Structural Functionalism

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1. Approaches in Social Sciences 1. Structural-Functionalism 2. Marxism 3. Symbolic Interactionism 4. Psychoanalysis 5. Rational Choice 6. Institutionalism 7. Feminist Theory 8. Hermeneutical Phenomenology 9. Human-Environment Systems

2. Structural Functionalism

3. What is Structural Functionalism?

4. Structural Relating to the way something is built or organized .

5. Functionalism A theory that stresses the interdependence of the patterns and institutions of a society and their interaction in maintaining cultural and social unity.

6. Structural Functionalism Functionalism , 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.

7. Structural Functionalism * It is a sociological theory that attempts to explain why society functions the way it does by focusing on relationships between various social institutions that make up society.

8. Who are the proponents of this theory?

9. Theorists Responsible * Auguste Comte *Herbert Spencer * Talcott Parsons *Robert Merton *Gabriel Almond and Bingham Powell *Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore

10. Key Ideas Behind the Theory

11. Key Ideas 1. Systems have a property of order and interdependent parts. 2. Systems tend towards self-maintaining order or equilibrium. 3. The system may be static or involved in an ordered process of change.

12. Key Ideas 4. The nature of one part of the system has an impact on the form that other parts take. 5. Systems maintain boundaries within their environments.

13. Key Ideas 6. Allocation and integration are two fundamental processes necessary for a given state of equilibrium within a system. 7. Systems tend towards self-maintenance involving control of boundaries and relationships of parts to the whole, control of the environment and control of tendencies to change the system from within.

14. Key Assumptions about the Theory

15. Key Assumptions * Societies and social units have order and interdependent parts like a biological organism held together by cooperation and orderliness. * Societies and social units work toward the natural or smooth working of the system, ie towards equilibrium.

16. Key Assumptions * Societies and social units, just as natural(external) environments, are separate or distinct but adapt to each other-if one or more parts conflict with others, others must adapt.

17. Criticisms about the Theory

18. Criticisms * In the 1960s, functionalism was criticized for being unable to account for social change, or for structural contradictions and conflict. * I t ignores inequalities including race, gender, class, which causes tension and conflict.

19. Example

20. How these institutions create balance in the society. Concept map