Functionalist perspective or structural functionalism is a methodological approach in sociology and sociocultural anthropology. This framework interprets society as a social system having its own structure and mechanisms of interaction of structural elements, each of which performs its specified function. The basic idea of structural functionalism is the idea of social order, that is, the immanent desire of any system to maintain its own balance, coordinate its various elements, and achieve agreement between them. The structural elements in this approach are any stable patterns of human activity. Social systems are systems formed by the states and processes of social interaction between actors. The structure of these systems can be analyzed using four types of variables, such as values, norms, collective organizations, and roles. Since the social system itself is formed by the interactions of human individuals, each participant is simultaneously an actor possessing certain goals, ideas, attitudes, and an object of orientation, both for other actors and himself or herself.
The core of the social system is a structured regulatory order through which collective life is organized. Similarly, to order, to be meaningful and legitimate, it contains values that are differentiated and streamlined rules and norms that are related to culture. The collective of people that are covered by the regulatory system is under its jurisdiction, called the societal community. Thus, the social system acts as a structure consisting of values, norms, collective organizations, and roles. These four structural categories in a conceptual framework are related to specific functional requirements. In other words, to exist and develop, to be vital, any social system must meet four basic functional needs. These are adaptation, goal attainment, integration and retention, and conservation. Four functional requirements are fulfilled by the four systems mentioned above components, personified by certain social institutions.
The overall perspective was developed by a single individual, but its further development and modifications were conducted by a number of other sociologists. The founder and developer of structural functionalism are considered the famous American sociologist Talcott Parsons, who, in his studies, relied on the classical concepts of Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim (Turner, 2017). Parsons’ student, Robert Merton, made a great deal of contribution to the development of the approach and its adaptation to practice. In particular, Merton paid great attention to the problem of dysfunctions.
The reading allowed me to see the entire societies as a set of functional units comprised of a large number of individuals. The perspective puts more emphasis on collective functional structures, which makes the collectivistic approach more sensible rather than pure individualism. The theory manifests itself in highly abstract phenomena, such as values and norms, which hold the whole society and allow it to function properly.
The functionalist perspective can be used in social work practice by understanding social structures as a single unit comprised of individuals. Each unit performs a specific function and cooperates with others to achieve its primary objective. The theory is highly applicable in social network analysis due to the presence of similar tenets and assumptions (Cornwell & Laumann, 2016). The network subunits are directly interlinked, which supports the key idea of the functionalist perspective of interdependence through adherence to norms and values. Social workers can use these frameworks in order to understand the external influences on an individual and to view him or her as a part of a larger functional structure.
References
Cornwell, B., & Laumann, E. O. (2016). If Parsons had PAJEK: The relevance of midcentury structural-functionalism to dynamic network analysis. Journal of Social Structure, 17, 1-33.
Turner, J. H. (2017). Functionalism. The Wiley‐Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social Theory, 1-9.