Functionalist Theory

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Functionalist Theory:

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Application of Structural-Functional Theory in
Risk of HIV Transmission

The functional
relationship
of different
factors of
society to
influence the
changing
scenarios of
HIV and
AIDS

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Functionalist Theory:
Functionalism view all social institutions and arrangements as social
systems, and a system is considered to be more than sum of its parts.
The focus is on the relationships among its parts and the contribution
of its elements to the maintenance of the system.

Functionalism also see society as a relatively persistent structure of

elements with built-in mechanism for self-regulation. Thrust of the
functionalist position is that the dominant condition of society is order,
reinforced by stability and consensus.

Society is like an organism: It is perceived as a system of functionally

inter-related parts performs a function essential for the survival of the
system.

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• Sociologists naturally introduced biological research
methods into sociological research.

• Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer put forward “the

idea of social organism” on this basis and established
the most basic principle of functionalism: society and
biological organism are similar in many ways.

• Society has a structure just like a biological organism.

Like the parts that make up a biological organism, the
parts of a social system need to function in a coordinated
way to keep society functioning.

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• Based on this, Émile Durkheim, Radcliffe Brown,
Malinowski, and others further developed the ideas of
“social solidarity”, “social integration” and “functional
needs”.

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 Thinkers supporting this perspective:

Talcott Parsons (1902–1979), a leading functionalist, saw society in its natural

state as being stable and balanced. Parson view the entire social system as
resting heavily upon shared values.

He established the “structural functionalism”.

He viewed society as a system and argued that any social system has 4 basic
functional prerequisites:
1. Adaptation,
2. Goal attainment,
3. Integration and
4. Pattern maintenance.

Parson believed that society evolves from simple to various levels of

compound societies.
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Structural functionalism
• Talcott Parsons emphasized that “the process of interaction
[of individual actors] is viewed from a scientific point of view
as a system and examined using theoretical approaches to
the analysis of systems that have been successfully applied
to other sciences.”

• The main connotation of structural functionalism includes

three aspects: social action theory, model variable theory
and structural function analysis.

• “Social action theory” is built on the basis of “general action

theory”, and it pays attention to the mutual relations
between each action unit and the environment, that is, the
action system.
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• The action system includes four subsystems: cultural
system, social system, personality system and behavioural
organism system.

• In the social system, the relationship structure between

actors forms the basic structure of the social system,
namely the social structure.

• Actors in the social system are connected with the society

through social identity and social role.

• The institutionalized identity and role complex are the social

system.
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• Model variable theory is a typological tool used by
Parsons to distinguish the subjective orientation of actors
in the course of action, and in the analysis of social
system, it serves as a unique typological tool to describe
social relations and distinguish social structures.

• Through this theory, the subjective orientation of actors is

linked to the structural type of social system, which
indicates that the focus of Parsons' theoretical analysis
has shifted from social action to social system.

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• Parsons attributes the social system's ability to maintain
and continue itself to four functional conditions:

• adaption is that the social system allocates the resources

obtained from the environment to adapt to changes of external
environment;

• Goal attainment is to set the goals of the system, determine the

order of the goals, integrate resources and mobilize social
members to ensure that the goals are maximized;

• Integration is to play a coordinating role among the various

parts of the system to build an integral whole that can play a
practical role;

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• Latency is the basic pattern of maintaining the common values of a
society and keeping it institutionalized within the system.

• They correspond to four social systems: the “economic system”

performs the function of adaption, the “political system” performs
the function of goal attainment, and the “cultural system” performs
the function of latency, which is his famous “AGIL functional model” .

• There are a variety of input-output exchange relations between the

social system and other systems, as well as among the subsystems
of the social system, through which the social order is structured,
and the dynamic balance of the social system is formed.

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 .
He emphasized 3 key concepts in the processes of evolutionary changes:
1. Structural differentiation,
2. Functional specialization, and
3. Social integration.

As society grows larger social units get divided and sub-divided.

A policy in disaster management is a combines multiple strategies adopted

by different communities and organisations as per the role and
responsibilities in a society

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EMILE DURKHEIM: Theory of
Social Solidarity

Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) became interested in a

scientific approach to society very early on in his
career, which meant the first of many conflicts with
the French academic system—which had no social
science curriculum at the time. Durkheim found
humanistic studies uninteresting, turning his
attention from psychology and philosophy to ethics
and eventually, sociology. He graduated with a
degree in philosophy in 1882. He is widely regarded
as the founder of the French school of sociology and
as The First Professor of Sociology

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Social Solidarity

It is obvious and generally accepted that, in one form or another, social solidarity was
always the focus of Durkheim’s attention. In fact, for him, it serves as a synonym for
the normal state of society, while absence of it is a deviation from that normal state,
or social pathology. The theme of solidarity permeates all his work.

He devoted to explain “Social Solidarity,” and demonstrated the basic role of the
division of labor in building, maintaining, and reinforcing social solidarity

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Durkheim: A Functionalist Theorist
• He analyses the social phenomenon in terms of function they perform.
• Society is a system on inter-related parts, change in one part leads to
imbalance and result in changes of other part.
• Functionalist system is based on the model of the organic system found in
biological science.

Think of a human body parts. It includes:

• Heart
• Lungs
• Kidney
• Liver
• Brain
Each of the parts are inter-related for full-functioning of the body

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What if disequilibrium occur in the body?

• The disturbance in one organ of the body, shall leads to disfunction of the total
body function.

• To functionalist, hence its importance to rectify the difficulties for smooth

functioning.

• The analogy is similar to how the society work with inter-relationship of the
institutions.

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Three elements of Functionalist theory

• Inter-relatedness of system parts.

• State of equilibrium comparable to the normal state of an organism.

• All parts of the system re-organize to bring things back to normal

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Shared Values

• To restore equilibrium in the society and in social system functionalism use the
term ‘shared values’.

• The term ‘shared values’ refers to the accepted standards, where individual is
expected to be morally committed to their society.

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Unity of Society

• Functionalism theorist like Durkheim emphasized on the unity of society, or as

he called ‘social solidarity’.

• Durkheim created proper subject matter of sociology -the realm of social facts.
Social facts is defined as what is general over the whole of a given society,
whilst having an existence of its own, independent of its individual
manifestations.

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Social Facts
Durkheim elaborated on the meaning of social facts.

It refers to the beliefs and modes of behaviour instituted by the collectivity.

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 Types of Social Solidarity
Solidarity refers to the bond of unity between individuals, united around a common
goal or against a common enemy, such as the unifying principle that defines the
labor movement.

Cohesion: State of cohering, or of working together.

As part of his theory of the development of societies in, The Division of Labour in
Society (1893), sociologist Emile Durkheim characterized two categories of
societal solidarity: organic and mechanical.

Durkheim introduced the terms mechanical and organic solidarity as part of his
theory of the development of societies
1. Mechanical Solidarity
2. Organic Solidarity

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Four variables of Collective Conscience

• Volume- Degree to which the values, believes, and rules of the collective
conscience are shared by the members of a society.

• Intensity- Extent to which collective conscience has power to guide person’s

thought and action.
• Determinateness- Degree of clarity in the component of the collective
conscience.

• Content- Refers to the ratio of religion to purely secular symbolism in the

collective conscience.

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Collective Conscience
• Durkheim was most interested in the changed way in which social solidarity is
produced, in other words, the changed way in which society is held together
and how its members see themselves as part of a whole. To capture this
difference, Durkheim referred to two types of solidarity – mechanical and
organic.

• He argues that in pre-modern society the division of labour is relatively

undeveloped. Agrarian production close to home is the prevailing way of life,
and working relationships and other kinds of social dependence associated
with it are also largely immediate, local and uncomplicated. The most typical
trait of such primitive societies is their segmentary nature. Such societies
consist of clearly delimited collectivities or clans, characterized by
homogeneity and equality between individuals within these collectivities.

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.

• Role specialization and division of labour are rudimentary – with the

exception of some authority figures.

• Individuals have little or no autonomy within the group. The bond among
people is that they are all engaged in similar activities and have similar
responsibilities. However, in this form of society the division of labour is not in
fact able on its own to provide enough in the way of social solidarity.

• The remainder comes from what Durkheim calls the collective conscience,
‘the totality of beliefs and sentiments common to average citizens of the same
society’, which binds individuals together not so much in terms of their daily
activity but of the religious and cultural beliefs, the social and political
ideology, they share.

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MECHANICAL SOLIDARITY

Mechanical solidarity is the term Durkheim uses for the association of actors in
simple society. This is the dominant foundation of cohesion in simple societies
where there is little differentiation. People may be similar in many respects – in
terms of housing, occupation and the use of tools, clothing, customs, cuisine
and lifestyle; they may be equal with regard to power; experience the same
emotions, needs, and ideas, and hold similar moral and religious attitudes.

The more primitive a society, the more similarity will these be on all these
dimensions, and the more conspicuous is its mechanical solidarity. Such
societies are characterized by collectivism.

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ORGANIC SOLIDARITY
Organic Solidarity is engaged in modern societies. Individuals engage in different,
often highly specialized occupations.

They are no longer so closely bound to groups marked by a large degree of internal
equality and homogeneity.

They can move within and between several social groups or circles, and no single
group has the kind of irresistible power – typical of collectivities in primitive
societies – to rigidly impose a particular way of life on the individual.

This is the primary reason why individuals in modern societies necessarily develop in
different directions. Differences of many kinds emerge between individuals, just
as differences also emerge between professions and trades.

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ORGANIC SOLIDARITY
And because so many differences emerge between individuals, groups,
and occupations, many theorists in Durkheim’s day thought that high
levels of conflict were inevitable in modern societies.

Solidarity or a sense of collectivity would be weakened as a result of the

numerous conflicts of interest resulting from all the differences.

Durkheim, on the other hand, thought that in a modern society marked

by increased division of labour, a specifically modern form of
solidarity would emerge, which he calls organic solidarity.

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How do you explain flood induced migration?

How do you explain riot?

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