based on the ideas of Emile Durkheim that

looks at society from a large scale perspective.

It examines the necessary structures

that make up a society and how each part

helps to keep the society stable.

According to functionalism, society

is heading toward an equilibrium.

I know it sounds a bit strange that a society can

be at equilibrium, but consider the changes many businesses

have had to make in response to companies like Amazon.

Local businesses must adapt to find a new way

to cater to customers in order to restore the balance.

In the theory of functionalism, society

is made from a bunch of connected structures.

One structure is institutions, which

are structures that meet the needs of the society,

like education systems, financial institutions,

businesses and marriage, laws, mass media,

nongovernmental organizations, medicine, religion,

the military, police forces, and lots of others, too.

Another structure is what Durkheim called social facts.

Social facts are ways of thinking and acting

formed by the society that existed before any one

individual and will still exist after any individual is dead.

They are unique objects that cannot be influenced

by an individual.

They have a coercive effect over the individual that is usually

only noticed when we resist against them.

So for example, one social fact is the law.

It is always there, but we don't notice it

until we try and break it or act against it.

Some other examples are moral regulations, religious faiths,

and social currents like suicide or birth rate.

You might wonder how suicide can be a social fact.

Well, one person committing suicide has no effect

on the presence of suicide in the society .

Social facts are a facet of the society itself

and, according to Durkheim, are a necessary structure.

But society is more than just the sum of its parts.

It is dependent on the structures that create it,

just like a cell is dependent on all the little parts that

make it up.

Every part of the cell has a specific vital function

that depends on other parts of the cell.

Without everything working together smoothly,

the cell would die.

The same is true of a society.

Every structure has a function that

meets a need of the society, and all the structures

work together to maintain the social equilibrium.

So for example, you have schools,

which educate students so they can find good jobs

and support the community.

And businesses provide specialized services.

And laws maintain social order.

These recognized and intended consequences of institutions

are known as manifest functions.

But sometimes the institutions have unintended consequences.

Schools allow the students and professors

to make social connections, and they expose the students

to new activities through extracurriculars.

Businesses connect people across societies.

These unrecognized and unintended consequences

are called latent functions and are often indirect effects

of the institution.

Now, Durkheim's main question was,

what holds a society together?

How can it remain relatively stable

even as traditions disappear and customs change?

He thought that small societies were held together

by their similarities, and the individual was self-sufficient.

But that only works for small societies,

and we all know societies change and grow large.

The small society would eventually

evolve into a large society where the individual

was interdependent on others.

But what causes the evolution of society to occur?

The most basic factor is population growth

within a limited space.

Suddenly there isn't enough land for everyone

to own their own farm and feed themselves.

So just a few farmers grow enough food

for the entire community.

But now the farmers don't have enough time

for other necessities like making clothes or teaching

their kids.

The people who no longer have to grow food

now take on different roles like tailoring or education.

And everyone becomes dependent on one

another for their continued well being.

People have become specialized, which

forces mutual interdependence.

This interdependence helps to ensure

that the community won't fall apart.

Now that people depend on each other for the production

of goods and services there's a need

for a method of distribution and a way to control and coordinate

that production and distribution.

In functionalism, a change to either production, distribution

or coordination will force the others to adapt in order

to maintain a stable state society.

Social change is annoying and upsets the equilibrium

and threatens the mutual interdependence of the people

within that society.

The institutions and structures of the society

adapt only just enough to compensate for a change

and maintain the stability of mutual interdependence.

Phew.

All right, that just about covers it.

While functionalism is a nice way

to look at society with its equilibrium of institutions

all filling the needs of the society they create,

there are some serious problems here.

Functionalism focuses completely on the institution

with little regard for the importance of the individual.

The individual is acknowledged, but nothing they do really

affects the structures of society.

Functionalism is also largely unable

to explain social change and conflict.

We know it happens, but functionalism

is so focused on maintaining the equilibrium of the society

that little significant change is modeled

and no conflict can occur.

The structures of a society adapt only just enough

to find stability again.

Right, so, while there's more to understanding a society

than just looking at the stable state of its parts,

functionalism is helpful in understanding

the workings of society by examining

the functions of its integral structures.