Abstract
Functionalism as a distinct methodology and theory of society originated first in the work of Comte, Spencer and Durkheim, and secondly, in late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century anthropology especially the writings of A. R. Radcliffe-Brown (1881–1955) and Bronislaw Malinowski (1884–1942). Durkheim is often cited as the dominant influence on the development of sociological functionalism for his argument that social institutions exist solely to fulfil specific social needs. ‘All moral systems’, he argued, constitute ‘a function of the social organisation’, and apart from ‘abnormal cases’ every society develops a morality necessary for its adequate functioning (Durkheim, 1953, p. 56). In The Rules of Sociological Method he explicitly argued that the function of a social fact is social in that it necessarily produces socially useful effects. Thus:
… to explain a social phenomenon the efficient cause which produces it and the function it fulfills must be investigated separately (Durkheim, 1982, p. 123).
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1991 Alan Swingewood
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Swingewood, A. (1991). Functionalism. In: A Short History of Sociological Thought. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21642-0_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21642-0_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-55861-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-21642-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)