Structural functionalism

From Geography

Structural functionalism[1] is "a tradition of social theory most closely associated with the writings of (...) Talcott Parsons" (Johnston, Gregory, Pratt and Watts, 2000, p. 794). The central idea of structural functionalism "is that the structure of any social system cannot be derived from 'the actors point of view' but must instead be explained by the ways in which four 'functional imperatives' necesarry for the survival of any social system are met" (p. 794). These four functions are adaption, goal attainment, integration and legacy. Actually, Parsons himself didn't think that structural functionalism was the rigt name for his ideas. He prefered the term 'action theory'. Important in his structural functionalist/action theorist approach is, among others, the interchanges between systems and sub-systems ("a formal cybernetic model of society"), which drew upon general systems theory and [[classical social theory](Johnston, Gregory, Pratt and Watts, 2000, p. 794).

Critique

Although Parsons and his structural functionalism have had a major influence on modern social theory, the idea is also critiqued in human geography for several reasons. The most important critique is that structural functionalism is seen "as another attempt to construct a general model of society out of what is in fact a highly particular reading of the United States of America" (Johnston, Gregory, Pratt and Watts, 2000, p. 795).

Related authors

An important systems theorist which ("in the Anglo-Saxon world, and only there") is associated with Talcott Parson and structural functionalism, is Niklas Luhmann Arnoldi, 2001, p.1). Although it is important to notice that Luhmann is influenced by many other ideas and theories (Arnoldi, 2001, p.1), parts of his work can be seen as "innovative extensions of Parson's original schema (Johnston, Gregory, Pratt and Watts, 2000, p. 794). Next to Luhmann, for example Alexanderand Wallerstein have developed the structural functionalist syste, theory of Parson (p. 794-795).

References

- Arnoldi, J. (2001) Niklas Luhmann. An Introduction. In: Theory, Culture & Society. Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 1-13.

- Johnston, R.J., Gregory, D., Pratt, G. and Watts, M. (2000). The dictionary of Human Geography (4th edition). Malden: Blackwell Publishing.

== Contributors ==

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