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Dominant Approaches and Ideas: Structural - Functionalism

Structural-functionalism views society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. It emerged in the early 20th century from the works of theorists like Durkheim, Radcliffe-Brown, and Malinowski. They argued that social institutions fulfill vital functions in meeting basic human needs and ensuring society's survival. Radcliffe-Brown focused on how social structures and relationships maintain social stability. Functionalists also distinguish between the manifest, intended functions of institutions and their latent, unintended consequences. The theory was influential in American sociology through Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton's concepts of functional and dysfunctional social patterns.

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Shen Eugenio
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423 views

Dominant Approaches and Ideas: Structural - Functionalism

Structural-functionalism views society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. It emerged in the early 20th century from the works of theorists like Durkheim, Radcliffe-Brown, and Malinowski. They argued that social institutions fulfill vital functions in meeting basic human needs and ensuring society's survival. Radcliffe-Brown focused on how social structures and relationships maintain social stability. Functionalists also distinguish between the manifest, intended functions of institutions and their latent, unintended consequences. The theory was influential in American sociology through Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton's concepts of functional and dysfunctional social patterns.

Uploaded by

Shen Eugenio
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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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DOMINANT APPROACHES

AND IDEAS

STRUCTURAL –
FUNCTIONALISM
Analysis
 How did you find the activity?
 How did you feel while doing the activity?
 How did you structure your community?
 What did you prioritize in your choice of
institution?
 How did the structures “function” in the
society?
 Have you heard of the Structural-
Functionalism Theory?
Abstraction: Structural-Functionalism

Focus: The organization of


society and the relationships
between broad social units,
such as Institutions.
The group is the unit of
analysis.
Structural -Functionalism

Corporations,
factories,
university
systems,and
even
communities
are groups
too.
Structural- Functionalism
Background and
History

The early
functionalists were
anthropologists (i.e., Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
Levi- Strauss,
Radcliff-Brown,
Malinowski, and
Claude Levi-Strauss
others).

Bronislaw
Malinowski
Structural-Functionalism
Claude Levi-Strauss (1908 to
2009) is widely regarded as the
father of structural anthropology.
In the 1940s, he proposed that
the proper focus of
anthropological investigations
was on the underlying patterns
of human thought that produce
the cultural categories that
organize worldviews hitherto
studied.
Structural-Functionalism
Bronislaw Malinowski and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown
had the greatest influence on the development of
functionalism from their posts in Great Britain.
Functionalism was a reaction to the excesses of the
evolutionary and diffusionist theories of the nineteenth
century and the historicism of the early twentieth.
Two versions of functionalism developed
between 1910 and 1930: Malinowski’s
biocultural (or psychological) functionalism;
and structural-functionalism, the approach
advanced by Radcliffe-Brown.
Structural-Functionalism
Malinowski suggested that
individuals have physiological
needs (reproduction, food, shelter)
and that social institutions exist to
meet these needs.
Structural-Functionalism
Radcliffe-Brown focused on social structure
rather than biological needs. He suggested
that a society is a system of relationships
maintaining itself through cybernetic
feedback, while institutions are orderly sets of
relationships whose function is to maintain
the society as a system. Radcliffe-Brown,
inspired
by Augustus Comte, stated that the
social constituted a separate
"level" of reality distinct from
those of biological forms and
inorganic matter.
Structural Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives

A A theory is a
perspective set of
is simply a
interrelated
way of
looking at propositions
the world. or principles
designed to
answer a
question
Structural-Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives
Sociological theories - help us to
explain and predict the social world
in which we live in.

The Functionalists Perspectives


is based largely on the works of
Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim,
Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton.
Structural Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives
For example:
Each of the social institutions contributes
important functions for society: family
provides a context for reproducing, nurturing,
and socializing children. Education offers a
way to transmit a society’s skills,
knowledge, and culture to its youth.
Politics provides a means of governing
members of society.
Economics provides for the production,
distribution, and consumption of goods and
services. And religion provides moral
guidance and an outlet for worship of a
higher power.
Structural -Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives

The Functionalists perspectives


emphasizes the interconnectedness of
society by focusing on how each part
influences and is influenced by other
parts.
For example:
The increase in single parent
and dual-earner families has
contributed to the number of children
who are failing in school because
parents have become less available
to supervise their children’s
homework.
Structural-Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives

For example:
As a result of changes in technology, colleges
are offering more technical programs, and many adults
are returning to school to learn new skills that are
required in the workplace.

The increasing number of women in the


workforce has contributed to the formulation of policies
against sexual harassment and job discrimination.
Structural Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives
Functionalists use the terms functional and
dysfunctional to describe the effects of social
elements on society.
oElements of society are functional if they
contribute to social stability.

oThey are dysfunctional if they disrupt social


stability.
Structural Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives

Some aspects of society can be both functional


and dysfunctional.
For example, crime is dysfunctional in that it
is associated with physical violence, loss of
property, and fear.
But according to Durkheim and other
functionalists, crime is also functional for society
because it leads to heightened awareness of
shared moral bonds and increased social cohesion.
Sociologists have identified two types of
functions: manifest and latent (Merton 1968).
Structural Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives
Sociologists have identified two types of
functions:
a. manifest; and
b. latent (Merton 1968)

 Manifest functions are consequences that


are intended and commonly recognized.

 Latent functions are consequences that


are unintended and often hidden.
Structural Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives

For example:
The manifest function of education is to
transmit knowledge and skills to society’s youth.
But public elementary schools also serve as
babysitters for employed parents, and colleges
offer a place for young adults to meet potential
mates. The baby-sitting and mate-selection
functions are not the intended or commonly
recognized functions of education; hence they
are latent functions
Structural Functionalism
Sociological Perspectives

For sociology, many of these functional


anthropological notions were drawn together
by Talcott Parsons, a young professor at
Harvard University around 1950, with
considerable input from early social
philosophers Max Weber, Herbert Spencer,
and Emile Durkheim. Parsons' work was
further extended by subsequent sociologists
of the time and after.
Activity: “Build a World”
 You are tasked to
organize a community.
 On a piece of cartolina, draw
a community comprised of
different institutions.
 Explain your answer why you
choose the institutions and how do
they function in the community.
Application
 Discuss the concept of Structuralism
 Discuss Merton’s concept of Manifest
and Latent Functions and
Dysfunctions of sociocultural
phenomena
Thank
you!

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