Emergence of a functional paradigm: A. R Radcliffe-Brown and R. K. Merton

1. EMERGENCE OF A
FUNCTIONALIST
PARADIGM

2. "The totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the
average members of a society forms a determinate system
with a life of its own. It can be termed the collective or
creative consciousness."
—The Division of Labour (1893)

3. ➤ Functionalism- mid 1940s through to the early 1960s
➤ Each aspect of society depends on each other and each contributes to the
overall stability and functioning of that society
➤ Emphasis on social order
➤ Analogy to the human body- a comparison that Comte, Durkeim and other
functionalists made
➤ Similar to human body, analysing the function of some aspect of society such
as religion means showing its part in the continued existence and health of a
society
➤ Different social institutions exists because each one has a particular function
➤ Religion, politics, culture and all other social institutions are functional in the
society and helps in maintaining order
➤ Relationship between part and the whole

4. ➤ To study the function of a social activity is to analyse its
contribution to the continuation of the society as a whole
➤ Functionalism emphasises the importance of moral consensus
exists when most people share the same values
➤ Order and balance as the normal state of society- social
equilibrium is grounded in a moral consensus among the
members of society
➤ For instance, Durkheim argued that the religion reaffirms
people’s adherence to core social values, thereby helping to
maintain social cohesion
➤ Talcott Parsons and Robert K Merton- pioneers in functionalism

5. INTELLECTUAL ROOTS OF FUNCTIONALISM
➤ However, the idea of ‘functionalist analysis’ in social science existed long time
before- Herbert Spencer
➤ American Sociology- organicism and evolutionary theory-organic analogy-society
should be studied as a systemic whole by analysing its component parts, the
interrelationships between them and functions that they fulfil for the total society
➤ Vilfredo Pareto- centrality of mechanisms to keep or restore a social system to a
state of (dynamic) equilibrium as well as for his sharp distinction between
subjective goals and objective outcomes
➤ So functionalist ideas were already there in American Sociology- with parsons,
systematic approach developed
➤ Early Functionalist thought in British Anthropology
➤ Functionalism- analysis of the part-whole relationship, with the nature of the
part being understood in terms of its contribution to the whole
➤ Society as an entity over and above individuals— Durkheim

6. A.R RADCLIFFE BROWN

7. A.R RADCLIFFE BROWN
➤ In British Anthropology, functionalism was revolutionary, more
scientific and empirical- rejected the traditional way of explaining
aspects of social life in terms of their history (criticised explanations as
speculative and imaginative and empirically baseless reconstructions)
➤ Pioneers- A.R Radcliffe Brown, S.F Nadel, E.R Leach, Raymond Firth,
Mayer Fortes, E Evans Pritchard
➤ Eg.men’s handshaking (shaking hands was means showing that no
weapon was concealed). The practice has survived but the purpose it
once had has been lost.(But, for the functionalists, even if a `survival’
account were true, it would not be explanatory of contemporary
practice)
➤ Versions of functionalism- A.R Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955) and
Bronislaw Malinowski {Father of Social Anthropology} (1884-1942)

8. ➤ Malinowski’s assertion `that every item of culture, every
custom and belief, represents a value, fulfils a social function’-
theory of instrumental needs
➤ Every individual have some needs and society/culture satisfies
these needs through different social institutions (eg. one
needs to reproduce or satisfy sexual urge; how one can
reproduce in a culture?; through the social institution of
marriage and family)- more scientific methodology
➤ Influenced by Malinowski, RadcliffeBrown further expanded
➤ Theory of Structural-Functionalism
➤ Two aspects- structure and function

9. ➤ According to Radcliffe Brown, functionalism consisted in establishing the
necessary conditions for the existence of a society; society as a social
system- need to generate and preserve the integration of society must
satisfy such conditions for their continued existence; the needs of society
emphasises more biological needs, focused upon the level of society’s
organisation
➤ It is not only the function, but the larger structures that gives more
understanding about the cultures in a given society- Why society function
the way it does by focusing on the relationship between various social
institutions that make up a society- family, marriage, religion, kinship,
economy, political organisation etc- relationship between these various
institutions- all of these make up society as a whole!
➤ Basic idea- society or culture can be understood by analysing its
structural-functional properties

10. STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONAL FEATURES OF SOCIAL LIFE-BROWN
➤ Existence of social group- one has to see that there is an existence of
social group and this social group basically has an internal structure of
this group-no social group is without a structure and structure means
arrangements into social classes (for eg. gender relations between men
and women) the social classes forms the base portion of the structure -
Apart from social structure, there are individual social distinctions (eg.
leader, head of the family etc)-every individual have one’s own social
distinctions among them and these persons are arranged in a dyadic
relationship (eg. in a family there’s a dyadic relationship between a wife
and a husband, brother and sister etc)- all these relationships leads to a
larger structural whole; that is the social structure; according to Brown,
social structure is the existing social relation of a society; to analyse a
society/culture you should look at how people are related to each other
and how these interactions are going on between groups and persons.

11. ➤ According to him, these things can be put under a law but not
completely a scientific law
➤ We can see generalisation of common opinion
➤ How every individuals in the society has common opinion
about how to organise themselves; there are no individual
differences; thats why we call it as a structural whole
➤ In a specific culture in a specific time there are common
opinion about everything
➤ According to Brown, “Scientific” means “Careful Examination”
➤ The functional aspects should be seen systematically in a
scientific way

12. CRITICISM
➤ Criticised for failing to consider the effect of historical
changes in the societies he studied, especially the in
addressing the changes brought about by colonialism
➤ His analysis of society, that saw social institutions as
functionally interdependent parts of the society working as a
giant organism, is considered an oversimplification
➤ Edward E. Pritchard, who was Radcliffe-Brown’s early
follower and eventually replaced him at Oxford, later
denounced structural-functionalism as a form of reductionist.

13. ROBERT K MERTON

14. ➤ Prominent American Sociologist known for his pathbreaking concepts like
Middle Range Theories, Latent and Manifest Functions and Anomie
➤ According to him, the functional theories of Brown and Malinowski, which
were formulated to deals with the realities of a simpler tribal society,
isolated from the rest of the world, could not be applied to contemporary
societies of our own time, which are complex and where historical
traditions have overlapped with social institutions over several centuries
➤ Therefore, Merton argued that an institution such as religion, which is
universally integrative in simple tribal societies, may cause disharmony in
our own society, where there are many religions, which often compete
against each other
➤ So, religion, instead being functional (integrative) may become
dysfunctional (disintegrative) in society

15. ➤ According to Merton, the major part of sociological explanation consists
in uncovering the latent functions of social activities and institutions
➤ He modified earlier functionalist view and criticised the three
fundamental postulates of earlier functionalist and suggested their
modification in following paradigms:
1.Modification of postulate of functional unity- according to him, social
reality has to be viewed in terms of a system and various objects or
phenomena ensure the unity of the system. Durkheim, Spencer and
Radcliffe Brown emphasised on functional unity. Merton argued that
today’s world is complex and it is not necessary that whatever exists
provides the function of unity of the system. Investigator has to study
dysfunction and non-functions of a particular social item as well. This idea was
novel in functionalist approach as earlier structural functionalist never
looked beyond pure integrative functionalist perspective

16. 2. Modification of postulate of functional indispensability-
earlier, functionalists like Radcliffe Brown and Parsons argued
that there are some indispensable functions to be performed
in the society and there are also some social institutions
which are indispensable to perform such functions. However,
Merton argued that social items are not indispensable in nature
and there may be functional alternatives. I.e., the same function
may be performed by different items as well. By recognising
that some structures are expendable, functionalism opens the
way for meaningful social change.

17. Merton states that, just as the same item may have multiple functions, so
may the same function be diversely fulfilled by alternative items. Our society,
for example, could continue to exist (and even be improved) by the
elimination of discrimination against various minority groups.
Similarly, one can argue that Indian society will perhaps be a better
place if caste is not there.
3. Modification of postulate of universal functionalism- Earlier
functions believed that all existing social and cultural forms are
invariably functional and fulfil some positive function. Merton
argued that the context in which the social item is studied
should also be taken into account. The item may be functional in
one context and dysfunctional in other context. He also
distinguished between latent and manifest functions

18. ➤ Manifest functions- intended by the participants in a social
activity
➤ Latent functions- consequences of that activity of which
participants are unaware
➤ He used the example of a rain dance performed by the Hopi
tribe of Arizona and New Mexico; the Hopi believe that the
ceremony will bring the rain they need for their corps
(manifest function); so they organise and participate; but
using Durkheim’s theory of religion, Merton argued that the
rain dance also promotes the cohesion of Hopi society (latent
function)

19. READING EXERCISE
➤ Durkheim-The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (Allen
and Unwin, 1976).
➤ Radcliffe-Brown’s study- Structure and Function in Primitive
Society (1952)
➤ Barnard, A. (n.d.). Functionalism and structural-
functionalism. History and Theory in Anthropology, 61–79.
doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808111.006

20. ACTIVITIES
➤ Society or culture can be understood by analysing its
structural-functional properties. Discuss
➤ Structural-functionalism as reductionism
➤ List out some manifest and latent function of a university

21. REFERENCES
➤ Alan Barnard, Jonathan Spencer - Encyclopedia of Social and
Cultural Anthropology-Routledge (2010)
➤ A. R. Radcliffe-Brown - Structure and Function in Primitive
Society Essays and Addresses (1952) (ch. 9 & 10)
➤ Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier, Richard P
. Appelbaum,
Deborah Carr - Introduction to Sociology (Seagull Ninth
Edition)-W. W. Norton & Company (2013).pdf
➤ Adam Kuper - Anthropology and anthropologists_ the modern
British school-Routledge (1983) Pg-37-68