Structural-Functional Analysis
Herbert Victor Wiseman · 2024
We have referred earlier to the standard work of Bredemeier and Stephenson. At this point we examine their general account of ‘functional analysis of social systems’ (op. cit., pp. 39-47). To study how any system operates is to study the objective con- sequences of any one part of the system for another part, or parts, or for the system as a whole. Clearly it is not possible to take account of all the consequences of any particular action, rule, or structure. The first limitation applied in functional analysis is to ascertain the consequences which are directly relevant to the system being analysed. Secondly, a distinction is made between those consequences which are ‘helpful’ or ‘useful’ to the system (‘eufunctional’ in some texts, in others simply ‘functional’), and those which are ‘harmful’ (dysfunctional). In social systems the ‘parts’ with which the sociologist is con- cerned are social structures—cognitive, cathectic, and norma- tive definitions; statuses; roles, status-sequences etc.