The document outlines various approaches within social sciences, focusing primarily on structural-functionalism, a theory that examines the organization of society and the interrelations of its institutions such as economy, education, and family. It emphasizes the concept of social stability through the functional and dysfunctional effects of societal elements, introducing key ideas and assumptions of functionalism along with its proponents. Additionally, it discusses criticisms of the theory, particularly regarding its inability to account for social change and existing inequalities.

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. Objectives
• At the end of the lesson, you are
expected to:
–Understand the concept of
Structural-Functionalism
–Identify the early functionalists
–Determine the manifest and latent
functions and dysfunctions of
sociocultural phenomena

4. What is Structural
Functionalism?

5. Structural- Functionalism
Focus: The organization of society and the
relationships between broad social units, such
as Institutions.
The group is the unit of analysis.
A group could be a crowd
of people in a movie theater,
or the members of a family
sitting around the dinner
table, what some call “small
groups”
Abstraction:

6. An institution is an established organization, practice,
or custom that plays a significant role in a society. It
can refer to various entities, including:
Organizations: This could be educational institutions,
governmental bodies, religious groups, or financial
entities.
Social Practices: Institutions also include social norms
and systems, such as marriage, the legal system, or
the healthcare system.
Cultural Norms: Institutions can refer to long-
standing traditions or practices that are integral to a
society's way of life, like rites of passage or traditional
ceremonies.

7. Structural -Functionalism
Corporations, factories,
university systems, and
even communities are
groups too.
Structural Functional Theory
(SFT) allows for major
institutions, such as economy,
religion, polity, education and
family to be considered groups

8. Structural Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives
A perspective is
simply a way of
looking at the
world.
A theory is a set of
interrelated propositions
or principles designed to
answer a question or
explain a particular
phenomenon; it
provides us with a
perspective

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

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

11. 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.

12. 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.

14. Structural-Functionalism
Sociological theories - help us to explain
and predict the social world in which we
live in.
The Functionalists Perspectives
The Functionalists Perspectives is based largely
on the works of Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim,
Talcott Parsons, and Robert Merton.
According to Functionalism, society is a
system of interconnected parts that work
together in harmony to maintain a state of
balance and social equilibrium for the whole.

15. Structural Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives
For example:
Each of the social institutions contributes
important functions for society: family provides a
context for reproducing, nurturing, and socializing
children. Education offers a way to transmit a
society’s skills, knowledge, and culture to its youth.
Politics provides a means of governing members of
society. Economics provides for the production,
distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
And religion provides moral guidance and an outlet
for worship of a higher power.

16. Structural -Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives
The Functionalists perspectives emphasizes
the interconnectedness of society by focusing
on how each part influences and is influenced
by other parts.
For example:
The increase in single parent and dual-earner
families has contributed to the number of
children who are failing in school because
parents have become less available to supervise
their children’s homework.

17. Structural-Functionalism
The Functionalists Perspectives
For example:
As a result of changes in technology, colleges
are offering more technical programs, and many
adults are returning to school to learn new skills that
are required in the workplace.
The increasing number of women in the
workforce has contributed to the formulation of
policies against sexual harassment and job
discrimination.

18. Structural Functionalism
Functionalists use the terms functional
and dysfunctional to describe the effects
of social elements on society.
o Elements of society are functional if they
contribute to social stability.
o They are dysfunctional if they disrupt
social stability.

19. Structural Functionalism
Some aspects of society can be both functional
and dysfunctional.
For example, crime is dysfunctional in that
it is associated with physical violence, loss of
property, and fear.
But according to Durkheim and other
functionalists, crime is also functional for
society because it leads to heightened
awareness of shared moral bonds and
increased social cohesion.

20. Structural Functionalism
Sociologists have identified two types of
functions:
A. Manifest functions are consequences
that are intended and commonly
recognized.
B. Latent functions are consequences that
are unintended and often hidden.

21. Structural Functionalism
For example:
The manifest function of education is to
transmit knowledge and skills to society’s
youth. But public elementary schools also
serve as babysitters for employed parents, and
colleges offer a place for young adults to meet
potential mates. The baby-sitting and mate-
selection functions are not the intended or
commonly recognized functions of education;
hence they are latent functions

22. Structural-Functionalism
The organization of society and the relationships between
broad social units, such as Institutions.
The group is the unit of analysis.
A group could be a crowd of people in a movie theater, or the
members of a family sitting around the dinner table, what
some call “small groups”
Corporations, factories, university systems, and even
communities are groups too.
Structural-Functional Theory (SFT) allows for major
institutions, such as economy, religion, politics, education,
and family to be considered as groups.

23. Structural-Functionalism
Background and History
The early functionalists were anthropologists (i.e., Levi- Strauss,
Radcliff-Brown, Malinowski, and others). Claude Levi-Strauss Alfred
Radcliffe-Brown Bronislaw Malinowski
They were seminal ((of a work, event, moment, or figure) strongly
influencing later developments)thinkers of the middle 1800s who made
direct observations of primitive cultures, theorizing about the
organization of these folk in relation to Western society.
Their theories were often quite simple and required only a few
assumptions. The point they were making was this: Individual and
group behavior, more often than not, serves a FUNCTION for the larger
society.

24. Who are the
proponents of this
theory?

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

26. Key Ideas Behind
the Theory

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. Key Assumptions
about the Theory

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. Criticisms about the
Theory

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

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