Talcott Parsons

Talcott Parsons (1902-79) was a key functionalist thinker. He

argued that socialisation is the key to understanding huan
!eha"iour #atterns. The role of social institutions such as the
faily$ education$ religion and the edia is to ensure the
#assing on$ or re#roduction$ of socially acce#ta!le #atterns
of !eha"iour. %ocial institutions do this in a nu!er of ways&
They socialise #eo#le into key "alues of society such
as the i#ortance of nuclear faily life$ achie"ent$
res#ect for authority and hierarchy$ and so on. The
faily$ education and the ass edia are #riarily
res#onsi!le for this function.
They gi"e soe "alues and nors a sacred 'uality so
that they !ecoe #owerful oral codes go"erning
!eha"iour. (eligion and the law #riarily #erfor this
function.
They encourage social solidarity ( a sense of
counity) and social integration (a sense of
!elonging). )or e*a#le$ the teaching of history is an
i#ortant eans of achie"ing this goal !ecause it
reinds e!ers of society a!out their shared culture.
They control !eha"ior !y reinding e!ers of society
a!out what counts as norality and de"iance. This is
ainly the +o! of institutions such as go"ernent$ the
#olice and the courts$ although the edia too #lay a
#art in #u!licising crie and #unishent.
%o our !eha"iour is controlled !y the rules of the
society into which we are !orn. The result is that we
don,t ha"e to !e told that what we are doing is socially
unacce#ta!le. -e will #ro!a!ly feel inhi!ited in the
coon "alues of society !y our e*#erience of
socialisation.