The logic of functional analysis in sociology and social anthropology

Abstract

From the reconstruction and criticism of functional analysis that has been undertaken, I would suggest that certain conclusions emerge. I shall conclude by listing the more important ones. Thesis I: functional analysis is a particular method of explaining and describing social phenomena. Understood in this sense, functional analysis is the most important contribution that functionalism has made to science. Thesis II: functional analysis is a form of systemic analysis, requiring the acceptance of a systemic model of society, be it a model of a simple system, or a teleological system, or a functional system, or a teleological system composed of teleological elements. Thesis III: four types of functional analysis can be distinguished, depending on the systemic model that is accepted: simple functional analysis, developed functional analysis, double-level functional analysis and functional-motivational analysis. Each type of functional analysis corresponds to a different concept of function. Thesis IV: the question of the applicability of functionalist language to explanations of social phenomena has not been finally and positively resolved. For functionalist language to be applicable to descriptions of social phenomena, a greater degree of clarity is needed in functional predicates. Thesis V: functional explanations and descriptions do not in general fulfil the criteria of logical adequacy. Their correct formulation is a problem for the future. It is hoped that this methodological analysis might be the first step on that road. As Stanislaw and Maria Ossowski said: “After all, science and culture are those spheres of reality whose history depends on what people think about them”35.