He believed that institutions such as the family, education system, and government were responsible for meeting these needs. These included things like food, shelter, and reproduction. Parsons argued that every society had certain functional prerequisites, or basic needs that must be met in order for the society to survive. Talcott Parsons built upon Durkheim’s ideas and developed a more elaborate framework for understanding how different parts of society worked together to maintain equilibrium. His ideas continue to influence contemporary sociologists who study topics such as crime, education, and religion from a sociological perspective. According to Durkheim, individuals are bound together by their shared understanding of what is right and wrong, which serves as a powerful force for maintaining social cohesion.ĭurkheim’s contribution to functionalist theory helped shape our understanding of how different parts of society work together to maintain stability and order. Collective consciousness refers to the shared beliefs, values, and attitudes that exist within a society. For example, he saw religion as a way of promoting social solidarity and providing individuals with a sense of meaning and purpose.ĭurkheim also emphasized the importance of collective consciousness in maintaining social order. He believed that these structures served a purpose in society by fulfilling important functions that contributed to the overall well-being of the community.

This idea formed the basis of his functionalist approach to the sociological perspective.ĭurkheim argued that social structures such as institutions, norms, and values were necessary for maintaining social cohesion.

He compared society to an organism with different parts working together to maintain stability and order. Émile Durkheim is widely considered one of the key founders of functionalist theory. The theory was heavily influenced by early sociological thinkers, including Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, and Emile Durkheim. Final Thoughts about Functionalist Theory as a key Sociological Perspective Origins of Functionalist Theoryįunctionalist theory emerged as a sociological perspective in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during a time when sociologists were seeking to understand the complex changes brought about by industrialization and urbanization.Merton: An American sociologist, Merton’s idea of functionalism had to do with standardized social/cultural beliefs that were functional for both society and the individual. Émile Durkheim: A French sociologist, Durkheim has several well-known works, which include The Rules of Sociological Method, The Division of Labour in Society and Suicide.So if lung cancer rates skyrocket due to smoking, society will, eventually, look at that and go “holy cow, we need to make sure fewer people smoke!” and that’s what will cause social change.įunctionalism is a MACRO view of society, meaning that it takes society as a whole and analyzes it from a distance, rather than on an individual basis. All of society’s institutions and structures are interdependent and when one of them has a problem, the rest compensate to continue to allow society to function smoothly.įunctionalism can be viewed as a sort of “let things handle themselves” way of looking at society, as the belief can be summed up as “things will work themselves out”. You can think of a functionalist’s view of society as one would look at the different systems of the body. In FUNCTIONALISM, society is viewed as a collection of social structures, all of which depend on and affect each other. These various ways are also called THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS. FUNCTIONALISM, also called STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM, is a way of approaching a problem or scenario.

Structural functionalism theory