DOMINANT APPROACHES AND

IDEAS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Structural Functionalism
 Structural-Functionalism
• Is a dominant approach in the social science that sees society as a
complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and
stability.
• More concerned with the place of an individuals in social order itself
that with individual actions.
• Similarly, societies have structures similar to those of organisms.
Social institutions, like the parts of the body, function together with
the larger system.
• Hence, any institution is considered as having a function in fitting
together with some other institution.
• Everything is, therefore , “functional.”
 Key concepts in Structural- Functionalism
GOVERNMENT

SOCIAL STRUCTURES CHURCH/RELIGION

(PATTERNED SOCIAL
RELATIONS)
SCHOOL/EDUCATION

Structural- MEDIA
Functionalism

MANIFEST FUNCTIONS
SOCIAL (INTENDED FUNCTIONS)
FUNCTIONS/DYDFUNCTIONS
(EFFECTS FOR THE OPERATIONS LATENT FUNCTIONS
OF THE SOCIETY) (UNINTENDED FUNCTIONS)
SOCIAL STRUCTURE

• The British sociologist A.R. Radcliffe – Brown subscribed to the

sociological tradition that society is systematically structured, and may
be likened to a biological organism.
• The explanations of social phenomena could be constructed at the
societal level, meaning that people were only temporal occupants of
social roles.
• Our lives are governed by social structures- in families, the community,
even political institutions.
• Other examples of social structures are government, media, social
hierarchy, church and sports club.
SOCIAL FUNCTIONS
• refer to results or effects for the operation of the society in general.
• may be intended or unintended consequences, thus they can be classified into
manifest and latent functions.

MANIFEST AND LATENT FUNCTIONS

• American sociologist Robert Merton emphasized the importance of manifest and
latent functions in structural functionalism.
 MANIFEST FUNCTION are those that are intentional or known, referring to
functions which people suppose and anticipate to be fulfilled by the
institution.
 LATENT FUNCTION are the unexpected effects of institutions.
SOCIAL DYSFUNCTION
• dysfunction may also be manifest or latent, and have a negative effect on the
society.
 MANIFEST DYSFUNCTIONS are expected disruptions of social life.
 LATENT DYSFUNCTIONS are unintended and unanticipated disruptions of
order and stability.

The English sociologist Herbert Spencer conceptualized another importance

concept in structural functionalism, which is the idea of “social equilibrium.”
He believed that there is an inclination in society towards equilibrium. When
contribution is modified , the consequential changes to social structure will
maintain equilibrium, returning society to stability.
 THINKERS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS
Bronislaw Malinowski
• Was born in Cracow, Poland in 1884. he graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow
in 1908, in mathematics physics, and philosophy, and with the highest honors in Austrian
Empire.
Emile Durkheim
• Was born on April 15, 1858 and died November 15,1917. He was a French Sociologist who
is considered as the most important foundation for structural functionalist ideas.
• One of important contribution made by Durkheim was the struggle to make the sociology
accepted as a rightful science.
A.R. Radcliffe-Brown
• Was born in Birmingham in 1881.
• His work, A Natural science of Society (1957) was composed of lectures all aimed at proposing
idea of a single, unified social science.
• His contribution to structural functionalism was his study on the functions of social institutions.
Strength of Structural-Functionalism
• Existence of general agreement on the values and norms of the society by majority.
• Society is made up of integrated parts that are bound together, and that if
something is wrong with one part of will effect other parts.
• Structural functionalisms tends to seek stability and avoid conflict, thus supporting
the status quo and I effect, maintaining social order.
Weakness of Structural-Functionalism
• Tendency to ignore inequality in terms of race, gender and class, which causes
conflict. For example, it was seen as supporting gender inequality since it sees the
subordinate role of women in society as a requisite for the creation of social order,
promoting the idea that everyone has a place in society in order for society to
function smoothly, and if women are to be subordinate to men, then so be it.
Marxism
 Marxism
• refers to the political and economic theories of Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels in which the concept of class
struggle plays an important role in abolishing class
oppression.
• One of the theoretical approaches in social sciences that
is associated with conflict theory, or the view that
society is divided into social classes which are always in
conflict with one another.
 Key concepts in Marxism
• Historical materialism is an important concept in Marxism.
• Marx emphasized that material conditions shapes consciousness and
history.
• In his work The German Ideology (1845), Marx discussed the four
stages of society, namely: primitive, communism or hunting and
gathering society.
• For Max, the emergence of a classless society would signal the
eventual end of history because it is the ideal state where wealth
would be owned collectively by the people.
 Key concepts in Marxism
Alienation - means separation from ones true or necessary nature, and the idea was used by
Marxist to describe the process by which labor is reduced to being mere commodity under
capitalism.
From their labor, workers are expected to produce surplus, or the amount or resources that
exceeds the portion that is needed, which can be utilized for profit. From this, Surplus Value
is generated, or the value extracted from the labor of the proletariat by the mechanism of
capitalist exploitation.
False consciousness- Marxist belief that members of the working class are deceived from
their true class position when they fail to realize their class oppression.
Praxis- process by which a theory is enacted or realized by critically assessing the world and
change society based on the workers own class interest, rather than accepting the ideology of
the capitalist class.
 THINKERS AND THEIR
Karl Max
CONTRIBUTIONS
• Was a German Philosopher, economist and political thinker who is considered as the father of twentieth-
century communism.
• His work focus on a critique of capitalism, how it should be transformed so that social inequalities will be
abolished.
• His most important works include the three volume Capital (1867,1885, and 1894) and the Communist
Manifesto (1848).
Friedrich Engels
• Was a German socialist philosopher who served as the closest collaborator of Marx.
• He published The Condition of the Working Class in 1845 and 1848, he co-authored The Communist
Manifesto with Karl Max.
Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov (Lenin)
• Was a Russian Marxist theorist and revolutionary.
• His most important work What is to be done?
• His Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.
• His State and Revolution (1917).
 MARXISM: STRENGHTS AND CRITICISM
• View conflict in society are caused by the battle over power to control not only the
resources but also the norms and values of a society. It offers a comprehensive analysis
of how the dominance and power of one group over the other group helps maintain
social order.

• Marxism is sometimes seen as focusing on the negative, always changing, and clashing
nature of society instead of focusing on the positive aspects of society such as defense
of the status quo and how people cooperate to create social order. It tends to emphasize
conflict and social change as opposed to harmony and social stability. It sees society as
being composed of stratified groups of people who have their own agenda and interests,
and the group with more access to economic resources tend to dominate the other
group.