Assess The Structural Functionalist View Of Social Change

Social change: a significant modification of behaviour, beliefs or culture within a society. There are two main schools of thought on how and when this is brought about. The structural functionalist perspective (hereby called functionalism) views society as a bunch of interdependent parts, all of which perform a function that is essential to the stability of the society as a whole. It sees change as mainly gradual and due to advancement, and considers rapid change to be threatening to society. Conflict theories, however, propose that change is rooted in conflict and conflict is inevitable, so revolutionary change is also therefore inevitable. Opinions vary between theorists, but these are the general philosophies behind each theory. Both have many flaws and there is undoubtedly no theory that can account for every single occurrence within a society. It’s not possible to generalise anything to everyone, so these work better as a framework to base
It mainly considered conflicts based on class, rather than race, gender or opinion; Marx was just very focused on the class divide. He also didn’t give enough credit to the influence of cultural symbolism or, in the opinion of Antonio Gramsci, ideology. Many have criticised his opinion that revolutionary change is inevitable, and it isn’t regarded as correct by most modern conflict theorists. Modern conflict theorists differ in many ways. Gene Sharp, for example, emphasised non-violent resistance and believed that power is not monolithic; it’s not because of an intrinsic characteristic of those in power, it’s because of their subjects. Feminism emphasises power dynamics between genders, something that marxism neglects. Its main point of focus is gender in relation to power