Structural Functionalism

Although it was once the dominant sociological theory, structural functionalism is now more of a relic. Recent decades have seen this theoretical orientation slip into the background as more contemporary theories (including neofunctionalism) have taken its place.

Structural functionalism is one type of consensus theory—it posits that society is based on mutual agreements, sees the creation and maintenance of shared values and norms as crucial to society, and views social change as a slow, orderly process. Examples of prominent consensus theorists include Auguste Comte, Émile Durkheim, Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton. These theories stand in contrast to conflict theories, such as those of Karl Marx, that view the world as based on a system of oppressive hierarchies, social order at the whim of dominant groups, and social change as rapid and disorderly resulting from struggles between groups.

The term structural functionalism can be broken down into its constituent parts. An analysis can be made of structures without reference to functions, and conversely, an analysis can be made of functions without reference to structures. Generally, however, these two are used in conjunction with one another. Furthermore, most theorists in this field were particularly interested in societal functionalism, or the specific structures and functions of society as a whole.

Parsons (1937, 1970) was the founder of, and perhaps the most prominent contributor to, structural functionalism. He was concerned with the question of how society was able to maintain order and not fall into utter chaos. He answered this question from the viewpoint of structural functionalism and outlined what he believed are its major tenets: (1) Systems are ordered and their parts are all interdependent; (2) systems tend toward a goal of equilibrium or self-maintenance; (3) systems may be either inert or change in an ordered manner; (4) each part of the system has an effect on the forms the other parts can take; (5) systems create and maintain boundaries separating them from their environments; (6) allocation and integration are necessary for a system to reach a certain state of equilibrium; and (7) systems will tend toward self-maintenance by maintaining their boundaries, the interdependent relationship among parts, and the relationship between parts and the whole; by controlling variations in the environment; and by controlling tendencies of the system to change from within.

In addition to structures, Parsons was also concerned with functions. Parsons saw functions as those activities that had the goal of fulfilling a need of the system. He believed that there were four necessary functional imperatives of all systems: [A] adaptation (how a system copes with its outside environment by both adapting to it and by adapting the environment to meet the needs of the system), [G] goal attainment (the definition and achievement of the primary goals of the system), [I] integration (how the system regulates the relationship of its various parts as well as the relationship among the other three functional imperatives), and [L] latency, or pattern maintenance (how the system provides, maintains, and rejuvenates the motivation of individuals and the cultural patterns that stimulate and maintain that motivation). These functional imperatives are known as Parsons's AGIL scheme.

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