UNIVERSITY OF GUJRAT

Functionalist
Perspective
Sociology
Shumaila Irum # 026

What is the functionalist perspective in

sociology
According to the functionalist perspective of sociology, each aspect of society is interdependent
and contributes to society's stability and functioning as a whole. For example, the government
provides education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state
depends to keep itself running. That is, the family is dependent upon the school to help children
grow up to have good jobs so that they can raise and support their own families. In the process,
the children become law-abiding, taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the state.
If all goes well, the parts of society produce order, stability, and productivity. If all does not go
well, the parts of society then must adapt to recapture a new order, stability, and productivity. For
example, during a financial recession with its high rates of unemployment and inflation, social
programs are trimmed or cut. Schools offer fewer programs. Families tighten their budgets. And
a new social order, stability, and productivity occur.
Functionalism
Functionalists believe that society is held together by social consensus, in which members of the
society agree upon, and work together to achieve, what is best for society as a whole. This stands
apart from the other two main sociological perspectives:
Symbolic internationalism:
Which focuses on how people act according to their interpretations of the meaning of their
world.
Conflict theory:
Which focuses on the negative, conflicted, ever-changing nature of society.
Functionalism has received criticism for neglecting the negative functions of an event, such as
divorce. Critics also claim that the perspective justifies the status quo and complacency on the
part of society's members. Functionalism does not encourage people to take an active role in
changing their social environment, even when such change may benefit them. Instead,
functionalism sees active social change as undesirable because the various parts of society will
compensate naturally for any problems that may arise.

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Robert K. Merton
He was born Meyer R. Schkolnick on July 4, 1910, in Philadelphia, into a working class Eastern
European Jewish immigrant family. Educated in the South Philadelphia High School, he became
a frequent visitor of the nearby Andrew Carnegie Library, The Academy of Music, Central
Library, Museum of Arts, and other cultural and educational centers.
He changed his name at the age of 14 from Meyer R. Schkolnick to Robert Merlin, after the
Merlin of Arthurian legend. However, friends convinced him that the name was too "magical,"
and he changed it to Merton.Merton started his sociological career under the guidance of George
E. Simpson at Temple College (1927-1931), and Pitrim Sorokin at Harvard University (19311936).
It is a popular misconception that Robert K. Merton was one of Talcott Parsons students.
Parsons was only a junior member of his dissertation committee, the others being Pitirim
Sorokin, Carle C. Zimmerman, and the historian of science, George Sarton. His dissertation, a
quantitative social history of the development of science in seventeenth-century England,
reflected this interdisciplinary committee (Merton 1985).
Merton was heavily influenced by Pitirim Sorokin, who tried to balance large-scale theorizing
with a strong interest in empirical research and statistical studies. Sorokin and Paul Lazarsfeld
persuaded Merton to occupy himself with "middle-range" sociological theories.
Merton taught at Harvard until 1939, when he became professor and chairman of the department
of sociology at Tulane University. In 1941, he joined the Columbia University faculty, becoming
Giddings Professor of Sociology in 1963. He was named to the university's highest academic
rank, university professor, in 1974 and became special service professor upon his retirement in
1979, a title reserved by the trustees for emeritus faculty who "'render special services to the
University."
He was associate director of the university's Bureau of Applied Social Research from 1942 to
1971. He was an adjunct faculty member at Rockefeller University and was also the first
Foundation Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation. He retired from teaching in 1984. In
recognition of his lasting contributions to scholarship and the university, Columbia established
the Robert K. Merton Professorship in the Social Sciences in 1990.

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Merton was married twice, including to fellow sociologist Harriet Zuckerman. He had two sons
and two daughters from the first marriage, including Robert C. Merton, winner of the 1997
Nobel Prize in economics. Merton died in 2003.

Talcott Parsons
He (December 13, 1902 May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist who served on the faculty
of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973.
Parsons developed a general theory for the study of society called action theory, based on the
methodological principle of voluntarism and the epistemological principle of analytical realism.
The theory attempted to establish a balance between two major methodological traditions: the
utilitarian-positivist and hermeneutic-idealistic traditions. For Parsons, voluntarism established a
third alternative between these two. More than a theory of society, Parsons presented a theory of
social evolution and a concrete interpretation of the "drives" and directions of world history.
Parsons analyzed the work of mile Durkheim and Vilfredo Pareto and evaluated their
contributions through the paradigm of voluntaristic action. Parsons was also largely responsible
for introducing and interpreting Max Weber's work to American audiences. Although he was
generally considered a major structuralist functionalist scholar, in an article late in life, Parsons
explicitly wrote that the term "functional" or "structural functionalist" were inappropriate ways
to describe the character of his theory. For Parsons, "structural functionalism" was a particular
stage in the methodological development of the social science, and "functionalism" was a
universal method; neither term was a name for any specific school. In the same way, the concept
"grand theory" is a derogatory term, which Parsons himself never used.

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