Structural functionalism views society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. It argues that social institutions like the economy and education work interdependently to maintain social order. However, it fails to account for differences between social groups and assumes they all share the same goals. It also views motivation as a zero-sum game where gains for one group mean losses for others, neglecting that groups have varying starting points and motivations. While structural functionalism emphasizes the importance of economic institutions, conflict theory highlights issues of control, alienation and problems in the workplace that functionalism overlooks.

1. What is Structural Functionalism?
According to (Structural Functionalism: Definition, Theory & Examples,

2. Direction: You are given a chance to write a letter
addressed to the President of the Philippines.
What would you tell him about the structure of
our political condition and government as we
face this time?

3. Structural Functionalism in Theory
During the 19th century, the world was becoming a much smaller space. Trains
and steamships had linked the world in a way no one had thought possible
Emile Durkheim - started to think that society was made up of building blocks that were focused
towards a common goal.

4.  In structural functionalism, individual institutions work together in
service of the whole. For example, this image of a circular flow of
money through an economy demonstrates how something that
almost everyone can agree on, education, is made into a goal. Of
course, this only worked as long as everyone was focused. If one
group disagreed on where society is going, then the whole thing
falls apart. These social bonds are very important.

5.  However, structural functionalism had a serious problem. It
was too far removed from actual society. It assumed that these
blocks were homogenous, all wanting the same thing. Also, it
thought that all motivation was a zero-sum game, meaning
that there had to be winners and losers. After all, if you
increase funding for the police department, that money had
to come from somewhere, right?

6.  However, structural functionalism had a serious problem. It
was too far removed from actual society. It assumed that these
blocks were homogenous, all wanting the same thing. Also, it
thought that all motivation was a zero-sum game, meaning
that there had to be winners and losers. After all, if you
increase funding for the police department, that money had
to come from somewhere, right?

7.  This all neglects that groups can have different starting points
and different motivations. For a two-person dog catching
team, an extra $50,000 in funding is a big deal, while for a
forty-person police department, it is relatively minor. To put
that into real world terms, structural functionalism assumed
that all of society's groups are always equal, which is simply
not the case. Just turn on the news or watch any political
debate and you'll see that many groups of society are
anything but equal

8.  Functionalism emphasizes the importance of the economy for
any society, and the income and self-fulfillment that work
often provides. Conflict theory highlights the control of the
economy by the economic elite, the alienation of work, and
various problems in the workplace.

9.  The structural-functional approach is based on the view that a political system is
made up of several key components, including interest groups, political parties and
branches of government
 The structural-functional approach is derived from earlier uses of functionalism
and systems models in anthropology, sociology, biology, and political science
 Structural functionalism became popular around 1960 when it became clear that
ways of studying U.S. and European politics were not useful in studying newly
independent countries, and that a new approach was needed.
www.shsph.blogspot.com 8 Structural-functionalism assumes that a bounded
(nation-state) system exists, and studies structures in terms of their function(s)
within the system.