“Sign the paper scene” — Ozark, 2017, 2:20 — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST2viVoZTo4

Submitted by Chris Hardnack, Cal State University San Marcos. Twitter: @chrishardnack

In the popular Netflix show Ozark, Marty, played by Jason Bateman, is forced into a life of crime, laundering money for drug lords. His family knows about this and wrestles with the morality of this lifestyle. When Marty's son Jonah goes to school, he’s asked to sign a pledge that he will not use drugs. Jonah confronts the teacher with economic contributions or latent functions that the drug trade has for society. According to Robert Merton, manifest functions are the acknowledged consequences of an institution or behavior, but the latent functions are often unacknowledged consequences that contribute to the maintenance and reproduction of society. Unearthing the latent functions can be quite jarring, but as Merton reminds us, “The discovery of latent functions represents significant increments in sociological knowledge. There is another respect in which inquiry into latent functions represents a distinctive contribution of the social scientist. It is precisely the latent functions of a practice or belief which are not common knowledge, for these are unintended and generally unrecognized social and psychological consequences. As a result, findings concerning latent functions represent a greater increment in knowledge than findings concerning manifest functions” (quoted in Longhofer and Winchester's Social theory Re-Wired, 2016:72).

Keywords: Functionalism, Latent Functions, Drugs and Alcohol, Deviant Behavior…