2024/02/27
WHAT DOES functionalism THEORY
FUNCTIONALISM THEORY
BY: Dr LC Mthethwa
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WHAT DOES functionalism THEORY
ENTAILS
• Is a biological function of the human body.
• Each part are role in the total system and all
are independent parts of all working scriptures
• Reviewing the past in functionalism enable us
to formulate a theoretical and practical base
on which to build
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The main ideas of the Functionalist
perspective are
1. The contribution it makes to the whole of society. Talcott
Parsons believed that society acts in a similar way to the
human body, as social institutions interact in the same way as
human organs. Both are interconnected and interdependent
parts that function for the good of the whole.
2. Social institution integration, social regulation, preventing
anomie, and so on. Functionalism is a consensus theory that
assumes that the institutions of society are working together to
maintain social cohesion and stability.
3. Advanced industrial society is better than primitive society, and
social order is important so that civilization does not go
forward.
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ENTAILS
• Focuses on the ways that universal education
serves the needs of society.
• See education in its manifest role: conveying
basic knowledge and skills to the next
generation.
• Other theories within this one are :- consensus
or equilibrium theory, disengaged theory
The main ideas of the Functionalist
perspective are
• There is a social structure that exists independently
from individuals. This social structure consists of norms
and values passed on through institutions that shape
the individual.
• Sociologists should study society scientifically in a way
that looks for the general laws explaining human action
on a macro level.
• Socialization is important because individuals need to
be regulated for the benefit of everyone. Thus, the
integration and regulation of individuals are good.
• Sociologists should analyze society as a system by
looking at each social phenomenon a
Simple functionalism and structural
functional approach
• Functionalism originated in British anthropology. In particular, the Polish-British
anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski (1943) proposed functional analysis as a solution
for sociologists to interpret social situations through intuition rather than observation.
• According to Malinowski, this functional analysis brings scientific attention to the
study of cultures different from those of the ones observing it. Thus, before analyzing
a social phenomenon typical of a given culture — say, an institution, material object,
or idea — people first must think about what function that social phenomenon has
within this culture.
• The essential assumption of Malinowski”s functionalism is that in every single
civilization, every custom, material object, idea, and opinion fulfills some vital
function, helping to both
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Structural functionalism Structural functionalism

• In structural functionalism, social change is regarded
as an adaptive response to some tension within the
social system.
• When some part of an integrated social system
changes, a tension between this and other parts of
the system is created, which will be resolved by the
adaptive change of the other parts.
• The origin of contemporary references to the social structure
can be traced to the French social scientist Émile Durkheim, who
argued that parts of society are interdependent and that this
interdependency imposes structure on the behaviour of
institutions and their members.
• To Durkheim, the interrelations between the parts of society
contributed to social unity—an integrated system with life
characteristics of its own, exterior to individuals yet driving their
behaviour.

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Structural functionalism
• Durkheim pointed out that groups can be held together on
two contrasting bases:
• 1.Mechanical solidarity, a sentimental attraction of social
units or groups that perform the same or similar functions,
such as preindustrial self-sufficient farmers;
• 2. Organic solidarity, an interdependence based on
differentiated functions and specialization, as seen in a
factory, the military, government, or other complex
organizations