Emile Durkheim's Theory Of Functionalism

Sociology is the study of the development and functioning of human society. Throughout my college years, I learned so much based on Emile Durkheim method on the development of sociology as a discipline. His main concept was the social facts, which is norms, values, morals, and structure within a society. Durkheim theory of functionalism is about the natures of the mental states of an individual. Functionalism can be defined in terms of its causal dealings to the environmental effects on the body, intentional mental states, and physical behavior every mental state should be defined in terms of how something functions. Which leads to my question what is freedom if people can easily be controlled mentally through systems in every day society? Freedom …show more content…
The action of society is based solely on functioning of a certain flow, and if something changes society is “forced” to adjust to that change. When we adjust to order and change everything about us change especially bodily behavior. Michel Foucault theory of discipline and punishment, and the structure of the Panopticon definitely supports this claim. In Foucault theory, he believes that strict rules and punishment has a big impact on how institutions such as prisons, schools, and hospital systems are ran. Institutional power started at these places where they heavily practice controlling of the human body. This is related to the physical body because once the body is used to a certain schedule or moving about life in ways they are trained that is how they stay until change is made. For example, when attending an educational institution you are given rules to follow, put on a schedule, and are taught to do things a certain way. Perhaps, the reason for such control is that it contributes to safety. It is obvious that some form of security has been necessary in a public place such as schools because who in their right mind would want to send their child to a school with no form of …show more content…
In the prison system having control over the physical body is important and they do this by observe all inmates disciplines through constant surveillance. This relates to Foucault theory of the Panopticon that which is a structure that allows for complete surveillance where watchers don’t even have to be present. The prisoner can see the tower, but never know if there is a person inside, or in what direction the guard is looking. Because they see the tower the prisoners will never know from where they are being observed. The forming of prisons were beneficial to the government; therefore, they could make money off criminals that couldn’t stay of trouble. However, I feel that states are notorious for continual monitoring of citizens without a secure court order. This is done through social network, GPS systems, drones, and cameras in public place/on the street. Authority has affirmed the right to ignore limits on such surveillance since the development of the use of numbers via social security number, which is a way to identify born U.S