THE FUNCTIONALIST THEORY IN SOCIOLOGY

 

The Functionalist Perspective.

By Wilbert  Masamba

The structural-functional—or, more simply, functionalist—perspective draws substantially upon the ideas of Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer,and Émile Durkheim, and takes a broad view of society, focusing on the macro aspects of social life. In the 1950s and early 1960s, the functionalist theories of Talcott Parsons (1949, 1951) and his students occupied center stage in American sociology. Indeed, some proponents such as Kingsley Davis (1959) argued that the approach was essentially synonymous with sociology.

 

Society as a Social System

Functionalists took as their starting point the notion that society is a system, a set of elements or components that are related to one another in a more or less stable fashion through a period of time. Functionalists focused on the parts of society,

particularly its major institutions, such as the family, religion, the economy, the state, and education.

They identified the structural characteristics of each part much as biologists describe the principal features of the body’s organs. They then determined what the functions of each part are. One of the features of a system stressed by functionalists is its tendency toward equilibrium, or balance, among its parts and among the forces operating on it. Change in one part has implications for other parts and for the community or society as a whole, with change and adaptation being a continuous process. Some parts may also change more rapidly than others, contributing to social dislocations. For example, as life expectancy increases and Zimbabwe baby boomers continue to age, our country faces a rapidly expanding group of over-55 workers, an increasing population of frail and vulnerable elderly, and a decreasing pool of potential caregivers for those elderly (Connolly, 2008).

 

Functions and Dysfunctions

Within system analysis, functionalists paid particular attention to the functions performed by a system’s parts, especially organizations, groups institutions, and cultural elements. Functionalists argued that if a system is to survive, certain essential tasks must be performed; otherwise, the system fails to maintain itself and perishes. If society is to exist, its members must make provision for certain functional requirements. Institutions are the principal structures whereby these critical tasks for social living—functions—are organized, directed, and executed. Each institution, such as education, the economy, and the family, is built around a standardized solution to a set of problems. Functions are the observed consequences of the existence of institutions, groups, and other system parts that permit the adaptation or adjustment of a system (Merton, 1968).

 Robert K. Merton (1968) pointed out that just as institutions and the other parts of society can contribute to the maintenance of the social system, they can also have negative consequences. Those observed consequences that lessen the adaptation or adjustment of a system he terms dysfunctions. Poverty, for example, has both functional and dysfunctional properties (Gans, 1972). It is functional because it ensures that the nation’s “dirty work” is done—those jobs that are physically dirty, dangerous, temporary, dead-end, poorly paid, and menial.

 However, poverty is dysfunctional because it intensifies a variety of social problems, including those associated with health, education, crime, and drug addiction.

 

Manifest and Latent Functions.

 

Merton (1968) also distinguished between manifest functions and latent functions. Manifest functions are those consequences that are intended and recognized by the participants in a system; latent functions are those consequences that are neither intended nor recognized. 

Some ceremonies of the Shona of Zimbabwe for example, are designed to produce rain. Though these rituals do not actually cause it to rain, their latent function is to produce a collective, expression by which the Shona people achieve a sense of social solidarity. What outsiders may see as irrational behavior (performing a rain ceremony) is actually functional for the group itself.

 

 

Social Consensus.

 

Functionalists assumed that most members of a society agree on what is desirable, worthwhile, and moral, and what is undesirable, worthless, and evil. Through a social learning process, they come to share a consensus regarding their core values and beliefs. For example, mos Zimbaweans accept the values and beliefs inherent in democracy, the doctrine of equal opportunity, and the notion of personal achievement. Functionalists say that this high degree of consensus on basic values provides the foundation for social integration and stability in Zimbabwean society.

 

Evaluation of the Functionalist

Perspective.

 

The functionalist perspective is a useful tool for describing society and identifying its structural parts and the functions of these parts at a particular point in time. It provides a “big picture” of the whole of social life, particularly as it finds expression in patterned, recurrent behavior and institutions. For some purposes, it is clearly helpful to have a clear description of what parts make up society and how they fit together. However, such an approach does not provide us with the entire story of social life. The functionalist approach has difficulty dealing with history and processes of social change. In the real world, societies are constantly changing, but functionalism has done a poor job of accounting for the never-ending flow of interaction among people. Moreover, the functionalist perspective tends to exaggerate consensus, integration, and stability while disregarding conflict, dissent, and instability. The problems that structural-functional theory has in dealing with change, history, and conflict have led critics to charge that it has a conservative bias and that it tends to support existing social arrangements.