media audience selectively choose, attend to, perceive and retain media offerings on the basis of their needs, beliefs, etc., thus, “there are as many reasons for using the media as there are media users”