Societies are seen as coherent, bounded and fundamentally relational constructs, who function like organisms, with their various parts (social institutions) working together to maintain and reproduce them. The central concern of structural-functionalism was a continuation of the Durkheimian task of explaining the apparent stability and internal cohesion of societies which are necessary to ensure its continued existence over time. Structural-functionalism also took on Malinowski's argument that the basic building block of society is the nuclear family, and that clans are therefore an outgrowth of families, not vice versa (Barnard, 2000 Layton, 1997 Kuper, 1988) Consequently, he proposed that most stateless 'primitive' societies that lack strong centralised institutions or government are based on an association of such corporate descent groups. Radcliffe-Brown held that unilineal forms of organisation are efficient mechanisms to transmit social status as well as rights and duties between generations independent of the individuals within them, thus ensuring social stability and the continuous reproduction of the social system. Explanations of social phenomena therefore had to be constructed within this social level, with individuals merely being transient occupants of comparatively stable social roles. He espoused a strong sociological perspective of society which was continued by Radcliffe-Brown, who, following Auguste Comte, believed that the social constituted a separate 'level' of reality distinct from both the biological and from inorganic matter. Based on the metaphor of an organism in which many parts function together to sustain the whole, Durkheim argued that complex societies are held together by organic solidarity. In modern, complex societies members perform very different tasks, meaning that a strong interdependence develops between them. Durkheim proposed that such societies tend to be segmentary, being composed of equivalent parts that are held together by shared values, common symbols, or, as his nephew Mauss held, systems of exchanges. In 'primitive' societies it was mechanical solidarity, the fact that everybody performed similar tasks, that held society together. He sought to explain social cohesion and stability through the concept of solidarity. Durkheim was concerned with the question how societies maintain internal stability and survive over time. Structural-functionalism drew its inspiration primarily from the ideas of Emile Durkheim, Bronisław Malinowski and Radcliffe-Brown.

2 Structural functionalism and unilineal descent.His analysis of it, in terms of function and structure, drew examples from the British anthropologists. In 'Social Theory and Social Structure' (1949/1957) Robert Merton called this 'A Paradigm for Functional Analysis in Sociology'. It could be argued that the term 'structural functionalism' emerged as a retrospective description of the theories of the British anthropologists and as a description of the emerging sociological research paradigm in the United States. 'the systematisation of theory in the present state of knowledge must be in structural-functional terms'. In the United States, Talcott Parsons published The Social System in 1951 ,in which he wrote that In Britain, the collected essays of Alfred Radcliffe-Brown (1881-1955) were published in 1952Īs 'Structure and Function in Primitive Society'. The term structural functionalism has origins in British anthropology and US sociology.

Structural functionalism emphasizes the aspects of social institutions and behavior that are conducive to stability and order within society. Structural functionalism is a range of theoretical perspectives within anthropology and sociology that addresses the relationship of social activity to an overall social system. This banner appears on articles that are weak and whose contents should be approached with academic caution. Please help recruit one, or improve this page yourself if you are qualified. This article is in need of attention from a psychologist/academic expert on the subject.

Structural functional theory and family