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Complex System Macro-Level Orientation Social Structures Social Structure Norms Customs Traditions Institutions Herbert Spencer

Structural functionalism, also known as functionalism, sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the needs of individuals. It grew out of Herbert Spencer's view of comparing society to the human body, where different social institutions like government, family, and religion work together to keep society functioning like organs work to keep the body alive. Functionalism views society as a separate level of reality from individuals, focusing on how social structures and institutions maintain social order and stability over time.

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Mary Grace Ilalim
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164 views3 pages

Complex System Macro-Level Orientation Social Structures Social Structure Norms Customs Traditions Institutions Herbert Spencer

Structural functionalism, also known as functionalism, sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the needs of individuals. It grew out of Herbert Spencer's view of comparing society to the human body, where different social institutions like government, family, and religion work together to keep society functioning like organs work to keep the body alive. Functionalism views society as a separate level of reality from individuals, focusing on how social structures and institutions maintain social order and stability over time.

Uploaded by

Mary Grace Ilalim
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Structural functionalism, or simply functionalism, is "a framework for building theory that sees

society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability".[1]

This approach looks at society through a macro-level orientation, which is a broad focus on
the social structures that shape society as a whole,[1] and believes that society has evolved like
organisms.[2] This approach looks at both social structure and social functions. Functionalism
addresses society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements;
namely norms, customs, traditions, and institutions.

A common analogy, popularized by Herbert Spencer, presents these parts of society as "organs"
that work toward the proper functioning of the "body" as a whole.[3] In the most basic terms, it
simply emphasizes "the effort to impute, as rigorously as possible, to each feature, custom, or
practice, its effect on the functioning of a supposedly stable, cohesive system". For Talcott
Parsons, "structural-functionalism" came to describe a particular stage in the methodological
development of social science, rather than a specific school of thought.[4][5]

Functionalism, also called structural-functional theory, sees society as a structure with


interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the individuals in that
society. Functionalism grew out of the writings of English philosopher and biologist, Hebert
Spencer (1820–1903), who saw similarities between society and the human body; he argued that
just as the various organs of the body work together to keep the body functioning, the various
parts of society work together to keep society functioning (Spencer 1898). The parts of society
that Spencer referred to were the social institutions, or patterns of beliefs and behaviors
focused on meeting social needs, such as government, education, family, healthcare, religion,
and the economy.

Functionalist thought, from Comte onwards, has looked particularly towards biology as the
science providing the closest and most compatible model for social science. Biology has been
taken to provide a guide to conceptualizing the structure and the function of social systems and
to analyzing processes of evolution via mechanisms of adaptation ... functionalism strongly
emphasises the pre-eminence of the social world over its individual parts (i.e. its constituent
actors, human subjects).

— Anthony Giddens, The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of


Structuration[6].
These views were upheld by Durkheim, who, following Auguste
Comte, believed that society constitutes a separate "level" of reality, distinct from both
biological and inorganic matter. Explanations of social phenomena had therefore to be
constructed within this level, individuals being merely transient occupants of comparatively
stable social roles. The central concern of structural functionalism is a continuation of the
Durkheimian task of explaining the apparent stability and internal cohesion needed by societies
to endure over time. Societies are seen as coherent, bounded and fundamentally relational
constructs that function like organisms, with their various (or social institutions) working
together in an unconscious, quasi-automatic fashion toward achieving an overall social
equilibrium. All social and cultural phenomena are therefore seen as functional in the sense of
working together, and are effectively deemed to have "lives" of their own. They are primarily
analyzed in terms of this function. The individual is significant not in and of himself, but rather
in terms of his status, his position in patterns of social relations, and the behaviours associated
with his status. Therefore, the social structure is the network of statuses connected by
associated roles.

Auguste Comte, the "Father of Positivism", pointed out the need to keep society unified as many
traditions were diminishing. He was the first person to coin the term sociology. Comte suggests
that sociology is the product of a three-stage development:[1]

1. Theological stage: From the beginning of human history until the end of the
European Middle Ages, people took a religious view that society expressed God's
will.[1] In the theological state, the human mind, seeking the essential nature of beings,
the first and final causes (the origin and purpose) of all effects—in short, absolute
knowledge—supposes all phenomena to be produced by the immediate action of
supernatural beings.[10]
2. Metaphysical stage: People began seeing society as a natural system as opposed to the
supernatural. This began with enlightenment and the ideas of Hobbes, Locke, and
Rousseau. Perceptions of society reflected the failings of a selfish human nature rather
than the perfection of God.[11]
3. Positive or scientific stage: Describing society through the application of the scientific
approach, which draws on the work of scientists.[1
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) was a British philosopher famous
for applying the theory of natural selection to society. He was in many ways the first true
sociological functionalist.[12] In fact, while Durkheim is widely considered the most important
functionalist among positivist theorists, it is known that much of his analysis was culled from
reading Spencer's work, especially his Principles of Sociology (1874–96).[citation needed] In
describing society, Spencer alludes to the analogy of a human body. Just as the structural parts
of the human body — the skeleton, muscles, and various internal organs — function
independently to help the entire organism survive, social structures work together to preserve
society.[1]

While reading Spencer's massive volumes can be tedious (long passages explicating the organic
analogy, with reference to cells, simple organisms, animals, humans and society), there are
some important insights that have quietly influenced many contemporary theorists, including
Talcott Parsons, in his early work The Structure of Social Action (1937). Cultural
anthropology also consistently uses functionalism.

SARAH C.ALMARES
HUMSS-F
10/05/19

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