A Bug’s Life is one of many Disney films released on November 25, 1998. This film is very interesting because the audience is taken on an adventure with the characters involved in every seen and the events that occur and relationships between characters mimic some of the things that occur in our everyday lives. The run-through of this film involves a large colony of ants with the underlying issue being grasshoppers. According to imdb, “Each year, a small group of grass hoppers travel to the ant’s island to take the food that ants collected for them from the island. The grass hoppers normally “come, eat, and then leave” with no issues; however, when our main character, one of many ants in the colony, Flik accidentally knocks over the over …show more content…
Structural functionalism is a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. Essentially, structural functionalism is how every part of society fits and works together to keep everyone involved, united and to support the process of moving our nation forward. The colony that Flik lives in and that encounters an issue is its own small part of the world that follows structural functionalism; however, when Flik ventures off into the bug world to find warrior bugs it is easy to see ways that structural functionalism works outside of the colony. In the ant colony, the audience can see structural functionalism because each ant has a job that they do to ensure the success of the colony. The ants collect food together and follow orders from people who are higher in position like Princess Atta or The Queen. Through following orders and working together, the colony is able to find a balance and accept what they must do to become successful in fulfilling the needs of not only themselves but also the demanding grass hoppers. Structural functionalism occurs in the larger bug world or “The city” as shown in the film because there is a diverse group of bugs who are all able to function because of structure and things done by everyone involved in the city. Overall, the film, A
Structural Functionalism is defined as, “a society which is a whole unit made up of interrelated parts that work together” and “ its society as a living organism/ machine that has multiple organs and parts and people to fulfill their individual functions; working together to make it happen ” (Henslin 2015, Smith 2017).
In the movie “Breakfast Club” five high school students are punished with an 8 hour Saturday detention. In the beginning, they introduce each of the characters as the criminal, the athlete, the princess, the brain, and the basket case. All five students are from different groups of social status and think they all have nothing in common, but soon realize they have more things in common than expected. This movie can be seen through Structure-Functionalism, one out of three core theories. Structural functionalism view society as a system of co-dependent part that work together to ensure survival, meaning each structure has a certain function or purpose to be in society.
Structural Functionalism as defined by Functionolists such as Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer, believe that society is a whole unit made up of many related parts, each having its own function. In order for society to maintain equilibrium or balance all parts must fulfill their function. If their function is not performed society is in an
Structural Functionalism, also known as functionalism, sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the individuals in that society. The way that applies to the ant colony society in the film is through biological needs of survival through offerings, and social needs if contribution to the colony as a whole. The power hierarchy starts with Hopper, and his grasshoppers, down to the Queen ant with other speciality ants, with the lowest being worker ants, which includes the protagonist Flik. The grasshoppers advertise that they protect the ants and allow them to live in peace only if they are given a sacrifice annually which the ants fulfill. This allows the agreement and structure of the contract to be stable. The system is so ingrained into the ants that when a leaf blocks the way to the offering stone, the worker ants immediately panic until someone higher up in the social order is able to redirect them. Another example of this collective conscience is when the ants panic when the alarms for the grasshoppers sound off. Unable to to make an individual decision it is up to the Queen to step in and restore order. The stability is dependent on the relationship of the ants, the Queen, and the Grasshoppers.
Structural functionalism is a macro level approach to study sociology (Browning, 2015). Structural functionalists believe social consensus is what holds society together; social consensus being a condition in which most members of the society agree on what would be good for everyone. Structural functionalists view society as a web of social structures, each structure being functional to fulfill it’s own needs, but dependent on all other structures for survival (Vago, 2012).
“As one part of a system changes, other parts have to readjust to accommodate the change that has taken place elsewhere” (Stolley). This aspect of functionalism explains why the grasshoppers are so adamant in preventing an uprising from the ants. The ants begin to realize after years and years of gathering food for the grasshoppers, that this system is not necessarily ideal for their colony. The grasshoppers sense this hesitation from the ants and quickly assert themselves to make sure the ants do not rebel. The head grasshopper makes it clear to his pack, “if we let one ant stand up to us then they all might stand up. Those puny little ants outnumber us 100-1 and if they ever figure that out, there goes our way of life. Its not about food, it’s about keeping those ants in line”(A Bug’s Life). Similarly, a functionalist society is inordinately dependent on maintaining the status quo to ensure the stability of the broader society.
Structural Functionalism states that everything in society serves a purpose, whether it is positive or negative. Structuralists look
Structural functionalism is the best suited for macro-level practice methods such as community organizing, community development, or legislative advocacy. Macro-level practice methods that stem
"Functionalist Perspectives” also known as "Structural-Functional Paradigm”- “The sociological approach that views society as a stable, orderly system. According to this perspective, a society is composed of interrelated parts, each of which serves a function and (ideally) contributes to the overall stability of the society. Societies develop social structures, or institutions that persist because they play a part in helping society survive. These institutions include the family, education, government, religion, and the economy. If anything adverse happens to one of these institutions or parts, all
The functionalism theory is also known as structural functionalism and lays claim on the fact that the society is composed of interdependent portions each of which adds to the functioning of the whole society. Functionalists break
A Disney film, Zootopia was released on March of 2016, it is not only a kid animated movie but a movie that exposes many social issues that we face in today’s society. This film is set in a city named Zootopia, where animals all sizes big and small come together to live a peaceful and civilized life. They “have abandoned traditional predator/prey roles in favor of civilized coexistence” (Rovi). In this film, there is a rabbit named Judy Hopps who has always dreamed of becoming a police officer, she lives in a town called Bunny Burrow. Where she lives with both parents and about two-hundred brothers and sisters. Judy leaves her parents and siblings behind to pursue her dream of becoming the first rabbit police officer, despite being told she will never be a police officer due to gender inequality. On her first day of work, she is assigned to be a traffic officer or as others referred to her a “meter maid.” She is determined that this will not stop her from being a real police officer. On her first day of duty, she gives out two hundred and two parking tickets and meets a con artist that happens to be a fox named Nick Wilde. In Zootopia, foxes are untrustworthy and discriminated for being foxes. This con artist will later help officer Hopps solve a mysterious crime. In Zootopia, a total of fifteen mammals go missing, and Judy puts her career on the line, for offering to help resolve this case. She is given forty-eight hours to crack this case if
On the other hands, the structural functionalism, which is also called as simply functionalism, it is a framework for building theory or perspectives that sees or seek the society as a complex system and whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability for the betterment of society. There are two theorists are well known including Herbert Spencer and Robert Merton, who were major contributors to this perspective or theory.
A strength of the functionalist theory is that it a macro level structural theory which uses an organic analogy- using the body as a way to describe the different parts within society. Parsons identifies three similarities; System, System Needs and Functions. The System being organisms such as the human body, and society which fit together in fixed ways. For example in the
The structural-functional theory also known as functionalism is sociological theory that sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. Functionalists view education as a contribution to the smooth inner working of society. Education is a lifelong process, we are constantly learning new things and deepening our knowledge of things we already know. The education system works to prepare individuals to become fully functioning members of society. It works to teach people certain skills that will help them to be successful in life. However, education not only teaches people the skills they will need to be successful in life, but it also teaches them how to be decent citizens and to work well with others. Many people view education are a service to the overall function of society.
Structural Functionalism is “A major sociological perspective that views society as an interdependent system of parts (structures) and purposes (functions) that work together to make a society operate (Larkin, 2015)”. In order for a society to work all parts of the same society must work together. In structural functionalism society nearly depends on one another to stay afloat. If Something changes it can causes a disruption in society and begins to make things become unbalanced. Functionalism focuses on many groups that make up society, for example Government, Judiciary, and religion are some of the key groups that benefits in society strengthening their social relationships and the very world humans live in.