One of the most important is the structural-functional approach in the analysis of social phenomena. Almost the entire theory of organizations is based on research and the practice of applying this approach. The concept of functionalism was founded by David Emil Dürgheim, who was the first to formulate problems concerning the functional division of labor in organization and the interconnectedness of the functions of system units. His contribution to sociology is hard to overestimate. Further, the structural-functional approach was studied and developed by anthropologists Alfred Redcliff-Brown and Bronislav Casper Malinovsky. They considered society - a social object as an adaptive system, where all the elements of the structure serve the satisfaction of the needs of the entire system and ensure that it exists in the environment. Also, Auguste Comte had an exceptionally great influence on the formation of this science, and a special place in this article will be devoted to his research.
System
The concept characterizing the system is fundamental in the structural-functional approach to building a model of society. This is a series of components or elements that are more or less stably interconnected over a certain period of time. A distinctive feature of the system is the desire for balance. Despite the fact that the counteraction never has the same strength, despite the fact that it can not be permanent or finite, the system is characterized by the ability to achieve a balance between all counteractions. American sociologists studying the structural-functional approach emphasize that the time factor in the system model means much less than the dynamic processes occurring in it, which always prevail over statics.
Life in general does not differ in staticity, something constantly happens there: new people are born, old ones die, but the institutional structures still function and contribute to the solution of certain urgent tasks that time poses to it. That is why Talcott Parsons, who significantly enriched the systems approach and structural-functional analysis, included the postulates of the concept of evolution in his research arsenal. Thus, the idea of equilibrium expanded, incorporating the principles of development along with the principle of self-preservation.
Equilibrium
Like any biological organism, a social group is described as existing in a constant state of mobile dynamic equilibrium. Under the influence of opposing forces penetrating into a balanced system, new incentives for development appear. The social system is balanced, and therefore it adapts to any disturbing influences, introduces a new into the functional system and establishes a different level of equilibrium. That is why a constantly changing society and maintains stability, acquiring ever new forms of social integration. The structural-functional approach in the study allowed Talcott Parsons to develop a theory of evolutionary change.
Its essence is that the scientist rejects the idea of a simple linear continuous process of the evolution of society, instead he put forward the hypothesis that any society tends to become more differentiated in its own functions and structures. However, just differentiation is clearly not enough, because all new structures are functionally more adapted than the departed ones. Differentiation of society was presented by sociologists as the main criterion for its evolution. Robert Bella defined evolution as a continuous process of growth of differentiation, organizational complexity, providing the body or social system with ever greater abilities to adapt to the environment, that is, new formations in society are more autonomous relative to their environment, they are more complex than their ancestors.
Development
Differentiation of a similar plan can be interpreted by broader evolutionary categories - as a progressive development from a primitive society (the ideal type, where all roles are prescribed and distributed, and the division of labor is always family). In social development, there are various stages of differentiation and specialization. Parsons and Bella made an enormous contribution to all major areas of sociology. They distinguished the stages of differentiation as follows: primitive societies, then archaic, intermediate historical empires, mother societies (Greece and Israel), early modern and late modern societies. Also, the alignment of the stages was most fully applied to the religious sphere, where five ideal types were the stage development scheme.
They (five types) are considered a relatively stable expression of approximately equal difficulty, given the combination of different characteristics. The latter consist of social functions, religious institutions, religious activities and systems of religious symbols. Parsons distinguishes between three different types of society: a primitive type, with little differentiation; intermediate, when writing appeared and social stratification began; the modern type of society, when the legal system was separated from the religious and the administrative bureaucracy, a market economy, and the electoral system were formed.
Patterns
The basis of all the laws of society’s life is a change in the form of social consciousness, first of all, it concerns ethical and psychological phenomena, that is, customs, norms, changes in values and the like. The core of every society, if we consider it as a system, is a normative structured order, due to which the life of the collective becomes organized. Like any order, it contains certain rules and norms that are related to culture, which is why it is legitimate and significant. The order also defines the understanding of membership, that is, certain differences between different people, where the main thing is belonging and non-belonging to this society.
Any society is systemic, it consists of many social subsystems, and each subsystem must have a set of basic functions. First of all, this is a subsystem of adaptation, since the system must adapt to any environment; subsystem of goal achievement, which defines goals and implements their achievement; an integration subsystem that connects all elements together due to their functions, and a sample retention subsystem that transfers information about the past to next generations. The basis for the stability of any social system is the connection and interaction of subsystems with each other and with the general system, as well as with the environment. Then there will be order, that is, the dominance of consensus over the conflict.
Consent
There are two ways in which consensus is reached in society. The first is sociologization, when social values pass from generation to generation (the main mechanism for the transfer of values). The evolutionary process is long, as a result of its movement, modern society has learned to institutionalize services, elevating them to the professional field, creating functioning collectives and bureaucratic organizations. The functional relations of man and society are connected precisely with the contribution that man makes to public life. This is the essence of the structural-functional approach to the study of societies. It so happened that in the most differentiated societies, the production of services has become a source of its development, which is mobilized through the market. Services are a product of the economic process. But this does not mean that consumption does not exist in a non-economic context.
The second way to reach agreement in society is the creation of various control mechanisms, including public control over human behavior, which is most often territorial in nature, since it is influenced by numerous relationships - from place of residence and workplace to religious and political activities. The structural and functional approach to management is connected with the responsibility function for the developed territorially uniform order of social life in its internal and external aspects. The first aspect is the imposition of general norms in all divisions of society. The second works to prevent the destructive activities of all who are not members of this team. But both aspects of social life cannot do without the use of physical force: the internal enemy - to prison, and the external - war.
Key Points
The structural and functional approach in sociology from the point of view of Parsons is guided by the following provisions. Any social systems are always looking for stability, they are integrated and based on harmony. Social life requires social control and the responsibilities of each individual, and its basis is shared values and norms. Social life depends on interaction, cooperation and solidarity.
The scientist saw the specifics of social action in explanations of the theory of psychoanalysis, separating the physical and biological effects. The differences between them consist only in symbolism, normativity and voluntarism, and the main elements are the certainty of the situation, the conditions of activity, the actors themselves, their goals, norms and rules of behavior, as well as the methods used to achieve these goals. All these elements make up the system and each of them performs its function.
The meaning of situations
Social action is always deliberate and also has a certain subjective meaning. Any situation can be considered a situation - social, cultural, physical, those that are currently the most relevant. Actors always have (or should have) knowledge of the conditions in which the goal is realized, as well as the items with which you have to deal. They feel the need to achieve a goal and emotionally respond to their own activities.
In the structure of social action, the determining system of values and norms that will correlate the goal and situation, while limiting the choice of means and setting the desired range with a set of possibilities and impossible. Decisions are made individually, depending on the existing means and conditions. In a sense, any action is the action of the individual, but the cultural system and the entire social organism contain very significant elements that cannot be investigated on an individual level.
Auguste Comte
Back in the eighteenth century, Auguste Comte managed to develop a model of the three stages of the development of society: the first is religious, the second is metaphysical and the third is positive. The founder of the structural-functional approach and sociology as such believed that the society in which he lives is on the verge of transition to the third - positive - stage. To realize such a transition, society needs to find new knowledge about its own structure, and not critically philosophical, but positive, scientific. Comte called the new science sociology, by analogy with the names of other emerging natural science disciplines - biology, physiology, and the like.
This turned out to be a science with a historical foundation, the science of human society, and it was the youngest in the encyclopedia of sciences, which was also composed by Auguste Comte. He tried to explain the laws of social development and arrangement, and most importantly, put the policy on a scientific basis so that it could serve the progress of society and man. The roots of the new science turned out to be historical, but its essence is closer to mathematics or astronomy, since it is complex. And without mastering mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics, biology, a sociologist will not work. Comte wanted to see the way through social disasters to order and progress. And so the main social laws were found - social statics and dynamics.
Statics and dynamics
Social statics is engaged in public order, that is, the harmony of the elements that build relationships in a community, at the same time exploring the structure, conditions of existence of society and its laws. Social statics acts at a given moment in time, analyzing the elements that make up consensus, in other words, it creates a team.
Social dynamics studies the same society in its development. Here again appears three-stage as a form of political organization of social structures. First, the theological stage with military domination, then the metaphysical stage with the domination of feudal lords, and finally the positive stage with industrial civilization. The inequality of social groups is explained by the level of development of society. The law of progress is fundamental in social dynamics.
Appearance story
The general theory of systems has given rise to a systems approach along with structural functionalism. Closest to the sources now turned out to be biology and cybernetics. In the twenties of the last century, the cell and its interactions with the environment were investigated. It was then that the concept of a system appeared as a set of interconnected elements.
And in the fifties, the science of management was born, where communication and information processing dominated. The theory of systems appeared not in mathematics, not in physics, and not in astronomy. It was first substantiated by Talcott Parsons as a concept of a social system. Following she appeared in political science.