Structural

Functionalism
Objectives:
A. What is Structural Functionalism?
B. Classical Theorists / Philosophical
Influences / Theories / Criticisms
C. Modern Theorists in Structural
Functionalist Perspective
D. Major Criticisms of Structural
Functionalism
E. Neofunctionalism
 Literally, the word ‘function’ (from Latin, fungi, functio, to effect, perform, execute)
means ‘to perform’ or ‘to serve’ (a purpose). As a distinct approach, as a way of looking at
and analysing society, functionalism emerged first in social anthropology in early twentieth
century, and later in sociology, beginning in the 1930s.

However, its roots are as ancient as the concept of organic analogy, used in the philosophy
of Antiquity by Plato (B.C. 428/7-345/7) and Aristotle (B.C. 384-322). The concept of
‘purpose’ or ‘end’ goes back to Aristotle’s reference to the telos (purpose) of things as their
final cause.

The idea of a latent telos is also found in Adam Smith’s metaphor of the ‘invisible hand’
as the automatic mechanism that maximises wealth, individual welfare, and economic
efficiency through the increase in labour. It is from telos that the word ‘teleology’ has come,
which means that 16 ‘everything is determined by a purpose’ and the scholars should find
out what that purpose is.
The A Modern Dictionary of Sociology (1969:167), defines functionalism
as:

“The analysis of social and cultural phenomena in terms of the

functions they perform in a sociocultural system. In functionalism,
society is conceived of as a system of interrelated parts in which no part
can be understood in isolation from the whole. A change in any part is
seen as leading to a certain degree of imbalance, which in turn results in
changes in other parts of the system and to some extent to a
reorganization of the system as a whole. The development of
functionalism was based on the model of the organic system found in
biological sciences”
 Functionalists emphasize three core elements:

1. The general interrelatedness and interdependence of the system’s parts

2. The existence of a normal state of affairs or what is referred to in

functionalism as a state of equilibrium considered as normal or a healthy
state of an organism or social system

3. The tendency of the parts of the system to re-organize to bring things

back to normal or a new state of equilibrium, thus functionalists
recognize moving states of equilibriums in the social system.
Intellectual Roots of Functionalism:
Classical Theorists
“Comte inherited his father’s love of order, regularity
and asceticism. He also resembled him in his sense of
duty , his rigid approach to life, his fondness for
hierarchy and authority, and his feeling of self-
importance”
- Mary Pickering (Comte’s Biographer)
August Comte
Auguste Marie Francois-Xavier Comte
Born in Montpellier, France on January 19,
1798
Eldest son of Louise-Auguste (government
bureaucrat, treasurer of taxes) and Felicite-
Rosalie Boyer
Devout Catholics
 Saint-Simon’s
positivism,
Philosophical concept of
Influences progress and
three stages of
history

Condorcet’s belief
that human
Montesquieu’s sui
sciences can be
generis society and
used to direct
hierarchy of sciences
humanity toward
perfectibility

Turgot’s notion of
three stages of
human
development
 Major Assumptions/Theories

Comte’s Sociology Law of Human Progress

● “The Queen of all Sciences”
● Theological (fictitious) - ????- A.D. 1300

● Sociology is the culmination of all sciences ● Metaphysical (abstract) – A.D. 1300-1800

that went before it. Given its place in the
evolution of sciences, sociology could look ● Positive (scientific) – 1800-present
at social laws, just as the natural and
physical sciences looked at natural and
physical laws.
 Social Statics and Social Dynamics
Social statics are concerned with the ways in which
the parts of a social system (social structures) interact
with one another, as well as the functional relationships
between the parts and to the social system as a whole.
Social dynamics looks at all of the things that can
change a social group. It is the study of the ability of a
society to react to inner and outer changes and deal
with its regulation mechanisms. It deals with the forces
in society that provide for change and or conflict., and
with those aspects of social life that pattern institutional
development and have to do with social change
Religion of Humanity
● “Love, then is our principle; Order our
basis; and Progress our end”
● Comte proposed a secular religion, with
sociologists as priests and himself as the
pope
● People in the Positive stage would evolve
to the point where they could eliminate
egoism and substitute for its social altruism
 Comte’s view on social order
● Underlying the basis of social order for Comte was what he called the “distribution of function” and
the “combination of effort”.

● Comte saw the positive philosophy(Sociology) ushering in an ordered, harmonious society that was the
culmination of history

● Religion was not to be the worship of a supernatural deity, but rather something that expressed “the
state of complete harmony peculiar to human life, in its collective as well as in its individual form,
when all the parts of life are ordered in their natural relation to each other”
 Criticisms on Comte’s Positivism

Historically, positivism has been criticized for its reductionism, i.e., for contending that all
"processes are reducible to physiological, physical or chemical events," "social processes are
reducible to relationships between and actions of individuals," and that "biological organisms
are reducible to physical systems.“

Wilhelm Dilthey fought strenuously against the assumption that only explanations derived from
science are valid. 
Who now reads Spencer? …He was the intimate confidant
of a strange and rather unsatisfactory God, whom he
called the principle of Evolution. His God has betrayed
him. We have evolved beyond Spencer…Spencer is dead.
But who killed him and how. This is the problem.
-Talcott Parsons
 Herbert Spencer
Born in April 27, 1820 in Derby, England
Father: George Spencer (schoolteacher)
Mother: Harriet Holmes Spencer
Went to work for the London and Birmingham
Railway as a Civil Engineer
Lifelong Bachelor
Traveler
Inventor
At one point became heavily addicted to opium
Philosophical
Influences

George Spencer’s love for natural and

Martineau’s “Tales
Darwin
Comte
of Political Economy”
physical science
 Major Assumptions/Theories
Evolutionary Theory

The Three Fundamental Four secondary Propositions: “A homogeneous piece of matter

Axioms: (society) is incoherent, a
1. There is a persistence of order at heterogeneous piece of matter
1. The persistence of (society) is coherent”. The basic
force all levels of reality
reason evolution exists is that
2. The transformation and
homogeneous bodies are always
2. The indestructibility of equivalence of forces
unstable. As a homogeneous body is
matter 3. The principle of least resistance or disturbed, so is its equilibrium, and
greatest attraction the body soon begins to evolve
3. The continuity of
4. Force has rhythm and alternation toward a new equilibrium
motion
 Evolutionary Theory

Spencer argued that all people are involved in a struggle for

existence and people must adapt in order to survive and the “most
fit” are those who adapt the best.

This struggle and resulting equilibrium renders conflict an ever

present phenomenon in social life.

People (or institutions) must never intervene in the conflict- it is to

be resolved naturally through natural evolutionary processes
which allow only the “most fit” to survive. Spencer traces the birth
of society to these evolutionary forces
 Organicism / “Superorganicism”

Society Organism
Society undergoes growth Organisms grow
ORGANISM SOCIETY

As growth proceeds in As in an organism

society, structural
Sustaining System Productive Industries
differentiation begins to
occur
The functions of society are As are the organs of an Distributing System Economic System
reciprocal, mutually organism
interdependent, and
interrelated, all at the same
time
Regulatory System Government Military
Organization
Society is a nation of units Just as an organism has
cells, neurons, etc.

The whole of society may be A body, for example, can

destroyed without destroying die, yet organs and parts
the life of its parts continue to live
 Social Darwinism refers to the idea of applying Darwinian biological
evolutionary principles to society. The terms of Darwinian (and
Spencerian) evolution and organicism are used describe society: “survival
of the fittest”, “adaptation”, and “struggle for existence” are prominent.
This utilization of these Darwinian/Spencerian principles is more than
theoretical description; it is ideologically loaded and, in fact, has been
used repeatedly (especially in America) to justify the perpetuation of the
status quo.
Criticisms on Herbert Spencer
There are at least four essential criticisms of the superorganicists and the imposition of
their model on society:
1. The social organism (society) is a discrete whole, that is, the ultimate units of the
social organism or society (people) are free and may be widely spread

2. The social aggregate (society) is made living whole by agencies of cooperation

between social aggregates ( symbolic language, consciousness, languages of
emotions, etc.)

3. In biological organism consciousness is concentrated in a small part of the

organism revolving around the central nervous system In superorganism
consciousness is found in each and every part

4. In a biological organism the units combine to equal the whole of the organism. In
society, the whole exists as something greater the sum of its parts (people)
 “ Durkheim’s repudiation of biologism is the
very warp of Durkheim’s thinking …Durkheim’s
thought must be the judged as the major…
influence responsible for counteracting biologism
in the social sciences”
-Alpert (1939)
 Emile Durkheim
Born on April 15, 1858 in Epinal, France
Father: Moise Durkheim ( rabbi)
Mother: Melanie Durkheim (merchant’s
daughter)
Married Louise Dreyfus
Attended Ecole Normale Superieure
Activist for Anti-Semitism
Taught at University of Bordeaux
 Philosophical Influence
Rousseau’s notion of the “General Will”
Montesquieu’s idea that all social and cultural phenomena are interconnected and
cannot be understood except in connection
Comte and Saint Simon’s division of labor as a source social solidarity in society

Coulanges’ historical and comparative methods

Smith’s anthropological analyses of primitive religion

Spencer’s biological analogy
Toennies’s gemeinschaft and gesellschaft
 Major Assumptions/Theories

The Division of Labor in Society(1893)

Social Solidarity
Social Solidarity can be defined as the degree to which social
units are integrated. According to Durkheim, the question of
solidarity turns on three issues:

• the subjective sense of individuals that they are part of the whole
• the actual constraint of individual desires for the good of the
collective
• the coordination of individuals and social units
Mechanical Solidar-
ity
Individuals directly related to collective
consciousness with no intermediary
Joined by common beliefs and senti-
ments(moralistic)
Collective ideas and behavioral ten-
dencies are stronger than individual
Social horizon limited
Strong attachment to family and tradi-
tion
Repressive law: crime and deviance
disturb moral sentiments; punishment
meted out by group; purpose is to ritu-
ally uphold moral values through right-
eous indignation
Organic Solidarity
Individuals related to collective con-
sciousness through intermediaries
Joined by relationships among special
and different functions(utilitarian)
Individual ideas and tendencies are
strong and each individual has own
sphere of action
Social horizon unlimited
Weak attachment to family and tradi-
tion
Restitutive law: crime and deviance
disturb social order; rehabilitative,
restorative action by officials; purpose
is to restore status quo
Mechanical Organic
Solidaity Solidaity
Division
of
Labour

Competition
 Egoistic
Suicide
(low)

Levels of Altruistic
Group Suicide
Attachment (high)
Modern
Suicide
Society Anomic
Behavioral
Suicide
Regulation
(low)

Fatalistic
Suicide
(high)

Suicide(1897)
 The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912)

Theory of Religion

According to Durkheim, society creates religion by defining certain phenomena as sacred and others as
profane. Those aspects of social reality that are defined as sacred forms the essence of religion. The rest are
defined as profane – the mundane aspects of life. On the one hand, the sacred brings out an attitude of
reverence, awe, and obligation. On the other hand, it is the attitude accorded to these phenomena that
transforms them from profane to sacred. Durkheim argued that religion symbolically embodies society itself.
Religion is the system of symbols by means of which society becomes conscious of itself. This was the only
way that he could explain why every society has had religious beliefs but each has had different beliefs.
 beliefs

“A religion is a
unified system of
beliefs and practices
which unite into one
single moral
community called
Church, all those
who adhere to them”

church rituals
 Totemism

Totemism is a religious system in which certain things, particularly animals and plants, come to be
regarded as sacred and as emblems of the clan. Durkheim viewed totemism as the simplest,
most primitive form of religion, and he believed it to be associated with a similarly simple form of
social organization, the clan. Durkheim argued that:
● the totem is nothing but the representation of the clan itself
● individuals who experience the heightened energy of social force in a gathering of the clan
seek some explanation for this state.
● gathering itself was the real cause, but even today, people are reluctant to attribute this power
to social forces
● the clan member mistakenly attributes the energy he or she feels to the symbols of the clan.
● the totems are the material representations of the nonmaterial force that is at their base, and
that nonmaterial force is none other than society.
● totemism, and more generally religion, are derived from the collective morality and become
impersonal forces. They are not simply a series of mythical animals, plants, personalities,
spirits, or gods.
 Criticisms
His causal model of the division of labor is circular or tautological in that cause and effect becomes
difficult to separate; It is illegitimate teleology in which the end-stage (social solidarity) causes the
very thing (division of labor) that brings about the end-state (Turner 1982)

Douglas challenges Durkheim’s theory on suicide rates. He stated that it is medical examiner who
must decide whether a death classifies as suicide.

According to Turner (1982), Clans were not the first kinship structure and many primitives do not
worship totem. These errors can be attributed to Durkheim’s reliance on Australian aborigines
kinship and religious organizations which in many ways, deviate from modal patterns among
hunting and gathering people.
Contemporary Theorists of Structural
Functionalism
 Talcott Parsons
● Born in 1902 in Colorado Springs, Colorado
● His father was a Congregational minister, a
professor, and a college president
● Sociologist and chair at Harvard
● Introduced Weber’s works to English speaking
social scientists by translating Weber’s works
● Attempted to design a theory that encompasses all
the social sciences
Major Assumptions/Theories
Four Functional Imperatives (AGIL Scheme)

A function is “a complex of activities directed towards meeting a

need or needs of the system”
In order to survive, a system must perform these four functions:
A. Adaptation: A system must cope with external situational
exigencies. It must adapt to its environment and adapt the
environment to its needs.
B. Goal Attainment: A system must define and achieve its
primary goals
C. Integration: A system must regulate the interrelationship of
its component parts. It also must manage the relationship among the
other three functional imperatives
D. Latency (pattern maintenance): A system must furnish,
maintain, and renew both the motivation of individuals and the
cultural patterns that create and sustain that motivation
Parson’s Action Schema
Parsons found his answer to the problem of order in structural functionalism, which
operates in his view with the following set of assumptions:
1. Systems have the property of order and interdependence of parts.
2. Systems tend toward self-maintaining order, or equilibrium.
3. The system may be static or involved in an ordered process of change
4. The nature of one part of the system has an impact on the form that the other
parts can take.
5. Systems maintain boundaries with their environments.
6. Allocation and integration are two fundamental processes necessary for a given
state of equilibrium of a system.
7. Systems tend toward self-maintenance involving the maintenance of boundaries
and of the relationships of parts to the whole, control of environmental
variations, and control of tendencies to change the system from within.
Action System
status-role complex
● Status refers to a structural position
within the social system, and role is
what the actor does in such a
position, seen in the context of its
functional significance for the larger
system.
● The actor is viewed not in terms of
thoughts and actions but instead (at
least in terms of position in the social
system) as nothing more than a
bundle of statuses and roles..
Functional prerequisites of a social system:
A. Social systems must be structured so that they
operate compatibly with other systems.
B. To survive, the social system must have the
requisite support from other systems.
C. The system must meet a significant proportion
of the needs of its actors.
D. The system must elicit adequate participation
from its members.
E. It must have at least a minimum of control
over potentially disruptive behavior.
F. If conflict becomes sufficiently disruptive, it
must be controlled.
G. A social system requires a language in order to
survive.
 Actors and the Social System

● Given his central concern with the social system, of key importance in this integration are
the processes of internalization and socialization

● In a successful socialization process these norms and values are internalized; that is, they
become part of the actors’ “consciences.” As a result, in pursuing their own interests, the
actors are in fact serving the interests of the system as a whole.

● A system runs best when social control is used only sparingly. For another thing, the
system must be able to tolerate some variation, some deviance. A flexible social system is
stronger than a brittle one that accepts no deviation

● The social system should provide a wide range of role opportunities that allow different
personalities to express themselves without threatening the integrity of the system.
 Society
“a relatively self-sufficient
collectivity the members of which
are able to satisfy all their
individual and collective needs
and to live entirely within its
framework”
 Cultural System
● Culture is seen as a patterned, ordered
system of symbols that are objects of
orientation to actors, internalized aspects of
the personality system, and institutionalized
patterns in the social system.
● Culture can move from one social system to
another through diffusion and from one
personality system to another through
learning and socialization. However, the
symbolic (subjective) character of culture also
gives it another characteristic, the ability to
control Parsons’s other action systems. This
is one of the reasons Parsons came to view
himself as a cultural determinist.
Personality System
● The personality is defined as the organized
system of orientation and motivation of action
of the individual actor. The basic component of
the personality is the “needdisposition”, the
“most significant units of motivation of action”
● Need-dispositions impel actors to accept or
reject objects presented in the environment or
to seek out new objects if the ones that are
available do not adequately satisfy need-
dispositions.
 Parson’s Evolutionary Theory

Differentiation
Value
(Adaptive Integration
Generalization
Capacity)
 Generalized Media of
Interchange

Symbolic media of interchange

have the capacity, like money, to be
created and to circulate in the larger
society. Thus, within the social
system, those in the political system
are able to create political power.
More important, they can expend that
power, thereby allowing it to circulate
freely in, and have influence over, the
social system.
 Robert Merton
● Robert King Merton was born on July 4, 1910, in 
Philadelphia as Meyer Robert Schkolnick.
● Founding chair of Sociology Department in Harvard
University
 Major Assumptions/Theories
Merton’s Structural-Functional Analysis

Any object that can be subjected to Functions The positive consequences

structural-functional analysis must “represent a
standardized (that is, patterned and repetitive)
item” such as social roles, institutional
patterns, social processes, cultural patterns,
Dysfunctions The negative consequences
culturally patterned emotions, social norms,
group organization, social structure, devices
for social control, etc. Nonfunctions Consequences that are simply
irrelevant to the system under
The focus of the structural functionalist consideration
should be on social functions rather than on
individual motives Net Balance Orients the sociologists to the
question of relative
significance
Levels of Functional Analysis

Manifest Functions
Latent Functions
(intended)
“Action”
Unanticipated Latent
Consequences Dysfunctions

Non-functional
Consequences
 Culture, Social Structure and Anomie
Merton defines culture as “that
organized set of normative values
governing behavior which is common to
members of a designated society or
group” and social structure as “that
organized set of social relationships in
which members of the society or group
are variously implicated”
Anomie occurs “when there is an
acute disjunction between the cultural
norms and goals and the socially
structured capacities of members of
the group to act in accord with them”.
Vilfredo Pareto
● Vilfredo Pareto
● (1848-1923, 75 yrs)
● • Grew up in Italy
● • Worked in industry prior to inheritance
● • Inheritance made him independently
● wealthy
● • Chair of economics at U. of Louisianna
● • Wrote 5 volume work entitled:
● General Treatise on Sociology
 Pareto’s Social Equilibrium
● Social system is ‘constantly changing in form’

● A social system is therefore like a river. Both flow constantly. Both resist, and
threaten to sweep away, intrusive efforts to modify both their form and their
‘manner of flow’

● Pareto derived further value from his equilibrium metaphor by modelling the
social system upon chemical equilibrium in particular. This allowed individual
social actors to be represented as the ‘molecules’ of the social system.

● As individual molecules form molecular compounds in nature, so too Pareto

grouped individuals upon the basis of shared ‘residues’ which then became the
basic ‘elements’ for his social system
 Societies have great stability

People are often irrational in decision-making

Human behavior is driven by two basic human motives:

Security Needs and Creativity
Pareto’s Social Those who are more biologically gifted than others rise
System to the top and become leaders.

Social order is built on “sentiments” (instincts)

Struggle for dominance over the social system.

Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore

● Kingsley Davis and Wilbert Moore have

further developed the functionalist theory
of Stratification.

● Both are eminent American sociologists

and they were students of Talcott Parsons.

● They elaborated their view in an article

titled, "Some Principles of Stratification"
 Four Aspects of Functional
Prerequisite System of
Unequal Rewards

1. All roles in society must be filled.

It motivates
2. The most competent people must people to fill The rewards must be
fill in the positions. certain positions. unequal even after
fulfilling the position so
3. In order the best people are that the persons who are
selected for the job it is necessary to appointed are motivated
train them for it. td improve their
performance further.
4. The roles must be performed
conscientiously
 Basic Propositions of Davis and
Moore
1) In every society certain positions are
functionally more important than the
others.
2) Only limited people have the
necessary merit or talents to perform
these roles.
3) In most case these positions require
a lengthy and intensive training period.
This involves sacrifices on the part of
the people who acquire these posts.
Criticism of Davis and Moore’s Theory
● According to Tumin, Davis and Moore have not
provided the means of measuring the functional
importance of higher positions. In fact some
sociologists argue that the importance of position
is a matter of opinion and not an objective criteria.
● Tumin also challenges the justification of higher
rewards on the basis that these positions involve
greater training.
● The proportion that unequal rewards help to
motivate people in inlproving their work is also not
true according to Tumin. In reality there are
barriers to motivation
 Structural-functional Approach of Radcliffe-Brown

Radcliffe-Brown’s structural-functional approach

comprises the following assumptions:
1) A necessary condition for survival of a society is a
minimal integration of its parts.

2) The concept of function refers to those processes

that maintain the necessary integration or solidarity.

3) And, in each society, structural features can be

shown to contribute to the maintenance of necessary
solidarity
 Whereas Radcliffe-Brown begins with society and its
Functionalism of necessary conditions of existence (i.e., integration),
Malinowski Malinowski’s starting point is the individual, who has a set of
‘basic’ (or ‘biological’) needs that must be satisfied for its
survival. It is because of the importance that Malinowski gives
the individual that the term ‘psychological functionalism’ is
reserved for him, in comparison to Radcliffe-Brown’s approach
which is called ‘sociological functionalism’ because in this,
society, is the key concept.

Malinowski’s approach distinguishes between three levels:

the biological, the social structural, and the symbolic. Each of
these levels has a set of needs that must be satisfied for the
survival of the individual. It is on his survival that the survival of
larger entities (such as groups, communities, societies) is
dependent. Malinowski proposes that these three levels
constitute a hierarchy.
 The Major Criticisms of Structural Functionalism

● Structural functionalism does not deal adequately with

history—that it is inherently ahistorical.
● Structural functionalists also are attacked for being
unable to deal effectively with the process of social
change
● Structural functionalists are also unable to deal
effectively with conflict
● Structural Functionalism has illegitimate teleology
● Structural Functionalism is tautological
 Neofunctionalism
● Jeffrey Alexander and Paul Colomy define neofunctionalism as “a self-critical strand of
functional theory that seeks to broaden functionalism’s intellectual scope while
retaining its theoretical core”. Thus, it seems clear that Alexander and Colomy see
structural functionalism as overly narrow and that their goal is the creation of a more
synthetic theory, which they prefer to label “neofunctionalism.”

● Alexander has enumerated the problems associated with structural functionalism that
neofunctionalism needs to surmount, including “anti-individualism,” “antagonism to
change,” “conservatism,” “idealism,” and an “antiempirical bias.” Efforts were made to
overcome these problems programmatically and at more specific theoretical levels.
Despite his enthusiasm for neofunctionalism, in the mid-1980s Alexander was forced
to conclude that “neofunctionalism is a tendency rather than a developed theory”.
 Neofunctionalism Basic Orientations

1. Neofunctionalism operates with a descriptive model of society that sees society as composed of
elements that, in interaction with one another, form a pattern.
2. Neofunctionalism devotes roughly equal attention to action and order. It thus avoids the
tendency of structural functionalism to focus almost exclusively on the macro-level sources of
order in social structures and culture and to give little attention to more micro-level action
patterns
3. Neofunctionalism retains the structural-functional interest in integration, not as an accomplished
fact but rather as a social possibility.
4. Neofunctionalism accepts the traditional Parsonsian emphasis on personality, culture, and
social system. In addition to being vital to social structure, the interpenetration of these systems
also produces tension that is an ongoing source of both change and control.
5. Neofunctionalism focuses on social change in the processes of differentiation within the social,
cultural, and personality systems.
6. Neofunctionalism “implies the commitment to the independence of conceptualization and
theorizing from other levels of sociological analysis”.
Thank you!
 References:

• Alatas, Syed Farid & Vineeta Sinha 2017. Sociological Theory Beyond the
Canon. London: Macmillan Publishers Springer Nature
• Ritzer, George 2000. Sociological Theory McGraw-Hill
• Kenneth, Allan 2005. Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory: Seeing
the Social World. Pine Forge Press
• https://iep.utm.edu/durkheim/?fbclid=IwAR2T8DqWr9bscZ7rAKnS3hpoHeW
_ujfNj__
98DGjtDlDgifR9-jfU7aTwU0
• https://www.thoughtco.com/mechanical-solidarity-3026761
• https://www.markedbyteachers.com/as-and-a-level/sociology/durkheim.html
• https://godsonug.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/session-32.pdf