Topic 12

Structural Functionalism

Concepts
Structure
The concept comes from Latin ”structura”, which
refers to the arrangement and order of all.
For sociology, social structure “is the population
with a particular association, which lives and
develops in an environment.”
Status
The position of an individual in relation to another or
others, especially in regard to social or professional
standing.
High social or professional standing: Prestige.
State or condition of affairs: Arbitration has failed to
change the status of the disagreement.
Law. The standing of a person before the law:
Those students can receive the same tax breaks as
citizens, regardless of their status as immigrants.
Role
Sociology. The rights, obligations, and expected
behavior patterns associated with a particular social
status.

A part or character played by an actor or actress.

proper or customary function: the teacher's role in
society.
Social Order
Is a fundamental concept that refers to the way the
various components of society work together to
maintain the status quo.
People often use the term "social order" to refer to a
state of stability and consensus that exists in the
absence of chaos and confrontations.
For sociologists, it refers to the organization of
many interrelated parts of a society. Social order is
present when individuals agree to a shared social
contract.
Social order is most often hierarchical; some people
hold more power than others so they can enforce
the laws, rules, and norms necessary for the
preservation of social order.

Practices, behaviors, values, and beliefs that are

counter to those of the social order are typically
framed as negative and/or dangerous, and are
curtailed through the enforcement of laws, rules,
norms, and taboos.
Social Contract
In his book ”Leviathan”, English philosopher
Thomas Hobbes, recognized that without some
form of social contract, there could be no society,
and chaos and disorder would reign.
According to Hobbes, modern states were created to
provide social order. People agree to empower the
state to enforce the rule of law, and in exchange,
they give up some individual power, mainly,
freedom.
Social System
Soocial Systems are the patterned series of
interrelationships existing between individuals,
groups, and institutions and forming a coherent
whole: Social Structure.
Also, are the formal organization of status and
role that may develop among the members of a
relatively small stable group (such as a family or
club)
Social functionalism, by Talcott Parsons, this
theory seeks to analyze society through a general
theoretical system to create a single general
theory of human relations.
-Social reality is considered as a whole-
Its concerned on the creation of social order;
Parsons investigations were carried out using his
theory based on a number of assumptions, he
said the systems are interdependent, and that
these tend towards balance.
Systems can be static or dynamic, that is a
constant change to help either stability or
change.
Parsons stated that social systems have a
number of functional requirements, such as
compatibility with other systems, meeting the
people’s needs, the support of other systems,
participation of the members in the system,
control conflict and language.
This means society is considered as a system in
which individuals interact according to symbols
they have structured and shared. Parsons was
interested in the role that norms and values play
in society.
In the socialization process, society inculcates
individuals with a perspective that they can
search for their own interests while serving the
system’s interests. It is through socialization that
Parsons said the individual embraces the norms
of society. He claimed that culture, like norms
and values, have the ability to become part of
other systems.
Culture as a pattern, is an organized system of
symbols that guides individuals, presents
embraced aspects of the personality system and
establishes institutionalized patterns. For structural
functionalist theory, the state is an organization
that administrates and benefits the society.
Structural functionalism is a philosophy structuralism
and functionalism, its main object of study or
research is evident in cultural expressions norms
and values ​of society. In structural functionalism
there is a match between structure and function, as
there are a number of essential functions for the
survival of a society (structure). This philosophy
address a social mobility, which is achieved through
the exchange of roles and progress, concentrated in
getting a higher status.
North American Robert K. Merton, another
representative of the structural functionalism,
renewed Parsons’ theory. Merton analyzes society
based on whether the social and are well integrated
or not. He focused primarily on the relationship
between structures and functions, discarding
Parsons’ idea that all parts are functional,
integrated and indispensable.
Merton created a system of concepts to deal with the
ways in which structures may relate to the whole. He
suggested that some social facts could be
dysfunctional, which means they can have negative
consequences for other social facts.
He thought it was possible to have an idea of the
balance of a structure taking into account the
functions and dysfunctions. He said that this type of
analysis can be done from different perspectives,
such as “functions” and this analysis is a matter of
perspective. For example, slavery was functional for
some and dysfunctional for others.
In summary, Merton said that dysfunctional
structures could exist within systems, depending on
their relationship with other systems. Thus, not all
structures are positive, nor all of them are essential.
The status and the role of the individual are basic
elements, so it accepts social stratification
according to the wealth or status of the society
members.
The role is the part that each person plays in society
and is a consequence of a certain status; a person
can have different status and, therefore, have
different roles to play.
The status is determined by many variables,
including income, education, the importance of
employment and personal prestige. All members of
society should be aware of their role and the role of
other members of their society, this in order to know
what to expect of the other.
“Structural functionalism seeks to study the
system preservation, operability and
functionality.”
A central aspect of the study of structural
functionalism is the set of social relationships among
humans in terms of culture, environment and
cultural area.
For Émile Durkheim, society is based on social
relations; he supports the maintenance of private
ownership of the means of production and the class
division, owners/workers. He said that main
developer of the structural-functionalism trend, the
approach of social problems refers to the normal
(what should be) and the pathologic (what should be,
but is not).
According to Durkheim problems have to do
with solidarity respecting the order and stability to
avoid social disintegration. As for solidarity, it is
divided into two: one part is the mechanical
solidarity that exists when social beliefs and
practices are shared among other things; This kind of
solidarity is in underdeveloped societies where
everyone knows what to do and what not to
depending on others to achieve it. On the other hand
we have the organic solidarity, which occurs in the
most developed societies in which there is a division
of labor, where individuals rely on each other to
achieve an objective, such societies beliefs are
replaced by interest.