Which of the following is the best example of a latent function of a college education?

Recently, several Texas colleges have come under fire for what appears to be their complicit failure in facilitating depressed graduation rates. The historically black college known as Texas Southern University (TSU) and University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) both were singled out this week in articles featured in the New York Times for having the lowest four-year graduation rates in the entire state. According to the Times, barely 3 percent of TSU students graduate within four years and less than a quarter earn their degrees in a decade. At UTEP 35 percent earn their degrees in four years and 46 percent achieve their degrees in ten years. Paradoxically, TSU actually receives more state financing per student than the public flagship institution University of Texas Austin which has the highest graduation rates at 53 percent. Overall, Texas’ undergraduate completion rates average 49 percent, ranking 17th in the country.

Manifest Functions 

Texas Southern University, like many higher-level academic institutions, was created with the intention of educating and preparing the student-body for  rapidly changing needs of a technologically driven society. Idealistically, what is distinctive abput the United States compared to our  Western counterparts is our tangible access to education, including allowing all citizens regardless of intellectual capablities the oppurtunities to aquire a college degree. HBCUs were created to provide a safe-haven for the educating of African-American men and women, but the ethos that undergirds all collgiate institutions is the renewing of students into educated citizens for the betterment of society.  This is their functional purpose. UTEP,  by its proximity, educates a large Hispanic population at 77 percent, with an additional 7 percent of students from Mexico. Both UTEP and TSU have students that are disportionately students of color, the majority of whom receive Pell grants and need-based financial aid.

From a sociological standpoint, Merton would highlight the manifest or intstended functions of these schools were designed to educate traditionally marginalized persons, poor students of color. The admissions criteria for both schools orginally was designed to provide easy entry to all students willing to apply. UTEP has an acceptance rate of 97 percent while TSU is about the same and shelved their previous 100 perecnt admissions. But critics surmise that since both schools have such high admission rates they are educating students who may not be the most motivated or capable to endure a four-year degree program. The idealism behind educating all students willing to appyling is a concept that has gone awry.

Latent Functions

Merton would easily signify several unintended consequences of UTEP and TSU’s administrative practices, but also highlight all problems intrinsic in a society that values education as the “great equalizer.” If TSU and UTEP are unable to create plans that boost graduation rates there is talk of closure. The purpose of admissions criteria is to evaluate the students most capable of succeeding at the collegiate level, without stringent guidelines schools risk opening their doors to students who may not be academically and emtionally prepared for academic life. In addition, the students who do graduate from these schools may find themselves severely ill-equipped for the occupational needs of a competitive society. For many students, regardless of school, student loan debt has crippled many from advancing up the socio-economic ladder. This is the paradox, the same institution that was created to break caste systems has now indirectly aided in its veryexistence. Though education is still very important in maintaining a functional society, equally significant are the tools provided to students to succeed in their academic challenges.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/us/texas-southern-university-vows-to-improve-graduation-rates.html?_r=1&ref=education

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/us/utep-calls-for-success-criteria-other-than-graduation-rates.html?ref=education

Robert K. Merton draws on Talcott C. Pearson’s structural functionalism theory, but instead of only studying the intended consequences of specified units, Merton goes further in trying to also understand the unintended consequences. As Merton states in Manifest and Latent Functions  “manifest functions and latent functions; the first referring to those objectives consequences for a specified unit (person, subgroup, social or cultural system) which contributes to its adjustment or adaption and were so intended; the second referring to unintended and unrecognized consequences of the same order.” Merton borrows from Sigmund Freud’s terms “manifest” and “latent” to define his two concepts. Merton’s manifest function, as defined by Appelrouth and Edles, is “the overt or intended purpose of an action”. It is first illustrated in Quenqua’s story as things that girls say to sound more girlish. This is an example of Parson’s sex roles, where women and men play particular roles that make our whole system function as a whole. As Quenqua quotes professor Penny Eckert, “A lot of these really flamboyant things you hear are cute, and girl are suppose to be cute”, where women simply portray their sex role in the way they speak. By women talking in a certain manner we are first able to see their manifest function of being “cute” or “girlish” and the functional consequences of sex roles.

Quenqua states that, “girls and women in their teens and 20s deserve credit for pioneering vocal trends and popular slang” and adding that “they’re not just saying them because they’re girls. They’re using them to achieve some kind of interactional and stylistic end.” Merton says in Manifest and Latent Functions that latent function is an “unintended service to society [and its] function not limited to conscious and explicit purpose.” Merton also writes that “the concepts of latent function extends the observer’s attention beyond the questions of weather or not the behavior attains its avowed purpose.” Through Quenqua’s story we are able to see the “observers attention” shift into Merton’s latent function observation and as he puts it, “women use language to assert their power in a culture that, at least in days gone by, asked them to be sedated and decorous.” This dysfunction, as Appelrouth and Edles describe, “[Merton] shows that the negative social institutions might have unanticipated positive consequences as well.” Quenqua shows how this dysfunction of “markers of immaturity or even stupidity” of women’s “vocal fads”, produce positive consequences. Quenqua quotes Dr. Eckert of Stanford University, “what may sound excessively ‘girly’ to me may sound smart, authoritative and strong to my students”, letting the reader see the positive effect of this new linguistic fad.

Vocal fry, the word “Like”, and “uptalk” are all tools women use to emphasis or to get a point across. While through Merton’s manifest function we see it for its intended “girly” and “cuteness” through latent function, which Merton states, “represents a greater increment in knowledge than findings concerning manifest functions.” Merton recognizes that “latent functions very often produce ‘paradoxical’ results”, ironic results. This ironic result can be observed in Quenqua’s piece for the New York Times as the “immaturity and stupidity” of the word “’like’ when used in grammatically superfluous way or to add cadence to a sentence…has made its way into the Webster’s New World College dictionary.” This is ironic for a word that seems misused and a dysfunction of societies linguistics. Merton tells his readers in Manifest and Latent Functions that, “social life is not as simple as it first seems”, this one sentence I feel summarizes why Merton felt we must not only study the intended consensuses of units, but also the unintended consequences to truly be able to see the whole dimensions of social life. We can see through this 21st century New York Times article how Merton’s theory of manifest and latent functions have influenced how people interpret consequences in our social life and how even those things we perceive to be dysfunctions may serve a positive effect on society.

Two really big issues in the news these days are gay rights and women’s rights to abortion. In one article called “When States Abuse Women” by Nicholas D. Kristof, Texas is specifically targeted on their new law that limits a woman’s right to decide things about their bodies. Texas has recently passed a law that required women to go through an ultrasound probe before they can legally get an abortion. Kristof quotes one doctor as saying that this new law is “state-sanctioned abuse” and “it borders on a definition of rape”. Taking away these rights from women seems to be a societal way of back tracking from the emancipation of women that has occurred since Parsons’ time. Even when he wrote his essay on “Sex Roles in the American Kinship System”, society had began to progress into a culture that gave women some “masculine roles” and Parson specifically says that legal rights were becoming more assimilated into both sexes roles. Since then, society has grown even more and women and men’s roles have become more and more assimilated. This new law that Texas has passed, and many other states who are looking into similar restrictions, seem to be taking away some of these legal rights that women have gained over the years. Although women have become financially and occupationally independent, they still do not have control over themselves and what they decide to do with their lives.

The other hot topic, gay marriage, has also been in the news due to the elections that are coming up. People claim that gay marriage might destroy family values, but thinking through Pasons’ theories, in which sex roles are becoming more assimilated, then maybe family values won’t be destroyed due the allowance of gay marriages. Parson writes that one person is usually the “breadwinner” and another is usually the “housekeeper” but he never mentions specifically why sex has such an impact on it. Since Parson wrote about sex roles, they have become increasingly less distinct and in even some cases, they have been reversed. As long as there is one person who is the dominant financial supporter and another who takes care of the family and house issues, there doesn’t seem to be any difference if it is a woman or a man doing it. The sex roles that Parson discussed in his essay seem to still be around today, and even if society continues to advance in women’s rights and assimilation of sex roles, there seems to be a lingering imprint of these roles still around today.

Although I personally don’t have an opinion on either topic, it still seems that there is this distinction between what women can do and what men can do and what people, as a family, can do. Perhaps after a few more elections and debates, these issues of sex roles in society might eventually disappear and women and men will have no stigmatisms with what they want to do with their personal lives.

A story about a high school wrestling team winning the championship caught my eye.  The story is inspiring and relates well to Merton and his ideas of manifest and latent content. In this article “The Dallas High School  dragons took home their  first  ever team wrestling title.” This article talked about how this school had over come a big challenge that presented itself in the years before. “In February 2011, junior wrestler Charley Englefried collapsed moments after winning a match. The 17-year-old died of a condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.” It was always Charlie’s goalfor his team to win a title. It is so fitting that duringwhat would be his senior year his team won the title in honor of him and his life.

The interesting thing about this challenge was that generally people would think that the Dallas High School wrestlers would be cautious and somber the following years and not perform at their potential. This would be considered the manifest content that people would expect Dallas High School wrestlers would be feeling. The great part about this article is that in this case the latent content was more powerful than the manifest content. The team said that “they dedicated their season to Charlie.” One team member said, “The way it brought everyone together and helped us band together and be strong as a team I think really encouraged this and got us where we’re at now.”

This quote form one of the team members i think captures this crazy difference in Mertons  manifest and latent content. “You can choose to feel sorry for yourself and just go down where nobody will think about you anymore or you can turn it around for the best and you can make everything out of it that you want to come out of it,” said Christenson. “I think that’s exactly what we did; we showed everyone what we can accomplish and what you can accomplish through the worst times.”

In this quote the team member is talking about the manifest content. The manifest content of this situation would be to feel sorry for one self and just fall off the map. However it was the latent content and the secondary feelings that drove this team to work harder and prove something to themselves and to the world, that triumph over hardships is possible. The latent content  can be shown by some of the quotes from charlies teammates. One teammate that even though he wasn’t here physically but he was there spiritually and emotionally. Another said that he prays to Charlie every single day and asks for his strengths. Its feelings like these and the hard work that was put into training that make overcoming huge obstacles possible in dark times of losing a great friend and teammate.

The drop in the real
estate market took an enormous toll on many families, there was a drastic
increase in homes being foreclosed and many were left homeless and in distress.
The Washington Post published in article of a Maryland couple, Keith and Janet
Ritter, who went from a six digit income and owning multiple properties to
fighting the foreclosure on their home and investment properties. After many
failed attempts the Ritter’s still don’t lose hope that a miracle will happen.
Five years have passed and the couple has not paid a single mortgage payment
and while foreclosure proceedings are in place the efficiency of the system is
being questioned. While many of the Ritter’s
actions, to prolong foreclosure proceedings, have been questioned Keith Ritter
states “It was never our intention to get here and never make a mortgage payment.”
 

Robert
Merton dedicated much of his work to the meaning of manifest and latent
functions. Manifest function is the obvious or intended purpose of an action,
while latent function refers to the unintended or unspoken purpose. The best
example Merton used to describe manifest and latent functions is the
consumption of expensive products. People buy
expensive goods not so much because they are superior but because they are
expensive. “For it is the latent equation (“costliness = mark of higher social
status”)… rather than the manifest equation (“costliness = excellence of the
goods”).”

This
article regarding the foreclosure of the Ritter’s home is obviously trying to
portray the hardship that many homeowners all over the country are dealing
with. While reading the article another message is portrayed: the faults of the
system, the banks, and the economy. Merton would say that the primary function
or manifest function of this article is to make the hardship of those affected
by the real estate crises known, but along the way serving a latent
function of letting known the faults of other institutions involved, such as
the banks. “When a bank does all it can to save itself, that’s good business,”
Keith said. “When a homeowner does the same thing, he’s called a deadbeat.” With this statement Keith portrays the disservice he is
receiving with society’s portrayal of his constant battle to
save his home and his battle against the bank, where the wining price happens
to be his home . “The market won’t fix itself,” said Anne Norton, Maryland’s deputy
commissioner for financial regulations. “By the time it does how many
homeowners will be churned up and spit out by the machine?” In this statement
Norton express her disagreement with the system, instead of disposing of the
homeowners and kicking them out of their homes the solution is to fix the
economy so that these people may avoid homelessness and distress.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Epaper/2012-03-04/Ax1.pdf

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rw/WashingtonPost/Content/Epaper/2012-03-04/Ax14.pdf

One of Robert K. Merton’s greatest contributions to sociology was his description of manifest or latent functions. As Merton defined them, manifest functions were the expected consequences or outcomes resulting from social action and latent functions are the unintended. As Merton described, we expect manifest functions to occur. However, the latent functions are unexpected and should be an area of focus for sociologists. Merton was also clear to explain that latent functions are not the only kind of unintended consequence. Latent functions can be defined as functional, dysfunctional, or neutral to the system. According to Merton, these latent functions can allow sociologists to determine how society works and study the impacts of different social actions.

In a recent article in the Washington Post, “Sandra Fluke says she expected criticism, not personal attacks, over contraception issue,” Jenna Johnson discusses the latent and manifest functions a Georgetown University law student encountered when she testified before congress regarding contraceptives. Like many law students at the school before her, Fluke was a starch advocate for allowing the student health insurance plan to cover contraceptives. Last month she agreed to appear before a congressional committee regarding her support for contraceptive coverage by these health plans.

According to the article “Fluke said she anticipated criticism but not personal attacks.” In Merton’s terms, she was expecting criticism as the manifest function of her actions. However, what she received was a barrage of unintended personal attacks as well as support from unexpected places. All of these occurrences can be described as latent functions.

The most notable latent function occurring from Fluke’s actions were the personal attacks made by several political commentators, including Rush Limbaugh.  According to the article, he attracted public outcry from both republicans and democrats with his personal attacks, and even lost business from companies who pulled their commercials from airing during his radio shows.

However, even more bizarre latent functions occurred as a result of Fluke’s actions. For one, she received a personal phone call from Barak Obama in support. It’s highly unlikely she would have expected that to occur from giving congressional testimony. In addition, she has appeared on several national TV shows to support her beliefs.

Beyond the outlandish criticism and support Fluke received, she brought the issue of contraceptives into the spotlight. Arguably her purpose in testifying was to bring some attention to this issue; however, the amount of national coverage her testimony and public criticisms brought to the issue was completely unintended and by definition latent. Her seemingly small action brought about major unintended actions and consequences on a national scale.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/four-candidates-the-next-four-months/?ref=politics

On Friday March 2, 2012 the New York Times published an article entitled “Bullfighter’s Return Stuns a Hardened Sport” about Juan Jose Padilla’s much anticipated return to the violent bullfighting sport after a brutal injury last year.  Padilla’s situation got me thinking about Merton’s deeper latent functions connected to this sport, and their causal relationship with Padilla’s return.

October 7 of last year, Mr. Padilla suffered the gruesome injury pictured above.  The famous matador slipped on the sand during a fight and preceded to be gored by the bull, resulting in a need for complete facial reconstruction of his left side of his face, and permanant loss of sight in the left eye.  Since his surgeries Padilla has been training intensely and announced his return and re-entering of the ring, which will occur today.  His decision was supported by his wife and two children, however was his parents did not encourage this return and could not understand why he would subject himself to this type of risk again.  His tendency to place more value on the opinion of his wife and children versus his parents directly traces to Talcott Parsons ideas surrounding the necessary “emancipation from the ties both to parents and to siblings” as the familial relationship leads itself to a romantic relationship with a chosen wife.  Meaning that earlier in his life Padilla may have felt it required to listen to the concerns of his parents.  But now, at his current stage of life, his affective ties are to his own wife, and he will be more swayed by her support of returning to the sport than to outsiders disagreements.

Mr. Padilla has been quoted saying “I’m somebody who has always accepted the risks of my profession, as well as its rewards.” but this still begs the question of why he would be so apt to return, and so quickly at that, after such a gamechanging blinding a few months ago.  He will return to the ring with a clear disadvantage, never being able to see out of his left eye, leaving him even more vulerable and at risk than before.  What is it about the sport that solicits his return?  The manifest functions surrounding bullfighting in Spain are clear.  A famous matador elicits fame, and serves as the countries entertainer, through this supporting his own family.  But the latent functions delve much deeper.  Matadors command respect; people in Spain idolize the men that risk their lives in the bull ring.  Larger even than that, though is the role the bullfighter serves as a central component of Spanish culture.  It acts much like the rain dance does to the Hopi tribe.  Much of Spain is drawn together to watch bullfighting ceremonies, they are even seen by some to represent Spain itself.  The less seen aspects of bullfighting form what Durkheim would call “collective effervescence” or “collective conscience” to show group unity and cohesion. 

Bullfighting has been a source of controversy in the past years in Spain as animal rights activists deplore the sport.  However the most recent government turnover put the Popular Party into power, and bullfighting is making a popular comeback.  Now televised, bullfighting can have a more profound and widespread effect of collectiveness on those unable to see the ring with their own eyes.  As this is a latent function, people may not attribute the effects immediately to bullfighting, but studied in the future, it will be clear that bullfighter is a central component to the culture.  And therefore serves as a method for people to not only show their culture outright, but visibly connect with it.

Over the weekend I decided to go see Universal Pictures’ new movie, “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.” While watching the movie, I couldn’t help but notice there was a lot more behind the movie’s message than what was outright displayed and parts of the movie seemed completely “un-Seuss-like”. Keeping this in mind, I wondered if any other viewers felt the same. After digging around a little bit through The New York Times, an article popped up on my screen, “How the Grinch Stole the Lorax”, which evaluates and criticizes the new movie.

How does The Lorax apply to Robert K. Merton?

Merton, a modern American sociologist, coined the terms manifest functions and latent functions. Manifest functions are defined as, “the overt or intended purpose of an action”, while latent functions are defined as, “the implicit or unintended purpose of an action” (816). “The Lorax” contains both manifest and latent messages that are portrayed to the movie’s primarily child audience, who may be unaware of what Seuss was trying to express in his original book by the glitz, glam, and musicals of the movie.

“How the Grinch Stole the Lorax” states the original book, “has occasionally been caught up in squalls of controversy, most of it cooked up by people choosing to be outraged by the book’s mild allegorical moral of ecological responsibility.” In reproducing the movie, Universal is now the focus of criticism. “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax,” is thought by some viewers to be, “part of a left-wing Hollywood conspiracy to brainwash America’s children into hating capitalism and loving trees.” The author, A. O. Scott, believes the movie is “a noisy, useless piece of junk, reverse-engineered into something resembling popular art,” and, “its relation to Dr. Seuss’s book is precisely that of the synthetic trees that line the streets of Thneedville.”

What are the explicit and implicit messages in “The Lorax”?: The Movie vs. The Book

The movie has several huge points of contrast from the original text of Dr. Seuss. Most differences stem from the introduction of artificial characters for movie purposes along with added glitz and glam of production. Seuss’s text represents a boy (curious reader, you), the Lorax (protector of the trees), and the Once-Ler (the one who knows where all the trees/Lorax went). The movie artificially plants various characters, the most important being Ted (Zac Efron), Audrey (Taylor Swift), Ted’s kooky grandma (Betty White), Ted’s mom (Jenny Slate), and Mr. O’Hare (Rob Riggle).

I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.

Seuss’s original message was that of conservation, a lifestyle he lived by. Protect those who cannot protect themselves. Excess production can be dangerous. Do not take away what another needs for survival for your own pleasure, fads fade and those individuals hurt will be permanently damaged; people and animals need nature for survival, nobody needs a thneed.

And at that very moment, we heard a lound whack. From outside in the fields came the sickening smack of an axe on a tree. Then we saw the tree fall… the very last truffula tree of them all. No more trees. No more thneeds. No more work to be done. –The Once-Ler

The implantation of artificial characters completely changes the meaning of Seuss’s original story.  The boy portrayed in Seuss’s book visited the Once-Ler out of pure curiosity, while Ted visits the Once-Ler in order to find out what happened to the trees, find one, and to impress and get a kiss from his crush, Audrey. Ted visiting the Once-Ler because of Audrey sends two implicit messages: 1) you should only do things if reward comes later, 2) Audrey needs a boy to make her happy, she cannot find the trees herself. In a sense, Ted has become phony. Ted was meant to represent someone like YOU; anyone can make a difference; anyone can make a change, as long as the person cares. Now, Ted has ulterior motivations.

Well I speak for men, and human opportunities! –The Once-Ler

Mr. O’Hare, the character who sells air, is shown as a villain. The only thing Mr. O’Hare has done though is become successful. How does this view of business affect children? Cartoons always seem to portray successful individuals as evil when in fact these “evil” individuals do sometimes help others. Also, the reason the trees are gone is because of the Once-Ler, a businessman who ruined the environment and has regretted it every day since. I can definitely see how critics feel that the movie is setting a “trees are good” and “business people are bad” belief even though the original text has no such character as Mr. O’Hare.

“How the Grinch Stole the Lorax” author points out, “What do the kids want? Car chases! Kooky grandmas! Pint-size villains flanked by thuggish minions! Things that fly! Taylor Swift!”, and ultimately Seuss’s message is lost behind this.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. –The Lorax

http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/movies/dr-seuss-the-lorax-with-ed-helms-and-danny-devito.html?scp=2&sq=the%20lorax&st=cse