robert merton structural functional theory

While the term latent function refers to consequences that are underlying and not intended at the time but develop la. Manifest functions are those that are intended, and readily apparent. He introduced terms such as manifest and latent functions, terms used in other fields such as psychoanalysis however new to sociology. Merton asserts that rather then being solely positive and have discreet effects, it is much more complex. Obviously slave-owning in the American South, and worldwide for that matter, was an institution that was in fact dispensable. However, after 1930s the functionalism as a theory got refined in the form of structural functionalism that sees ‘system within system’.

In 'Modern Sociological Theory' by Ritzer and Goodman, the example of Southern slave-owners is used as an example of an institution that undermined the social structure of the Southern United States by making the slave-owners over dependant on agriculture and not suitably prepared for the inevitable arrival of industrialization. These functions could be latent or manifest with the general aim of. The presumptions that he contested stated that all functions in a society were indispensable, inherently positive, and that there were no other alternatives to these functions. The function of any social activity is defined in terms of what it contributes towards the continuation of social structures. To Merton, it is the duty of the sociologist to examine each of these empirically, (Ritzer and Goodman 107-108). He believed that all of these postulates relied on abstract theoretical assertions rather than actual empirical data. Merton rejected many of the notions that were the basis for structural functionalism. middle-range theory Advocated by the distinguished American sociologist Robert Merton in Social Theory and Social Structure (1957) to bridge the gap between the limited hypotheses of empiricist studies and grand abstract theory of the sort produced by Talcott Parsons. Furthermore, he always tried to vary in what he chose to study. While Durkheim or Parsons may have been concerned with human society as a whole, Merton was more focused on mid-sized social systems.

While, he was not a pioneer of grand theories as was Parsons, rather Merton focused on smaller social systems (Ritzer and Goodman, 107). His theories are much more versatile, dealing with many of the criticisms of structural functionalism.

In his work, Robert Merton addresses many of the fundamental flaws in structural functionalism as a whole.

Robert merton structural functional theory