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Structural Functionalism

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22 views4 pages

Structural Functionalism

Uploaded by

dencardenas29
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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
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".

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, and
believes that society has evolved like organisms. 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 called the organic or biological analogy, popularized by


Herbert Spencer, presents these parts of society as human body "organs" that
work toward the proper functioning of the "body" as a whole. 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.
Theories
In sociology, classical theories are defined by a tendency towards biological
analogy and notions of social evolutionism:
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 function of social systems and analyzing evolution processes 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

While one may regard functionalism as a logical extension of the organic analogies
for societies presented by political philosophers such as Rousseau, sociology
draws firmer attention to those institutions unique to industrialized capitalist society
(or modernity).

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