For example, New York City's "Stop-and-Frisk" policy was intended to provide police officers with more latitude in questioning and apprehending potential criminals. According to Merton, a dysfunction would be considered a harmful latent outcome of an institutional policy or practice. For example, while it is not an intended outcome, schools in an urban community may lead to an increase in interracial friendships and relationships, which is a beneficial outcome for the larger community and society. The latent functions of social institutions and their policies are not deliberate or intended but still produce beneficial outcomes. Consider the way slave owners justified slavery in the antebellum South, by suggesting Black people were fundamentally inferior to white and preferred slavery to freedom.Īccording to Robert Merton, the manifest functions of social institutions and their policies are intended to produce beneficial outcomes. Nash (1964) focused his argument on the way racism is functional for the dominant group, for example, suggesting that racism morally justifies a racially unequal society. How can racism and discrimination contribute positively to society? A functionalist might look at “functions” and “dysfunctions” caused by racial inequality. In the view of functionalism, racial and ethnic inequalities must have served an important function in order to exist as long as they have. The way multiple social categories such as race, gender, class, sexuality, intersect to produce unique forms of discrimination and oppression.Ĭentering race in the examination of social phenomena and inequality. The meaning attached to racial an ethnic labels and images. One-to-one interactions and communications. The way inequalities contribute to social differences and perpetuates racial and ethnic disparities in power. Practices and policies may lead to dysfunction. The way each part of society functions together to contribute to the whole. Different sociological perspectives enable sociologists to view social issues through a variety of useful lenses. \): Sociological Theories or Perspectives.
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