Social Change Theories Essay -- Sociology

Social Change Theories Richard Roberts said, "As long as our social order regards the good of institutions rather than the good of men, so long will there be a vocation for the rebel." Moreover, the theories of functionalism, the conflict theory, and punctuated equilibrium enable rebels to emerge due to their theories' misplaced sense of value. Functionalism, largely influenced by Talcott Parsons, can be interpreted in several ways, creating the different versions of functionalism such as biocultural functionalism and structural-functionalism, which have different main aspects of belief. Bicultural functionalism expresses the belief that because of physiological needs social institutions were created in order to fulfill these needs. This belief suggests that functionalism, the belief that anything simply occurs because it serves a function, is based upon the individual's needs which include reproduction, food and shelter. Alternatively, the social structure and society as a "system of relationships" is also part of functionalism as the structural-functionalism view. According to the structural-functionalism it is not the individual that is important, but society as a whole. "He suggested that a society is a system of relationships maintaining itself through cybernetic feedback, while institutions are orderly sets of relati onships whose function is to maintain the society as a system." Overall functionalism in the idea that there is a disconnect between the mental states and the physical, and that mental states can only be identified through their functional role ("Functionalism." Web. N.p.). Parsons "[†¦] contributed to the structural-functionalist school conceptualized the social universe in terms of four types and levels of '... ...ll College. N.p., 21 Feb. 2000. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. . Morrow, Sarah , and Robert Lusteck. "Marxist Anthropology - Anthropological Theories." Department of Anthropology - The University of Alabama. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. . Porth, Eric, Kimberley Neutzling, and Jessica Edwards. "Functionalism - Anthropological Theories." Department of Anthropology - The University of Alabama. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. . "Punctuated Equilibrium | Academic Room." Educational Websites | Online Books | Online Classes | Open Access. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2012. .