Functionalism

  I believe that functionalism helps explain and understand society.it is the central idea that society is a whole unit, made up of related parts that work together. Functionalism is rooted in the origins of sociology. Just as a person or animal has organs that function together, so does society. And like an organism, if society is to function smoothly, its parts must work together in harmony. Functionalists say that to understand society, they need to look at both structure and function. Structure being how the parts of a society fit together to make the whole, and function being what each part does, and how it contributes to society. Institutions come about and persist because they play a function in society, promoting stability and integration. Functionalism has been criticized for its failure to account for social change, some consider it conservatively biased. Functionalism has also been criticized for attributing human-like needs to society. Emile Durkheim viewed society as being composed of many parts, each with its own function. Emile Durkheim’s work is considered the foundation of functionalist theory in sociology. functionalism is a key component to society and it helps society come together and work as a whole.

 

http://www.iep.utm.edu/functism/