Midterm ReviewMechanical and Organic Solidarity: Emile Durkheim (1858-1917).FrenchSociologist, One of the Founding Fathers of Sociology. Studied division of labor,religion, suicide, etc.Mechanical Solidarity and Organic Solidarity compared traditionaland modern societies.Mechanical Solidarity is associated with traditional societies,simple division of labor, bonded by collective consciousness.Organic solidarity isassociated with more modern societies, high division of labor, social roles more complexand differentiated, more individualism, bonds based on collective ideals, which areinternalized through social institutions (eg: school, church).Functional System: Durkheim, Parsons, Merton.Treat behavior as a function of certainunderlying forces and needs and of the particular set of internalized norms and valuescharacteristic of a society.People’s motives and behavior are largely a function of thesocial values they internalize.Systems adjusting to restore equilibrium.Support ofstatus quo in order to maintain equilibrium.System of interrelated partsThe Unit Act: Parson’s theory of Action.Parson’s action theory starts with a role playeroractor, the actor is motivated to spend energy in reaching a desirable goal orend, asdefined by the cultural system, the action takes place in asituation, which includesmeans(facilities, tools, or resources) andconditions(obstacles that arise in the pursuit ofthe goal)The AGIL Scheme:Parsons.AGIL otherwise known as the Functional SystemsProblems.Parsons argues that all action systems face four major problems:Adaptation(need to secure sufficient resources from the environment and distribute themthroughout the system), GoalAttainment (need to mobilized its resources and energiesto attain system goals and to establish priorities among them), Integration (need tocoordinate, adjust, and regulate relationships among various actors or units within thesystem, thus preventing mutual interference, in order to keep the system functioning.,and Latent Pattern Maintenance – tension management (need to provide mechanismsfor internal tension management.Parsons considers them to be the prerequisites forsocial equilibrium.***Role Complementarity:Parsons.Roles and systems complement one another?Manifest and Latent Functions:Merton (1910-2002)Student of Parson’s at Harvard.Set out to fill in the banks between raw empiricism and grand or all inclusive theory.Middle Range Theory.EG Hopee rain dance: Manifest function to create rain.Latentfunction social.Manifest functions: consequences people intend or expect“those objective consequences for a specialized unit (person, subgroup, social orcultural system) which contribute to its adjustment or adaptationand were sointended(Merton p. 305)Latent functions: hidden, unrecognized functions “unintended and unrecognizedconsequences of the same order” (Merton p.305)