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Structural-Functional Theory Overview

Structural-functional theory views society as a structure of interrelated parts that work together to meet individuals' needs. It grew from Herbert Spencer's view that social institutions like government, education, and religion function together like organs in the body. Émile Durkheim applied this theory, arguing that society is held together by shared values and social facts like laws and customs that serve functions. He studied how religion affected suicide rates. Robert Merton noted that social processes have manifest functions, which are intended consequences, and latent functions, which are unintended. Education has manifest functions of learning and career preparation, and latent functions like socializing, though it can also have dysfunctions like failure to graduate or find work.

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128 views1 page

Structural-Functional Theory Overview

Structural-functional theory views society as a structure of interrelated parts that work together to meet individuals' needs. It grew from Herbert Spencer's view that social institutions like government, education, and religion function together like organs in the body. Émile Durkheim applied this theory, arguing that society is held together by shared values and social facts like laws and customs that serve functions. He studied how religion affected suicide rates. Robert Merton noted that social processes have manifest functions, which are intended consequences, and latent functions, which are unintended. Education has manifest functions of learning and career preparation, and latent functions like socializing, though it can also have dysfunctions like failure to graduate or find work.

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Neelotpala Alapati
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Structural-functional theory, also called functionalism, sees society as a structure

with interrelated parts designed to meet the biological and social needs of the
individuals in that society. 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). 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.
Émile Durkheim, another early sociologist, applied Spencer’s theory to explain how
societies change and survive over time. 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. Durkheim believed that individuals may make up society,
but in order to study society, sociologists have to look beyond individuals to social
facts. Social facts are the laws, morals, values, religious beliefs, customs, fashions,
rituals, and all of the cultural rules that govern social life (Durkheim 1895). Each of
these social facts serves one or more functions within a society. 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 safety.
Although suicide is generally considered an individual phenomenon, Émile Durkheim
was interested in studying the social factors that affect it. He studied social ties within
a group, or social solidarity, and hypothesized that differences in suicide rates
might be explained by religion-based differences. Durkheim gathered a large amount
of data about Europeans who had ended their lives, and he did indeed find
differences based on religion. Protestants were more likely to commit suicide than
Catholics in Durkheim’s society, and his work on this topic demonstrated the utility of
theory for sociological research.
Another noted structural functionalist, Robert Merton (1910–2003), pointed out that
social processes often have many functions. 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. A manifest function
of college education, for example, includes gaining knowledge, preparing for a
career, and finding a good job that utilizes that education. Latent functions of your
college years include meeting new people, participating in extracurricular activities,
or even finding a spouse or partner. Another latent function of education is creating a
hierarchy of employment based on the level of education attained. Latent functions
can be beneficial, neutral, or harmful. Social processes that have undesirable
consequences for the operation of society are called dysfunctions. In education,
examples of dysfunction include getting bad grades, truancy, dropping out, not
graduating, and not finding suitable employment.

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