What is the functionalist perspective in sociology?

According to the functionalist perspective of sociology, each aspect of society is interdependent and
contributes to society's stability and functioning as a whole. For example, the government provides
education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state depends to keep
itself running. That is, the family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good
jobs so that they can raise and support their own families. In the process, the children become law-
abiding, taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the state.

If all goes well, the parts of society produce order, stability, and productivity. If all does not go well,
the parts of society then must adapt to recapture a new order, stability, and productivity. For example,
during a financial recession with its high rates of unemployment and inflation, social programs are
trimmed or cut. Schools offer fewer programs. Families tighten their budgets. And a new social order,
stability, and productivity occur.

Functionalists believe that society is held together by social consensus, in which members of the
society agree upon, and work together to achieve, what is best for society as a whole. This stands
apart from the other two main sociological perspectives: symbolic interactionalism, which focuses
on how people act according to their interpretations of the meaning of their world, and conflict
theory, which focuses on the negative, conflicted, ever-changing nature of society.

Functionalism has received criticism for neglecting the negative functions of an event, such as
divorce. Critics also claim that the perspective justifies the status quo and complacency on the part of
society's members. Functionalism does not encourage people to take an active role in changing their
social environment, even when such change may benefit them. Instead, functionalism sees active
social change as undesirable because the various parts of society will compensate naturally for any
problems that may arise.

Functionalism (Functionalist Perspective): An Overview

BY NANCY

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Functionalism traces its roots back to the work of Plato and Hegel. The elements of functionalist
thought in sociology are found in the works of Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim. However,
functionalism, as a dominant sociological theory, came to prominence in the 1950s, especially
through the works of Talcott Parsons, Robert K. Merton, and their followers.

Functionalism, as a single body of thought, does not exist. Different writers have made different
contributions over time. Ronald Fletcher rightly argues that ‘there is no comprehensive account of
functionalism to which all social theorists would own allegiance.’

Read: Three Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology: Explained

Organic analogy

Functionalism uses the premise that society is a system and all its parts are interconnected and
interrelated. Each part has a unique function to play that maintains the well-being of the entire
society. In order to understand any of these parts, we must see them in relation to society as a whole.

The early functionalist thinkers described society by drawing comparisons from biology. Societies are
analogous to organisms. As various organs work together in an organism, similarly various
institutions work together to ensure overall equilibrium in the society. For instance, a functional
explanation for the existence of religion, according to Durkheim, is that religion is a source of
solidarity and identification. It introduces morals and norms and thus reinforces the collective will of
the society. Malinowski (also a functionalist) argues that the main function of religion is to help people
deal with situations they cannot control.
Read: Understanding our society through Durkheim’s Division of Labour

Society is more than the sum of its parts!

Functionalists propound that social structures shape the behaviour of individuals. Durkheim (1982)
argues, ‘there are ways of acting, thinking and feeling which possess the remarkable property of
existing outside the consciousness of the individual. Not only these are types of behaviour and
thinking external to the individual, but they are endured with a compelling and coercive power by
virtue of which, whether he wishes or not, they impose themselves upon him’. Therefore, individuals
do not actively create their realities but are a product of the external reality.

Norms and rules regulate the actions of people and values provide a common outline of accepted
behaviour. This perspective assumes that society is based on a value consensus- a set of shared
norms and values that enable people to work together. Thus, ‘social change is assumed to be of only
a gradual, evolutionary kind’ (Willis, 1996).

Read: How ‘social’ are social facts? – An interpretation of Emile Durkheim’s “Rules of

Sociological Method”

The concept of function

One of the main concerns of functionalism is to study social life and the functions of social structures-
a recurring pattern of social behaviour. ‘The function of any recurrent activity, such as the punishment
of a crime, or a funeral ceremony, is the part it plays in the social life as a whole and therefore the
contribution it makes to the maintenance of the structural continuity’ (Radcliffe Brown, 1976).
Functionalists examine the relationship between the different parts of the structure and their
relationship to society altogether. For instance, death rituals are a way for individuals to show their
commitment to each other and to the society. These rituals act as an emotional support for the family
members and assist them to resume their social roles.
Functional prerequisites

Societies have certain requirements that must be fulfilled for their survival. For example, a society
must have some means to produce and distribute food. It also needs to provide shelter and socialize
new members. Parsons called these requirements as ‘Functional prerequisites’. He mentions four
such requirements namely, adaptation, goal attainment, integration and latency. Functionalists study
how different parts of social structure meet these functional prerequisites (Ritzer, 1992).

Value Consensus

Since all the different parts of the society are interconnected and inter-related, the functioning of one
part affects the other parts and the entire system. So, a minimal degree of integration is essential for
the smooth functioning of the society. Functionalists opine that this integration is based on what
Parsons called as ‘Value consensus’. It refers to a set of agreed norms and values. This implies that if
certain values of society are present in different parts of social structure, those parts will be
integrated. For example, the value of materialism integrates the different parts of social structure in
the western society. The economic system produces goods in large quantities and high productivity is
regarded as important. The educational system also aims at teaching skills that increase productivity
and efficiency. The family also acts as an important unit of consumption. Most of the people relate
their happiness with materialistic possessions. The political system is concerned with improving
material living standards. Thus, value consensus ensures stability and order in society.
Major Criticisms

The popularity of functionalism declined from the mid-1960s onwards. This was a phase when
American society witnessed many conflicts, protests and disorder. The inability to explain these
changes brought a lot of criticism. Some people declared functionalism dead, while others embraced
alternative perspectives.

Functionalism is inherently ahistorical in nature. In fact, it was developed in reaction to the historical
evolutionary approach of certain anthropologists. The early anthropologists gave a speculative
account of the evolutions of the concerned societies. The later stages were the idealizations of the
society where anthropologists lived. Early functionalists aimed to remove these speculative and
ethnocentric biases (Ritzer,1992).
Functionalism focuses so intently on social equilibrium and social order that it fails to deal with the
process of social change. Even when it does, it is explained as developmental rather than in
revolutionary terms. Functionalism exaggerates harmonious relationships, societal consensus, and
stability while it disregards conflict and disorder. For instance, family, which is seen as a necessary
institution by the functionalists, acts as a site of oppression for many women (Ritzer,1992).

Neofunctionalism

By the mid-1980s, theorists such as Jeffery Alexander and Paul Colomy took a major effort to revive
the theory. Neofunctionalism, as argues Farganis (1995), ‘acknowledges the imbalance in
functionalism’s key orientation towards stability and equilibrium, its sparse attention to the dynamic of
social change, and its exclusive concern with order in large scale social systems’.

References

1. Durkheim, Emile. 1982, The Rules of Sociological Method, New York: Free Press.
2. Farganis, J. 1993. Readings in social theory: The classic tradition to post-modernism. New
York: McGraw-Hill.
3. Fletcher, R. 1956. Functionalism as a Social Theory. The Sociological Review, 4(1), 31-46.
4. Haralambos, M., & Holborn, M. 2000. Sociology: Themes and perspectives. London: Collins.
5. Radcliffe Brown, A.R., 1976, Structure and Function in Primitive Society, New York: Free
Press.
6. Ritzer, G. 1992. Sociological Theory, New York: McGraw- Hill
7. Willis, Evan, 1996, The Sociological Quest: An Introduction to the Study of Social Life. New
Jersey: Rutgers University Press.