SOCY 275 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Thermostat, General Strain Theory, Early Warning System

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Social Sci, Edu and Soc Work - Sociology
• Course: SOCY 275
• Professor: Stephen Baron

Document Summary

If the purpose of the behaviour is not obvious, the perspective claims, we must simply be more persistent in our search for the social function it is fulfilling. According to structural functionalism, medical schools produce too many doctors who are all socialized to expect live of affluence in major urban areas, the result will be strain. The same pattern can be seen with many forms of deviance. Often associated with functionalism is the idea of subcultural solutions to strain. According to the organic model, if change occurs its well-being. It may also evolve over time through internal development. Later functionalist such as harvard"s talcott shifted from the organic analogy toward a more mechanistic, cybernetic model of society. In his model, society is a homeostatic, self-regulating system that (as long as it is healthy) maintains a balance (equilibrium) of its internal parts in the face of a changing environment. A thermostat is an example of a homeostatic device.