(Structural Functionalist Perspective)

Basic Tenets of Functionalism

(Hurh, 1994):
 Social structure is maintained by functional
interdependent parts.
 Group norms maintain social order and
stability
 Societal equilibrium rests on consensus,
conformity, and adjustment among its
constituents.
 Maladjustment of social units are considered
as deviant and pathological
EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)
 Born on April 15, 1858 in Epinal, France.
 From family of rabbis;
 He worked at the University of Bordeaux in
1887.
 Known works:
 The Division of Labor in Society (1893)
 The Rules of Sociological Method (1895)
 Suicide (1897)
 The Elementary Forms in Religious Life
(1912)
EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)
Primitive Type of Modern type of
Society Society
Small population; Relatively complex
undifferentiated and large population
social structure
Mechanical solidarity Organic solidarity
‘cohesion based on ‘cohesion based on
similarities’ differences’
Repressive law Restitutive law
EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)
 Anomie
- ‘normlessness’ ; when common morality
declined or moral constraints to individuals
are weak.
- This is a ‘pathology’ brought by organic
solidarity (Ritzer, 1996).
EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)
 “deviance rests solidly upon social not
individual or psychological foundations”
(Nisbet 1974: 211 as cited in Hurh,
1994:93)
 In studying suicide, Durkheim identified
four types of suicide based on social
causes: Egoistic, Altruistic, Anomic,
Fatalistic
Type of Degree of Social
Suicide social Regulation
Integration
Egoistic low -

Altruistic high -

Anomic - low

Fatalistic - high
The Normal and Pathological
 Crime for Durkheim has a pathological
character.
 The presence of crime is universal or known to
all societies but its form differs /changes from
one culture to another.
“What is normal is the existence of
criminality...crime is normal because society
exempt from it is utterly impossible” (Durkheim
1938 as cited in Jacoby 1979: 65)
The Normal and Pathological
 Crime is “an act that offends certain
very(sic) strong collective sentiments”
(p.65).
 Durkheim recognized that even if moral
consciousness should be present in the
entire society these uniformity can never
be universal or absolute.
 A criminal character is not something
intrinsic but is defined by the collective
conscience (society).
The Normal and Pathological
 Crime is necessary because of its
function to the sustenance and
evolution of morality and law.
 Social equilibrium: ‘authority must not
be excessive’ and ‘individual originality
must be able to express itself.’
 For Durkheim, there is room for social
change but in moderation (p.67)
 The Normal and Pathological
 Crime helps in determining new forms of
 Punishment should go hand in hand with
the changes in crime rates. As Durkheim
posited, “With the drop in the crime rate,
and as a reaction to it comes a revision,
or the need of a revision in the theory of
punishment.” (p.67)
Robert Merton (1910-)
 Known for his ‘theories of middle range”
 He extended Durkheim’s anomie theory, which
he called “STRAIN THEORY”
 He was interested in looking at how social
structure exert itself to the individual thus
resulting to deviance instead of conformity.
 In his theory, he focused on 2 structural
elements in society: 1) culturally defined goals
& 2) institutionalized means to attain goals.
Social Structure and Anomie
“Certain phases of social structure
generate the circumstances in
which infringement of social
codes constitutes a ‘normal’
response” (p.130).
Social Structure and Anomie
Phases of Social Structure
1. Culturally defined goals
2. Acceptable modes of achieving
goals.
There is an effective equilibrium
between these phases if there is
‘success both in terms of product
and process, (and success in terms
of outcome and activities).
Social Structure and Anomie
 Literal demoralization happens when
the two phases are not highly
integrated.
 Merton created a typology of modes of
individual adaptation. Individual
according to him may shift from one
alternative to another depending on an
activity. This he termed as ‘role
adjustments’ (p.132).
Merton’s Individual Mode of
Adaptation
Type Cultural Institutionalized
Goals Means
I. Conformity + +
II. Innovation + -
III. Ritualism - +
IV. Retreatism - -
V. Rebellion + - +-
+ Acceptance
-Elimination
+- rejection and substitution
Social Structure and Anomie
 Conformity is the most common and widely
diffused type of adaptation while retreatism
is the least common.
 Innovation is a result of ‘inadequate
socialization’
 Ritualism is a result of extreme assimilation
to ‘institutional demands.’
 Rebellion is translated as an ‘emancipation
of reigning standards’
Social Structure and Anomie
 Merton pointed out how antisocial
behavior arouse out of the problem in
conventional culture and the
stratification system of society (e.g.
class).
 There is pressure to conform to cultural
imperatives but with limited and
legitimate means of meeting such
imperatives.
 Following the ideas of anomie theory,
deviance arises when cultural goals
becomes pathological/dysfunctional .
 Deviance serve as a check and balance if
people still adhere to the existing form of
common morality. Deviance gives a clearer
picture of how socially integrated individuals
are and on how effective is social structure in
regulating the individual actor
References
 Durkheim, E. (1979). “The Normal and the
Pathological,” in Jacoby, J. (ed.). Classics of
Criminology. Illinois: Moore Publishing
Company, Inc.
 Hurh, Won. (1994). Personality in Culture and
Society. Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing
Company.
 Merton, Robert. (1979). “Social Structure and
Anomie,” in Jacoby, J. (ed.). Classics of
Criminology. Illinois: Moore Publishing
Company, Inc.
 Ritzer, George. (1996). Sociological Theory 4th
ed. Singapore: McGraw-Hill Book Co.