The functionalist perspective, also called functionalism, is one of the main theoretical perspectives in sociology. It has its origins in the work of Émile Durkheim, who was particularly interested in how social order is possible or how a society remains relatively stable.
Thus, it is a theory that focuses on the macro level of social structure rather than the micro level of everyday life. Notable theorists are Herbert Spencer, Talcott Parsons, and Robert K. Merton.
Summary
The theory of structural functionalism interprets each part of society in terms of how it contributes to its stability. Society is more than the sum of certain parts. Rather, each part of it functions for the stability of the whole. Durkheim actually envisioned society as an organism where each component plays a necessary role, but no one can function alone, survive a crisis or fail.
What is functionalism? Explanation
Under functionalist theory, the different parts of society are primarily composed of social institutions, each designed to meet different needs, and each with specific implications for the form of society. All parts depend on each other. The main institutions identified by sociology that are important to understanding this theory include the family, government, the economy, the media, education, and religion.
According to functionalism, an institution exists only because it plays a vital role in the functioning of society. If he no longer fills the role, the institution will die. As new needs develop or emerge, new institutions will be created to meet them.
Institutions
Let's look at the relationships and functions of some of the major institutions. In most societies, the government or state provides education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes. How the state will work depends on these payments. A family depends on a school that can help children grow up, have good jobs so they can raise and support their families. In this process, children become law-abiding, tax-paying citizens who, in turn, support the state. From the point of view of the idea of functionalism, if everything goes well, parts of society produce order, stability and productivity. If things don't go so well, then parts of society must adapt to new forms of order,stability and performance.
Political aspect
Modern functionalism emphasizes the consensus and order that exists in society, with a particular focus on social stability and common societal values. From this perspective, disorganization in the system, such as deviant behavior, leads to change as the social components must adjust to achieve stability. When one part of the system does not work or is dysfunctional, it affects all other parts and creates social problems, resulting in social change.
History
The functionalist perspective reached its greatest popularity among American sociologists in the 1940s and 1950s. While European functionalists initially focused on explaining the inner workings of social order, American functionalists focused on identifying the functions of human behavior. Among these sociologists is Robert K. Merton, who divides human functions into two types: manifest, which are intentional and obvious, and covert, which are unintentional and not obvious. For example, the manifest function of going to church or synagogue is to worship a deity, but its hidden function may be to help members learn to distinguish the individual from institutional values. To people with common sense, obvious functions become obvious. However, this is not necessary for hidden functions, which often require the disclosure of a sociological approach.
Academic criticism
Many sociologists have criticized the principles of functionalism for neglecting the often negative consequences of social order. Some critics, like the Italian theorist Antonio Gramsci, argue that this perspective justifies the status quo and the process of cultural hegemony that supports it.
Functionalism is a theory that does not encourage people to play an active role in changing their social environment, even if it may benefit them. Instead, she suggests that agitating for social change is undesirable because different sections of society will naturally compensate for any problems that arise.
Broad connectivity and social consensus
According to the functionalist perspective of sociology, every aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to the stability and functioning of society as a whole. An example of the relationship between the institution of the family, the state and the school has already been cited above. Each institution cannot operate independently and in isolation.
If things go well, parts of society produce order, stability and productivity. If things don't go so well, then parts of society must adapt to the return of a new order, stability and productivity. For example, during a financial downturn with high rates of unemployment and inflation, social programs are cut or cut. Schools offer fewer programs. Families are tightening their budgets. A new social order is emerging, stability andperformance.
Functionalists believe that society is held together by a social consensus in which all members agree and work together to achieve what is best for society as a whole. This stands out from two other major sociological perspectives: symbolic interactionism, which focuses on how people act in accordance with their interpretation of the meaning of their world, and conflict theory, which focuses on the negative, contradictory, ever-changing nature of society.
Criticism from liberals
Functionalism is an ambiguous theory. He was often criticized by liberals for underestimating the role of conflicts, their exclusion. Critics also argue that this perspective justifies complacency on the part of members of society. Functionalism in sociology has no development, no evolution, since it does not encourage people to take action. Moreover, the theory limits the functions of social subsystems to four, which, according to Parsons, were sufficient for the survival of the system as a whole. Critics have a quite fair question about the need for the existence of other functions inherent in society and in one way or another affecting its life.
Systematicity, solidarity and stability
Structural functionalism in sociology is a big theory that considers society as a single organism, a single harmonious system. This approach views society through a macro-level orientation that is largelyfocuses on the social structures that form society as a whole, and believes that society has developed like a living organism. Functionalism is a concept that concerns society as a whole in terms of the function of its constituent elements, namely norms, customs, traditions, and institutions.
In its most basic terms, theory simply emphasizes the desire to attribute as accurately as possible each feature, custom, or practice to its impact on the functioning of a stable, cohesive system. For Talcott Parsons, functionalism was reduced to describing a certain stage in the methodological development of social science, and not to a particular school of thought.
Other features of the theory
Functionalism takes a closer look at those institutions that are unique to an industrialized capitalist society (or modernity). Functionalism also has an anthropological basis in the work of theorists such as Marcel Mauss, Bronisław Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown. It was in the specific usage of Radcliffe-Brown that the prefix "structural" appeared. Radcliffe-Brown suggested that most "primitive" stateless societies, lacking strong centralized institutions, are based on the amalgamation of groups of corporate origin. Structural functionalism also accepted Malinowski's argument that the basic building block of society is the nuclear family and the clan is growth, not the other way around.
Durkheim's concept
Emile Durkheim noted that stable societies tended to besegmented, with equivalent parts united by common values, common symbols, or, as his nephew Marcel Mauss believed, systems of exchange. Durkheim admired societies whose members perform very different tasks, resulting in strong interdependence. Based on metaphor (comparison with an organism in which many parts function together to maintain the whole), Durkheim argued that complex societies are held together by organic solidarity.
These views were supported by Durkheim, who, after Auguste Comte, believed that society is a separate "level" of reality, distinct from biological and inorganic matter. Therefore, at this level, explanations of social phenomena had to be built, and individuals were simply temporary inhabitants of relatively stable social roles. The central issue of structural functionalism is the continuation of Durkheim's task of explaining the apparent stability and internal cohesion required for a society to be tolerant over time. Societies are seen as coherent, limited and fundamentally relational constructs that function like organisms, and their various (or social institutions) work in an unconscious, quasi-automatic manner to achieve a general social equilibrium.
Thus, all social and cultural phenomena are seen as functional in the sense of working together and considered to have "lives" of their own. First of all, they are analyzed from the point of view of this function. A person is not significanthimself, but rather in terms of his status, his position in the models of social relations and behavior associated with his modality. Therefore, the social structure is a network of statuses linked by certain roles.
It's easiest to equate a point of view with political conservatism. However, the tendency to emphasize "coherent systems" tends to contrast functionalist strands with "conflict theories", which instead emphasize social problems and inequalities.
Spencer Concept
Herbert Spencer was a British philosopher, famous for applying the theory of natural selection to society. He was in many ways the first authentic representative of this school in sociology. Despite the fact that Durkheim is often 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. In describing society, Spencer refers to the analogy of the human body. Just as the parts of the human body function independently to help the body survive, social structures work together to keep society together. Many believe that this view of society underpins the collectivist (totalitarian) ideologies of the 20th century, such as fascism, National Socialism, and Bolshevism.
Parsons concept
Talcott Parsons began writing in the 1930s and contributed to sociology, political science, anthropology and psychology. Parsons' structural functionalism has received much criticism. Numerous expert detractorspointed to Parsons' underestimation of political and monetary struggles - the basis of social change and, in fact, "manipulative" behavior, not regulated by qualities and standards. Structural functionalism and much of Parsons' work seem to be deficient in their definitions regarding the links between institutionalized and non-institutionalized behavior and the procedures in which institutionalization occurs.
Parsons was influenced by Durkheim and Max Weber, synthesizing much of the work in his action theory, which he based on a system-theoretical concept. He believed that a large and unified social system consists of the actions of individuals. Its starting point, accordingly, is the interaction between two people facing different choices about how they can act, choices that are influenced and limited by a number of physical and social factors.
Davis and Moore
Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore made an argument for social stratification based on the idea of "functional necessity" (also known as the Davis-Moore hypothesis). They argue that the hardest jobs in any society have the highest incomes in order to encourage people to fill the roles required for the division of labor. Thus, inequality serves social stability.
This argument has been criticized as flawed from various points of view: the argument is that the most deserving people are the most deserving, and that a system of unequalrewards, otherwise no human beings would come forward as essential to the functioning of society. The problem is that these awards should be based on objective merit, not subjective "motivations." Critics have suggested that structural inequality (inherited we alth, family power, etc.) is itself a cause of individual success or failure, rather than a consequence of it.
Merton's Supplements
It's time to talk about Merton's functionalism. Robert K. Merton made important refinements to functionalist thought. He agreed in principle with Parsons' theory. However, he recognized it as problematic, believing that it was generalized. Merton tended to emphasize the middle range theory rather than the grand theory, meaning that he was able to deal concretely with some of the limitations of Parsons' idea. Merton believed that any social structure is likely to have many functions that are more obvious than others. He identified three main constraints: functional unity, the universal approach of functionalism, and indispensability. He also developed the concept of rejection and made a distinction between manifest and hidden functions.
The functions of the manifesto are among the recognized and intended consequences of any social model. Latent features refer to the unrecognized and unintended consequences of any social model.
Chronology
The concept of functionalism reached its peak of influence in the 1940s and 1950s, and by the 1960s had rapidly sunk to the bottom of scientific thought. By the 1980s, more thanconflict approaches, and more recently - structuralism. While some of the critical approaches have also become popular in the United States, the mainstream of the discipline has shifted to a host of empirically oriented theories of the middle class without an overarching theoretical orientation. For most sociologists, functionalism is now "dead as a dodo." However, not everyone agrees.
As the influence of functionalists waned in the 1960s, linguistic and cultural shifts led to many new movements in the social sciences. According to Giddens, structures (traditions, institutions, moral codes, etc.) are generally fairly stable, but subject to change, especially through the unintended consequences of actions.
Influence and legacy
Despite the rejection of empirical sociology, functionalist themes remained prominent in sociological theory, especially in the work of Luhmann and Giddens. There are signs of an initial resurgence, however, as more recently functionalist claims have been reinforced by developments in multilevel selection theory and empirical research on how groups solve social problems. Recent developments in evolutionary theory have provided strong support for structural functionalism in the form of multilevel selection theory. In this theory, culture and social structure are viewed as a Darwinian (biological or cultural) adaptation at the group level. Here it is worth noting the research and development of the biologist David Sloane. Wilson and anthropologists Robert Boyd and Peter Rickerson.
In the 1960s, functionalism was criticized for not being able to explain social change or structural contradictions and conflict (and was therefore often referred to as "consensus theory"). In addition, it ignores inequalities, including race, gender, class, which cause tension and conflict. The refutation of the second criticism of functionalism, that it is static and has no concept of change, already stated above, is that, although Parsons' theory admits of change, it is an ordered process, a moving equilibrium. Therefore, it is incorrect to refer to Parsons' theory of society as static. It is true that he emphasizes balance and maintenance, and quickly returns to public order. But such views are the result of that time. Parsons wrote after the end of World War II, at the height of the Cold War. Society was shocked and fear abounded. At the time, social order was critical, and this was reflected in Parsons' tendency to promote balance and social order rather than social change.
Functionalism in architecture
It is worth noting separately that the trend of the same name in architecture has nothing to do with the theory associated with socio-cultural anthropology. The style of functionalism implies strict compliance of buildings and structures with the production and household processes taking place in them. His main trends:
- Using pure geometric shapes, usually rectangular.
- No ornamentation or protrusions.
- Using one material.
Criticists of the concept of functionalism in architecture usually talk about "faceless", "serial", "spirituality", dullness and artificiality of concrete, angularity of parallelepipeds, roughness and minimalism of exterior decoration, sterility and inhuman coldness of tiles. However, such buildings are often practical and easy to use.
