The Problem of Functionalism (Reading 7)

- Functionalism theory used to explain society as comprising smaller individual units which
through their interactions preserve the overarching structure of the society
- introduced by Herbert Spencer
- structure and function of a living organism analogous to social equivalents
- Radcliffe Brown further elucidated concept:

Just as cells make up individual units of an organism, humans constitute units of a

society. Interactions between these cells constitute the activities which serve to fulfil a
particular function (structural continuity of an organism otherwise known as life)
while interactions between individuals form the activities which serve to keep the

established social structure intact.

Over time, cells are replaced by other cells which carry on the same function,
maintaining the original structure of the organism. Similarly, individual human beings
die or leave the society and are replaced by others who perform the same function by
following established social customs and thus maintain the stability of the social
structure.

- Problems with the structure aspect of the theory:

Analogy with reference to structure is unclear because it is possible to observe the

individual morphology of cells and their contribution to the structure of an organism
but not so in case of individuals of a society. Issue can be resolved by interpreting
biological structure as the interaction among individual cell units which constitutes
the activity that maintains the structure of the organism. Similarly, interactions
between individuals constitute the activities that maintain the structural integrity of

society
Another problem is that almost every activity in an organism serves to maintain the
life of the organism. This is however not true for humans as the primary activities
which they perform do not serve to maintain social structure, implying that the social
organism theory can only be applied to certain secondary activities.

- Problems with the function aspect of theory:

The term function implies that the activity performed by an individual is done with a
concrete objective/purpose in mind (teleological aspect) which may not always be

true for individuals

An action may be said to have a function if it serves (the merits and demerits of each
definition have been discussed alongside the definition):
1. a particular purpose: this holds sociological significance as the objective of an
activity may serve to explain the participation of individuals in the activity by
revealing their rationale. However, the objectives of individuals may not be consistent
with the objectives of institutions that they are part of, which means that these
individuals may act on other unconscious impulses.
2. to fulfil the basic needs of the populace: Malinowski reckons that biological needs
and the wish to survive are the driving force behind mans activities. This is an
oversimplification however, as activities are more often determined by the satisfaction
of needs at a certain level.
3. the objective of the person executing it: explained on a psychological level
(irrelevant)
4. to maintain the prevailing social order by preserving existing social practices: when
an individuals action is executed with the intention of furthering another individuals
cause, a cumulative effect arises that leads to a complex and extensive chain of
actions which leads to the interpretation that the action had been performed to
maintain the prevailing social order. It is thus the purpose of the system that this
action is trying to achieve.
5. to follow the dictates of society: Nadel believes that the complex chain of
interaction that props up society can only be explained by introducing an overriding
purpose in the form of a Great Engineer, which is an abstract representation of mans
inclinations. This has been criticised as the Great Engineer concept is very abstract
to begin with.
6. to achieve the survival of the prevailing social structure: Unlike biological entities,
social organisms do not fall ill or die. Instead, they alter their structural configuration.
The difficulty lies in the constantly changing nature of society and which social
alterations should be classified as structural changes. An example of a structural
change is when a primitive tribe comes in contact with Western civilisation,
undergoes cultural transformations, loses certain customs vital to maintaining its
previous structure and degenerates into structural instability. The problem is that only
after comparing the present conditions with the ensuing circumstances can a state of

instability be detected. This means that identification of structural change is generally

possible only in retrospect.
Mertons Manifest and Latent Functions: Sometimes, the purpose and function of an
action are very clear on the surface (manifest function) while other actions only have
undisclosed and unclear purposes and consequences (latent function). Merton defends
functionalism by asserting that motive and function are completely independent of
each other. Latent functions thus satisfy the 5th definition of the purposes of an action.
However, the author believes that the motives of individuals should be necessarily
linked to the purposes of the functions that they execute to explain complex chains of
social interaction.
Claims of functionalism:
- differentiated individual patterns of human behaviour from socially determinants
- excludes human motives from its scope
- taken an objective approach to explanation of social phenomena, and excluded
subjective value judgements
- asserted that social action have both immediate and long-term consequences
Failings
- exclusion of the discussion of purpose/motive is a waste of an important source of
data
- socially determined behaviour is explained in terms of social interaction, which in
turn determines individual behaviour. The distinction between the two thus remains
unclear.
- value judgements may actually be concealed within the objective view of the needs
of the social structure which has been employed.
- the needs or survival value of the system are too subjective to be clearly defined.