![]() So it might change, but they're basically behaving in a similar way.Īnd it's a pattern, so we're doing this over and over and over. So this is where human beings are behaving the same way, and it's saying relatively. A social structure is any repeated and routine-like pattern of social interaction or behavior. There's social structure and social function. Now, there are two key components to understanding the structural-functional approach. Now, the structural-functional approach would argue that even these things that we would label as bad are still part of this machine, and really exist to help make sure that society continues to run. Now, what I mean by even bad things is that there are things in society that we maybe don't want at all, or we don't want very much of, like crime or poverty or homelessness. And all those different parts of the car are just parts of society, and all work together to help make sure society runs. Now, sociology with this structural-functional function approach sees society as something like that car. So the wheels, the drive shaft, the engine, the exhaust- all those things work together to make sure this car can run. All these parts work together to make sure that the car runs. ![]() Now, even bad things are considered part of this machine and are simply helping the machine to go. So society is this machine, and all the different parts are working together to make sure that society continues to run. The structural-functional approach really sees society as a complex system with many independent parts that work together to maintain itself. As always, don't be afraid to pause, stop, rewind, or even fast forward to make sure get the most out of this tutorial. A manifest function of college education, for example, includes gaining knowledge, preparing for a career, and finding a good job that utilizes that education.Welcome to this episode of Sociology- Studies of Society today's lesson is on structural-functional approach. Manifest functions are the consequences of a social process that are sought or anticipated, while latent functions are the unsought consequences of a social process. For example, one function of a society’s laws may be to protect society from violence, while another is to punish criminal behavior, while another is to preserve public health.Īnother noted structural functionalist, Robert Merton (1910–2003), pointed out that social processes often have many functions. Each of these social facts serves one or more functions within a society. Social facts are the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions, rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life (Durkheim 1895). In a healthy society, all parts work together to maintain stability, a state called dynamic equilibrium by later sociologists such as Parsons (1961).ĭurkheim believed that individuals may make up society, but in order to study society, sociologists have to look beyond individuals to social facts. Alfred Radcliff-Brown (1881–1955) defined the function of any recurrent activity as the part it played in social life as a whole, and therefore the contribution it makes to social stability and continuity (Radcliff-Brown 1952). He believed that to study society, a sociologist must look beyond individuals to social facts such as laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashion, and rituals, which all serve to govern social life. ![]() Durkheim believed that society is a complex system of interrelated and interdependent parts that work together to maintain stability (Durkheim 1893), and that society is held together by shared values, languages, and symbols. Émile Durkheim, another early sociologist, applied Spencer’s theory to explain how societies change and survive over time. The parts of society that Spencer referred to were the social institutions, or patterns of beliefs and behaviors focused on meeting social needs, such as government, education, family, healthcare, religion, and the economy. Functionalism grew out of the writings of English philosopher and biologist, Hebert Spencer (1820–1903), who saw similarities between society and the human body he argued that just as the various organs of the body work together to keep the body functioning, the various parts of society work together to keep society functioning (Spencer 1898). ![]() \)įunctionalism, also called structural-functional theory, sees society as a structure with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the individuals in that society. ![]()
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