Functionalism: A Macro Perspective on Social Structure

Functionalism is a top down macro theory that views social structure as more crucial than people. Individuals are given a predetermined role based on social influences around them, which will serve a purpose in society to encourage balance and survival. You can utilize functionalism to interpret how another institution such as religion participates in society. Functionalists believe that sociology should always have scientific evidence, otherwise known as Positivism. The first theorist and founder of Positivism, Auguste Comte, created an idea that society is similar to a body. There are multiple parts that are needed to be played properly for a stable system, like there are numerous organs needed for a body to efficiently function. Functionalists

It s another top down macro theory that studies different structures and relationships between individuals and how they are linked in order to function in society. Structuralism has been used in the studies of linguistics, media, ideology, religion and culture. The theory focuses on the study of language and the structures involved in social systems. The main idea of structuralism is that the meaning individuals give to objects or words originate from the human language, not what the actual object or word is. The theory also emphasizes that objects and symbols/words give individuals a specific meaning to them which is how we identify them. Structuralism can also be used for other links such as study culture and social interaction. Structuralists believe that these links need to be studied to help society become more functional. Structuralists also believe that social change is bad and that our entire existence is structured by forces out of our control. Structuralism has some weaknesses such as being originally a study of language which results in most ideas not being relevant to society, being only useful for very specific subjects. The biggest weakness of structuralism is the lack of concern for economics or