Evaluation of Functionalism

9 Key excerpts on "Evaluation of Functionalism"

• 

  eBook - ePub

  Rethinking Sociological Theory

  Introducing and Explaining a Scientific Theoretical Sociology

  • Stephen K. Sanderson(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Chapter One Functionalism BASIC PRINCIPLES Functionalism is a term that has been widely used in the social sciences, sociology and anthropology in particular, to identify a variety of related lines of thought. For my purposes, a crucial distinction must be made between functionalism as a theoretical tradition and a functionalist mode of social explanation. The former incorporates the latter, but the latter can stand on its own and can be (and sometimes is) associated with other theoretical traditions. Functionalism as a theoretical tradition began in anthropology in the early part of this century with the works of such prominent figures as Bronislaw Malinowski and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown. 1 These thinkers sought to identify the parts of society, show how they were interrelated, and demonstrate their function or functions for the maintenance of society. Both Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowski, especially the former, were greatly influenced by Emile Durkheim, whose ideas also had a major influence on sociological functionalism. Functionalism came into sociology partly by way of importation from anthropology and, more substantially, through the work of Talcott Parsons and his students and disciples. In The Social System, Parsons generated a functionalist model of societies as social systems. 2 He was preoccupied (virtually to the point of obsession) with the “problem of order,” and his sociological theory is overwhelmingly devoted to dealing with this problem. Like Durkheim, Parsons strongly rejected nineteenth-century utilitarian thinking. Society could not be composed simply of individuals pursuing their own interests, for such a thing would not be stable

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  The Structure of Social Science

  A Philosophical Introduction

  • Michael H. Lessnoff(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 5 Functionalism and Explanation in Social Science

  The previous chapter considered explanation of social facts in relation to laws and generalizations, and to the intelligibility of action. I now wish to discuss the application to social science of so-called functional explanation. ‘Functionalism’ is an approach used in several social sciences, and ‘function’ is widely held to be an explanatory concept. This, however, is a controversial question and, as we shall see, a complex one. We must begin by making clear the meaning (or meanings) of ‘function’ and ‘functionalism’.

  Functionalism in biology

  Functionalism in the social sciences rests on an analogy with biology, the science of organisms. These are entities with very special properties, which make the functionalist approach particularly suited to their study. In brief, they are living systems . As systems , they are wholes made up of interrelated parts; as living systems, they manifest certain characteristic activities of the organism as a whole and physiological processes carried on by its parts. These activities and processes enable the organism to persist as a unit over time, preserving its characteristic relation of parts and its characteristic activities and physiological processes - to remain, in other words, a living organism of a particular kind. Organisms are self-maintaining systems.

  With reference to such a system, a part of it, or a process carried on within it, may be said to have a function . Thus, the heart in mammals (or the heart-beat) has the function of making the blood circulate; the circulation of the blood also has a function, or rather several functions, for example, to carry oxygen and nutrients to the tissues; and these processes too have a function. So also do activities of the organism itself, such as eating when hungry. The function of anything is always an effect which it achieves or makes possible when the organism is operating normally, but not just any effect-the heartbeat makes a particular sound as well as making the blood circulate, but the former is not its function.1

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  An Introduction to Sociology

  • Bryan S. R. Green, Edward A. Johns(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Pergamon

    (Publisher)

  Although the listing of functional requirements is useful as a descriptive device for talking about social systems and provides a framework for comparing the structures of various societies, its value in empirical research remains to be proved. One difficulty is 1 See, for example, T. Parsons, R. Bales and E. Shils, Working Papers in the Theory of Action, Free Press, 1953. 108 AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY that there are no clear rules to help the researcher in allocating a particular role or activity to a particular functional area. The abstract categories must be translated into operational terms in order to formulate testable hypotheses. Having given some idea of the main concepts of functional analysis we shall now discuss some criticisms and reservations which have been expressed about it. These have taken two main directions, the first concentrating on the extent to which function-alism exhausts the possibilities of sociological analysis, the second concerned with the adequacy of the approach in analysing social change. FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLANATION Recent discussions of the role of functional analysis in sociological explanation have centred around Kingsley Davis's contention that sociological analysis in research situations is by definition functional analysis. 1 His definition of functionalism is a very broad one and not confined to any of the particular formulations mentioned above. His argument is that functionalists only claim that the mere exis-tence of a social system, whether it be a society, an organization or a small group, implies some kind of social order and that sociologists must study the way in which this order is maintained. Functionalism is not a special approach to the study of social systems, it is only the adoption of the sociological perspective.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Teaching Yourself Social Theory

  • David Harris(Author)
  • 2002(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  2 Moral Constraints: Functional ism The previous chapter considered ways in which the economic system of a social formation can come to take on a momentum and dynamic of its own, in such a way as to dominate social life, but there is another famous sociological variant of this story. It is fairly easy to get to the heart of the arguments, again, before becoming too technical. Perhaps I should remind the reader that I intend to present a sympathetic account of the sociological approaches we shall encounter here, as with all the approaches we discuss. To put this in terms that are recog-nisable to the relatively experienced student, I am going to argue that even 'functionalism ' has its useful and critical side. In the company of radical col-leagues, this is an unforgivable heresy, but let us proceed. It is easy to demonstrate that there is a sense in which everyday life is expe-rienced as external to our lives as individuals. Common terms to describe this sort of experience include 'social pressures', 'social forces' or 'social contexts' to describe the limits and foundations of our individual actions as soon as we con-sider the reactions of other people (which is, after all, the basis of social action itself -action which is 'oriented to the actions of others'). Clearly, other people react back to us, and their responses lead to problems like how we can co-oper -ate with each other, how we can come to agreements and how we can harmonise our interactions in an orderly way. In addition, it is soon clear that there is a history to these problems of co-oper -ation and coexistence (the 'problem of social order' as it is usually termed): when we grow up, we enter an existing society with its traditions, customs and habits. It is the custom in university seminars, for example, to argue about things in particular ways, and not to settle matters by a fist fight, for example (although I have been in some seminars which came close to one).

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Classical Sociological Theory

  • Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, Indermohan Virk, Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, Indermohan Virk(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Part IX Functionalism Introduction to Part IX 41 “The Position of Sociological Theory” 42 “Manifest and Latent Functions” 43 “Social Structure and Anomie” Classical Sociological Theory , Fourth Edition. Edited by Craig Calhoun, Joseph Gerteis, James Moody, Steven Pfaff, and Indermohan Virk. Editorial material and organization © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2022 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Functionalism (sometimes called “structural functionalism”) refers to a body of theory first developed in the 1930s and 1940s that treats society as a set of interdependent systems. The theory rests on an organic analogy that likens a social system to a physical body, in which each subsystem is necessary to maintain the proper functioning of the entire organism. From a functionalist point of view, the key to understanding a social subsystem is thus to trace its function in the working of the whole. According to such arguments, there are a number of functional “requisites” necessary to meet the basic needs of any society (see Aberle et al. 1950). Specific subsystems develop to meet those social needs. Functional theorists generally assumed that these subsystems would tend toward a stable equilibrium, with social change proceeding in a gradual evolutionary manner. For example, the social need for a common form of communication leads to a stable, slowly evolving system of language. The need to control disruptive behavior leads to a relatively stable legal and political system. Perhaps most importantly, every society has some system for assigning people to different social positions and socializing them into the relevant roles, resulting in a relatively stable stratification system. To say that a system is “functional” is thus to say that it serves the needs of the society as a whole, not that it serves the interests of every individual.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Handbook of Sports Studies

  • Jay Coakley, Eric Dunning, Jay Coakley, Eric Dunning(Authors)
  • 2000(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  On the other hand, there are good reasons for reconsidering functionalism. Barnes (1995: 37) makes the case: whatever is worth saying about functionalism bears repeating, for it is the most misunderstood and misused of social theories. And it remains in any case clearly alive; in the work, for example, of Luhmann and Habermas. Moreover, functionalist forms of thought have penetrated so deeply into the culture of the social sciences that they are often employed without being explicitly recognized as such, so that an understanding of their strength and weaknesses remains necessary even if they are no longer as widely advocated and defended as once they were. Certainly it is worth while re-examining the functionalist perspective within the sociology of sport, as its principles and assumptions continually reappear. This is especially true of studies that focus on sport as a means of social integration or as a site of social conflict. And like mainstream sociology, these functionalist tenets found within sport sociology are rarely spelled out. Accordingly, we offer a re-examination of functionalism. We first outline the central assumptions, main forms and major formaliza-tions of functionalism. Secondly, we review functionalism’s key contributions to the sociol-ogy of sport. We then discuss the chief criti-cisms of functionalism and highlight the major controversies surrounding functionalism in the sociology of sport. We conclude with an overview of new forms of functionalism and their implications for the sociology of sport. FUNCTIONALISM, SPORT AND SOCIETY 9 THE FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE Functionalism represents a holistic approach to the study of society in particular, and social systems in general. Specifically, ‘from a func-tionalist perspective, the key feature of “society” considered as a unified system is its orderliness and relative stability in the context of a changing environment’ (Barnes, 1995: 37).

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Introducing Sociological Theory

  • Darren O'Byrne(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Functionalism

  In this chapter we will be:

  • introducing a theoretical perspective in sociology known as functionalism, and pointing out that this was the dominant perspective in Western sociology in the 1950s;
  • looking at the distinctive characteristic of functionalism, namely, its description of society as a ‘system’, and defining what a ‘system’ is;
  • looking at how functionalism presumes the existence of a shared set of values across society, and identifies conflicts of values as problems needing to be solved;
  • looking at how functionalists have taken the system metaphor to its natural extension, and portrayed changes in societies across time as akin to evolution, as part of the process of ‘modernisation’;
  • suggesting a number of reasons why functionalism fell from grace, not least its perceived inability to deal with the realities of conflict, diversity and change.

  The rise and fall of functionalism

  The purpose of this book is to introduce you to eight broad perspectives in sociology, eight ways of answering the question: What is society? With that in mind, it makes a lot of sense to start with functionalism. There are a number of reasons for that, although one of them is not that functionalism ‘came first’. It didn’t – it burst onto the sociological scene in the middle of the twentieth century, although functionalist ideas had been present in the writings of a number of the nineteenth-century ‘founders’ of sociology we discussed in Chapter 1 . However, while it may not have come first chronologically, it does provide a useful starting point for the narrative of this book, partly because at one level it presents a relatively straightforward answer to our question, a fairly clear model of society, and partly because the model it gives us, which for so many years dominated the scene, has been subjected to so many criticisms that it is fair to describe other perspectives as emerging or re-emerging in response to

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  An Introduction to Comparative Law Theory and Method

  • Geoffrey Samuel(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Hart Publishing

    (Publisher)

  27 More generally, then, the causal scheme can-not be used—or at least cannot always be used—in the same way in the social sciences, humanities and arts as it is used in the natural sciences. A functional reading of a book or film would be quite different (as we saw in the last chapter). This approach would focus on, say, the social purpose of the book or film and its intended functional effect on the audi-ence or upon social institutions. Thus a film criticising the brutality of the prison system ( I Was A Fugitive From the Chain Gang ), or a series of films suggesting that crime does not pay, could, accordingly, be studied in terms of this social objective. At a general level the function of a novel and film is of course to entertain, and if it fails in this function it is likely to attract criticism. Thus it is often said, in comparing function with cause, that ‘if the irrational action moves fast enough, no audience will ever have the breath to question it’. 28 26 Desjeux (2004: 95). 27 Delacroix (2010: 689). 28 ‘The Greatest Films of All Time’ (volume 4), The Guardian , 19 October 2010: 19. 86 Alternatives to Functionalism More seriously, perhaps, functionalism in the social sciences, as we have already seen, is an explanatory model through which the nature and exis-tence of social and cultural facts are understood in terms of the function that they fulfil. 29 The model is analogous to the ones used in biology, engi-neering, management and the like, and so facts such as the family, schools and prohibition of incest are explained in the same way as the heart (circu-lation of blood), a thermostat (regulation of temperature) or the board of directors in a company (direction); that is to say they are explained in terms of the function they have within the system in which they belong.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Handbook of Behaviorism

  • William O'Donohue, Richard Kitchener(Authors)
  • 1998(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  The goa l of psychological scientists with a functional contextual perspective is the devel-opment of an organized system of empirically-based concepts and rules that al -low behavioral phenomena to be predicted and influenced with precision, depth , and scope (Biglan & Hayes, 1996) . The term influence is substituted for contro l to avoid the misunderstanding that an absence of variability or absolute elimina-tion of confounding variables (two other senses of the word control) is necessar-ily the goal of intervention (Biglan & Hayes, 1995) . In addition, the goal is pre -diction and influence : one goal, not two . This goal is not the purpose of scienc e as an abstraction, it is the goal of particular scientists doing science . Other goal s in science are possible, and analyses that are directed toward different goal s could look quite different . Functional contextualism seeks analyses that achieve prediction and influence 1 1 CONTEXTUAL BEHAVIORISM 30 7 with precision (a restricted set of constructs apply to any particular event), scop e (a wide number of events can be analyzed with these constructs), and depth (an-alytic constructs at the psychological level cohere with those at other levels) . The goal of prediction and influence provides a specific kind of utility or suc-cessful working . Specifically, prediction and influence is accomplished when a n analysis (a) identifies contextual features that permit the prediction of the behav-ior of interest, and (b) demonstrates that the manipulation of these contextua l features affects the probability of occurrence of this behavior . Functional contextualism is an explicitly empirical philosophy . Although th e functional contextualist readily admits that it is impossible to escape the effect s of personal history and that no interpretation is ultimate or final, she or he i s committed to the goal of finding principles that effectively guide the actions o f other analysts .

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book